Back home at last

We got to the airport pretty early where I promptly shed my jacket and pyjamas (I was using them as makeshift thermals). We were one of the first to check in and we hung out at the cafe afterwards. A crowd soon gathered at the arrivals gate, and it turned out that one of the Finnish silver medallists was on his way home from Italy. Dave grabbed my Suomi (i.e. Finland) beanie and stood around waiting for the athlete in the hope that he'd get on Finnish TV. Unfortunately, we heard from Päivi that Dave didn't make the news.

Finland overview

Days spent: 4 nights (2 in Helsinki, 2 in Pietarsaari/Jakobstad)
Aussies met: None!
Winter activities undertaken: 5
Times carded at pub/club: 1

The voyage home

...is a great movie.

Anyway, the series of flights home turned out a lot better than I had expected. I managed about 6 hours sleep in total and watched a couple of movies and TV programs. The food was pretty dodgey as usual, and I intentionally didn't eat too much for 'breakfast' so I could have some proper food upon arrival. We got through customs without any drama, and the only annoying thing was waiting a very long time for our baggage to get sput out by the Sydney International Airport baggage carousels of doom.

We were eventually greeted by our respective parents (both of whom got there late) and I ran into Jon, a former tutor from uni and a good friend, who was also coming back from Europe, but from Frankfurt through Singapore (kinda makes me wonder why they didn't put us through Germany instead of England).

It's a strange feeling - I'm happy to be home but at the same time I want to go back to Europe where I had so much fun.

"And now my 'final thought'..."

It's been a great journey. Saw many cities, many sights, and met many great people. If I could go through it again I would not hesitate one bit. It's been quite a life-changing experience for me, and I never really expected to get so influenced by such a short trip. I feel more motivated to try new things, to see new places, and to just 'do stuff' in general. I've also been inspired to spend a year overseas somewhere. I'm leaning towards Germany right now because of the beer, the language, and the people... but there are other possibilities (Canada and Japan just to name a couple).

I'd also like to extend my thanks to Dave for putting up with my crap for so long and for trying to make sure I didn't drink too much (which usually didn't work out too well). Thanks to all the people who gave us a bed (or mattress, or caravan) to sleep in and being such great hosts to both of us.

I'll be back, Europe. I'll be back.

Europe overview

Time spent: 6 weeks
Time spent on plane or train: At least 3 and a half days
Money spent: Far too much
Fridge magnets bought: 10


As Tim Shaw from Demtel would say... "But wait, there's more!"

Adrian and Dave's Eurotrip: Deleted scenes

One way street

When we arrived in London, we had a coupon for an airport transfer to our hostel. The driver, whose name escapes me, was a very helpful fellow. He showed us around the urban sights of London, gave us some tips about drinking and staying safe... and he took us the wrong way down a one-way street. He took a wrong turn and suddenly there was a stream of traffic coming towards us. Cabs were beeping, motorcycle riders were waving their arms (which seemed dangerous seeing as their arms should be on the handlebars)... it was great!

Paris: City of love

We were walking to the 'Peace and Love' after arriving at Paris Nord station, and just as we got there we witnessed a massive brawl involving several school kids. Later on, in our first experience with the Paris Metro (mass transit system), we saw yet another fight. It was amusing that the ticket vendor was watching the fight and laughing. City of love indeed.

Absinthe!

Not really too notable, but we had a shot of absinthe at the 'Peace and Love' on our first night there. It tasted pretty bad, and didn't make me hallucinate, so it was pretty disappointing. Apparently the more commercial brands of absinthe have been watered down, so to speak.

Gypsies, tramps and thieves

We got to Rome, booked our tickets, and decided to stop by a Maccas for a quick feed. When we were sitting down and eating our burgers and fries, a gypsy comes up to us asking for money. Dave offered her some fries. She took the whole pack!

Speaking of crazy gypsies, when we took a walking tour of the city, we happened across a group of gypsies trying to distract us with a baby. Chris, the tour guide, told us to stay away from them cause they'll steal our wallets. As we were crossing the road one of the gypsies starts yelling at me. It was incredibly weird.

