25 June 06 - 17:2850cents to be a man...
Well then what a mad few days it has been. No time at all to get on the internet until today and I still plan to jump on the train and head off again. Right then lets see what we have...
Wednesday Night was the night train from Hamburg to Brussels. Was great for the first couple hours (I had a 6 seat cabin to myself) but then the train hit a station where a whole bunch of Mexicans got on and filled every last spot on the train. They were all coming from the game so it was kind of nuts. The train was late into Brussels so I had to hang around for an extra half hour for the connection to Brugges. Got here around 9am though. Found the hostel and dumped my bag. Walked the streets the whole day until until around 6pm when I camped out a spot infront of the big screen in the hostels bar. The bar manager is an aussie so there was no way they would be playing the Brazil game.
Oh my god what a game! It was massive. The whole bar was packed with Aussie Fans cheering the whole game and I was in the perfect seat for the whole game. The early Crotia game was a kick in the guts but everybody went nuts when they finally gave us a penalty. GOAL! Yes! It was huge the place went crazy and the old aussie aussie aussie oi oi oi shouts went out. Second half another kick in the guts and the whole bar shouting for Schwarzer to be put on. Bring on the last 10mins when Kewell did what he was meant to and the whole bar went absolutley crazy! The last 8 minutes were insane as they almost scored a couple times until the final last score that was after the end time. Madness! Great game!
Friday... Day trip to Luxembourg! Wow! What an amazing place. The whole city was a massive fortress in the past and you can still tell so. Great views. From city to cliff face to river and back again. I walked the city and went underground into some of the old castmates. Was rather interesting under there. I found myself in the Luxembourg fast food place kind of like Hungry Jacks for lunch and the toilets were 50cents to use. What a load of bullshit. Anyway the female toilets door was open and no one was around... As I was heading back to the train station a whole procession of Police, Military, Ambulance and Fire trucks went by. It was the Luxembourg National Day! :) I followed the crowd and ended up watching a Miltary Parade where even the Royals came out. Climbed up on a cherry picker truck and got some great photos :) nice and random piece of fun. Came back to Brugges at around 9pm and met a couple blokes in my room and headed out for the night. Danced and drank the night away didn't get to bed until about 330am.
Yesterday was another day train tripping around Belgium after a slow start. Today I am heading back to Brussels to walk around the center and be a tourist. Need to book my train trip to Paris while I am there. I have a few nights booked in Paris and then on to Barcelona for the next weekend. Should be great :D
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19 June 06 - 18:19Think outside the box...
... for accomodation when the high season hits. That is my new philosophy anyway...
I wanted to head for Brussels and Luxembourg in the next few days but because of either/or the worldcup/high season the hostels are generally booked out. I was rather unhappy about that and had to think what the hell I was going to do. So the new plan is to stay in Brugges for 4 nights and catch the train into the two capitals I want to visit and just spend a day wondering around. The hostel in Brugges is also a lot better then the ones that are booked out in Brussels and Luxembourg. So I catch a night train from here to Brugge on Wednesday night and arrive early thursday morning. Gives me plenty of time to scope the place out and find a place for the big Australia v Crotia game.
After that I shall head to Paris on the 26th for a few nights. Heaps there I need to see and do and eat :). I then have 4 nights booked in Paris from the 30th to the 4th of July it's a weekend and it should be great! Then on to Pamps for some more fun. I guess Madrid the following weekend and then Lisbon for a night or two after that. Who knows :)
16 June 06 - 17:33Back in Germany
Took the train from Copenhagen back to Germany yesterday. It was really strange the train got onto a boat... Thats right it drove right onto the ferry... I kid you not it was a boat train train boat thingy.
Very cool. The ferry took 45mins and then we got back on the train and carried on south to Lübeck. Now I am back in Mühlen Eichsen with family. Will be here for the weekend and the Brazil-Australia game then I shall continue south.
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14 June 06 - 23:30Copenhagen
The streets of Copenhagen have very much been now been walked by me. I have climbed a couple of the towers in the area and have taken some rather good panaromic shots of the city.
I have just got back from the Carlsberg Brewery. Was nice to see something different then architecture and for only 25dkk you get a couple beers at the end. Bargain.
Really nice city this. Heaps of bicycles but not as many as Amsterdam. This place has more cars then Amsterdam too. Nice vibe here though, nice streets and such. No idea where that Tasmanian chick possing as a princess is hanging out though :)
Back to Germany tomorrow for the weekend. I'll set some plans and books some hostels ahead of time. The whole highseason makes it a pain to find a bed if you havn't booked ahead. Will be nice to get back to a bit of family... am looking forward to it. Will head out to a pub tonight to watch one of the games and spend my last few danish krones.
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13 June 06 - 00:58Ive been through Hell... quite literally...
Right well the last 4 days have been absolulely insane. I think I have spent more time travelling then being in one place.
