fitness > running in the rain - bergen, norway

With all the New Year festivities about to go down, I had to go for a run or two while in Bergen. It’s pretty difficult t plan though, as you have a short window of daylight. About half an hour before it was due to get dark, I laced up my running shoes and headed for Stoltzekleiven, the 800-step climb. But it was pissing down with rain and by the time I found the staircase, the sun had already vanished. I opted against going up at that time of night purely for safety reasons and ended up just running around the lovely little streets in the pouring rain which actually wasn't too bad in the end! It is Bergen after all; arguably the wettest city in the world.

all aboard the bergen railway!

The train from Oslo to Bergen has to be one of the best things I've ever done.  The scenery is absolutely breathtaking! I took so many photos I think I spent the whole time glued to my eyepiece and I can't even explain how different the landscape is, especially compared to Australia. It's just incredible. 

The Bergen railway is one of the steepest and most scenic in the world. Not only is the scenery to die for, but it also took us through parts of seemingly inhabitable countryside you’d never see on a plane.

It was a perfect day for the trip. We left just before sunrise and had clear skies with a full moon to watch fade away as the day began. There were just enough wispy clouds in the air for some stunning sunrise photos and only in the last hour of the trip did the sky turn grey.  We were pretty lucky considering they forecasted snow! 

The dense cover of pine trees that dominated the mountains were broken by huge frozen lakes and steep cliffs every now and then and little brightly coloured Norwegian cottages dotted the terrain. Some were in the most isolated areas and looked as though they could be in the direct path of an avalanche if one were to unfold.

I thoroughly enjoyed this ride and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to travel between major cities in Norway. It most certainly beats flying and I'm sure it would be equally as unbelievable in the summer!

 

how to eat a buffet breakfast like a backpacker

The Oslo guy we were staying could no longer host us as he had to help out some friends who were having a family emergency. He booked us a great hotel at mates rates that ended up being only a few dollars more than the hostel we were at! It was so nice to just have our own room with space and comfy beds! Much appreciated :)

Another perk was the full buffet breakfast provided. We had a train at 8am the next day and although it was only a 15 min walk to the station, the buffet that usually started at 7am was operating Christmas schedule and didn't start til 7.30am.

Now, those that have experienced the expense of Norway would understand the value of a free buffet. We weighed up the odds and decided that scoffing as much as we could to last us until lunch, quickly sneaking some extras into our bags and then running to the station so we didn’t miss our train was one of our brightest ideas yet. Having to pay for a days’ worth if food (if not more by the rate we were packing) would cost the same as the train ticket itself so we were prepared to take the risk.

There was a smorgasbord of delights from a full hot breakfast of bacon, eggs and mushrooms to a large selection of cold meats, fresh fruit, cereals, yogurts and nuts. We weren't quite sure where to start but we didn't have time to think about the best strategy of attack. 'We piled a plate of hot food and took about half a loaf of bread between us. Mai got her hands on a bowl of almonds, dried apricots and prunes and I scored some fresh cucumber, capsicum and fruit. These items would play a significant role in the savings department.

Then we had to run. It was just under 1km and running that far with all your luggage after you've just consumed your weight in eggs doesn't feel like your regular morning jog. When we only just made the train; we were sweating so much we ditched all our layers and stopped to catch our breath before looking at each other to giggle. Mai said she spewed a bit in her mouth. Writing that even cracks me up!

The buffet was actually quite impressive so we were kind of bummed we couldn't sleep in and go about our brunching  in a leisurely and civilised manner. But this is backpacking after all.

fitness> 5km run in vigeland park - oslo, norway

I have a great deal of respect for people who live I cold climates. Heading out in the snow to exercise is bloody hard work and a true mental challenge. I had been in Oslo for 3 days already and I had to get outside for a run! I woke up earlier than usual and left Mai in a state of dreaming while I faced the cold crispy air outside. It was actually the perfect morning, still, calm and clear. I ran from the apartment to Vigeland Park and although I didn’t have  much of a plan, it was so huge that I managed to just run around in circles in amazement, run up a few staircases and get a sweat on. It was a beautiful park, especially when it was completely white. When I returned I told Mai we had to go back, but unfortunately it never happened! So glad I saw it for myself though.

No way!

The first stop in Norway was the capital, Oslo. With a population of only 600,000 this tiny little city has more to offer in the way of cafes, bars and restaurants than one would think! 

Do yourself a favour and grab The Oslo Guide, an independent tourist guide aimed at the younger kind of traveller. I felt like I could spend a week here just exploring the places featured in the guide!  But alas, one would need to save for a lifetime to make it feasible. Actually that's a lie, Oslo is pretty expensive but I've also lived in Perth which is equally ridiculously overpriced. Mai and I had to try one of the featured cafes called the Fiskerget, basically a fancy fish and chip place. We had the Bacalao and the Skaldyrsgryte, two hearty seafood dishes, which cost us about $35, ouch! We ate mostly supermarket food after this. 
                       

