Reeperbahn

Okay so first of all I was just want to state the obvious and apologize for my hiatus from posts. You shouldn’t even expect backdated posts. Basically the last few days, mainly since my arrival to Germany, has just been one awesome, nonstop blur of activity and I can honestly say that I have not had one moment to sit down and reflect and write which is unfortunate, but should speak to the good times that I’ve had in this country so far. So, what I think I am going to do is recap as best as I can all the while trying to retain the funny and interesting details of the trip (which are the first things to get lost as time rolls on) but the next couple of recap posts may not be so chronological as the others in favor of addressing issues by topic rather than by the time they were experienced. Let’s give it a shot!

I left you in Hamburg, if my memory serves me correctly, where I arrived to my ex-brothel hostel in the middle of the city’s red light district of St. Pauli along the famed Reeperbahn. I was also expecting a friend, Alex (met in Chengdu, from Berlin), to meet me there the next day and then we were going to plan to head down to Dusseldorf, pick up his brother, and then drive to Berlin. I’ll skip to the chase and just say that that plan did pan out and it was awesome.

Alex is a friend I met in Chengdu during my language studies at SWUFE. He’s an original Berliner (a person from Berlin) but his father is Russian, his mother is Ukrainian,  and he speaks Russian, Ukrainian, German, and English fluently as well as some French and Chinese. Again, putting my skills to shame and serves as even more of an inspiration for me to continue my language learning prowess. Besides all that, he’s just a really cool guy and a good friend. He had been to Hamburg a few times but never really as a tourist and only for a brief duration each stay. Since he had some time (he just returned from his own two month adventure through Southeast Asia), he figured he’d meet me in Hamburg to “pick me up” and take me around Germany a bit. After my evening stroll around the downtown and harbor areas of Hamburg, I returned to the hostel and crashed. There was a German couple, fun indie types by the look of them (although we didn’t talk to much), and a Swiss girl who spoke English well and was on a quick two week holiday from her nursing job in Bern. We stayed up talking awhile. But they left in the early morning and my plan was to get up, find a place for breakfast and a coffee, and then return to the hostel and meet up with Alex who would be arriving around 1PM.

So I did that. I found a university coffee shop, got a cappuccino and pastry, and went to a nearby drug store to buy some soap and shampoo (as well as a soap dish) to replace the ones that were stolen from me in my hostel in Copanhagen. I mean, who steals shampoo and soap? That’s just petty and a little bit gross. So I can chock those items off as the first (and hopefully only) items that I’ve lost so far on the trip. But no big deal, easily and cheaply replaceable. I returned to the hostel and lounged around a while while I waited for Alex.

Around 1:30 I could hear Alex walking with the eccentric owner of the hostel towards the room, talking in German. They opened the door and I gave Alex a big bro hug and we chatted awhile in the room while he settled in. He told me all about his adventures through warm, balmy, beautiful southeast Asia and we swapped stories for awhile. It was really cool catching up. Then we discussed the details of the next few following days, the logistics of our roaming about all of northern Germany, and the timing of it all. I learned that Alex, rather than taking a train out to Hamburg from Berlin, went online to this really cool German website that allows you to sign up for a ride by car between cities. Basically, if you have a car and you plan on driving somewhere, say Berlin to Hamburg, and you have empty seats, you can go to this website, post the details of the trip (when you’re leaving, how many seats you have free) and name a price which compensates the cost of gas. So for a trip of around 300km, like Berlin to Hamburg, you can ask for 15 euros or something and it is way cheaper for someone to catch a ride like this than it is to take a train or plane or something. So Alex did this from Berlin and he proposed we do it from Hamburg to Dusseldorf the following day to meet up with his brother, who lives there, before taking me to my final German destination of Berlin. I was immediately onboard with this plan for several reasons. First, it would save me money on transportation costs (I’ll save my valuable eurail pass days for longer, more expensive rides), save me on lodging (staying with his brother), I get to go to Dusseldorf, a wonderful city but out of the way for tourists and just so happens to be the city where my grandmother’s family is originally from, and even further, I get to experience the famed German autobahn, the national highway that connects all German cities and is famous for its lack of speed limits, all the while seeing the country by road. A pretty good deal, all in all.

The "Rathaus" metro station entrance, downtown Hamburg

Interior of the main lobby area inside the Rathaus

The Rathaus, Hamburg's city hall, from the square in front of the building

But we had the day to explore Hamburg. After Alex finished settling, we suited back up and headed out for a walk to explore the city a bit. We first went to this German bistro to buy some lunch. I had this excellent German currywhurst, a long German sausage doused in curry powders and served with a small salad and I added a side of cucumber salad (like a potato salad but made with cucumbers). And we both got a Beck’s beer, the famous German beer known internationally, like Germany’s Carlsberg in Denmark. Then we headed downtown, walking through the older districts and seeing the “Rathaus”, the large council house (like a city hall), a beautiful masterpiece of Gothic architecture, and the city’s cathedral, another Gothic marvel. Churches in Germany, at least the few I’ve been to so far, all share this Gothic look. It’s a very minimal approach to grandiose architecture. These cathedrals share in the rest of European churches’ high ceilings and wooden pews, but they lack the intricate paintings and colors and golden plated crosses and high-backed pulpit chairs. Instead the walls and ceiling are left bare, exposing the original marble or stone structures, and the few decorations are usually carved from dark oaken wood, as are the pews. It sounds boring but they are quite beautiful and play off this attractive, minimal sensibility. Also, the vast majority of churches in northern Germany are Lutheran, named after the theologian and reformer, Martin Luther, who is famous for rebelling against the Catholic church and its abuses of power and excesses in luxuries of the time. So it makes sense that the Lutheran churches would share in their lack of excess luxuries and decorations.

A view of a Gothic church steeple, typically German architecture-wise

Hamburg is lined with beautiful canals stemming from the main river harbor

We also explored the harbor area. Hamburg is Germany’s main portal to the sea, located along a river that runs straight to North Sea and sees some of the largest traffic from shipping and container ships in all of Northern Europe. So the harbor is a bustling place, even in the cold of winter, for ships and other movers of goods. But the harbor is also beautiful. There is a walking promenade lined with beer houses where you can sit awhile and admire the view. We found one we liked and sat down to glüwine with rum (pronounced gloo-vine, a hot drink of red wine mixed with various spices), a very excellent sea-side drink for this cold afternoon stroll through the city.

