The Fjords - June 20 & 21

We had planned to spend a few hours in Oslo before heading to the West Coast, but a few things were unsure with the hostel and the trains times weren't what we expected, so log story short, we had to leave Oslo about 2 hours after we arrived on the night train. We ended up paying like $3 just to use the bathroom, but at least we got to change and brush our teeth, etc.

Once we boarded the train across Norway for our 5.5 hour journey we were not too excited since we had just been on a train alllll night, but it turned out to be amazing. The rail line was so scenic, and we kept seeing snow on the mountains, which was cool, and finally we got to such a high elevation that there was basically snow everywhere and the river was frozen over... basically Antartica haha. Everyone hopped off the train to take pictures and then got back on 3 minutes later, so fun.

Yes, this is June in Norway...

In Myrdal, we switched to another train, the Flamsbana Railway, which is a scenic railway that drops from the mountains down in to the valley where the tiny town of Flam is. A lot of the trains and roads go through tunnels to get down/around the mountains, so this train line is apparently an engineering feat because we had great views the whole way down. It took them 4 years to build 20 km. It was really neat and we stopped at this huge waterfall - there were waterfalls all over the place because of the snow melting I guess, or maybe they are just always there.

We finally got to Flam, which is this tiny village, and stayed at a nice hostel there, and took some awesome pictures on the edge of the fjord, which is basically mountains rising straight out of a river-lake type deal. Anyway, we hiked a bit then next morning and then took a ferry through the fjord to another town - it was so awesome, the scenery was like nothing else I've ever seen before, it was like the great valley or whatever it's called in The Land Before Time haha thats all I can think to liken it to - or maybe like Tarzan haha. The best part was, although Flam is tiny and hardly anyone spends the night there, alllll the day tripper tour groups come through to take the ferry, etc. so the line was so long for the ferry and we didn't even think we would get on... until we found out that if it filled up they would just call another one! So we let all these people pass us and get on the super crowded ferry, and then got on another ferry with like 20 people and had a basically empty boat. So we got a ton of great pictures, and the fjords were basically totally awesome. When we got off the ferry, we took a bus ride back to the train line that also turned out to be very scenic, which was a nice surprise!

Fjord-side in Flam

Flam from above during our hike

Fjord cruise - awesome!

It's a mystery to me why more people don't go to Scandinavia, we loved Stockholm and the fjords were absolutely amazing.... plus like 22 hours of daylight in the summer! Fabulous!!

Stockholm - June 18 & 19

We left Copenhagen on a longgggg train to Stockholm on Wednesday morning, but it was really fun to get into Sweden, the countryside was beautiful. When we arrived in Stockholm, we could see our hostel from the train, on the river - a boat! We were so excited to be staying in a boat, and it was nice to see it beforehand so we wouldn't get lost on the way there. Turns out it took us a bit longer to get there anyway because we took not the best route, but these things tend to happen when you first arrive... and are carrying alllll your stuff haha. But Rygerfjord Hostel was great, our room was very cool in the front of the hull, the bunkbeds were really close together, but we had portholes and a great view of the city... and free internet!

That afternoon, we set our to walk around the city, which is so beautiful. Our first goal was to get back to the train station and get our reservations for the train to Oslo the next night. When we got to the train station, we had to take a number in the line... we were 303 and they were currently on 121. So we ended up waiting an hour to get a reservation... Kasey said she had heard that people don't mind waiting in Socialist countries, so I guess its true. But I suppose the cool thing about the whole Socialist deal, at least in our theory, is that there are basically no poor people. The city was so clean, and we saw no beggars on the street or even creepy people on the street, so that plus the fact that it barely gets light make Stockholm super safe. After the train station, we stumbled upon a candy shop and took 2 of everything that looked good, and then walked around through a few of the shopping districts and such - the whole city was just really really beautiful, and most of the candy was good! We were on a quest to find the bus we could take to the flagship IKEA, and by the time we found it, it was practically the last bus, but at least we got there! IKEA is outside the city, so they run a free bus into the city - awesome! The IKEA was huge, so we had a good time looking around and taking pictures.

When we got back from IKEA, we started looking for a place to eat where we could watch the EuroCup game, since Sweden was playing that night. There were tons of people out in the city in their pretty yellow and blue Sweden gear, and we decided to walk back across the river to an area that our hostel people had told us was good for eating. Eventually we found a bar, and although it was expensive and Sweden lost the game, it was still fun to be there and we were glad to eat! After the game we went back to the hostel, and settled in in our boat! (awesome!)

loving the rygerfjord!

The next day we took our time in the morning getting out of the hostel and then went to get lunch at another place the hostel had recommended. On the way, we walked up to a cliff behind the hostel to get a good view of the city, and then had a completely awesome meal at a restaurant... apparentely in Scandinavia lunch is a big deal, and much cheaper!

view outside the restaurant

After lunch we went and caught a ferry to the island/palace of Drottningholm, which is where the current royal family of Sweden lives (if you are confused, yes they are Socialist but apparentely still have royals as figureheads, I think). The palace was nice, and we caught the last tour of the day, which was surprisingly cheap, and the took the ferry back down the river.

Drottningholm

After the palace, we walked down through the old medieval area and went to another island where we climbed up a big hill and had great views of the city, and there was a small castle up there too. Our last item of business was to go back to the candy store to stock up on our favorites! Then we were off on a night train to Oslo, after we picked our stuff back up at the hostel.

We were a bit worried about the night train because it looked so crowded, but although our c0mpartment was totally full, three beds high on each side, but luckily we had the bottom bunks, so it was easy, and we even slept pretty well! All in all, Stockholm was pretty much the best city I've been to - beautiful and a lot of see and do, especially considering we barely did any real touristy things - we were sad to leave it!

