I know Ive been slack but here it is!

Man I really havent done this for a while have I so Ill probably struggle to remember everything that I did! So I left Stockholm on the night train to Copenhagen, talked to this hot girl who I had been staring at for a while and she said that if I ever made it back to Sweden that I should look her up, unfortunately I only started talking to her 10 mins before her stop (actually she started talking to me, Im too much of a sissy) so never got her name and wouldnt know what stop she got off at so pretty difficult to look her up, but ahwell such is the life of a traveller! So I changed trains at Copenhagen which was pretty easy since I know my way around the Copenhagen Sentral like the back of my hand! (not that well). The train from Copenhagen to Berlin was the coolest first class Ive been in so far, got free Croissants and Tea and Coffee and had a headphone jack and stuff so I could listen to music and charged my phone and stuff! Had a wee kip but then got woken up when some guy told me we were on the ferry so I would have to get off the train, I didnt even know we were going on a freakin ferry but apparently so! The ferry was sweet only about 40 mins but had duty free so that was pretty cool. Back on the train I ended up sitting across from a couple of Belarussians who were really cool and gave me so awesome bread to have with my Currywurst! They told me all about life in Belarus and about how they couldnt say anything against their primeminister or they would probably disappear! It was weird to really meet people who seemed just like me but who lived in a country which was still like that! Arrived in Berlin about 2.30pm and spent quite a while trying to find the subway, for some strange reason I expected it to be underground! Apparently thats not the way they do things in Berlin! Found my CS host alright and then took a trip back into town and did a bit of shopping before heading home and watching a movie and hitting the sack, was pretty buggered. Having only one day to look around Berlin I had asked my CS host if she would show me around which she did, was a whirllwind trip to the Victory monument, xmas markets, Berlin wall, Parliament, Brandenburg Gates and all that cool WW2 jazz. Stood with one foot in East Berlin and one in West which was cool since it was only 19 years ago or so that I couldnt have done that without being shot! Berlin was a very nice city once you were in the centre but go out to the burbs and all the houses look like the dental school in Dunedin, just square and bland with the occasional painted window for colour. They looked like apartment buildings a six year old would draw. Anyways Berlin was pretty sweet but had to get moving onto Zurich to meet up with Marlen (for those overseas readers, Marlen is a chick (woman, I guess, since shes pretty old) who I worked with at the Ministry of Health and is from Switzerland so was back for xmas with her new husband to visit her family and have another wee wedding ceremony for them. The train trip from Berlin to Zurich sucked ass, some inconsiderate bastard killed himself on the train tracks that we were meant to travel on so had to be diverted which took an extra 2 hours so missed one of my connections and it was all just shit because i asked the Deutsche Bahn train person if I could use the phone to call Marlen to let her know I would be late but he was a wanker so I told him he was and walked out. It had a happy ending though because I arrived in Zurich and Marlen had received one of the texts I sent (and apparently text back, liar) so was there at the right time. Headed back to her house which was a little way away in a tiny town called Seengen, had a shower and a chat then went to bed. Was nice to be able to speak to a Kiwi and just relax after CSing a lot! The next day was the wedding ceremony which was very small but very nice, had a few drinks with her friends and family afterwards then hit the hay. Next day we took a trip to another wee town and did a bit of Xmas shopping and just chilled, apparently I embarrased Marlens mum by saying Tschüss to her boss which is informal and reserved only for friends! Meh never mind. Christmas eve we spent the day just relaxing and then had dinner and present with her family. It was great because I wasnt expecting any presents but I did get some! Got a day pass for the trains, buses and trams for the 27th which was awesome! Christmas day was weird, woke up to a tiny bit of snow but not enough to play in. Didnt open presents or anything because that had been done the night before so was pretty much just like any other day! Made 15 Franks though (about $22) for going swimming in the lake. Was freezing and couldnt feel my toes for 2 days but it was worth it! The 26th we didnt do a lot because everything was closed but then the 27th we got up nice and early and took the train to Zurich and then Lucerne, Bern and finally Basel spending about an hour or 2 in each place which was really cool got to see a lot in 1 day! Bern was the nicest for me, really old and had a nice cosy feeling (could have been because it was so busy). About the 28th I realised that I wasnt going to be able to find somewhere to CS in Barcelona as I had been planning for New Years so instead I had to find something else to do and somewhere else to stay. Afters lots of stressing and to--ing and fro-ing I decided to go to Aachen to visit Anna and spend NYs either in Aachen or Amsterdam...so on the 29th I left to Aachen, a nice 7 hour train trip uneventful and pretty boring! Arrived in Aachen and I drove from the train station to Annas house, was relly crazy changing with my right hand and driving on the wrong side of the road but I think I did ok, didnt kill anyone! Went to the Netherlands (5 minutes away) and visited the Casino which was all electronic so no dealers or anything which was kinda bum but there was free food and drink so was goooood! The 30th we just did a bit of shopping in Aachen and had to break into Annas car because shes a stupidhead and locked the keys in. Tried to visit the Lindt factory outlet shop but its closed till next year so no cheap chocolate! Went to a club called B9 last night which despite the 40 minute wait to get in was really cool €6 for all you can drink beer from 10pm to 12pm so made the most of that and partied etc then went home.Main points to take away from the last week and a half or 2 weeks would be....Marlens parents rock and are really amazing and welcoming.'Dog' is an awesome game and we need to find it in NZ!Switzerland is really beautiful, probably the most 'beautiful' country I have visited so farCheap beer is shit, but cheap is cheapI should write blogs more often so I dont forget everything...but Im lazy.Hope all is well for everyone. Give me a text if ya want.Peace and Love