The main promenade along the harbor in Hamburg

Alex in thought over some gluwine along the harbor promenade

We headed back to the Reeperbahn area, dropped off our touristy stuff (backpacks and cameras) at the hostel, and set out for dinner. We were recommended this very excellent traditional German restaurant, a bit fancy and expensive, but the food was superb. We both ordered an appetizer of traditional Munich sausage boiled in broth and served with a spicy mustard and a main dish of local fish over potatoes and greens. Fish is sort of the local specialty. And we each ordered an Alstor beer, the local beer of choice, a light lager, but very tasty, logo bedecked with an anchor. And then in true Chengdu fashion, we returned to the hostel with some cheap booze from the liquor store and lounged awhile preparing for a night on the town. Reeperbahn is famous all over Germany for its red light district and party streets of St Pauli. In fact, the actual red light district is a small square behind the buildings along the main road whose few access entrances are located along alley ways and are blocked from public view by large green fences with narrow entryways. On these fences are painted in large white letters, in English, and say “21 and up, no women allowed”. Pretty creepy. I’ll disappoint you now and tell you that Alex and I opted not to enter this area. Even the hostel worker, who was all about the night life of St. Pauli, recommended we steer clear of the actual red light district due to its creepiness and sort of dangerous setting. But the main strip of the Reeperbahn includes plenty of other creepy clubs and shows of its own (where women are allowed, thankfully) and are intermixed with very cool student clubs and bars. From now on, and since Germany and especially Berlin, is famous for its clubs and I will be exploring these with friends a lot, I’m going to kind of glaze over the goings on of all nightlife activity, not becasue I have anything to hide, but rather I think you get the idea and I simply don’t need to be going into any details. So then without going into details, we found some of these student clubs (nothing creepy, trust me) and spent the night out. It was a lot of fun. Hamburg actually has some pretty trendy spots within the famous Reeperbahn district. The DJ’s were all very good and we hit a few places that played everything from American indie rock mixes to German house techno. Just a really fun night out. I can’t do these kinds of night life romps without friends so I was really happy that Alex was able to come out and meet me.

Our ex-brothel hostel entrance along the Reeperbahn

We got back to the hostel pretty late (but not Chengdu late thankfully) and slept in to late in the morning. Alex had arranged our ride to Dusseldorf and we were supposed to meet the driver at Hamburg’s hauptbanhof (central train station) around 2 in the afternoon. We packed up our stuff and did some errands in the late morning. I picked up a German SIM card and we got some breakfast. So, since this post is already getting long and that I am easily failing at writing just the highlights, I’ll end this post here and continue the recap in the morning.

Stay tuned. Next up: power walks, ZEE AUTOBAHN!, and a pretty little place called Dusseldorf.

Hamburg ist über cool!

I booked a late train on purpose. Copenhagen had worn me out. From bonfire parties to hostel happy hour to early morning fire alarms, I was wiped. I stayed up late last night, through happy hour and into the evening chatting with Monica and Camilla, the girls from the other night, and another American we just met, Nye from NYC. I even met two US Navy submariners last night. Crazy. They just finished power school and had two weeks leave before prototype in upstate NY so they hopped a flight to Europe. They even knew a girl I know at power school. Small world. But those guys went out on the town after awhile. The four us just chilled in the hostel bar until late. So I slept in this morning, checked out at 10, hung around a bit in the lounge, and then walked to the central train station to catch my train to Hamburg.
 
The whole of Denmark is pretty flat. The countryside looked much like southern Sweden, rolling hills and farmland with scattered Scandinavian cottages. The view out the window was beautiful but a bit monotonous. I tried to look through my German language study book, accompanied by tracks on my iPod, but the train put me to sleep. I never had a chance. About two hours into the ride there was an announcement made over the loudspeaker in Danish, and then German, and then I think English. But the message was a long one and if it was later retold in English, I was too drowsy to have paid attention. I drifted off to sleep again. A few minutes later I remember stirring awake because the train had started to slow. The train began coming down to a pretty slow speed as I watched the country scenery through the window. Suddenly my view from the window turned from beautiful countryside into white, metallic walls. When the train was completely enclosed within this odd box, it screeched to a sudden halt. Then everyone got up from their seats, leaving their luggage behind, and began to file out of the train and into the narrow walkway within the mystery compartment we were in. I had no idea what was going on. At first I thought maybe the German government was going to do a thorough search of the cabins while we waited outside, like maybe we had just reached the German border. But being in this box made it feel like we were being quarantined for some reason. Like maybe Germans had some really strict border crossings (even though there aren’t any border crossings in the EU, I don’t know what I was thinking). Remember, I had been sleeping and was still drowsy when the train stopped, so my brain wasn’t working properly. I just kind of went with it. I hopped in line and filed out with everyone else. We walked up some narrow, steel steps and into a large, open waiting room surrounded by huge windows that looked up at the big gray sky. There were shops, cafes, and some restaurants in this waiting hall. I kept walking through wondering what magical place we had just entered and then over to the windows I saw the open ocean. I was still puzzled. I started to head back to the information booth to ask what the heck was going on - I didn’t want to accidentally miss the train. And then all of a sudden I figured it out. We were on a boat. Before I knew it, the ferry took off on its 45 minute ride south to Germany. I never expected that we’d be on a ferry. There is a route, a much more out of the way route, that the train could take to get between Denmark and Germany continuously using bridges. This route goes straight west awhile from Copenhagen before eventually turning south towards the German border. The route we took was by far more direct, going instead straight south from Copenhagen towards Hamburg, but the ocean crossing is far too long for a bridge. But okay, so yeah, we went that way.

I felt pretty foolish, being on a boat without realizing I ever went onto a boat. But the ride was quite nice. I bought some duty free cashews and orange soda and sat by the window over the bow as the smallish ferry rolled over the large waves and strong current of the seas. The sky was bright but very gray and looked a bit stormy. As we got closer to the German shore, the land looked bleak and ominously deserted except for a wind farm of humongous modern windmills. There was no town, no buildings, no people by the landing. Just a lot of bleak shoreline. It was beautiful, but very ominous looking. We were told to return to the train, and then we rolled off the ferry and into “the continent”.

It didn’t take long for me to fall back to sleep again but it was just another two hours to Hamburg. I hopped off the train at the station and realized that I completely forgot to look up the location of the hostel that I booked. Usually I take the time beforehand to prepare detailed maps of the location of the hostel so that I can self navigate my way there either by foot or by public transportation. I refuse to take taxis in Europe - too expensive. But I just hadn’t done that at all for Hamburg. Realizing that, I had to try and get a wifi connection somewhere so that I could look it up. Every other train station in Europe that I have been to so far comes with free public wifi. But obviously Hamburg had no such convenience, not when I needed it. They had hot spots you could pay for but you usually need a local phone number to sign up for these deals (like I’d pay for it anyway, ha!). But even the McDonald’s at the station didn’t have free wifi. I thought that was a sure bet.

Annoyed, I left the station and headed to an area that I thought I might be able to find either a street map or wifi access. I had the street address of the hostel in my inbox which I cold access from my iPhone. Eventually, after walking down a large shopping street, and past many street activists trying to get me to sign something, I found a map of the city and located the neighborhood, several neighborhoods away from where I currently was, but reachable by metro. So I hopped the metro to Reeperbahn, also know as Hamburg’s red light district.

So I didn’t realize this when I booked the hostel, the reviews online didn’t key me in on this, but it’s located right in the heart of the city’s red light district. And this hostel was one of the cheapest and best rated in the city. So I booked it. When I walked out of the metro station and towards the street where the hostel was located, I started passing strip clubs and sex shops and shows and all kinds of red light district-y stuff. And even the hostel is located in an old brothel. The hostel is just one hallway with 4 or 5 identical rooms on each side and one small reception room. It’s pretty funny. But the hostel is actually really nice, the staff is very enthusiastic, and everything is quite normal. I actually read a little later too that the red light district of Reeperbahn in St. Pauli is the safest neighborhood in the whole city because of the intense Polizei (police) presence. They sort of keep everything in check. Plus the area is quite touristy.

