We took the train from Copenhagen to Stockholm and arrived at the station at about 6pm. Luckily for us, the hostel was not very far from the station so we decided to check in, dump our bags and wonder around the city a bit. I must take this time to first comment on the hostel itself. It is by far the best hostel we have stayed in. The location is pretty much smack bang in the middle of the city center, near most sights. The staff are friendly, the price isn't too bad and the people there are cool. As I was saying, we dumped our bags and ventured out to get a feel for the city. The city itself is very unique. Was very interesting to see how the Swedes go about their everyday business. We were hungry so we decided to grab some pizza before heading back to the hostel. Another great thing about the hostel was that it had free internet and a lot of computers. So we decided to take this opportunity to book our trip up north. Unfortunately, we hit a massive brick in the wall and our trip "into the wild" was looking like it was not going to happen at all. If you recall, our initial plan was to head up to northern Norway, to a city called Trommso. Well, bad news. Apparently, the entire city shuts down for the winter and finding accomodation is pretty much impossible. So our next step was to find some form of accomodation in Kiruna, which is a town in northern Sweden. Unfortunutely, everything was fully booked. Literally everything. Things were not looking too good for us, but there was one last resort. Abisko National Park. All we knew was that it was about 1 hour north of Kiruna. It was a national park in Sweden, and apparently one of the best places in the World to see the Northern Lights. So, with a last ditch effort, we managed to find some accomodation there, right in the middle of the national park. Satisfied that our trip up north to see the aurora was still a go, we decided to hit the sack for a well deserved sleep.
We woke up the next morning and decided to do some of the sights. Museums are closed on Mondays so we planned to do all the other things. The first stop was Stadshuset (City Hall). It has been the seat of local government since the early 20th century and it is also where the winners of the Nobel Prizes hold a banquet dinner. There were two amazing rooms inside this hall. The Blue Room (where the Nobel Prize winners would dance) and the Gold Room, which had 18 million shimmering gold tiles. This was a sight worth seeing. After finishing off the City Hall, we decided to wonder through Gamla Stan, which is also known as 'Old Town'. Stockholm was once confined into this one area, Gamla Stan, but now it is the center of the city. We ventured through the main pedestrian street and marvelled at the maze of small side streets and the area's historic feel. In Gamla Stan was the Slottskyrkan (The Royal Chapel). This was the last sight for today and we decided to head back to the hostel. On the way, we did some grocery shopping as the hostel provided free pasta. We went into the supermarket to get some pasta sauce, and decided to cook a nice meal once we were back at the hostel. Not knowing exactly how much pasta we needed to cook, we put some pasta in the pot and at the time, I must say it looked a bit too little. So we added more pasta. It still looked like there was not enough pasta in the pot to feed both of us. So we kept adding more, and more... then we took some out, but then it looked too little, so we added more. All in all, neither of us knew how much pasta to put in the pot. In the end, we just decided that whatever was in there would be sufficient. So we turned the stove on and decided to play some cards whilst the pasta cooked. So we waited, checking if the pasta was cooking. There was no heat on the stove. Thinking it might take some time for the stove to heat up, we decided to continue playing cards. So we waited, and waited, and waited some more. Still, the water was not heating up. After about 45 minutes of waiting for water to boil, often looking cluelessly at the stove, we decided to ask someone why our water won't boil! Low and behold, apparently there is a button you have press to turn on the electricity for the stove. There we were, two idiots attempting to cook pasta, without any heat. After finally turning the stove on, the water began to boil. So we went back to our cards. About 5 minutes in, I tried to recall how my sister cooked pasta. Then it hit me. Why didn't we just use a kettle to boil the water! Ofcourse, by that time it was already too late and our water that was in the pot had already boiled. So we put the pasta in and couldn't wait until it was cooked. Once it was cooked, let's just say we had cooked enough pasta to feed about 10 people. Our measurements were way off. Ah well, atleast we knew how much pasta to cook the following day!
We had breakfast in the hostel the following morning. We wanted to take things a bit slower and since museums would be open today, we decided to do them. The first museum was The National Museum. Unfortunately, it opened at 11am, so decided to wait around a bit. As soon as it opened, we walked in and decided that it was too expensive. It was almost 9 euros to enter the museum and considering the Louvre itself was 13 euros, we felt that there was no real point paying so much and decided to skip it. We made our way down to the Moderna Museet (Modern Museum) instead. Was cheaper entry and had better exhibits including Dali, Edvard Munch, Jackson Pollock and my personal favourite, Warhol. After spending around 3-4 hours in the Mordern Museum, we made our way to Skansen, an area within Stockholm which apparently provides the best views of the city. On the way we found the Vasa Museet (Vasa Museum). This museum is home to a massive warship that sank in Stockholm's harbour in it's maiden voyage (20 minutes in) in the 17th century. It was salvaged and is surprisingly well preserved considering it was made of wood. Apparently, the less salty waters surrounding Scandinavia is what preserves such things better than the xmore salty waters that ships generally sink in. I must say, this museum was well worth the visit. The ship itself looked like something out of the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movies. Was fantastic indeed. By the time we were finished with the museum, it was already getting dark, so we decided to head back to the hostel and get some groceries from the supermarket on the way. Yes, pasta again. But this time, we decided to add something to our recipe. Thinking that we were eating too much "unhealthy" food, we decided to add some vegetables to the pasta. We have this plan, that each time we make pasta, we're going to add something else to the recipe so that by the end of the trip, our recipe will indeed be perfected and even make the likes of Gordon Ramsey proud. After dinner, we did some laundry and I took some time to check my results for the university semester. If you recall, I had to endure the pain of taking 4 exams within the space of 4 days. Well, it was a relief to see that my results for the semester went very well indeed! Not sure how I pulled that one off...
