no1bone's blog

Nice - The Cote d'Azur

Such blue water!

Nice was AMAZING. The beaches were all pebbly though which was a bit annoying, but it did mean that there was no sand in the face or stuck to the sunscreen (15+ SPF wasa  high factor... I got a 30+ like normal and got funny looks, haha). Eitherway I didnt put enough on my back and lying in the sun for 2 days left me burnt and peeling... yummy. The water was just SO blue, it was really incredible. Warm too.

Met some really cool people in Nice which was great change from not really meeting anyone cool in Rome. Ellie (From Bristol) and Harry from Melbourne, made it all really cool. Had picnic on the beach at night, dinner in Old Nice which was crazy, lots of tiny streets with DAMN GOOD FOOD in all of them.

 

Went to an Irish pub one night with some guys in the room next to us and managed to chat up the Swedish Bar girl and got free drinks for the whole time we were there :D Go the Aussie charm right?

 

View of Nice

There really isnt much to say in Nice because it was my break holiday in the holiday. I just needed to eat well, sleep and take it easy. With a month of full on travel really got to me and my feet needed a rest too, haha. Id been lucky to not have blisters right up until Rome, so my feet needed that rest in Nice.

Went to the Modern Art gallery there, was cheap, but after seeing so many, they are all starting to look the same and now I can pick artists without looking at the tag because I know their work. Interesting, thie trip is actually educational!

Next is Paris. That is cool!

When in Rome...

You saw that title coming Im sure!

OK, this will be kinda quick-ish.

Old Rome

First night I got to Rome I went to the Trevi fountain because it was close however, like I said, it was a bit spoiled by the over powering sense of cheap tourism there. It was a genuine shame that so many places are commercialised and it really cheapens the whole historic value, but I guess you can't help that right? The first night I got there I had a room to myself because there was some deal with the one I was supposed to be in so I went and got some cheap wine (1.60E) and some food and had a long hot shower and had a relatively early night. It was good sitting on the window ledge looking out over the street just soaking up the atmosphere. It was SO hot though, and the humidity was incredibly high. Ridiculously high infact!

OK, a week later, i can add a bit more, no pics, but a quick story of Rome.

Coloseum and the line!

The second day in Rome consisted of the Roman Forum, which is the OLD Rome with the big old arches, pillars and stuff. Got to see where julius Caeser was burnt and buried as well as the cool Aquaducts they have everywhere. The big thing for me in Rome was the fact that they have constantly flowing water from fountains EVERYWHERE. You can drink it straight from these fountains that are often statues or lions but otherwise just taps with no way to turn them off. because there is so much water and the Romans were that damn clever, the water is recycled after it goes into the ground, through the Aquafers (sp?) and back through the fountains again COLD and ready to drink. It really is way better tasting than the water in the hotel too, and way

Outside St Peter's in Vatican City

colder, its like ice and thats no joke.

The cool thing about the forums is that one part of them you need a ticket for (heres that cool story as promised) and I said student but they only give student discount for some countries and some ranks of people. I said Australia and he said "Oh we only do some parts, which part are you from?" I was like.... Sydney! Thinking that if there was anywhere it would be there that has discount, but no, infact it didn't it was only Adelaide or Perth, hahahaha. GOLD. I then told him I was from Adelaide and typically asked for the drivers license to prove it, then he said something in Italian about me first being from Syd.

One of the domes of the many alters in St Peter's

then Adelaide when discount came up, but hey, the license did lie. :P

it was really hot there too, walking through the old Rome was like walking through a desert because there is no shade and actually there was a helicoptor flying around too. Weird, Security is SO BIG in Italy, there is about 5 different police forces and there are particular police for the differnt Ministries too, like Defence, health, etc have their own black cars, black suited gaurds and ear pieces... interesting.

Light from the Pantheon roof

Colluseum was cool, vrey big, and old, dirty though and filled with stupid tourists. Checked out the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and when I get the pics up you'll see just how big it is. It resembles Parliment house in Canberra, its HUGE but way better looking. so much marble and Granite, id hate to be in Rome in Winter, You'd surely kill yourself by slipping up you know.

 

Umm, quickly what else.

Good food, Good Wine, Good spirited people mostly.

DO:

*Watch for the scooters, theyll run you down even on a green walking man

*Visit the Vatican City but prepare for lines. The line for the Vatican Museum was 3 hours long at 9am... I paid a bit extra for a tour group and got in in half an hour. Best money spent that day.

*See the Sistine Chapel, it is just so amazing... SO much work has gone into it, its mad.

*Check out the Parks in North Rome. Just so amazing on a really hot day for a quick siesta on the grass or on the park benches.

Rome from the northern gardens

DON'T:

*Take the insults from passing tourists to heart, they all do it to each other

*Expect to understand why motorists feel the need to use their car horns just for the sake of hearing them and then know why the other ones then respond with no real reason...

*Be surprised to see half of the Indian Population selling wares on the street, the whole of the touristy spots are full of them 

*Dont give gypsies money, seriously they are DODGEY

 

 

Roman Cats!

Oh and I volunteered at a cat sanctuary too for by final afternoon there. It was really cool. I stumbled on this place by accident after coming from the pantheon and really glad I did. 250 cats in a ruins and this hospital, many one eared, 3 legged cats, some are blind, but all re lovely and were really friendly. If in Rome again, Ill go back and help out too. Highlight of Rome was that. It was something different and Really memorable, just the way it should be. Looks like this trip is one of those things that teaches you big life lessons really. And for that Im thankful for. That continues the the 'One local thing in each country you cant do anywhere else' mission I am on this trip.

