#opdageuropa

[opdageuropa-blog]

Moldova

(22/07-25/07 2016)

Land nummer 11 på min liste var Moldova, hvor jeg besøgte landets hovedstad Chisinau. Moldova er relativt ukendt og de får ikke mange besøgende, men jeg må desværre sige, at jeg ikke er overrasket. Det er ikke verdens mest interessante hovedstad, faktisk er byen lidt kedelig og især skuffende efter min begivenhedsrige tur til Ukraine. Det er dog værd at besøge, hvis ikke af andre grunde, så blot for at sige du har været der. Det har jeg :)

Turen til Europas fattigste land fik en lidt rocky start da jeg næsten missede bussen fra Kiev grundet det absolut minimale antal skilte på engelsk. Godt nok havde jeg lært at læse kyrilliske bogstaver, men det betyder ikke en skid hvis jeg ikke ved hvad Chisinau hedder på Ukrainsk. Det vidste jeg ikke. 

Da jeg så bussen, som jeg skulle bruge de næste 8 timer på, blev jeg enormt overrasket. Hele Busterminalen var fyldt med busser der reklamerede med gratis wi-fi og snacks ombord. Det var virkelig fedt at se. Men.. i hjørnet ventede min lille bus, rystende og raslende i tomgang med en sky af sort røg bag sig. Indvendigt var sagen ikke bedre. 6 ud af de 25 sæder var i stykker, det ene lå helt vandret og kunne ikke rettes op og selv dem, der var i perfekt stand, var ubehaglige at sidde på. Landevejene i udkants-Ukraine og Moldova er fyldt med huller, så jeg hoppede op og ned på de hårde sæder hele vejen. Her prøver jeg at tage et panorama billede mens vi kørte på en relativt jævn vej, men alligevel blev billedet totalt forvrænget af rystelserne

(læg mærke til damen i den stribede trøje ikke har nogen stolryg at læne sig op af! 8 timer!)

Da vi nåede grænsen til Moldova, blev jeg og en australsk med rejsende hevet ud af bussen og ind i et lille hus i vejkanten, hvor vores pas blev inspiceret endnu en gang, hvorefter grænsebetjenten stillede os nogle spørgsmål, som ingen af os kunne forstå eller svare på. Underligt nok var dette intet problem, men i stedet for at stemple vores pas, gav de os hver et stempel på et lille stykke papir. Dette papir måtte absolut ikke mistes, da jeg ikke ville kunne komme ud af landet igen, hvis jeg ikke havde det på mig.

Da vi ankom til Chisinau, var det blevet sen aften. Af en eller anden grund var vi ikke i hovedbusterminalen, men ude midt i ingenting cirka en times gang fra centrum. Uden kontanter og med mangel på hæveautomater i nærheden, måtte jeg altså gå fra stoppestedet midt i ødemarken, midt om natten, for taxaer tager ikke imod kort heromkring. Heldigvis fandt jeg sammen med min australske busven, som skulle nogenlunde samme vej, og vi gik langs den mørke landevej ind til byen. Vi fik en god snak om hver vores rejser, han var taget fra australien og var på vej mod Spanien uden at have brugt en mønt på transport. Jeg er ikke helt sikker på hvordan han havde endt op i bussen, men det siger meget om venligheden og viljen til at hjælpe her i det østlige Europa!

Vi splittede op, da vi nåede parken i midten af byen, ham til et hostel lige i nærheden, mig videre til en lejlighed lidt længere væk i et boligkvarter. Desværre gik det galt for mig kort efter vore veje skiltes, og jeg kunne slet ikke finde opgangen jeg skulle ind i. Den bygning jeg cirklede om og om igen havde ingen numre på sig, så jeg var i tvivl om jeg overhovedet var det rigtige sted. Jeg blev nødt til at spørge de eneste mennesker, jeg kunne se på gaden. Et fuldt par! Manden ville låne min telefon. Tillidspring! Midt om natten i en fremmed storby i Europas fattigste land, beder en fremmed, fuld mand om at låne din telefon, hvad gør du? Jeg lod ham låne den, med google maps åben uden dataforbrug og næsen mod skærmen viste han mig frem til min opgang, talte med viceværten i dørtelefonen og bankede på døren til lejligheden for at sikre sig for jeg kom sikkert hjem “du kan jo rende ind i alle mulige slemme typer midt om natten”, sagde han. Jo tak, det var jeg sådan set ret meget opmærksom på, fulde mand! Jeg takkede entusiastisk parret, og gik ind for at møde min midlertidige roomie, som var en dame fra Østrig, som går i skole i Frankrig, studerer russisk her i Moldova og er selvstændig arabisk-til-engelsk oversætter! Vilde mennesker, man møder!

Dagen efter gik jeg rundt i området, i den nærliggende park og nabolaget. Moldova har også kyriliske bogstaver, men har også skilte på engelsk! Chisinau er den hovedstad i Europa med flest parker, og selvom det er fattigt, er det ret high-tech, og nogle af parkbænkene havde strømoutlets indbygget. Hvis man nu skulle oplade sin telefon.

Der var 33 grader varmt og vindstille i hovedstaden og da lejligheden ikke havde nogen form for aircondition eller koldt drikkevand, tog jeg til Mcdonald’s for at køle af og bruge deres wi-fi. Desværre kender ingen i Moldova til hverken Cola Light eller Zero og alt jeg fik var tomme blikke, da jeg bad om vand til mit frokostmåltid. Ikke at de ikke HAR vand, man kan bare ikke købe det sammen med et “meal”. Meget underligt sted. På min tur fik jeg set nogle af seværdighederne. F.eks. Moldovas Triumfbue. Den var heller ikke synderligt imponerende

Dagen efter var det meningen, jeg ville tage til sigøjnerhovedstaden Soroca, hvor sigøjnerkongen Arthur Cerari bor i under en kuppel af guld i sit palads på toppen af en bakke. Derefter var det planen jeg skulle tage til det uofficielle land Transnistria, der ligger på grænsen mellem Moldova og Ukraine. Desværre blev ingen af delene til noget, da jeg ikke kunne finde et busstoppested. Så jeg fik en øl og en is i byen i stedet, hvilket var en ganske fin erstatning!

Lime smag med noget blødt vaniljefudge eller guf-agtigt stads i midten og inderst; pop rocks! Den bedste is nogensinde! Jeg tog ud for at handle mad og gode sager, men præcis som på McDonalds var der absolut ingen light-produkter at finde, ingen fuldkornsversioner og ikke særligt meget at vælge imellem, når man nu både gerne ville være en smule sund og samtidig er nødt til at passe på sukkeret. Oh well. Isen var god.

Det var vist et tegn til, at jeg skulle videre, og dagen efter tog jeg afsted. Heldigvis var der hverken tog eller busser til Rumænien, som var mit næste mål, så jeg fløj. Jeg fandt heldigvis et busstoppested hvor endestationen på bussen var lufthavnen, og da jeg kom derud og skulle afsted måtte jeg vise mit lille stykke papir med et stempel på. Det var jeg lidt stolt over at have husket! Grænsebetjentene var ikke helt lige så imponerede, for de anede åbenlyst ikke hvad pokker jeg ville sige med det lile krøllede papir med et stempel på. Heldigvis slap de mig ud. Alt godt og videre mod Rumænien.

I Moldova taler de i øvrigt primært rumænsk og lidt russisk, så de vigtige fraser kommer efter Rumænien. :)

[discoveringeurope]

Ukraine

(19/07-22/07 2016)

The 10th and most extreme country - so far.

First of all, I would like to say that everyone I met and talked to while in Ukraine were super friendly and welcoming. There weren’t any bad vibes or grumpy locals.

However, I will warn you that Kiev is NOT the place to go if you are an inexperienced traveler or are a bit shy with tendencies towards minor panic attacks. Kiev is huge, noisy and confusing and absolutely not used to or designed for tourists from the West. The city definitely gave me some challenges, but at the same time I also had some really incredible experiences here. 

As soon as I walked out of the airport, I was bombarded with taxi drivers yelling something or the other. For the most part, I had no idea what was said.The only thing I could get out of all their squawking was: “TAXI? YOU HAVE MONEY?”, which was repeated constantly, and loudly. 

As a person who does not respond well to in-your-face yelling, nor am I especially trusting of taxi drivers (having been recently fleeced by one), I immediately dropped the idea of a quick cab ride into the city, Instead I decided to take the nearest bus, without really knowing if it was heading to the city. There were no (decipherable) signs and the bus driver couldn’t speak English. So I was really taking some chances.

Fortunately, the bus’ first stop was Kiev’s central train station, which also had a metro station. Yes! I remembered that there was a metro stop near my hotel, so all I had to do was find the metro that went to that station. Simple - normally. There was just one little detail: all signs were written in cyrillic letters (think Russian).

And unfortunately, that is a script that I still have yet to master.

After being astonished that there actually existed a European city with absolutely zero signs in English (or any other Western language), I desperately started looking for a person who could help me. However, I noticed people quickly shut down as soon as they heard my English, so I decided to try with “Maidan?” (”Independence Square,” which was where my hotel was located) to a man sitting peeling an orange. Fortunately, he nodded enthusiastically, grabbed my hand and started walking off. At that moment, I said a little prayer, to both God and Odin, and submissively followed after onto a packed metro car. My giant backpack only just fit through the doors, but we made it.

Apparently/surprisingly, I had made myself clear enough, cause when we walked out of the metro station, I was exactly where I needed to be: Independence Square, and only a few minutes from my hotel. I thanked my good Samaritan with several “Spasiba! Spasiba!,” as I climbed the stairs towards the square, only to find out later that that’s not “exactly” how you say thank you in Ukrainian. Oops.

Independence Square or Maidan Nezalezhnosti (or just Maidan) is the most central square in Kiev. It has been used over the years for political demonstrations - most recently during the Ukrainian revolution in 2013/14, where riots and street fighting filled the square with gunfire and blood. 

That day, it was beautiful and peaceful under a picturesque sky.

Directly behind the spot pictured above is where my hotel, Koziatsky Hotel, stood. What luck! However, the hotel did not take credit cards and bank machines do not allow over 1000 hryvnia at a time - and I needed at least over 3000. So, at 9pm, with my giant backpack, in a city that did not speak English, I had to find 4 different cash machines before I could finally relax and get some sleep. 

When I finally got to my room, I dropped everything I had on me, and threw myself on the bed crying from both exhaustion and relief. Then I called my mommy 😄

Even though I was super tired, I simply could not sleep. The bed was hard as concrete and some lady upstairs was yelling and screaming and stomping around all night. I finally got to sleep around 4 in the morning, and amazingly still able to drag myself out of bed to meet outside the hotel at 8 am for a tour to Chernobyl and the nuclear power plant that was destroyed in 1986 (the worst nuclear disaster ever).

So with morning-after hair and sleep in the corner of my eyes, I bought a breakfast wrap at McDonald’s (hallelujah for McD) and jumped into a minibus, where 6 other travelers waited for me, and headed north to Chernobyl.

After about an hour’s drive, we made it to a gas station, that was the last stop inside of the “accessible” Ukraine before entering the Exclusion Zone. We bought water, snacks and mosquito spray before heading towards the zone’s entrance. From then on, we were not allowed to take pictures. I managed to get one anyways - we were a bit further away from the guards as we waited to be checked.

