7.30 Arrived in St. Petersburg in the morning. I was a bit nervous as how to get to my hostel from where the boat landed. The boat landed preetty far away from anything like a metro station and the russians aren't known for their english, so I didn't know once I got off the boat if I would be able to ask anyone, so I was looking at a long walk to the nearest metro. But, luck was with me. The italian guy's girlfriend, Elena, told me she would help me out and I could go with them b/c they were also going to a hostel in the center of town with her parents who were meeting them at the harbor. I went through Russian immigration nervously, but made it through all right. The whole russia visa thing is a huge pain. First it took a couple months just to get the visa, then you have to register your visa at every new place you go and this and that and so forth. And even if you do it all correctly you will still likely have to bribe police at some point during your trip bc they will find something wrong with it and you will also likely have to pay a fine when leaving the country. But I got in! So that's a good start.
We met Elena's parents at the harbor terminal. They were very nice and her father, who is a math professor, spoke english at about 75%, so quite good. The only way in was to take a taxi, so they called for one. They were hoping we could all fit in one, but we couldn't, so I got in my own. That's one of the financial bummers about travelling alone is not sharing costs on things like taxis and rooms...but, I was thankful they helped me bc I was able to get a good price compare to what they would have charged the foreigner otherwise. Only 15 bucks for a long ride. Quite cheap for europe. We had to wait about a 1/2 hour for the taxi, and Elena's dad went write to work making sure I was all clear on how to get to my hostel in moscow and thene how to get to suzdal. He lives in Vladimir, which is the stop on the trans siberia where you get off and catch a bus to suzdal. So he dre me detailed maps of the moscow subway and also the vladimir connection between train and bus, making sure to write everything in both english and russian (the russian, cyrillic alphabet is much different than the roman alphabet) so that I could show anyone on the street to get help. He was such a nice guy and I really appreciated his concern. Lots of people have been telling me I am crazy to travel through russia, and when he found out I was travelling the trans siberia, the said "oh wow, you are crazy crazy boy..so brave too" and then when I said i was doing it alone, he repeated it, then when I said i was doing it mainly plankskart class (3rd class) his jaw really dropped. After hearing some stories...mostly interesting, mostly about how much the vodka flows, but about other things, I am kind of glad I do have 2nd class for my long 3 day journey. 2nd class will be more tourists, where as 3rd class is mainly partying russians I guess. 1st class is for royalty, like the duchess mary or the queen mom anita (speaking of those two, I was thinking about aunt m and grandma while on the cruise ship and seeing what style they really travel in when they do these things)
My taxi dropped me off at my hostel. A very nice hostel and with a good location. Head to go through all the mumble jumple of the passport stuff there, but then I was released to go explore the city. Since I had the afternoon I decided to go to peterhoff, which is actually 30km outside of the city, so you have to take subway and then a local bus to get there. It was a challenge, but I did fine. A really nice Korean guy that I met showed me how to get to the metro station and to figure out how to pay since it is confusing. Peterhoff is this big palace and gardens built for peter the great. It was quite impressive and very beautiful! Fountains and fountains everywhere and of course nice grounds. They call it a symphony of fountains. Kim and clare wanted me to check it out for them since they saw it in the winter when the fountains weren't on, but they said it must be impressive. I spent quite a lot of time walking around there bc it was just a huge area right up against the baltic sea. After checking it out, I came back to the hostel, organized some stuff and then went out exploring in the late evening. It stays light here until 11:30. The city is really extraordinary. It is full of grandeur and splendour. Everything is huge and fancy and grand. Even the underground is very nice. Quite impressive.
I can tell that russia will be a bit difficult to travel in, but I am ready for it. First you have to watch out more for pick pockets and thieves than usual. But I am prepared with locks and money belts and such. Even on the atm's here it first says after you enter your car, look around and make sure there is no recording device or other device getting your pin number, after you have entered ok to this, they tell you to do the pin.
The other difficult thing is the language. So far I have noticed that they speak english less than any other place except perhaps rural japan and a few places in indonesia. And st. pete's and moscow are supposed to be the most english. So that is crazy to think about. And since they use a different alphabet, it makes things especially difficult. Ordering things etc. are quite difficult On the menu you have no idea what you are ordering. Unlike SE asia where they had a smorgasboard out on the street, here you have to order in a restuarant european style, but you don't know what you are getting. Or in a store you can't tell if the noodles you are buying are 50cents or 5 dollars. Also directions are super hard bc the maps in my guidebook are the english of the russian words, but all the street signs are in russian. In thailand and places like that I have been with special alphabets, they usually had roman alphabets below, but not here. You wouldn't even know about mcdonald's if it wasn't for the tell tale arches. And since the russian pronunciation is different for some reason than english pronuncaiton (ie. moscow vs mochba) it is hard to even ask for directions for anything just by saying it. You have to really know it in russian. So yea, it will be difficult, but it will be worth it. Funny thing is I'm tackling like 3 of the hardest (china, russia b/c of language and their crazy visa rules and regs and india...bc of the crazyness) countries that are common to travel to. Obviously a place like afghanistan or iraq or turkmenistan would be more difficult. But I'm ready and they are all definitely worth it! So i will just use my brain and logic as best as I can to figure it all out. But yea, so far it has been a bit of crazyness, but that makes it fun and more of an experience.