St Peter's Basillica

 

Oh and I went to the 4 Rivers fountain too, in the big famous plaza but its under renovation :( I wanted to see it because it was in that Dan Brown book, Angels and Demons and he did a pretty good job at describing it I think, I wnted to see if my imagination and reality were close, and they were which was nice.

Oh and Vatican City is really cool too. St Peter's Basilica is ENORMOUS. I think that most of the Churches in greater Adelaide could fit inside. I felt really small in that place, I really did. Just the arm on one of the statues one ONE of the alters was biger than me, hahaha. Definitely worth a look thats for sure. Oh and I went to the treasury too , that place was cool. So much money in there with the papel things. Diamonds on gold on silver on precious gems!

OK that's the short version of Rome, Sorry its so jagged, but this half hour internet blocks are killing me!  

Nice is well... Just Amazing

I cant do the pics at the moment and these french keyboards are so backwards itll take me too long to explain everything: Just know that Rome was really cool and Nice is amazing. Warm and sunny, breeze off the ocean. Magic. Going to Monaco tomorrow and I thought I might throw a few coins on the table at Monte Carlo :D :D The hostel is pretty cool, close to most things, including the beach, the supermarket and a glut of internet cafes. Thanks for the comments I get here and for the emails. Its good to hear what is going on back home with a lack on English news unless Im online:

Just had my Origin Psych test online and it was quite hard actually. Being in a net cafe was DEFINITELY NOT the place you should be for something like that, but alas no choice. Between screaming kids, Indian Pop Music and quite difficult maths stuff to do on a time limit, let me tell you the pressure was on and I just hope I passed because Id hate to miss out due to circumstances. Accenture had another crack at getting me for immediate start, bit hard when Im here, hahaha.

Well must go. Will try and get somewhere with an English formatted keyboard and try this again :P

Til then; Au Revoir

Berlin Pt2 + Stuttgart

 

Jewish Museum

OK, Where I left off was after the big tour. And as it turns out, it has kinda ruined every tour I've been on so far now because it was so good. But anyway, what can I say, I loved every minute of it.

That night we went to a bar over in East Berlin, where can I just say there is still a clear division of funds, etc. They might appear on the map as one Berlin, but they are technically still divided. Different pay rates, shopping expenses blah blah... It was interesting.

Anyway, this bar. Basically a large block of land, covered in sand with a beach vollyball court, an awesome DJ with big beer and good company. You're sitting in deck chairs with your toes in sand in the middle of Berlin. What more do you want? I ended up falling asleep on the chair at about 2.30 because seriously, I was SO buggered from the tour, I just couldn't keep going.

 

'Fallen leaves'

Next day dawns my 'Jewish Day'. With Stef at work, I go off to the Jewish Museum and let me tell you, what a place! Not only is it architectually beyond this world with AWESOME use of open space and lines, but it tells the history of Jewish culture from the early days right up until the present. Spread over many floors and covering a largte area you are taken on a huge journy. It starts with these long halls and disorienting gardens as they make you feel like a Jew would have felt in a new place. There is a room which is just a HUGE, tall concrete room with one slit of natural light peeking in at the top, thats it. It's meant to symbolise that althought you being in there and seeing the light and hearing the noise from outside(no glass) you'll never be able to reach it. Like a Jew for freedom in WWII I guess. I laid on the floor and took it all in. Quite amazing. The rest of the museum is cool and from most places you are able to see this awesome piece of work by an artist which is called something along the lines of 'Fallen Leaves' which is basically huge rooms of which the floor is covered in little and big metal faces (see pic). You are encouraged to walk on them and because the piece is in a long, really high  copncrete room, every step on the clinking metal echoes throughout. Really, really eerie let me tell you.

 

Ooohhh Arty

From there after spending a few hours, but could have easily been a day I went into Berlin central again to check out the 'Quietest place in Berlin' Which is the underground rooms of the Holocaust Monument. And were they quiet! Free entry into what I think is one of the best exhibits of Berlin it takes you through the history of Germany and World war II. First is a room with a  pictorial and a written chronolography (word?) of the war and then you enter what I think was one of the most moving rooms. A very dark room with light panels in the floo, each with a short quote, the actual document it came from (like a diary, letter, postcard thrown from a train to a death camp) and an enlarged version of that. Seriously moving peices. There was one in particular from a 12 year old boy coming to terms with his own death and asking why it is that he should die like his other members already before him. He says that they often just push the children into the pits of dead that have already been murdered, wait for them to  become really distressed and then take pot shots at them while they swim through the bodies to get away. It is just far to emotional to really comprehend. The other rooms are similar, one focusing on families, another on individuals as their name is projected on each of the 4 walls of a darkroom, a story is told and they move on. It would take 6 years fore the list of names and their story to be read end to end without stopping. Over six Million Jews died in Europe in World War II. An incomprehensible amount of people that without the aid of Berlin and it's monuments, I still would not fully be able to understand.

 

Reichstag - Inside the Cuppola

After leaving that, which could have been another day in its own right, I went to check the Reichstag (which had been closed for cleaning the exact dates I was in Berlin) and lucky for me, it was open! They had finished early :D After a line up and some rain for over an hour, I got up to the top of the Parliment Building to see the Glass Cupola. And what a sight it is and what you can see from it too. I was thoroughly impressed and it is very much worth the wait.