But it’s part of the story, and had to be shown!

After our bags were thoroughly checked, we signed a waiver saying that we would not blame Ukraine if we ended up radioactive monsters with 8 legs and fangs. Then we drove into the zone and into Chernobyl, which is NOT where the explosion took place but is the city where the reactor’s workers now live while they are within the zone. 

Workers live here 2 weeks at a time - maximum. Their families live outside the zone and may only visit here for short periods. Besides those that actually work at the plant to clean up, there is also a small police force, some firemen and a couple of people who work at a museum in the middle of the city. Next to the museum is a giant angle statue that is there to protect the residents.

Further in the Exclusion Zone is the fire station, whose primary responsibility is to put out any forest fires that pop up in the untamed, extremely dry forest that stretches across the entire zone. Next to the station is another monument, “First Responders” that honors the men who had no idea what happened or what would happen later, but jumped into the scene of the accident and died as a direct consequence of being so close to ground zero. 

The monument was financed completely by the firemen themselves, as the government did not recognize their actions as heroic nor did it feel responsible for their deaths.

After the fire station, there is one more checkpoint before entering the 10 kilometers zone, which has even stricter restrictions. The rules are quite simple: 1) Don’t touch anything, and 2) Listen to your guide. Boom. Easy.  :)

The 1st stop in the 10 km zone is Kopachi kindergarten. This was an emotionally difficult place to visit, with little slippers, toys and children’s drawings scattered throughout the building. 

Everything was abandoned as they were tossed aside or forgotten as people rushed out of the building. In the years following, anything with even a small amount of value was ripped out by looters. Mattresses were removed from beds, copper extracted from pipes, lamps and walls, and even the eyes of dolls were popped out to get at the glass. What was left, was a spooky, spooky place.

All the dust in the air made me nervous, since there was a lot of it, and radioactive fallout is basically just dust. Our guide, Nikolai, assured me with his Geiger counter, that it was just as safe as if we were in Kiev. That was both scary and calming at the same time.

We then traveled to Pripyat,

This ghost town is just 2 kilometers from the nuclear plant, and therefore, hardest hit.

The workers have tried to maintain the main road leading into the city center, but nature seems to be against them. The road is overrun and distorted by bushes and trees, and it is completely impossible to drive on it with a regular car. It was actually quite cool to see how quickly nature takes over when man leaves it alone.

Pripyat was established in 1970 as a community for those who were to work at the newly built nuclear power plant. At the time of the accident, Pripjat was seen as one of the Soviet Union’s more luxurious cities where the residents were highly educated and specially selected to live. In the city center, there was a large supermarket and entertainment center with a cinema, disco and sports hall. Today, everything is completely blacked out with an undefinable liquid dripping from the ceiling.

Here’s the public swimming pool.

Early in the morning on Saturday, 26 April 1986, reactor 4 exploded. Pripjat was evacuated 36 hours later. At the time, the city was busy preparing for their May 1 (Workers’ Day) celebrations. Among other things, a carnival was being put up for the occasion:

One of the most iconic symbols of the Chernobyl catastrophe is the large ferris wheel in the middle of the amusement park. It’s said that after the accident, the day before the evacuation, they test ran the ferris wheel in the hope of still holding the May 1 celebrations.

We then went to Pripjat’s highest building, a 16-floor apartment complex, to get a view of the city from the top. I am not sure if you aware of this, but most abandoned buildings don’t have electricity. And if there are elevators, but no electricity, you can’t really use those elevators. So, for us that meant 16 flights of stairs using our own energy. For a relatively seasoned stair climber like me, thanks to previous tours up church towers and whatnot, this was not so bad. However, for my 6 tour compatriots, the dark narrow stairs caused a lot of dissatisfaction, puffing and moaning.

When we finally made it to the rooftop, we were met by the most spectacular view. You could see how nature had grown and taken over the city in the 30 years it was left to itself. This is even more incredible considering how dangerous radioactivity is for humans. Nature seems to be doing fine.

On the horizon you can see the nuclear plant and the new sarcophagus covering the melted reactor.

We had a half hour to look around before heading to the minibus. In that time, we could look around the apartments. Most everything was taken by looters, so there weren’t many objects left inside the apartments. But, it was still interesting to see how they were designed. Each room was tiny, with only space for the absolute necessities. And each apartment was identical to the next.

You could imagine that there were a lot of families living here, as close by was Pripyat Elementary School. It was evident that the school is a popular place for music videos and photo shoots. The few pieces of furniture that were there seemed staged, and in some cases it looked like things were moved from one location to another (even though it is strictly forbidden to touch anything!). In the canteen, children’s gas masks were brought in and spread out all over the floor. Macabre! 

The irony is, the school had all these unused gas masks in case the Americans attacked with atomic bombs.  

At the end of the day, we drove back to Chernobyl, and back to the hotel where we had lunch earlier in the day. 

Here we were served a gourmet dinner of freezer pizza and soup (no idea what was in the soup). There is a 9pm curfew in the city, at which time the hotel’s doors are closed and locked and the bar stops serving alcohol. Normally the “locals” go out and buy beer at around 8pm, which they take back to their rooms and drink themselves silly. I wasn’t feeling especially silly, so I drank just one beer together with my tour mates, Michaela and Raphael, and went to bed early.

At 8 the next morning, breakfast was served: eggs, bacon and a strange baked good with poppy seeds and chocolate. The eggs and bacon were lovely; the “cake” wasn’t my thing. Nor did it sit well with our guide, Nicolai, who was the one who insisted that we try it. Typical Ukrainian 😄

At 8:30, we headed out to the Duga Radar, which is another icon of the Chernobyl catastrophe.

The radar was built to spot American missiles. Despite its massive size, nowadays the radar’s detection capabilities are about the same as an iPhone 6. When it was at its strongest, the radar’s signal could be heard on radios across Europe. Back then, the radar’s true purpose was top secret, so a lot of people thought that it was some kind of brainwashing technology. It wasn’t until 2013 that the radar was open to the public.This happened only after 2 teens sneaked in and base jumped from its tower. 

Then we went to the highlight of the tour: reactor 4. It was here the meltdown actually took place so many years ago. We were shown what the Ukrainian government is doing to keep the world safe from the still life-threatening reactor core. The catastrophe was caused by Soviet errors, but the responsibility for its clean-up has been placed on the independent state of Ukraine. Right now, the only solution they have is a thick steel sarcophagus that will cover the entire reactor when finished, and which they guesstimate will contain the contamination for the next 100 years. After that time, a new sarcophagus will have to be built. The sarcophagus is the world’s largest single, moveable structure, but it will only be moved once.

Due to the extreme conditions, the project will first be finished this November (2016).

While the others who purchased a guided tour of the reactor went on their way, me and few others went to Pripyat Hospital. It was here that the first firemen were treated before they were flown to Russia where they later died of radiation poisoning. The hospital is still so radioactive in some places, that our guide does not dare go in, even with a protective suit and mask. Everything is accessible though, the safest area being the entrance and the maternity ward, so that’s where we went. 

Again, anything of value has been stolen, so we saw none of the possibly exciting medical equipment. It was nevertheless, still quite eerie to walk past all those empty cribs. 

In one of the rooms, one of the firemen was washed clean of radioactive dust. The cloth used on him still lies on the floor where it was dropped - and still registers extremely high levels of lethal radioactivity.

It was totally creepy to visit that hospital. 

We then went to the old police station, which is one of the few places that still has intact furniture. These tables and chairs are in the interrogation room. They have not been stolen - perhaps because they are nailed to the floor so that interviewees could not use them as weapons!

Next to the police station is the small car graveyard, the big one is filled with cars used by clean-up crews and highly radioactive and therefore forbidden to enter. In the small graveyard is the cars that were just pushed there to move them out of the way of tour buses and workers.

This is of course, after they were “relieved” of their wheels, motors, headlights, and so on, and so on…

We drove back to the reactor to pick up the rest of the group and to eat lunch at the workers’ canteen. The workers seem quite used to eating together with small tour groups, but I thought it was a pretty special experience.

The last stop was the unfinished reactor 5. The intention was to have 6 reactors in total, but they were never able to finish number 5 before reactor 4 melted down. Inside the reactor moss is growing, which is incredibly radioactive due to its natural absorption ability. Because of this, you had to be especially careful where you walked - that is if you wanted to keep your shoes. If there is even the slightest indication of radiation on your shoes when they measure you at departure, you will be required to leave them where they stand! 

In the middle of the reactor I found 5 bullets on the ground (not radioactive according to the Geiger meter). Hopefully though, they were there because someone got off on hearing gunshot echoes, and not because we had stepped onto a murder scene... 

My fingerprints are, unfortunately, all over these - so cross your fingers :)

After a successful tour without the loss of a single shoe, we drove all the way back to Kiev where I had one more night before moving on to Moldova. Before hopping back onto the bus, I managed to get a group shot of our tour group.

Thanks a lot for a fantastic tour and for teaching me to read some cyrillic script (probably one of the most important lessons I learned on this trip!)

From my arrival to this country, where English was completely useless, signs incomprehensible, and people seemingly unapproachable (at least compared to other countries I’ve been to) and through to my incredible adventure in Chernobyl - I have learned and experienced a lot. It has been truly an unforgettable trip to Ukraine.

I will never really figure out what makes people tick, but this trip has shown me that nature always wins in the end - and that there are good people out there. For that alone, I will always remember this place.

Useful words and phrases:

A thousand, thousand, thousand times many thanks for everything!: tysyacha tysyach tysyach raz velyke spasybi za vse!

[opdageuropa-blog]

Finland

(15/07-19/07 2016)

Da jeg ankom til Helsinki havn fredag eftermiddag, var det til piskende regn og voldsom blæst. Alligevel besluttede jeg, at gå til fods til Hotel Klaus K, som var perfekt placeret inde i byen, og i læ for blæsten, som rev paraplyerne ud af hænderne på finnerne, der stod og bød de sejlende velkommen.

Da jeg ankom til hotellet kiggede receptionisten medfølende på mig og undskyldte for det finske vejr, som om det på nogen måde var hendes skyld. Jeg må have været et sølle syn. :)

Hotel Klaus K er super lækkert indrettet, det er perfekt placeret og har et vidunderligt og smilede personale. Godt valg, når jeg nu havde brug for lidt forkælelse.

Efter jeg fik skiftet mit regnvåde tøj og slappet af, gik jeg en tur i området. Solen var nu ude og hotellet ligger lige overfor en park med små bænke og isboder. Den aften var parken fyldt med især unge mennesker og deres smartphones. Jeg var åbenbart faldet over et populært sted for PokemonGo spillere.

Det var intet problem for mig da det betød jeg selv fangede en masse pokemonner i mine 4 dage i byen. :)

“lure modules” blev sat op i hele parken for at tiltrække de mere sjældne væsener, så også på den måde var Finland god ved mig.

Med telefonen fuld af nye lommemonstre tog jeg lørdag formiddag på sightseeing rundt i byen på egen hånd. Første og mest centrale stop var Helsinkis hovedbanegård eller på finsk Helsingin päärautatieasema. Stationen er stemt ind af BBC’s seere til at være en af de 10 flotteste banegårde i verden.

