Wow! A lot has happened in the last week!
So, our stay with Zoe was really fun. Anton and I got to meet her friends Tara and Runa, who we went out to a bar with after eating some falafel on our second night there. The next morning we took off for the train station at about 10am, and eventually caught a 12:46pm train to Osnabruek, then waited 1.5 hours for another train for Amsterdam that we boarded at 3:50pm. We arrived in Amsterdam after dark and wandered around the streets trying to find a hostel, and some really nice people helped direct us to a place to stay. The first place we stayed was a £40 hostel and we had to sleep on bunkbeds in a tiny flourescent-lit room on the third floor of a creepy, old building. It felt like a jail cell, but it was all we could get, so we dropped off our things and went out and had some drinks, then found our way over to the Sex Museum, which was very funny to say the least.
The next day, the 24th, we checked out of our dirty, creepy hostel and walked around until we found another place to stay called the Rainbow Palace Hotel (yeah, really.) The guys running the place were really nice and we were able to get our own room with a real bed! We walked around the streets all day, admiring the prostitutes in the windows and stopping in lots of coffee shops before making our way over to the Anne Frank museum (which is actually her old hiding place where she wrote her diary.) It was kind of depressing being inside the room she had lived in, but all the tourists crowding the room kind of took all the feeling out of it. After that, we had some drinks then went back to our room and watched One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest on TV and went to sleep.
On the 25th we woke up around 10am and walked over to the train station, where we got on a 11:26am train for Brussels. From Brussels we made a transfer to another train and were able tyo arrive in Paris around 5pm. We took a cab to a hotel we had read about in our Europe On A Shoestring book called Hotel Bonnejour. The man and woman who ran the building were very nice and were able to get us a room without a reservation. The first night, our room was on the first floor up one set of steep spiral stairs that felt like they would cave in at any minute. We dropped off our stuff, then went out looking for food and found some greasy chinese noodles and spring rolls. Then we walked around and found some wine (only £2 - £3!!) and went back to our hotel room and drank and drew pictures all night.
The next day, the 26th, we woke up and had to switch hotel rooms, so we moved our stuff out into the lobby, then walked all over town. It just so happened that my bank card stopped working (I would later find out that I had recieved a new card, which was in my wallet, but I hadnt activated it yet and was stupidly oblivious to its existence...) So Anton and I spent most of the day stressing out about what we were going to do about money and trying to figure out how to atleast get some food or something. Finally I called my Dad, and he was able to talk to Wells Fargo (since I had no way to contact them) and he helped me activate my card and have access to my money again. While we were waiting for my card to work, I found £40 in my wallet I had gotten out the day before and we celebrated by eating a baguette and hummus (I think we ate that 3 times while in Paris) as well as some badly needed groceries. When we finally got our new hotel room at 3:30pm, we put our things away (in our new room up 4 flights of stairs,) ate some more bread and hummus, then took a subway over to the Eiffel Tower. We got off at the wrong stop, but it was nice because we were able to walk along the river and enjoy the city at night. It was very, very beautiful. The Eiffel Tower was really amazing and was way bigger than I had anticipated. We even took an elevator to the top of it! I was kind of scared because Im afraid of heights, but the view was just incredible. After that, we took the subway back and ate some avocado and cucumber maki and a french-fry filled pita before going to bed.
