SWEET SWEDEN

We leave Copenhagen and Thorbjorn's without ever even meeting him and board a train to Malmo, Sweden which is only a 1/2 hour ride from Denmark. Finally, we were in Sweden, home of innovative design companies like Ikea and H&M and beautiful people.
Once we arrived, we took a city bus to our host's flat. Emma lived just a little outside of the center and she greeted us just before she was heading off for work. Emma works at an elderly center and organizes band shows in Malmo's hardcore and punk music scenes on the side. She was jetting off to work with the promise of chatting over dinner when she returned at night but she did tell us about her favorite falafel place to eat lunch at, so we headed there and got falafel and ate it at a little green space. The falafel was pretty cheap considering that Sweden is one of the most expensive places being a Scandinavian country.

We spent some time wondering around the city center.







We walked to Malmo's beach afterwards and while the weather was sunny, it wasn't particularly hot and the ocean was freezing, so we refrained from taking a swim but enjoyed watching all of the dogs with their owners playing fetch in the surf.

Check out that cool building. It looks like it is rotating.






Afterwards, we took the city bus back to Emma's apartment and Ellie went to the grocery and made veggie sandwiches for all three of us and we all chatted about Emma's upcoming NYC trip and then we watched Secretary and went to bed.

Emma

Emma's house

The next day we awoke and left very early for Uppsala, Sweden. Emma's place was really cool and so was she and maybe we didn't get to see enough of Malmo, but it wasn't super exciting.
In Uppsala, our plan was to see Ellie's friend Alex whom she hasn't seen in over 5 years. Alex was an exchange student at Ellie's high school and they were good friends and on sports teams together. It was a very long 6 hour train ride to Uppsala. Alex's dad owns a Thai restaurant where Alex also works so we went there and she treated us to a nice lunch before she led us on a sightseeing walk around Uppsala which is mostly a university town which Alex attends. Uppsala was pleasantly pretty with a big pink castle and Scandinavia's largest cathedral.

After walking around with Alex and her sister, we stopped for an iced coffee downtown and sat outside enjoying the nice weather and catching up. Because it was summer the town was pretty dead. Apparently, Uppsala does receive a lot of Russian tourists for some reasons that Alex couldn't quite conclude. After our coffee, we went to the grocery to get makings for a BBQ on Alex's beautiful balcony in her posh apartment.

Alex on her balcony

ellie on alex's balcony


Alex is the one on the right


Alex invited her sister and another friend over and we had the most amazing dinner with really fancy champagne and funny conversation and Alex bought everything which was so kind of her. She also let us do our laundry and we slept really great in gorgeous apartment. The next day she dropped us off at the train station so we could head south for Stockholm.


Once in Stockholm we stored our packs in lockers and headed off on foot to check out the city. I had read that the neighborhood dubbed "SOFO" was supposedly the coolest area with great vintage shops and hip cafes. As soon as we arrived though after walking forever to get there, it started pouring so we had a coffee at a place that handed out blankets to kill some time. We found the cutest street on our way to the Metro to get to our hosts house right outside of Stockholm. Our hosts were a couple called Carolina and Magnus, both who work for progressive politics in Sweden. They met us at the train station and fed us some of the left-overs from their yummy vegan dinner.


Then since it was Friday, we all got ready and decided to drive into Stockholm to get a drink. Stockholm at night was beautiful and they gave us a little tour, pointing out good nightlife and cool buildings to us. We went to Sofo again and most of the bars they wanted to show us were a little too crowded so we went to this bar that is famous for making all of their drinks with garlic so we tried a draft beer that had garlic pressed into it! It actually wasn't that terrible but it wasn't good for the breath. We then went to a typical Swedish bar and had a Swedish beer while they filled us in on politics in Sweden (which are pretty refreshingly liberal). Afterwards, we went home.
When we awoke, Ellie made banana pancakes and they set out a big spread and we all had brunch together on the porch. Then we caught a train to the port in Stockholm to get a ferry to one of the islands on the archipelago.

a view of Stockholm from the boat

The islands we went to are known as the "feather islands", Fjäderholmarna. It was pretty lucky because the ferry ticket man never asked us for our tickets so we got away with a free ride there and back. The island was really pretty. There were cute craft stores and a beach and a rocky little mountain that you could climb to the top and watch the scenery from.







There were a few restaurants on the island that served fresh fish like salmon and herring. We stopped for an ice cream before boarding the ferry again.