After the walking tour, we took the train back to the hostel. We were with a couple of Americans, and started talking about how crazy the gypsies were, and how it was so obvious that they wanted to pick our pockets. While this was all happening, one of the Americans had his wallet lifted. Fortunately, he felt it and pushed the pickpocket, causing him to drop the wallet. The pickpocket promptly left the train at the stop.

Not the best of travel shoes

Throughout the trip I was wearing a pair of Allen Iverson shoes that I got during my last trip overseas (2002/2003). It was very worn out, and probably wasn't the best pair of shoes I could have been wearing in the European winter. The sole was very worn out, which meant I had barely any grip. This wasn't too good for wet marble floors or ice. The shoe was also very cold, especially when I was wearing only one pair of socks. Oh well, I managed to make it 6 weeks without buying a new pair while I was over there.

Cunning German beer bottle opening tricks

When we were in the metro system in Hamburg, we decided to start drinking our beers (you can drink beer in public there). As the bottles weren't twist tops, and we didn't have any beer bottle openers, Finn had to improvise. He calmly took a bottle and opened another bottle with it using the first bottle's cap. For the last bottle, he got Jenny's lighter and used the bottom to force the cap off. I have yet to duplicate such amazing German skill.

"Welcome to Finland"

Crazy drivers in Finland - on the way from the airport a truck nearly turned into the bus that we were in. Päivi looked at us and said "Welcome to Finland".

Entire butt

As we were walking along in Helsinki we saw a cafe/restaurant sign with the day's specials. The sign read "Entire Butt - 5 Euros". Wonder what that was all about.

The WC

After we had just boarded our final long-distance train in Europe (from Pietarsaari to Helsinki), Dave decided to use the WC (water closet, or simply 'toilet' as we would say) and, to his surprise, a woman was inside, forgetting to lock the door behind her. Dave and I were in hysterics at the incident.

Last days

Well, the sauna and snow was a weird experience... it felt like being stabbed by several billion knives on the skin.

Yesterday, we went for a small shopping trip then had lunch with more of Dave's relatives, and then went cross-country skiing with them. I got used to the cross-country skiing surprisingly quickly, and was going fast before no time. Of course, this meant I was sweating a lot under my 5 layers of clothing, half of which I soon shed. It was fun, and I definitely want to do it again.

We caught the train back to Helsinki later that evening, and got back at around 11 pm. We packed a bit then checked out the intriguing Helsinki night life. Drunks on the train, age limits ranging from 20 to 25, bars made of ice, guys dancing by themselves in a unique way, drunks being kicked out of pubs, kicked out drunks lying in the street screaming things... the city had it all. It was great. Unfortunately, we didn't really have much time out and headed back home at around 3 am.

Today, we are heading back home. It should be a fun 27 or so hours in transit (almost 24 of which will be flying)... look out for a post-Europe update when I get back to Australia at around Monday afternoon. It's been a great experience, so I've got a lot to say.

'Til then... off to Oz!

Architecture in Helsinki

The plan to stay up till we had to leave didn't exactly go very well. We tried to get a bit of sleep but overslept, so we ended up running late.

When we got to Tegel airport the flight wasn't even checking in yet, so I decided to pick up an English-language paper to read on the plane. Unfortunately, they had the exact same paper for free before boarding the plane. The plane trip was alright. I watched a nice little program about business innovation, a topic that interests me. I also managed to get a small amount of sleep, and woke up confused just after the plane landed.

Germany overview

Days spent: (Not enough!) 6 nights (2 in Munich, 2 in Hamburg, 2 in Berlin)
Films watched at Berlinale: 2
Litres of beer consumed: Quite a bit
Times carded at pub/club: 2

Helsinki syndrome

We arrived in Helsinki-Vantaa airport on time, got through the gates without even going through a customs check, and were promptly greeted by Päivi (another of Dave's distant cousins) and her digital camera. We headed over to Päivi's place for a hearty meal then had a look at some sights in the centre of Helsinki and saw He-Man at a museum. We were feeling quite tired afterwards, so we headed back to Päivi's to crash but had enough time to consume as sizable amount of food beforehand.

