Well when I last left you things were going swimingly! I had just touched down into Amsterdam and checked out the ever popular Kiasma, the Modern Art gallery. I'll start from there shall I?
Went back up to the room to meet the Aussie guy, David in fact, was a guy from Melbourne who has been working in London for the last year and was getting sick of Harrods and wanted a break. Very nice guy, was good to hear another Aussie actually. Haven't really heard any since leaving home two weeks ago (Feels like months ago actually). Got to chatting and he is off to St Petersburg on Thursday and so had planned to go out. We ended up meeting some Swiss girls from across the hall. There was three of them and they were suprisingly young. While looking like 23-24, they were infact 18-19! Was amazing! Anyway, we checked out the club guide (Seriously there is a million and one clubs, bars, pubs, discos, cafes, resturants in Helsinki, it's not funny) Anyway we picked one which sounded good, ended up being waaaaaay far away but because helsinki is like the most walkable city in the world it was easy to get to. Turned out to be a cover charge of 5€ and they weren't going to let the girls in because they were too young. Turns out Helsinki has a weird age policy.
As long as it's over 18, clubs can set what they want, whether that be 19, 21, 24 and I saw one for 26. Looks like even I can get locked out of clubs for ages restrictions! All in all, good club, MASSIVE. Had like five bars and we went to the outside terrace one because it was still nice out. Got in with the cheap happy hour. Got busy about 1am when the girls left so David went scouting and I had another drink. We ended up talking to a hockey player that used to play for a Helsinki National team, and because apparently we were in ''the club' down this end of town and with the scars and intellect, I didn't doubt it. The most englsh he knew was about 'pussy' and 'sex wiv girls'. I asked him where his mates where and he bluntly told me that he "only goes with girls not mates, mates are for the gay." Okkkkaaaaayyyyy....
I left about three and left David to the Finn bird he'd scored. As soon as I walked out of the club it began to PISS down. Good thing that Helsinki is so managable and safe. Seriously, it is the safest city in the world I swear this to you.
Next day everyone left, the girls, the Yanks, the Aussie, so that left me to go out and expect new people on returning. Thursday was a big day. (Be prepared)
Started out going to the markets for a bit of a look, see what kind of breakfast I could get. Turned out to be all strawberries and peas in a pod (Like seriously, EVERY stall had at least two sections of each), and with all the knicknacks and souviners that were on sale I was a bit meh. I'm not spending money on souviners this trip unless it's something useful, like the Swedish boxers I bought in Stockholm :D After walking through, I made my way up to the huge Russian church, Uspensky Cathedral. Can I just say wow! It was amazing. A huge brick cathedral on a hill overlooking Helsinki harbour. Wasn't too crowded with tourists so it was possible to have a look with out 5000000 Japanese tourist bombarding you to get in the first row [Umm... Vasa Jeff?]
The artwork was very, very elaborate and there was a lot of gold as you can see from the pic. The roof went up in to a huge dome in the ceiling. I read that it had 13 turrets all up. After being awestruck by that, I could see the other big cathedral I wanted to see in the distance, so I made a bee line for it. Thats actually another cool thing about Helsinki. You can pretty much just walk in a direction and end up getting to where you want to be. Sitting on Senate Square, is a big white Cathedral with some seriously steep stairs going up to it. Inside was equally amazing as the Russian Cathedral but had that undeniable western touch. Something that we do will just never be like the Russian authentics I guess. Having a wander around in there I went around the back to see what was there. No tourists of course, because they only look at one thing, take 5 million photos, talk loudly, disrupt everything, ignore signs, get back on their bus and leave. I on the other hand, wander about. I looked over the back as well because it meant I could get a few shots without people in them. Not suprisingly, there was another way cool building behind it that I hadn't seen on any maps. Time to have a look I think! Sure enough, Awesome architecture. I mean seriously, most of Helsinki because my favourite building at one stage in the trip.
After cheking it out, next on the list was the cultural strip up past Kiasma. There is the Parliment building, which I didn't go in, and Finlandia Hall. To be honest it really reminded me of the Festival Centre in Adelaide. It had a similar texture to it and I guess it was white.... Anyway, heralrded as a noteworthy piece of architecture, I thought it was a bit plain. Guess it looks better at night. I did see rabbits and a hedgehog in the parks across from it though. it was weird, nature right, smack in the centre of the city. There was some other cool sculptures and such all the way along in the park right up to the Opera Building, which was pretty cool too. After that I went to check out the Museum of Culture and City Art. THAT was very cool. I couldn't take photos inside, like most places like that. But there was an amazing exhibition from an artist whose passion was to mould people into these unbelievablly real model which fooled me on a couple of occasions. Seriously, these were that good. They were of ordinary people, bums, travellers, an incredibly old lady who was remarkably lifelike. There was about 25 or so models all up and was way worth it. Upstairs was an exhibition on photography depicting what "Finland means to me". It was great! Some of the photos were amazing, actually all of them were, but some gave a really quirky side to the Finnish culture. Was really good. Checked out the movie cinemas in the building too. The whole building was one whole complex with about 30 cinemas. Twas incredible!