Tomorrow, I go out to explore even more of the city, like the hermitage and some of the famous churches and canals and such, then the midnight train (going anywhere!...sorry had to throw in some journey) to Moscow.
well, to answer the question you are all wondering...yes, there is tons of vodka in liquor stores, in grocery stores, everywhere. And it's dirt cheap. I saw in the grocery store for a fifth it ranged frome about 2.50 to 10 bucks. crazy
Friday, July 30, 2010
sailing across the baltic
7.27 I spent my last night on the island with the whole group watching the sunset over the ocean from some little cliff area we hiked to. Of course Lenart and Guinnilla and Christo (kim's aunt and uncle), did as they do and brought lots of wine and beer to better enjoy the sunset with. We had a good time watching the sunset and then afterwards, looking at all of lenart's pictures from a few nights before when we had our crazy party. It was fun to see some of the things we had forgotten. Like swinging from the rafters and me dancing country swing style with Guinnilla (you know me and cougars)
7.28 I had to say a really sad goodbye to the crew after breakfast as I boarded the ferry back to stockholm. I was giving hugs and more hugs and the ferry's horn was blowing, so I had to run to the boat and jump on. Goodbyes are never fun. After the boat, I took the bus to the train then the train to the subway then the subway to the big ferry.
Now, I had booked this ferry on line a while ago. It's a car ferry between stockholm and helsinki that takes like 17 hours. Now I had been on some big ferry boats in the philippines before. Ones where there are huge rooms with tons of bunks for everyone to sleep. I knew this would be a bit better than that bc I had a 4 person cabin, but I was still just expecting some shabby car ferry. Boy was I in for a surprise. This was like a first rate, luxury cruise boat. The boat was complete with performances as you boarded, 2 casinos, tons of restaurants, 2 dance bars/night clubs, some pubs, a duty free store, gift shops, deck bars, a swimming pool and sauna, hairdresser, playstation zone, mini golf, a movie theatre, a huge gangway that seemed like you were in a shopping mall, free internet even when in the middle of the baltic via sattelite internet. And more. I spent a lot of time exploring the ship. But the best part was sitting on the upper deck (there were 12 floors accessible to passengers), way up there and watching as the stockholm archipelago complete with its little islands and fishing villages went buy. Of course my tiny, tiny cabin was on the lowest floor, even below both car decks and very small. But it still had a little shower and all that. There was a nice korean guy in my cabin with me, and than late, late in the night, even later than I got in, some couple (it was supposedly a male only cabin, but who cares) came in and I guess did what couples do. The little korean guy who I really liked, told me they were his worst roommates ever. He was not too happy. Luckily, I had an ipod to plug in my ears. That night I of course went to Karaoke. It was mainly swedish, but some english stuff, and of course a lot of the english being sung was abba. One funny thing is that the ship had duty free alcohol once it hit international waters. Since scandinavia has super high alcohol taxes, as soon as the ship hit international water, all the swedes and finns ran for the duty free shop. I hear some due the cruise, just to buy tons of OH.
7.29 Arrived in the morning into Helsinki, Finland. It's kind of a cute little port city. There wasn't tons to see (some parliament buildings, royal palaces, churches, the waterfront...the usual), so I had seen the main things by early afternoon. So I spent the afternoon laying in some grass and reading next to some musicians and then doing some shopping I needed to do. Though I failed at the shopping bc scandinavia is just too dang expensive. I am in need of a china lonely planet book bc I found out from some other travellers that the book is banned form being sold (and brought in, but it's easy to hide) bc the book recognizes taiwan as a separate country (china does not) and the book talks unfavorably towards china when talking about the tibet situation. I did find the book and the back cover of the booke was listed at like 30 bucks, but the book was being sold for the equivalent of US45, so I'll try my luck in russia or mongolia. The other thing I was looking for was a AA battery charger bc I either left it at the prague airport or it got removed from my luggage. That evening I boarded my 2nd cruise type ship. This one wasn't quite as fancy as the one before, but still nice. I again watched the Helsinki archipelago go by and then explored the ship. I also spent some good time preparing all my documents and such for my trip to Russia. I was bunkmates with an Italian guy. He was really nice and had studied a Univ of Ill. He was travelling with his Russian girlfriend, who now lived in europe, but they were going to see her parents. We also shared the room with some finnish guy that came in at lake 4 in the morning saying, and I quote "I gambled too much, what have i done?"