The next morning, we decided to change our hostel for New Years. We were originally going to stay in another hostel in Stockholm, but we were so pleased with the current one we were staying at, that we decided to change it. We had a lot to get through today. Our train to Abisko was at 6pm and our primary aim for the day was to do the Swedish Royal Apartments. However, when we got there, we were told that the apartments were not open since the Nobel Prize Winners were residing there at the time. Instead, we decided to go check out the Royal Treasury and the Armory which provided an extensive insight into Swedish history. We have seen a few treasuries already but I must say, the . It was starting to approach evening and as the train to Abisko was a 14 hour trip, we decided to go to the supermarket and grab some snacks for the train. For dinner, we found a Subway and decided to get some foot-longs to eat in the train. We said good bye to the hostel and the friendly people we met and were on the road again.
Until next time...
Rishi
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Copenhagen: City of Danish Hotdogs and Glazed Almonds
From Amsterdam, our next stop was Denmark. In particular, the lively city of Copenhagen. This city is apparently the center of Europe's oldest monarchy and embodies a real laid-back spirit that would put even Aussies to shame. We decided to take the night train from Amsterdam since the train trip over was almost 14 hours. The night train constituted of not seats, but couchettes which are basically like extremely cramped sleeping beds. Good thing though is that we managed to sleep for (most of) the journey and even managed to meet a few crazy New Zealanders in the same carriage as us. Once we managed to get to Copenhagen, we walked out of the train psyching ourselves up since we knew that it would be colder than Amsterdam. Strangely enough though, it wasn't as cold outside and satisfied that we were wearing clothes sufficient enough for the climate there, we made our way out of the train station to the hostel. Funnily enough, the crazy New Zealanders we met in the carriage (trust me, these guys were crazy, they had some insane trip planned. by insane, they were doing like 7 cities in the space of 2 days) were staying in the same hostel. So after combining both mine and Chris's navigational skills with that of the New Zealand guys, we managed to find it.
We got to the hostel at about 11 in the morning. It worked out nicely since both of us slept half-decently on the train and we werent that tired. With that in mind, we decided that it was pointless just lounging around in the hostel and went off exploring the bustling city of Copenhagen. But first... food! Both of us were hungry, since the only thing we had eaten in the past 16 hours or so was some pringles, chocolate and a banana. Copenhagen is famous for its Danish Hotdogs. There's side stalls in like every main street selling these hotdogs. Apparently you havent truely experienced Copenhagen if you havent tried one of these hotdogs with everything on it. When the Danes say everything, they really do mean everything. This hot dog had about 6 different types of sauces on it, 4 of which were different types of mustard alone... it also had some fried onions (which were surprisingly crunchy) and to top it off, they slap some pickles on top of the hotdog too. Balancing this thing is an absolute mission, let alone attempting to eat it. Let's just say it was messy, but damn good. Now that we had eaten something, we were raring to go check out some of the sights. The first stop was The Rundetaarn, in english this basically translates to the round tower. It's a tall tower with no steps and has an observatory at the top, providing a 360 degree sweeping view of Copenhagen. It was a breathtaking sight and you could also see Sweden across the Baltic Sea which was quite something. Once we were finished with that, the next stop was something called The Rosenborg Slot. This was built by King Christian IV in the 17th century and basically acted as summer housing for the Danish Royals. Now though, it houses the Danish crown jewels and the treasury. Some of the weapons on display there were stunning. At this point, it was about 2pm and we still had time to do a lot more . We were progressing at a decent pace so we decided to knock over a museum. The Statens Museum for Kunst (State Museum for Fine Arts) displayed a wide collection of Danish and International art. There was no entrance fee for the museum and overall had some very unique artwork on display. It's a relief not having to pay to get into museums, a lot of our money is spent on museum entrance fees which can range from anywhere between 4-10 Euros. To get a more general picture, that's 20% of our daily budget! After finishing the museum, we still had time to check out Copenhagen's most famous attraction. Den Lille Havfrue (The Little Mermaid) statue. There is a statue to honour the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen at the mouth of the harbour. Whilst making our way towards the stature (which was a bit of a trek), we managed to check out The Kastellet (a 17th century Danish fortress). Unfortunately, it was too dark to look at it in any great detail, so we decided to move on. The final sight for what was becoming a very successful day was to take a look at the Amaliensborg Palace. This comprises four huge mansions which serve as winter residences for the Danish Royal Family. We thought we could go in, but apparently it was too late, so we decided to head off back to the hostel and grab some dinner before hitting the sack.
Hoping that the second day in Copenhagen would be as successful as the first, we had some breakfast and then head back out into the city. The first thing on the list was to check out the Danish Royal Cathedral. We've seen already seen such a diverse array of Cathedrals and this was no exception. The next sight we wanted to go take a look at was the Marmorkirken (Marble Church). Now this Church was amazing. It was built in the 19th century, but what was truely amazing was its marble dome, which apparently is the 3rd largest marble down in Europe. A very interesting church indeed. The next stop was to go back to the Ameliensborg Palace and see if we could take a look inside. Luckily, our timing was great. So great in-fact that the Danish Royal Guards were doing a parade through the square. After watching the amusing display by the Royal Guard, we head into one of the four huge mansions to take a look inside. It housed some of the original furniture and rooms of older Danish Kings and royalties. The final stop for the day was the National Museum which had a vast collection of ancient Viking art along with other Danish historical artifacts. After another tiring but successful day, we decided to make our way back to the hostel.
The third day constituted of basically doing nothing. We had manage to finish most of Copenhagen in 2 days which was great. We took the third day to relax a bit and take it easy. We had been doing things rather quickly so we both needed some time to zone out. At about 1pm, we decided to head out and grab some lunch. We have this thing that we both must do in every city we visit. That is to try the local delicacy that the city has to offer. In the case of Copenhagen, it was both hot dogs and toasted, glazed almonds. Every time that we passed one of these side stalls that sold these almonds, we'd get that distinct mouth-watering smell. We couldn't leave Copenhagen before grabbing another hot dog (with everything) and two bags of glazed almonds. These almonds, once you eat one, you can't stop eating them. We knew that they were not the healthiest thing we could eat, but they were so good.
After ticking Copenhagen off the list, Sweden was calling us... in particular, Stockholm!
Stay tuned...