Oslo is a very neat little city. A novelty was the fact that you could catch a 20min metro to the ski slopes. A little expensive for us though as we would have needed to hire the gear, a day could easily cost  us $120aud. We managed to entertain ourselves by wandering around town in the snow, taking photos and visiting the kings garden and the opera house (has nothing on Sydney but still nice).  

To make our stay in Oslo possible without spending a small fortune, we couch surfed  with a lovely Sri Lankan guy for two nights. We also stayed at a hostel one night, which was surprisingly below average (especially for $40aud!). You’d think such a trendy city would have more choice in the way of youth hostels.

That night we decided to explore some of bars around the area. We went to the microbrewery which made a fantastic roast espresso stout (cost me about $11.50). It was in this old basement style building so it had the potential for atmosphere, but it resembled a uni hall with a lot of booths, all you could hear was loud meaningless conversation and worst of all, they had no music (an outright crime). 

We then went on to explore Youngstorget, a little closer to town. We went into a fancy bar where we felt out of place in uggies alongside all the after work drinkers and then settled at a cosy café/bar, where the DJ was mixing some epic tunes. We quite happily sat and drank our one drink allowance for the night. Mai paid $18AUD for a Midori and lemonade (I don’t think you’d ever pay that in Perth!)  Since it was so expensive it was hard to get into the mood to party, but there were heaps more places to explore. Maybe next time. Oslo would be a fantastic place to live if you were earning Norwegian Krone!

christmas in helsinki

We thought Norway would be a nice place to spend Christmas with all the snow and markets and festivities. Unfortunately, our flight timing required us to stay in Helsinki for two nights instead of one but we thought;  Hey it's Helsinki, something has to be happening! Plus, Mai's friend from Japan was there too so we planned to meet up with her and have a bit of an orphans Christmas in the snow. Well, that didn’t quite happen as we were unable to get in contact with her.

We actually tried out couch surfing for the first time with a Californian lad. Absolutely everything was closed so we had no food or alcohol! Oh well, Mai and I were actually quite content watching some movies and we settled for a packet of Russian instant soup (which cost us about 10 cents). We also ate some prunes earlier and while playing a card game with this guy, we were in absolute agony with stomach cramps and gas that clearly couldn't be released in his presence. Woops!

The next day we found one supermarket that was open and since we had put out some messages on couchsurfing about a Christmas gathering, we went to get supplies to bake some pies (rhyme totally unintended but quality).  Mai and I spent the afternoon listening to music, drinking cider and cooking a turkey, sweet potato and mushroom pie. Daniel made an American style apple pie and no... just don't even think it.

Later on the others started showing. A local Finnish guy rocked up with a pretty decent  supply of alcoholic beverages, he was really lovely and was a pilot who gave flying lessons nearby. A few more arrived in a group; a young couple and their hung-over friend (unbeknownst to us, he later became highly entertaining). There was also a half French/Brazilian guy who just moved to town, and a country Finnish girl who didn't speak too much English. The food went from sweet to savoury , the conversation interchanged between Finnish and English and the room constantly transformed from full to almost empty during smoking breaks.  We decided to play the classic “never-ever” and as always, we made it half way around the circle before the dirty stuff dame out. If you don't know a room full of people; once you’ve all confessed something personal you'll soon find some similarities no matter what county you’re from! After learning that the pilot had a crush on a younger student we dubbed him as 'Teacher' and couldn't stop cracking teacher/student jokes all night. Mai and I had a bit of shit on each other since we spent our teenage years together and there were some doozies!

After a few rounds of this we felt like we knew each other significantly better and it was clearly time to head out. At 12pm on Christmas night there weren't a lot of options but we enjoyed a beer at a cozy little beer house, briefly visited a punk/metal music place and then found ourselves occupying the pool table of a another bar. After being kicked out at 4am, we wandered around in -12°C hoping for a cab. We ended up waiting in line along with the entire population of Helsinki and finally made it to the couple’s apartment an hour later. The Finnish crew then insisted we play video games with them but after about an hour we all faded and Mai and I sunk into the couch.

Unfortunately nothing else was open in town the next day so we gave ourselves a good 6 hours sleep. We wandered through town in the afternoon and took advantage of the Hard Rock Cafe's Christmas opening hours. Note to self, if you want a nice festive experience – don’t spend Christmas in Helsinki, go home to your family or at least plan a little! Albeit we met some lovely new friends and had lots of laughs!

 

russian royalty

Don’t believe it when people say Russia is expensive. Yes, some areas like Moscow maybe  but St Petersburg is dirt cheap for an Aussie and a Japanese person to live it up like Russian royalty (well not really!). We went to get supplies at the local supermarket at spend about $4 AUD for two days’ worth of breakfast and snacks for two.  Beers at the supermarket were about $2 and a bottle of Russian chilli infused vodka (whic is my new favourite) was around $12. It was pretty cheap to eat out, I don’t think we ever spend more than about $10 for both of us and as for drinks, you’d pay similar prices to Amsterdam. 