7.28 I had to say a really sad goodbye to the crew after breakfast as I boarded the ferry back to stockholm. I was giving hugs and more hugs and the ferry's horn was blowing, so I had to run to the boat and jump on. Goodbyes are never fun. After the boat, I took the bus to the train then the train to the subway then the subway to the big ferry.
Now, I had booked this ferry on line a while ago. It's a car ferry between stockholm and helsinki that takes like 17 hours. Now I had been on some big ferry boats in the philippines before. Ones where there are huge rooms with tons of bunks for everyone to sleep. I knew this would be a bit better than that bc I had a 4 person cabin, but I was still just expecting some shabby car ferry. Boy was I in for a surprise. This was like a first rate, luxury cruise boat. The boat was complete with performances as you boarded, 2 casinos, tons of restaurants, 2 dance bars/night clubs, some pubs, a duty free store, gift shops, deck bars, a swimming pool and sauna, hairdresser, playstation zone, mini golf, a movie theatre, a huge gangway that seemed like you were in a shopping mall, free internet even when in the middle of the baltic via sattelite internet. And more. I spent a lot of time exploring the ship. But the best part was sitting on the upper deck (there were 12 floors accessible to passengers), way up there and watching as the stockholm archipelago complete with its little islands and fishing villages went buy. Of course my tiny, tiny cabin was on the lowest floor, even below both car decks and very small. But it still had a little shower and all that. There was a nice korean guy in my cabin with me, and than late, late in the night, even later than I got in, some couple (it was supposedly a male only cabin, but who cares) came in and I guess did what couples do. The little korean guy who I really liked, told me they were his worst roommates ever. He was not too happy. Luckily, I had an ipod to plug in my ears. That night I of course went to Karaoke. It was mainly swedish, but some english stuff, and of course a lot of the english being sung was abba. One funny thing is that the ship had duty free alcohol once it hit international waters. Since scandinavia has super high alcohol taxes, as soon as the ship hit international water, all the swedes and finns ran for the duty free shop. I hear some due the cruise, just to buy tons of OH.
7.29 Arrived in the morning into Helsinki, Finland. It's kind of a cute little port city. There wasn't tons to see (some parliament buildings, royal palaces, churches, the waterfront...the usual), so I had seen the main things by early afternoon. So I spent the afternoon laying in some grass and reading next to some musicians and then doing some shopping I needed to do. Though I failed at the shopping bc scandinavia is just too dang expensive. I am in need of a china lonely planet book bc I found out from some other travellers that the book is banned form being sold (and brought in, but it's easy to hide) bc the book recognizes taiwan as a separate country (china does not) and the book talks unfavorably towards china when talking about the tibet situation. I did find the book and the back cover of the booke was listed at like 30 bucks, but the book was being sold for the equivalent of US45, so I'll try my luck in russia or mongolia. The other thing I was looking for was a AA battery charger bc I either left it at the prague airport or it got removed from my luggage. That evening I boarded my 2nd cruise type ship. This one wasn't quite as fancy as the one before, but still nice. I again watched the Helsinki archipelago go by and then explored the ship. I also spent some good time preparing all my documents and such for my trip to Russia. I was bunkmates with an Italian guy. He was really nice and had studied a Univ of Ill. He was travelling with his Russian girlfriend, who now lived in europe, but they were going to see her parents. We also shared the room with some finnish guy that came in at lake 4 in the morning saying, and I quote "I gambled too much, what have i done?"
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Ahhh...the swedish life
7.24 Kim, Clare and I walked down to the town and then to the harbor where we took their boat out for the day. They have a really cool little boat that you can even set up to sleep in if you want. It has a tiny kitchen, bathroom and all of that. We drove it out through the baltic sea to a little island that was fortified with old canons and such. The canons were there for protection from the Russians back in the day. We walked a bit around the island and then just kind of relaxed on the boat, listening to music and having blueberry soup.
The last time I was with kim and clare, they buzzed my hair on a small island-the perhentian islands-in Malaysia. So I had made sure I grew out my hair nice and long for the next time I met up with this barbershop duo. This time instead of just going full buzz, they gave me a mohican buzz cut hair. I tried to model it off of Puck from glee as heather had said she thought that would be a cool cut, but they had never seen the show so it ended up being quite a bit thicker than that. But Kim and Clare were quite proud of it and they said it suited me perfectly.