Måske ikke den smukkeste bygning jeg har set, men den er i hvert fald intimiderende. Det kan englændere åbenbart godt lide.

Næste stop på min tur rundt i byen var Helsinki domkirke. 

Jeg kom desværre ikke indenfor, men den ser stor og prægtig nok ud udefra, så det var heller ikke nødvendigt. Nede af de lange trapper ligger Senaatintori plads som var det sidste stop på min lille rundtur. Helsinki er en flot by.

På vej tilbage til centrum for at få noget aftensmad, faldt jeg over endnu en lille park, ja park er endda et lidt for stort ord at bruge. Det var en stribe græs mellem en gågade og en trafikeret vej, men finnere, ligesom danskere, er vilde med den sol, der så sjældent besøger os. Det betyder, at lige så snart der er bare en smule sol, er alle på græsset for at få mest muligt ud af strålerne.

Græs-striben var pakket med solhungrende finner!

Som sagt var græsset lige ved siden af en gågade, så der tog jeg hen for at finde aftensmad. Jeg fandt frem til bar/restauranten Shanghai Cowboy, tiltrukket mest af navnet alene. Der SKAL man jo spise! På Shanghai Cowboy fik jeg de helt traditionelle og meget kendte finske soft tacos med pulled pork og en klassisk finsk strawberry lemon mojito. 

Det bliver ikke mere finsk end det!

Med kulturelt tilfredstillede sanser tog jeg glad tilbage til hotellet, nogle mennesker ville måske kalde mig u-ædru, men den slags mennesker kan man ikke stole på. 

Søndag stod jeg sent op og besluttede at tage i finsk sauna. Jeg spurgte google til råds om hvor den nærmeste offentlige anstalt var, som havde åbent på en søndag, men da jeg kom derhen efter 20 minutter med det offentlige, var stedet lukket. Permanent. Det havde Google Maps ikke fortalt mig. Tak Google Maps.

Skuffet tog ned ad shopping gaden købte de bukser, jeg så desperat manglede efter turen i grusgraven tidligere på rejsen. Her spiste aftensmad i en gårdhave, hvor de serverede både pizza-burger OG burger-pizza! Sikke vandvid! 

Jeg var dog ikke eventyrlysten nok til at sprænge ud i sådanne madtryllerier, så jeg bestilte bare fried chicken.

Uden pizza-burger og burger-pizza tog jeg ud om mandagen til Helsinkis Central Park, som er så stor, at det basalt set er en skov. I midten er der et mini-vandland, hvor jeg fik mig noget sol og en is. 

Det er helt vidunderligt, at kunne gå direkte fra storbyen og ind i naturen på den måde. Der er næsten helt lydtæt bag træerne og hvis man ikke vidste bedre, ville det være umuligt at vide, man er inde midt i byen ved siden af en tæt trafikeret vej.

Til aftensmad blev jeg i den nordlige del af byen, hvor jeg kom ud af parken. Jeg tog til Kallio ,som er et lidt fattigere område af byen og fik endnu et traditionelt finsk måltid i form af håndlavet pita med kebab i Fafa’s. 

Finsk mad <3

Om tirsdagen skulle jeg rejse kl. 15, så der var ikke meget tid til at lege. Jeg spurgte dog receptionisten om hun ikke havde et forslag til en finsk sauna, og selvom jeg allerede var checket ud og havde betalt, gav hun mig et nøglekort så jeg kunne komme ind til en sauna, hvor hotellets kunder får en stor rabat. Sød receptionist.

Jeg var derinde en time og et kvarter, dog uden den traditionelle piskning, og blev taget ud og viftet væk uden at skulle betale en øre. Jeg har ingen anelse om hvorfor, men jeg klager ikke!

Rød som en reje tog jeg til lufthavnen og fløj til Ukraine, hvor jeg har store planer!

Til slut vil jeg sige, at selvom jeg blev advaret om, at Helsinki skulle være en dybt uinteressant by med sure mennesker, var det virkelig rart at være der. Menneskerne var søde, og der var altid noget at se på eller lave, og jeg kunne endda godt se mig selv bo i byen for en stund!

Tak for en god tur Helsinki!

Nyttige ord/fraser:

Hej: Moi

Ja/nej: kyllä/ei

Please/tak: Ole hyvä/kiitos

Tak for at sætte et lure module på pokestoppet, jeg fangede en Ryhorn!: Kiitos laskemisesta Lure Module päälle Pokestop, sain Rhyhorn!

[discoveringeurope]

Finland

(15/07-19/07 2016) - Country #9

I arrived by ferry on Friday afternoon to Helsinki port in pouring rain and hard winds. When I saw how umbrellas were being ripped out of the hands of the greeters who welcomed passengers off the ferry, I decided to head for cover at my hotel, Klaus K, located perfectly in the city center.

Hotel Klaus K with its super cool interior, great location and friendly staff, turned out to be a great replacement for a non-existent host here in Finland. When I walked in, rainsoaked, the receptionist looked at me sympathetically and apologized for the terrible Finnish weather - as if it was at all her fault…

After catching my breath and changing out of my dripping clothes, I went out again, to get a feel for the area. Across from the hotel is a charming park with small benches and ice cream stands. But on this evening, the park was filled with young people with their smartphones - a sudden hotspot for PokemonGo players.

No problem for me, I could now easily catch me some pokemons over the 4 days I was in the city,

as “lure modules” were put up several places in the park to attract the more rare pokemons. 

So on Saturday, I went out sightseeing with my phone filled with new pocket monsters. My first, and most central stop, was Helsinki’s central station, or in Finnish, Helsingin päärautatieasema. The station was voted by the BBC to be one of the 10 most beautiful train stations in the world.

It may not be one of the most beautiful buildings I have seen, but it was definitely imposing.

My next stop was Helsinki Cathedral. 

I could, unfortunately, not come in at that time, but it looked impressive enough on the outside, so I didn’t mind too much. Down its many steps lies Senaatintori Square, which was the last stop on my mini tour. Helsinki is a beautiful city.

On my way back to the city center to grab a bite to eat, I ran into another little park. Ok, maybe “park” is a bit bigger term than the little stretch of grass that it was. Here I discovered that Finns are as sun-hungry as we Danes, as they flocked to this patch of grass as soon as there was just a little bit of sun.

I tell you, the grass was packed!

As mentioned before, I was in the area to find a place for dinner, and there I found the bar/restaurant Shanghai Cowboy, which I chose mostly because of its name. There I decided to go traditional, so I ordered pulled pork soft tacos and strawberry lemon mojito.

They’re Finnish dishes, aren’t they?!

So with my senses culturally satisfied, I proudly went back to the hotel. Some people would say that I was a tad not sober, but you can’t trust those people.

Sunday seemed like a really good day to try a Finnish sauna. So after thorough research into public baths and pools, even assuring that it would be open on Sundays, I set off on public transportation through Helsinki only to find out when I finally get to the suggested place, that it was closed. Permanently. Google Maps, my friend, why didn’t you tell me??

Disappointed, I went shopping instead and bought the pants I so desperately needed after my gravel pit incident in Latvia. I then stopped at a garden restaurant for some lunch, and was amazed by their menu: burger pizza AND pizza burger. What! I could not comprehend such madness, so I ordered the chicken.

Monday, I went out to Helsinki Central Park, which is actually more of a forest. In the midst of it all, is a mini waterpark, where I enjoyed an ice cream cone.

It was absolutely fantastic to go from metropolis to wooded nature so easily. When you walk in, the trees almost entirely block out the sounds of the city, and if you didn’t know better, you would swear that you were miles from the nearest city street.

I exited the park at the northern end and went toward Kallio, which is one of the city’s poorer areas. Here I enjoyed another well-known, traditional dish of Finland: homemade pita with kebab at Fafa’s.

Gotta love Finnish food <3

As I needed to catch a flight at 3pm on Tuesday, I didn’t have much time to play. So to ensure I got a true Finnish experience as quickly as possible before I left, I asked the receptionist where I could go for a Finnish sauna. Incredibly, even though I had already checked out and paid, she gave me a key card to try out the hotel’s sauna treatments. Normally, this is a service that guests pay extra for (of course with a discount). So this was incredibly sweet of her!

I was shown in, and for a little over an hour, I enjoyed a Finnish sauna (minus the usual tree branch whipping) without spending one markka - and I have no idea why. I, of course, am not complaining. Thank you Klaus K!

Red as a shrimp, I went to the airport to catch my plane to Ukraine - where I had big plans… Stay tuned.

As a closing note, I just want to say, that I was warned that Helsinki was a boring city with grouchy people. But that wasn’t what I experienced. Everyone was friendly and there was always something to see or do - basically, it was a really nice place to be. I could even see myself living here for awhile. Well done Helsinki!

Useful words and phrases:

Hello: Moi Yes/No: kyllä/ei Please/Thanks: Ole hyvä/kiitos Thanks for putting a Lure Module at the Pokestop. I caught a Ryhorn!: Kiitos laskemisesta Lure Module päälle Pokestop, sain Rhyhorn!

[opdageuropa-blog]

Estland

(11/07-15/07 2016)

Tusind tak til Thomas og Maarja for jeres gæstfrihed og de hyggelige aftenture gennem smukke Tallinn, det var en virkelig dejlig tur!

Jeg ankom mandag aften med bussen fra Riga. Vi var der en del senere end forventet, så jeg havde min tvivl om Thomas stadig ventede ved busstoppestedet, men mens jeg modtog min rygsæk fra chaufføren, var der pludselig en stemme bag mig, der sagde “du må være Nathalie, velkommen! Skal jeg bære noget for dig?”. Det var virkelig en god start på det hele. 

Så med den lille taske på Thomas’ ryg og den store på min, gik vi stille og roligt hen mod lejligheden, hvor jeg skulle bo de næste 4 dage. Her blev jeg introduceret for Thomas’ søde kone Maarja, som var så sød at lave aftensmad til mig.

Da jeg vågnede tirsdag morgen, var det til lyden af måger lige uden for vinduet. Thomas og Maarja bor nemlig i en loftslejlighed, så mågerne på taget er aldrig rigtig langt væk. Det regnede fra morgenstunden - og det meste af dagen, men jeg og Thomas tog alligevel ud i det våde for at se lidt af byen og for at spise frokost. 

Det første stop var Vabadussõja võidusammas, eller Selvstændighedskrigens Sejrssøjle på dansk; et mindesmærke for de faldne under den estiske selvstændighedskrig. 

Søjlen har dog desværre haft lidt tekniske problemer siden den blev rejst i 2009. Det var vidst meningen  at glaspanelerne skulle lyse, men af en eller anden grund har lysene aldrig virket. Underligt, da det faktisk er et højteknologisk land, som eksempelvis kan opleves i supermarkederne, hvor man går rundt med en scanner mens man køber ind for så derefter at dumpe scanningerne ind i en maskine, du så betaler i. Eller som ved den restaurant vi spiste frokost i, hvor man bestiller maden på en håndholdt dims, som blinker, når maden er klar til at blive hentet og som du giver tilbage ved udgangen hvor du så betaler. Genialt. Men lyset i søjlen har de altså aldrig tændt.