6pm Thursday left Stockholm for Narvik. Got there at 3:30. (21.5hrs) Looked around took some photos and saw the whole sun up for the whole day thing. 7am Saturday morning I got the bus south to Fauske (the closest railway line south). I got there at 11:50 (4hr 50mins) expecting to catch the train to Trondheim at 12:40. No go though as there would be no connection in Trondheim. So I stayed in fauske train station (tiny little thing) until 9:42pm (10hrs waiting), when the next train was coming through, that would have a connection in Trondheim in the morning. 840am (12hrs) the next morning I am on the train to Oslo. Get in at 3:40pm (7hrs) Sunday afternoon. So I do a whirlwind run around and take some photos. Got some sleep and then 7am I caught the train to Copenhagen. Arriving around 4pm (9hrs)
That is where I am right now. Boy did I have a hard time getting a place to stay :( AND i missed the Australia Japan game!!! I thought it was on at 9pm not some crappy 3pm game.
ARGHHH crazy!
oh and Hell is a little place just outside Trondheim that the train went though. I got a photo :)
Finished that post up a little early as the library was closing. Oslo was kind of ok. That park with all of them statues was the highlight and I have a couple neat pictures. Copenhagen seems nice. I plan to stay a couple days and then head back to Germany to plan the rest of my trip. The place I stayed at last night is better then I first thought as breakfast was included and went down quite well, so I'll stay there while im here. I got to cross the longest train-car bridge in the world too :) was quite neat (from Malmo to Copenhagen).
08 June 06 - 22:41Stockholm
Well I have done Stockholm. Walked many streets, bridges and waterfronts. The place on a whole is amazing a great mixture of old and new and all right on the water. Didn't meet the night life it seems that is saved for the weekends here. Bit of a shame but I guess its not always possible.
Met another online friend last night. Was great to finally put another face to the text I have read over the years. Today I went to the Vasa Museum. Massive 17th Century warship museum. Best preserved ship of that time and all because it sunk after sailing only 1300m. Quite funny really.
Tonight I catch a night train up to Narvik in Norway. Hopefully the clouds will be missing and I will catch a bit of 24hour sunlight. The plan after that is to head south to Bergen and then jump across to Oslo on my way to Denmark.
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06 June 06 - 22:19More Scandi Photos
Just uploaded some more photos... Including Helsinki, the boat trip and a few photos I took on my rather long walk around Stockholm.
Unfortunately this computer won't rotate my photos so at the moment only the half decent landscape ones are being uploaded.
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05 June 06 - 17:19My head hurts...
I have made it to Stockholm. Very hung over so I'm not anywhere mentally right now. The boat trip was great hence the hang over.
Tax-Free drinks tend to make boats fun. My cabin had two other blokes in it one was Russian and didn't speak much english but the other guy was a Swede and he spoke english and Russian so that worked out well. I ended up buying a few cans of cider and got stuck into them early in the night. Walked around the boat many times trying to find some people my age to hang out with. No luck. Headed back to my room and found the two in my room getting stuck into this horrible strawberry vodka stuff and I was invited to join in. That was proberly a bad idea but anyway. Next came the real Russian Vodka that you can't get outside of Russian. My gosh that stuff is strong. Ended up being a rather long night for myself. The whole cider first followed by vodka and that horrible strawberry liquor stuff didn't sit real well. We did finish both bottles however.
Anyway there is free internet here so I might be able to upload some photos. Right now I just need recovery time :)
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04 June 06 - 16:07Helsinki
The last 3 nights in Helsinki have been rather good. Went out all 3 nights and had a great time each night. Met some people, danced, drank and yeah had some good fun.
Helsinki is a nice place. The people are generally quite until they get some alcohol into them but they are very nice people. Most people speak english so it has been a good few nights. Lacking the amount of sleep I had in the past month but still all in the name of fun :)
Tonight I head for Stockholm. The ferry leaves at 6pm and gets in to Stockholm at 930am tomorrow. All the students are off school now and everyone says these liners are big parties each trip so hopefully it will be another good night.
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01 June 06 - 01:54Särkänniemi! The Tampere Goodbye
Well tomorrow I head for Helsinki and today I have just got back from spending the day at Särkänniemi, Tampere's Amusement Park. It was a great day, almost perfect, apart from the fact my camera met the floor (it still works so its all good).
The place has some great rides, particularly the Tornado which I went on 8 times (see the photos in the gallery), and other then the rides there are also a few animals for the kids and a Dolphinarium plus some other things like a planetarium and aquarium. The dolphin show was really good as it was the first time I had seen a dolphin show. The photos in the gallery show the rides so go take a look.
Tomorrow is Helsinki for the weekend and then onto Sweden. Not sure when the next update will be so be happy with the photos (yes they include me). Oh and yeah... I gave myself a haircut...