We have done a couple of things other than sink into apartment hunting hell. In our extensive travels around Manhattan rental properties we have glimpsed Times Square, Madison Square Garden, Macy's, Fifth Avenue, the Empire State Building, the New York Public Library, Trump Tower, Central Park, the Plaza Hotel, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street and some amazing churches. We've eaten at Applebee's, Dallas BBQ, and Big Joe's diner. We've utilised the free wifi at Starbucks, bought terrible coffee all over town and caught a ferry to IKEA Island. We saw Black Swan, watched the New York Jets in the playoffs at a nearby sports bar, tipped people, eaten Three Musketeers bars, Sour Patch Kids and Milk Duds. Oh, and I finally got a new coat.
Once we settle in it is impossible that we won't love living here.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Touchdown in the US of A
The first thing I did in New York was vomit. Right there on the subway platform. But to be fair, I HAD flown 6 hours without any food (cheap old Icelandair), coped with the stress of US customs, ridden the New York airtrain and dragged my luggage onto the subway. The subway is not the smoothest ride, let me tell you. And seeing as 8pm US time was about 2am Iceland time, my poor jubbly tummy was not a happy chappy. The upside was that I had enough warning to drag Timon off the train, onto the platform and grab a plastic bag from our suitcase. I instantly felt better.
We found our hotel, The Gershwin, fairly easily and checked in. The free wifi wasn't working in our room so any internet action had to be found in the lobby. The hotel was funky - the walls were covered in paintings, there was a giant apple face man (Magritte) in the elevator and a signed Andy Warhol Campbells can. We found a 24 hour cafe just around the corner on Fifth Avenue and 28th Street which had a massive buffet of hot and cold food. We ate most of our meals there over the next week.
There's not a lot to be said about the 10 days after we arrived. We woke up super early due to jetlag and spent hours trawling Craigslist for apartments. We sent a million emails, bought new mobile phones, made a billion calls and heard back from few. We uncovered a thousand scams and visited a plethora of apartments, some ok, some terrifying. We learnt some stuff - like a railroad apartment is a long, skinny place where each room leads into the next. Like a train carriage. We learnt about brokers and their astronomical fees, about lies and studios and that Harlem is often called Morningside in listings. If we could do it all again I think we'd go straight to a broker. We would have also stayed in Europe longer so that our arrival was timed with the 1st Feb (when most apartments seem to be available). We saw a couple of nice places in Brooklyn, but the neighbourhoods were dead-end and a little scary. We were sent on this wild goose chase by the rudest broker ever, who gave us a list of places, a key and a group of equally desperate apartment hunters. The only place on his list that was anywhere near our budget was filled with the previous tenants crap and when I asked him when it would be cleaned, he ignored me and answered his 'ringing' phone. We're talking clumps of hair, open tins of dog food and a manky old mattress. I still have nightmares.
Most recently we found a great place through this broker called Alex. Sure it was a little out of our price range, and we'd been sent there with instructions too essentially break in, but we loved it. Alex agreed to us paying 6 months upfront, we filled in the application and thought that was it. He called back later saying the landlord wanted 12 months upfront. Bust. The next day Alex found us another place, closer to our price range and with a 6 month lease. This time we got as far as signing the lease and laying down a deposit. We arranged to meet him on Friday and turn over more cash in exchange for the keys. After we checked out of the hotel, dragged all our bags in a cab to his office, we were told by his manager that we couldn't move in until early Feb. Devastation. I know it's hard to get a rental property in Melbourne, but I've never felt that the real estate agents were evil bastards that lied to your face to get your money. It feels like an impenetrable wall.
Right now, we're in a cheaper hotel and considering a move to a hostel. We've picked another broker off the internet and fingers crossed she helps us out tomorrow. Friends and family have been amazingly supportive, encouraging us to stick it out and not run home too soon. Thanks to everyone who has emailed us contacts, names of people they met once, and for those scouring the internet for leads. It means a lot.
We found our hotel, The Gershwin, fairly easily and checked in. The free wifi wasn't working in our room so any internet action had to be found in the lobby. The hotel was funky - the walls were covered in paintings, there was a giant apple face man (Magritte) in the elevator and a signed Andy Warhol Campbells can. We found a 24 hour cafe just around the corner on Fifth Avenue and 28th Street which had a massive buffet of hot and cold food. We ate most of our meals there over the next week.