After settling in a bit, I went for a walk down to the harbor and away from the lights, now blaring and blinking on the signs in Reeperbahn, to get a look at the city and orientate myself a little. Hamburg is one of the busiest shipping ports in northern Europe and many call it, I recently read, the Venice of the north because of its vast canal systems that cut threw the city. The harbor area and the canals around the old town are remarkably beautiful. The NYTimes travel article had said this city was vastly underrated. I am starting to see why. The sun had just set below the horizon over the water and the sky was clear of clouds, giving way to the multi-colored sunset over the many ships along the harbor. I circled around the main part of the old town, doing a sort of late evening stroll, amazed at how pretty everything was, and then eventually made my way back to the hostel. I’ll have plenty of more time over the next couple days to properly explore.

Sunset over Hamburg Harbor

This photo doesn't capture how built up the harbor is, with restaurants, cafes and a promenade just off to the right

The industrial side of Hamburg

A clear night over Hamburg

I’m typing this now, getting ready to crash. I just found out that a friend of mine from Berlin, Alex (a friend I met in Chengdu), is going to take the train out to meet me tomorrow. I think he’ll stay with me for a couple of days and then we’ll take the train to Dusseldorf, spend a day there, meet up with his brother, and then drive to Berlin. It sounds like an awesome plan.

Hoo-gull-ey København

I’ve been in Copenhagen now for three days and yet I haven’t managed to write one word about my exciting trip to this city, which is a shame because I have had a blast here. This city certainly deserves a note or two. So I think I will try to make up for this by dedicating this single post to my time here. It might be long. Bare with me on this one.

A live Danish band playing by the fountain in the main square of Copenhagen's old town

My train ride from Gøtenberg (a transfer city from Oslo) was notable because as I mentioned earlier, the snow had melted across the countryside, exposing the green grass below, for the first time in my trip. A good sign indeed, inviting the warmer, more mild air to southern Scandinavia. We zipped along the rails through much of the countryside. If you’ve ever driven through the heart of Ohio, southern Sweden looks like that. Little isolated country homes surrounded by a single line of scattered trees and acres and acres of rolling farmland. Beautiful. We hugged the coastline, along what I think is known as the Kattegat portion of the North Sea, until we got to the very bottom of the Swedish landmass, crossed a bridge over the small inlet that connects the North and Baltic seas, and came rolling to a stop in nearby Copenhagen, capital of Denmark.

I did the same as I always do. I hopped off the train. Stood by for a moment to soak in the atmosphere of the new train station, gather my bearings, and walk towards the hostel. Easily found, located in the thick of the old town across from the Tivoli Gardens by the central train station, I walked into the hostel, into a bar and lounge room. The corner of the bar had a sign with an arrow pointing to a register that read, “reception”. I walked up to the counter and a blonde girl with Wayfarers in her hair handed a girl sitting on a stool a beer that she had just finished pouring from the tap and then walked over to greet me. The large lounge area was packed with people, but relatively quiet with smooth, atmosphere-y music playing in the background. I told her I had a booking and she looked at the computer and after a few moments, frowned. It was 4:30 in the afternoon. She apologized and said the bed was not ready for some reason (probably as a result of an obnoxious traveler who just sort of refused to leave - it happens) but that I could wait at one of the tables in the lounge and she’d bring the keycard to me as soon as she could, probably a half an hour or so later. I took a seat. It was no big deal. I took out my computer and used the internet a bit, catching up on emails and messages and whatever else. A minute later, she came up to me, smiling, placed a large beer from the tap in front of me and said, “On the house.” This is a cool hostel.

Eventually I worked my way up to the room, put away my bags, made my bed, and left to go explore a bit. The neighborhood where the hostel is located is within what is loosely known as the city’s old town, a densely settled puzzle of alleyways bordered by 17th century buildings and canals that criss cross through the old town. Copenhagen is spread across several islands and, being located along a choke point for shipping into the Baltic Sea, is a masterpiece of interconnecting waterways. I followed one of the canals down and out of the old town, across a beautiful bridge, and wandered over to an area known as Christiania, a smaller island neighborhood that had been taken over in the 70’s by hippies. The island now sports funky music venues, art galleries, and loose drug laws, but also has some of the most beautiful, old apartment buildings and some really attractive parks and ponds. I walked through the gritty yet somehow still Copenhagen-orderly hippie zone and into some of the parks. The sun was starting to set. The air was relatively mild - I could get on without a hat and gloves if I wanted to. When the sun had set and the sky turned dark, I walked back towards the hostel, stopping in on a shwarma restaurant. There are lots of shwarma restaurants in this city. I bought a shwarma sandwich and a coke zero served in a glass bottle as almost all cokes are here, and then ate in the back amidst other after-workers and evening shoppers. I continued to walk through the old town alleyways. I past an old man in a cap with ears like a cow that wrapped around his face as he stood by the side of the narrow street, swaying and dancing to the music he was playing on a flute. But he just played one note over and over and over again. It was pretty amusing. There was a more talented music group by a fountain at the conjoining of many alleyway streets. Hip Copenhagers dressed in tight black clothes drumming on bongo drums and xylophones, whistling and clapping. The music had a strong gypsy vibe to it and gathered a lot of attention from bystanders. They played continuously, never wavering in their beat as young people swayed and danced around the fountain, freely moving their limbs in an arrhythmic pattern, like a looser, freer version of the Charles Shultz’s “Peanuts” characters.

I went back to the hostel lounge to find it lively and bustling. I took a seat and relaxed at one of the tables. The bar was hopping. Happy hour is from 8-9 each night, two beers for the price of one (which quickly becomes a lot of beer). I took two beers and drank while I wrote a bit about my trip to Oslo. I became drowsy very quickly and retired for the night.

Waking up at a decent hour the next morning and taking a seat in the lounge for breakfast, instant coffee and a muffin, I was approached by an enthusiastic woman, maybe in her upper 20’s, wearing a badge around her neck with her name, Anna, and the flags of the countries of the languages she speaks, and asked me if I was joining her and the group on the free city walking tour she was leading in about thirty minutes. I said, “Yyyyyyes. Of course I’m joining,” not realizing there was a free walking tour. And she said, great! I met her and the group outside the hostel 30 minutes later. While we waited I had started talking to a Canadian girl and an Australian guy, both my age, learning a bit about what brought them to Copenhagen, as more people gathered together. Apparently this tour group, run by young Danes, combs the more popular hostels in the city for interested walking tour takers. The tour, I overheard at the hostel, was awesome, and it was. Anna led us through the old town and to the harbor, around the royal palace and back to the old town. She talked thoroughly of famous Danes and the history behind the city, throwing out interesting facts and stories along the way. She was incredible, and the tour was free. I guess she just loves her city that much. Here are some fun things I learned about Copenhagen.