The 27th we woke up and checked out of our hotel at 11am and Anton and I tried to call his parents to let them know we were on our way to Italy, but they werent at their phone. Then got a cab ride with the rudest cab driver I have ever met. He looked like Danny Devito on a bad day, and had a terrible attitude problem, refusing to allow me to bring my shoulder bag with me in the car and getting offended about everything. He then added a baggage fee for £2 at the end of the ride, claiming he had helped us with out baggage, which he absolutely did not. He was the worst person we met on this trip so far (besides a ticket lady on one of the French trains who yelled at Anton for putting his feet on a little side shelf thing next to our seats, then asked him if he wanted to "get down and lick it clean") Anyway, after finally making it to the station, Anton realized that he had forgotten his wallet at the hotel, so I waited at the station with the bags and he went back and got his wallet, then we got in a really long line for train tickets, only to find out that the soonest we could get anywhere in Italy would be the next morning at 7am. We had already checked out of our room and had all our stuff ready to go, so we decided to just try to stay awake at the train station all night instead of looking for a place to sleep. It was okay at first, because we went out and walked around and even went to a movie (This Is England, about the skinhead movement in England, a really good movie) and walked around, then ate a huge meal of Indian food. We got back to the train station around 10pm and waited and waited, then decided to try to make our way over to a different station, which is where we would have to leave in the morning. That turned into a huge fiasco, because the subway trains ran on a different schedule at night and we ended up getting dropped off outside in the middle of nowhere where we had to wait about an hour for a return train to the station we came from. When we got back to it, we sat around, then walked around trying to stay busy and trying not to freeze (the station was partly open to the outside) until security guards tried to rudely kick us out. We still hung around and finally they allowed us along with a group of other travellers to sleep in the waiting area room, which was warm and relatively comfortable, for sleeping on the floor. This morning we woke up at 6am and got on our train and after 8 hours on the train have finally arrived in Milano. Now we have to wait two more hours for our next train to Florence, where we will find a hotel and meet up with Antons parents tomorrow.
Whew!!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
October 19-22: Stockholm to Hamburg
The rest of the night on Friday the 19th was really fun. Anton and I met Tyson's friend Robin and the two of them bought us drinks and we had a really fun time hanging out at the bar and talking. Then we went to a couple of other bars, including a dance bar, where Anton and I danced until I felt sick! It was really fun. While waiting for the subway on the way home, we saw a very drunk guy fall onto the train tracks, but luckily his friends saw and helped him out right away, which is good, because the train wasn't far away! It was kind of scary, but everything turned out fine.
The next day, the 20th, we slept in late, then ate some potatoes for breakfast and headed out into Stockholm for a while. We walked all over and took pictures. We took a ferry ride over to an island that had a museum called the Vasa Muset (Vasa Museum) which is a museum dedicated to this ship that was recovered from the Baltic Sea that had been built in the early 1600's as a war ship that actually ended up sinking in the harbor on it's maiden voyage. It wasn't recovered until the 1960's, and lots of really cool artifacts and skeletons were found with it. The outside of the ship is decorated with figurines of lion's heads, mermaids, gods and angels and the ship is SO huge and overwhelming. It stands in the middle of the museum and is probably three stories tall! Really cool.
After that, we headed back to the apartment and hung out with Tyson, then tried to go out and see a movie, but it was a Kung-Fu movie with Swedish subtitles, so it didn't really work... so we walked around for a while, then eventually headed back home. We had a good time just walking around and laughing at all the drunks.
On Sunday the 21st, we headed over to the train station at around 10am and luckily made it in time to catch an 11:20am train that (after making for transfers) would eventually take us to Hamburg by 10:16pm. The train ride was very long, but the view from the windows was beautiful, and I was so caught up in reading Dracula that I didn't really notice the time. Zoe came and met us at the train station when we arrived and we took a cab back to her place. Then, we met her boyfriend Hans and ate some food and talked for a while. Their apartment is really nice, and it was great to sleep on a bed again!
Today we ate some toast and potatoes for breakfast and are going to go on a long walk along the water, then meet up with Zoe when she gets off school at 4pm. The weather here is very pretty and sunny, but also freezing. I can't wait to eventually post pictures!
The next day, the 20th, we slept in late, then ate some potatoes for breakfast and headed out into Stockholm for a while. We walked all over and took pictures. We took a ferry ride over to an island that had a museum called the Vasa Muset (Vasa Museum) which is a museum dedicated to this ship that was recovered from the Baltic Sea that had been built in the early 1600's as a war ship that actually ended up sinking in the harbor on it's maiden voyage. It wasn't recovered until the 1960's, and lots of really cool artifacts and skeletons were found with it. The outside of the ship is decorated with figurines of lion's heads, mermaids, gods and angels and the ship is SO huge and overwhelming. It stands in the middle of the museum and is probably three stories tall! Really cool.
After that, we headed back to the apartment and hung out with Tyson, then tried to go out and see a movie, but it was a Kung-Fu movie with Swedish subtitles, so it didn't really work... so we walked around for a while, then eventually headed back home. We had a good time just walking around and laughing at all the drunks.
