Germany

The train to Munich seems to take forever. Plus, it changed directions about 4 times. Confusing, and not good for travel nerves. A kind Czech woman shared the compartment with us, and chatted about her family she was visiting. It was quite a mood lifter when she got a call saying that her granddaughter had been born. We arrived in Munich an hour later than expected, and Jeny met us at the station. It was the orchestra group back together again! The hostel was easy to find, and the inside was amazing. Wombat City Hostel was one of the top rated hostels in the world last year, and it certainly deserves the title. After dropping our stuff, Jeny took us to the restaurant where her host sister works. It lays claim to the largest schnitzl in Munich, and it can feed two normal people in a serving. Full of good German food and beer, we went to BMW world, where they have a free museum about current BMW engines, car system, and all other type of car stuff that looks cool and that I dont understand. There were even motorcyles that you could try out and take pictures on. The building itsself was really impressive, and it supposidly has won all sort of architecture awards. Right next door was the old olympic park, so we wandered around the grounds and went up the tower. The city was beautiful lit up at night, and the tower allowed a good orientation tool. The next day Jeny gave us the full tour of the historic part of Munich. We saw Konigplatz, Marienplatz, the Opera, the Gardens, and all the tourist places in between. The weather was cool, but sunny, so people were out in droves to enjoy the odd spring-like day. After grabbing typical bratwurst for dinner, we climbed the church tower right next to the main square to see the heart of the city at dusk. Breathtaking. Back at the hostel, our roommates were back in the room and no longer sleeping, so we spent the rest of the night chatting with 2 brazillians and 2 Australians. We all hit it off so well, we decided to take a day trip together the next day to Neuschwanstein, the real life Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Just a Taste.....

How is it possible that life is so much easier in Europe?!? I think America tries to make things difficult for us. On the Sunday, Anders and I got up early and tried to take the bus back to the train station. We had just missed it, and the schedule was limited on the weekend, so I hailed a taxi and got us there in 5 minutes instead. It was too close for comfort, time-wise, but we made it onto the train. It was a shorter trip than we thought because the rail line ended up having a stop at the Copenhagen airport. This meant that we didnt have to go into downtown and ride the metro back. It saved time, but airports dont count for new countries. I guess I'll just have to go back to Denmark another time. Check in went smoothly, and after a cafe stop, we found our gate. On the flight, I could even see Sněžka off in the distance. The main difference I could see at the Prague airport was an increase in ticket prices for the bus, but everything else seemed to be the same. It was an easy ride into the center of town, where I quickly tracked down our hostel. Unfortunately the reason for the cheap pricing was appearant. It was in the middle of the red light district. We just stuck to the sidewalks and kept out of the caberets, then dropped our stuff and immediately got to sight seeing. Even though it was dark, the views of the old town were fantastic. We climbed Old Town Hall tower and could see the whole city all lit up. Anders fell in love with the city as we continued walking across Charles Bridge and could see the castle. I found a little restaurant on a side street and we dove into Czech food. It felt good to stretch my language muscles and eat the typical food again, but i quickly remembered why I felt like I'd eaten a horse after every meal. Its heavy food. To walk it off, we climbed the steepest hill in the city, Petrin, and saw the night time views from a different angle. By that time we were both exhausted and had an early morning the next day, so we turned in early.