1. Copenhagen is the city for bike enthusiasts. Copenhagers are the friendliest, happiest people on the planet (a recent study proves that) but they will run you over like pedestrian killing machines if you get in their way along the city’s developed bike lanes. Old women are the worst offenders (of the cyclists).

2. Most of the city’s museums are free as is their botanical garden (but I didn’t go to any of them).

3. The country has the oldest single royal family in Europe and their Queen is quite popular with the Danish people (even though her French husband of fifty years is not). She is responsible for many cool projects one of which is that she is solely responsible for translating the entire series of Lord of the Rings books into Danish.

4. 99% of Danish Jews survived World War 2 despite the Nazi occupation of their country due to the diligence and cleverness of their king at the time and the cooperation of the Swedes in smuggling them all across the strait into neutral Sweden.

5. The best restaurant in the world, Noma, is located in Copenhagen (voted number one by the recognized Michelin guide). The waiting time for a table at that restaurant: 6 months. Average price of a meal: 6,000 Danish Kroners ($1,045 USD).

6. The current Prince, son of the Queen, and heir to the throne, married an Australian common girl on a trip he took once to Australia. They met in a bar. She didn’t know he was the Prince of Denmark until he invited her to visit him in Denmark, six months after they had been dating. She is now the Queen-to-be and lives in a wing of the palace next to the Queen’s. She already speaks better Danish than the Queen’s French husband.

7. Hyggelig (pronounced, hoo-gull-ey) is the coolest Danish word in the language and has no direct translation in other langauges. But it means sort of like “cozy” and it is fun to use in everyday conversation in either Danish or English.

8. Lots of other stuff. Anna was great.

Anna, our guide, showing something about a statue

We wrapped up the tour, I asked Anna for some advice on places to eat, thanked her, and then I took off with Aaron, the Aussie from Perth, to go see the mermaid. I didn’t know the mermaid was famous in this city until well after I had gotten here. Did anyone else know that Copenhagen is famous for its mermaid? Anyway, we checked it out. It’s a small statue of a mermaid on a pedestal on the rocky shore of the harbor. There were tons of people surrounding the statue. Aaron helped me take a photo (because I guess you have to do that), we laughed at the plainness of this attraction, and then walked back into the old town to get an eco-hotdog from a stand that Anna had recommended to us. The hotdog was pretty good and even better, it was cheap. 

Me and the mermaid - she didn't look interested

DOP, the eco hotdog stand where we ate some luch

Earlier in the day I had done some research on the local music scene in the city. It was a saturday night and I really wanted to go see some local live music. I went to a website where locals write about their own city, encouraging travelers to come and experience the “real city” as the locals do. It’s a cool idea and Copenhagen was listed. Local Copenhagers seemed to unanimously favor a place in Christiania called Loppen, for live music. I convinced Aaron to come with me. That was our plan for the evening.

We went back to lounge out in the hostel for awhile. We got a couple beers and chatted awhile. We were joined by another traveler, a Mexican American girl from southern California who was traveling here to visit a friend she knew from Denmark. The four of us later went to dinner where we ordered steak (something I hadn’t eaten in a long, long time) and then we went back to the hostel bar for happy hour where we made good use of the specials. Properly lubricated, we walked over to Christiania to find Loppen. Christiania comes alive at night. As interesting as it was when I walked through the evening before, it was on fire, literally, late this saturday evening. The place felt like a giant, pagan bonfire with people dancing around these large, open fuel barrels full of fire wood, the fire rising high into the dark sky. People gathered around the fires keeping warm, drinking and socializing. We found Loppen and paid our reasonably priced cover fee. We got our hands stamped and walked into the venue. The room was located on the second floor of an old factory building. The room was very dark. The floors, walls, and ceiling were made of a dark, heavy wood, with an attractive bar in the corner, and a level stage along the far wall. Some scattered chairs and tables took over the floor space in the near corner. The venue was very small (the best ones are) and the atmosphere was intimate. Their were three live bands, all Danish, all hard rock, and all of them were extremely talented. It felt a lot like the Silversun Pickups’ music video “Lazy Eye” (one of my favorite bands of all time). The music and atmosphere had a similar feeling. Hip Copenhagers stood around the stage, mesmerized by the loud rock music and the band members swaying in beat, just a few feet away. I love places like this. This venue reminded me a lot of a place you might find in LA or Brooklyn. Just a cool, cool scene.

Eventually the Danish girl wasn’t feeling too well so she went back to the hostel with Monica, the American girl. Me and Aaron stayed for the whole show then walked around Christiania a little. Through the neighborhood, past many a bonfire, was this little square, blackened by the night, with the largest of all the bonfires. This one was in something bigger than a barrel, it was more like a giant dish and was filled with old stacking crates, the large industrial ones used for pallets. The fire burned bright and rose 10 feet in the air. There must have been a hundred people around this one dancing to this truly excellent electronic music being blasted from this DJ in under a tent. There was a small makeshift bar on a foldout table where you could by cheap beer or vodka. The beat kept rolling until late in the night. Aaron and I stayed by the fire, dancing along with everyone else until the wee hours of the morning before we eventually succumbed to our tiredness and headed back to the hostel. It’s hard to describe here but that was one of the coolest evenings I’ve ever experienced.

Aaron had to catch an early train the next day back to Sweden where he was studying as an exchange student and I slept in until late in the morning. I still had one more full day to explore. I woke up around 10 and hopped in the shower. Suddenly, while lathering up the shampoo, I heard a loud alarm system start going off followed by an automated voice issuing directions in Danish followed by the translation in English. It said to remain calm, that there was an emergency in the building, and that everyone should evacuate the building immediately. Puzzled and with suds streaming down my body, I turned off the shower, dried off, and went back to my room to grab my coat. I was the last one out of the building as I joined the hundreds of people out on the sidewalk waiting for instructions. I was in a tank top shirt with my Burton jacket and scarf, soccer pants, and flip flops. My hair was still damp from the shower. I was cold. The firetrucks showed up, searched the building, and after about 20 minutes, allowed everyone to re-enter. Okay, these things happen. I never found out what that was about. I didn’t care. I went back to my room to finish dressing. I figured now was a good time to start the day.

The weather is warming! Sunbathers by a cafe

The sandwich shop where I got lunch today in Christiania

One of the more picturesque areas of the old town

Private ships in one of the city's frozen canals

I went to the nearby 7 Eleven (they are actually nice everywhere else in the world (I mean that in relation to the crappy American ones)) to buy a juice and bagel and I sat on a bench in the sun in the middle of the old town.

I sort of took it easy today. I basically retraced the steps I had taken yesterday during the walking tour so that I could take some more thorough photos. I decided to spend the day simply wandering around, snapping photos of the city’s most photogenic areas (there are many). I also dedicated much of my photo taking time to using my new lomography camera. Now that the streets are a bit busy and more picturesque and the days are getting warmer and sunnier, I am going to try and take more and more experimental photos with the new camera. 