On Sunday the 21st, we headed over to the train station at around 10am and luckily made it in time to catch an 11:20am train that (after making for transfers) would eventually take us to Hamburg by 10:16pm. The train ride was very long, but the view from the windows was beautiful, and I was so caught up in reading Dracula that I didn't really notice the time. Zoe came and met us at the train station when we arrived and we took a cab back to her place. Then, we met her boyfriend Hans and ate some food and talked for a while. Their apartment is really nice, and it was great to sleep on a bed again!
Today we ate some toast and potatoes for breakfast and are going to go on a long walk along the water, then meet up with Zoe when she gets off school at 4pm. The weather here is very pretty and sunny, but also freezing. I can't wait to eventually post pictures!
Friday, October 19, 2007
October 16 - 19: Norway to Oslo
So, the first night we were in Oslo was nice, gry made us all some Indian food which was really great and we were all able to sit around and talk for the rest of the night.
The next day, (Anton's 22nd birthday!!) Anett and Gry had school and work, so Anton and I walked around Oslo by ourselves and went to the Munch Museum where Edvard Munch's paintings are, and the infamous 'The Scream' painting hangs. We enjoyed it a lot and were able to walk through the botanical gardens as well, which were nearby. Then we went back to the apartment and Anton drew pictures and I knitted until the girls got home, then we all watched Freaks and Geeks (the first two episodes) and it was quite awesome. Then we all went out to dinner at a very expensive vegan Indian food place (even though none of us was really hungry) to celebrate Anton's birthday, and the girls gave Anton a really cute birthday card with the Norweigian birthday song written in it. Then we went to a bar and had a few drinks and the girls told the bartender that it was Anton's birthday and they brought him a free drink that was pink and had fireworks coming out of it! It was really funny. After drinking and talking about politics, cultural differences, and school, we walked home and on the way stopped at an old graveyard and wandered around looking at the tombstones, which was really fun and kind of spooky.
The next day, on October 17th, we woke up to find a note from Anett that warned us not to drink the tap water because there were parasites in it! So we drank soda all day long. We met up with Gry later on in the day and went to a photography exhibit downtown, then went back to the apartment and knitted and drew and watched Betty Boop cartoons. The girls showed me photos of their friends and families and I enjoyed learning about their culture.
On October 18th, we woke up at about 8:30 and tried to catch the 9:30am train to Stockholm, but missed it by only a couple minutes and had to wait around the train station until 3:48pm to take a bus to the Swedish border, then board a train to Stockholm. The ride lasted a few hours, and we made it into Stockholm at about 11:30 last night. We took a cab over to Tyson's apartment and slept there. We met his roommate Ina, who is very nice, and showed us around the whole city today. It was a great day, we saw the castle and some really beautiful sights, and we are going to go out to a bar soon called Garlic and Shots, so we'll see what happens tonight!
The next day, (Anton's 22nd birthday!!) Anett and Gry had school and work, so Anton and I walked around Oslo by ourselves and went to the Munch Museum where Edvard Munch's paintings are, and the infamous 'The Scream' painting hangs. We enjoyed it a lot and were able to walk through the botanical gardens as well, which were nearby. Then we went back to the apartment and Anton drew pictures and I knitted until the girls got home, then we all watched Freaks and Geeks (the first two episodes) and it was quite awesome. Then we all went out to dinner at a very expensive vegan Indian food place (even though none of us was really hungry) to celebrate Anton's birthday, and the girls gave Anton a really cute birthday card with the Norweigian birthday song written in it. Then we went to a bar and had a few drinks and the girls told the bartender that it was Anton's birthday and they brought him a free drink that was pink and had fireworks coming out of it! It was really funny. After drinking and talking about politics, cultural differences, and school, we walked home and on the way stopped at an old graveyard and wandered around looking at the tombstones, which was really fun and kind of spooky.
The next day, on October 17th, we woke up to find a note from Anett that warned us not to drink the tap water because there were parasites in it! So we drank soda all day long. We met up with Gry later on in the day and went to a photography exhibit downtown, then went back to the apartment and knitted and drew and watched Betty Boop cartoons. The girls showed me photos of their friends and families and I enjoyed learning about their culture.