Afterwards, we checked out the posh area of Stockholm before heading back to our favorite restaurant for a really nice Indian dinner.


The next day was our last day in Sweden and Caro and Magnus were heading to a friend's country house for a get together so they wished us well and we relaxed all day, using the ability to have a whole house to ourselves to get some planning done for the rest of our trip before departing to the train station to catch our overnight train to Oslo.

Copenhagen: recovering from Roskilde

July 7
After saying goodbye to our friends, we removed our luggage from the lockers and caught a bus towards our couch-surfing host's flat. We got there and met an Australian guy (not our host) who recently moved from Norway where he worked for six months. He was friendly and explained that he rents out the other room from the host, Thorbjorn. And that an Austalian couple have been staying there and will be coming home late. We went to the grocery store and got some spaghetti and breakfast foods. We spent the night in, recovering from our crazy week of camping.

July 8
When we woke up the Australian couple was there. We made breakfast and talked with them. We found out that we all have been traveling about the same amount of time and the same places. Then we discovered that we would also be staying in the same Couchsurfing host's house in Bergen, Norway.
They were leaving that morning, heading towards Oslo, Norway. So, while they packed, we headed out to explore Copenhagen. There was a lot we wanted to see, but it was raining, so we were a little limited. We decided it was a good day to go to Christiana, a part of Copenhagen that is completely a free state. It is very hippie-ish and because it does not abide by the same laws as the rest of Denmark, people can sell and smoke marijuana openly, but there are certain streets where there are signs that read: "NO PHOTOS" because it is incriminating to take photos of who is buying and selling drugs. The houses are all uniquely painted and there is a huge art community.





We went to a famous open air Jazz cafe (which was beautiful, but had a NO PHOTOS policy) and got an organic honey beer and listened to the jazz for a little while. We also heard that Christiana had the best falafels in Copenhagen, so we had to try one on the way out.

That day we also checked out the picturesque harbor.




When it started to rain too hard for us to be walking around, we ducked into the public library, which had free internet. We spent a few hours there, planning more of our trip and avoiding the rain.

That night, we went back to the flat and made some stir-fry. Some new girls were staying at the couchsurfing flat. There was one girl from Vietnam and two from Brooklyn and us all staying in a one bedroom apartment. It was a little tight, but we all had our own mattresses, so we didn't mind. It was really strange, because we never met Thorbjorn, our host, the whole time we stayed there. We went to bed fairly early, because we had another early morning ahead of us. We were on our way to Malmo, Sweden the next day, and even though it is only an hour away, we were only going to stay one night, and wanted to get in as much as possible.

Roskilde Festival

June 29, 2008: Germany to Denmark

So, we left Hamburg at a ridiculously early hour to take a train to Copenhagen, Denmark. The one interesting part of that ride was that you must cross over a body of water to get into Denmark. The two car train actually pulled into a loading dock of a ferry and we had to get off the train and stay on the above decks for about half an hour, while the ferry took our us (and our train) into Denmark. Then we hopped back into our train car, the train drove out of the ferry and we were back on the tracks.



Gena, Merlin and Matt all met us at the station. In case you don't know, they are some of our best friends from the UK (and Gena is Kelly's best friend from Key West who lives in Europe: Refer to Blog Archives November through March) They all flew in from England to meet us and go to the festival.

We all caught a train from Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, to the small town of Roskilde. That is where the Roskilde Music Festival was being held. We were really excited to be there because we were about half way through with our four month trip and this festival gave us 8 days of staying in one place, a break from sightseeing and tourist attractions, and a chance to catch up with our friends, not to mention some amazing bands were going to be performing.


Gena, Merlin and Kelly sitting at the station, waiting for the train

All three of our friends had been to the festival, 2 years before, so when we got to the front gates, they knew just where to go to find the cleanest and nicest part of the camping area (which also happened to be a very very long walk with all of our gear)
The camping area had only opened at 7am that day, but by 3:00pm it had already turned into a miniature city of tents and plastic gazebos. This year, they expected between 60-100,000 people to be there!

yep, those are all tents behind me!



This is how it works: There are 8 nights of camping, and events are going on all week long, like movie screenings, dance parties, and art happenings. The music doesn't start until the fifth day, but then it is nonstop from 11am until 3 or 4 in the morning. The festival is held on acres and acres of fields, which basically turn into a temporary town, offering several grocery and supply stores, food from all over the world, and even free internet.