Gotta move quickly now! (I  can hear the sighs of relief from here ;) )

Next day is museum island, which is where all of the main old museums are in Berlin, on an island... Go figure huh?

 

Pergamon Fringing

First up is the 'Old Museum' which is filled with Old Greek and Egyptian artifacts, all very cool and  worth a half day in its own right, I dont have that long, so it got less. Saw the Head of Nefrititie (Sp?) The most beautiful head in the world? I dont know, it was cool and all, but yeah... It was worth the look. I was more interested in the cats :D As always.

From there is a cool foyer area where the walls are lined with sculptures under a massive (I need a thesaurus I swear) dome. Moving on for my ultra cheap museum day pass (Gotta love being a student, good story about that later) I moved on to the Pergamon museum. This is OLD stuff and BIG OLD Stuff. The main piece is the temple of Pergamon which was lines with hundreds of sculptures coming from the wall all the way around this temple. They are copied and put on display in this extremely large hall for viewing. The audio guide takes you through each panel and it is REALLY interesting. Its basically the battle of the gods and the giants which takes form in a lot of the sotries and such in paintings sculptures etc from all over the place. The Giants verse the gods and lose, but a huge battle ensues which many of them die and all the god of Olympus, even the sweet ones like the God of Love and Fertility, get and axe or torch and bust some heads.

Head of Nefratitie

 After that is some big arch whose name espaces me, but it was the arch to the city of Babylon. Quite impressive, but my photography abilities have been lacking somewhat lately and so the pics didnt really turn out. Moving on through the gallery is tonnes more old stuff, but I wont bore you with the details.

 

Next gallery is that of Sculptures. In a huge  building next to the Pergamon Museum, it contains hundreds of scultputes etc of things through the ages. Guess what most of them depict? Yeah Jesus and Mary and the Cross and the Deposition and the Acention of Christ.... I got nothing against the art and it is interesting, but after you've seen your first 3000 pieces of ancient Christian Art, it all looks the same.

 

Stef and I

After being booted out at 6, thus ending my day at museum island. More stuff happened, but mostly free architecture and reliving bits of the tour before going home.

OK. Half way there.

Stuttgart.

In Short.

The lovely Elena picked me up from the airport and I checked out the city centre and it has what is like Rundle Mall but on Steroids. It takes about the size of King William Street and then some with at elast 3 parallel streets all pedestrian only with linking ally ways etc, it is HUGE. Checked that out and a few churches along the way. All cool of course. Then went back to home base for some Spatzle (Damn non German Keyboard). Its like pancake mixture but its dripped into hot water like noodles and that is what it is. Noodles with onion and cheese. Really Really nice.

 

Where the Magic Happens

Next day is the day of a million things. Get up early to see the Mercedes Benz Museum. Well what can I say... AMAZING! It has recently been rebuilt and is 7 floors of museum that you start at the top with these funky audio guides and a futuristic elevator taking you to the top floor. As you wind your way through the many galleries and all, you are taken on a trip through the history of the Brand name, the car and the whole kit. Really REALLY interesting but alas they do not hand out free samples at the end. After that it was the crappy, small Porsche museum on the other side of town, but I am told that they are building something to equal that of Mercedes, as the world of high performace vehicles goes I guess.

Stuttgart

Still, it was cool to see some of the Le Mans cars and the like.

Next is something different. After seeing enough art for one l ifetime I went to the Dinosaur museum in the foot hills. It was cool and I felt like a kid again wandering through the bones and the exhibits (all in German :( ) But the audio guide helped. It's funny how much you remember from being little, I could still name so many!

From there we take the train up to the very tall TV tower for a look over Stuttgart and is it what!

Pope Mobile was a Mercedes

 I have a feeling it would be more awesome was it not cold and cloudy, but the view was tell tale. Beautiful green city in amongst rolling hills and vineyards.  That night we had the other Stuttgart speciality of Mautaschen, like big ravioli cut up and fried with egg. Delicious!! After tea, we went up to a bar over looking vineyards and Stuttgart at night. All in all very awesome.

That's the short version by the way. Just so you know.

 

Stuttgart - Cultural Gardens

Im leaving Rome tomorrow but I would need many more hours to write it all up so I'll do it in Nice with Free internet at the Hostel. Rome grew on me, that's for sure. I'll tell you this quickly. I got here and all that was going through my head was that Shania Twain song 'That Don't impress me much'... But now, four days later, I can understand the old saying of 'Rome, one lifetime is not enough'. Very true. Still can't stand the horribly crowded tourtist traps but what can you do? I guess I'm just as touristy as the family of wingeing Yanks next to me...

Right...

In other News! Yes, that actually not related to the Trip.

I got a text message from the Origin Energy Recruitment services about the Grad position and I love how they have been so flexible. It's been so great. That's why I love Origin so much! Anyway, I got a text saying that I was successful in the first round of interviews (mine being the phone one) and that the second (supposed to be a face to face (like the first one)) would be conducted via email on Monday. SO when I am in Nice I'll be trying to secure myself a future with one of the coolest companies I've worked for so far. Mind you it starts in January, so I'll have to find work inbetween to pay off the credit card debt that I know I will have accumulated by the trip's end, but it looks promising.