Da Maarja kom hjem fra arbejde tog vi alle en tur til den Gamle By. Ja, jeg ved det, endnu en gammel bydel? Alle europæiske storbyer har åbenbart en gammel bydel, og selvom de egentlig ligner hinanden ret meget, er det interessant hver gang. I Tallinn har de eksempelvis lavet et stort nummer ud af det og der er middelalder tema i gaden og i mange restauranter og butikker. 

Vi tog blandt andet en tur op og ned ad den flotte lange Pikk, som forbinder den nedre og øvre del. Den kan være svær at komme op ad, da den er så stejl, men det er det værd!

(Pikk betyder forresten lang på estisk 😂)

I den øvre del af byen ligger den Danske Konges Have. Endnu et baltisk land der mindes om dengang danskerne var seje og bankede befolkningen til underdanighed. Efter legenden var det her Dannebrog faldt fra himlen, hvorefter danskerne vandt krigen. Vi har faktisk vundet ting. En gang.

 I Haven er der en lille café, hvor de blandt andet serverer romkugler.

(Helt forkerte romkugler, men de gør vel et forsøg)

Og jeg fik et godt gammeldags glas mjød.

Skænket med Thors velsignelse.

Til aftensmaden tog vi på en cool lille café/bar, som minder lidt om Laundromat eller The Livingroom i København. Hovedretten var ikke spektakulær, men jeg fik mig en lækker, lækker dessert.

Flydende chokolade kage med laktosefri vaniljeis og bær. Mmmmm!!❤️

Bagefter tog vi hjem og jeg sov tungt og godt på en fuld mave til sen onsdag morgen. Da jeg havde spist og Thomas var færdig med sit arbejde, kørte han og jeg til TV Tårnet. Øverst i tårnet er der et lille museum der fortæller om dets fortid i Sovjetunionen og fremtidige teknologier. Museet er nok mest indrettet til børn, men en feature jeg var helt vild med var glasset i gulvet så man kunne se alle 314 meter ned.

Scary!

Til aftensmad tog vi efter mit ønske til kreative bydel, Telliskivi. Selvom den gamle bydel i de europæiske byer kan være historisk spændende og interessante, er den kreative del altid mit yndlingsområde. Hvis stedet er populært nok til at blive hipster cool, kan det være svært at finde billig mad og drikke, men heldigvis er Telliskivi stadig relativt nyt, så der var masser af muligheder. Vi valgte at tage til F Hoone, selvom restauranten Foody Allen ved siden af fristede med sit stærke navn. F Hoone har dog en kæmpe grill, og grill vinder altid!

Her fik jeg en øl fra et lokalt mikrobryggeri her i Telliskivi. Det var måske den dårligste øl jeg nogensinde har smagt. Og jeg er ikke meget til øl i forvejen. En oplevelse!

Da shorts var for koldt i Tallinns regnvejr, og jeans for varmt i pauserne mellem bygerne, besluttede jeg mig for at tage ud og shoppe om torsdagen for at erstatte de bukser jeg revnede på grusbjerget i Plavinas, Letland. Desværre er jeg en utroligt dårlig shopper og jeg kom tomhændet hjem. Heldigvis fik jeg brugt en stor del af dagen på denne fejlede mission, så Thomas var klar og villig til at kører en tur ud  i den skov, som omringer Tallinn så smukt. Skoven er så moset, at det har været nødvendigt at lægge brædder på jorden som sti at gå på.

Thomas fortalte mig at desværre var områdets bævere begyndt at lave ballade og stjæle stiens brædder til deres dæmninger. Jeg tænker det har noget at gøre med de omkringværende træers størrelse. Man kan jo se lige over dem!

Da jeg skulle afsted næste dag besluttede vi os for at tage hjem, så jeg kunne pakke færdig og få en god nats søvn. Fredag morgen vågnede jeg frisk og udhvilet og tog ned til havnen for at hoppe på færgen til Helsinki.

Endnu et virkeligt dejligt besøg! 

Vi ses på den anden side!

Nyttige ord/fraser:

Hej: Tere

Ja/nej: Jah/ei

Please/tak: Palun/tänan

Jeg leder efter Pikk, kan du hjælpe mig?: Otsin Pikk, saate mind aidata?

[discoveringeurope]

Latvia

(06/07-11/07 2016)

A million thank yous to Lisbet and Linda! It was absolutely wonderful to stay with you!

From Vilnius, I arrived in Daugavpils on Wednesday in a minibus that was in desperate need for new seats. So the 1½ hours I spent waiting for my next bus was well spent stretching out my traveller’s legs. In Daugavpils, about 90% of the population speaks Russian and about 0% speak English - so help in finding my bus was hard to find. I found out that they even refuse to speak Latvian, despite the fact that it’s the officlal language and all signs are in Latvian. Fortunately, it turned out that it was not so hard to find the bus after all, and by 6:30pm, I was on my way to my hostesses in the town of Plavinas.

I was immediately greeted with warm hugs by Lisbet and Linda as soon as I arrived at around 9pm. Plavinas is a very small town, so it took no time to walk from the bus station to their home. The house was a bit rough around the edges, but this is soon to change as they are busy remodelling. When I walked in, Lisbet asked me if I was afraid of animals, as they had 3 cats and a dog. I think the giant smile on my face was answer enough 😄

Let me introduce them to you:

First,Minka, the tame wild cat

Frankie and Bonnie (awh)

and finally, the crazy energy bomb, Frida the dog.

That fantastic animal simply could not sit still for 5 seconds. I love that!

Soon after we walked through the door, we sat down and enjoyed a late dinner made with mushrooms recently picked from the nearby forest. We then went for a walk with Frida the dog and, surprisingly, Minka the cat who followed us the entire way!

I was tired and went to bed when we got back to the house. When I opened my eyes the next morning I learned that the cats were not yet bored with me, as I awoke to a purring cat in my face. It seems Frankie decided to make me her bed from now on. Fortunately, neither of us had any problems with that :)

In the afternoon, we took a walk in the woods and into the cemetery, which lies in the middle of nature. Unfortunately, the number of graves here have grown over the past year due to the violent rise of drunk drivers in the area. It was sad to hear that one of those recent graves was a friend of my hostesses’. She was only 22 years old.

I thought that the cemetary was uniquely beautiful in the way it blended into the forest. It was really lovely to walk around in it.

It was really just a nice day that Thursday. On Friday, we met Linda’s mother, Aija, and her 2-year old nephew Thomas. Together we drove to Koknese where there are ruins from an ancient castle, fittingly named Koknese Castle :D

The castle is from the 13th century, but was bombed in the 1700′s during the Great Northern War (den Store Nordiske Krig) and was never restored after that. We then went to a garden called Liktendarzs or Garden of Destiny.

The garden is a memorial for all the victims that suffered from the soviet regime throughout the 20th century. It is designed by the Japanese buddhist monk, Shunmyo Masuno. It was here that sweet little Thomas gave me a dry grass straw in place of flowers. “Puķe, puķe!” With the Latvian ķ (a prick underneath), that translates to ”flower, flower” not “vomit, vomit”.

Yeah, yeah, I could see that he was actually holding a bouquet of “real” flowers in his other hand, but I chose to interpret his gesture as something sweet, and thanked him accordingly. It is after all, the thought that counts. Or something like that.

The garden is filled with wild raspberry bushes, and I found it impossible for me to walk by these wonderfully decorated bushes without taking a few samples with me. Let’s just say that it was worth the effort: YUM!

DELISH!

On Saturday, the neighboring town was celebrating its birthday. There was a giant street market filled with all kinds of things. There was also a little carnival/funfair, where Lisbet got her hands on a mega candyfloss.

The town also had a super cool art gallery, which we had to visit. The owner of the gallery must have good connections in the art world, cause it had a surprisingly large number of well-known Latvian works for such a small gallery in such a small town.

There were a lot more festivities going on in the town, but we had to hurry home, as they had arranged a grill party with the whole family. At the grill, we were served some really good Latvian specialties. The one was shashliks, which is a version of shish kebabs. The other was balsams, which is an alcoholic drink made from herbs and spices - something like Fernet Branca - that really clears your sinuses. And everything else.

On Sunday, we went sailing on a real viking ship, reliving the history of Danish vikings who sailed through the Baltics and conquered the hell out of Latvians - cause Lisbet and I are so bad ass :).

We sailed down the river Dauguva, which because of a dam, has flooded a large portion of the nearby countryside.

Afterwards, we visited Mother Aija’s bakery, which is apparently well-known throughout Latvia. People all the way from Riga come down here just for some bread from her bakery.

On the way home, we stopped by a quarry, as Lisbet and Linda had heard that it was really beautiful in the center. We desperately tried to get over the top of the gravel hill, but it was too difficult. So instead, we decided to slide down the hill. Strangely, myy pants did not handle the gravel very well - and ripped completely. 

Fantastic.

On Monday, it was time for me to continue on. So we took a train to Riga, where the bus to Estonia would depart. Fortunately, there was a long 4-hour wait before the bus left, so we had time to see a bit of the older part of the city. That was a nice way to end a great tour!

Useful words/phrases:

Hello: Labdien

Yes/No: Jā/nē

Please/Thank you: lūdzu/paldies

Oh my God!: Ak Dievs!  (I’m assuming that it must be important to know, since they said it all the time:-)) 

[opdageuropa-blog]

Letland

(06/07-11/07 2016)

Tusind tak til Lisbet og Linda, det har været så hyggeligt at besøge jer!

Jeg ankom til Daugavpils fra Vilnius om onsdagen i en minibus med utroligt ubehagelige sæder, så den 1,5 time jeg skulle vente på næste bus var meget værdsat og fyldt med benstræk. I Daugavpils taler ca 90% af befolkningen russisk og ca 0% taler engelsk, så der var absolut ingen hjælp til mig. De nægter selv at lære lettisk, selvom det officielle sprog er lettisk og alle skilte er på lettisk. Det var heldigvis ikke det store problem at finde min bus, så kl 18:30 var jeg på vej til mine værtinder i Plavinas

Da jeg ankom omkring kl. 21 til den lille landsby, mødte jeg med det samme Lisbet og Linda, som begge gav mig et stort kram. Plavinas er en meget lille by, så det var intet problem at gå fra busstationen til deres hus. Huset var lidt slidt og gammelt, men de er i fuld gang med at renovere det hele og det bliver rigtig pænt. De var endda så søde, at give mig det eneste færdigrenoverede værelse! Lisbet spurgte mig, om jeg var bange for dyr, da de har 3 katte og en hund. Jeg tror mit store, begejstrede smil var mere end svar nok 😄

Her er dyrene:

Minka, den tamme vildkat

Frankie og Bonnie.

Og til sidst den sindsyge energibombe, hunden Frida.

Det dejlige dyr kunne simpelthen ikke sidde stille i 5 sekunder. Elsker det!

Kort efter vi ankom fik vi noget aftensmad med svampe plukket i den omkringliggende skov, og da vi havde spist færdig gik vi tur med hunden Frida og til min overraskelse fulgte katten Minka med os hele vejen!

