Tag: Euro ’08

Iceland – End of the Road…

Waking up on my last day of the trip was hard. I stayed in bed longer than I had to. I really wanted to rush out and say good-bye to Claudia and David, but they had to get up and go horseback riding. So instead, I stayed in bed, then went down for breakfast and finally went down to the souvenir shop to pick up some last minute gifts. Then I went back to Guest House Pavi, packed up my bag and headed to a different hotel where I would get picked up for the Blue Lagoon. It was a mini-van that came to get me, but that was only a short ride to get to the main bus terminal. Continue reading “Iceland – End of the Road…” →

Iceland – Dangerous Beauty…

Landing in Keflavik I was two hours earlier than when I left Copenhagen at 10:30pm so after a 3 hour flight, it was still only 11:30pm and going outside to catch a bus to my hostel I realized, for the first time on my trip, that Iceland was cold, even in the heart of summer, and I may not have packed enough warm clothes. Continue reading “Iceland – Dangerous Beauty…” →

Copenhagen – a very fine last meal on the mainland…

I got back to Malmö in the morning, made my way to Malin’s place and promptly collapsed on the bed – but not for long. We had a lunch date with Marie at the special, top secret sushi place where I got the best present of my trip – a jar of salt licorice candy (no, that’s not the special part) with a custom label, words by Malin, art by Marie. It’s awesome! Continue reading “Copenhagen – a very fine last meal on the mainland…” →

Amsterdam’s cultural showdown…

Waking up on my third day in Amsterdam I had a bit of a hangover. Not that I had indulged in anything particularly, but when it’s all around you can’t help but get some effects. So I woke up still a bit groggy and my teeth itched (I discovered that when I am… under the herbal influence… I clench my jaw – weird). BUT, I woke up in time to actually catch a breakfast downstairs. So I made myself a sandwich and had a few hard boiled eggs (LOVE the hard boiled eggs!) and headed out catch the more cultural aspects of the northern city of canals. Continue reading “Amsterdam’s cultural showdown…” →

Amsterdam – City of contradictions…

Overnight trains leave a lot to be desired. In this instance, I got on board at 7pm and wasn’t going to get off again until 10 the next morning. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing except when you’re in a train compartment with five other people and your legs are intertwined it gets hard to sleep. Add in the fact that people are constantly leaving the train and the sun is coming up and someone forgot to draw the blinds and really, not the best night’s sleep. Continue reading “Amsterdam – City of contradictions…” →

Animals – to be seen and eaten…

Well… I did it again. I honestly don’t know why I keep doing the same thing expecting different results – except this time I got them! I went to the zoo in Copenhagen and, unlike my previous zoo outings (Berlin, Zagreb, Helsinki, Stockholm) this time, not only were the animals out, but there were more of them! I think the reason earlier jaunts had proved so unsatisfying was that the

Mommy and baby seals
Mommy and baby seals

animals were gestating! Continue reading “Animals – to be seen and eaten…” →

To be or not to be… In Helsingor

Why go to Helsingor? Well, for one, everyone’s doing it and we all know how I am about peer pressure! But really, the more important reason, is that even the castle in Helsingor, which is actually called Kronborg, is real, but it’s much more well know for a fictional tale set there, that of Hamlet, by one W. Shakespeare. Continue reading “To be or not to be… In Helsingor” →

I like Malmo in the summertime…

So my first day back in glorious Skåne (which is the cool, Swedish name for the southern area of Sweden where Malmo is located) was spent doing precisely… nothing. Okay, not true. I slept and graded papers. And that felt like a vacation in and of itself. It was nice not to have pressure on myself to make the most of everyday and see all the sights and such. I could sleep and work and then take a nap. I needed it, honestly. Continue reading “I like Malmo in the summertime…” →

Stockholm… The final showdown

I can’t believe I forgot the best quote from my evening with Emanuel! At some point in the conversation, when we were talking about various cities and I had made mention of the fact that Los Angeles wanted your soul and Las Vegas wanted your money, he said San Francisco (where he was from) wanted your heterosexuality. It didn’t take a lot of detective work on my part to very quickly deduce that he was, in fact, gay. Continue reading “Stockholm… The final showdown” →

Stockholm – My Time in the Monarchy…

When I had gotten in the night before, there was someone new in my room. Now, when staying at a hostel, this isn’t an unusual thing. In fact, it’s part of the fun of hostelling, meeting the new people. There was a couple in the room as well, they had been there the day before as well and I had spent a few minutes chatting with them, Very nice, from Australia, having trouble reconciling that each of them wanted to do different things with their days on holiday. I mention this only because it might come up later. Continue reading “Stockholm – My Time in the Monarchy…” →

Day 2 in Stockholm – All about the animals…

The morning came very early on my second day in Stockholm, not because I was ready to wake up, but because there were no blinds in the room. But that’s okay. The amazingly expensive hostel I was in came complete with a breakfast so I was able to go downstairs and have a nice, healthy meal of meat and bread and cheese and hardboiled eggs before going off to activate my Stockholm Card. Continue reading “Day 2 in Stockholm – All about the animals…” →

Greetings from Stockholm…

Pulling into Stockholm I was exhausted and excited. And an hour ahead. We gained an hour somewhere in the waterway between here and Finland. Pretty cool if you ask me. So I’d prebooked my Hostel, as I am want to do, and, armed with directions, I set about to find the place. Of course, the directions they proffer are from the central train station, not from the Ferry port, so I first need to make my way there. Continue reading “Greetings from Stockholm…” →

I swear I thought Turku could fly…

So I got up bright and early and headed down to Turku on the 6:22 train. The idea was to spend the day in Turku and then hop on the ferry to Stockholm. As plans went, it was a pretty good one. I said good bye to Antti and Tiina and got aboard. I’m gonna miss them.  For as much as they complained about Vaasa being a small, boring village, I had an absolute blast there. Continue reading “I swear I thought Turku could fly…” →

Powerland and Finnish sports…

I’m SO embarrassed. How could I have forgotten, in the excitement that was Berny’s, the clock on the wall, the piece de résistance, which ran backwards? Ah well… I’ll fix it in post. Maybe. Anyway… after the exciting events that were The Bridge, what else was there to do but eat dinner? We went to a little Italian place called Rosso. It was a fun place and while the service

At the Italian Restauraunt
At the Italian Restauraunt

wasn’t great, there was some nice eye candy for Jussi and I (we think one of the girls may have been Berny’s other daughter, who escaped to the mainland and was starting her own business). Continue reading “Powerland and Finnish sports…” →