There's not a lot to be said about the 10 days after we arrived. We woke up super early due to jetlag and spent hours trawling Craigslist for apartments. We sent a million emails, bought new mobile phones, made a billion calls and heard back from few. We uncovered a thousand scams and visited a plethora of apartments, some ok, some terrifying. We learnt some stuff - like a railroad apartment is a long, skinny place where each room leads into the next. Like a train carriage. We learnt about brokers and their astronomical fees, about lies and studios and that Harlem is often called Morningside in listings. If we could do it all again I think we'd go straight to a broker. We would have also stayed in Europe longer so that our arrival was timed with the 1st Feb (when most apartments seem to be available). We saw a couple of nice places in Brooklyn, but the neighbourhoods were dead-end and a little scary. We were sent on this wild goose chase by the rudest broker ever, who gave us a list of places, a key and a group of equally desperate apartment hunters. The only place on his list that was anywhere near our budget was filled with the previous tenants crap and when I asked him when it would be cleaned, he ignored me and answered his 'ringing' phone. We're talking clumps of hair, open tins of dog food and a manky old mattress. I still have nightmares.
Most recently we found a great place through this broker called Alex. Sure it was a little out of our price range, and we'd been sent there with instructions too essentially break in, but we loved it. Alex agreed to us paying 6 months upfront, we filled in the application and thought that was it. He called back later saying the landlord wanted 12 months upfront. Bust. The next day Alex found us another place, closer to our price range and with a 6 month lease. This time we got as far as signing the lease and laying down a deposit. We arranged to meet him on Friday and turn over more cash in exchange for the keys. After we checked out of the hotel, dragged all our bags in a cab to his office, we were told by his manager that we couldn't move in until early Feb. Devastation. I know it's hard to get a rental property in Melbourne, but I've never felt that the real estate agents were evil bastards that lied to your face to get your money. It feels like an impenetrable wall.
Right now, we're in a cheaper hotel and considering a move to a hostel. We've picked another broker off the internet and fingers crossed she helps us out tomorrow. Friends and family have been amazingly supportive, encouraging us to stick it out and not run home too soon. Thanks to everyone who has emailed us contacts, names of people they met once, and for those scouring the internet for leads. It means a lot.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
The Blue Lagoon!
I had high hopes for the Blue Lagoon. After all, it was the entire reason for our Iceland detour. I was not disappointed. To be honest, I was nervous as we approached the resort as it is right next door to a geothermal plant. But once inside, the rocky landscape obscures the view and all you can see is the sky through the steam rising off the water. We were given cool chipped bracelets that let us into the resort and enabled us to open lockers. The change rooms were almost deserted which was lucky as I’m not so keen on getting naked in public. You have to shower before bather suiting up for the lagoon, so I ducked under the water for mere seconds before heading out to the steamy pool. If you are brave you can enter the 40degree water from an outside deck. If you are chicken you can step into it inside and wade out through a half door, making sure as much of your body is submerged to avoid the icy wind. The floor of the manmade lagoon alternates between gritty sand and sludgy silica mud. Having been warned by girls in the London hostel I tied my hair up and avoided getting it wet. Apparently it turns your hair into a dry, uncontrollable bird’s nest. Having wet hair also multiplies the cold times infinite. There was a secluded cave to explore, a waterfall, a steaming geothermal steam pot, and boxes of silica to apply as mud masks. We swam around for an hour, finding the warmest spots and just relaxing. Once our fingers turned all wrinkly we jumped out for lunch, then got straight back in, this time with the camera. There were lots of people taking photos (looking stupid holding one hand out of the water) but we tried to keep it to close-ups, which felt less pervy. Timon applied a mud mask to my face and his own as it is supposed to be great for the skin. We spent the next 2 hours lolling around in the water, feeling all travel pains melt away, until it got dark. I made a quick dash through the change room, dodging too many old naked ladies, and we caught the bus back to the hostel.
On Thursday morning we reluctantly checked out and grabbed a quick breakfast – eggs, bacon, potatoes, toast and pancakes for Timon, bacon, pancakes and syrup for me – at Reykjavik’s oldest café. Then it was back on the bus (sigh) and out to the airport for our final flight for a long time (yay).