Jeg var træt og gik i seng, da vi kom hjem, og om morgenen var der mere kat til mig.. Torsdag vågnede jeg nemlig op med en spindende kat i ansigtet. Frankie havde åbenbart besluttet, at jeg var hendes seng fra nu af, og det havde ingen af os rigtigt et problem med :)

Om eftermiddagen tog vi en tur i skoven og ind til kirkegården der ligger midt naturen. Jeg fik desværre at vide at kirkegården havde vokset en hel del det sidste år, på grund af en voldsom stigning af spritbilister og at en af deres venner lå her. Hun blev blot 22 år.

Kirkegården er ret speciel, idet den ligger i skoven på den måde, den gør. Jeg synes den er utrolig flot og smuk, at gå rundt i.

Det var i det hele taget en dejlig dag og om fredagen mødte jeg Lindas mor Aija og hendes 2-årige nevø Thomas. Sammen kørte vi til Koknese hvor der ligger en gammel slotsruin, fornemt kaldt Koknese slotsruin :D

Slottet er fra det 13. århundrede, men blev sprunget i luften i 1700-tallet under den Store Nordiske Krig, og det er ikke blevet genopbygget siden. Efterfølgende tog vi til en have ved navn Liktendarzs eller Garden of Destiny på engelsk.

Haven er et mindesmærke il ære for alle ofrene der led under sovjetregiment i det 20. århundrede. Den er designet af den japanske buddhistiske munk Shunmyo Masuno. Her gav søde lille Thomas mig et tørt græsstrå i gave i stedet for en blomst “puķe, puķe!” 

Ja, jeg kan godt se han holde en hel buket “rigtige” blomster i den anden hånd, men jeg vælger at være taknemmelig og sige at det er tanken der tæller... Eller noget.

Hele haven er omgivet af vilde hindbærbuske. Det er helt umuligt for mig at gå forbi sådan en flot dekoreret busk uden at tage nogle smagsprøver med mig. Og jeg blev ikke skuffet! Mmmmmm :)

Mums!

Om Lørdagen var det nabobyens fødselsdag. Her var der er stort gademarked fyldt med alle mulige forskellige ting. Derudover var der også et lille tivoli, hvor Lisbet fik en kæmpe candyfloss

Byen havde også et super cool kunstgalleri som vi tog ind i. Ejerene af galleriet har åbenbart gode connections i kunstverdenen, for de havde overraskende mange kendte lettiske værker hængende af sådan et lille galleri i sådan en lille by at være.

Der var mange flere festligheder i hele byen, men vi skulle skynde os hjem til grill i haven sammen med hele familien. Her var der to gode lettiske specialiteter: Den ene var shashliks som er lettiske shishkebabs og den anden balsams, som er en alkoholisk drik lavet på urter og krydderier i stil som fernet branca, der godt, grundigt og hurtigt renser bihulerne. Og lidt til.

Søndag tog vi ud og sejle på et vikingeskib, for at mindes om dengang danske vikinger tog på togt til de baltiske lande og bankede letterne sønder og sammen. :)

Her sejlede vi ned ad floden Dauguva, som på grund af en dæmning, har oversvømmet en stor del af det omkringliggende landskab.

Bagefter tog vi til Mor Aijas bageri, som åbenbart er utrolig kendt i Letland. Flere mennesker tager helt fra Riga bare for at få noget brød fra bageriet.

På vejen hjem tog vi forbi en grusgrav. Vi prøvede iherdigt at se hvad der var omme på den anden side af grusbunken, Linda og Lisbet havde hørt det skulle vær super smukt i midten, men det var forgæves. I stedet rutsjede vi ned langs det kæmpe grusbjerg, hvor jeg så helt uforståeligt fik ødelagde mine bukser.

Smukt.

Om mandagen skulle jeg videre, så vi tog til Riga hvor bussen til Estland kørte fra. Heldigvis kunne vi være sammen i Riga 4 timer, så vi hav os til at udforske den gamle bydel. En god afslutning på et dejligt besøg!

Nyttige ord/fraser

Hej: Labdien

Ja/nej: Jā/nē

Please/tak: lūdzu/paldies

Oh my God (jeg tænker det må være vigtigt at kunne, for de sagde det he-le tiden): Ak Dievs!

[discoveringeurope]

Lithuania

(01/07-06/07 2016)

Country number 6.

The 1st country without a host or hostess.

After a long bus trip, I arrived in Vilnius on Friday, a little after 11pm. It didn’t take long after my arrival for me to experience the true generosity of Lithuanians. While walking through the streets towards my hotel, I was cheerfully offered a portion crack by some friendly, bare-chested young men, one of which carried a boombox on his shoulder.  

After politely turning down their offer, I walked the remaining 10 minutes to my hotel, Comfort Hotel’s Rock n Roll hotel in downtown Vilnius. I stayed on the Ray Charles floor, and can definitely say that this is a pretty cool and well furnished place.

On Saturday, I slept in til about 11am, so I missed out on breakfast. Instead I ate the rest of the baby carrots I had with me from my bus trip from Warsaw and then walked out into the fabulous 31°C weather. The hotel is located pretty centrally, and nearby is the old city center. There are a lot of charming and interesting shops in this part of the city, with handcrafted clothing and cozy cafes. About 5 minutes away is one of the more popular nightclubs in Vilnius called Kablys or “The great hook”. 

The building houses both a restaurant, which supposedly has a fantastic Sunday brunch according to TripAdvisor, and a bed & breakfast. The nightclub often holds electronica concerts and raves, whose ads you can’t miss outside the building.

That evening I had dinner at the hotel restaurant, Time. The word is that they have the best chef in Lithuania. 

The bread they served was a kind of Lithuanian rye bread baked with fruit inside and a kind of homemade spread, the ingredients of which I am not too clear on. 

I ordered duck with potatoes and asparagus for my main course. When it arrived, I couldn’t really see either the duck or the potatoes. 

(Hint: The duck are those thin strips of red placed over the giant asparagus.) Maybe fancy food is not my thing…

After such a big meal, I decided to wash it all down with a few drinks at the hotel bar. While there, I met and chatted with some of the other hotel guests and managed to get hit on by an older Scottish gentleman. After that, I decided it was time for me to go back to me hotel room. Alone!

On Sunday, I got up early (at least for me it was early) and made it down for breakfast. Unfortunately, my plans for the rest of the day were ruined when I looked outside and could only see rain and thunder.

So I went back up and slept some more. When I woke up, I decided to see the finale of season 6 of Game of Thrones, since I couldn’t surf social media without being bombarded with spoilers anyway. I am not the biggest fan of the series, but if you are a complete newbie, I can recommend watching seasons 3, 4 and now season 6 - it was fantastic! All the other seasons you can just read about online 😄

When I finally got out of the room, all the restaurants were closed, so I went over to the local supermarket and purchased this fabulous dinner:

A ham/chicken & bacon sandwich with snap peas and Bueno chocolates for dessert. A true culinary experience. 

On Monday, I played tourist and walked around to see the sights. I started by walking through the old town section with its narrow winding streets. 

The old architecture suddenly stops as soon as you get close to downtown. To solve this “problem”, facades are simply propped onto the front of the newer buildings, so it looks authentic. 

Here is an example of a facade (seen from behind) attached to a newer building:

Afterwards, I headed towards St. Michael’s church, which is big and beautiful on the outside, but going through a major renovation on the inside. I can only imagine that it will be gorgeous when the renovations are done.

As the remainder of the sights on my map were also churches, I decided to get off the beaten path and get a little lost around the outskirts of the city (though never really lost, as Google Maps is my friend #4life)

While out there, I ran across this big abadoned building, which I later found out is an old soviet building, which was used for who knows what...

Here you see it from the front:

and from the back:

Spoooky 🕵

Then the rain started. After a long and rain-soaked walked, I ended up back in the old town area and found shelter and a little lunch/dinner at a cafe on a square. While sitting there, I couldn’t help notice how untimid Lithuanian birds are, as I was chatted up by this sweet little sparrow. 

"Sooo... you got any brothers or sisters?"

On Tuesday I went to the area in town called Užupis, which translates to “the other side of the river”, and funnily enough, I had to cross a bridge to get to the other side of the river to get to it. The place is a bit like Christiania (an autonomous area in Copenhagen), but at the same time it isn’t. At an art happening in 1997, the quarter declared its independence, and has, since then, been something of a “creative area”.

The first you meet when you walk into the “republic” is Užupis angle, which was crowd-funded by the residents themselves.

Since Užupis should be a creative area, I thought I’d check out their art gallery Incubator 1. I expected to see some wild and crazy art there, instead there were only 5 or 6 paintings plus some notebooks that someone drew on and in.

Around the quarter you can see indications of the friendship between Danish Christiania and Užupis. for example, this sign with the two official flags (left: Užupis and right: Christiania).

The reason I chose to come to Užupis this day, was because it was Culture Day with lots of celebrations. But I don’t know if I came too early or too late, but despite the many decorations, there was no one on the streets.

So instead, I headed back towards the hotel and stopped and ate at one of Lithuania’s popular chain restaurants, Cili Pica. Their main dish is pizza, but you can also get just about anything you could dream of.

On Wednesday I hopped on a bus to the southern Latvian city Daugavpils to continue my journey north :)

Useful words and phrases:

Hello: Labas Yes/No: Taip/Ne Please/Thank you: Prašau/Ačiū (prah-SHOW/ah-CHOO) No thank you, no crack for me: Ne, ačiū, ne įtrūkimai kokaino man

[opdageuropa-blog]

Litauen

(01/07-06/07 2016)

Land nummer 6. Det første land jeg har besøgt uden et planlagt sted at bo.

Efter en lang bustur fra Polen ankom jeg til Vilnius fredag klokken lidt over 11 om aftenen. Det tog ikke lang tid, før jeg på nærmeste hold oplevede litauernes gavmildhed, for på vej til mit hotel blev jeg venligt tilbudt noget crack af 4 unge mænd i bar overkrop, den ene med boombox på skulderen. Søde mennesker.

Efter jeg pænt afslog deres tilbud, gik jeg resten af de små 10 minutter til Rock ‘n’ Roll Comfort Hotel. Et super dejligt og fedt indrettet hotel, jeg havde fundet på nettet. Jeg boede på “Ray Charles”-etagen.

Lørdag sov jeg til klokken 11 og kom for sent til morgenmaden, så i stedet spiste jeg resten af de snackgulerødder, jeg havde med mig i busturen fra Warzawa. Herefter tog jeg ud i byen, hvor der var dejlige 31 grader! Hotellet lå lidt væk fra midtbyen og mellem det område, jeg boede i, og centrum lå, den gamle bydel. Her er der en masse charmerende og interessante butikker med håndlavet tøj og hyggelige cafeer, og blot 5 minutter derfra liggrt en af de mere populære natklubber i Vilnius kaldet Kablys eller “Den Store Krog”.

I bygningen er der både en restaurant, som skulle have en fantastisk søndagsbrunch i følge TripAdvisor, og en bed & breakfast. I natklubben er der ofte elektronisk musik-koncerter og raves, som de reklamerer heftigt for uden på bygningen. Interessant sted, men jeg hverken ravede eller hørte elektronisk musik. 

