Copenhagen and Berlin

As I mentioned before, I am in Berlin right now and I have to end a rumour that I was hearing before arriving here. I was told by many that Berlin doesn't have much to do attraction wise and is boring. That is completely false from my point of view! There really is a lot to do and the city is absolutely gorgeuos. The contrast of West and East Berlin was the main thing that caught my eye.

Anyway, before talking about Berlin I have to mention my brief stay in Copenhagen. The train was so long from Oslo to Berlin that we couldn't do it in one day so we spent a night in Copenhagen. All I have to say is that I wish I could have spent more time here. But that'll have to be for another trip. Copenhagen was a really nice city with a lot of bikers! It seemed like everyone was either walking or riding their bike to where ever they had to go. Toronto should be more like this. Even Berlin is the same. There are designated paths between the road and sidewalks for bikers.

I have to admit though, that I did eat at the BK Lounge (Burger King); in fact I did twice in two days. But that will be it!! I shouldn't be eating at places that I already have eaten at at home. Until Berlin the food really hasn't been too much different than home. Berlin at least offers a variety of sausages that are absolutely delicious!

A highlight of Copenhagen was Christiania. I learned about this area in a class at university and it was really cool to actually see it in person. Christiania is basically a town within the city where there are no laws and anything goes. That being drugs, mobs, prostitution, etc. I have to admit I was scared walking through there but it had to be done. Christiania is a social experiment started by the government and has been near to closing. Inside there is tons of graffiti and the buildings are all falling apart. It was very cool walking through an anarchist town and making it out alive (i'm just kidding, there wasn't any worry of that).

Alright, before this post turns into a novel I'll start talking about Berlin now. If you're ever in Germany, you have to see Berlin. we have spent 2 and half days here and we could have spent more. The highlight of Berlin is definitely the free walking tour (tips are given at the end). It was almost 4 hours long and took us around the major sites of Berlin. Most major cities in Europe have these free walking tours. Of the sites we saw the most interesting is the Berlin Wall. It's hard to believe there was a wall encircling West Berlin. The escape stories are very interesting too.

In the first years following the erection of the wall (about 1964) a man one day decided he was going to walk through one of the checkpoints and move to the west side. He had no plan except just to walk right through. Once seeing the enforcement at the gate he decided that was a bad idea. Upon arrival to the gate an officer stopped him and asked for his passport. The man said that when he cam from the west side earlier that week the other checkpoint took and held on to his passport. The officer was hesitant to believe this so he went to the phone to check with the other gate. While inside, a second officer came up to the man and asked what was going on. The man said "I'm trying to get to the east side but I forgot my passport in my apartment on the west side." The second officer then let him go ´back´ to the west side to get his passport.

After the wall was torn down in 1989 a lot of development came to Berlin. I personallyfound this very interesting, seeing the contrast between svoiet style architecture and capitalist buildings. Above is a picture of the Sony Center, one of the 10 billion dollars worth of developments at the time. Along with the Sony Center, we went to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum today. This was more about the Berlin Wall and is good for a quick visit.

The nightlife in Berlin is one of the best in Europe so we couldn't pass up a pub crawl that happened last night. It was lot of fun until toady when I was super tired but it was worth it. We met a some people from Richmond Hill and a guy from Florida (the Amsterdam guy). He loved Amsterdam so much that all he talked about was Amsterdam. But he was a good guy.

I'm so tired right now that I can't remember anything else to say about Berlin. This is probably a good spot to stop anyway. My next post probably won't be until after Munich. Tomorrow we leave to Nuremburg, then Wuryberg, then Rothenberg, and finally Fussen before arriving at Oktoberfest. I'm looking forward to seeing the German countryside. Anyway, until next time, cheers!

Breath Taking Norway

So much moving around lately! There has not been much internet access available these past 4 days or so, not to mention the ridiculous prices I would have to pay for it in Norway. Norway was cool but it was pricey. Right now I'm in Berlin; we just arrived this afternoon. There is so much to talk about that I don't even know where to start. I'll probably forget about some stuff too but those stories can be saved until I get back home. I need to keep you guys wanting more for when I return.