The Golden Circle Tour
We decided on taking the afternoon tour so that we could sleep in. At 12pm the minibus collected us, a few others from around the city, and headed off towards the first stop - Þingvellir the site of Iceland’s original parliamentary meetings and inside the national park. While the temperature in Iceland hovered around 4 degrees for our time there, the wind chill factor was extreme. Our guide dropped us off at the top of a walking path and agreed to meet us down the hill. While the landscape was stunning, Timon and I walked very fast to the pickup place just to escape the cold. We paused briefly for some photos because it was impossible to ignore the volcanic rocks, mossy crags and frozen waterfall. Another significant aspect to this area was the meeting of the American and Eurasian tectonic plates. I’m not 100% sure what this means except that every year the fault line separates by 2cm and the gap is filled in with lava like material. It seems that Iceland was created, and continues to expand, through this shifting of the plates. The guide explained that the island is mirrored, and that a mountain on the west coast could be matched exactly to a mountain on the east coast, as they had once been the same mountain. Pretty crazy cool stuff.
We drove another 40 minutes to Gulfoss waterfall. The wind was so powerful that it prevented the bus door from opening. I had to hold down my beanie (oh yeah, I found my original beanie in my suitcase – yay!) with both hands whilst trying to shield my eyes from the gale. Even walking was difficult. Timon and I decided to skip the slippery path down to the base of the waterfall and instead climbed up to a viewing platform. The icicles on the milky water looked like wax and hopefully our photos do the scene justice. While it was hard to even look at under the weather conditions, it was a spectacular view. The third stop on the tour was the geysers. There is only 1 active geyser in the area and it was called Strokkus. We walked through the field of bubbling, boiling pools of water, thinking, despite signs indicating temperatures of 80-100 degrees, that it would be nice to jump in and warm up a little. We skidded around on icy paths and waited with freezing fingers poised over cameras until Strokkus exploded in a pillar of boiling water. Very cool. We also took a quick tour through the multimedia centre where there was looped footage of the geyser and a small display of Icelandic stuffed animals.
On the way back to Reykjavik, our guide stopped so we could pat some Icelandic horses. These horses are very special as they’ve been bred in isolation over thousands of years, and any horse that leaves Iceland may never return. Sounds quite dramatic right? I was expecting giant Viking beasts but really they were quite tiny and fluffy. T & I tried to pat them but as we had no food they weren’t much interested.
Even though we were pooped when we got back to the hostel we booked into the Northern Lights tour at 7.30pm. This involved another couple of bus rides and alternating between sitting in the warm bus and freezing our butts off outside in a parking lot while we stared up at the night sky. This tour was a bit of a bust as the lights were nowhere near as colourful and glorious as the postcards depict. But to be fair, nature is unpredictable and you have to take what you can get. There was a brief moment of awesomeness at about the 2 hour mark, but after 4 hours we were so ready to go home. The tour guide was a funny dude and he told us Icelandic troll stories all the way home.
Iceland is the bomb
We had pre-booked a shuttle from the airport to our hostel so that part was easy. It was a little unsettling when the bus arrived at a depot and the driver told us to get off, without providing more information. Turned out that we needed to get on a mini bus, which would then take us from the depot to the hostel. The hostel was right in the middle of the main Reykjavik shopping street. Another awesome location! We booked a private room and on all accounts this was the best hostel I’ve seen in ages. After researching restaurants in the area we decided on Italian (I’d been craving pasta for days) and we found a little place down the street. No offense to all the amazing home cooked meals we’d had in Sheffield, but most of the restaurant meals we’d had in England sucked. Especially the chips - oily, soggy and the smallest portions of all time. It was a relief to have a delicious, satisfying and value for money dinner. After tea we found a supermarket and bought some crazy Icelandic snacks (photos on FB), made a tour booking for the next day and crashed.
NB – Reykjavik had the coolest smiley face pedestrian lights. Green smiley for walk, Red sourpuss for don’t walk.