Om aftenen spiste jeg aftensmad på hotellet i restauranten “Time”. Stedet skulle eftersigende have den bedste kok i Litauen, og noget kunne han. Jeg er dog ikke helt sikker på om jeg er fan.

Brødet, de serverede, var noget litauisk rugbrød med frugt inden i, og en slags håndlavet smørelse, jeg ikke helt fik fat i hvad var.

Til hovedret fik jeg and med kartofler og asparges. Jeg havde dog lidt svært ved at finde både anden og kartoflerne i starten.

Jeg fandt til sidst begge dele og kan afsløre, at anden er den tynde strimmel af rødt over de gigantiske kæmpeasparges. Fin mad er nok ikke lige mig…

Efter mit stoooooore måltid besluttede jeg mig for at få et par drinks i hotelbaren, hvor jeg fik en god og hyggelig snak med nogle af gæsterne. Og så blev jeg “hit on” af en ældre skotte og besluttede at tage tilbage til værelset tidligt. Alene!

Søndag stod jeg tidligt op (for mig var det tidligt) og jeg nåede heldigvis lige morgenmaden, inden de lukkede. Dsværre bød det litauiske vejr på regn og torden. Og regn.

Så i stedet for at gå ud, sov jeg lidt mere. Da jeg vågnede, satte jeg mig til at se finalen af sjette sæson af Game of Thrones, da det var helt umuligt at begive sig ud på de sociale medier uden at støde på spoilers. Jeg er normalt ikke stor fan af serien, men hvis du aldrig har set den foreslår jeg at du ser 3. 4. og så denne 6. sæson, for den var faktisk super god! Resten af sæsonerne kan du nok bare læse om på nettet 😄

Da jeg endelig kom ud af værelset, var alle restauranterne lukket, så i stedet tog jeg ned i supermarkedet og købte denne fabelagtige aftensmad:

En skinke/kylling/bacon sandwich, snackærter og Kinder Bueno til dessert. En sand kulinarisk oplevelse - og man kunne se det hele.

Om Mandagen tog jeg rundt for at se seværdighederne, som en sand turist. Først gik jeg igennem den gamle bydel på dens smalle, snoede gader.

Den gamle stil stopper brat, når man når længere ind mod centrum, men en facade er sat foran de nyere bygninger så gaden virker autentisk. Smart.

Her er en facade sat på en nyere bygning - set bagfra.

Bagefter var det St Michaels kirke, som er stor og flot set udefra, men er igang med en større renovering indevendig. Jeg kunne dog godt forestille mig at det bliver super flot når de er færdige.

Da resten af seværdighederne på mit kort bare var flere kirker, besluttede jeg i stedet at tage væk fra den slagne vej og blive lidt fortabt i byens udkant (dog aldrig helt fortabt for Google Maps er min ven #4life)

Her fandt jeg en stor forladt bygning, som jeg senere har fundet ud af er en gammel sovjetbygning brugt til hvad ved hvem.

Her set forfra:

Og bagfra:

Uuuuuh 🕵

Herefter begyndte det at regne kraftigt (igen) og efter en lang gåtur i regnvejr fandt jeg endelig hen til den gamle by igen, hvor jeg fik ly og en frokost/aftensmad på en cafe på torvet. Det skal siges, at fuglene her i Litauen ikke er generte og jrg fik hurtigt en lille date i form af en sød og meget nærgående gråspurv.

"Sååå... Har du nogle søskende?"........

Tirsdag tog jeg til et område i byen kaldet Užupis, som betyder “på den anden side af floden”, og ganske rigtigt, gik jeg over en bro og om på den anden side af floden for at komme derhen. Stedet er lidt ligesom Christiania, men bare slet ikke alligevel. Det erklærede sig selv selvstændigt i 1997 ved en kunst-happening og har lige side været det “kreative område” i byen.

Det første man møder, når man træder ind i “republikken” er Užupis-englen, der blev crowdfundet i sin tid af beboerne:

Da Užupis som sagt er et kreativt område, tog jeg ind på deres kunstgalleri Incubator 1. Her havde jeg egentlig forventet, at se nogle syrede, vilde kunstværker, men det var bare 5-6 malerier og nogle notesbøger der var tegnet på og i..... 

Rundt omkring i byen kan man se venskabet mellem danske Christiania og Užupis. Her fandt jeg et skilt med de tos officielle flag:

Grunden til, jeg valgte denne dag for at tage til Užupis var, at det skulle have været deres kulturdag med fest og farver, men jeg ved ikke om jeg kom for tidligt eller for sent, for selvom der var pyntet op på torvet, var der absolut ingen mennesker på gaden.

Så i stedet tog jeg tilbage mod hotellet og spiste på den populære litauiske restaurantkæde Cili Pica. Her serverer de mest pizza, men også næsten alt andet man kan drømme om. God mad!

Onsdag tog jeg bussen til den sydlige lettiske by Daugavpils for at forsætte min rejse længere nord :) 

Nyttige ord/fraser

Hej: Labas Ja/nej: taip/ne Please/tak: prašau/Ačiū Nej tak, ingen crack til mig: Ne, ačiū, ne įtrūkimai kokaino man

[opdageuropa-blog]

Polen

(28/06-01/07 2016)

Det femte land!

Her i Polen har jeg rigtig mange at takke. Først og fremmest tak til Jola og Ryszard, vist på billedet herunder, som lod mig bo hos dem de første dage, deres søde datter Sylwia som var venlig at oversætte gennem telefonen og finde mig et sted at sove i byen, og Iza, som lod mig sove hos hende i 2 nætter.

Da jeg ankom Wroclaw lufthavn tidlig tirsdag morgen så jeg et skilt med mit navn. Her stod søde Jola, som omgående gav mig et kæmpet kram da hun så mig, og som i øvrigt kunne ikke et ord engelsk. Alligevel fandt vi sammen hen til hendes mand Ryszard, som hentede os i deres bil - og kørte til en by, som jeg på ingen måde kan huske navne på. Men den lå 30 km fra Wroclaw centrum, og man kan roligt sige, at jeg var kommet på landet!

Jeg tog et billede ud af vinduet af bilen, da vi kom til den vej, vi boede på:

... og her er et billede af den glade, tykke pølse jeg mødte inde i huset:

Det er det mindst rystede billede, jeg har, da han hele tiden logrede og dansede og blævrede sin lille tykke krop omkring mig uanset hvor, jeg var.

Da jeg fik vist det værelse, jeg skulle sove i, tog jeg mig en lille lur, fordi jeg havde stået tidligt tidligt op for at nå flyet til Polen. Jeg var simpelthen ved at falde sammen af træthed! Det har ikke noget at gøre med de mojitos, jeg fik i Sverige!

Da jeg vågnede spiste vi frokost, som var tomatsuppe lavet af tomaterne i baghaven. Åbenbart spiser man i Polen det største måltid midt på dagen og jeg blev meget overrasket, da jeg var færdig med suppen fik serveret en gigantisk kotelet med kartofler og rødbeder. Mange kartofler. Og rødbeder.

Efterfølgende ringede deres datter Sylwia og forklarede dagens plan, Ryszard skulle ind til Wroclaw for at klare nogle ærinder kl. 1, og jeg var mere end velkommen til at køre med og køre hjem igen kl 6.

Wroclaw ligner ved første øjekast en by ligesom enhver anden, men længere inde er der et virkelig charmerende centrum og en fin lille plads med flotte bygninger i gammel tysk stil.

Vi tog hjem ved 6-tiden, og da jeg kom tilbage begyndte jeg, at skrive mit opslag om Sverige. Aftensmaden bestod af sandwiches med skinke, endnu flere af tomaterne fra haven og kirsebær - også frisk-plukket fra haven. Ren luksus.

Onsdag morgens bad skulle, af en eller anden grund jeg ikke helt forstod, da det blev forklaret på polsk, tages med en balje vand og en klud.

Efter denne interessante oplevelse, tog jeg og Jola med tog ind til byen, men da landsbyen, vi boede i, hverken havde bus eller tog, kørte vi til Trzebnica, den nærmeste større by. Før vi tog til Trzebnica, hoppede vi dog lige ind i deres kæmpe store supermarked for at købe en vand og frugt.

..... det kan være lidt svært at finde rundt derinde.

Da vi var nået til Wroclaw, var det første stop Panorama, et stort “cycloramisk” maleri der viser og fortæller ved hjælp af højtalere om slaget ved Rawclawice. Det er åbenbart meget populært hos de lokale, Jola selv havde været der 5 gange så vidt jeg forstod, men jeg var en smule uimponeret, nok mest fordi det var kørt så meget op, for det var egentlig meget flot.

Bagefter tog vi hen til St. Elizabeths Kirke, hvor jeg besluttede at gå op ad tårnets i alt 300 trin til toppen for at få en udstigt over byen.

300! trin i en smal! snoet, luftfattig trappe!!... Jeg var døden nær.

Da jeg kom ned stod Jola og grinede af mit svedige røde ansigt. Vi fik en lille is som trøst.

Wroclaw er fyyyyyldt med kirker, og vi så de fleste af dem. Mest storslået var selvfølgelig Wroclaw Katedral.

Om aften flyttede jeg ud af Jola og Ryszards hus og flyttede ind hos én af datterens veninder, som boede tættere på Wroclaw by. Iza hed hun, og boede sammen med 3 andre. Den ene på ferie, hvilket betød, at jeg fik hendes værelse. Det vil altså sige at jeg boede i min vens mors venindes datters venindes venindes roomates værelse... Langt ude alligevel :) 

Efter en kort rundvisning af lejligheden gik vi en tur i området og så omgivelserne. Området hun boede i var OL by dengang OL blev afholdt i Wroclaw, som dengang var en tysk by og Hitler havde magten. Hvis man ser på området oppefra danner bygningerne hvad der skulle ligne en ørn.

Lige ved siden af ligger der en park med et springvand der laver et vand/lysshow med klassisk musik, der varer et kvarter og kører hver time. Flot flot! 

Billedet er forresten fundet på google, for det var ikke mørkt nok, da vi var der til at se den fulde effekt af det farvede lys. I weekenden skulle det være ekstra specielt, sagde Iza.

Torsdag regnede og regnede og regnede det. Og så begyndte det at tordne. Alligevel travede jeg til National Museet, da en billet til Panorama giver fri entré - det skal jo udnyttes, når man er en fattig pige på tur. For at komme derhen testede jeg mit held med sporvognen. Det var en lille smule forvirrende synes jeg. De er ikke superstjerner til skiltning.

Museet havde i dag en specialudstilling om tøjmode fra 30′erne til nu.

Fredag morgen tog jeg afsted med toget til Warszawa og sad i ren Harry Potter-stil i en lille kupé med plads til 4 mens en glad mand med te/kaffe og slik kom rullende forbi i midtergangen. Med en vogn. Jeg var lige ved at spørge efter en af de der magiske chokoladefrøer. Det gjorde jeg ikke.

Jeg var i Warszawa i halvanden time og nåede at få en lille frokost og at blive råbt ad af politiet. På Polsk. Bagefter tog jeg bussen til Vilnius, en ca 8 timers lang rejse.