Things are on the up and up.

Ich bin ein Berliner

Ariel view of the Sony Centre in Berlin

Oh yes, in the famous words of one John F. Kennedy, ''I am a Berliner'' (or ''I am a citizen of Berlin'', depending on your interpretation).

One word for Berlin: Fan-tas-mo-gorical

I was in Berlin for 5 day (well kinda 6) and I saw but a small fraction of the things there is to see. I think I went down and knocked out most of the main tourist attractions in the city but there was still so much I could have seen and done. The trip across from Amsterdam was a 6 hour train ride but luckily I had the company of a canadian guy from my hostel room the night before to keep the trip interesting. The weirdest thing is smoking in the cabins... Ugh! Not all of them mind you, but still. It is interesting to see the relaxed culture in Europe especially for things like smoking, drinking and dogs. Dogs are like children in many places and have as many 'rights' too, it's strange.

The Art Gallery with the New York Art

Anyway, into the interesting part of my stories. And there are many of them, but due to time and attention span constraints, they will be a litle shorter and less lively than if I was telling them in person. As you all well know, I like to talk with my hands, and these stories call for a lot of hand movements and excitment, both of which words cannot do justice to!

First up, Stef met me at the HUGE (there's that word again) train station and after dropping my bag at his place, which is so conveniently placed in Berlin, we went down to a pleasure garden (not a sex garden, one with a fountain and grass, beautiful!) and had a few heinikins I smuggled across the border in my bag, haha. No they were just left over from the night before. 12 Heini's for 5€ oh yeah... life is good in Amsterdam! Caught a cheap pizza on the way home (2.50€) and I got some seriously much needed sleep.

Inside roof of the Sony Centre

Next day we checked out the State Art museum with some free tickets from Stef's housemate who works as an art restorer. What a cool profession huh? Restoring priceless pieces of art. Cool. The travelling exhibition was the 'Old Masters' Fromt he Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Some very impressive paintings, like all of Europe, with Monet, and the like on display. I swear that I am going to be so 'Art-ed out' by the time I get back. After spending the morning there, I went of a local's guide of berlin with Stef as my guide. Checking out the very cool, very new Potsdamer Platz (New because it was not there in the war and then again when the Berlin wall was up) we took a lift to the top of the Damier Chrysler building to get a birds eye view of Berlin. Wow and Wow again. So many sights (and sites) so close to each other. Berlin is a VERY walkable city on a good day, but expect to walk a lot if you want to see some of the outer lying attractions. The public transposrt system is just so well done it is very accessible everywhere all over the city.

Graffiti in East Berlin

Checked out the Holocaust Monument, the Branderburger Tör (Brandenbug Gate) and the Reichstag gardens, saw the Bellevue and the Victory monument as well before catching up later that night for some drinks with the cool arty flat mate. In Berlin there is a drink that consists of beer and either red or green syrup added to it. Very traditionally Berlin and way too sweet for me, so I stuck to the Hefeweissen. Very cool club though, jazz lounge and couches in the back with a cruisy outdoor area. All within walking distance of the flat. That you have to love.

Next day dawns with what i will call the best day in the trip so far. It is a four hour walking tour of Berlin with the 'Insider Tours' group. Our guide was Brian Deichtrich and he is truely a god amonsgt tour guides and in his spare time he is the Artistic Direcctor for the Canadian Opera, pretty cool huh? To be honest, I'm not sure what he would prefer as his full time job because he is so good at touring in a city which he has fallen in love with and it shows. He knows EVERYTHING about Berlin, and I don't mean that in a 'trying to be nice, knows a fair bit' kinda way, I mean everything, it's scary.

Ther Berlin Wall

We start the tour in West Berlin with a bit of history about the East-West divide and a look at a bombed out church. We then get on a train and meet the rest of our group at HakescherMakt (where there was a stabbing of a South Australian guy the day after i was there.... freaky...) and we continue on to the Jewish Quarter of the city. Saw the Synagogue that was saved during the 'Night of the Broken Glass' where Anti-Jewish rebels and Nazi's  started to destroy all Jewish homes, places of whorship and stores owned by Jews. I can't remember the dates for everything that happened but what I can tell you is that an uncanny amount of things happened on the 9th of November. We also checked out this outdoor bar-club thing which is in the back of a bombed out department store cum apartment block. Big letters on the ground are now seats as well as old car seats, tractor tires etc. all very cool . After we get a bt of history about the place, we move on down FredrickStraße to what was once the roaring centre of caberet, not so any more.

BabelPlatz

After a few stops along the way, we make it to the Reichstag (The Berlin\German Parliment Building) with the glass cupola ontop. We didn't go in because the line ups are always over an hour, but we heard some awesome stories (ask me later) and moved on to the Brandenburger Tör. Checking that out and the Hotel Adlon (Where Micheal Jackson held out the little baby over the balcony) we moved on through town to the Embassy section and the site of a major protest on the 17th of July in which many peaceful protesters were killed by tanks and Communist troops. From there we moved on to the 'Typologies of terror' Which is a section of the wall (above) and an open air museum, for free, it's well worth it (I went with Stef the previous day). After that, we went to the Holocaust monument and the site of where Hitler's last hours were spent. The now parking lot, was once the Gardens to a 'Castle' and 13m below where we were was a bunker where Eva Braun and Hitler were married briefly before she took a Cyanide pill and Hitler Shot himself in the head. A fitting end to a psychotic dictator. After that we checked out Checkpoint Charlie, which was the major American crossing of the wall but now it's a scaary tourist attraction with alot of US Kitsch... here is where we hit our 4.5 hour mark and had a rest.