After that, onto the 'Church in the Rock' also known as Temppeliaukio. It is leterally a church hewn from a rocky outcrop in the middle of Helsinki. Inside it was quite big and the acoustics were amazing. (Tested well by some rowdy tourists!) Not sure if the photo does it justice, but it is really cool, and best of all free. Again I walked around the back.. no tourists... and you could actually walk on it, like you can Parliment House in Canberra. So that's something else huh? It was funny I noticed behind there that there was a little park with equipment for little kids to play. And just to prove how cool people are in Finland, there is spades and buckets and stuff that are play equipment that stays there, hanging on the fence. Not stolen... Amazing! Same with chairs outside cafes too, they are just corded and locked to the tables, not inside for fear of vandalism.
Next was the Cemetary. Now when I say this place is huge, it is an understatement.
This place is ENORMOUSLY MASSIVE. It is on both sides of a major street and has other smaller ones running through it. It is split into many sections. War Vets, Normal people, Presidents and Politicians etc, Different religions and then there is Artists Hill. Where I was destined. I was seeking Alvar Aalto's grave stone, the famous Finnish architect whose museum I checked out in Jyvaskyla. After coming to terms with just how big this place was, I started checking out the part on the other side of the road to where I came in. It was full of old gravestones and some of the most elaborate designs I have ever seen. I felt a bit funny walking around snapping pics everywhere so most of them are captured in my mind, but let me tell you, either marble is cheaper here or people traditionally spend alot on headstones. Statues adorned so many of them with some housing many people from each side of the family. Just wandering up through the war graves was a bit humbling. For such a peaceful nation as Finland, they have suffered heavy losses in battle.
After being there nearly 40 minutes I gave up and went to consult the map. (which it needs, let me tell you) A lady was sitting in front, so when she moved I said for her not to worry which got her asking if I was looking for anyone in particular because there was many famous people buried there. I told her Aalto and luckily, she had walked past it that morning and that she would show me it with her Canadian friend she was just waiting for. She went on to tell me on the long walk (I would have NEVER have found it, it was in completely the opposite end of the cemetary) that she had just turned 60 and that after travelling the world, many, many, many times over (seriously, it was scary to think where the money came from) she had settled in Helsinki and loves it.
After telling me the history of the place and showing me a photo of her own grave in the family plot (kinda freaky I thought) we found the grave, and to be honest. I was a little disappointed. For a 'son of Finland' it was certainly a modest grave.
Nice though, but modest. Behind it was Artist's Hill where many other super elaborate graves and some of the oldest in there, were. I could have spent another few hours in there but i wanted to check out the Sibelius monument before trekking back to find an art gallery with free entry after 5pm. The ladies directed me to the monument and left. Damn some people are just so nice!
Trekking to the monument is an understatement. It was waaaaay further then I had anticipated. And really, as cool as the monument was, maybe not worth the hike. But it did give me a chance to check out North and West Helsinki which are somewhat different to the south. The monument was dedicated to a composer of music and such the tubes will play a bit of music when the wind is right. Not when I was there of course, but still. What a cool idea. The monument itself is actually hated by a lot of people, but love it or hate it, it's definitely something.
The long walk back took me down to the docklands on the other side of the harbour where there is maybe 40-50 little Malls Balls dotted along the coast on the piers and such. Made me think of home! [Also Dad, there where container cranes there, but the photos I took are kinda far away, I couldn't get closer, but I thought of you when I saw them :) ]
I was in search of a free contemporary art museum, but after walking around and getting myself a bit lost I ended up at what i thought was the right one but ended up being in a different part of the city and the building was the Design Museum. This is at 17.40 mind you. I;m walking slowly around and then the chimes go telling me I have 15 mins until closing time... at 6pm. So in the short time span, I had a very quick history lesson on design in home products and dresses, rugs, chairs and glass wear. Some of the old 50's and 60's stuff is so out there!
After it closed, I retired back to the internet cafe to check my flights for Friday morning to Amsterdam. I couldn't remember if they were at 7 or 8am. Turns out that I had booked them for Wednesday... the day before... OMFG. I had an instant bout of cold sweat after realising what I had done and that I now had no flight to Amsterdam the next day and that the flights would cost a fortune. And cost they did! After stressing at flights in the hundres and thousands of Euro's I ound a last minute flight to Amsterdam with SAS flying through Copenhagan.. So booking that, I retired to my room because the internet cafe had actually closed and the guy waited until I had found the flight and printed the ticket, but then I was pushing it to blog this. haha.