That evening, Kim's dad Lenart made us some very, very tasty swedish meatballs. I really stuffed myself as they were so good!
That night I took the midnight bus back to stockholm. And clare surprised me with some to go sandwiches for my wait in the terminal as they would be meeting up with me around noon in stockholm again.
7.25 I arrived around 5 in the morning and just hung out and caught some sleep until I met up with Kim, Clare, Lenart, Erik (kim's bro), Eddy (kim's friend),and Hannah (erik's girlfriend). We would later meet up with Kim's aunt and uncle gunilla and christo at the island. From stockholm we took a train, then a bus, then a ferry out to Utö island in the stockholm archipelago. It was a drizzly and foggy day, a bit like how I would imagine sweden sometimes. The island is a really tiny wooded island with a few shops and other things on it. It used to be important for mining back in the 1700's. We all are staying in a cool little, swedish style cabin not far from the baltic sea and perhaps better, there are huge bushes of raspberries, gooseberries and blueberries right outside my door. Lenart, who likes his beverages, had ordered a big shipment of alcohol to be delivered to the island. Lenart is quite funny and it's even more funny to see him leading all of us younger people around. That evening we all went out for some tasty pizza along the harbor, but it wasn't long afterwards before we moved out to the picnic tables and got the party started with some sangrias.
We then headed up to the top of the hill where they had a cover band playing outside. They did mostly english songs with some swedish songs too. I was really itching to dance, but no one was on the dance floor and I didn't want to make a fool out of myself, you know, being the crazy american, since everyone else on the island was definitely swedish. This is a popular summer vacation spot for swedes and has to be booked far in advance. But kim wanted me to get out there and dance so he bought me a couple beers and I was starting to dance a little bit at our table. I was telling him if they played abba, I'd be right out there. But, nearly as good they started playing I will survive, and soon I was up on the dance floor. And before long, the whole place was crowded with dancers. I guess they just needed an icebreaker. So we danced late into the night. It was nice bc there was like a little mist falling, keeping us cool and so it wasn't like the normal sweaty dancing at clubs. After the thing was over we went to talk to the band and they thanked us for our wild and crazy dancing. The lead singer told me that "you americans do dance crazy. I like your style" After that Eddy was pretty drunk so we went down with him to the harbor so he could run around I guess. Eddy cracks me up. He's gay and super fashionable. He always has his phone in his hands at all times, constantly texting, facebooking, etc. He has apps on his phone that was like telling him how far to the nearest mcdonald's and all that. He wears a new outfit about every 3 hours. They were giving him a lot of crab bc for there 1 week trip to the island, he brought two huge suitcases and a backpack. Way, way more stuff than I have for 6 months of travelling!
7.26 Lenart led us on some hikes around the island to different view points and to some of the old mines and an old windmill. Kim is really into boats so we also checked out the boats at the harbor. That evening we made a very tasty traditional swedish meal called pittya panya. Delicious again. Of course more sangria and wine were brought out. Then Hannah, who said she is part Russian, told me I need to start my training for the russian vodka, so she began taking shots with me. Needless to say it turned into quite the fun night. We went to some bar for a while, but then mainly ended up just running around the island.
7.27 Today, the weather was beautiful, although still slightly chilly, so we headed out to the "beach" the beach in sweden means flat rocks along the ocean that absorb the sun's rays and are quite warm. We did a bit of swimming in the very cold baltic and then just hung out on the rocks. The baltic sea is interesting bc it's salty, but hardly salty. You can just notice a little bit of salt, so it's almost like swimming in freshwater.
Tonight I am sure there will be some more partying and then I leave tomorrow morning on a ferry back to stockholm. When I get there I will then transfer to a different harbor to catch my overnight ferry to Helsinki Finland. I will be in Helsinki for a day before I catch the overnight ferry from there to St. Petersburg.
I love kim and clare. It has been great hanging out with them again. They are very similar to me in terms of their travel styles so we always have a good laugh talking about our travels through se asia. And of course tons of fun recounting our crazy 8 day jungle trek in malaysia. And they are always giving me new ideas all the time, which I love and gets me all excited about future travel and opportunities. They are the ones that did the trans siberian before that told me all about it. Clare was telling me about how she did this thing where she worked as an english rep for a bar in greece where she had tons of fun and she thought I could do a similar thing like this at a european ski area. Of course one of the really cool things they did was work and play there way through australia and new zealand. That's actually where they met. But for now they are going to be staying put a bit bc kim is starting university. He will be majoring in ship navigation. Clare said she might think about going to school, but will probably just be working. She is busy now taking swedish lessons (she's british) and she's picking it up quite good. She loves her swedish classes bc she says it's like travelling bc there are people from everywhere there...america, sudan, thailand, kenya, etc. So they are moving to gotenburg at the beginning of next month to get ready for kim's school.