Yesterday, I woke up a bit late after catching up on some sleep. I think I managed 12 hours. We had a look at some architecture and frozen lakes (walking on water was cool), stopped over at Hesburger, a fast-food chain, and went shopping (though bought nothing aside from souvenirs). In the evening we caught a train north and west to visit the Sundqvist family home in Pietarsaari (a.k.a. Jakobstad - its Swedish name). I filled up on a late dinner then headed to bed at about midnight.

Today, we went for a bit of ice skating early in the afternoon, had some reindeer meat (amongst other things) for lunch, then went on a bit of a road trip. We visited Dave's old ancestral house, the graveyard where some of Dave's relatives were, and also visited some of his living relatives. The coolest part of the day was perhaps the ride on a ski-doo. Unfortunately, it was probably only going at half speed (around 70-80 km/h).

Anyway, we're back at the Sundqvist home now and about to go on a hot sauna then roll around in the snow. Should be interesting since I've done neither before.

Checkpoint Charlie and the chocolate factory

We reached Berlin Ostbahnhof (eastern train station) yesterday afternoon and met up with Dave's friend Ralf soon after. We would have gotten to our hostel fairly quickly if it wasn't for Ralf's friends, locals who seemed to be lost in the metro system, and kept arguing about which train to catch to get to our hostel.

We eventually reached the "Heart of Gold" hostel, which carried a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy theme. After getting settled in to our dorm, we headed over to Postdamer Platz to see about some tickets to Berlinale screenings. We managed to score a couple of tickets for tonight and a massive burger at a sports cafe.

We didn't really know what to do for the rest of the night, so we decided to go on a pub crawl. We managed to meet up with Ralf and his friend Stefan halfway through the crawl. Anyway, I don't remember much of the night due to the free vodka, but it somehow involved me stealing matches, a lighter, and spraining my ankle (and Dave stealing a pint glass) and, somewhere in between that, dancing with some Dane who loved crown princess Mary of Denmark. Twas a good night.

Today we woke up pretty hung over from the night before, but still soldiered on to do a walking tour of Berlin. It was a very informative tour, and the highlights were the book burning memorial, a meal at Schlotsky's, and hearing about the uprising leading up to the tearing down of the Berlin wall. Two small but very interesting details also managed to stick with me from the tour.

1) A prominent Nazi building now houses a Russian travel agency and a Chinese peking restaurant; and
2) We visited Checkpoint Charlie, where there was a stand-off between the East Germans and the Americans that nearly prompted WWIII... AND we also checked out a famous chocolate store in the same tour. Freaky, no?

Anyway, after the tour we had a bit of rest back at the hostel then headed off on our mini Berlinale tour. We first watched "The Night Listener" starring Robin Williams and Toni Collette. It was quite a good film, and I really enjoyed the Q&A with the director and writer of the original novel at the end of the film.

After having some feed at Cafe Adler (the former CIA spy cafe at Checkpoint Charlie), we headed over to the Reichstag, the house of parliament, to see some night views of the city while admiring the architecture of the dome at the top.

We ended the night by watching another film, a German film called "Lenz", which was a very unique and interesting film. It was a shame that the Q&A afterwards was in German, so we couldn't really understand any of it.

It's now about 4:30 am and, since our flight leaves at around 9:25 am, meaning we'll have to be at the airport at 7:25 am, we have decided to do the responsible thing and just stay at the 24 hour bar at the hostel drinking beer until 6 in the morning.

Ciao, Italia!

The alps

After another day of doing very little at all in an effort to recover in time for the snow, we left fair Bologna for Innsbruck in Austria. Alex decided to tag along and was rather excited about being able to ski the Austrian alps.

Innsbruck made an immediate impression with the city being smack bang in the middle of a whole bunch of snow-capped mountains. We took in the view for a few minutes then headed over to the hostel. For dinner we did the Austrian thing to do and cooked a bunch of sausages.