Bicycles are everywhere - even in wintertime

Even the construction walls are attractive here - art alongside a construction barrier

Cyclists in front of the Princess's Palace

I’m back in the hostel now. We are approaching happy hour and the bar and lounge are getting busier and busier. I’m pretty contented right now. I had done some planning today as well. I reserved a ticket tomorrow, late morning, to Hamburg, Germany. My first stop to “the continent”. I’ll be there for a few days and then I’ll take the train to Berlin where I plan to stay for about a week and half, relaxing, catching up with friends, and enjoying the glory of what everyone agrees is one of the best cities in Europe.

Keep following me - we’ve got a long way to go!

Norwegian Gypsy Rock and Fulbright Scholars

One of the benefits of staying in this particular hostel in the suburbs is that it comes with free breakfast. Not just breakfast - hotel style buffet breakfast. Yeah, sure, maybe you have to pay extra for clean sheets and okay, the price of one night is three nights anywhere else, but yes, the breakfast was great. I hadn’t eaten like this since I left home 8 months ago. Admittedly my stomach can’t stretch the way it used to, having eaten like a rabbit for the last few weeks, but I made sure they regretted offering the buffet. I wasn’t hungry until much later that evening. And it wasn’t just a normal buffet either. It was like a traditional Norwegian buffet, with fish eggs on knackerbrod and salmon slices baked into cheese over toast, it was pretty nice.

That set me up for the day. I had worked a list of must-see’s, collaborated by an American girl, Fulbright scholar, who felt bad she couldn’t meet up with me and Øystein and Chris the first night. Over the last few places that I’ve been, I’ve slowly been getting more and more tired of relying so heavily on the guidebooks that I’ve been using. They are good and useful, no doubt, and they offer good ideas for places to stay and maps and things like that. But as far as must-see things, I’ve found these guide books much more useful in the remote places of the world. In China, there are endless adventure style trips that these guidebooks plan out and without their help, finding them on your own is really, really difficult - even with a command of the language. But the cities of Europe don’t really need their help. There are only so many museums you can go to before you explode. I’m at that point. Instead of the guidebook then, I’ve decided to put my faith in the New York Times travel section. I may have mentioned this before but the Times does this “36 Hours in (pick a major city)” series where it describes what you should do, as a middle to upper class, well informed, man of the world, in a major city if you arrive on a friday afternoon and leave on a sunday morning. The series is incredible. It does a great job of bypassing the mundane, obvious sites and museums, and takes you to places that make the city stand out, which restaurants and bars and clubs and of course, major sites that make the city tick at that particular moment. I recommend this to anyone thinking of traveling anywhere. But of course it doesn’t always work. The Times hasn’t published a “36 Hours in Jiayuguan” for example. But they’ve hit every major European city, and some minor ones too. The other approach I’ve started to take is to message someone I know who is either from that city, knows someone in that city, or has at one time traveled to that city. And I just go see what they recommend, blindly. I’ve never regretted missing the national museum of wherever because it wasn’t on a friend’s must-do list. So Annie put one together for me and I let that guide me through the day.

With that said, I started my day with a stroll back to Karl Johans Gate, following its end at the Norwegian Palace which houses the royal family. I took my time, slowly walking the cobbled streets leading up to the palace. There is a nice, royal park (probably nicer in the summer) where you could stroll through secluded, quiet patches of lawn amongst scattered trees. But in the distance I heard some trumpets playing up the hill towards the palace. That caught my attention so I headed up in that direction. I stumbled upon a small crowd of people gathered on the lawn in front of the palace entrance around maybe 20 or 30 uniformed soldiers at attention in three rows. They were led by one man, very tall, in the front. They looked like some sort of ceremonial rifle guard. They were all wearing some dress uniform, long black cloaks, shiny black shoes, and a two point cover, black, with a small tassel draped down the side. The leader turned around from time to time and commanded the group to do various movements with their rifles as onlookers took photos. But there would be long pauses in between these rehearsal drills. It seemed like everyone around me knew what was going on. But I sat there in excited anticipation, waiting to see what would happen. Eventually, one soldier at his post in a fancy booth by the palace entrance turned to receive a call inside the booth. Then he re-emerged, gave a kind of nod to the leader, and the leader, turned, gave some commands, and the soldiers stood at attention and the buglers started to play. An Audi, driven by a high ranking uniformed officer drove up the road from the hill below, up to the palace entrance and inside a small archway. He got out and walked to the back and opened the door for a women in a business suit. She got out and walked into the palace and then everyone waited. For a really long time. I just kind of stood there wondering what to do. Eventually I gave up on whatever was supposed to come next. I walked around through the palace gardens along the side and circled the building. By the time I returned, the group of soldiers were marching in formation away from the entrance to a small building along the side. So maybe I missed it. Or maybe they were just waiting to be dismissed. Either way it was pretty cool to watch. I guessed that they do this daily to welcome a member of the royal family to the palace, but that’s just a guess. I never found out.

Soldiers at attention in front of the Royal Norwegian Palace

Then I walked down to the harbor’s western bank known as Akker Brygge, an area now developed along this upscale promenade, lined with marinas and ferry landings, and restaurants and cafes and expensive apartments on the bank. At the end of the dock is this new modern art museum that Annie had said was a must-see. So I went in. I don’t usually go out of my way to seek out modern art, I prefer the more classical works generally, but this museum was pretty cool. Its current exhibition was a collection of pieces from the US from the 70’s - some pretty radical pieces. There was another room for just Scandinavian artists. Many of the pieces were so wacky that I didn’t quite follow the message they were trying to convey, I think. But I really liked most of them. It’s kind of gross, but one of my favorite pieces was of a cow, an actual cow, completely cut in half lengthwise. Everything was preserved somehow, you could get a glimpse of all its organs and innards. Each half was enclosed in a glass case and you could walk between them. Weird. But cool.

Locals buying fresh fish from a fisherman on the bow of his boat

A look down Akker Brygge

The Asrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art

Visitors admiring the art in the museum

After the art museum I walked back along the dock, ducked into a cafe for a coffee and a chocolate muffin (yum), then walked to the harbor’s eastern bank where the new opera house was located. The opera house was built only a few years ago and is an astonishing piece of architecture. Although you couldn’t walk inside to the stage, even the waiting hall inside was impressive, wood panelling rounding around the outside of the stage. The outside of the building had ramps that you could walk up that lead to the rooftop where you could wander around and get decent views of the harbor and the surrounding city. The sun was out too, rare for this time of year, and so standing out on the sundeck, basking in the sunshine and looking out towards Oslo Fjord was really nice.

A look inside Oslo's new opera house

Oslo's opera house - you can climb the slope to get views of Oslo fjord from the rooftop

A view of the harbor in Oslo from the top of the opera house

Last up on Annie’s list was a place called Frogner Park, a huge park just outside the city center. Even in the wintery weather this park was nice for walking around. The park, oddly, had some sort of erotic statue theme. Everywhere the park sported random nude statues in different poses. Hundreds of these statues, actually. I don’t know what the idea behind that was but the park, despite its odd erotic statues, or maybe because of them, was hugely popular with walkers, mothers with strollers, bike riders, and dog walkers. I strolled around the park until late in the afternoon as my legs began to buckle under the long walks of the day. I was meeting Annie later for dinner and drinks so I wanted to head back to the hostel, relax and take a shower, before the night. I hopped the tunnel bane, Norway’s metro system, back to the hostel.