Stockholm Syndrome

So the trip from Oslo to Stockholm was pretty uneventful. Lay my sleeping bag down on the ground ripped the cushions off the seats and had a wee kip. Some stupid Indian bitch wouldnt shut up though which pissed me off but eventually at like 2am she decided to sleep to so I got to sleep until about 6.45am. Anna wasnt due to arrive in Stockholm until about 12 so I had a bit of time to look around. When I arrived it was a really nice day, got some McDs for breakfast which was only about $6.50 which was pretty sweet after the prices we had been paying for shit in Oslo! Unfortunately the coffee was horrible but hey. Had a look around outside basically just wasting time, first impressions of the city were fairly good, however once again not impressed with having to pay for the toilets, luckily being a guy I peed on the street in this sweet urinal thing that I didnt have to pay for! Anna arrived and we pretty much went straight on the underground to meet up with our Italian couchsurfing host, he was a pretty cool guy and sorted us out with some free tickets for this overnight cruise to some Finnish Islands (the perks of CSing). Didnt do a lot the first night, just relaxed and watched TV, they always have something good on which is great! The next day we got up at about 1pm and didnt really do a lot again as we were planning on meeting up to head to the cruise at about 4.30pm and with the price of public transport here it wasnt worth heading to town and back. We were pretty amping for the cruise...until we got there and were told we couldnt go on as you have to be over 21! What the fuck is with that? Seriously that is just messed up, I can take a train to Germany and buy as much cheap as booze when Im 16 but I cant go on a fricking cruise! Ahwell Fabio gave me and Anna the key and we headed back to his place, unfortunately he only gave us the key to his house and not to his room...which is where the toilet is, so we had no toilet for the next day or so but we were resourceful! Spent the day just looking around the town, didnt seem all that much to do except shop and eat so thats what we did (except for the shopping...its cheaper than Oslo but still not cheap!). Today we pretty much did the same just looked around checked out some sweet buildings and went on a wee cruise on the harbour since we didnt get to go to Finland (really it was just a ferry across the harbour...but had some nice sights anyway and I pretended it was a cruise) Has been a good time in Stockholm and heading to Berlin tonight just for a couple of nights before I meet up with Marlen on the 21st! Should remember to send her an email...would have been cool to spend a bit of time in Prague and Vienna but instead Marlen has to go and get married..geez! Stockholm is nice but Copenhagen takes the title of being my favourite city in Scandinavia, Stockholm 2nd and Oslo 3rd...out of the 3 that Ive seen anyway. Well time to head to my 15 hour train ride across Europe. Oh joy. Good to be back in Germany though, cheap beer, cheap bread and best of all cheap Gummi Bears! I hate paying for the toilet!

Ossie Ossie Ossie Lo Lo Lo

Well on Wednesday it was time to leave Copenhagen...it was a little bit sad as it was a city that I had grown to love and could really see myself living in. Plus I had met some awesome people and it would have been cool to spend some more time there but such is the life of a traveller!! The train trip to Oslo was good, took about 10 hours with a couple of stops along the way, was good that I had written down what time I was meant to be at each stop as they were just wee stations along the way so werent really announced all that much and would have been very easy to miss especially since I was sleeping a lot of the time. Paid $5 for a Coke even though Josephine was great and packed me a lunch with a couple of sandwiches, carrots, chocolate and even chewing gum for afterwards! Gave myself a bit of a fright when I woke up on the way from Kil to Oslo as I saw a clock out the window that said 9.30 when the train was meant to be at Oslo at 9.07 shitting myself thinking that I had missed it with a change in timezone or something, spent about 10 minutes stressing because there wasnt any signs which showed what station was next or anything. Eventually asked a lady how far away we were from Oslo and turned out I hadnt missed it so it was ok, still had to clean the shit out of my undies though!