While Manly Matt and Merlin set up our tents (Merlin was kind enough to bring one for us!) Gena, Kelly and I (yes Ellie is writing this one, just so you don't think Kelly is starting to talk in 3rd person) we went to the camp store to buy supplies like a gazebo to sit under, a tarp to sit on, some rubber rain boots (just in case. It's been called the muddiest festival in Europe) and, of course, a case of beer (sorry, this entry might contain even more drinking than previous posts)


Gena and Ellie with her new rubber boots



merlin and gena's tent


the tent merlin let us borrow


our finished campsite!


Matt starting off the afternoon with his first beer shotgun


Kelly and Matt


Ellie

The first night, we hung out in our great little campsite and got dinner at the closest stand, which was pizza and hamburgers. Kelly and I got really excited because the hamburger stand sold really cheap vegetarian burgers, but were really disappointed when we found out why they were so much cheaper than the real stuff. Their idea of a vegetarian burger was a bun with lettuce, a slice of tomato, and a slice of cucumber. We took it back because we thought maybe they forgot the veggie patty, but actually they had never even heard of a veggie patty. So we dropped it and got a cheese pizza instead. We all went to bed early, around 10:30. The weird part about Scandinavia is that it is so far north, that during the summer it is only dark for a few hours each night. It was still bright out when we fell asleep. The sun dips below the horizon around 11 or 12:00 and then pops right back up around 3 or 4am!

this is around 11:30pm!



Over the next few days we had a lot of fun not doing much.

We made a big trip into the actual town of Roskilde to go to the grocery store to get breakfast and lunch supplies cheaper than at the festival site and some spirits, particularly this bottle of tequila that came with a hat on the lid. (which I think is the main reason we selected it)


kelly wore it the remainder of the festival...


We met our neighboring campers from Norway and some locals from Denmark on the other side. Most people we met were surprised we had heard about the festival, even though it is the second largest in Europe. Most of the kids there were from Scandinavian countries like Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and even Iceland, but they all speak perfect Englsih and we had no problems starting conversations. There were a few guys staying near us that had American sounding accents, but they were actually from the Bahamas. We walked around and saw a lot of people had been naming their campsites, so we somehow came up with one for ours: CAMP DANDELION
Luckily we were able to maintain a clean camp the whole time. Some people trashed their campsites in the first couple days.

ours


not ours (thankfully)

The whole experience was really cool. We ate some great food while we were there, like amazing vegetarian chili, african food, and super falafels. We swam in a near by lake (which did underwater music sessions) and we bathed outdoors (with swim suits on) with our seaweed shampoo in a bar and Gena and Merlin's cooking pot to pour the icy water over our heads.






There were these weird trough things which we could get fresh, drinkable water to wash our hands and brush our teeth. Also, the only toilets were portable ones, which were surprisingly not too bad. There was almost always toilet paper and hand sanitizer and some one came in and washed and emptied them each morning. That still didn't stop most guys (and some girls) from using the more convenient option, the fence.



We also found out that if we returned any empty beer cans that we would get a small refund of about 1 Danish Kroner per can (it takes about 5 DKK to equal 1 USD)so not only did we save all of our cans, but we went around with a bag and collected a couple hundred more that were discarded all over the ground. When we cashed in, we got a large enough refund to buy a case of 24 beers plus a few pints.


doing some collecting


The day before the music started, Jemma arrives (Matt, Merlin and Gena's other roommate from university) We were excited to welcome another friend to Camp Dandelion.





On July 3rd, the music started, so a whole new section of the festival grounds opened up, with 8 stages, all different sizes. There were over 80 acts that were going to be showing, and obviously, there was no way we were going to see them all. Since we had time to look at our program of events, we were able to narrow down which bands to see and make a game plan to make the most out of the music.

A lot of the times, we would all split up to see different bands, and then reconvene to see a concert together. Over all we saw about 20 concerts in those 4 days. I'll give you the highlights:


this is the Orange stage, the largest one with the most high profile acts


this is the arena, probably the 2nd largest venue

The Gossip: An amazing show with a lot of energy. During the last song, Beth Ditto the lead singer, came into the crowd and grabbed my face and sang directly at me!


Kings of Leon


CocoRosie: two sisters with beautiful voices, and an ridiculously good beatboxer




Likke Li: a singer from Sweden who had such a fun show


Chemical Brothers: we saw these DJs on one of the latest nights we stayed out, they performed on the main stage (which was HUGE) and had an incredible visual display.