While we were in town we visited Peter and Paul’s Fortress and the Saviour of the Blood and walked around until our toes were frozen. There are so many incredible buildings in town that all you need to do is walk in any direction and you’ll surely stumble across some jaw dropping architecture. I became a victim of the Black Ice. Be careful, it hurts, a lot. It’s so cold here that everything just freezes and the dirt and ice mixes together and freezes over the road making it hard to see but easy to slip. I slipped and fell straight on my arse but luckily I saved my camera! I have had a really sore foot since though and think I may have actually done some sort of damage!

With only 72 hours in St Petersburg we decided to go out partying that night. Since the nightclubs didn’t really kick off until 12pm we had some pre-drinks at the hostel and by 11pm there was a little possy that were keen to party; the Canadian guy, two dudes from New York, a couple from the UK, and a Brasilian guy. Pretty good mix! We had a super fun night but didn’t get back until about 6am and some wise guy had an idea to get up and go to the Hermitage museum in the morning (which we were doing regardless of our state).

Mai and I were up (we had to check out by 10am) but no one showed so we ended up falling asleep on the couch until about 12pm when the others finally started climbing out of their princess beds. The Hermiage is one the oldest and one of the largest museums; there's around 3 million pieces including the largest collection of paintings in the world. The museum itself is in a large complex of six historic buildings including the Winter Palace; former residence of Russian Emperors. 

Museums in general are kind of tiring when you're hung-over. However, this is one of the most famous in the world and it's THE must see sight in St Petersburg. We obviously weren’t going to miss it but this place was like a maze and when you don’t have your wits about you, you can get seriously lost which is especially annoying when you’re desperate for hydration and/or the bathroom. Mai was stoked and took a million photos. Although an astonishing museum the whole wealth thing got to me a little and I’d had enough of seeing what seemed like kilometres of golden vases, ridiculously expensive art and an overkill of chandeliers. The sheer contradiction of rich vs. poor is overwhelming and it's certainly an experience! 

soul kitchen; a hostel for the wandering sole

A place Mai and I have always wanted to visit, but never thought it was possible was Russia. With an easy and relatively inexpensive overnight ferry from Helsinki to St Petersburg, a 72 hour visa free trip wasn’t that out of reach after all.  Stepping out in to an icey cold climate of -16 for the first time was a bit of a shock. We didn’t really pay attention to where the hostel was and ended up walking around in this cold for about half an hour. We then realised we were unnecessarily reversing the directions (thinking we were somewhere else) and the hostel was right near where the bus dropped us off. Convenient. Our hands were numb, mouths were dry and I’m pretty sure my nose was running but then freezing on impact with the harsh Russian air.

Expecting Russia to be expensive we checked into the cheapest decent hostel we could find,  but this was actually the cheapest we’ve paid so far. Even more surprising was that this hostel was the freakin’ bomb. At Soul Kitchen you’re not traveler  you’re a travelling friend. You get free fresh towels, free tea and coffee (not the shit stuff either), a kitchen like your Grandma’s and a lounge area comfortable enough to call home (in fact, it was much cooler than any home I’ve had).  There’s was something on the social calendar every night/day (the first night was Wii games and another morning we had fresh cooked pancakes).  The beds made you feel like a princess (not so good if you’re a man but when in Russia, right?)…with curtains, your own charging station and a big lockable drawer. The hostel opened in June and is run by a young Russian couple (you could probably classify as semi-hipster) who have thoroughly thought about it. There’s a really community feel about the place and they even give you a handmade map with all the local cafes, bars and nightclubs (the ones that cool young people go to, not tourist destinations).

Soul Kitchen Hostel was on this beautiful street!

We were absolutely starving and went to Zoom Café just near our hostel to get a big bowl of Russian soup. It’s so cold outside that you can really only stay out for 10minutes without ducking  a shop or café to get warm.  After a quick drink at a local bar called Clean Plates Society (a funky place with great food and good tunes) and the Laundry Bar (a place to drink tasty home brew AND do your laundry) we returned to the hostel to Wii it up. 

I think we have a knack of rocking up somewhere when its dead. There was the couple who ran the hostel and another Canadian guy. We had a good time anyway, we drank beer and tea (a good mix) and chatted about Russian culture and the history of the building the hostel was in. It’s super old (I can’t remember exactly how old) but there’s been a few interesting discoveries while renovating it like a secret room full of bricks and an extra window that could only be seen from the outside (causing quite a bit of confusion when they had to count windows for fittings). Apparently previous owners found a room full of silver! 