Something else cool the swedes do is that they have these bottle recycling machines where they take bottles and get somewhere between 15 to 50 cents back. I think it's pretty cool bc it of course encourages recycling, but the other neat side effect is that the street bums and homeless in the cities walk around picking up bottles on the street and even in the trash cans so they can recycle them and get some money. Keeps the streets clean and also gets all the bottles recycled from the lazy people that just throw them in the trash cans.
Of course sweden is hockey crazy and they all love peter forsberg and of course the avalanche bc of this. Eddy is in fact a hockey ref and has been working on his yearly test while we are here at the cabin
The last time I was with kim and clare, they buzzed my hair on a small island-the perhentian islands-in Malaysia. So I had made sure I grew out my hair nice and long for the next time I met up with this barbershop duo. This time instead of just going full buzz, they gave me a mohican buzz cut hair. I tried to model it off of Puck from glee as heather had said she thought that would be a cool cut, but they had never seen the show so it ended up being quite a bit thicker than that. But Kim and Clare were quite proud of it and they said it suited me perfectly.
That evening, Kim's dad Lenart made us some very, very tasty swedish meatballs. I really stuffed myself as they were so good!
That night I took the midnight bus back to stockholm. And clare surprised me with some to go sandwiches for my wait in the terminal as they would be meeting up with me around noon in stockholm again.
7.25 I arrived around 5 in the morning and just hung out and caught some sleep until I met up with Kim, Clare, Lenart, Erik (kim's bro), Eddy (kim's friend),and Hannah (erik's girlfriend). We would later meet up with Kim's aunt and uncle gunilla and christo at the island. From stockholm we took a train, then a bus, then a ferry out to Utö island in the stockholm archipelago. It was a drizzly and foggy day, a bit like how I would imagine sweden sometimes. The island is a really tiny wooded island with a few shops and other things on it. It used to be important for mining back in the 1700's. We all are staying in a cool little, swedish style cabin not far from the baltic sea and perhaps better, there are huge bushes of raspberries, gooseberries and blueberries right outside my door. Lenart, who likes his beverages, had ordered a big shipment of alcohol to be delivered to the island. Lenart is quite funny and it's even more funny to see him leading all of us younger people around. That evening we all went out for some tasty pizza along the harbor, but it wasn't long afterwards before we moved out to the picnic tables and got the party started with some sangrias.
We then headed up to the top of the hill where they had a cover band playing outside. They did mostly english songs with some swedish songs too. I was really itching to dance, but no one was on the dance floor and I didn't want to make a fool out of myself, you know, being the crazy american, since everyone else on the island was definitely swedish. This is a popular summer vacation spot for swedes and has to be booked far in advance. But kim wanted me to get out there and dance so he bought me a couple beers and I was starting to dance a little bit at our table. I was telling him if they played abba, I'd be right out there. But, nearly as good they started playing I will survive, and soon I was up on the dance floor. And before long, the whole place was crowded with dancers. I guess they just needed an icebreaker. So we danced late into the night. It was nice bc there was like a little mist falling, keeping us cool and so it wasn't like the normal sweaty dancing at clubs. After the thing was over we went to talk to the band and they thanked us for our wild and crazy dancing. The lead singer told me that "you americans do dance crazy. I like your style" After that Eddy was pretty drunk so we went down with him to the harbor so he could run around I guess. Eddy cracks me up. He's gay and super fashionable. He always has his phone in his hands at all times, constantly texting, facebooking, etc. He has apps on his phone that was like telling him how far to the nearest mcdonald's and all that. He wears a new outfit about every 3 hours. They were giving him a lot of crab bc for there 1 week trip to the island, he brought two huge suitcases and a backpack. Way, way more stuff than I have for 6 months of travelling!
7.26 Lenart led us on some hikes around the island to different view points and to some of the old mines and an old windmill. Kim is really into boats so we also checked out the boats at the harbor. That evening we made a very tasty traditional swedish meal called pittya panya. Delicious again. Of course more sangria and wine were brought out. Then Hannah, who said she is part Russian, told me I need to start my training for the russian vodka, so she began taking shots with me. Needless to say it turned into quite the fun night. We went to some bar for a while, but then mainly ended up just running around the island.