Stockholm

Why go to Sweden in the middle of winter, people ask. Well. besides airfare being much cheaper, the atmosphere is great and the tourists have retreated to the warmer corners of the earth. Stockholm was much less crowded than when I was there four years ago in the summer, and it had a different air about it. Anders and I arrived mid afternoon after a four hour train ride down from the central part of the country. We stayed in a guest apartment in the same complex as his uncle. It was a great location, just a quick metro ride from the center of town. We had dinner with the uncle, then settled into the apartment. Even though it was dark, we then strolled around the center of town, seeing the christmas lights on the main streets, the ice skating rink, and the worlds largest Christmas tree. The next day was the day to play tourist, as we went to the Vasa museum. The Vasa was the pride and joy of the Swedish navy, until it sank 15 minutes into the maiden voyage. Whoops. It was eventually brought back up to the surface and they built a really good museum around it. Then I dragged Anders into the aquarium (the aquarium is always a must) which was a good combination of salt and freshwater ecosystems. We had snack in the cafe, watching the sun set over the tops of the old buildings across the harbor. Memories dont get any better than that. We then took the ferry back over to the main island and went to a large underground market that had food from all over the world. After picking up Italian and Mediterainian food for later, we navigated the bus system all the way out to the university. Connected to the natural history museum out there is Stockholms only Imax theatre. What better to do than to learn about black holes when you travel halfway around the world. It was infact really interesting and well done, I must say. Back at the apartment we devoured the food from the market and continued catching up on music and videos. The next day was more laid back, exploring Old Town, the armoury museum, and the palace. Our last full day in Stockholm was spent with Andersˇ grandma in her apartment, so it was fun to talk to a stockholm resident about all sort of random parts of life. Boy do those summer cottages sound fun. Our visit took up all afternoon and most of the evening, so we finished up packing before our next big travel day. On the Saturday, we had one last social visit to make, this time with a family friend. She took us back to the international market with another friend so we could try the fish. You cant have a trip to Sweden without eating fish. After buying strange fruit from who knows where, the group of us walked around the business district near the central train station and back into the downtown area. One stop we made was the pharmacy guild that was celebrating its 200th anniversary. we got to take a peek inside and see the old library and the lecture hall. It was another long train ride down to Malmo, plus it was already dark outside. The downside of winter travel in Scandinavia, short days. Finding the hostel was no easy trick. Being as clever as we are, we sort of took the bus in the wrong direction. Technically it was the right way, but it only went halfway to where we needed to be. A half hour walk later we finally found it and dropped our stuff before searching for dinner. It was more travel planning in the evening, and early to sleep.

Ånge and Around

Winter wonderland. It does exist.
My flights from Fayetteville to Stockholm went very smoothly. The travel agent booked an economy plus seat on my flight across the Altantic, so I could actually fit in the seat for the 8.5 hour flight. It really does make a difference. Once I arrived in Stockholm, I had a couple of hours to kill before my train, so I figured out my way back to Old Town. It had been four year since I had been here with Dad, but change comes slowly to a big city. I used the excuse of stretching my legs to explore some of the back streets. The wind howling down the alleys made it really cold (my Arkansas blood wasnt quite used to those temperatures yet) so I thawed out with a cup of coffee overlooking the outdoor public ice skating rink. The train to Ånge left at 4 in the afternoon, but the crazy daylight hours meant that it was already dark when we pulled out of the station. I couldnt admire the scenery, plus the jetlag was starting to kick in. Four hours later, Anders met me at the station and showed me to the house where he is staying. I met some of the family, dropped my suitcase in the room where I was staying, and settled in before setting out on a tour of the town. Ånge is a small town, so it only took 2.5 hours to see everything.
My first full day was mainly slept through, plus a trip to the candy store right around the corner. The most important things in the town vary depending on the tour guide. :)
On Sunday we had a quick day trip up to Östersund, about an hour north by train, to visit Anders' cousin. We got up REALLY early and arrived at 7:30 in the morning, with an outside temperature of -22 C. For you Americans, thats about negative 12 F. We hung out at Angelee´s apartment for a little while, then went to an indoor fun park. There was a fun, slightly crazy game/logic puzzle game than we tried to work our way through for almost three hours. Each one is a set of three or four rooms, and in every room is some sort of mind logic or mind game that you have to figure out. It can be anything from connecting circuits to shooting basketballs, to figuring out how to cover three sides of the rooms at a time. Really hard to explain, but still fun to play. After eating at the Swedish equivalent of McDonalds (only better) we hopped back on the train to Ange. It was a lazy evening of just listening to music and watching videos, then we went to sleep early in order to make up for the 5:30 wake-up. Monday was the whirl-wind day of meeting Anders' friends. Merle, a German exchange student, spent the daz with us in town, waking around the city center and having tea for most of the afternoon. When she left, we were just going to pack for stockholm and hang out for a bit, but Mathias burst into the room and informed us that we were going sledding. It was another friend from school who is a crazy, random, spontaneous guy who will keep you on your feet. So we spent the next few hours sledding by moonlight down a huge hill onto a frozen pond...Really a once in a lifetime experience. We couldnt stay out too late, because Anders and I had a train to catch to Stockholm the next day. this is the best type of travelling, spending time with old friends in new places, meeting new people, and getting an insiders look on how the real members of a culture go about their everyday lives. This is living.