Arrived at Oslo central station about an hour before Anna (German who surfed our couch back in July for 2.5 weeks) was due to arrive so had a bit of time to kill! Jumped on the net and just checked up on everything going on in NZ...not exciting! Anna arrived and luckily she had organised somewhere to stay, because as far as I knew we hadnt organised anything yet! The girl who we were staying with picked us up from the airport and we spent a nice night at her house and the next day just watching a DVD before meeting up with the guys that we would be CSing with for the rest of the time. Made it to Mihay and Bedwins house without any major dramas except for the fact that the ticket which would get us to and from their house about less than 2 times was $60 each! Fucking stupid goddam Norway with its shitty expensive transport and toilets you have to pay for! Wasnt cool but as Ive said before its one of the joys of travelling, having to pay ridiculous prices in some cities! Mihay and Bedwin are a very nice couple, a bit crazy and eccentric but very nice and fed us up well (Tried liver for the first time, not as bad as I thought..)! Stayed awake very late so slept until about 11am on Friday before heading into Oslo to see what was about. Bedwin was very good and gave us a map with a few points of interest marked on it. Checked out the Royal Slöt (Palace) which was really amazing and watched a wee guard ceremony/weapon check/something...I have it on video anyway. It was fun adventuring by foot around Oslo as the whole place is covered in snow and ice which is apparently from about 2-3 weeks ago, not like in Dunedin where the snow disappears the day after it falls! Made it to the Oslo city museum which was cool and free. Then wandered back along the harbour front which was really beautiful just like everyone had said. Wandered through an xmas market and did a bit of iceskating outdoors again which was awesome! Im gonna be pro by the time I get back to NZ, I love it so much more outdoors!Headed home because our legs were buggered from walking in snow and ice all day, though my feet stayed suprisingly dry and warm!

Friday night Elöd the Romanian arrived, had a chat to him for a bit and then went to bed. Yesterday (Saturday 13th) we headed into Oslo again with Elöd and checked out the Nobel Peace Centre which has a lot of displays about the award and about humanitarian efforts around the world, was really interesting and again I worry I may have learnt something. This years winner was Mahhti Atahsarri or something like that, I spelt it wrong but tis ok! Afterwards we left Elöd and checked out the sort of Edinburgh castle of Oslo, a big fort on the hill right near the city, was awesome and heaps of cannons and amazing views of the harbour, need to post more photos, will perhaps do so at Marlens! We had heard about a park in Oslo which has heaps of naked statues and is very famous so asked for direction to Vigelandsparken as Bedwin had told us it was quite far away and we would need to get a bus. Turns out it was right beside the city museum which we had visited the day before which wasnt that far away but we decided to take the underground anyway. Unfortunately because Norway is retarded it gets dark about 3.30pm so by the time we got to the park it was dark. The statues were lit up so still very cool but would have been cooler in the daytime, plus it was frickin freezing though that didnt stop me getting into my underwear and posing with the statues! There are so many statues around Europe that Im going to need to make a special folder just for pictures of me with statues!
Took our $10 10 minute train trip back to Bedwin and Mihays where Bedwin had cooked a wicked dinner with sausages and pork and patties and potatoes and sauerkraut (which is pretty good actually) and jam and so much good stuff. It was awesome and just what we needed to warm ourselves up, apparently it was a very traditional Norwegian xmas dinner so I took some photos!

Today we got up late, did bugger all then played some Yahtzee said goodbye to Mihay, Bedwin and Elöt then came to the train station and Anna left on her bus to Oslo Torp airport to go to Dublin for the night and I am waiting for the train to come so I can go to Stockholm! It leaves at 10.40pm and I was gonna book a sleeper but it was about $160 or so just to book it even with my Eurail pass so I just booked a normal seat which I will sleep in which only cost about $7! Couldnt even get one in first class! Well atleast the good thing about leaving is that I get to spend whatever money I have left on crap without worrying about the price too much. Oslo is super expensive but I still managed to only spend $145 over my 4 or 5 days here which is not bad, just sucks that over half of that was spent on transport! I also hate paying for the toilet. Oslo is a really nice city, but really expensive and Copenhagen is better!

Copen (hagen) a little better!