Spent the remainder of the night talking to Ryan, the Brit lad that I was rooming with for the night. Very interesting and wise beyond his years. Met the other roomie who was a French guy with a cold, who subsequentially snored and coughed the night away...
Seeing as the flight was a lot later than planned, I had the morning to sleep in, and then try and get in touch with Aranka, my contact in The Netherlands. (Kinda felt like James Bond saying that). Pretty much after my phone had ran out of credit and it wasnt until later I found out I couldnt get a credit card credit charge up like I normally do I started to panic a bit really. OF course being Friday the 13th every single net cafe I went to had either a broken computer or the internet was down. after trekking 3 seperate offices of one chain I got there to send a message.
Flying to Copenhagen officially mean that I went through a country I hadn't planned on! Alright :D
I didn't leave the airport because of the short cross over time, but the airport is massive. And they do not have boarding calls, only calls for specific people who are holding up the plane. interesting I thought. After a very bumpy ride in the Amsterdam and taxiing for what I swear was at least 15 minutes (over roads and highways on a bridge.... weird). touched down late. And then the bags were late, and all the way over I was stressing that I had left all my adapters in the Hostel (phone, camera, iPod). Turns out I didnt, but I didnt know taht until Amsterdam, so the Copenhagen stop over was a bit tense really.
Now the Hell bit comes in.(finally I hear you say)
Through a ridiculous number of unfortunate coincidences I am unable to contact Aranka to tell her I am running late because my phone does not connect to the network in the Netherlands, so I am completely with out a phone to be contacted on, and because I have no credit and no way of calling out to get some, I am a single man. Amsterdam Centraal is a ridiculously large train terminal and while I walked around for over an hour trying to find Ranks, (all the while trying the weird pay phone system) I asked to borrow someones phone in the station. Good thing everyone has a mobile these days and most people speak English. Two girls were very accomodating and although I didnt get through, thanked them for trying. I decided to give the pay phone one more go and a guy comes up to me and tells me these phones were rubbish and didnt get a connection (Ah I thought!) and showed me to the ones outside. He gave me a card (like a phone card, but you can use it for parking meters and such) I try again, no answer so I think bugger it. After telling me that he is losing his house within the week and his child in three days because of some mistakes he had made, I gave him coins worth the card and thanked him.
I got a ticket to Utrecht to see if Ranks went home because it had been so long. Half an hour train ride and still not able to contact her at the Utrecht station I decided to chance it and go to her house. Luckily I had wrotten down the address from the christmas card list. Get a taxi because I can't see in on a map (turns out Im blind) and go there. Friendly guy, wants money and tells me he'll wait if she's not home. I get there, get a confused girl, not Ranks, so I'm now thinking.... What the hell do I do. I ask him if there is somewhere cheap to stay, he knows a place (of course) and cheapest is 100€ I nearly died. But considering Amsterdam is a long way away and it is now getting closer to 20.30 I fold and go "Fine". Turns out the hotel is really nice and the Room wasn't that expensive, only 79€. has a pool, free internet, breakfast included a really nice room AND a bath! So I took one :D It was great, first time in a long time I've not felt guilty about thw water usage (and the ability of late ;) )
Go to find out if I can meet up with Aranka, again with unfortunate circumstances, she is not even in Utrecht and so I fold to getting accomodation for Saturday night (tonight). The entire of The Netherlands is booked out. i kid you not and the only places that weren't were double rooms in which you had to pay for both beds, totallying ridiculous amounts of money. In the end, I gave a last ditch effort to finding a place and hoping to meet Aranka today so i could stay with her tonight and the rest but with no way of directly contacting her, email it was.
This morning I get up early and find that the answer is no in the end (It's cool Ranks, don't feel bad, it was crazy circumstances all round) and so I ask the hoel here what tehir cheapest room is for tonight. Turns out that it was only 2€ more and knowing that there is nothing left, I didn't really have much of a choice. I had a massive breakfast to make sure I got what I paid for and went into twn knowing that I had places to sleep tonight and booked the hostels for the rest of the week.
So today!
In a better mood with things worked out, I made my way through the subirbs to Utrecht central. Can I just say, that the whole of Utrecht central district is one ginormous shopping centre. Nearly every single opening onto the street was a shop of some kind and if it wasn't it was a pub/bar/etc. Hardly any offices or houses or anything. Cool if you have the money, but being me, it was a well of temptation that I just couldnt now afford to indulge in.
Utrecht is a beautiful, stunning City and I would stay here indefinitely without a worry.
Can I just say this. BIKES. Bikes are everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE. nearly everyone of those shopfronts I spoke of had either a bike leaning on them or tied to a pole, chair lamp outside of them. It was incredible! I felt naked and out of place walking. There was hardly any cars and because most of Utrecht is a shopping district, there was no cars on the roads, only bikes. And they are all generally the older style ones with springs under the seats. Mind you they are still fast but just something I noticed.