Cheers
Rishi
We got to the hostel at about 11 in the morning. It worked out nicely since both of us slept half-decently on the train and we werent that tired. With that in mind, we decided that it was pointless just lounging around in the hostel and went off exploring the bustling city of Copenhagen. But first... food! Both of us were hungry, since the only thing we had eaten in the past 16 hours or so was some pringles, chocolate and a banana. Copenhagen is famous for its Danish Hotdogs. There's side stalls in like every main street selling these hotdogs. Apparently you havent truely experienced Copenhagen if you havent tried one of these hotdogs with everything on it. When the Danes say everything, they really do mean everything. This hot dog had about 6 different types of sauces on it, 4 of which were different types of mustard alone... it also had some fried onions (which were surprisingly crunchy) and to top it off, they slap some pickles on top of the hotdog too. Balancing this thing is an absolute mission, let alone attempting to eat it. Let's just say it was messy, but damn good. Now that we had eaten something, we were raring to go check out some of the sights. The first stop was The Rundetaarn, in english this basically translates to the round tower. It's a tall tower with no steps and has an observatory at the top, providing a 360 degree sweeping view of Copenhagen. It was a breathtaking sight and you could also see Sweden across the Baltic Sea which was quite something. Once we were finished with that, the next stop was something called The Rosenborg Slot. This was built by King Christian IV in the 17th century and basically acted as summer housing for the Danish Royals. Now though, it houses the Danish crown jewels and the treasury. Some of the weapons on display there were stunning. At this point, it was about 2pm and we still had time to do a lot more . We were progressing at a decent pace so we decided to knock over a museum. The Statens Museum for Kunst (State Museum for Fine Arts) displayed a wide collection of Danish and International art. There was no entrance fee for the museum and overall had some very unique artwork on display. It's a relief not having to pay to get into museums, a lot of our money is spent on museum entrance fees which can range from anywhere between 4-10 Euros. To get a more general picture, that's 20% of our daily budget! After finishing the museum, we still had time to check out Copenhagen's most famous attraction. Den Lille Havfrue (The Little Mermaid) statue. There is a statue to honour the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen at the mouth of the harbour. Whilst making our way towards the stature (which was a bit of a trek), we managed to check out The Kastellet (a 17th century Danish fortress). Unfortunately, it was too dark to look at it in any great detail, so we decided to move on. The final sight for what was becoming a very successful day was to take a look at the Amaliensborg Palace. This comprises four huge mansions which serve as winter residences for the Danish Royal Family. We thought we could go in, but apparently it was too late, so we decided to head off back to the hostel and grab some dinner before hitting the sack.
Hoping that the second day in Copenhagen would be as successful as the first, we had some breakfast and then head back out into the city. The first thing on the list was to check out the Danish Royal Cathedral. We've seen already seen such a diverse array of Cathedrals and this was no exception. The next sight we wanted to go take a look at was the Marmorkirken (Marble Church). Now this Church was amazing. It was built in the 19th century, but what was truely amazing was its marble dome, which apparently is the 3rd largest marble down in Europe. A very interesting church indeed. The next stop was to go back to the Ameliensborg Palace and see if we could take a look inside. Luckily, our timing was great. So great in-fact that the Danish Royal Guards were doing a parade through the square. After watching the amusing display by the Royal Guard, we head into one of the four huge mansions to take a look inside. It housed some of the original furniture and rooms of older Danish Kings and royalties. The final stop for the day was the National Museum which had a vast collection of ancient Viking art along with other Danish historical artifacts. After another tiring but successful day, we decided to make our way back to the hostel.
The third day constituted of basically doing nothing. We had manage to finish most of Copenhagen in 2 days which was great. We took the third day to relax a bit and take it easy. We had been doing things rather quickly so we both needed some time to zone out. At about 1pm, we decided to head out and grab some lunch. We have this thing that we both must do in every city we visit. That is to try the local delicacy that the city has to offer. In the case of Copenhagen, it was both hot dogs and toasted, glazed almonds. Every time that we passed one of these side stalls that sold these almonds, we'd get that distinct mouth-watering smell. We couldn't leave Copenhagen before grabbing another hot dog (with everything) and two bags of glazed almonds. These almonds, once you eat one, you can't stop eating them. We knew that they were not the healthiest thing we could eat, but they were so good.
After ticking Copenhagen off the list, Sweden was calling us... in particular, Stockholm!
Stay tuned...
Cheers
Rishi
Amsterdam: City of Sinners
Ok now we all know about Amsterdams reputation as quite a hedonistic and sinful city. There are two ways I could approach this post, and I am going to go with the blunt option. Yes, parents, we did go to the red light district. Yes, we had a look around. No, we didnt decide to try ( I mean come on! WE ARE ON A STRICT BUDGET HERE PEOPLE!). Now that that is out of the way and there is no room left for dust swept under the carpet, I can begin the post proper.
Me and Rishi arrived in Amsterdam as sick as dogs. There is nothing else too it. We were absolutely shattered from Paris and Belgium and the pace at which we were powering through cities. I think we were also suffering from the inevitable effects of walking around in very cold conditions all day and had developed a couple of bad colds. For these reasons, we decided to take it much slower in Amsterdam and booked to stay an extra day or two in order to rest and partially recover. Our first day in the Nedtherlands was, therefore, a bludge day. Mundane things like laundry, blogging, emailing, catching up on sports news, planning the next leg of our trip and booking accomodation took up most of the day. We ventured out to get food and such but otherwise stayed indoors in a hostel that had some very good facilities.