So after the rocky start I got off to in Copenhagen it has turned out ok! When I was writing my last blog entry I was sitting in a net cafe at the central station after just having spent a night in a shitty hostel with shitty little kids! After finishing on the internet I used a payphone to call my CS hosts as it was a hell of a lot cheaper than using my cell phone! I woke Josephine up as she had been out drinking all of the night before, felt sort of bad but bugger her she should have been awake anyways!! She sort of mumbled something about taking bus 5A to some station and then she would meet me there...its bloody difficult to understand where someone is telling you to go when you dont speak their language and can barely understand their English! Asked her if she could send me a quick email giving me directions which she said that she would. Went and paid for more internet but then got a call from one of the Australians which was CSing with her at the same time...he gave me some ok directions to go to Amabro station...well thats the way I understood it anyway. So I forgot about the email which was meant to be being sent and went out to find bus 5A as Ned (OZ bloke) said that he would meet me at that station in 10 mins so didnt have time to wait for the email! Wandered outside and found a bus sign that said 5A and looked for a name that resembled Amabro...decided Eldegade was the closest so took the bus to there which cost me 20dkk which is about $7 spoke to Ned and Josephine and neither of them knew where I was but eventually I figured out that I had taken the bus going the wrong way so needed to head back down the other way..paid another $7 (which I found out later on wasnt necessary because a bus ticket lasts 1 hour which sort of explains why its so goddam expensive!) and finally about an hour after Ned said he would meet me at the station in 10 mins I made it there! Sorry Mumma I think there may be a bit of a phone bill from receiving calls...shouldnt be too much though! Turns out Amabro is actually Amagerbro but they dont pronounce the 'ger' fuckin weirdass Danes! Got back to the flat anyway and Josephine and Maja were out for the day so me and the aussies just chilled and chatted and had the place to ourselves! Went for a wee bit of a wander to the supermarket to get some food and beer (figured I owed Ned after he waited for so goddam long at the busstop while hungover). Came back to the flat and chilled until Josephine got home, had some dinner which the aussies cooked which was frickin amazing! Had a few beers before heading to a university party which was in like the whole University Link! It was Copenhagen Business School too which I think is one of the places I was considering for an exchange! Beer was about $7 for a 500ml cup which wasnt too bad. Had a few (too many) of them, partied a bit, pissed a lot and met a lot of Danish people who are pretty awesome and really friendly! I am Gerd Dörich! Went to a few bars afterwards and all round from what I remember it was an awesome night! Had a good sleep on the mattress in the lounge! Woke up the next day with a hell of a headache though...goddam Danish beer! Was delighted to learn that we would be doing it all again that night, which was ok since it was a Friday! During the day we went and had a look around the city which was great having a guide who actually knew her way around, Josephine has been an awesome host! Saw the royal Slot (pronounced slut -just added that in for shits and giggles) which is the castle, saw the Danish guards and stuff which was pretty wicked. The whole of Copenhagen is really pretty and awesome and I love it! That night just me and Josephine met up with a few of her friends at a cafe and had something to eat and some drinks then me and Josephine headed home so that she could get changed into something a little more rock and roll before we headed out! Met up with her friends at a cool bad with an awesome QOTSA/RHCP band, they were really great, had a few beers and then headed to the next bar and the next and the next until they all blurred into one which I promised myself wouldnt happen! Smoking in bars is really not cool by the way! Headed home and had another awesome sleep! On Saturday Ned left early in the morning so now it was down to one aussie and me. Bowen (other aussie) decided to stay home and pack his bags while Josephine and I went iceskating. It was so amazing iceskating outside in the middle of freakin Copenhagen...really surreal! Had some good food and then headed home again, by the time we got home Bowen had left so we rented Hancock and spent the night at home with hotdogs and a movie! Pretty sweet day! Sunday was spent at home just chilling out which was good as I needed a break, Josephine and Maja went to a Travis concert so I grabbed some hotdogs and donuts and just chilled and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Today we got up and went to the stupidmarket to get some food and stuff then Josephine and I went and took her little nephew who is almost 2 and absolutely fricking cool as shit out for dinner and a walk. Dinner was really good, I had a buffet which was really yum and not too expensive then dropped Marcius back home and and came home....which about brings me to where I am. I guess what I have written doesnt sound all that exciting to some but it has been an awesome 5 days and I love Copenhagen and am really gonna miss the city and Josephine, may even have to come back sometime! Hope everything is sweet in New Zealand. Give me a text!

Edinburger, Amster damn those hookers are fine and barely Copenhagen

(Sorry forgot to post this here after writing it on Facebook, so was written on Thursday my 1st day in Copenhagen...will write another soon...)