We left Dublin airport on a Boeing 737 and arrived at Stanjford. We thought it was supposed to be a 3 hour flight but we forgot about the time zone and only had to sit in the cramped Ryanair seats for 2 hours. Stanjford is almost 2 hours outside Oslo so we then took a bus. Before I continue to the next part of the journey I have to write about the hostel situation. I believe at the end of my last post I said we would be fine finding a hostel despite the short time. Well, I was wrong! There were no beds left in Oslo; possibly because it was the weekend but it certainly made it interesting. So, we had to sleep on benches in park. Actually, that was our last plan. Instead, we managed to get an overnight train to Bergen and that was our bed for the night. First scare averted.

Do you think we learned our lesson there. I know our parents would like to think so but we did not. Almost the same thing happened in Berlin. That story is for another post though. Right now I have to talk about beautiful Norway. And when I say beautiful I mean...absolutely, unbelievably, incredibly gorgeous. Words really can't describe Norway, you need to just see it for yourself. If you have looked at my pictures (i've never taken that many pictures, in such a short time, in my life) you can get an idea of what I mean.

We took the overnight train to Bergen where we spent 2 nights. The first day was really a relaxing day. Mostly just to find a good Fjord tour for the next day, thank you for tourist info centers! They helped us find possibly the best Fjord tour in this area. Not only were the tourist info staff friendly and helpful, Norwegians in general were very friendly and helpful. As we left the train station a man from Bergen noticed us three fumbling with the streets and a map and basically walked us right to our hostel. This is just one of a few experiences but it certainly put Norwegians high on the friendly pole.

That's enough about the first day in Bergen. Lets get to the Fjords. Wow! Just look at my pictures and multiply what you see by...a lot. The pictures donät show the immense size of these Fjords. The tallest one we stopped by was 1600 meter almost straight up cliff above sea level. It completely blew me away. There were a lot of waterfalls flowing down the cliffswith houses in the most precarious postions. The houses, and villages for that matter, were prestine. Everything was so clean and so picturesque. After he boat ride we had to take a few trains back to Bergen. One went from Fläm to Myrdal, the steepest adhesion track in the world. This hour train ride is also undescribable. I could only dream about living in a place like this.

The final morning in Bergen we woke up early to walk up, need to save money in this expensive country, the main mountain (almost 400 meters high). With all the rain (everyday it rained for at least half the day) this was our only opportunity to get a goof view of the city. And it was worth it! The view with the lights and the sunrising was incredible. Unfortunately, one of my biggest fears was realized about half way up. My camera somehow stopped working. At the most inopportune time the digital sensor died. I thought I was going to be forced to buy a new camera over here, which would have had it's up side; that being I would get a new camera!! However, I lucked out and about 6 hours later it started working again. It better not do that again!

The next few day were used as travel days to Berlin with overnight stops in Oslo and Copenhagen. I will leave those places for another post though. Until next time, cheers!

Final Day In Ireland

Last night and today have been for relaxing. We have finally caught up on missed sleep and are resting our sore legs. We actually went on saw Superbad last night! It was a very cool experience. We were assigned seats in the cinema and the ads before the movie were much different than what I would expect at home. It was a great cultural experience, not to mention the hilarity of the movie.


We did a little more walking around Dublin today but there really isn't a lot to do here. However, we did find a Tim Horton's!! I was excited to have a coffee but it only had baked goods. How can you call it a Tim's if it doesn't sell coffee?

Also, I have uploaded all my pictures so feel free to check them out and leave me comments.

As a final note, Ireland has easily taken the gold medal for the best place I've seen, so far. The next destination, Norway, will put up a good fight for first place. We're basically skipping over Oslo because there doesn't seem to be much to do there. That leaves us with 3 days or so in Bergen. I can't wait to go on a boat trip through the fjords. Anyway we have to book a hostel for tomorrow night now. Yes, we are cutting it close but we'll find a spot. Until next time, slainte.

The Bus Tour Was A Good Craic

The past 4 days have been great for authentic Irish craic. Almost too much craic. Craic is the Irish word for having a good time, or having fun. We went on this bus tour and had a good craic. PaddyWagon was the tour group we went with and they were awesome. The driver (Gab) was absolutely hilarious and by the end of the tour almost everyone on the bus was friends with each other. The Irish really know how to have a good time.

The first leg of our journey took us through many small towns with a stop at a whiskey tour. By late afternoon we made it to Galway, where we spent the night. 60% of the population in Galway is less than 23 years old, so we knew we were in for a good night. And a good night it was. There's no better way to get to know people than at the pub with a few pints. We met mostly Australians, with a few Germans, Canadians, and Americans. The best had to be the Irish folk. They showed us good craic at the pub.