Walked through a few markets today, one was a whole entire street of folk selling fabrics.
Like for Everything known to man and woman. Curtains, dresses, veils (Big Muslim community) and a huge street market with tonnes of stalls with food to phones, shoes to camera tripods. Over the top of the people in the markets I heard a clock chiming... at 10.20.. weird. Then I looked up and there is a HUGE clock/cathedral tower looming over the town. And sure enough, bells are ringing. But it was playing music, which continued on for at least an hour and a half, and it was great! I actually felt so happy for no reason I was walking around with this goofy smile on my face.
It was a good landmark to navigate from too. I went up to it and the close I got, the more I realised that this was bigger than most things I seen. I wish I knew how tall it was because it was huge. All Gothic like and it had a cathedral next to it too. i went in an for only a donation enrty, I was again awestruck into silence and had a goofy grin because I was genuinely impressed with what I was experiencing.
This Cathedral, Domkerk, was started in 630AD (ish) and through a long history of demolition through a hurricane, vandalism through the 'Cleansing' (alot of the old stone work was damaged), and just for you Carro Henrick and Jeff, It also burnt down in parts at least once. :P
I'm talking high ceilings too. It was amazing to think that these could be built in those days when things we build today with super technology fall over. There was a guidedtour, but only in Dutch, so I just wandered around it and it's gardens for about half an hour with my jaw mostly around my ankles.
Next stop, a walk to the train station for tickets to Berlin and then some museums! A very, very fortunate stroke of luck found me walking into the Centraal Museum and going to pay a ticket only to be told that this weekend tehre is a cultural thing and tonnes of the museums are free! Perfect! This is all adding to taking away the sting of the hotel rooms, because I would have done these things and eaten anyway, this way I didnt have to pay for either.
The Central Museum was massive (I need to think of a different word for that... This is what you get coming from a small place like Adelaide, everything is massive in comparison) it spanned many, many floors and it had wings everywhere. AND best of all it had the Press Photo of the Year Exhibit which I was really pissed I would be missing in Sydney when it came tehre later in the year.
Another stroke of luck! As you would imagine the phots were incredible and it really makes me want to do something as cool. Sadly I'll never be in the front line, or swimming with lion seals in the Antartic, so i guess I'll have to stick with what I have. The museum itself has many other cool exhibits too, like an interactve one called Genisis. Some cool things like digitally painting on a wall just by touching a plant. hard to explain but there were five plants on little stands and when you touched them in different ways, a digital picture was cast up on the wall. really cool either way. Along with coning things and hybrid chickens on display. One of them sneezed on me so I'm hoping there is no Bird Flu in the Netherlands. They had a cool thing about DNA too and actually had some on display. I thought it was too small to be seen, but apparently not!
After spending a few hours there it was time to use more of the free museums at the Dick Bruna House, the creator of such Chatacters as Miffy!
The little white rabbit in the picture books when we were little. so that was kinda cool. It was a small place and aimed at kids of course, but it was really fun and it was a walk down memory lane all the same. Last on the list for today was another museum I had walked into earlier but decided not to go in and pay because I didnt realise it was free. Turned out to be Sweet!!!
It was called the 'Nationaal Museum van Speelklok tot Pierement' or the National Museum from Musical Clock to Street Organ (Which I didn't know at the time) Anyway. That said and done it was one of the coolest places I have ever been. it is a museum totally devoted to musical things like clocks, pianos, organs, and street and fairground organs. I was luck enough to stumble onto a guided tour and I think you'd have to do one to get the value out of it. The guide (very cool) set many of them going and there is just something about a huge fairground organ pumping out Áll you Need is Love' that just makes your feet tap and your mouth hum uncontrollably. But seriously though, although it didn't cost a cent, I would have gladly paid for it because I had a blast.
So with that, I am back here at the Hotel, thinking I should have gone in the pool when I got back, but there is an abundance of children here at the moment... Tomorrow I move on to Amsterdam and check out the sights of the city for 3 days before moving on to Berlin via train.
I plan to day trip to Rotterdam on Monday or Tuesday because 2007 is the year of Architecture and guess where it is held? And also guess which month is most active? Yep, Rotterdam and July. I am getting really really lucky with these things I tell you. Also I found out today that somewhere around th time I am in Nice (South France) There is a guy attempting to break the deep sea diving record (with no air). Maybe it'll be when I'm there. I hope so because i think that'd be cool to see.
Well, Now that I have killed the most part of an hour for you, You can go back to doing whatever it was you were doing. Sorry that was so long. Alot can happen in a few days huh? :P
Well I better go name all the pics. Wish me luck and safe travel. Just be thankful tehre are no more Friday the 13th's left while I'm away.
ps. 4508 words!
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