In the morning, feeling slightly better, we decided to go on a walking tour of the city with the same company that organised our extremely successful pub crawl in Paris. This was very well done and the guide was extremely friendly, funny and knowledgeable. It served as a fantastic introduction to the city and the culture. The layout and history of the city were quickly grasped and lots of great stories were told, including one about some an indestructable medieval ball of bread. On a more serious note, I was quite stoked to visit the once headquarters of the Dutch East-India Company, about which I heard so much in History class back in S.A. Fun times. At the conclusion of the tour, we decided to tackle the nearby Anne Frank House which had been turned into a museum. If you dont know the story of Anne Frank, I suggest you do some research and read up about it a bit. It is quite an inspiring story which I found overwhelmingly sad at its conclusion. Nelson Mandela once said that 'The Diary of Anne Frank' gave him and many of the prisoners on Robbin Island strength. The museum was very well set up and provided quite an experience. After exiting the museum misty eyed, we had a bit of an exploration walk through the central city basically trying to get a grips with the city which can be quite confusing with its canal system and narrow streets. We managed to get to Central Station and reserve our seats on the overnight-train to Copenhagen later in the week and then realised we were in time for another tour by the same company, their Red Light District Tour. Now despite what you are thinking, the tour was done in a very professional and informative way. We were given the history behind the district and how it came to be what it is today. They took us through the district as a group and navigated us through some of the tourist traps, explaining how the whole industry operated. Urban myths were destroyed and amusing stories were told. All in all, a great way to see this often misunderstood and frowned upon neighbourhood. By this time, my cough in particular had mutated into some sort of monster that was trying to eat me from the inside, so we went back to the hostel in search of a good nights rest.
In the morning, at the behest of my parents, we decided to go get our coughs checked out at the nearest hospital. After quite a lengthy process we were seen by a very nice doctor, who pretty much just laughed at us and said 'Welcome to Europe!'. All we had was bad European colds which can take weeks to go away. Feeling slightly wounded at our comical concern, we decided to hit up some high culture for a change and headed straight to the Van Gogh Museum. This was another museum that was extremely well put together. Extremely informative, the museum provided detailed information on Van Goghs ideas, philosophies, techniques and evolution as an artist. There were some very famous Van Gogh's on display, but unfortunately, as with lots of these art museums, photographs werent allowed in most of the rooms. This pretty much concluded our day, but we managed to get our hands on some Dutch 'Bolletjies' (basically a Dutch Donut without the whole in the middle) which Rishi completely fell in love with. Quite touching. Rishi as an eligible bachelor is no more young ladies! His heart is now in Amsterdam with the Bolletjies. Unfortunately, his fidelity was tested almost immediately as for dinner we decided to risk a place called 'Febo'. Please reserve judgement. Basically its vending machine burgers. However, let me explain. The customer is confronted with a wall of vending machines, presenting different kinds of small burgers, and other cheap fast food. There is an actual CHEF behind the wall of vending machines cooking up the burgers and putting them in their slots. As a result, the food is extremely fresh and VERY good. In fact, probably some of the best burgers I have ever had. Cheap, fast, convenient. Genius. Rishi cheated on the Bolletjies without a second thought and is now permanently reminiscing about Febo, but unfortunately it seems to be an exclusively Dutch thing. Such a tragic story. Shakespeare would be proud, or rolling over in his grave.
The next day we were leaving for Denmark, but still had most of the day ahead of us. Once check out was completed, we roamed the city in search of some descent pictures. We went inside the 'Rijks' Museum, both an Art and a History museum, which had a very good section on the Dutch Golden Age and the VOC (Dutch East-India Company). it also had some fantastic art from Dutch Masters, including the extremely well executed and famous 'Nightwatch' by Rembrandt. I think he is definitly up there as one of my favourite artists. His ability to portray different textures and his almost genius like approach to utilising light is fantastic. Hats off to you sir. After we had finished there we collected our bags and headed to the station where our 14 hour treck to Denmark and Copenhagen was about to begin.
Me and Rishi arrived in Amsterdam as sick as dogs. There is nothing else too it. We were absolutely shattered from Paris and Belgium and the pace at which we were powering through cities. I think we were also suffering from the inevitable effects of walking around in very cold conditions all day and had developed a couple of bad colds. For these reasons, we decided to take it much slower in Amsterdam and booked to stay an extra day or two in order to rest and partially recover. Our first day in the Nedtherlands was, therefore, a bludge day. Mundane things like laundry, blogging, emailing, catching up on sports news, planning the next leg of our trip and booking accomodation took up most of the day. We ventured out to get food and such but otherwise stayed indoors in a hostel that had some very good facilities.
In the morning, feeling slightly better, we decided to go on a walking tour of the city with the same company that organised our extremely successful pub crawl in Paris. This was very well done and the guide was extremely friendly, funny and knowledgeable. It served as a fantastic introduction to the city and the culture. The layout and history of the city were quickly grasped and lots of great stories were told, including one about some an indestructable medieval ball of bread. On a more serious note, I was quite stoked to visit the once headquarters of the Dutch East-India Company, about which I heard so much in History class back in S.A. Fun times. At the conclusion of the tour, we decided to tackle the nearby Anne Frank House which had been turned into a museum. If you dont know the story of Anne Frank, I suggest you do some research and read up about it a bit. It is quite an inspiring story which I found overwhelmingly sad at its conclusion. Nelson Mandela once said that 'The Diary of Anne Frank' gave him and many of the prisoners on Robbin Island strength. The museum was very well set up and provided quite an experience. After exiting the museum misty eyed, we had a bit of an exploration walk through the central city basically trying to get a grips with the city which can be quite confusing with its canal system and narrow streets. We managed to get to Central Station and reserve our seats on the overnight-train to Copenhagen later in the week and then realised we were in time for another tour by the same company, their Red Light District Tour. Now despite what you are thinking, the tour was done in a very professional and informative way. We were given the history behind the district and how it came to be what it is today. They took us through the district as a group and navigated us through some of the tourist traps, explaining how the whole industry operated. Urban myths were destroyed and amusing stories were told. All in all, a great way to see this often misunderstood and frowned upon neighbourhood. By this time, my cough in particular had mutated into some sort of monster that was trying to eat me from the inside, so we went back to the hostel in search of a good nights rest.