We absolutely loved Russia and can confidently say that it was all because of the lovely hostel we stayed in. The world would be a better place if we had more hostels like Soul Kitchen. Seriously, check it out: www.soulkitchenhostel.com 

Thanks guys, would love to come back one day! 

the swedish kitchen

The train to Stockholm from Copenhagen was an easy ride, plus we had the funniest photo bomb moment from the guy sitting behind us. We arrived in town late at night and checked into a hostel in Gamla Stan (Old Town), which is a little quaint little tourist hub.  After a crowded moment with our roommates in a room that was the size of a matchbox, we were so buggered we just hit the hay. We were somewhat disappointed that we couldn't be arsed contributing to the sounds of the Saturday night party brewing across the street, but we didn't wake up until ten minutes before check-out the next morning so we must needed the sleep.

The next afternoon we met up with a Swedish local, Lisa; a friend of Simon’s who had returned to Stockholm after living in Australia for five years.  It was nice to finally put a face to a person I had heard so much about through Simon and his friends! Lisa has the cutest apartment in Fridhemsplan not far from the city centre. We shared stories of our strange connection over some spiced wine and sweet gingery biscuits with blue cheese and Lisa pointed out some places for us to visit the next day.  

Mai and I wandered through Södermalm; we browsed some beautiful vintage shops (featuring an assortment of Grandma's Christmas sweaters) and had the most delectable toasted tuna sandwich in a cute café with lots of lamps and old retro furniture. We then headed over to Fotografsika, which is really worth visiting if you’re a budding little photographer J During our stay we also took the ferry over to Djurgarden, went back to Old Town to buy smoked reindeer at the Christmas Markets and had the best tomato soup and hot chocolate at Chokladkoppen.  A must visit for the best hot chocolate in town!  We also ate at The Hermitage in Old Town, a completely vegan restaurant that has a cheap and super tasty buffet! Do yourself a favour and get a transport card when visiting Stockholm, it works out being much cheaper in the long run and you can see all the sights by bus, tram or ferry.

After discovering that we had a well-stocked Swedish kitchen at our fingertips (Lisa loves her spices and fresh ingredients), Mai and I decided to cook a feast of Sri Lankan curry accompanied by a surprisingly decent bottle of Australian Shiraz we found at the local bottle shop.  We had a nice quiet night in over a candlelit dinner for three! Very romantic haha

Unfortunately, Mai was getting a little sick and spent the whole next day in bed. I did the washing and since the lifts weren't working, by the time I had finished I had walked up and down five flights of stairs about 4 times (100 steps each time to be exact- yes I counted). Needless to say my legs were actually sore the next day and I didn’t go for a run in Sweden because of it! That night, I left Mai in her the sedated state she had been in all day and took a train to meet Lisa at the Scandic Hotel bar to see a young rock band from Copenhagen, Reptile Youth. We had a lovely time at Lisa's and hopefully we can return in the summer!!

local music scene > be my yoko ono!

Australians, think Wolfmother meets Miami Horror. Skip the pop-disco beats of the latter and appreciate a bit of curl rather than frizz and you've got yourself Reptile Youth; an energetic rock duo from Denmark. Since his voice is his only instrument the lead singer likes to use the room space to show off his mad dancing capabilities and he has no hesitation using a member of the audience as a spring board for his next back flip. Highly entertaining to watch.  Despite the fact that the bass player looked a little like he was learning to surf with an extremely over-exaggerated wide stance and the guitarist had the persona of a street statue, the band meshed quite well together and blasted out some impressive sounding songs. 

One song that stuck in my head was Be My Yoko Ono. Unfortunately they were finishing up on their Shooting Up Sunshine Tour but I'm sure if you search the band you can find where they are playing next. Be sure to cop a feel of the curl like good old Lisa, "You must get this all the time, but can I touch your hair? Lead singer, "Actually I haven't been asked in a while, sure go ahead". >>Insert smiley face here<<

 

coping in copenhagen

Mai and I took an overnight bus that smelt like urine.  It took 6 hours from Hamburg to Copenhagen and despite the fact that it was relatively comfortable to sleep we were woken half way through to discover we were on a vehicle ferry and had to get off the bus and wait in a lounge area. Fun at 3am!

We arrived at a stop jut near Copenhagen Central very early in the morning (all Mums should stop reading now). Needless to say, we’re never doing that again because a central station at 5 in the morning is just plain dodgey. We went to take a lift and as it was coming up, I noticed a bunch dudes doing, what seemed like some sort of deal and they were pretty pissed we interrupted them. I backed away and told Mai to just keep walking. We hurried the fuck out of there and took the long way round without looking back. They followed us for a while but then disappeared. We waited in the protective cocoon of McDonalds because we were a little freaked out by the ‘all-sorts’ of people wandering around.

