As part of my role in the HP Worldwide Digital Health Practice, I was sent to various locations around the world to develop the local practice and to deliver training. This trip to Singapore and Sydney stretched from May 6-18, 2011.
I left Sarnia for the London airport around 3:45AM on Friday, May 6th to catch flights to take me into Vancouver around 10AM. I visited with Gramms in Chilliwack for the afternoon and then caught a late night flight from Vancouver to Sydney, Australia. We had touchdown in SYD around 9AM local time… yeah! A 15 hour flight behind me, a 7 hour layover and then another 8 hour flight to Singapore. Took a couple of pictures at the airport of downtown Sydney, but there wasn’t time to go visit.
After a cab ride right out of “Amazing Race”, I arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel on Orchard Rd in Singapore around 11PM. It was great to talk with my Babe to wish her a great Mother’s Day!
Very nice view of Singapore from my window on the 15th floor.
On our final day in Norway, we had a visit to Akershus University Hospital, which is the 2nd Digital Hospital in Norway.
Some more views from our hotel!
The Royal PalaceHolmenkollbakken ski jumping hill Oslo harbour… still frozen over
Rob Sloat, Ray Giles and I visited the Akershus University Hospital just northeast of the city of Oslo. It is recognized as the 2nd Digital Hospital in Norway and utilizes the same technologies as St Olav’s University Hospital in Trondheim. Those technologies form the base of the HP Digital Hospital program.
Rob and Ray …… in the impressive hospital atriumTwo of the hospitals IT leads were our guides for the dayOne of the many automated delivery vehicles
After our visit to Akershus, we took the afternoon off to sight see!
Ray and Rob in front of the Royal PalaceNational TheatreOslo UniversityGrand Hotel
After touring the centre of the city, we went to the harbour to Aker Brygge
Ray enjoying Oslo!who needs a watch? that’s the Akershus Fortress in the backgroundtaking pictures of…… the fortressAker Brygge is the place for shopping and restaurantslots of ice on the harbourtime for a warm beverage inside in the mall!
Well that’s all from Oslo! We took the train from the downtown station out to the airport and went our various ways!
My itinerary took me from Oslo to London, where I spent the night at an airport hotel, and home to Canada the following morning. It was very strange to be in England, but not really, if you know what I mean!
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were spent at St. Olav’s University Hospital, where there really wasn’t any opportunity for picture taking.
St. Olav’s University Hospital was the first place to implement the Digital Hospital infrastructure and applications that made up the HP Digital Hospital program.
The days were full of discussions with the folks from the hospital as well as our partner IMATIS.
Thursday was a travel day!
A view of Trondheim as we headed to OsloA couple of views…… of the Trondheim FjordJostedalsbreen National ParkOslo Gardermoen airportdowntown Oslo
Once we had landed at Oslo Gardermoen airport, which is 40 minute train ride from downtown Olso, we picked up Ray’s rental car and headed out!
We drove for about 2-1/2 hours southwest of Oslo to Porsgrunn to visit the Head Office of our partner IMATIS, where we met with their technical team and discussed their ongoing projects.
By the time we headed back to Oslo, the sun was starting to set and it was fully dark when we drove into the unfamiliar downtown streets with a distinct lack of English road signs! We had been using Ray’s cell phone’s GPS but then even it got confused… we must have circled our hotel block two or three times before we found the way to get to the entrance!
But finally, we were able to check into our hotel… Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel on Holbergs gate a short distance from the Royal Palace. A bite to eat at a local pub and it was off to bed!
As part of my role in the HP Worldwide Digital Health Practice, I was sent to various locations around the world to develop the local practice and to deliver training. This trip to Norway stretched from March 13-17, 2011.
This time by trip started from Detroit on Sunday evening, March 12th.
I flew Delta from Detroit to Amsterdam and KLM to Oslo and on to Trondheim. I met up with my teammate, Rob Sloat, in Amsterdam!
Arrival at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam… very modern and easy to navigate… but very large!
I met up with Rob after our overnight flights… jet lag city! We had some brekkie or maybe it was lunch, not sure! Then waited for our flight to Trondheim.
Lots and lots of KLM planes on the tarmac
Our flight from Amsterdam to Trondheim was about 2 hours and then we had a 40 minute drive into town in Rob’s rental car. We booked into the Radisson Blu Royal Garden Hotel, where I had stayed in 2007 during my first trip to Norway.
A view of the fjord from our planeOn our way to the cityQuite a few farms along the wayOur hotel on the Nidelva River in downtown TrondheimA view of the harbour from my hotel room… and another view
Wanting to avoid jet-lag messing up our day, we decided to walkabout during the day and try to stay up until a more regular bedtime.
Looking down Nordre gate towards Vår Frue Kirke (Our Lady Church)This is the back courtyard of the Stiftsgården… the Summer Royal Palace… … and this is the frontKing Olav Tryggvason monumentVår Frue Kirke (Our Lady Church)
One of the highlights of the day was visiting the Nidaros Domkirke or Cathedral. The following photos show some of the incredible architecture and sculptures.
Nidaros Domkirke (Cathedral)
After out visit to the cathedral, we wandered over to the Gamle Bybro bridge over the Nidelva River.
Colourful warehouses lined…… both sides of the river!We stopped in for a beverage at the Den Gode Nabo (the Good Neighbour) pub!
We met up with the rest of our group that evening, back at the hotel.