7.27 Today, the weather was beautiful, although still slightly chilly, so we headed out to the "beach" the beach in sweden means flat rocks along the ocean that absorb the sun's rays and are quite warm. We did a bit of swimming in the very cold baltic and then just hung out on the rocks. The baltic sea is interesting bc it's salty, but hardly salty. You can just notice a little bit of salt, so it's almost like swimming in freshwater.
Tonight I am sure there will be some more partying and then I leave tomorrow morning on a ferry back to stockholm. When I get there I will then transfer to a different harbor to catch my overnight ferry to Helsinki Finland. I will be in Helsinki for a day before I catch the overnight ferry from there to St. Petersburg.
I love kim and clare. It has been great hanging out with them again. They are very similar to me in terms of their travel styles so we always have a good laugh talking about our travels through se asia. And of course tons of fun recounting our crazy 8 day jungle trek in malaysia. And they are always giving me new ideas all the time, which I love and gets me all excited about future travel and opportunities. They are the ones that did the trans siberian before that told me all about it. Clare was telling me about how she did this thing where she worked as an english rep for a bar in greece where she had tons of fun and she thought I could do a similar thing like this at a european ski area. Of course one of the really cool things they did was work and play there way through australia and new zealand. That's actually where they met. But for now they are going to be staying put a bit bc kim is starting university. He will be majoring in ship navigation. Clare said she might think about going to school, but will probably just be working. She is busy now taking swedish lessons (she's british) and she's picking it up quite good. She loves her swedish classes bc she says it's like travelling bc there are people from everywhere there...america, sudan, thailand, kenya, etc. So they are moving to gotenburg at the beginning of next month to get ready for kim's school.
Something else cool the swedes do is that they have these bottle recycling machines where they take bottles and get somewhere between 15 to 50 cents back. I think it's pretty cool bc it of course encourages recycling, but the other neat side effect is that the street bums and homeless in the cities walk around picking up bottles on the street and even in the trash cans so they can recycle them and get some money. Keeps the streets clean and also gets all the bottles recycled from the lazy people that just throw them in the trash cans.
Of course sweden is hockey crazy and they all love peter forsberg and of course the avalanche bc of this. Eddy is in fact a hockey ref and has been working on his yearly test while we are here at the cabin
Friday, July 23, 2010
Hello Kim and Clare!!
7.21 I finished up the night hanging out with some italian guys who though my spaghetti choice (noodles with thai curry sauce...hey i missed it and it was on sale) was interesting, so they decided to share their bottle of vodka with me. The hostel was one of those huge hostels of 48 bunks partitioned by sheets, so it was quite interactive. My partition had a lot of spanish chicas who were quite funny, especially when they came back late drunk and slowed down their spanish so I could hear it much better. There were also two american girls who had interesting stories. One girl, had never had a plan to travel, but her parents bought her tickets for her birthday and booked a bunch of hostels and said, "hey, you are going to backpack euroep bc it is such a great experience" So she was quite fresh and unsure how to travel. The other girl had been planning the trip for quite some time and always wanted to backpack and get out and see things, but it kept falling through and this last time all her friends ditched out at the last second, but she still wanted to go, so she said screw it and just left on her own. And she ended up meeting the other american girl and now they have been traveling for a while. The one gal actually is a ski bum at whistler in the winters and said I could crash at her place if i ever make it up there again...especially if it's not a pineapple express!
7.22 I woke up fairly early and toured around stockholm. Walked along the very beautiful waterfront and explored several of the little islands. Took a walk on one of the more natural islands and then explored the old town with its really narrow streets and cool buildings. Also went to royal palace and watched the changing of the guard. Did quite a lot of walking around and felt like I did a good job of seeing most of the sights at stockholm. In the evening I caught a bus at the central terminal head north for Sundsvall, home of Kim, Clare, Frida, and Caroline.
I arrive around 10pm into sundsvall and clare was waiting for me there with a big sign that said TARZAN. That's what they call me bc we did the long rainforest jungle trek together and they think Iäm wild like tarzan. After some hugs we walked over to where kim works, a casino bar, and he gave us some drinks to have while we waited. In sweden drinks are too expensive, but if you have friends in the right places... After Kim got off, we went to where clare works, the bishops arms pub. It's an english pub, so it suits her perfectly since she is british and has the sweet british accent to go along with it. The pub is actually really cool. You would think you were right back in britain. We had several more beers there, thanks again to knowing the right people. Around 1am we left for the 30 minute walk to where Kim and Clare live (with Kim's dad). The crazy thing is that it was still light. The sun only sets way up here for a very short time, and even when it is set it's kind of like twilight. I woke up around 4am thinking i had slept in til like 9 looking out the window...but i looked at my watch at is was only 4. When we got home Kim's dad had made me a really nice fish meal to welcome me so we enjoyed that very much.