Nyttige ord/fraser

Hej: Dzień dobry

Ja/nej: tak/nie (virkelig forvirrende når folk siger ja til en)

Please/tak:  proszę/dzięki (udtales “djenki”)

Jeg forstår ikke hvad du siger!: Nie rozumiem

[discoveringeurope]

Norway 🇳🇴

Country number 3.

Thanks so much for super delicious food and fantastic hospitality to Kim and Malee!

I arrived in rainy weather to Oslo airport - an airport with a more familiar size than the previous two airports in Island and the Faroe Islands. This airport has more than 1 terminal and the baggage carousel could handle more than 10 bags at a time. Crazy!

From the airport, I took the airport express train to Oslo Sentralstasjon (Oslo’s main train station) and walked about 5 minutes to Kongensgate, where the Thai restaurant, Nam Fah,is located. Here I meet Kim and Malee, the owners of the restaurant and my hosts here in Oslo.

I was served a fantastic late lunch/early dinner in the form of pad thai. Actually, on any day of the week, you can expect a great meal at Nam Fah. Thanks for spoiling me :)

After dinner, I went out to have a look around the city. Not far from the restaurant lies the Oslo Opera House, which was constructed in 2008. What makes this building special are the built-in ramps and stairs that allow you to - literally - walk around the entire building. The design also provides a great view of the city from every corner of the building. Beautiful!

After my “little” (long) walk, I was able to conclude two things:

1) Young Norwegians are hip and stylish types that are extremely self-confident. This could make a girl in practical, Interrail-ish clothes, that may or may not be a bit dirty, feel slightly insecure and overly self-aware. Fortunately, this unnamed girl was able to quickly get this, the moment a smiling blond American girl came over and complimented her shoes, saying; “those shoes are so awesome!” Thank you USA. :)

2) I have arrived at yet another expensive capital city. Food, clothing, public transportation - everything - is expensive. Actually, it was not that long ago that Oslo was voted the most expensive in the world. I certainly believe it.

When the restaurant closed for the evening, I was driven to the home I would be staying the next 6 days. I was given my own room, and as the house had 3 stories, this meant that I pretty much had an entire floor to myself. Woohoo!

On Thursday I explored the Frogner area, which is the part of the city I was staying. I found the bus stop I needed to use to catch a bus to the city centre, and found the local supermarket, café and a bakery. All was good!

With all the necessities taken care of, I strolled over to Frogner Park, which has a large pond, playgrounds and tennis courts, and of course Vigelandsanlegget (Vigeland Sculpture Park), where the artist Gustav Vigeland has his sculptures and statues displayed. 

The sculpture to the left is probably my favorite. Ever. It portrays quite simply a man beating and thrashing small babies about. Suddenly though, I developed some kind of allergy, as it felt as if all the fluids in my body was trying to get out through my eyes. I blame Gustav.

I saw this thing on my way out of the park:

Seriously, does anyone know what this is?? It looks a lot like a Tardis - but it’s the wrong color 😂

On Friday I got an early start as I was helping set up a pop-up showroom in the restaurant’s basement. This was the grand opening of the showroom, so we worked from 10am to 5pm, The concept behind it is called “Conceptsiam”, which is a fusion of traditional Thai arts and crafts and contemporary living. You can read more about it at conceptsiam.com - it’s actually a pretty cool concept!

(The picture is of one of the many “worlds” that I helped to prepare)

Saturday was market day at Karl Johans Gate, Oslo’s major shopping/walking street. I believe that everyone in Norway, Sweden...and Denmark, was on that street at that time. All the shops had a stand with some kind of game or entertainment and food. Even the local grocers brought out all their half-price hot dogs, croissants and bananas out to the sidewalk. At the same time, all of Norway’s street musicians dusted off their guitars, harmonicas and contra basses and white-painted ladies with balloon animals danced in and out of the crowds!

All the festivities are not clear in these pictures as I simply had to get away from the huge number of people. 

On Sunday I went out to Oslomarka, which is an immense area with forest, lakes and mountains close to Oslo. It is too big to see it all in one day, so I decided to just visit the area called Sognsvann. It is the area closest to the city, and thus the most popular destination for both myself and a lot of other people.

Sognsvann itself is a beautiful large lake where Norwegians love to bathe,eat ice cream and hold picnics.

Around the lake is a magnificent forest where many take walks with their dog and/or sweetheart. There are also trails for horses and their riders.

Wait a minute! Who took this picture? :O

The train trip back to Oslo took about 20 minutes,  which meant that it was about 4pm when I returned. So I went to Grünerløkka to have late lunch at their food hall (Mathallen), which is a lot like Torvehallerne in Copenhagen that is filled with stands/booths selling all kinds of food and delicacies. When I arrived nearly all the stands were closed though (it’s only a little past 4pm - really Oslo?!). Fortunately, I was able to wrangle the absolutely last hot dog pretzel from the bakers and the next-to-last cold beer at the bar (which, by the way, only sells beer and juice. Really Oslo?!)

One more thing I did not know: On Mondays, all museums are apparently closed (what??) Most museums are actually only open on weekends, and if they happen to be open on a weekday, it certainly isn’t Monday. Oops.

With my plans for the day now ruined, I went into the city to shop. But as I am an incredibly bad shopper, it was getting late and started to blow and rain violently. So instead of suffering further, I went back to the house to watch "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” and “Game of Thrones” with a warm cup of tea and a blanket around me. When I got there, Kim was home sick, so we ate waffles together. Waffles are as permanent a fixture as crepes are in Denmark or cookies in the US. Served with the waffles was brown goat cheese, which I simply had to try, Norwegian (extra) sour cream called rømme and warm blueberries hand-plucked from the forest. The cheese tasted of sour, rancid caramel, and rømme is just a kind of creme fraiche - so if you like those kinds of things, then I guess it’s perfect. The berries were fantastic!

On Tuesday, the museums were open, so I went to the Munch Museum, where the famous Norwegian painter Edvard Munch has his work displayed. His most well-known painting is “The Scream”. Unfortunately, The Scream was on display at the National Museum, so I checked out the work of  Jasper John who was greatly inspired by Munch.

Afterwards, I decided to grab a bite at the cafe at Oslo’s Botanical Garden, which is next to the Munch Museum. It turns out the Natural History Museum is located within the Garden, but closed just as I was leaving the Munch Museum. The Garden turned out to be just OK - probably best for picnics - with a few pretty trees and birds. I took the obligatory selfie in the Palm House though.

(so hipster, so cool)

As I felt that I perhaps had not sufficiently explorerd the Grünerløkka area on Sunday (the Botanical Garden was in that area), I decided to do it now. It turns out that Grünerløkka’s nickname is “artist district”, and it is filled with graffiti, secondhand shops, pop-up cafés and a lively music scene. It could easily be a neighborhood in Copenhagen, just with more space.

Around the corner from this chandelier is the bar/café BLÅ.  BLÅ is THE place all the hip youth go to for a beer, which means it was the place I went for a beer :)

Afterwards, I headed back for Oslo centre and into Nam Fah to enjoy my last dinner with Kim and Malee. It was really nice with some truly wonderful people!

Today, Wednesday, I am sitting on the express train to Stockholm. It takes about 4 hours, which is enough time to do some writing :)

We’re really moving - but I am sure I can do it in time.

Useful words/phrases:

Yes/no: ja/nei

Please/thank you: vennligst/takk

Thank you so much for the food!: Tusen takk for maten!

[opdageuropa-blog]

Island 🇮🇸

(10/06-15/06 2016)

Andet land på turen var Island, og jeg kan godt afsløre at det var en kæmpe stor oplevelse. Det er et smukt land med smukke og venlige mennesker og en helt enestående natur. Med verdens eneste penismuseum og med flyvende pukkelhvaler!

Først og fremmest vil jeg godt sige tusind tak til min host Hinrik! (Og Agnes som lod mig låne hendes værelse 😊). I var utroligt søde og hjælpsomme til at gøre besøget helt uforglemmeligt!

Jeg fløj fra Færøerne torsdag eftermiddag og efter halvanden times flyvning landede vi i Reykjavik. I den mindste lufthavn jeg nogensinde har set! Det var som at lande i min mormors baghave med et bagagebælte på størrelse med en middelstor sofa. Jeg troede ikke, jeg skulle se noget mindre end Vágar lufthavn i Færøerne, men altså.. Den her var virkelig lille!

Efter at have ventet på en bus i regnen i tre kvarter uden held, kom Hinrik i sin gamle, godt brugte Suzuki, hvis motor skulle frakobles hver gang bilen slukkede. Det var lidt et eventyr at køre i den bil :) Vi kørte fra lufthavnen direkte hjem til hans mor, hvor jeg blev introduceret for både mor, bror, den svenske svigerinde og hans 5-årig guldklump af en niece. Moderen, Elsa, var flydende i Islandsk, dansk og svensk og agerede tolk, mens vi guffede hendes hjemmelavede speltvafler med sukker og laktosefri flødeskum. Så føler man sig velkommen!

(Som en sidebemærkning fandt jeg ud af her, at Hinrik er med i et band kaldet Permaband. De har en del sange på youtube, bl.a. den her: https://youtu.be/V117Ycxb6a0 . Det er ret gyldent.) 

Heroppe går solen næsten heller aldrig ned. Dagene varer 21 timer og natten består af 3 timers “borgerligt tusmørke”, hvilket vil sige at solens centrum er mellem 1-6 grader under horisonten (altså aldrig helt væk fra himlen). Værre endnu tror fuglene, det konstant er morgen og de synger derfor uafbrudt! Virkelig uafbrudt! Så hvis du sover let, skal du være klar med ørepropper og sovebriller, hvis du skal overleve sommeren i Island. 

Da jeg endelig var faldet i søvn første nat kom Hinrik glad ind på værelset kl halv 3 om morgenen og vækkede mig - for at tilbyde mig noget af den chokoladebudding han lige havde lavet. :D 

Helt uden sammenhæng, kan jeg nævne, at Island er det land i verden, hvor der ryges mest marijuana per indbygger. Mmm.... Chokoladebudding!

Lørdag morgen serverede Hinrik, som den sande islænding, han er, skyr og røget islandsk fjeldørred på brød til morgenmad, så mens han og hans datter Agnes tog op til deres sommer hus, gik jeg med god energi ud for at udforske byen. Hinrik bor omkring tyve minutters gang fra midtbyen, og selvom Reykjavik er betydeligt større end Tórshavn, er den overraskende nem at finde ind til og rundt i.

 Første stop på vej til byen var Hallgrímskirkja:

Kirkens tårn er ca 74 meter højt og skulle eftersigende være inspireret af lava flydende over Islands stenede landskab. Det skulle være utrolig flot om natten, når alle kirkens lys er tændt. Det må så være om vinteren, for desværre blev det aldrig mørkt nok til at tænde lysene mens jeg var her.

Cirka 400 meter fra Hallgrímskirkja ligger Reykjaviks berømte shoppinggade Laugavegur. Gaden er propfyldt med mennesker og har butikker med al slags tøj, fra badebukser til balkjoler, og restauranter på næsten hvert hjørne. Desværre er maden og tøjet alt for dyrt for en, der har tænkt sig at rejse rundt i resten af Europa. Måske endda også for dyrt for en, der bare gerne vil hjem igen tænker jeg, så jeg købte ikke noget.