An older gentleman decided to share his life story with us. I actually found him really interesting but Mai zoned out.  He was well-travelled a doctor for over 20 year and has worked all over Scandinavia. However he took a shift in his career and became a writer and has supposedly released a couple of books.  At the moment we met him he was working on a contract with some film makers and said one of his books is being used a script for a film starring Cate Blancett and some other Scandinavian actor. He said he is moving over to LA to be involved with the making of the film which is to be released in 2016. Now, the details of the film he didn’t give away much but it was about something that he described in medical terms as some sort of acronym, TSLA or TESLR or something like that. Anyway, apparently its some sort of syndrome that scientists have discovered as la legitimate social networking disorder. I’ve spent time researching to see if this guy is real or not and found no answers. Guess I’ll have to wait til 2016 til the “film” comes out. Haha.

We stayed with a lovely couple through AirBnB, where you find short-term rooms to rent online. They were very warm and hospitable and told us all about the Christmas culture in Denmark, suggested some nice breweries to visit and gave us some delicious baked goods.

We planned to do the city bus tour the next day as it was pretty cold (about -8 but windy), however we kind of missed the boat (or bus in this case). We naively decided to walk to the attractions visited by the bus tour. It took us about 5 hours.  We passed through a cute canal strip called Nyhavn with a bunch of Santa’s playing carols on brass instruments, jumped off boulders in the Kings Garden (which I’m sure he appreciated) and visited the Royal family’s Winter Residence . We stumbled across a funky café, called The Coffee Factory too. 

 

The Little Mermaid, apparently Denmark’s most ‘famous’ attractions, was the furthest away on the map and near the port so it was absolutely freezing. When we set eyes on this famous statue that was smaller than a human we just looked at each other and said “WTF?!”. We read later in an online article that it is THE second most disappointing statue in the world. HAH! We could certainly believe that. Oh well, we still saw everything we wanted to and saved a bit of money by walking instead. We rewarded ourselves with a big meal and a few pints at the Brew House and Mikkeller Bar (well-known breweries with pretty impressive Danish beers).

ten decks of maritime history

Well it's the 12/12/12 and the world didn't come to an end. We wandered around the streets of Hamburg and were blown away by some of the buildings. We just don't have them in Australia! We're a bit new to the travel thing but it's kind of crazy how much fun you can have just walking around town, taking photos and discovering something awesome by random chance! So much better than sitting in an office working for the man.

 

One of the most spectacular things we did in Hamburg, was visiting the International Maritime Museum, the largest private maritime collection in the world. The collection displays 10 decks of over 10,000 exhibits, ranging from mini model ships, 400 years of stunning marine paintings, early navigational instruments and maps, and there were even models of early colonial battles strategies. 

The museums decks spanned across the history of early shipping trades, navies of the world, the fishing and whaling industry, deep sea exploration and science, offshore oil & gas industry and shipping technology. A whole wall was dedicated to World War II at sea and it gave insight into the involvement of battleships and submarines, including the world famou German Bismarck and Japanese Yamato. 

This photo doesn't quite do the huge 1:16 scale model of the Wapen von Hamburg III justice, which was hanging in mid-air across two levels. The ship was built in 1722 intended to prevent pirates from attacking merchant ships from Hamburg. A particularly labour-intensive exhibit was the Bremerhaven container terminal model, which has over 72,000 tiny little container ships and took three years to construct! 

An interesting little corner of the museum displayed an intricate series of bone ships, which were built by the prisoners out of animals bones that they saved from their rations (you have to do something to keep you from going insane!). The deep sea fangtooth or ogre fish that lives down to depths of 5,000 metes is a feature on the 'science and deep sea exploration' deck which also had a series of submersible robots. 

As a marine scientist, the whole experience was truly fascinating! Not only was the museum impressive, but it was super cheap to get into (€12 for adults). You can take guided tours, but we hired an audio tour for €3 which was really informative and easy to use. We’re not keen on visiting absolutely every museum we come across (there’s jusy too many), but this one was definitely worth a visit! 

Did you know? That shipping containers revolutionised the shipping insustry due to is standardised design. The first ship designed to carry containers could only fit 72, now they carry something like 300,000 containers. About 10,000 are lost at sea every year!

Ok ok, geek signing out...

happy hamburg birthday

The birthday hype of turning 25 was kind of replaced by the travel hype, but this birthday in particular seemed like a milestone.  A few years ago Mai and I made a promise that we’d start a big  world trip in 2012 and here we are finally there living the dream!

In the morning I went through lots of lovey messages from my family and friends and got to Skype with Dad back in Perth. His microphone wasn’t working so it was entertaining trying to lip read, I managed to figure out ‘Happy Birthday!’ at least. Later on, we wandered down to the port of Hamburg and had waffles for brunch. 




Unfortunately, it was freezing and I was feeling a bit under the weather so we had a fairly short day outside and settled for beers at the hostel before heading out to the Reeperbahn. The owner of the hostel gave us free shots after discovering it was my birthday and after two in 15 minutes, Mai as pretty pissed, which wasn’t too surprising since she’s a one-drink-wonder and we hadn’t eaten. I was looking forward to heading out to the Reeperbahn in St Pauli, as it’s where the Beatles first started playing before they made it big. I was actually a little disappointed by the lack of live music for which it is famous for. I guess it was a Tuesday night. Now that I think about it, the area is also famous for being the city’s red-light district which could be why it seemed a little… uh trashy and ‘Northbridgey’ (the Perth people will know what I’m talking about).