The second day bus ride was very entertaining, courtesy of some singing, or attempts at singing, by Gab. Before arriving at Killarney for the second night, we stopped at the Cliffs of Mohr. The were absolutely beautiful. The pictures I have unfortunately don't give the full feel of the immense size of the cliffs. After some history about Ireland, which was extremely interesting, we made it to Killarney. Jack recommends to read the book Trinity by Leon Uris for Irish history. I never realized before how much hatred there is between the Irish and the English. The British, led by Cromwell, caused so many problems for the Irish that it really is no wonder why the Irish hate the British so much. The hatred at least makes for some good football and rugby games!


Throughout the bus ride, I couldn't believe how green everything was. All the fields were bright green and were divided by old stone walls, which were about 3 feet tall. I figure they must be that green because of how much rain they get. The weather here is very weird; one hour it will be blue sky and sunny and the next will be cloudy and rainy. Fortunately, the rain never lasted long.


On the road back to Dublin we stopped at Blarney Castle to kiss the blarney stone. However, there was a huge line up so I will not get the 'gift of the gab' for 7 years. It was known to give people the gift of the gab because the king who lived in the castle could talk his way out of any situation. From Blarney Castle we stopped at 2 other castles before arriving back at Dublin. This telling of the Irish countryside is very brief because, to be honest, we did so much that I can't remember it all. I highly recommend this bus tour to anyone planning a trip to Ireland.

More Pictures!

I have finally found a good internet cafe just down te street from my hostel. So, I am trying to upload as many pictures as I can right now. I will finish uploading London right now and by the end of this week Edinburgh and Ireland should be up.

We finished touring Dublin today and yes it did only take one day. There really wasn't much to do here. However, the main attraction here could be one of the best on the trip. That is the Guiness Storehouse tour!! Despite drinking the freshest Guiness possible, the tour was very interesting. One little fact was that Arhtur Guiness signed a 9000 year lease for 45 pounds per month.

Other than that we visited Trinity College and plan on visinting Temple Bar later in the week. Starting tomorrow we are going on a 3 day bus tour around the Irsih countryside. It basically goes out to the Atlantic Coast and then back. Unfortunately, we're not 25 so we couldn't rent a car to get out there. However, the PaddyWagon bus tour company has saved us. These tours are supposed to be a lot of fun too so it has worked out for the best that we aren't 25.

Well I better get ready for the early morning tomorrow. I will post on 3 or 4 days from now. Cheers!

Fastest Flight Ever!

The three of us are taking a relaxing day today so I'll write about the flight to Dublin. The airport in Edinburgh is really small so we had to go out on to the tarmack to board our plane. We were up in the air just long enough for our ears to pop at 7000 meters and then we began our decent to Dublin. The flight only took about 35 minutes!

We found our hostel pretty easily here and it is unbelievably nice. For the price we pay or hostels it is surprising how nice they are. Anyway that's everything for here. I'm trying to get some pictures up right now. Check under pictures and click London to see them. I'm out to get pint of Guiness now. Cheers.

Eerie Edinburgh

I am here in Edinburgh right now and have just finished a ghosthunter tour. So, this post may have a frightening feel to it! The tour took us through the underground and graveyards and was a little creepy. Edinburgh is supposed to be full of ghosts and ghouls.

Despite the being scared in the tour, Edinburgh has been absolutely amazing! I wish we could spend a few more days here. The people I have met (a lot of Canadians) here are a lot fun. We were fortunate enough to go on a pub crawl last night with everyone. I believe by saying pub crawl implies a great time! Us 8 or 10 Canadians sang 'Oh Canada' at the top of our lungs in one of the pubs.

Also, 3 of Jack's Guelph friends are on a backpacking trip around Europe and we were able to meet up and go out a few times together. I have to admit it is nice hanging around with fellow Canadians. Sometimes it can be tough having a conversation when the other person doesn't know English well.