On October 18th, we woke up at about 8:30 and tried to catch the 9:30am train to Stockholm, but missed it by only a couple minutes and had to wait around the train station until 3:48pm to take a bus to the Swedish border, then board a train to Stockholm. The ride lasted a few hours, and we made it into Stockholm at about 11:30 last night. We took a cab over to Tyson's apartment and slept there. We met his roommate Ina, who is very nice, and showed us around the whole city today. It was a great day, we saw the castle and some really beautiful sights, and we are going to go out to a bar soon called Garlic and Shots, so we'll see what happens tonight!
Monday, October 15, 2007
October 14 - 16: Iceland to Norway
On October 13th after using the internet, Anton and I browsed a photography exhibit at the library. Then we walked around town for a while and ended up feeding some swans at the pond before walking back to the room with the cheapest alcohol we could find, which was 790 kronur, about $14 or so. We hung out the rest of the night just drinking and talking.
The next morning, the 14th, we woke up early and rented a Toyota Yaris (everyone here drives tiny cars!) Then we drove about an hour south to the Blue Lagoon, which is a natural hot springs that has been turned into a really nice spa. We each paid $40, and got entry to go a huge, shallow lake of hot spring water that was thick and murky and very salty. It was really beautiful. There was steam rising off the top of the bright blue water, which created a stark contrast to the mountains of black molten lava and moss that surrounded the water and stretched for miles. There was also a waterfall and a steam room and we were able to shower there, which was nice. After finally leaving the Blue Lagoon, we drove back to Reykjavik, stopping along the way at a little historical Viking town that looked like it was straight out of a children´s storybook. We got back to our room and ate some food, then headed out for a 100 km drive to the north-east, to see the first Geysir (in the town of Geysir!) and a huge waterfall called Gulfoss. On the way to Gulfoss we saw a hitchiker on the side of the road and picked him up. His name was Jon Philipe and he was a really friendly French aspiring rap artist who was just kicking his way around Iceland for a couple weeks. We talked about music and travel and had a really fun time giving him a ride. He came with us to Gulfoss, then back to Reykjavik as well. After we got home, we fell asleep very quickly- at about 8pm.
This morning we woke up at 5am and drove the rented Yaris to the airport. After waiting in line for a long time we found out that our flight wasn´t even scheduled for today! Apparently we weren´t supposed to leave until Wednesday the 17th. So we rescheduled it for today and were able to make our flight out at 7:50am. The flight to Oslo took about 2 hours and was really nice. We got into town and took a train to the City Center, where Gry met us. She walked us over to her house, and we met her roommate Anett. They are letting us stay at their place and are both very friendly and hospitable (Iæm using Annet´s computer to write this right now!)
We are about to eat now, so I will write more later.
The next morning, the 14th, we woke up early and rented a Toyota Yaris (everyone here drives tiny cars!) Then we drove about an hour south to the Blue Lagoon, which is a natural hot springs that has been turned into a really nice spa. We each paid $40, and got entry to go a huge, shallow lake of hot spring water that was thick and murky and very salty. It was really beautiful. There was steam rising off the top of the bright blue water, which created a stark contrast to the mountains of black molten lava and moss that surrounded the water and stretched for miles. There was also a waterfall and a steam room and we were able to shower there, which was nice. After finally leaving the Blue Lagoon, we drove back to Reykjavik, stopping along the way at a little historical Viking town that looked like it was straight out of a children´s storybook. We got back to our room and ate some food, then headed out for a 100 km drive to the north-east, to see the first Geysir (in the town of Geysir!) and a huge waterfall called Gulfoss. On the way to Gulfoss we saw a hitchiker on the side of the road and picked him up. His name was Jon Philipe and he was a really friendly French aspiring rap artist who was just kicking his way around Iceland for a couple weeks. We talked about music and travel and had a really fun time giving him a ride. He came with us to Gulfoss, then back to Reykjavik as well. After we got home, we fell asleep very quickly- at about 8pm.