In the morning, at the behest of my parents, we decided to go get our coughs checked out at the nearest hospital. After quite a lengthy process we were seen by a very nice doctor, who pretty much just laughed at us and said 'Welcome to Europe!'. All we had was bad European colds which can take weeks to go away. Feeling slightly wounded at our comical concern, we decided to hit up some high culture for a change and headed straight to the Van Gogh Museum. This was another museum that was extremely well put together. Extremely informative, the museum provided detailed information on Van Goghs ideas, philosophies, techniques and evolution as an artist. There were some very famous Van Gogh's on display, but unfortunately, as with lots of these art museums, photographs werent allowed in most of the rooms. This pretty much concluded our day, but we managed to get our hands on some Dutch 'Bolletjies' (basically a Dutch Donut without the whole in the middle) which Rishi completely fell in love with. Quite touching. Rishi as an eligible bachelor is no more young ladies! His heart is now in Amsterdam with the Bolletjies. Unfortunately, his fidelity was tested almost immediately as for dinner we decided to risk a place called 'Febo'. Please reserve judgement. Basically its vending machine burgers. However, let me explain. The customer is confronted with a wall of vending machines, presenting different kinds of small burgers, and other cheap fast food. There is an actual CHEF behind the wall of vending machines cooking up the burgers and putting them in their slots. As a result, the food is extremely fresh and VERY good. In fact, probably some of the best burgers I have ever had. Cheap, fast, convenient. Genius. Rishi cheated on the Bolletjies without a second thought and is now permanently reminiscing about Febo, but unfortunately it seems to be an exclusively Dutch thing. Such a tragic story. Shakespeare would be proud, or rolling over in his grave.
The next day we were leaving for Denmark, but still had most of the day ahead of us. Once check out was completed, we roamed the city in search of some descent pictures. We went inside the 'Rijks' Museum, both an Art and a History museum, which had a very good section on the Dutch Golden Age and the VOC (Dutch East-India Company). it also had some fantastic art from Dutch Masters, including the extremely well executed and famous 'Nightwatch' by Rembrandt. I think he is definitly up there as one of my favourite artists. His ability to portray different textures and his almost genius like approach to utilising light is fantastic. Hats off to you sir. After we had finished there we collected our bags and headed to the station where our 14 hour treck to Denmark and Copenhagen was about to begin.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Belgium: Hot Chocolate, Fries and Waffels. Oh and Beer. mmmmmmmmm
Our final day in Paris consisted of a day trip to the suburb of Versailles a few kilometers south west of Paris proper. Before leaving however, we had to sort out our hostels for Brussels, Brugge and Amsterdam. This was more difficult than it should have been because we had unwittingly let the weekend sneek up on us, and many of the places we wanted to stay in were full. nevertheless, we managed to figure it out and finally left for our trip. The reason for our visit was to check out the illustrious Chateau de Versailles, Frances grandest and most famous Chateau. It was the political centre of France from 1682 to 1789 when the French Revolution resulted in the dissolution of the monarchy. It is really big, 580m long with hundreds of wings, rooms and halls. We visited the incredibly ostentatious King's and Queen's apartments which just blew away everything i have seen so far with the sheer size of the wealth flaunted. A highlight was definitly the 'Hall of Mirrors'. Perhaps even more impressive than the palace itself is its acres upon acres of landscaped gardens. These stretch faaar into the distance, and you can go on multiple walks that take up many hours. We didnt have the luxury of having that much time, as we wanted to head back to Paris in order to try get into the catacombes again and to visit the famous Musee D' Orsay that evening.
Unfortunately we were too late for the Catacombes once again, so we just headed straight to the museum. The Musee D'Orsay contains Frances national collection of painting and sculptures produced between 1840 and 1914 from the Impressionists, post-impressionists and Art Nouveau movements. We saw works from many artists including Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Manet, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Seurat and Matisse. Rishis favourites included most works from Monet whereas I enjoyed Van Gogh a little more but also liked Monet. The entire Academic Painting school really impressed me as well. Afterwards we decided to call it a day and head to the hostel to pack. In the morning we would bid farewell to Paris and head to Belgium and Brussels.
We arrived late in the afternoon, and most of the sites in Brussels were shut. However, we decided to head out anyway and have a bit of a walk around. We figured we had at least enough time to check out the Belgian Brewery museum or the Belgian Chocolate Museum. We made our way to Brussels' central square called the 'Grand Place' and had a real 'turn the corner moment' (the ones where you are just stopped dead in your tracks). The Grand Place is utterly astounding, and has been made a World Heritage Site. The buildings are amazingly grand and surround the square on all four sides. The spires tower over you and the gold gilted facades and the graceful gothic pillars on the buildings really give you a sense of being transported back in time. It really did take our breath away. Once we had recovered from our bemused states, we decided to knuckle down and get down to the REAL reason we were in Belgium. The Beer. The Brewers MUseum was quite interesting, but a little small. It gave us a good introduction on just how deep in we were, as Belgium has thousands off different beers brewed all over the country. Afterwards we walked around the city a little longer and managed to stumble upon the famous 'Mannekin Pis' fountain. Apparently its a national symbol, but Im not sure. I mean it IS just a little boy taking a leak into a fountain. Apparently his costume changes fairly regularly, and there was one time where he didnt 'go' for the entire day and everyone was told to be extra careful of prostate cancer. Weird Belgians. We randomly found some statue that everyone was touching, so we figured that it would probably be a good idea to do the same just in case. So I nudged Rishi forward to take a photo. Some random guy was sniggering, and we eventually figured that the whole thing was for good luck in getting pregnant. WATCH OUT LADHA FAMILY! YOU MIGHT HAVE A LITTLE ONE ON THE WAY!
After that little experience, we decided we needed to stop messing around and get to some Belgium Beer. We made our way towards this place called ' Le Bier Circus'. The only thing we knew about it was it was a 'place for serious beer buffs'. SOLD! I cant remember exactly what Rishi had, but I got myself into something called a 'Kwak', which came in this awesome glass that was tapered towards the bottom and which had a massilve bulb on the end. The Beer itself was quite strange, but I didnt mind it. Very complicated flavours. My second glass was something that was called 'Bush'. I couldnt resist it. My English friends will be interested to know that this beer is the strongest Belgian Beer available, standing at 12%. TWELVE PERCENT!!! Thats like drinking two and a half beers back in Auz. Crazy stuff. Needless to say, that was the end of the night!