Mai seemed to be getting more drunk by the minute so I was on the hunt for dinner. We found ourselves at another Christmas market gobbling another German sausage.  Damn they are good (just look at the photo!!). Despite having the shivers and stumbles (the worst kind of combination), Mai insisted we stay out for my birthday… but I kept my eye on her. We hung out at a market stall and I tried some Gluhwein (German mulled wine) and met a bunch of English blokes that were working on the passenger ferries. These dudes were pretty interesting to talk to so we went to some little English pubs in the nearby area. One older guy asked me, “what was the colour of your first bicycle?”, to which I replied “uhhhhh dark green I think”. He told me that I looked to the left when I answered and said that I store long term memories in this part of my brain. I have no idea whether it’s true or not, but like a true Englishman, his story was entertaining anyway.  

I was still on the hunt for some music so moved over to an Irish pub where there was a guitarist who played (what I thought would be impossible), quite a good rootsy cover of Wonderwall. We didn’t really find anywhere else close by that had music, and by this stage Mai was falling asleep at the table so I thought it was best to get her to bed!

It's Mai’s birthday soon, so watch this space for when Elise gets to get drunk.

the first of many christmas markets

The train from Groningen to Hamburg was much easier than the last trip. The ticket lady gave us, what we like to call an itinerary, so we knew exactly where to go and when to change trains…go figure?

Our change-over was at Bremen, the second largest city in Northern Germany.  Annika and Ben told us it was worth a visit so we decided to get some lunch and take a later train to Hamburg. We found this huge  Christmas market in the heart of town hall with all these tasty Christmas smells and festively decorated stalls. Little did we know that we just found what is considered as one of the best Christmas markets in Germany!

Mai was particularly excited to come to Bremen as her Mum used to read the Town Musicians of Bremen to her as a child. Like a true Japanese tourist, she insisted I take a photo of her in front of every character statue.  We ate our first of many authentic German sausages, which was sooooo good and we stopped to get hot chocolate on our way back to the train station. Hot chocolate is amazeballs (yes, that is a word) in Europe, especially when you’re cold!

We booked a few nights at the Generator Hostel in Hamburg, which was great ; right near Central Station, clean, good beds and lots of charging facilities (this one we’ll recommend). We arrived fairly late and were, as always, looking forward a good night’s rest!

   

fitness > 8km run - groningen, the netherlands

It was fairly dark and cold when I ran out the door but by the end of the run I was so glad to have left the house. A bit of a change from KL; rainy, 1 degree celsius and the paths were all icy! I ran through a beautiful park and there were surprisingly a lot of other people running around too. After being so used to running in the sunshine of Australia, I was a little concerned that running in the cold wouldn't be very enjoyable, but you learn something new everyday! I've also decided that if a bunch of old guys can run in the freezing cold, I can too. 

farewell amsterdam, hello groningen!

We had a nice last day in Amsterdam. Being out of the party scene finally got us sightseeing. Mai and I rented some bikes and rode over to the Van Gogh collection at the Hermitage, which was pretty impressive. One pointer though if you’re riding in the cold is to wear some bloody gloves! We also rode passed the Rijksmuseum and took our obligatory photo at the ‘I Amsterdam’ sign. At least it was a nice sunny morning for us!

 

That afternoon we jumped on a train to Groningen to visit a friend, Annika.  We met doing our dive course in Cairns a few years ago. We thought it would be fairly simple. We paid for a train ticket, but interestingly there was no information about which platform to go to. When I asked the information desk he informed me that we also needed to change trains and be sure not to miss it! Surely they could have given this information at the ticket booth!? We were meant to meet Annika at 4.30pm. The train took longer than the designated 2 hours and by 5pm we were a little worried that we were going in the wrong direction! We asked a train official who didn’t speak too much English but managed to explain that there was a train crash and we were going the long way around. We assumed that this was being announced but we had no idea because it was all in Dutch. Also, the Dutch don’t seem to believe that having a train line map, or even a screen that says the next station displayed is helpful for customers. After learning that it could be a considerable amount of time before we reached our destination we managed to borrow a mobile to call Annika to let her know what was going on. She told us of a bus to catch from central station to her place and after  long day, we were greeted by her welcoming friend, Ben at the bus station. The next day I sorted out some credit for my phone!

