Scandanavia

Over the next few blogs I will be writing a brief bit about the places Laura and I visited in our tour of Europe. While travelling I kept a journal, a section of things to remember and funny/memorable quotes from every location we visited. I will put these last 2 parts at the end of each blog for the places covered. It will probably take me a bit of time to get everywhere done (mainly cos I get bored typing after a while). I will also probably forget to add some stuff which Laura will probably remind me of so I will add these in a final blog at the end. I hope you enjoy reading, and laugh as much as we did at some of the silly goings on. The pictures here will be significant ones, all of our rooms we stayed in as well as pictures of some of the places I mention in particular. Otherwise, loads of the pictures can be found on bebo, or I just won't put them all on.

On the way to the airport there were some minor money dramas relating to our post office cards which did eventually get sorted after some angry phone calls on our parts but other than that the flight to Oslo was uneventful as was the bus to the centre. We got checked into our room in a hostel, which seemed OK at first glance. Then we went out exploring. Oslo is really cool and laid back, although really expensive (it was a good thing I brought a box of bran flakes with me- the first morning we ate them directly out of the box but we then had a McD's sundae, from which we kept the container and spoons as makeshift bowls and eating utensils).

The highlights in Oslo were seeing a Viking ship and, my personal favourite, the Vigetsland Parken. This is a big park with loads of statues in funny poses leading up to a phallic monument made up of lots of bodies. There are people just hanging out having BBQs. Its really chilled out and cool.

Our room was not as OK as we thought. On our first night we discovered it was smack bang in the middle of the red light district. There were hookers on the door step and a soup kitchen for the homeless directly across from us. We had to pass a sex shop on the way to the hostel. Not only that, we were the only girls in the whole hostel, and people IE guys, could see directly into our room!!! Needless to say we went to the toilet in pairs and didn't use the shared shower facilities. Luckily we were only there for a couple of nights and it was the only semi bad bit about Oslo.

Our next port of call was Copenhagen, which we got to via an overnight stay on a ferry. It was a cute little room, with an awesome shower and no hookers!! There was a thunderstorm while we were on the ferry, which looked pretty cool even if a little bit scary. It was a pleasant night on the ferry and we arrived clean and refreshed in Copenhagen.

Finding our room was not that hard, despite taking the wrong path at first. We were shown to our "garden house" by the owner, Linda, who was lovely. Our room was really just a glorified shed in the middle of the garden. Although it was nice and airy it had no way to be locked from the inside (on the outside it was a padlock) and we had to devise one using an extension lead we found in the room. Once again, to get to the bathroom we had to go together at night along the scary dark path with no lights to a manky shared bathroom in the basement of the house.

Copenhagen itself is OK. A bit of a disappointment. I had high expectations from things I had read. Tivoli Gardens was expensive since you have to pay to get in even if you are not going on the rides and was mostly filled with expensive shops and rides. So unimpressive really. I mean it was OK but wasn't worth the money. The rest of Copenhagen was OK. Christiania was pretty weird and kinda scary, glad we didn't go at night. The little mermaid was cool, although we did get stalked by a couple of older Pakistani men (they told us that's where they were from), who we had to run away from without it being too obvious that's what we were doing.

We couldn't get the night train the night we wanted to so we had to stay another night in Copenhagen. The only room we could get was in an expensive hotel. The bonus was it included breakfast (as well as having showers in the room so we could get clean again) and we took full advantage of the buffet style eat all you can. We ate what we could manage and then took some food in Laura's bag and my pockets for lunch. You can't beat a free lunch :D

We ate our free lunch in Malmo (which is where we had to get the train from). It was wet and everything closes at 4, if it was open to start with. I mean, what is that all about?! Yep, I wasn't in love with Malmo. We got the night train from there to Berlin. There was a nice guy in our Couchettes who helped put our stupidly heavy luggage up onto the overhead bit. It was also weird as the train went on a boat. Its weird to feel like you are moving but the train is making no noise. Otherwise fairly uneventful journey to Berlin.

Things to remember

Oslo:

BBQ's in the park

it costs 25% more to eat in places

there are prostitutes and stuff relating to sex everywhere!!

the awesomeness of Vigetsland paarken

the big burly hot men (for Helen)

the expense of it all

the water from the tap is OK to drink (thank goodness- saved us a fortune)

the traffic crossing has 2 red men, as if to emphasise the importance of stopping

unexpected rain and a cool thunderstorm

Copenhagen:

charges in the public toilets if you brush your hair or re-apply makeup or whatever

lack of street signs

lots of strip clubs

sunglasses make cool photos

there are a lot of towers

the "safe" and "unsafe" areas seems to cross over with almost no warning

crazy Asian stalker guys

sunsets are a lot earlier than in Oslo

the people are slightly cold and abrupt

weather changes almost as fast as in Scotland

we are good at "stealing" lunch

our extension wire locking device for our garden shed room

Malmo: expensive

wet

everything closes really early

the pocky like chocolate and the rolls of Haribo

we will always appreciate our waterproofs

Quotes

"Is this a slow disco?"

A random woman to us in the queue in Burger King is Oslo (fast food places were usually the only places we could afford to eat)

"Do you have a condom?"

Man to hooker outside our hostel

"This is a whorehouse!"

Us upon realising that is what we were staying in

A late night conversation we had, I am marked with a C and Laura with an F:

C: What else could you use condoms for?

F: Carrying stuff I guess

C: Yeah, I guess so

F: But you couldn't use it after*

C: Laughter

F: I didn't mean the condom

C: I don't think it would fit, you'd have to be massive- like a giraffe

B: Laughter

C: I meant a giraffe with a condom on its head

F: I know

B: Laughter

(other stuff in the series included water balloons, carrying drugs and clothes- hence *)

"Is there a map of Oslo on my ass?"

Laura to me after using her map to protect her bare legs from grass in the statue park.

"Is that what I think it is?"

Us to each other, all the time about many things

F: I have a song in my head. It goes "All that she wants..."

C: Wow, I have the same song. Weird!

B: wonderment and laughter

"Did you notice that man beside us on deck? He had really bad flatulence. It was so loud!!"

Laura to me about a guy on the deck of the ferry

"Damn you Laura for being so hot!!"

Me to Laura about the stalker guys

"Is it just you two then?"

The stalker guys at the Little Mermaid to us

"What was that noise? Oh, its me."

Laura to me about a random noise it turned out she was making.

"I forgot how big my mouth is"

Laura to me while applying Vaseline

"Is it getting darker then lighter in here? Oh wait, its me half opening and closing my eyes"

Me to Laura, lying in bed

"God damned Malmo!!"

Us, about many annoying things in Malmo

"Maybe its exercising"

Laura to everyone on the night train about the train reversing and going forwards on the same piece of track