Reichstag Building

Moving on from there we went to another site of atrocities of a differnt kind. Babelplatz was the site of a huge book burning which took place with the Nazi's burning thousands of volumes of books from Jewish and other black listed authors. It was really incredible because there was a plaque on the site which read something along the lines of 'Now they are burning books and knowledge which is inconceivable. Now this is done there is nothing stopping them from doing the same thing to people.' Chilling considering that it came many many years before the Jewish murders of the 2nd world war. There is a glass squar in the centre of the place which upon inspection contains a library with empty shelves on all 4 walls except for a small piece of one, large enough for a door. But what good is a door to a library with no books? Make you think huh?

From there we checked out gendarme Square with different churches and another Philharmonic site (Most things in Berlin are doubled because of the East and West had one each, and most of them still remain) and we went to Museum island, which is where the Berliner Döm is and 5 major museums of Berlin. From there you can see the TV tower and we moved to our last place on the tour, Marx-Engal Sq (Fathers of Capitalism :D ) where we were told the chilling story of the fall of the Berlin wall. Now mind you, this is the short version of the day and all the way through Brian had been delving all of us in the history of Berlin and the things that happened, mostly all bad and unbelivable. Coming to the wall was incredible because it was only in 1989 the wall fell. Not that long ago remember. He was around when it did and so his story had some extra potency. By the end of the half hour account I swear to you there was not a dry eye in the house (or circle on the grass) because it was so emotional it was incredible. It was the most fitting end to an awesome tour and so after that alot of us went to the pub with Brian. i was in no hurray to go anywhere so yeah.

Can't really describe it, but it was just an amzing day filled with so much. the tour finished just after 5.30 making it nearly 8 hours of tour for something that was supposed to be 4. Good value for money and the most amazing account on anything Ive ever heard.

More to come. That was only 2 days!

Amsterdam a Go-Go

Well, now for some back tracking and updating. There is a lot in my brain so lets see if we can't get it all out on to here now?

Amsterdam Street

Well, Amsterdam... What an interesting city! I arrived there Sunday afternoon after a train from Utrecht after spending another expensive but lavish night in a hotel. When I arrived I checked out where to find my hostel and it turned out to be about a half hour walk from the Centraal Station which meant I could get myself orientated on the way. Let me just say that the rooms were VERY small but the company was good. They were two sets of bunks against the wall but we were lucky to have a fire escape balcony to the room :D That helped a lot in the later nights.My room mates were 2 Yanks from Miami and a Canadian guy who was there to try out all that Amsterdam had to offer and more. I dumped my stuff and headed out. Went down to VondelPark which, despite the rain, had a free concert going on for people, so listening to Jazz I planned out what I was going to do for the next few days.

I Amsterdam

After being awed by the jazz, I moved on to the city with a walk up north, North = Red Light District and it was actually funny because although I knew I was heading there, I misjudged how close it was and all of a sudden I look to my left and see a girl in a window ready to go...!!! The red light district is a lot of street and alleyways that have widow/doors on them with girls behind them. All that you have to do is go up, pick the one you want and then they open up and then draw the curtain and you are away!! Funny watching a bunch of Japanese guys try it out in front of me.

Smallest House in Amsterdam

After that I made my way back to the Hostel to see what the guys were doing. Seeing as they had been out the night before and going out later that night, I decided to go out on my own for a bit of a pub crawl to see what I could see. I pretty much walked a fair chunk of the VERY walkable city trying pub to pub and meeting some cool bartenders and all along the way. One of the funniest things to see in Amsterdam is the abundance of 'Smart Shops' Which sell Magic Mushrooms over the counter as well as the infamous coffee shops for buying and smoking weed. (Which you could also buy seeds for in the Tulip stalls along the street).

I was pretty buggered so after a few drinks I came back to the hostel to pass out just in time to see the rest of the guys leave for the Red Light District for a show. When 3,30am rocked around I got to hear all about it and why they called the show Banana-rama... More stories but this is PG rated. It involved a written postcard and a massage... I'm lucky I didn't go because it was €80 for the show and they seemed to be made of money and after the last couple of nights, I was saving.

Amsterdam Bibliotek (Library)

Next day was the big Amsterdam day. It meant a HUGE walk all over the city visiting places like the much rip off Rijksmuseum,  (HUGE building with 80% closed off for renovations with the same entry fee for a full museum), Van Gogh Museum Architecture, and a general Architecture tour of the far north of Amsterdam as well as the Anne Frank House in the evening.

The Architecture in Amsterdam is also awesome. I stumbled across the new library which had only opened two weeks before hand. VERY freaking cool.

Nemo - Amsterdam

It was very futuristic and as you can see from the pics, a cool place to be. Very open and it had 7 floors , ultra modern surroundings and Macs everywhere. I was impressed no end. Beside it pissing down with rain, I managed to get a lot of sights done around the library, one of which included the 'Nemo' science centre ( -------> ) And the architecture museum of Amsterdam. After winding through the city, I found myself at one of the coolest places, a cat house on a barge, hahahaha. The deal is, is that it is a stray cat home where this lady and her family look after stray cats on a boathouse they have. For a donation you can visit and play with the cats. I got to feed some of them because I came past right after it opened. It was really cool. Something I wouldn't have really thought about but it was cool all the same.