Our next day involved us achieving some very important goals. For breakfast, we managed to find a really nice waffle place that served traditional Belgian Waffles. These things are amazing. You can have almost anything on them, and we opted for whipped cream and bananas. Very filling and they tasted amazing. A good start. Next, we went hunting for some good Belgian Hot Chocolate. We found this place where they use real chocolate that is attached to the stirrer. You place the stirrer in a cup of hot milk and let the chocolate melt into the cup while you stir. Hot chocolate the way it was meant to be! TICK IT OFF! We then made our way to the Beligan Chocolate Museum, where we were educated as to the process of creating all the amazing Belgian Pralines and other chocolates. Our going there had nothing to do with the free sample we got at all. Honest! Our final stop in Brussels was the large Cathedral to Saint Michael we had passed by the night before. Confusingly, it wasnt in any of our guide books but me and Rishi are becoming accustomed to going off the beaten track and having a look anyway. This church was definitly one of my personal favourites so far. Its predominent colour was white, which made the whole space feel very open, light and airy. It wasnt an oppressive cathedral at all and was quite graceful. It was a nice way to finish off a bit of a whirlwind tour through Brussels.We arrived late in the afternoon, and most of the sites in Brussels were shut. However, we decided to head out anyway and have a bit of a walk around. We figured we had at least enough time to check out the Belgian Brewery museum or the Belgian Chocolate Museum. We made our way to Brussels' central square called the 'Grand Place' and had a real 'turn the corner moment' (the ones where you are just stopped dead in your tracks). The Grand Place is utterly astounding, and has been made a World Heritage Site. The buildings are amazingly grand and surround the square on all four sides. The spires tower over you and the gold gilted facades and the graceful gothic pillars on the buildings really give you a sense of being transported back in time. It really did take our breath away. Once we had recovered from our bemused states, we decided to knuckle down and get down to the REAL reason we were in Belgium. The Beer. The Brewers MUseum was quite interesting, but a little small. It gave us a good introduction on just how deep in we were, as Belgium has thousands off different beers brewed all over the country. Afterwards we walked around the city a little longer and managed to stumble upon the famous 'Mannekin Pis' fountain. Apparently its a national symbol, but Im not sure. I mean it IS just a little boy taking a leak into a fountain. Apparently his costume changes fairly regularly, and there was one time where he didnt 'go' for the entire day and everyone was told to be extra careful of prostate cancer. Weird Belgians. We randomly found some statue that everyone was touching, so we figured that it would probably be a good idea to do the same just in case. So I nudged Rishi forward to take a photo. Some random guy was sniggering, and we eventually figured that the whole thing was for good luck in getting pregnant. WATCH OUT LADHA FAMILY! YOU MIGHT HAVE A LITTLE ONE ON THE WAY!
After that little experience, we decided we needed to stop messing around and get to some Belgium Beer. We made our way towards this place called ' Le Bier Circus'. The only thing we knew about it was it was a 'place for serious beer buffs'. SOLD! I cant remember exactly what Rishi had, but I got myself into something called a 'Kwak', which came in this awesome glass that was tapered towards the bottom and which had a massilve bulb on the end. The Beer itself was quite strange, but I didnt mind it. Very complicated flavours. My second glass was something that was called 'Bush'. I couldnt resist it. My English friends will be interested to know that this beer is the strongest Belgian Beer available, standing at 12%. TWELVE PERCENT!!! Thats like drinking two and a half beers back in Auz. Crazy stuff. Needless to say, that was the end of the night!
That afternoon we left early for the quaint but touristy town of Bruges (Brugge). It is a medieval town that is one of the most popular destinations in Belgium. The town was mostly abandoned in the 14th century, leaving it suspended in time. The whole thing is a World Heritage Site, even if its reputation as a 'preserved city' is partially fabricated as the place was slightly rebuilt in the 20th century to reflect medieval times. Once again we arrived a little late to do much of anything, so we decided to just have a bit of a walk around to explore the town. We made our way towards the centre of the city and the famous 'Markt'. Just like the grand place, this central square was spectacular all lit up with some impressive buildings and medieval houses surrounding the centre, which had been turned into an ice skating rink. Horse Carriages randomly wandered up and down the streets, and it was quite a challenge having to dodge them at every turn. Rishi almost got run over by a particularly eagre horse and Eurotrip was almost at its conclusion right there, but luckily he was quick enough to dodge out the way. Good times. We didnt have much else to keep us busy, so we had some dinner and turned in a little early to recharge the batteries.
We were woken up to the sound of lots of church bells, as it was a Sunday. Obviously this had dire consequences as the Cathedrals and Churches had arrogantly closed their doors for the morning to the innocent and curious tourists. How inconsiderate. Nevertheless we made our way once again for the 'Markt' and some of Brugge's more secular buildings. We climbed to the top of the famous Belfry, pretty much a clock tower that overlooks the city. We squeezed up the 366 steps which were incredibly narrow, especially near the top. The view was worth it though as the whole of Brugge was set before us. Afterwards, we went to the small Groeningemuseum which had some interesting artworks by the Flemish Primitive school. We also went to Belgiums oldest 'stadhuis' (city hall), which featured a guilded Gothic Hall, which was very well done. Unfortunately pictures werent allowed. By this time, the churches were reopening their doors to tourists, so we went to the very small 'Heilig-Bloedbasiliek' (Basilica of the Holy Blood) where we managed to see, as you may have guessed, a small guilded vial that true Catholics believe contains the blood of Christ. Apparently it was brought to the church by a local knight who recovered it on a crusade. There was a small service which I attended, and I was able to go up to the relic, touch it, and say a quick prayer. It was quite a moving experience. The question of whether the relic is real or not is irrelevent to me. For the Catholics, it is an act of faith and a form of worship. Meeting back up with Rishi, we made our way towards our final stop for the day, the 'Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk' (The Church of Our Lady). This church contains one amazing treasure: Michelangelo's 'Madonna and Child'. This small statue was the only work of art by Michelangelo to leave Italy during his lifetime. The detail is fantastic. The expressions and natural poses of the figures are incredible. You don't feel like you are staring at stiff pieces of marble at all, but almost living characters. They look so soft and natural. It really is a beautiful piece of sculpture by the master. The rest of the church was very dark and hazy and there wasnt much else of note. As you can probably tell, I didnt enjoy the rest of the church very much, but it definitly was a great way of finishing off our time in Belgium. That evening we were heading on a 3 hour trip to Amsterdam and a new country with new culture and a new language (although interestingly enough, Dutch was everywhere in Belgium as you can probably tell in some of the names of places). A new experience was just around the corner.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Paris: Where the chicks are hot, the pigeons are fat, and the yoghurt is carbonated...