Italy overview

Days spent: 9 nights (4 nights in Rome, 5 nights in Bologna)
Sick days: 5
Gypsies stealing our McDonald's French Fries: 1
Times carded at pub/club: 0

Don't forget to bring your towel

Ok, so this is pretty much an exact recollection:

*last morning in Bologna*
Me: "Dave, don't forget your towel"
Me (thinking to self): "Hehe, would be funny if I ended up leaving my towel"

*first night in Innsbruck*
Me: "Ah crap"

But anyway, day 1 of snowboarding finally crept up on me and I was still feeling a bit crook. I managed to muster one run on a crappy hill before deciding that I'd just watch Dave and Alex fall while trying to learn to snowboard. The place we went to (Stubaier Gletscher, or Stubai Glacier) gave some good views, but I really couldn't judge it in terms of boarding due to what little I got done.

We got home after a really long bus trip where I got some much needed shut eye and decided to get some traditional Austrian cuisine. For me eating dinner was a good sign because I managed an entire chicken schnitzel (wiener schnitzel, hehe), which meant I must have been feeling much better. I slept early and awoke pumped up about riding that glacier.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of communication, we ended up at the wrong resort, which was a bit annoying since we had 5 days of gear hire at the glacier. Fortunately, we could use our ski pass there so we just bit the extra hire fee and spent the day at Axamer Lizum. Getting lost turned out to be a blessing in disguise for me because the resort was really nice, and the view from the top was spectacular. On the run down I had one of those moments where you go "yup, this is why I snowboard." It was great.

What wasn't so great was Dave falling hard on his back and snapping the wrist band on his watch (and he almost lost the watch too). We had more Austrian cuisine for dinner, and had it with Eve, the English backpacker from Alex's room, so lots of stories were shared and fun (and strudel) was had. I also managed to score a free towel from the hostel.

Austrian chicks are hot

That is all.

Adrian vs the Glacier, part 2!

Today I finally got to check out what this glacier business was all about. I must say I wasn't terribly impressed by it. This was probably due to the fact that it was a bit icy at points, and the bits that weren't icy had moguls because of the amount of skiiers (yes, they run rampant here like everywhere else). I'm hoping for a big dump tonight so we can see some freshies tomorrow.

The good news for today? We managed to get some money back from not using our gear yesterday. The bad news for today? Dave managed to injure himself even more by somehow spraining his ankle. Alex was a bit sore from falling a lot too. In contrast, I was totally fine. It seems that now I'm feeling good, the others are feeling bad.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Well the weather outside was frightful... but it meant some cover, at last. The snow on Monday didn't really bring a lot of powder to the glacier (though it was pretty to look at) but what was really impressive was the snow yesterday (Tuesday). I was skeptical that the glacier would get any decent cover at all, but I was proven wrong by the blizzard conditions yesterday, which brought about lots of powder on the mountain. It also meant a lot of the lifts were closed but that didn't matter cause I just kept doing the same run over and over againm, practicing switch and other stuff in the zero visibility powder-filled run. It was great and made the expensive trip worth it.

Today we arrived in Munich and it started snowing as soon as we checked into the hotel. Reminded me of "Weather With You" by Crowded House. I had a very nice kebab (kebabs in Germany seem to be infinitely more awesome - and more common! - than kebabs in Australia) and now we're figuring out what to do next.

Austria overview

Days spent: 6 nights
Snow bunnies: 0
Incredibly tall Austrian waitresses: 1
Times carded at pub/club: 0

Beer!

It seems to be a common theme here in Munich. Needless to say, lots of alcohol (mainly beer) was consumed over the past couple of days. Yesterday we did a walking tour of the city, which was very informative (and very cold). When the tour finished we checked out the Deutsches Museum, a rather impressive science and technology museum. I wish I could have spent an entire day there, because there was some really cool stuff on display.

We grabbed some dinner and a new SIM card before heading over to the Hofbräuhaus, the world-famous beer hall. We headed back to the hostel bar afterwards and crashed in the early hours of the morning after watching Kill Bill vol. 1.

Right now we're on the train to Hamburg and the seats are rather uncomfortable. I was a bit annoyed to find out that some people at the hostel had gotten tickets for the Bayern game tonight and were looking for takers. Two nights in Munich just wasn't enough. Oh well.

I still haven't had a hamburger...