The Cat Barge

After the cat barge, and a trip down the Rodeo drive of Amsterdam (Ahhhh coolest Shoe store in the world, Shoe-Baloo with it's seriously futuristic store layout (Yep, the one in the book, I found by complete accident)). I was really tired by the time I got back to the hostel but I ended up going to the Anne Frank House at about 7pm because the lines are supposed to be shorter then... not by much let me tell you!

Outside of the Anne Frank House

45 mins later, I enter the world of a Jewish Family hiding in the annex to factory shop on the street side. It's an amazing story which is told through the walk around brochure and interactive displays but you get a real feeling for how life was like back then in the war time. It was really sad that they were betrayed so close to the end of the war and all but Anne's father were murdered. There was a huge thunder and lightning storm going on the whole time I was in the house (which is a lot bigger than I imagined) which very much added to the mood.

Before heading back, I checked out a National Geographic animal photo exhibition which was on a place around a church across the road. Very cool.

Rotterdam

Tuesday bought Rotterdam and a whole new way of looking at architecture! The whole city is one big exhibition! It probably helps that 2007 is the Year of architecture too :P I checked out the Netherlands Architecture Institute first which was very damn cool. Janey you would have loved it! (Actually I think of you a lot on this trip because of all of the cool buildings and everything!)

The Netherlands Architecture Institute

After wandering throught the architecture exhibits I went a little more mainstream and went to the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum which is a cross between modern art and some older things too. Some of the real modern art was FAR OUT. There were these 3 ENORMOUS gallery spaces which some what resembled a hanger and they had really weird exhibits in them as they were classed as art...Sometimes I'm not so sure. I mean a stack of paint cans? Come on. But all the same a totally groovy place and if I had had more hours, I would have stayed there. But time kills all good experiences. With that I walked the rest of the city checking out the famous bridges of Rotterdam (Had more photos but my memory card corrupted... again.... before I noticed and took more :( )

Rotterdam

Just so much to see and do in that place! I kinda wish I had booked my accommodation there for the last night, but oh well. With that day trip out the way, my time in Amsterdam was just about over and with a quick stop into the sex museum on the way back from the train station to the hostel, the city was at an end. The sex museum... That is something to see that's for sure. It's a no holds barred, expose of sex over the ages and its really interesting but at the same time you can't help feel a little weird as there is scores of other people checking it out with you at the same time. All in all a good laugh though!

Gotta Love Modern Art

Wednesday means the train ride to Berlin and a meeting with Steffan! I'll just finish off here with saying that Berlin is one of the most astounding cities I have been in and I feel like I could live here forever. It really has captured me in a way that no other city so far has. Apart from the history that is in EVERYTHING you look at, the city has a certain buzz about it in the lifestyles. People are relaxed but purposeful. I like that. After spending five days here, I can say that I have seen a tiny part of it, mostly ticked off the major tourist attractions but there is SO much more to see. You'd need a lifetime. But that is for the next blog. I'm beat and I have a plane to catch tomorrow to Stuttgart. Unfortunately Berlin is over for me, BUT meeting up with Elena in Stuttgart will be cool. Gateway to Rome! Bring it on. 

Still Alive

Hi All, Just wanted to quickly say that I am indeed still alive and having an awesome time! I'll update with Amsterdam and Berlin soon, I have to say though, Berlin is one of the most amazing cities I have EVER experienced and Went on an 8 hour tour of it yesterday (walking) and was just infinitely impressed.

Also

My phone is very touch and go with some messages coming in and others not. Also for whatever reason Optus (the bastards) have been charging me for something and I have bugger all credit left. I went from $19 to $6 overnight!! It doesn't cost anything for me to receive texts, but it costs an insane amount to receive calls. Will try and get to an Calling Cafe today.

So don't be offended if I don't pick up or I am not calling like I thought I would.

Update soon,

Scott

From Helsinki to Hell and then to Utrecht

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?

 

Me and Janne at Jyvaskyla Train Station

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.

David and the Swiss Girls

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....

Me infront of Uspensky Cathedral

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?]

Uspensky Cathedral inside

Helsinki Cathedral from the Outside

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.

House of the Estates in Helsinki

 

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!

Church in the Rock

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.

Helsinki cemetary

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.

 

War graves in Helsinki

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.

Alvar Aalto's Grave

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!

 

Sibelius Monument

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!

 

Kinda Malls Balls!

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...

 

Denmark from the air

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!

 

Bikes in Utrecht

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.

Utrecht Street

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

 

Domkerk Cathedral

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.

Domkerk Bell Tower

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!

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.

Fairground Organ

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!

Jyväskylä

OK, I still don't have all the pics up, but ya know, Iäm at a Cafe in Helsinki now.

This'll be a quickie. Met Janne in Jyväskylä after a morning in Helsinki. My very first Bolt meet! Awesome. His hospitality was perfect and despite what people might say about quiet Finns, he was not one of them! After walking around the most picturesque place I have been in a long time I have decided that I could live there in a heart beat, but in the summer only! I was treated to a cultural experience like no other!