Groningen is a nice little university town in the north of The Netherlands. It was much colder than usual when we arrived and we were quite tired. Annika and Ben cooked a nice meal and we stayed up for a few hours chatting over some beers. After a well-deserved sleep I woke up pretty early so decided to go for a 8km run through the parklands. When I return Annika had a traditional Dutch breakfast ready with lots of jam and bread and coffee. They like their bread here! That night we went out into town for dinner but none of us (except for Ben) were in the mood for drinking much! We had a pretty early night. Think we needed the rest as the next day we were off again! It was so nice to stay with you Annika, we had a lovely relaxing time and my door (provided I have one) is always open where ever I am!

fitness

5km run - Oslo, Norway

I have a great deal of respect for people who live I cold climates. Heading out in the snow to exercise is bloody hard work and a true mental challenge. I had been in Oslo for 3 days already and I had to get outside for a run! I woke up earlier than usual and left Mai in a state of dreaming while I faced the cold crispy air outside. It was actually the perfect morning, still, calm and clear. I ran from the apartment to Vigeland Park and although I didn’t have  much of a plan, it was so huge that I managed to just run around in circles in amazement, run up a few staircases and get a sweat on. Vigeland Park is a stunning 200-piece sculpture park and a must-see in Oslo, especially when it was completely covered in snow. When I returned I told Mai we had to go back, but unfortunately it never happened! So glad I saw it for myself though.

Running along a canal in The Netherlands

8km run - Groningen, The Netherlands

It was fairly dark and cold when I ran out the door but by the end of the run I was so glad to have left the house. A bit of a change from KL; rainy, 1 degrees c and the paths were all icy! I ran through a beautiful park and there were surprisingly a lot of other people running around too! After being so used to running in the sunshine of Australia, I was a little concerned that running in the cold wouldn't be very enjoyable, but you learn something new everyday! I've also decided that if a bunch of old guys can run in the freezing cold, I can too. 

Elise running in Malaysia

7km run - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I decided to go for a run on an extremely warm afternoon in malaysia, it was about 85% humidity! I ran from Mike's apartment (a family friend we were staying with) to Ampang Point. I must admit, I got some pretty strange looks running along the main road!

too much amsterdam

After being pretty hung over during our walking tour of the city the next day we went back to the hostel. We went into the smoking room and had another joint (I haven’t really bothered telling you every time because the stuff was just on tap). Ever since that day the smell of tobacco has been completely different and I couldn’t handle being around it. At first I thought I was just stoned and paranoid but it still smells absolutely vulgar. I still can't handle being around the stuff. Surprisingly, I still like the smell of weed.

Princess left  for Bruges and Mai got the munchies so Andy took us to a great kebab place.  We then decided to get some mushrooms. Yes, again (when in Amsterdam). These were pretty different. Not much to look at but plenty to talk and laugh about. We sat on a sea of pillows in the smoking room. Andy and I had the giggles big time. Mai was gazing in to space. Finnish Guy wasn’t on mushrooms but was enjoying watching us in our own little world with Long Blonde Hair Guy (who was Australian but living in London and just got deported that day because he didn’t have his paperwork!  One moment, I took of my jacket and layers and then the next, I panicked and gathered my things on my pillow and announced, “My world is falling apart!”. Cracker night.

The next day we all woke up with really sore shoulders, and realised that we’d been sitting up against the wall for about six hours straight. My shoulder is still sore as I write this. The three amigos that were left when to get a  coffee hit and a big Dutch feed. We came to the realisation that there is indeed, such a thing as too much Amsterdam.  Don't get me wrong , the Flying Pig is a great hostel. It's cheap, you get a nice breakfast, the poepl are firendly, and best of all, it has some of the best parties in town. But we knew enough was enough when Finnish Guy (the guy who had been there for three weeks and wanted to work at the hostel) had his hands buried in his face…uh…face buried in his hands. I rest my case. We needed out!

Mai and I decided to ‘check out’ of the Flying Pig (after they told us they had no more beds for that night) so we booked into another hostel a little out of town and were excited to get out of the hustle and bustle for a night. We learnt one thing. Never check into a hostel that has ‘budget’ in its title (i.e. International Budget Hostel). You’ll pay a not-so-budge price, but you are guaranteed to receive budget facilities.  The lady at the front counter was quite rude, the rooms were absolutely freezing, the beds were like planks of wood (with sacks of sand for pillows) and the doors had alarms that sounded like a pigeon being stabbed when you opened them. We also learnt that we need to ditch some stuff because walking up a Dutch staircase with a big backpack is not possible for two little midgets.  If you didn’t already know Dutch stairs are considered the most dangerous in the world because they are insanely  steep. So step in fact, that they are better thought of as ladders.  We managed to survive. Somehow.

the heineken experience

The next day was bloody freezing but blue skies as far as the eye could see. We went for coffee at what I thought, was the best coffee shop (sorry, café) in Amsterdam. The only place with soy milk! Princess and Andy Pandy were pretty convinced it was a 15minute walk to the Heineken Experience. After an hour and a half, Mai and I were pretty convinced that despite what people say, guys don’t know how to read maps. Oh well. What better place to get lost than in Amsterdam right? 