Well we made it. After a relatively uneventful and smooth journey to Paris on the awesomeness that is the Eurostar, we set about finding our hostel. This proved slightly more challenging than expected as we werent entirely sure what metro station to get off at, but we ended up having a nice walk around the city in our search. We eventually found our hostel in a great location, right next to the Louvre Museum and proceeded to check in and get ourselves organised for the days sightseeing. Our first priority was to find a Tourist Information Centre so we could get a decent map of the city. Having completed this, we decided to explore a little more and meander our way around the city in the general direction of the Arc de Triomph. On the way we randomly ran into some very beautiful churches that werent in either Rishi's or my guide books. The Church of Sainte Madeleine and Sainte Augustine proved a great introduction to the rich and diverse architecture of the city, and served as great rewards for our explorations. The Arc De Triomphe soon appeared in the distance, and it didnt seem very far away at all. Unfortunately, due to its size, this was deceiving and it tended to stay 'in the distance' for a good half an hour. However, we were not dissapointed when we arrived. It really is a spectacular site, rounded by the huge Charles de Gaul traffic circle. All I could picture in ,my mind was a young Bernard and Brenda Hale nearly killing themselves while attempting to navigate the gigantic traffic nightmare. Cheers to you Mum and Dad. We then walked down the famous Champ del Elysses to arrive at Concord Plaza, and a large Egyptian Obelisk given to the French as a present in the 1800s. Not satisfied with having completed this massive trek, we decided to hike to the Eiffel Tower as it was soon to be sunset. Our legs were soon protesting violently, and even more so when they discovered much to their horror, that we were going to climb to the top. It was worth it though, as the views of the city at dusk were breathtaking. the Eiffel Tower is truly a wonder, especially when it is all lit up at night. Limping our way home, we decided that day & was a success, and declared the Euro Trip OPEN!
Day 2 found us wanting to visit the Louvre Museum, only to discover that it is closed on Tuesdays. Reverting to Plan B, we headed to the centre city and the Ile de Cite in the middle of the Seinne River. Our first stop was the Conciergerie, housed in the old Royal Palace of which not much has survived. It is now the seat of the French Law Courts and functioned as a prison during the French Revolution. There we discovered the place where Marie-Antoinette was held prisoner before her execution, along with other casualties from the Revolution. Next we headed to the Saint Chappel in the old courtyard of the palace. We were told that this was Paris' finest example of Gothic architecture, and were not initially overly impressed. It was beautiful of course and the colours were quite startling, but other than that it wasnt anything special. UNTIL we headed upstairs. It was truly jaw dropping. The stain glass windows were so unbelievable. It just left us speechless for AGES. Definitly one of my favourite sites so far. We could not put off going to the Notre Dame Cathedral any longer. I had high hopes for one of the worlds most famous Cathedrals, and was certainly not dissapointed. The detail on EVERYTHING was fantastic. It was also quite beautifully symmetrical and extremely large, easily one of the biggest I have been to. However it was also extremely beautiful to match. I havent really found anything that balances this quite as well as Notre-Dame. Unfortunately, we couldnt find any sign of any hunchbacks.... We then had a bit of a trek to go to our next site, the Pantheon. This is much larger than the one in Rome, but a lot more modern. Originally functioning as a church, it has been used as a sort of French National Temple since the 1800s. The whole place demonstrates one of the qualities that I really love about the French. They are EXTREMELY proud of their heritage and culture, and for good reason! Today the Pantheon houses some beautiful artworks dedicated to important events in French History. Underneath, it contains the burials of some of the greatest and most prolific French men and women including figures like Voltaire, Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas. Concluding this solemn visit, we wondered towards the Palais de Luxembourg, a large building and garden complex. We didnt stay long, but decided to head to the underground Catacombs of Paris, its solution to overpopulated graveyards. Unfortunately we arrived too late and it was shut, so we wondered back to the hostel, taking in the Hotel Invalides, which contains the burial of Napolean, and a light show on the Eiffel Tower.
Day three saw us finally managing to get to the Musee Louvre. We had walked past this gigantic complex many times and each time we were freshly astounded by its size and beauty. Now THIS is a museum! It used to be a fortress before being converted into a museum, which explains its sheer size. Inside, the dizzying map gives testament to the truly awesome task of taking in the Louvre in one day. It cant be done. We quickly cancelled all other plans for the day and resolved to get as much done as possible. Exploring all the sculptures, paintings and other objects from literally every corner of the Earth, and every time period imaginable was an opportunity not to be missed. Our highlights consisted of:
The Glass Pyramid at the entrance
The Sculpture: The Winged Victory of Samothrace
The Sculpture: Venus De Milo
A Statue from the Levant which is dated to 7000BC, if I translated the French Label correctly. 7000BC!!!!!
The hilariously named 'Rishi' coffins from Egypt
The Painting: The Mona Lisa
The Painting: Wedding Feast at Cana, A truly GIGANTIC piece
The Painting: David and Goliath, a double-sided masterpiece
Most of the French Sculptures
and many other paintings by Da Vinci, Louis David and Delacroix in particular.
The visit was truly epic. We managed to get through about 2/3rds of the museum before going home for a break. We then headed out to a pub crawl, which proved a much needed break from site seeing. We met some other Australians, some Canadians and some Swedes. A very diverse group indeed!