7.23 We woke up early and headed to the supermarket bc kim and clare had a lot of swedish food they wanted to make for me. First of all the supermarkets in sweden have this brilliant thing that we need to adopt in the US, especially in the overcrowded estes park safeway. So you go in and you pick up this portable handheld scanner thing. Everytime you put something in your shopping cart, you simply scan it and it records it on the scanner. Then when its time to check out you just hand the scanner to the clerk and pay the amount. No waiting for everything to be scanned. It's pure brilliance. No more lines at the grocery store! Anyways we picked up a bunch of swedish foods they want me to try.
When we got back to their flat, they made me blueberry soup (tasty!, wish we had it for skiing) and then they made me fikas with egg and fresh cheese and some meats. Quite tasty.
After breakfast we took a hike to a lake through a forest. It was a really nice forest and this is one of their favorite places to xc ski during the winter. After the hike we walked down to the town center to hang out. Got some icecream and just kind of relaxed along the harbor. Then kim and clare had to go to work. So i took one of their bikes and went for a nice bike ride. The weather here is great for riding bikes right now. Sunny and cool, so it was perfect. When I got finished I went back to Clare's pub where she of course treated me royally. Then it was off back to Kim and Clare's by bike where Kim's dad, Lenart, made me a meal.
7.22 I woke up fairly early and toured around stockholm. Walked along the very beautiful waterfront and explored several of the little islands. Took a walk on one of the more natural islands and then explored the old town with its really narrow streets and cool buildings. Also went to royal palace and watched the changing of the guard. Did quite a lot of walking around and felt like I did a good job of seeing most of the sights at stockholm. In the evening I caught a bus at the central terminal head north for Sundsvall, home of Kim, Clare, Frida, and Caroline.
I arrive around 10pm into sundsvall and clare was waiting for me there with a big sign that said TARZAN. That's what they call me bc we did the long rainforest jungle trek together and they think Iäm wild like tarzan. After some hugs we walked over to where kim works, a casino bar, and he gave us some drinks to have while we waited. In sweden drinks are too expensive, but if you have friends in the right places... After Kim got off, we went to where clare works, the bishops arms pub. It's an english pub, so it suits her perfectly since she is british and has the sweet british accent to go along with it. The pub is actually really cool. You would think you were right back in britain. We had several more beers there, thanks again to knowing the right people. Around 1am we left for the 30 minute walk to where Kim and Clare live (with Kim's dad). The crazy thing is that it was still light. The sun only sets way up here for a very short time, and even when it is set it's kind of like twilight. I woke up around 4am thinking i had slept in til like 9 looking out the window...but i looked at my watch at is was only 4. When we got home Kim's dad had made me a really nice fish meal to welcome me so we enjoyed that very much.
7.23 We woke up early and headed to the supermarket bc kim and clare had a lot of swedish food they wanted to make for me. First of all the supermarkets in sweden have this brilliant thing that we need to adopt in the US, especially in the overcrowded estes park safeway. So you go in and you pick up this portable handheld scanner thing. Everytime you put something in your shopping cart, you simply scan it and it records it on the scanner. Then when its time to check out you just hand the scanner to the clerk and pay the amount. No waiting for everything to be scanned. It's pure brilliance. No more lines at the grocery store! Anyways we picked up a bunch of swedish foods they want me to try.
When we got back to their flat, they made me blueberry soup (tasty!, wish we had it for skiing) and then they made me fikas with egg and fresh cheese and some meats. Quite tasty.
After breakfast we took a hike to a lake through a forest. It was a really nice forest and this is one of their favorite places to xc ski during the winter. After the hike we walked down to the town center to hang out. Got some icecream and just kind of relaxed along the harbor. Then kim and clare had to go to work. So i took one of their bikes and went for a nice bike ride. The weather here is great for riding bikes right now. Sunny and cool, so it was perfect. When I got finished I went back to Clare's pub where she of course treated me royally. Then it was off back to Kim and Clare's by bike where Kim's dad, Lenart, made me a meal.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Sad goodbye to Prague...arrival in stockholm
7/20 The last day in Prague I kind of chilled around Martin's apartment and did some computer things I needed to do. Then I walked along the bridge and old town once more in the afternoon before meeting up with Martin and Jitka for some real italian pizza and wine. After dinner we headed up this hill where this is a park with a sweet view of the city and a sort of beer garden I guess. Just lots of beer taps around the park where you can go and get your cup filled. We drank a whole bunch up there until it got dark and then played some frisbee in the park before heading home.