Out of all the things to do, if you like beer, The Heineken Experience is great value for money. We paid €15 for entry, got a taster and two pints, a free canal ride and a bottle opener that isn’t very practical. After that unnecessarily long outing Mai and I were late to meet our first couchsurfing host at central station. I think he got pretty annoyed and ended up leaving. Good first experience! Woops. We agreed that we really need to get a phone because you can’t always rely on wi-fi. Oh well, back to the hostel for another few nights.

We decided to drown our sorrows for being ‘bad people’ and making the poor guy wait in the snow.  The good thing about the Flying Pig is that it has a really good social scene with a bar and everything you need. Not surprisingly Princess and Andy Pandy were already on the juice.  The level of intoxication was indicated by the fact that Mai had straw stuck in her hair for like half an hour. It was clearly time to go to the red light district. 

It was snowing pretty hard core outside so we walked in and out of bars and documented various shenanigans along the way. It’s a good thing (or a bad thing) that Mai is fairly snap happy so we have evidence of the night. After a pretty confusing cab ride that took us across the city and back, we went back to the hostel and continued on with the night. Mai and I went to have a smoke and surprise, surprise, Finnish Guy was there. The guys went back out to the red light district.  Don’t know what their fascination was but I don’t think I want to know!

downtown high

We were pretty excited to get off the red eye flight from Kuala Lumpur.  Screaming babies were in every direction within a two metre radius of us for the duration of the 13hr overnight flight. I told Mai that that seems to be the norm for me lately and she was pretty determined to blame me  and my bad luck for the lack of sleep.

It was surprisingly easy to get from the airport to Amsterdam central. Just a short train ride and a five  minute walk in the darkness of the winter morning and bam! Our first destination. We arrived at the Flying Pig downtown hostel at about 8am and since we couldn’t get into our room until later we set out to explore. What does one ‘explore’ in Amsterdam exactly?  The infamous Coffee Shops of course!

Now in Amsterdam, the Coffee Shops sell weed and the cafés sell coffee, however you can get coffee from a Coffee Shop too. Got it? We wander from downtown into uptown and come across a well-established joint (excuse the pun) called, Barney’s. Much to my disappointment Barney and the crew from How I Met Your Mother weren’t there sinking their usual pints.  My disappointment was brief and soon replaced with anticipation. We were aware of the hype around the whole Amsterdam scene, but I must admit it was pretty surprising waltzing up to the bar, looking at the menu and ordering some buds like you would a drink. There’s so many to choose from it’s a little overwhelming.  We go with the ‘Laughing Buddha’; easy smoking and relaxing, with a bit of giggles on the side. I roll a somewhat smokable joint, and in what seemed like a moment of pure genius (moments like these often accompany smoking pot), I vowed to master the art of rolling while in town. As expected, I wasn’t in the best state to even practise properly. But that’s another story.

The first night was what I thought, pretty laid back. Well, until Mai got a little drunk some young Australian girls from Adelaide and I decided to do some shrooms. As you do. We sat in our dorm room and ate the ‘truffles’ by methods suggested by the supplier; chewing  each mouthful for two minutes without swallowing until finished. That wasn’t very fun. I was told to just put them on a pizza but apparently the more you chew the better the effect. Mushrooms were off limits for Mai who was pretty much passed out by this stage. The other girls and I went upstairs to the hostels smoking room to ride it out. These mushrooms were pretty visual, not vey giggly or social so we kind of sat there just watching everything, completely fascinated. There were sparkles coming off everyone, the books were bouncing out of the shelves and I swear I could see the energy of the room interacting.  Pretty good night and the best of all, no hangover.

The days were still wet and snowy. We went for a walk and Mai’s boots kind of flooded so we had to dry them with the hair dryer and get some waterproof spray. We sat in the smoking room and met a guy who became a fairly familiar face, we have no idea of his name still and he was always referred to as, Finnish Guy (his name was difficult to remember ok?).  He travelled from Finland to work around Europe and after being at the hostel for three weeks, was hoping to get a job there. As we all walked over to the pool table for a friendly match, the sun came out. Score! Sorry Finnish Guy, we have to go take photos. We run around the cobbled streets and charming canals like two kids in a theme park (or two stoners in a coffee shop?).  It was such a beautiful afternoon. When we came back, Finnish guy was still there (he became part of the furniture really) playing pool with some other highly entertaining lads. An Australian and a Canadian who we later named Princess and Andy Pandy. They weren’t travelling together or anything, but just met and seemed to be pretty rowdy already. We had a few drinks and went out to dinner. We lost Finnish Guy to the pool table.  The whole night’s conversation was pretty much based around pronunciation of different words and Andy was convinced Mai wasn’t Japanese because of her Australian accent. Later on, the lads went to explore the red light district and it’s dodgey alleys of decadent  dealers. Mai and I passed on that scene.