Jay Z: one of the funnest concerts, because we all knew all the songs from growing up with him on the radio. Plus, we waited in line and were able to get to the very front, right next to the stage. It was kind of surreal.


We also saw performers like Gnarles Barkley, Band of Horses, Duffy, Kate Nash, Goldfrapp, The Dø (a Norwegian band I love) and others.

We still had some time for a little down time, too, while the music was playing. Believe it or not. We played some giant Jenga and hung out in the posh Jack Daniels designated relaxing area.


At the end, we never ended up needing our rain boots. It never got rainy except for the final concert, Jay Z, where it poured! We were so far north, but for the most part, it was hot and dry and felt just like summer anywhere else.


the aftermath as people began to leave on the last morning


On our last day, we packed up our tents and we all took the train back to Copenhagen. Our friends had a few hours before catching their flight back to the UK, so we did a little window shopping, ate a nice proper meal and ended up having hot chocolate at a cafe that gave you pillows and blankets and overlooked a square where a live jazz band was performing. We said our goodbyes as they headed for the airport, and we headed just a few blocks away to stay with a new couchsurfing host for a few days in Copenhagen.

I ♥ Berlin!

Our next stop in Germany was Berlin.



Our hostel there was amazing! It was themed the 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe." After dropping off our stuff we went straight out to this burrito place called Dolores that was recommended in our Let's Go book. The burritos were huge and tasted just like home (you'd be surprised about the lack of Mexican food in Europe) That night we relaxed in the common area/bar of the hostel and enjoyed some free wifi.
The next morning, we set out by foot towards a neighborhood called Kreuzburg, which is pretty hip, with tons of vintage stores and cut vegetarian cafes. Along the way, we passed Checkpoint Charlie. That's the area where you had to go threw to get from East Berlin to West Berlin during the cold war.



When we got to Kreuzburg we found another recommended place called "Yellow Sunshine". It's got over 25 types of burgers and all are vegetarian. (Fake fish, fake chicken, hawaiin buger with fake ham and real pineapple) and surprisingly it was amazing! I know we talk a lot about food, but Berlin by far had the best and cheapest vegetarian food, which was very exciting for us to be able to eat all kinds of things we have been missing from the US (but even better!)


Later that day we had planned on doing the Free Bike Tour that is offered in Berlin, but it started to rain just as we were heading towards the meeting point. So, instead, we just walked around Mitte, the neighborhood our hostel was in. There were tons of Middle Eastern, Indian, and Asian restaurants with people lounging outside. We also came across this amazing establishment called Tacheles. It used to be a department store before WWII and during the cold war it was filled with squatters and anti-establishment anarchists. All 6 floors are filled with graffiti and Tacheles now houses a self-organized collective of artists, as well as a few bars and a night club.





a funny interactive art piece





Back at the hostel, we met a girl named Nina who was staying in the 7 person dorm with us. She was a 25 year old cryptographer from Sweden, but looked like she was about 15. She was very sweet and we all went out to dinner at an Indian place right around the corner from our hostel. After dinner we thought we would check out the mayhem that is the European Cup semi-finals. That night the game was Germany v. Turkey and this was especially important because not only did it determine who went to the finals but Berlin also happens to have a huge Turkish population (largest Turkish community outside of Turkey!) So we tried to go to the Gates of the city where the huge official FanZone was set up. But they weren't letting anyone else in, because instead of the estimated 500,000 fans, over one million showed up in just that one area. Plus, every cafe, bar, restaurant, and even some shops were packed because they were showing the game too. These people are serious about their football!

this was as close as we could get.

Berlin's mascot is the bear doing this thing...





We went back to the Kreuzburg neighborhood, which is where a good portion of the Turkish people live. It was an interesting place to be because one side of the street had German flags up and people on the other side were waving Turkish flags. We picked a random pub and watched the end of the game over a pint. Germany won at the last minute. There was dancing in the street, singing, and lots of broken bottles, but no violence. Before heading home, we walked with Nina over a big bridge to take a look at the famous molecule man statue, which wasn't so impressive at night and too far away.

The next morning, we made sure to wake up early enough to catch the first bike tour of the day. It was a lot of fun, biking is definitely the best way to see the city.