A beautiful day in Frogner Park

I met Annie by this large statue of a tiger outside the central station. She was with a friend, Tiffany, a Vietnamese American, also a Fulbright scholar, in Oslo teaching English. We were all pretty hungry so we walked to a little local Vietnamese restaurant, tucked away in the basement of an old stone building, underneath a strip club. Sketchy setting but the food was amazing. And the place was packed with both locals, Norwegian and Vietnamese and everything else. We got some spicy beef noodle bowls, similar to ones you might find in Chengdu, and split this sort of vegetable crepe, served and eaten in these lettuce wraps. Excellent food, cool local setting, and reasonably priced. I really liked it. We talked a lot about our life plans and where we hope to be - we all had pretty similar goals and are all about the same age. Annie, a Chinese American, speaks fluent Chinese and is doing her Fulbright on researching the Chinese shipping industries, hoping to use those talents in a professional setting. She mentioned Seattle. I talked up that city ad nauseum. And Tiffany, fluent in Vietnamese, is using her Fulbright to teach English in a small Norwegian village south of the city, also hoping to find similar work after her time in Norway. They’re two very intelligent young women and it was really nice to speak with them over dinner, meeting interesting people and getting ideas about what I could use my Chinese experience to do and my upcoming plans for graduate school in Washington. I’m excited to get back in the swing of things and start working again (but not until I’m done traveling - I’ve got priorities...)

After dinner we hopped the tram back to Annie’s apartment for tea. Annie also lives in Øystein’s old neighborhood, near where my hostel is in a nice apartment building. The interior is decidedly Nordic, a very nice blend of modern facilities and old wooden furniture and cabinets and things. She has a Norwegian roommate who was there with his Norwegian girlfriend. Really, really friendly people, fluent in English, obviously. Over tea I had asked if Annie or Tiffany had ever heard of this small movement in Norway, a recent musical movement of what I can only describe as Norwegian gypsy rock. My sister discovered them a few years ago and recommended them to me, a band called Kaizer’s Orchestra. They play this really bouncy, gypsy music, set to rock. It’s very unique and very awesome. Since I was in Norway, I thought I’d ask around to see if they were well known in Oslo. Annie and Tiffany had not heard of the band. But I played one of their songs, well received by the two Americans, and then Annie’s roommate’s girlfriend walked in the room and said, “Oh! Kaizer’s Orchestra. Good choice.” I was pretty happy she said that. She said they were popular with locals and that their live shows are very entertaining. I have no doubt. Check them out for yourself - try the older albums...

We decided to head out to get a drink at a place nearby. We walked through quiet neighborhood streets, slowly working our way down the hill towards the river, the one that divides the city, back over the spanwire bridges that cross over the high cliff walls, back to the area near the old factories that I had dinner the night before with Øystein and Chris. We walked into a small local bar, a clean place with good beer on tap. We stayed for a drink, Tiffany ordered a pear cider, a good choice, and then we walked back around midnight. I had to get an early start the next morning so that I would make the 7 AM train to Gøtenberg and I wanted to get a little sleep. I didn’t want this to turn into another St. Petersburg train fiasco (I did find that girl’s email by the way and properly thanked her for her help in waking me and sending me on my way to Helsinki - she said she was glad I made the train, people are awesome). I thanked them for their company and advice and then left to walk up the hill towards my hostel. We’ll keep in touch. In addition to being really cool people, they also traveled to a lot of the places I’m traveling to pretty soon and will be able to give some further advice on things to do and where to stay. I’d be glad for the tips.

Oslo's central train station

I’m in Copenhagen right now. I’ve been here for one evening and one morning. I’m writing this before happy hour at my hostel - oh yes, my hostel has its own bar. This is an awesome hostel. And then me, an Aussie guy, an American girl, and a Danish girl are going to this place called Loppen in Christiania, a funky island in the heart of Copenhagen, to watch a live show at a cool local music venue. Doors open at 9. I’m excited. I’ll talk about my experience so far in Copenhagen in the next post. Copenhagen is awesome and is quickly becoming my favorite Scandinavian city.

I’ll leave you with that!

East Oslo

I find myself on another train after a quick, quick stopover in Oslo. This time I’m on No. 105, express to Copenhagen via Gøtenberg, Sweden. I’ll arrive to Denmark later this afternoon. So two nights, one full day in Oslo. Too short, much too short but then, too expensive.

My wonderful train experience from Stockholm ended with my arrival to Oslo’s Central Station. I hopped off the train, walked around the station a bit, grabbed a sandwich from a convenience deli, and got some Norwegian Kroner from the ATM machine. Oslo is a small city, much like Helsinki. The main portion of downtown is pretty centrally concentrated, as are the major means of transport, and luckily the main train station. But since Oslo is so expensive, I had to carefully shop around for a hostel that wouldn’t damage my budget too terribly so I had to be a bit flexible when it came to location. I chose one of the cheapest options (still twice as much as most European hostels I’m told and twelve times more expensive the China’s hostels), a nice hostel located high on  a bluff rising above the city center, up on Oslo Fjord, about four kilometers from the train station. Four kilometers is just a little too far to walk even though the streets seemed pretty easy to navigate. Oslo, like most Chinese cities, conveniently built its major roads in concentric rings around the city center. My hostel was in a neighborhood just off the intersection of one of the major roads that stem from the center and the third ring road. But my pack is a little too heavy to be making that trip uphill in the cold. I aimed for public transportation. The hostel’s website gave a good set of directions on which type and number of public transport (you could take metro, bus, or tram) to take and where to get off, but it offered a very vague description of where the hostel was actually located from the stop. But first of all, Oslo’s public transportation system is probably the most thorough, for such a small city, that I’ve ever seen. You basically buy one ticket per ride that covers everything. You can use the pass in the metro, on a bus, tram, ferry, commuter train, airport express, all kinds of things. And all the stations, between all of the transport types, are so close together that you could literally take public transport from your doorstep at home, to the doorstep of your workplace in the city, without ever having to walk more than 50 meters. Pretty good. The other weird thing about this system, and this was also the case for Helsinki (not Stockholm though) is that nobody really pays for the tickets. In fact, there is no one to check the tickets even if you buy them. So people just hop on and off as if it was free, right in front of the conductor who sort of seems like he expects that they won’t pay. It’s really strange. But I guess when each ticket costs the equivalent of six dollars, it’s no wonder no one wants to pay. But I wonder how they make any money. Actually, I’ve felt a side effect this morning. My tram broke down on the way to the train station. Buying tickets probably would have helped prevent that. But I’m not complaining.

I took the tram from the train station, two afternoons ago, and found my stop easily enough. The stop is located in a suburban neighborhood, surrounded by soccer fields and housing complexes all leading up this steep hill that continues to rise up the bluff. Even in this area, halfway up the bluff, you get sweeping views of the city below and the rest of Oslo Fjord that extends to the south out to sea. It was a beautiful area. But the hostel, as stated before, blended into the rest of the buildings in the neighborhood and was poorly labeled. I wandered around feeling a little foolish for 10 or 15 minutes, staring at buildings and spinning in circles, before I finally found my way, walking up walking paths rather than roads, past the soccer fields and up a hill to the hostel. The hostel looked a lot more like a hotel, or a fancy motel rather, across two buildings that looked like apartment buildings in a sort of culldesac with other homes. It was very residential. But it was mid-afternoon, I checked in and had to prepare a bit. I was meeting a friend of my dad’s a little later in the evening for dinner.

