It took me a while to learn how to skate. I´m not very good at picking up new skills. At the beginning I thought I´d never make it but I did. There wasn´t any magic trick just practice-practice-practice.
I used to skate on the sea. I loved it when there was a week or so of sub-zero temperatures but no snow in the beginning of the winter. Then the whole sea would be covered with smooth glasslike ice like in a icerink. You could go on for miles, explore small islands and stuff. It was great. Although skating against the wind was a bitch, really hard work.
About rollerblading... I tried it once. Only once. I borrowed a friends rollerblades and tried it. It was slower than skating on the ice and when I tried to brake(iceskating style)... well I think you know what happened to me next...

Lets just say it involved bleeding.