This morning we woke up at 5am and drove the rented Yaris to the airport. After waiting in line for a long time we found out that our flight wasn´t even scheduled for today! Apparently we weren´t supposed to leave until Wednesday the 17th. So we rescheduled it for today and were able to make our flight out at 7:50am. The flight to Oslo took about 2 hours and was really nice. We got into town and took a train to the City Center, where Gry met us. She walked us over to her house, and we met her roommate Anett. They are letting us stay at their place and are both very friendly and hospitable (Iæm using Annet´s computer to write this right now!)
We are about to eat now, so I will write more later.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Europe Trip 10.10 - 10.13
Hello from Iceland! Anton and I have had a very busy past 3 days! We flew out of Seattle at 9am Oct. 10th and landed in Iceland (after a 2 hour stop in New York and a total of about 14 hours of travel time) at about 1am our time, or 7am Iceland time. Somehow we managed to get an hour of sleep in on the flight, which wasn´t as uncomfortable as I had expected. Our combined flight time was only 8 hours, so not too unbearable.
We arrived in Iceland as the sun was rising and our excitement prohibited us from falling asleep. As soon as we arrived we took a very expensive taxi ride into downtown Reykjavik (about a 45 minute ride from the international airport which ended up costing $158, or 9500 Iceland Kronur) only to find that Guesthouse 101, where we intended on staying, was completely booked. Luckily, the guesthouse was only one floor of a renovated office building that houses, along with a couple dentistry practices and a textile shop, a nice hotel right above it on the 4th floor. We booked a room there, where we dropped off our things and stayed for the first night. It cost $160 for the night, and was well worth it. The tiny room was furnished like an Ikea showroom, with cheap wood furniture and zebra print bedding. But the bathroom was nice, even though all the water smells like old eggs here, due to the fact that it all draws from natural hot springs.
The first day we spent here, we walked up and down the main road in town, Laugavegur and looked at the shops. Nothing here opens before around 10 or 11am on weekdays though, so there wasn´t much to see. Eventually we came across a large pond which was full of an assortment of waterfowl, including very some hungry swans, which we fed some leftover bread. Then we kept walking and found an old, overgrown cemetary nearby with gravestones dating back to the early 1800s. This was exciting for us, becuase the place looked and felt haunted, especially when a couple of cats suddenly appeared around a corner and scared me. After that we kept walking around and found that there is a lot of awesome graffiti all over the place here. Later in the day we made our way over to the Iceland National Museum where we got to peruse ancient Norse artifacts like jewelry, tools, clothes, scripture, pottery and even skeletons from a man, a horse and a baby! We then tried on some pretty awesome Viking costumes in the children´s hands-on part of the museum.
We tried to stay awake all day, in order to get onto a good sleeping schedule, but only lasted until about 6pm, then slept a good 12 hours, which was nice (we were running on 3 days with 2 hours of sleep.) After waking up and getting some bread from the ONLY place in town open before 10am on a weekday (a tiny grocery store) we hung around our tiny room until 11am when the man from Guesthouse 101 downstairs showed up and we were able to finally get a room there. The room we have now is a little disapointing (small, white, sterile with two twin beds and no bathroom) but is a better choice, because it only costs us $100 a night and we´ll end up saving $180 this way... yeah... its a incredibly expensive here... we´ve realized that everything averages to roughly twice the cost of it´s American counterpart. So, we´ve been eating in and taking advantage of free entertainment as much as possible!
Yesterday we made a long walk over to the Saga Museum (a.k.a. the Viking Museum) where we listened to headsets and walked through a maze of wax figurines of historical Icelandic figures- Viking men and women who settled Iceland. It was pretty entertaining, and the view from the museum (a.k.a. water plant a.k.a. restaurant) was nice. Then we walked down to the beach, which was very pretty, rocky, windy and cold, but there was some awesome caves by the water and we found another cemetery nearby. The environment here is a lot like Western Washington, without all the trees. After making it back to our room yesterday, we fell asleep around 4pm and slept until 6:30 this morning.
Today after waking up early again, we read in our room for a few hours while we waited for the rest of the town to wake up. Then we walked over to a gigantic church, where we took an elevator to the top and managed to get some great pictures of the amazing view of the whole city (which I will post later along with all the others.) Then we walked back over to Laugavegur and down to the harbor where we perused a flea market full of overpriced crap (a lot like the Tacoma swap meet, but worse) and got some food at another grocery store. Luckily we stumbled across the Reykjavik City Library and were able to get Internet access (the only other Internet cafe we could find is under restoration...)