Hamburg & Copenhagen - June 17

After I finally slept, I woke up with enough time to change clothes, brush teeth, etc. before we pulled into Hamburg. I had made plans to meet Kasey at the main entrance to the station, but soon after I got off the train, I realized there were two equally sized entrances haha. But luckily we found each other without too much trouble, and we stored our luggage in the big lockers in the train station and headed off to walk around Hamburg for a bit. Hamburg was very pretty and right on the river, and the weather was great - we walked dowm the main road beside the river and Kasey showed me different places since she's been there before. I was still pretty tired, so I don't think I was really able to take it all in, but Hamburg was definitely nice.

Hamburg!

At 1:30 we got on a train north to Copenhagen, Denmark which was about 5 hours and very cool, the train even went on a ferry to cross between the two countries, which I've never seen before. There were windmills everywhere, which are actually very beautiful, and make Denmark completely energy independent, which is awesome. When we got to Copenhagen, we walked to our hostel, which was about 10 minutes. It was neat because so many people in Denmark bike, so they had an entire separate bike lane raised up from the road, and then the sidewalk was higher than that... so two curbs. Anyway, it was just neat because they were so accomodating for bikers, and so many people were biking... in nice clothes, in heels, in skirts, and looking beautiful while doing it. Ridiculous.

Our hostel was pretty standard, we stayed in a large room with 10 sets of bunkbeds, and ours were right by the door, which was kind of a bummer since we would be able to hear everyone coming in and out. We didn't had a lock on the door, because the hostel is open 24 hours, and the room was right across from the reception desk, so I suppose they figured they could keep an eye on things. They did have lockers, which we might have used for our valuables, but didn't since we just kept them with us. There was a bathroom down the hall and a shower room upstairs, and a small common area in the receptions... so that's hostel living for you! Simple and easy.

After we dropped our big bags off, we walked over to Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, which is like an amusement park/garden area... kind of hard to explain I guess. They have some rides, but also lts of restaurants and live shows, and from what we could tell, most people have season passes and come and go as they please. So we had a nice time there, eating cotton candy, watching a Thumbelina ballet and strolling around. From there we walked further into the city to look for dinner, and we ate a Turkish kebab place, and had enough food left over to make sandwiches for the train the next day. When we went back to the hostel around 11PM it was still light outside! Because we were so far north, there was about 19 hours of daylight! Which is very cool and makes you feel safe! It was hard to believe we were all the way up in Denmark!

Cotton candy at Tivoli!

Getting to Europe - June 15 & 16

At the airport!

So my trip started off with a bang - I had everything packed and I was rushing around trying to get everything done before my plane on Sunday evening, but I made it to the airport, my whole family came to see my off, except for Roger , who had left on Appalachian Service Project. I left my phone with the fam, said goodbye, and then realized as soon as I got inside that my plane to Charlotte was delayed, which would likely result in missing the plane to London . Go figure, US Airways is so lame. So anyway, they had to reroute me through Philadelphia, and then my plane there was delayed (again, lame) but luckily we finally got off to London on at 7 hour flight. I didn't sleep too much on the plane, resulting in some tired confusion finding my way through customs in Gatwick airport, but all in all it was fine, and I didn't have too long of a layover before I was off on a 2 hour flight to Luxembourg.

When I landed in Luxembourg, the airport felt deserted except for the people who had just gotten off my flight... luckily my backpack arrived unharmed, and by the time I got all the straps adjusted and such the airport was totally empty! I went out to find the bus, and although the bus driver didn't speak great English and I barely speak any French, we figured it out, and I took the bus into the city. I had planned to eat dinner in Luxembourg City and walk around before getting on the train, but I was so tired and zoned out that I figured I'd be better off just getting on a train! So I went straight to the train station, and caught a 2 hour train to Liege, Belgium, and from there I was going to catch a night train to Hamburg, Germany to meet Kasey. Easy enough.

Since I had gone to Liege early, I had 4 hours to sit in that train station beforet the night train came, and it was such a small train station.... that combined with me reading a Jason Bourne novel I had bought in the airport meant I was tired and paranoid haha. But in all reality, there were always other people at the train station, so it was safe. The biggest problem was that by the time I got there, the ticket office was closed, so I couldn't get reservations for the night train, which are usually pretty much required. Although my rail pass covers the fare, it doesn' guarantee a seat or bed. So when the train finallz arrived at about 1AM, I was totally exhausted but luckily the conductor spoke excellent English and let me on without a reservation and helped me find an empty compartment to sleep in. The train had come from Paris, so most of the passengers were already sleeping. My compartment had two sets of 'bunk beds' but since I was the only one in there, it was great. I finally got to sleep for real!!

The Power of Music

This past Sunday was graduation sunday at my home church, which is quite an event. Since we only get 5 tickets to my brother's graduation this coming Thursday, the church event was a better time for my grandparents and extended family to come - especially since it honored both me and Roger - and we had a fun cookout afterwards at the house (thanks Mom and Dad!). 

A sort of tradition in my family, or at least with my Dad's Dad, is to sing through some of our favorite songs in the hymnal - this usually occurs at my Granddaddy's house in Wilmington. But on this occasion, my Mom's parents were with us too - so they also got to participate in the music. This is always such a sweet time together, but this time it was even better. My Mom's father has Alzheimer's, and is to the point where he has really hard time communicating and finding the right words to carry on a conversation. But when we all got together to sing, he knew allllll the words to every hymn we tried. More than anything, I think he appreciated having that time where he could express himself without the frustration he feels when trying to talk with others. It was so fun to have us all together, and to see that, although my Granddaddy's  memory is failing, there's something about music that you just can't forget. It was such a blessing :)