One of the interesting things about the czech republic is when I say i'm from colorado, they all immediately mention the colorado avalanche. They're hockey crazy in the czech. rep. Most other europeans when i say i'm from colorado think mountains or incorrectly, grand canyon b/c of the river. The asians, if they knew, all though of john denver and rocky mountain high.
Something interesting, they told me that in the czech rep, average marrying age is above 30 and they don't do the whole fancy proposal thing. Usually it's the girl and she just kind of mentions that it's time to get married and so they do. I thought that was funny.
Met another gal who studied in a small town in wisconsin. Crazy how many have studied in the US.
7/21 Took the metro to the airport and then flew from Prague to Nyopking, Sweden and then took the bus to Stockholm. Checked into my really sweet hostel and the walked around exploring stockholm a bit. To me it's not quite as nice as prague. The nice thing about it though is that it has all these interconnected islands and of course the ocean and boats all around. But it's much more modern. And boy oh boy is it expensive. An example is that the my like 20 stop metro ride plus 6 stop bus ride from prague to the airport cost me 1.50. My 3 stop metro ride here cost me 6 bucks. The cheapest burger in mcdonalds is 8.50 (no dollar menu here!( A 6 inch, sub at subway is 7 dollars (no 5 dollar footlong( and things like a liter of bottled water is 3 bucks. Haven't even checked for a price of beer yet. I usually go shopping in grocery stores when I am in europe to save money and i went into one and it was so incredibly expensive too as was 7-11, but then i realized it was some sort of co-op or organice store or something b/c i found a better store with much nicer prices. But still one pound of bananas for example was 1.50 and a loaf of plain white bread was 4 bucks. But i found some good spaghetti and sauce so i will be cooking that tonight at my hostel.
It's interesting b/c this has been the first european country i have been to where they drive big cars. I'd say 75 percent of the cars are wagons...saab wagons, volvo wagons, bmw wagons, and even a few bmw wagons. And there are even some american big dodge trucks and some old boat cars. Pretty funny to see on the still european styled streets.
It's 10 oclock here now, but still light. crazy scandinavia. I guess being so close to the arctic circle.
Of course my dad would like it here with all the tall blonde swedish ladies and the nice weather and cool breeze.
Tomorrow I will be spending the whole day out sightseeing before catching an evening bus to sundsvall to meet kim, clare, and frida. Can't wait!
One of the interesting things about the czech republic is when I say i'm from colorado, they all immediately mention the colorado avalanche. They're hockey crazy in the czech. rep. Most other europeans when i say i'm from colorado think mountains or incorrectly, grand canyon b/c of the river. The asians, if they knew, all though of john denver and rocky mountain high.
Something interesting, they told me that in the czech rep, average marrying age is above 30 and they don't do the whole fancy proposal thing. Usually it's the girl and she just kind of mentions that it's time to get married and so they do. I thought that was funny.
Met another gal who studied in a small town in wisconsin. Crazy how many have studied in the US.
7/21 Took the metro to the airport and then flew from Prague to Nyopking, Sweden and then took the bus to Stockholm. Checked into my really sweet hostel and the walked around exploring stockholm a bit. To me it's not quite as nice as prague. The nice thing about it though is that it has all these interconnected islands and of course the ocean and boats all around. But it's much more modern. And boy oh boy is it expensive. An example is that the my like 20 stop metro ride plus 6 stop bus ride from prague to the airport cost me 1.50. My 3 stop metro ride here cost me 6 bucks. The cheapest burger in mcdonalds is 8.50 (no dollar menu here!( A 6 inch, sub at subway is 7 dollars (no 5 dollar footlong( and things like a liter of bottled water is 3 bucks. Haven't even checked for a price of beer yet. I usually go shopping in grocery stores when I am in europe to save money and i went into one and it was so incredibly expensive too as was 7-11, but then i realized it was some sort of co-op or organice store or something b/c i found a better store with much nicer prices. But still one pound of bananas for example was 1.50 and a loaf of plain white bread was 4 bucks. But i found some good spaghetti and sauce so i will be cooking that tonight at my hostel.
It's interesting b/c this has been the first european country i have been to where they drive big cars. I'd say 75 percent of the cars are wagons...saab wagons, volvo wagons, bmw wagons, and even a few bmw wagons. And there are even some american big dodge trucks and some old boat cars. Pretty funny to see on the still european styled streets.
It's 10 oclock here now, but still light. crazy scandinavia. I guess being so close to the arctic circle.
Of course my dad would like it here with all the tall blonde swedish ladies and the nice weather and cool breeze.
Tomorrow I will be spending the whole day out sightseeing before catching an evening bus to sundsvall to meet kim, clare, and frida. Can't wait!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
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