Here's some photos of what we saw:

The Old Synagogue

(which is actually the newly remodeled version, but with the cool original roof thingies that survived WWII)


This one is hard to make out, but it is a memorial for the book burnings that happened in Berlin while Hitler was in power. It is a large room just filled with empty bookshelves underground in the middle of the square where the biggest burning actually happened, but you can walk right over it and miss it completely.


Remnants of the Berlin Wall


Memorial to Fallen Jews



The artist that created this memorial has refused to give an explanation of what these sculptures represent, leaving it open for everyone to interpret. You can walk between each piece. The ground slopes and none of the pieces are symmetrical. Some say it looks like coffins, or a city, or a concentration camp...



Richstag

This is still the building where the German government convenes. In 1999, the glass dome on top was added, and you can actually go up to the top for free and it looks down on parliament as it is in session. Apparently, this was done, so when ever the elected officials would look up, they would see who was really in charge, because the people of Germany could be up there watching down on them.



Museum Island



They even took us to Hitler's Bunker, where he killed himself. Which is actually just covered up by a parking lot to an apartment complex. There is no sign or marker because they didn't want any Neo-Nazis to create a shrine or make pilgrimage to see it.

After the tour we went to a place called Dada Falafel in our neighborhood (Maybe one of the BEST Falafels ever!) and then took the S-Bahn (like the subway, but overground) to the East Side Gallery, which is a long stretch of the Berlin wall that is still up and has amazing paintings and murals all over it. it's a 1.3km long section of the wall that is an international memorial for freedom. The only thing that was a little sad was that people had tagged ugly graffiti signatures on top of the beautiful art work.



At a break in the the wall, there was a little man-made beach complete with a beach bar, volley ball nets, a skate park, lounge chairs, and reggae music. We had a corona and enjoyed the view over the river.

Then we wandered around the Friedrichshain area, which was really artsy. (there were so many cool neighborhoods in Berlin!)

graffiti art everywhere!



We came across a really cute hair salon with cheap hair cuts, stylish stylists and good music, so Ellie decided to get her hair cut there.
On the way home, we ran into some other people staying at the hostel and we all went to Tacheles together for a few drinks.

just one of the small pieces of art in Tacheles back yard...

The next day, we relaxed at the hostel and got some laundry done. In the afternoon, we went to the Hamburger museum, which was a modern art museum and had absolutely nothing to do with beef.
Across the street from the museum, there was a giant sand sculpture competition!

And we came across a street festival with bands and crafts booths. When we asked what the occasion was, we were told "just because." Apparently Berliners like their street parties.


At the end of the day we ended up back at Kreuzburg, one of our favourite neighborhoods, where we hopped round to tons of funky little bars. We ended up at one called Luzia, which was playing oldies and had an amazing atmosphere and tons of hip young people.

The following morning, we checked out of the hostel and went to grab some lunch back at Dolores, the burrito place, before heading to Hamburg. There was another huge event going on this day too (it felt like every day was a different celebration in Berlin) this one was the Pride parade. During the summer, each city in Europe celebrates gay pride on a different day. It was very colorful and a lot of fun to see all kinds of people in the parade.








After we watched most of it, (there were over 50 floats!) we ran to the train station to jump on the train to Hamburg, where we were only staying for a one night stop over towards Denmark. Within a few hours, Gabi, our couchsurfing.com host, and her friend, Megan, met us at the Hamburg train station. We quickly dropped off our backpacks so they could show us their city before night fall. Both the girls were from the states, so it was really cool to get to talk to some one who lives in Europe who we can really relate to. Unfortunately we didn't grab our camera on the way out the door, so we didn't take one single photo in Hamburg. But, we did learn this little known fact: Hamburg has more canals and bridges than Venice and Amsterdam combined!
Well, we needed to get some groceries before heading into the expensive Scandinavian country of Denmark, and Gabi informed us that the only grocery store open after 7pm is in the red light district, so we made our way over there. Apparently, there is one street that no women are allowed to go down (or the prostitutes will beat you up) and this is even enforced by the cops (mostly for your own protection!) Anyway, we got our groceries and got out, seeing a few stag and hen (bachelor and bachelorette) parties heading towards that area on our way out.
After doing a quick freshening up at Gabi's apartment, she took us back out to meet some of her friends who are also involved in couchsurfing. We had a drink or two and ended up at an amazing baked potato store. But didn't stay out too long, because we had a 5am train to catch to be able to meet Gena and Merlin in Copenhagen the next afternoon. Even though we spent a total of about 12 hours in Hamburg, we had some great conversations and got a very positive feel for the city.