Time is almost up so stay tuned. Next stop, BRUSSELS. We are leaving in the morning. Au Revoir Pari!
Day three saw us finally managing to get to the Musee Louvre. We had walked past this gigantic complex many times and each time we were freshly astounded by its size and beauty. Now THIS is a museum! It used to be a fortress before being converted into a museum, which explains its sheer size. Inside, the dizzying map gives testament to the truly awesome task of taking in the Louvre in one day. It cant be done. We quickly cancelled all other plans for the day and resolved to get as much done as possible. Exploring all the sculptures, paintings and other objects from literally every corner of the Earth, and every time period imaginable was an opportunity not to be missed. Our highlights consisted of:
The Glass Pyramid at the entrance
The Sculpture: The Winged Victory of Samothrace
The Sculpture: Venus De Milo
A Statue from the Levant which is dated to 7000BC, if I translated the French Label correctly. 7000BC!!!!!
The hilariously named 'Rishi' coffins from Egypt
The Painting: The Mona Lisa
The Painting: Wedding Feast at Cana, A truly GIGANTIC piece
The Painting: David and Goliath, a double-sided masterpiece
Most of the French Sculptures
and many other paintings by Da Vinci, Louis David and Delacroix in particular.
The visit was truly epic. We managed to get through about 2/3rds of the museum before going home for a break. We then headed out to a pub crawl, which proved a much needed break from site seeing. We met some other Australians, some Canadians and some Swedes. A very diverse group indeed!
Time is almost up so stay tuned. Next stop, BRUSSELS. We are leaving in the morning. Au Revoir Pari!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Leaving For Paris
Hey everyone. Firstly forgive me if I make any spelling mistakes or sentences that do not make any sense. I've had like 4 hours of sleep in about 40 hours and had a bit to drink and still in the process of sobering up.
My flight from Sydney was delayed. Just as we were about to take off, the Australian airspace was randomly shut down. So we were just sitting there like rabbits waiting for the plane to depart for almost 2 hours. When we were finally airborne and finally about to land at my stopover (Hong Kong), we were circling Hong Kong airport for about 30mins since there was traffic. All in all, the flight was delayed by roughly 2 hours although I managed to somehow locate Chris (who thankfully was still waiting) at Heathrow.
From there, we had a bus that would take us to Milton Keynes, where Chris was living for the past three months. Only thing was that we missed the bus due to my delayed flight. Thankfully we managed to get hold of a rescheduled bus and eventually made our way down to Milton Keynes where we enjoyed a nice english breakfast.
We had a lot to organize so we got cracking pretty much right away. After we finished organizing everything, we decided to go to the town center as we both needed to buy a few things. The town center was nothing like I had imagined. It was about 3 times the size of Parramatta Westfield (which is pretty massive). After buying the necessities, we decided that there were two things left to buy if we were to wing this trip completely, The first was a magic 8 ball, and the second were some dice. Why would we need such things? Well, we figured that since we have no idea where and when we are doing things, we figured it would be a 'good' idea to let the magic 8 ball decide for us. Finding a store that sells a magic 8 ball and some dice is easier said than done though, and after about an hour of looking, we finally managed to find a store that sold both. Satisfied that our Eurotrip is still a go, we decided to have a decent dinner before heading off to the pub and say goodbye to Chris's mates here in Milton Keynes.
By saying goodbye, I had no idea it would turn into some sort of beer tasting exhibition and after about 6-7 different beers, we decided it was time to head home. We were not planning to get any sleep since we had to leave in about 2 hours, so we decided just to chill out for a bit before heading out.
So here we are, our Taxi will be here in about 45 mins and we'll be making our way to Kings Cross St. Pancreas (the station from the Harry Potter movies), which will take us to Paris.
Stocked up on Red Bull and falling asleep as we speak, we're gonna soldier on like we said we would and hopefully make it to Paris.
Stay tuned for an update from Paris... if we make it, that is.
Ciao.
My flight from Sydney was delayed. Just as we were about to take off, the Australian airspace was randomly shut down. So we were just sitting there like rabbits waiting for the plane to depart for almost 2 hours. When we were finally airborne and finally about to land at my stopover (Hong Kong), we were circling Hong Kong airport for about 30mins since there was traffic. All in all, the flight was delayed by roughly 2 hours although I managed to somehow locate Chris (who thankfully was still waiting) at Heathrow.
From there, we had a bus that would take us to Milton Keynes, where Chris was living for the past three months. Only thing was that we missed the bus due to my delayed flight. Thankfully we managed to get hold of a rescheduled bus and eventually made our way down to Milton Keynes where we enjoyed a nice english breakfast.
We had a lot to organize so we got cracking pretty much right away. After we finished organizing everything, we decided to go to the town center as we both needed to buy a few things. The town center was nothing like I had imagined. It was about 3 times the size of Parramatta Westfield (which is pretty massive). After buying the necessities, we decided that there were two things left to buy if we were to wing this trip completely, The first was a magic 8 ball, and the second were some dice. Why would we need such things? Well, we figured that since we have no idea where and when we are doing things, we figured it would be a 'good' idea to let the magic 8 ball decide for us. Finding a store that sells a magic 8 ball and some dice is easier said than done though, and after about an hour of looking, we finally managed to find a store that sold both. Satisfied that our Eurotrip is still a go, we decided to have a decent dinner before heading off to the pub and say goodbye to Chris's mates here in Milton Keynes.
By saying goodbye, I had no idea it would turn into some sort of beer tasting exhibition and after about 6-7 different beers, we decided it was time to head home. We were not planning to get any sleep since we had to leave in about 2 hours, so we decided just to chill out for a bit before heading out.
So here we are, our Taxi will be here in about 45 mins and we'll be making our way to Kings Cross St. Pancreas (the station from the Harry Potter movies), which will take us to Paris.
Stocked up on Red Bull and falling asleep as we speak, we're gonna soldier on like we said we would and hopefully make it to Paris.
Stay tuned for an update from Paris... if we make it, that is.
Ciao.
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