Efter en af mange kølige, lyse nætter med lyden af en blød bas fra stuen hvor Hinrik øvede sig, to jeg søndag eftermiddag på hvalsafari. Den var helt fantastisk! Båden var lille og super hurtig og havde færre passagerer end de andre, hvilket gjorde turen meget personlig. Desuden pralede de med at have den eneste båd bygget til formålet på Island, men jeg er nu ikke rigtig sikker på hvilken forskel dette gjorde.

Vejret var helt pragtfuldt og vandet lignede gatorade. Den blå slags altså.

Vi blæste derud af mod “hval zonen” hvor vi fik spottet en lille vågehval, der med stor fart svømmede væk fra os. Vi så flere grupper af marsvin, der lavede krumspring i vandet, men størst af alt var, da alle de andre både var sejlet hjem og en pukkelhval pludselig sprang op af vandet ca 100 meter fra båden!

Hvalen besluttede sig for at komme tættere på, nok tiltrukket af lyden af os gispende, uh’ende og ah’ende tilskuere, og endte med at lave sit vandakrobatikshow blot 10-15 meter fra båden. 

Det er her, mine damer og herrer, at min telefon, som ellers har ligget fint på 40% strøm, beslutter sig for at gå ud. Helt ud. Heldigvis kom mine medpassagerer mig til undsætning, og delte denne video, så jeg har noget at vise jer:

A video posted by George Cowan (@george.cowan) on Jun 12, 2016 at 11:30am PDT

Bagefter tog jeg hjem til Elsa, Hinriks mor, for at spise NÆSTEN fermenteret fisk. Altså bare gammel fisk. Ih hvor jeg dog elsker Nordatlanten og deres fiskespecialiteter. Efter maden spurgte jeg Elsa, hvad hun drak, hun svarede “meget”. Så vi drak “meget” sammen.

Mandag besøgte det fallogiske museum i Reykjavik. Altså penismuseet, det eneste af sin slags i verden. Det er måske meget godt.

Længst til venstre er afstøbninger af Islands håndboldlandsholds penisser efter en sejr. I midten er der i hovedhøjde en lang spids penis fra en spækhugger, som var ved at spidde mig i panden. Længst til højre er kaskalothvalens penis, fornemt vist frem i glas. Dette eksemplar er cirka 180 cm lang.

Det viste sig for at blive en meget aflang dag, da jeg efterfølgende besluttede at smage hvad avisen the Guardian kalder “Europas bedste hotdog”, Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur.

Jeg vil med glæde invitere journalisten, der har givet denne bedømmelse, til kamp på Lyngby Stadion og tilbyde ham en ægte grillpølse! Bare fordi! Smagen var dog helt i orden og prisen det samme (420 isk hvilket er ca 21 dkk)

Når man går rundt i Reykjavik er det umuligt at undgå at bemærke, det er en utroligt farverig by med massere af gadekunst og fine huse. Måske er det en måde at live byen op, under de mange grå vintermåneder. Flot er det i hvert fald. Også om sommeren.

Tirsdag, min sidste dag, brugte jeg på en tur rundt i resten af Vestisland på det man kalder Golden Circle ruten. Første stop var nationalparken Þingvellir

Her kan man tydeligt se sprækken mellem den nordamerikanske- og den eurasiske kontinentalplade. Ja, du kan faktisk hoppe fra den nordamerikanske plade til den euroasiatiske plade - spacy.

Bagefter tog vi til det kæmpestore vandfald Gullfoss, som i dag er fredet, men tidligere var udtænkt til at blive brugt som elektricitetsværk.

Det tredje stop var gejseren Geysir, eller egentlig hans bror, da Geysir har været inaktiv i nogle år og kræver et jordskælv for at vågne igen. Det kom ikke, mens jeg var der, men brormand var meget aktiv :)

Og til slut, tog vi til “the secret lagoon”, som er en lagune i samme stil som den blå lagune, opvarmet af vand fra nærliggende gejsere, men lidt mere gemt væk i ødemarken. Deraf “secret” eller “hemmelig”.

Vandet i lagunen er ca 38 grader. Gratis koldt vand bliver uddelt for at forhindre dehydrering, hvilket var nødvendigt denne dag, da solen også var til stede. Jeg fik endda en tan! Nice!

Jeg kom hjem igen til Reykjavik omkring kl 19 og oplevede den begejstrede befolkning fejre deres 1-1 EM-kamp mod Portugal. Hold op en fest, de kan holde! Det var fedt at opleve og resten af aftenen var der ikke meget andet i tv end glade fodboldfans og jublende spillere.

I dag, onsdag, sidder jeg i Oslo, Norge, og tænker at det nok ikke er sidste gang jeg er i Island. Der er stadig så meget jeg gerne vil se, og en tur på egen hånd ud i naturen er højst nødvendig. Det var simpelthen så smukt at køre igennem og hvis ingen andre vil med, tager jeg derop alene. Det kan stærkt anbefales!

Nyttige ord og fraser:

Hej: Hæ

Ja/nej: Já/nei

Please/tak: vinsamlegast/takk

Pas på! Du er ved at gå ind i en penis: Passaðu þig! þú ert að fara að keyra inn í liminn!

[discoveringeurope]

The Faroe Islands (FO)

(04/06-10/06 2016)

First, thanks alot to Bjarni and Susanne ❤️ (and to Barbara, Silas and Knút the cat, who unfortunately are not in this picture).

The first land on my European tour was the Faroe Islands. I stayed in the capital city of Thorshavn (Tórshavn), which is on the island of Streymoy.

I flew out of Copenhagen on Saturday evening, and arrived in the Faroe Islands a couple of hours later after the most stunning approach I have ever experienced. We flew over water, through fjelds (mountainsides) and along clifftops with the sun sparkling down on the countryside so everything was clear and visible.

A shuttle bus took me directly from the airstrip on the island of Vágar via an undersea tunnel to Tórshavn where Bjarni and the kids met me and drove me to their house on the top of a little hill overlooking the water. Here I was introduced to Susanne, their cat Knút and about a million food-crazy, “backyard” sheep.

That evening, Bjarni and I went on a little walk so that I could get a look at the city. We passed through the Tinganes (area around the Faroese parliament) and the old city center. I learned that normally most Faroese first go out at night around 3am, even though bars and clubs close at around 4 or 5am. This became obvious when we later arrived at the downtown bar Sirius at 11pm, and it was only half-filled with tourists and old men.

(Tinganes, picture found online)

Sundays on the Faroe Islands are usually reserved for church, but this Sunday Bjarni, the kids and I went on a little excursion to see the area. We stopped at the approx. 400-year old Gjógv, which lies next to the Faroes’ next highest fjeld, Grafelli, which we (of course) were about to climb.

Here you see me only about a third of the way up - tired and red. Great...

As I noticed from day 1, it is very bright on the Faroe Islands, even at night. This is because the country is so far north that the sun almost never sets. That means that it is necessary for people to either have blackout drapes or use sleep goggles during the summer months.

In these two pictures, one is taken at midday, the other at midnight. Not much difference, eh?!

On Monday, I was picked up at noon and we drove down to the city to eat lunch at Umami, which is little cafe near the harbor that serves brunch, light fare, fresh squeezed juices and smoothies. Afterwards, Susanne and I went down to the local beach where highschool graduation parties are often held and where pilot whale hunts take place. There I learned that the rules and laws around this controversial hunt have been severely sharpened. The laws and guidelines are a lot more strict from everything from methods to location and pace. It is also no longer allowed for non-certified people from being anywhere on the beach when the whales come in.

All are welcome at the graduation parties 😄

After dinner, we went to Kirkjubøur.

Kirkjubøur is an idyllic village of small, charming houses with a history that goes back all the way to the vikings. It is pictorially placed on a cliff with a view over the sea. Here, everything is quiet, except for the clapping of waves and mooing from the happy cows that surround the village The old settlement has 3 historic attractions: Magnuskatedralen, Sankt Olav Kirke and kongsgården, which makes the village a popular place to visit. This has resulted in the construction of a little house where tourists can sit and rest.

On Tuesday, I decided to find my own way to town. Of course, I could hop on the city’s red busses completely free of charge, but I decided to walk. While it took longer, it was relatively easy. In this case, all roads really did lead to Rome.

Here I found, among other things, the shopping mall, SMS, which was just a mini version of malls back home, with the same shops just with another name. For example, in Tórshavn they have Skemman, which is the same as Danish JYSK, and Elding, which is the same as scandinavian Elgiganten. That evening, the family and I went up to the fjeld Sornfelli, which is visible from the house. Normally, one can see all of Tórshavn and the nearby islands from the top of the mountain. But today, as with the rest of my stay, a heavy fog stretched for as far as the eye could see.

Wednesday brought chill and rain, so my usual walk was shortened and I stayed in most of the day. My evenings were often spent goofing around with the kids, mostly playing board games and PlayStation. As most of my readers probably know, my brother Ryan plays professional football in Denmark and can therefore be found in FIFA’s latest PlayStation game. Silas, my hosts’ son, quickly found this out and proudly showed off his self-made team where he made Ryan the captain and the team’s only goal scorer. In one match alone, Ryan scored 6 goals! Every time he scored, Silas came running out yelling “your brother, your brother”, regardless of where I was in the house. You’re going to have to send an autograph Ryan! 😊

Dinner that night was held at Bjarni’s mother, where we treated to the Faroese speciality ræstfisk - an air-dried, fermented fish that is boiled. In case that dish didn’t agree with me, pizza was on stand-by. Surprisingly though, the worst part of the dish was its smell, but it tasted quite OK.

(Ræstfisk with potatoes)

The pizza was also good.

My (American) mother often teases me about Danes fondness for ice cream, regardless the weather. On this point, I will tell you, the Faroese easily beat us. Even on the coldest day, I witnessed Faroese enjoying popsicles, cones and cups of ice cream. In the picture below you can see Silas enjoying his ice cream dessert in 9 degrees weather!

(Even though it doesn’t look like it, trust me, he is feeling quite satisfied...)

On Thursday, I got up late and went into town where I had lunch at Restaurant 11, which serves a diverse buffet with all kinds of foods, such as curry meatballs, sweet & sour chicken, lobster bisque, etc. When the family arrived back home, we all drove north to the city of Vestmanna, where we, together with a large group of nordic language students, hopped onto a sight-seeing cruise around the island. As we sailed along bluffs where sheep grazed, we saw puffins and other sea birds, and looked up to 90 meter high cliffs and into caves. The fog came rolling in, as had the last few days, which upset the captain, as he thought it ruined the cruise, but I thought it gave it a cool, gloomy vibe and backdrop - sort of like a Jurassic Park film.

Before we left for the cruise, we put a lamb into the oven, so we were welcomed back to the fantastic smell of lamb roast - another Faroese specialty, but this time with a more familiar taste.

Today, Friday, my trip continues. I am extremely grateful for everything the Joensen family has done for me! 😊 It has been a fantastic stay, in the company of wonderful people. I have learned, among other things, that there are more sheep than people here on the Faroe Islands, but that the people are enormously kind and helpful. 

Some useful words and phrases:

Yes/No: Ja/Nei

Please/Thank you: Ger so væl/Tak

It’s bad weather: Veðrið er ringt (which it often is)