So, that's pretty much it for now. I´ll probably write some more once we get over to Norway. We are having a great time here, and though everything is expensive, the city and the land are very beautiful and we are really loving it. Hope all is well at home and I miss you all (well... most of you)!
xo
We arrived in Iceland as the sun was rising and our excitement prohibited us from falling asleep. As soon as we arrived we took a very expensive taxi ride into downtown Reykjavik (about a 45 minute ride from the international airport which ended up costing $158, or 9500 Iceland Kronur) only to find that Guesthouse 101, where we intended on staying, was completely booked. Luckily, the guesthouse was only one floor of a renovated office building that houses, along with a couple dentistry practices and a textile shop, a nice hotel right above it on the 4th floor. We booked a room there, where we dropped off our things and stayed for the first night. It cost $160 for the night, and was well worth it. The tiny room was furnished like an Ikea showroom, with cheap wood furniture and zebra print bedding. But the bathroom was nice, even though all the water smells like old eggs here, due to the fact that it all draws from natural hot springs.
The first day we spent here, we walked up and down the main road in town, Laugavegur and looked at the shops. Nothing here opens before around 10 or 11am on weekdays though, so there wasn´t much to see. Eventually we came across a large pond which was full of an assortment of waterfowl, including very some hungry swans, which we fed some leftover bread. Then we kept walking and found an old, overgrown cemetary nearby with gravestones dating back to the early 1800s. This was exciting for us, becuase the place looked and felt haunted, especially when a couple of cats suddenly appeared around a corner and scared me. After that we kept walking around and found that there is a lot of awesome graffiti all over the place here. Later in the day we made our way over to the Iceland National Museum where we got to peruse ancient Norse artifacts like jewelry, tools, clothes, scripture, pottery and even skeletons from a man, a horse and a baby! We then tried on some pretty awesome Viking costumes in the children´s hands-on part of the museum.
We tried to stay awake all day, in order to get onto a good sleeping schedule, but only lasted until about 6pm, then slept a good 12 hours, which was nice (we were running on 3 days with 2 hours of sleep.) After waking up and getting some bread from the ONLY place in town open before 10am on a weekday (a tiny grocery store) we hung around our tiny room until 11am when the man from Guesthouse 101 downstairs showed up and we were able to finally get a room there. The room we have now is a little disapointing (small, white, sterile with two twin beds and no bathroom) but is a better choice, because it only costs us $100 a night and we´ll end up saving $180 this way... yeah... its a incredibly expensive here... we´ve realized that everything averages to roughly twice the cost of it´s American counterpart. So, we´ve been eating in and taking advantage of free entertainment as much as possible!
Yesterday we made a long walk over to the Saga Museum (a.k.a. the Viking Museum) where we listened to headsets and walked through a maze of wax figurines of historical Icelandic figures- Viking men and women who settled Iceland. It was pretty entertaining, and the view from the museum (a.k.a. water plant a.k.a. restaurant) was nice. Then we walked down to the beach, which was very pretty, rocky, windy and cold, but there was some awesome caves by the water and we found another cemetery nearby. The environment here is a lot like Western Washington, without all the trees. After making it back to our room yesterday, we fell asleep around 4pm and slept until 6:30 this morning.
Today after waking up early again, we read in our room for a few hours while we waited for the rest of the town to wake up. Then we walked over to a gigantic church, where we took an elevator to the top and managed to get some great pictures of the amazing view of the whole city (which I will post later along with all the others.) Then we walked back over to Laugavegur and down to the harbor where we perused a flea market full of overpriced crap (a lot like the Tacoma swap meet, but worse) and got some food at another grocery store. Luckily we stumbled across the Reykjavik City Library and were able to get Internet access (the only other Internet cafe we could find is under restoration...)
So, that's pretty much it for now. I´ll probably write some more once we get over to Norway. We are having a great time here, and though everything is expensive, the city and the land are very beautiful and we are really loving it. Hope all is well at home and I miss you all (well... most of you)!
xo
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