Well the rest of the time in Scotland was great! Went in to town again on the Saturday so that Lloyd could come with us. Edinburgh Castle was also free since it was St Andrews day!! So first up we headed to Edinburgh Castle, wasnt so much a castle as a small town within some bigass walls! The views from the castle were amazing and everything outside was really cool, unfortunately once you went inside the buildings they were all very museum like, the walls had been changed and painted and displays put in which werent even directly related to the buildings! So that was a bit disappointing but it was cool to go there anyway, and hey it was free so who cares! After the Castle we went and got some lunch from 'The Filling Station', I was tempted to get the 'American Hot' pizza again but I figured it probably wasn't that good of an idea so instead I got a bbq chicken pizza which was fantastic and huuuuge!After lunch we headed to the Edinburgh Winterland festival thing and went on the ferris wheel. It was pretty sweet, got some really good views out over the city and the cages that we were in could spin around while they were going around the wheel!! Afterwards Sandro and I took a bit of a break while Lloyd had a go on this really cool carousel. It was really oldschool and awesome, went really fast too! By far the coolest merry-go-round I have ever seen! We had a quick look through the Xmas markets then headed home (I think Sandro was getting a bit exhausted from having Lloyd haha, or possibly he wanted to be nice and ready to leave for Amsterdam on Sunday!!)So Sunday rolled around and we headed off to Amsterdam, it was bloody icey and the whole place looked really cool, the trees were all white and stuff like Id imagined. Was a cool drive down to NewCastle (so Ive been to England aswell, though it looked the same as Scotland what I saw). The boat ride on the way there was pretty cool, it was 15 hours and we spent a lot of the time in the casino, I made $80 and Sandro made even more than that on BlackJack! Had a few beers and hung out in one of the bars then headed off to bed. Was the worst sleep I have ever had, I dont know whether beer and boats dont mix or the fact that it was about 40 degrees in the cabin but woke up feeling pretty shithouse in the morning which was a pain in the ass since I was now in Amsterdam!! Woooooh!! Got the free bus in to Amsterdam and had a look around the redlight district which was absolutely fucking amazing! Sex shops, hookers in windows, 'coffee shops' and drug dealers everywhere, was so cool and the hookers were pretty bloody hott..I tell ya what if I had a spare €50 I would have been down with that haha! Settled on a nice wee coffee shop and sat down and had a smoke, was so weird being able to do it in front of everyone and not worry at all, had some good juice too! Went for a bit more of a wander around and looked through sex shops, souvenir shops and sex museums. The sex shops had every different kind of filthy porn you could imagine, shit porn, rape porn, piss porn, incest porn, animal porn...it was pretty sick but hey whatever floats some peoples boats! Unfortunately I didnt think I would be able to get any of the sickest nastiest porn I could find back into NZ for you, sorry Macky. Had some pancakes and omelette for lunch so that completed what I needed to do in Amsterdam, have a smoke and some pancakes! Went for a boat ride after lunch which was pretty cool, everyone says that Amsterdam is really beautiful, I dont really agree with that but it was an awesome city anyway! Only had about 5 hours in Amsterdam but hopefully will get to go back at the end of my trip. The cruise back was good, though I lost most of the money I won on the way there :( Had a pretty good sleep though. Then drove back to Edinburgh and hung with Aunty D, Sandro and the kids for my last night! All in all had a great time in Scotland and really happy that I got to see where my Whanau lived before they move to NZ!Flew to Billund, Denmark at 10.40 yesterday (3 Dec). Arrived and sat in the airport for a bit since I didnt really have any plans on where to go, decided I would head straight for Copenhagen. Went and changed some money which I was chaged 25DKK to do! Asked at information how to get to Copenhagen and I had just missed the bus to Vejle which I would need to take and then get the train. Waited another hour for the next bus then took the train...asked how much a train ticked was to see if it was worth saving the eurail pass but the ticket was gonna be like $100 for a 2.5 hour trip so used a Eurail day! Arrived in Copenhagen at 6.30pm no idea where I was, where I was staying, where internet or hostels were and what I was doing. Paid $10 to use the internet at some flash ass gaming cafe, which pissed me off but never mind, didnt find anywhere with a vacancy so began to trawl the streets looking for hostels. Its difficult when youre not sure whether you should be going down some streets. Eventually found a shit hostel which was $50 for the night including breakfast...it was shit and there was no shower except shared ones and there was a school there so wasnt sharing with some wee kids! But left early locked up my bags and found some internet. Even though Copenhagen hasnt been great so far its still good and Im sure itll be great once I find my CS hosts! Peace and love!