Although hamburgers don't actually come from Hamburg, but anyway... Yesterday we had we were picked up by Finn and Jenny (Dave's distant cousins) at the Hauptbahnhof (central train station) then had stuffed baked potatoes for dinner. Now, this may not sound too filling nor exciting, but the potato was rather large, and the taste of the random stuffing was surprisingly good.

Afterwards, we decided to grab some beers from the supermarket (I love how beer is so cheap here) and drank them while looking at stellar night-time views of the lakeside (I love how you can drink in public here). We then headed to the Reeperbahn, the central spot for nightlife in St. Pauli. We hung out at a bar dedicated to Barbarella, suitably named Barbarabar. It got a bit too smoke-filled in there after a while, so I decided to walk down the street and grab some KFC and meet the others later on.

After we were reunited we had a quick stroll down Herbertstraße, the prostitution street of Hamburg, and reminded me a lot of the Red Light District in Amsterdam, only the girls here were a lot more attractive. It was amusing as usual, with the whole walking down a street with red lights and scantily clad women in windows thing.

We danced the night away in some clubs along the way to the harbour, which was fairly busy even in the wee hours of the morning. It was also an unexpectedly nice sight. We crashed at around 4 in the morning - we had to sleep early for the trip to see more of Dave's relatives.

We got up fairly early today - at 1 in the afternoon - then headed out to see the Seligers after a quick breakfast. We were promptly thwarted by a traffic jam on the autobahn caused by a 3-car prang. After passing the horrible-looking crash, we proceeded to cruise at a steady 140 km/h (gotta love how there's no speed limits). I think we reached 160 at one point, and it didn't even seem like we were going that fast. The Germans sure make good roads and cars to go on them.

We got to the Seliger residence at around 4 in the afternoon and had a late lunch. It was incredibly tasty and reminded me of one of my US grandmother's dishes. Dinner soon followed, but not before a short tour of the magnificent house ("old school" as I'd like to call it) and a few tunes courtesy of Finn and Paul (Jenni's boyfriend). I also played a bit, as did Dave.

We had a lengthy discussion during and after dinner about topics ranging from beer to bird flu. What followed was a great jam session from Finn and Paul and then photos. We finally headed back to Hamburg at around 9 pm. When we got back to Finn's place I was feeling rather tired, so I decided to opt out of another night out.

Right now I'm writing up this blog and checking out the schedule for Berlinale (the Berlin International Film Festival), since we might be able to catch a few flicks while we're there (and I hope we do).


That was a pretty lengthy update, and I don't know when I'll be able to update next so, 'til next time...

Saturday night fever

Thorpie says they're fully sick

I woke up on Saturday morning feeling a bit on the ill side. Looking back at it, it was probably a combination of the walk up St. Peter's and the lack of heating in the room we were in. The cigarette smoke at Roma Termini station didn't help either. We arrived at Bologna and were promptly greeted by Alex and Sara. They helped us with taking our luggage over to Alex's place and did a bit of catching up. Sara went home and Alex cooked us some bolognese (a.k.a. "Ragu"). We met up with Sara again for a big dinner at her place, which was fun, though I was still feeling sick at the time.

Closed on Sundays

I woke up on Sunday morning feeling a bit worse for wear but I, stubbornly, soldiered on. Alex showed us some sights of the city, including a couple of cool churches. What I also noticed was that barely anything was open due to it being a Sunday (and Italy is a very Catholic country). I seemed to feel worse and worse as the day progressed, and when we got home I just felt like lying down. I tried to eat dinner, but it just would go down well.

Ferraris are cool

Yesterday we went to the Ferrari gallery in Maranello. It probably cost just as much to actually get there than to get in. The gallery was very cool, and had Ferraris from the past, as well as various parts like the engines and gearboxes. In retrospect, while the gallery was nice, I shouldn't have gone due to my illness. When we got home I was feeling like crap.

Fortunately, when I woke up today I was feeling a lot better than I was yesterday. Still not recovered, but the headache is almost gone, and I coughed up a fair amount of phlegm, which helped the chest. One thing that is still a bit bad was my legs. All I gotta do today is walk over to the train station to reserve some train seats, then probably just rest for the next two days.