Just like the people the sites here are awesome! We walked up and down the Royal Mile, trekked up Arthur's Seat (a 800 to 1000 foot tall highland/hill/escarpment with an amazing view of the city), visited Edinburgh Castle (where they hid the crown jewels in a cellar during WWII and entrusted the Governor of Canada with it's location), stumbled through the Whisky tour (maybe I don't like real scotch as much as I thought, they were very different), and tasted haggis (it really isn't as bad as it sounds, it's kind of like meatloaf.

With all the good times comes bad though; for the past 2 and half days I have been sick. Mostly likely from the tiredness, lack of good food, and not drinking enough water. However, now I'm better and ready spend more money in Edinburgh, about as expensive to London. Tomorrow we fly to cheaper Dublin for some good Irish fun.

That's about it for Edinburgh. I didn't say too much about it, but it is awesome here. I would certainly come back, possibly with a lighter backpack. The pack has been a little heavy but I figure in a week or two it should be no problem. On that note I better go pack it up so that I'm ready for the long haul to the train/bus to the airport tomorrow.

I promise I'll have pictures next time. These hostel computers don't allow to upload anything. Until next time, slainte mhath! (cheers in Scottish).

The Sights And Sounds of London

Here I am, finally with some free time. We have been unbelievably busy and tired for the past 3 days. The jet lag has hit us pretty hard but we have still managed. Just looking around and knowing that we are in London is keeping us awake. The flight seemed really fast at about 6.5 hours where I got no sleep. Upon arrival to London we were questioned pretty intensely by the customs agents but made it through eventually. We actually stumbled upon Buckingham Palace on the way to our hostel. Unlike later in the day there was nobody there and we snapped some good pictures.

Anyway to try to make this post a little less boring, I'm finding the London experience to be very similar to a Toronto trip. Except that the wealth in this city is evident everywhere we go. Bentley's, Rolls Royce, Alfa Romeo, and Ferrari's are seen everywhere. Unfortunately, I can upload any pictures of the cars right now as this computer is not a PC and is not running Windows. It is interesting seeing the same movies that came out last month in North America, coming out this month here. We can't even go see Superbad right now even if we wanted to.

Along with Buckingham Palace, over the 3 days we have seen the Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey (where I got to stand on Charles Darwin's grave), Tower of London, Tower Bridge, the British Museum, and St. Paul's Cathedral just to name a few. These attractions were very interesting but I found wandering around the alley ways and the maze of streets to be the most interesting. It is amazing how much there is to see and do. Even though I got to see everything I wanted to, it is too bad we are leaving tomorrow.

The food here is nothing special as there is no distinct London flavor. However, they are known for there fish and chips and I have to say they were excellent. Despite, how expensive everything is here we have done pretty well. Basically everything here is the same price as in Canada except in Pounds (or Quid?). The beer over here is still reasonably priced and is absolutely delicious. The pints are served right of wooden kegs and has to be pumped by hand.

The hostel we are staying at is really nice and we have met many people. People from Australia, Belgium, Bulgaris, Austria, Brazil, and Italy. We went out to a club called Walkabout 2 nights ago with about 8 others from our hostel, including the staff. It was converted from an old chapel and was a lot of fun.

Before I end this post I have to mention the Canada Memorial near Buckingham Palace. It was built about 10 years ago from the generous donations of many Canadians, including the one and only Conrad Black. At least he put his fraudulent money to a good use!

I could probably continue for another few pages but I am running out of time with this Internet. I will write again in 2 or 3 days; hopefully with pictures. Leave me comments if there's something I forgot to mention that you want to hear about. Until next time, Cheers.

Day -7

Only one more week to wait! Everyday my excitement grows and I wish this week would be over so I can finally be in Europe. The latest addition to our trip is Eastern Europe. I am super pumped about this!! I didn't think we would make it out to Poland, Austria, or Hungary but now they are most likely going to happen. This is exactly our open, flexible plan is good. We can change the cities we want to visit at anytime. Unfortunately, we will have to cut out other cities (most likely Stockholm and Barcelona) to allow us to visit Krakow, Vienna, and Budapest. I would much rather have it this way though.

This has presented me with another planning opportunity. Our train pass doesn't work in Poland, Czech, or Slovakia. However, individual tickets seem to be relatively cheap and shouldn't be a problem to get over there. Rail Europe offers a European East pass that is about $230 for 5 days of travel. This option seems pretty good to me too except that you have to buy the pass before going over to Europe. Seeing that we still aren't fully sure where we want to go, we will wait to buy train tickets while in Europe.