Traditional Finnish Sauna

A traditional Finnish Sauna. It was 'cold' at 60C and by the time we left it was a bit higher. It was situated on the side of this HUGE lake with pine trees as far as the eye can see. The lake of course had a Jetty where you could run and dive into the lake after being in the sauna.

I piked for two reasons...

Traditionally everyone is naked. This was my first shock! When we got there everyone started stripping down and I started to get my first experience of Finnish culture. I piked and kept my Aussie Boxers on, haha, I wasn't ready to jump that far into the culture just yet, but the sauna itself is an experience! It is so HOT. Obviously you say, but I didnt realise how hot it was. After a while and you can't stay in there forever we went out and dipped in the lake, which apparently was 19C but it most certainly was not! I can't imagine the Ice Hole dunking in the winter, I think I would die. However I have to say that it was a lot less cold standing aruond outside drinking beer than I thought it would be. I was impressed with myself all the same.

Was with a great bunch of Finns who made me welcome so I was thankful for that!

Jetty outside the Sauna

Also we went to the Aalto Museum, which Jane, I wish you were with me! It was very cool as he is a local architect who actually designed half of Jyväskylä and surrounding towns and Helsinki, as far off as Germany and Italy too. His buildings were stunning and Janne showed me a few of them in the town, even at the campus. The main lecture hall building was designed by him. We wwnt to have a look and it was locked because it is the summer but a guy working there still let us in for a look. Kiittos!

Well I'll have to leave it there for now. I'm bunking in a Hostel in Helsinki with an American guy from San Fransisco and another Aussie who I've not met yet. There is a 'Outback Bar' down the road so I think we'll go test it for authenticity later tonight.

Oh, saw Kiasma today! (Modern Art) Awesome!!

Take care all, I'll post when I can. Im in Helsinki tonight and all tomorrow and I leave on Friday (Happy Birthday Claire) (Friday the 13th too!) Down to Amsterdam to meet Aranka which should be a blast.

Right times up, I'm out!

Stockholm - All up

Well, because I was slack and didn't write a blog each day (mainly because I was too tired each night) I'll have to recap the rest of stockholm in one blog :D

Inside the Library

Where did we leave off... Oh yeah, that's right, we went to the Stockholm national library and itis this awesome round building on a hill and as you can see from the photo, has a Harry Potter feel about it because the curved walls are covered in books! No ladders to zip around though, but still, very awesome. We also went to this little lolly shop in one of the subway arcades with lollies in the floor cavity (See pic). VERY COOL. I swear I could have spent hours in there tasting all of the different lollies but of course I'd never get out because I'd be so fat. Noteworthy lollies are green banannas with a sour coaing, little mushrooms which are made of that white soft lolly stuff and Coke Bottles! Do you remember them? I hadn't had them in so long, I'd forgotton all about them.

Floor of the Lolly Shop

View from the tower

On top of all of that, we went back to City Hall to climb the 106m tower.To be honest, it wasn't as hard as I thought it might have been, but eitherway, the view was worth it. There is a functioning bell set at the top which rings out every hour. We stayed to be underneath them and hear it. All very cool. The view is just so impressive because it is a 360 view and because it was a clear day, you could see for miles.

The Crew in Stockholm

Also, the guided tour of the Swedish Parliment building by Carro and Henrick's friend Sophia.WOW, very cool building which was full of tunnels in the back for the 'Parlimititions' to run through. We saw all of the chambers where voting takes place and the party rooms as well. Got my pic in the speaker of the house's chair. After the tour (To many of the places a standard on cannot take you ;) ) we retired to the roof of the building where we had more Tetra Pak wine! and took in Stockholm again. Seriously, I'll never tire of that city. 

Queen St Mall

In the morning, (all of this is probably out of order but egh) we wet and saw the changing of the guards at the Royal Castle. That was certainly something. With their vibrant blue uniforms and their shiny caps, they were a sight to see. It is a very formal process and I think that some of it might be more for show than practicality, it was really cool to be a part of it. After watching the gaurds, we then went n a guided tour of the rooms of the Castle. I think I have a bit of a crush on the CroonPrincessa (Crown Princess) of Sweden and she is striking and she looks like a barrel of laughs too. Can't blame a guy for trying to get an invitation for a cuppa now can you? The castle was of course amazing, like all the castles here and there was the compulsory massive artworks which are older than the founded version of Australia. That actually is something to take on board, the fact that most of the things that I'm looking at, walking through etc are from the 1600's and are just marvellously old!

Royal Castle Gaurds

As an aside, it seems that most things in Sweden have burnt down at least once in their history. So you could say that Stockholm is somewhat of a Phoenix city. That should be it's emblem instead of the Griffin.

Later that night ((Tuesday) (OMG this is going to take ages to write the rest of this), we all went and had dinner and cocktails at a very trendy little Bar called the Inferno Bar. As mentioned, I had the Swedish Meatballs and they were awesome. The cocktails were served by a guy and a girl whom were abslutely great in their service and so much so that Jeff tipped them and they were really happy. It's not that customary to do it in Sweden, but like anywhere, it's always appreciated.

Moving on to Wednesday, we went for a walk around the old town of Strängnäs. At one stage it was said to have the most beautiful street in Sweden, and is nothing else, its church was something else. It was SO amazing, and although I seem to use the words 'awesome' and 'amazing' alot, I just can't find other words for them. The ceilings was painted all through and it's really something tat you have to see to appreciate. The detail etc is incredible.
 