Øystein Trunsjø is a professor and director of an institute that influences national policy in defense towards China in Oslo. He’s Norwegian, born and raised in Oslo, and my dad put me in contact with him so that we could meet up for some dinner and drinks and I could get the chance to talk to a local. We had planned to meet up at 7 at a local microbrewery near my hostel (I need to get a European SIM, coordination would be so much easier). So I had a few hours to collect myself and walk around the city a bit, get my bearings, before meeting up. I took a quick shower, stowed my bags, and hopped the tram back towards the city center. I found the place we were supposed to meet, and then continued on down the hill on foot towards the train station.

A Norwegian fashion shop along Karl Johans Gate

A look down the main shopping street of Oslo where the protest marched

Real-time pause here. I’m nearing Gøtenberg right now, maybe 30 minutes away. Gøtenberg is sort of aimed straight south of Oslo, while Copenhagen is straight south further still. And the snow is gone. No, no, let’s try that again. THE SNOW IS GONE! Where did it go? How did I miss that? Should I dare to remove a layer of socks?

Right then, back to the past. The area around the train station is sort of Oslo’s main stream, cosmopolitan walking area. And a good place for protests I guess. I’ll admit how out of touch I’ve become with the outside world recently and say that I really don’t have a good grasp on what the protest was about. Maybe you can tell me. A large parade of about 150 or 200 people, all of Middle Eastern descent, marched with candles and banners, shouting something in unison in Norwegian. It was altogether very peaceful and organized. They had banners and flags of different types. One of the flags was yellow and had the face of a Middle Eastern man on it. Another had a green background with a yellow sun shape in the middle and a red star in the center of the sun. And there were a few others as well. For what it’s worth, I think it had something to do with something that recently developed with the conflict in Syria(?). Again, I’m wanderlusting around Europe at the moment, a bit out of touch.

I followed them for a bit. They were handing out these large candles, more like torches actually, to anyone who wanted one (I didn’t take one), and they had a large peaceful gathering of bystanders. They must have arranged this protest legally, they were led by two mounted police officers along the main walking area, Karl Johans Gate, by the train station. It was pretty interesting and after a little more wandering around the area, I started walking back up the hill towards the microbrewery.

This fishing boat sold fresh fish from its bow to people on the dock

I met Øystein right at 7. He had also invited two of his PhD candidates that worked in the institute with him saying that they were closer to my age and might have some good insight into what I might like to do during my full day in the city. They weren’t locals. I can understand that. I would have a hard time making recommendations for stuff to do tourist-wise in Boston. But the others hadn’t arrived yet so the two of us headed in to the microbrewery for a drink before dinner. This spot was awesome. Øystein had told me that he wasn’t too sure about the beer here, that a lot of places in the city were calling themselves microbreweries so that that would give them an excuse to overcharge their otherwise pretty regular beer. But we tried the dark beer that they recommended, one they had just brewed the day before, and it was really good. Actually, one of best beers I have had in a very, very long time. They even had some free food trays, for samplers, in the corner which we made use of - some good Norwegian starters.

We drank our beer and then headed out to find a place to eat. Here, Øystein had many recommendations. We walked through the suburban neighborhood towards a river where there was a new up and coming development along its banks. They had converted these old factories to a sort of trendy bar and restaurant scene. Walkways and bridges crossed the high cliff walls of the river, leading in and out of the factory complex. Inside one of the old warehouse buildings was a type of upscale food court. An open area with fancy settings over picnic tables with candles ringed by these fancy bakeries and restaurants. Bars and pubs and tappas places and dessert shops filled the space. It was pretty cool. We decided on a tappas place in the corner. We ordered several small dishes, many of them were Norwegian specialties, fish based mostly, and some more local beers. Eventually we were met by one of the PhD candidates, Chris, a Swede from the Malmo area, who joined us for a few drinks as well. Chris is a China scholar and has lived in China for several years, his Chinese is very impressive. The other scholar, Annie, was unable to join us but she apologized and then promised to host me the following night, so I made out pretty well there.

Eventually we finished our meal and since it was pretty late in the evening, we headed out for home. Chris took a bus back to his nearby apartment and Øystein and I were picked up by a childhood friend of his who now works in the city as a train conductor. He was just getting off from work and was able to pick us up and take us back towards the hostel, the same area that Øystein lives. While we were in the car, Øystein was telling us a bit about the neighborhood that he grew up in. Apparently Oslo, back in the eighties when he was growing up, was split into two sides, west and east. It sounded a little like London. The upperclass, high scale neighborhoods were all located in the west side of the city and the working class families all lived in neighborhoods in the east end, the two halves separated by the river where the old factories used to be operational. Now, the East End has sprouted some really artsy, hip neighborhoods as a result of its working class past, much like how London’s East End is now famous for its hip clubs and music scene. In fact, the neighborhood that my hostel is located is one of these old, east end neighborhoods, and the same one that Øystein grew up in. He played club soccer on the same fields along the hill near the hostel.

I had a pretty great night. I learned a lot about Oslo, its inner-city history and culture, and was treated to a really stellar meal and evening of excellent beers. After I was dropped off at the hostel, I opened the door to my room and was met by the sweet sound snoring coming from three different directions. But the beer made me drowsy and I fell asleep immediately. In the meantime, Annie, the girl who wasn’t able to meet up with us, did email me a list of must-do’s around the city. She is an American Fulbright scholar, living in Oslo, and knew the things that I would be most likely to enjoy. So I had a pretty solid plan for my one full day in this nordic city.

First class

I really wish I had more time here in Stockholm. Actually, what I really wish is that this city was less expensive which would then therefore allow me to stay longer. I knew that would be the case though before coming to Scandinavia. The expenses are not a surprise. Oh well, I think a quick trip is better than no trip.

I’ve had just one more day to explore the city. I like it here. Here’s my take. The city maintains its Scandinavian roots while at the same time radiates these very connected, European vibes. Helsinki was this perfect little Scandinavian bubble of a city. Finns everywhere you looked. But you also felt a bit isolated in that city. The sea to the south, the forest everywhere else. You can’t take an overland route to Europe unless you pass well out of your way through the Arctic Circle, and even then, just by bus (in favorable weather). For many, that’s a good thing. Isolated from the rest of Europe, Helsinki is only realistically reached by plane (unless you happen to be taking trains through Russia). And you get a sense of that isolation when you’re there. It’s like everything in the city has a “Made in Finland” sticker attached. But Stockholm is different. It is very connected. You can take direct trains to Oslo or Copenhagen and then easily take trains or ferries to mainland Europe. Stockholm also has very relaxed immigration laws and is probably one of the most relaxed countries in Europe in that regard. So Stockholm has the same, well traversed grit and grind of every other international city in the world. English is spoken almost as much as Swedish here (at least from my impression in the city, probably not the case in the burbs) but other languages as well. I was eating at a small sandwich shop and the manager of the shop was speaking with one of his employees, an immigrant I think, in English and then to his other employees in Swedish. You apparently don’t even have to speak Swedish here to get a service industry job. But being more connected means the city is bigger, the neighborhoods more diverse, and so is the food, fashion, culture, etc. Anyway, Stockholm is great. I could see myself living here someday.

