We had a week off and decided to take a trip to Stockholm. It was either flying out of Copenhagen or Hamburg and since we are going to Cph in November we decided to go with the option number 2. Found cheap Ryan air flights, couchsurfing places to stay and a car share to drive there. Seemed like a hell of a deal.
Day before our trip I woke up with a pain in my foot/toe. My roommate Spy gave me some cream to put on hoping it will help. At first it did, but as the day was moving on, it started hurting more and more. By morning the pain was insane and I was seriously thinking not to go. Couldn't even step on the foot, it was all swollen. Even though, decided to go, and in the worst case scenario, I'll come back from Hamburg. One good thing about it is that the doctor is cheaper in Germany (I still didn't pay the insurance in Dk). We took a bus to a place close to Esbjerg and meet two ladies who took us to Hamburg. They had a really old, deaf, blind and not so pretty cat named Sandokan with them. :(
There was so much traffic on the highway, I guess we are not the only ones taking a vacation.
Got there safe and sound. My other roommie Milica gave me some pain killers and they helped ease the pain so I was able to walk through the city. The walk was more of a duck or a penguin walk, but whatever works. In the mean time we realized that I have been putting too much cream on my foot and that is the reason it got so swollen; must be an allergic reaction or something that made it boost like that. Spy forgot to mention that the cram that strong should only be put three times a day. Not thirteen.
The day in Hamburg was so nice, sunny weather and a lot of things to see and wonder around. We checked out all the major sightseeing places, palaces, bridges, harbor, old part of the city, modern part, fish market, stadium etc.. The most interesting part was of course the stuff that you find randomly along the way by taking a wrong turn.. Thats how we ended up in cosy neighborhoods, seen Squatting houses and took a balloon ride 150 meters high. The view was so amazing, I did not expect it to be that beautiful. And we took the ride at the right time. It was still day when we went up, by the time we were up in the air - the sunset; and when we were coming down, it was already dark. I'll blame Murphy for this one again: My camera battery died the moment I stepped into the balloon. But at least I focused and enjoyed the view. So relaxing.
Now let me tell you something about our couchsurfing place. This was a perfect candidate for the How clean is your house show. The second we stepped in, we stayed speechless. Totally in shock, our eyes would just meet for a second and everything was clear: We just need to survive two nights here. We slept with our clothes on in a sleeping bag and on a mattrase. Well, what looked like a nightmare at first sight turned out to be quite an interesting experience. Our host Harro is a really nice guy. He had an injured foot as well, but wanted to hang out and take us places. He took us to one of the Squatting houses and we chilled out there for a while. It was kinda weird, I didn't really know much about these things and I thought that poor homeless people live here. There was a bar in the basement with a couple of ppl in side and a weird DJ. Weird meaning his "music"sounded like throwing boxes down the street. At its best. And the ppl that were there looked like usual random ppl, not weird at all. After that we went to another cool place, guys were shooting pool, again we had a good time. I forgot to mention that on the first night, Harro left us his whole flat and went to sleep at his friend's place. We really really liked him even though he is the Dirty Harry. :) And this whole experience was actually exciting and something new, something I will definitely not forget.
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| Detail from our first CS place |
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| Hamburg Center |
Next stop was Lubeck airport next to Hamburg. Again we found a deal how to get something cheaper. Bought a package of five tickets that turned out to be cheaper than three separate. And plus - managed to sell one. From this airport we went to Skavsta airport which is an hour and a half away from Stockholm. So now we learned another lesson about Ryan air. If you combine all the transportation costs to and from the surrounding Ryan air airports, it comes out the same as a bit more expensive flight with a normal airlines that departs closer to the actual city. So we got there in the evening and had to contact our second CS host Andreas. Since our Danish phones are not working outside the borders, we had to communicate online through CS. For some reason, we did not notice any Internet cafes and the only possibility was my Touch so as I was walking through the city I had it in my hands all the time looking for wifi signal. A couple of times we even asked people to borrow us their phones to send a message. Cant believe that we could have lived without the cell phones and all this technology not so long ago.
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| Vasa Maritime Museum |
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| Eco Taxi |
Eventually we met our Swedish host Andreas and went straight to sleep. Andreas was tired as well cuz he just came back from a students party cruise and he was working early in the morning. He is also a nice guy. It was funny when we came into his flat (which is new and very very nice), and he said sorry about the mess. I just said Trust me, this is not a mess, and tried not to laugh out loud.