Roof Detail at the Church in Strängnäs

After this, we went to Gripsholms (Griffin Island) for a tour of the old Royal castle.This is where the million and one art pieces were and there was just rooms upon rooms of artwork most dating back to the 16 and 17 hundreds. Can't show you any pics because it was forbidden but needless to say they were very, very impressive.

After leaving that castle, we headedto Taxinge castle which is privately owned. Overlooking Lake Mälerän, it's an old school mansion with the widest selection of gormout cakes and biscuits anyone could ask for. I had a pear slice with Mint cream and apricots or somethin to that effect and it was stunning.

Inferno Bar, Stockholm

Moving along quickly now as I know many of you have fallen asleep, Thursday brought on the Vasa museum which was an old warship built in the 1600's and it sank on it's maiden voyage shortly after leaving the dock. It was SO big and heavy on top that it was not balanced properly and it tipped over, water flodded in, and it subsequently sank. [Arc - e - pel - ar - go] The boat was in stunning condition seeing as it was on the bottom of the ocean for 300 years. (Photos to come)

Vasa

After that, we went to the Modern Art Museum and although I know Modern Art isn't everyone's cuppa, it is mine and I loved it. I got to see Dali, Piccaso, Warhol and a host of others that I had seen in books and never in my wildest dreams would I be face to face ith the art in question. It was great and they had a very informative audio guide too. Somethings of course were even too far out for me but on the whole, big thumbs up.

Me infront of Gripsholms Castle

This night was an important one in Swedish Culture because I cooked Chicken Parmi's (with the expert help of Henrick) for everyone. It was really fun and I think that it was the most South Australian thing I could think of. Any other suggestions?

Jeff left early Friday :( but thanks for everything mate. After we all got up and such, w went to the current residence of the Queen and King of Sweden, Drottingholm Palace. This is situated on grounds that I can olny compare to the Botanic gardens in Adelaide times five.It was just SO massive and well looked after and the palace itself was amazing. Most of the interior was painted plaster and wood to look like marble and alot of the surfaces were painted to look 3D and I have to tell you, a few times I had to touch to check. Amazing skill with a paintbrush. Just things like the old clocks and the fireplaces were so well preserved. It also felt cool to be somewhere where the King and Queen sometimes were.  We had a proper  Swedish tea with fish and seafood, I piked on trying the caviar from a tube. Actually lots of things are in tube form, so that is a cool invention to bring back to Oz. oh that and the best cheese cutting instrument known to man! Which also doubles as a handy vegetable peeler:D :D

The Royal Castle

Intricate Paintings on Church Wall

So with the last night's sleep behind me, we went shopping for ridiculously cheap clothes at a store called H&M. I could hav bought most of the store, but decided against it, seeing as it's still only my first stop. After some retail therapy I said my final goodbyes and many thanks to Carro and Henrick at the Viking Line Terminal in Stockholm. [Thanks you both SO much for everything you did for me with the trip, it's been a huge help and something that I think I underestimated the need for. Jumping right in to travelling alone is something I should have put a bit more thought into!]

View from the Back of the ship

Which leaves us with the Viking Line. It's a cruise Ship but it ferries passengers across the Baltic Sea. It is a MASSIVE ship, (which I almost missed because I was watching the wrong bunch of people not moving) and it has many decks with a car one too. I had no cabin but they hada sleeping room for us povo students which I dumped my backpack in the lockers and left behind for the pub. The ship has EVERYTHING! It looked a bit like PJ's so I felt at home. Got to trying alot of different beers for a decent price too. Ended up chatting to an awesome guy Christer and his wife and children along wth the Muso, guitar playing Norwegian (Who I thought was American) and two guys from th States. Had an awesome night shifting from the pub when it closed to a bar then when that closed to the night club,  which was pretty empty, but still, it was playing good TimeWarp songs! Met up with two lovely ladies which worked on board and put up with me trying to speak Russian and Finnish whilst under the influence of too many pints.  OH and I had Fosters too... Egh, it's ok, I think I remember someone telling me it was crown Larger? Can't confirm that, but all the same, it was drinkable.

Aboard the Viking Line

Crashing ou on the floor of the sleeping room at 4am meant that I slept through the noisey people and such ready for docking in at Helsinki this morning. After walking half the city I got the the unique and equally incredible train station building and Senate Square. The city itself, which I'll explore more on my return in a few days, is just so well laid out and there is something to see at every turn. Because the public toilets were 1€ I decided to get changed in an elevator as the shops are all closed on Sunday's but the malls around them are open, so I figured no one would walk in :) I'm such a tight ass I know.

Pretend PJ's onboard the Viking Line

After leaving Helsinki for Jyväskylä on the train I arrived here to meet Janne as the first Bolt\Helldot meet. I'm staying here for a couple of days and then it's back to Helsinki to take the rest of the city in.

The Pics for the sencond half of this blog are in my camera all the way over there, so I'll put them in tomorrow - Too tired now after no sleep last night and a splitting hangiver walking the city today :P

So that's that. Hope all is well whereever you are. Sucks to hear about the Jetties in Adelaide! Typical that something like that would happen as soon as I leave. I look forward to hearing any stories you might have and remember that you can leave comments on pictures and blogs but you have to be a member (That's not too painful though). So do that just so I know you have been keeping track. Also if you think that someone should know this blog address just ask. It seems that I forgot to tell a lot of people... OOPS! Sorry.