Since I only planned to stay one more day, I made sure to get an early start and see some of the neighborhoods and islands that I missed out on the first day. I walked the length of Gotgotan north through Sodermalm, back to Gamla Stan, and then on towards the heart of the city, an area simply known as Central Stockholm. This is the area you’re likely to find the least amount of Swedes. It is, as I quickly found out, the main shopping center of the city, every known commercial shop is located along these streets. As such, the area draws vast numbers of tourists, and with them, plenty of souvenir shops and hot dog stands. I wandered around a bit. There are some things worth visiting in this area but they are hard to find, buried between throngs of shoppers and billboards. The highlight building in Central Stockholm, I think, is the Konserthuset building, a large blueish building located in a small square where the Nobel Prizes are handed out each December. Central Stockholm also is the location of the city’s main train station where I went to this morning to catch my train to Oslo. But the rest of the area is just brand name stores and chain cafes, not worth writing about.

Konserthusen, where the Nobel prizes are handed out each December

A look down Vasagatan, Central Stockholm

North of central Stockholm though is the decidedly more Swedish, residential neighborhood of Vasastan, also home to the University of Stockholm and many of its schools and administrative buildings. This area was sort of nice to stroll around. This neighborhood had a more upscale, Swedish home to office feel to it and reminded me a little of London. Classy, after work (or for lunch) pubs, intermixed with small business offices and shops, lined the old, cobbled streets. Cafes and restaurants offering lunch specials written on chalkboards out on the street, only offered the daily specials in Swedish language. So the neighborhood felt more local. I walked up to a park, perched on a high hill, and walked around this little metallic building that I later learned was Stockholm’s first observatory (later relocated when the ambient light of the city became too great). But the park hadn’t been walked on for quite awhile and the pathways were just completely iced over. I sort of had to luge my way down the opposite side to get back to the street (which was kind of fun though). I made my way back towards Gamla Stan, looking for a place to grab some lunch. In Sweden, lunch is apparently the big meal of the day which is why most cafes and restaurants offer lunch specials. They are generally less expensive than ordering “a la carte” and you get a pretty good size meal. I really wanted to find a place that offered a very Swedish meal, like maybe meatballs and lingonberries, served by the Swedish chef muppet, but every place I saw only offered other country’s dishes, mostly Italian pasta. Tired of searching, I got Italian pasta, which was really good, but not so Swedish.

Then I went in to the nearby Alfred Nobel Museum, located in an old building where the prize for literature is decided, in the heart of the Gamla Stan island, buried between beautiful alleyways and tall 17th century buildings. The museum was both expensive and small so I thought it would be worth while to invest in the accompanying audio guide to make the most of the experience, lengthening my stay a little. The audio guide was thorough, walking me through the biography of Alfred Nobel, a Swede from Stockholm, the history of the prize (a gold medal given to the best of the world each year in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, peace, and economics, and prize money of about a million dollars, all withdrawn from Nobel’s vast wealth as indicated in his will), and through some of the many notable winners including this year’s winners. It was a pretty cool museum and inspiring place. I especially liked the prizes for the sciences, some of the stories were incredible - it is amazing what some people have accomplished.

Then I took another stroll around the harbor, to an island I hadn’t been before called Djurgarden, home to the musuem dedicated to Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking (mainly for kids, I didn’t stop in on this one - Santa’s workshop was enough) and several very impressive marinas filled with private schooners and yachts. It was nice to just wander around the docks, admiring the boats. I could see the Viking Lines ferry, a large red ship, that I took from Helsinki a few days ago, across the bay over on the Sodermalm side. But it was getting cold and late in the day so I made the trek back towards the hostel, stopping in on a cafe for a latte and pastry.

A beautiful schooner in the harbor in Stockholm

The lighthouse ship, Finngrundet, in the harbor

A gathering of swans and ducks around Gamla Stan

I met some interesting people at the hostel last night. An Egyptian living in Milan working as a sailor on a quick holiday to Stockholm, an Afghani guy living and studying in Helsinki, fluent in English and Swedish, two old German women (the ones staring at me eating my ridiculous meal last night), a French mother and daughter combo, probably also on holiday, and two Chinese girls from Henan province, living and studying in Glasgow, Scotland. I was able to speak some Chinese to them - they were shocked the language had followed them this far out of China. I also met a Chilean girl, traveling alone, who just finished up her studies in Holland and is taking some time to travel the rest of Europe before heading back home to Santiago to find some work. I was especially excited to talk to her because she has sort of done the trip I want to do, just backwards. She traveled through southern and northern Spain, southern France, and around Italy before winding her way to northern Europe. She very much enjoyed Italy and had a lot of tips for me on where to go, what to see, and where to stay. She also described how warm it is down there (even now - it will be even warmer by the time I get down there) and how much cheaper everything is. For example, an evening in a nice hostel in Florence costs 10 euros, breakfast included, as opposed to Stockholm’s 35 euros, free coffee and pasta. It seems like if I’m careful over the next couple of weeks, I will be able to make my money last through these wonderful, warm places in the south.

I woke up this morning very early, 5:30, and the sun was already coming up here. I can’t understand why or how, I’ve given up trying to figure that out - changing everywhere I go. I decided the best thing to do is just to sleep when I’m tired and wake up naturally when I can. I’m on vacation.

I just hopped my next train that is currently taking me the six hour trip, same time zone, straight west to Oslo, Norway, the most expensive place I will travel to. I’ve booked two nights, just enough to get a taste of Norway, and then I’ll beam-line it south to Copenhagen and then Germany. I’ve arranged to meet with a friend and colleague of my Dad’s who lives in the city. I look forward to having dinner and some beers with a local (he chose a microbrewery as a meeting place, I’m excited already) and to get some tips on what to do for my full day in the city tomorrow.

My train to Oslo left from track 12, Stockholm Centralen

I rode first class on train 52 to Oslo, a look at the car interiors

My train as I departed at Oslo Central Station

For now though I am sitting in by far the nicest train I have ever traveled in. As you know my Eurail pass entitles me to first class seats when available. Well they were available on this train and so I am sitting in a large, plush, cerulean blue chair by the window with its own outlet. I’m sitting in a row of one separated by a row of two by the passageway. I’m surrounded by Swedish (and maybe Norwegian) gentlemen and ladies in suits carrying leather briefcases. And the interior, apart from the blue carpet on the floor, is decorated with wooden furnishings. Clean, Nordic by design, lines made of actual wood. The fold down table in front of me is made from a thick piece of actual wood, as is the attractive siding along the window and on the ceiling above. I’m really, really impressed. TIme to just sit back, relax, and enjoy the wintery views through to Oslo.