We had very little time in Stockholm and so many things to see. First spot was the Vasa Maritime Museum. I was a little sceptic about it, because most of the maritime museums I've been to are more or less the same. Vasa is a Swedish ship that sank on it's maiden voyage, not even 2km after setting sail. It has been at the bottom of the ocean for more than 300 years and today 95% of the presented ship is original. It took a lot of effort to dry and conserve the original parts - 17 years of spraying and 9 years of drying; and the interesting fact is that the pollution and toxins in the sea actually helped the ship not to rotten and kept the microorganisms away. Museum is spread along six floors with the ship in the middle. Every single little detail is explained, either written down or shown as a figure example. From the very beginnings and building a ship, the sail away, the life on board.. They have Captain's cabin in real size and a model of the ship that shows what was going on on each part of the ship. They even had the area for criminals and sick people. Many different object were saved, even food, but only one piece of gold - a small ring. Really fascinating was seeing the original skeletons of some of the people that were sailing. Even more, they have managed to reconstruct their faces and made very very eligible models and did not miss a single hair or wrinkle. Amazing. You could also read stories about their lives and why they were on the ship. Even their medical history was mentioned. They had the whole reconstruction of the raising process, explanations for every ornament, which colors have been used, material... You really do not leave this place with many questions. Right next to this museum was an open air museum Skansen, which was a total disappointment. It is advertised as a place that presents typical and authentic Sweden, but it was actually the swedish country side that it presented. Couple of village houses, windmill and a bunch of animals. I've said so many times that I'm not going to give money to see trapped animals either in zoos or whatever kind of reserves. Again, they seemed sad. I mean, their homes are not that bad, but still they don't have their freedom. Only a window was separating us from three big bears. There was a bit of empty space in between the glass and the wall when they all started to rush into this tiny hole. They could not brake through of course, but it was exciting to hear their breath so close. There were some other interesting animals like wolfs, mooses, buffalos, lynxes etc.. At the end we were looking at cows and chicken and goats and then we realized it's time to go and not waste a second more in here. Btw. All the time it was raining and the sky was gray. Agghh.. After that we took a break and went to have some lunch at TGI Friday's, as per Spy's wish because he used to work there. Along the way, we checked out some super fancy stores which we can not afford. Not now. Full of energy we continued our mission to Nobel museum which was ok, but also a bit disappointing - it only has one floor and not too many exhibitions. Luckily we got in for free so we were not so bumped about it. The whole day and we still didn't get in touch with Andreas. Well, he probably wouldn't go sightseeing the Royal palace and the City hall with us but we wanted to meet him for drinks later on. My Touch battery died and we did not comprende how to use the public phone. We ended up in Hard Rock Cafe getting a t-shirt for my little sister, and the nice lady that worked there send a msg to Andreas. The girl was from Nicaragua, but lived in Miami and moved to Stockholm because of her boyfriend who she met in Paris. How about that?! Finally we met Andreas and Nicolas at the cheaper bar across HRC. There was a football match Madrid : Milan on and the bar was packed. Madrid won of course. We had a good time with our hosts and hit the road home. Last night in Stockholm and a long way home tomorrow. Well, at that time, we did not have a clue what we are about to experience the next day. The day started early, had to say goodbye to the guys and catch the last bits of the city that we have not explored. Most of the places we wanted to see were closed in the morning so we went to get some delicious breakfast and buy the souvenirs. At 11:30am we took a bus to the Skavsta airport which is 100km away. Took a flight back to Lubeck in Germany, had lunch, walked around a bit and got on to our first train. After 20 minutes switched to another train. And the same procedure five more times in the next six hours!! Some rides took 20 min some 2 hours. We didn't have a lot of time to change the trains either. Once we boarded the wrong one and got out at the last minute. The cherry on top of the cake was the last station. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Dk, we get off the train and have more than an hour before our next train arrives. It's already past 10pm, we are exhausted and cold. There isnobody else at the station except us and when we try to get inside - It is closed!! Nothing else in this place works, everything is closed and everybody is sleeping. feels like the time has stopped and we are in the horror movie. The locked hotel right in front helped to boost up the creepy atmosphere but what was freaking me out the most were bright red roses on the rusty wall. Everything else was dark, fogy, silent and dead except those horror red roses, lightened up by the lamp above them! We found an open empty dirty and smelly room whose purpose I still don't know. Stayed there for a while because it was wormer, but it was time for the train to arrive so we had to get out. There were two more people at the station now. And the train was late. First it was five minutes, then seven, then ten... And every couple of minutes it got worse and worse. Instead of cutting down the time, it was taking longer and longer to a point that it got to twenty-something minutes! After being late for half an hour already!! I slept in the plane and the train so I wasn't that much tired, and I wasn't that much cold either, but my roommates were absolutely freezing and going crazy. We never thought that we would miss our Esbjerg home so much and be so eager to get back. The train finally arrived, about 15 minutes more and we would have a taxi drive us home. That would be nice. Instead, the train dropped us off at the main train station in Esbjerg, where we left our bikes five days ago when we started this adventure. Meaning that, the trip is not over.. 20 more minutes of a bike ride home. Now it's over. Mission accomplished with great success! Good night :)
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| Inspiration while waiting for the damn train to arrive |
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| Our last train ride and frozen feet |