Old London Town
We had booked a hostel called Piccadilly Backpackers – which turned out to be smack bang in the middle of Piccadilly Circus. Awesome location. We dumped our stuff in the dorm and went out to explore. First we walked to Leicester Square and bought cheap tickets to Phantom of the Opera! We turned our noses up at 12pound cinema tickets (they were 5pounds in Sheffield) and went to Trafalgar Square instead. I encouraged/forced Timon to jump up onto the ledge so I could take his photo with the lions. He had to take out a few kids to get a good photo, but if you’ve seen Facebook, it was totally worth it. We walked down Regent Street and checked out all the levels of Hamley’s toy store, and caught the tube back from Oxford Circus to the theatre. The show was ACES. I’ve only ever seen the Gerard Butler film version but Timon is an avid fan of the show. Our seats were quite high up but we had only slightly restricted vision. The music, the songs, the singing, the costumes, the CHANDELIER, the drama! We both loved it.
On Sunday we dashed over to Buckingham Palace for a quick photo op before meeting up with Ross. (Oh, just quickly, we had a terrible meal at a nearby pub – a very disappointing ploughman’s sandwich and a tiny, awful English breakfast). We took Ross to the Tower of London but refused its 20pound entry fee. Instead we marveled at the outside and at the Tower Bridge. Then we headed out to Wimbledon to see Ross’ house, meet his roomies and collect my extra luggage that he’d graciously carried from Berlin to London (so I could avoid excess baggage fees). Timon and I braved the outer train network and made our way back to the city centre, sneaking in KFC for dinner and a screening of Season of the Witch – a way more violent and scary than I expected Nicolas Cage film. We spent the rest of the evening watching Friday Night Lights episodes like tired travelers.
We spent the next morning getting to Heathrow in plenty of time for our flight. We had lunch at the airport and boarded an Icelandair plane (no free food), arriving in Iceland a few hours later. On one hand it was intimidating being back in a country where English was not the primary language but on the other hand – Iceland and the Blue Lagoon was something I had seen in a TV special ages ago and had dreamt of ever since.
Sheffield! Freyja!
After a week staying in a dorm room with 10 other people it was a huge relief to make it to Sheffield where a couch, jaffa cakes, cider and a whole lot of movies were waiting. Also waiting for us – at the airport - was Freyja and Frances! We arrived at East Midlands airport and were mildly grilled by passport control. Timon was also questioned by another security dude, just because he looked dodgy I think. Frances drove us all the way through Sherwood Forrest (to Timon’s excitement) to Sheffield. Freyja had awesomely offered us accommodation for the next 5 days at her 3 level house in NetherEdge. She shares the house with Nate, Duncan, Twin and one mega huge projector and screen (!). The first thing we did after dumping our luggage was head on down to Sainsbury’s which was only around the corner. I had a few moments of nostalgia as I rediscovered food and snacks I used to enjoy back in the days when I lived in Sheff. Those who know me well know I have a penchant for exploring foreign supermarkets. As random luck would have it, we also ran into Dennis, one of Freyja’s friends and a serious blast from the past. We chilled out on the couch with all our loot until Twin and his gf served up an incredible 3 course Thai meal with Pavlova for dessert!
On Monday we made sure we were ready by 12noon on the dot as Jim was collecting us for lunch. Freyja, T & I piled into the car and we drove through Chesterfield (with the cool twisted spire church) to Tupton, where Frannie and Jim live. And Marlo! What was once a tiny, naughty black kitten is now a big handsome lump of a cat who sleeps in a box of Christmas paraphernalia. Frannie made spectacular meat pies with mash and veggies for lunch, followed by a steamed chocolate pudding. Yum yum yum. It was brilliant to be eating home cooked food again. We chilled out for a few hours then caught the train back to Sheffield. We met Twin at the station and went on a driving tour of the city so I could show Timon where I used to live, work and wait for the bus. We also went high up to a hilly park and looked over the city lights while Freyja valiantly attempted to answer our Sheffield trivia questions (famous people from Sheffield include Sean Bean and the Arctic Monkeys).
Being on holidays has some great benefits. While everyone got up early and went to work on Tuesday, Timon and I slept in and then casually made our way to Meadowhall, Sheffield’s epic shopping mall. The first thing we did was eat sandwiches from Gregg’s – a bakery chain for which I worked a week and Austin worked for months. The chicken tikka roll tasted EXACTLY as I remembered. Instead of tackling the shopping hordes we decided to see a film. Tron, in fact. And oh what a disappointment it was. Firstly the cinema had about 20 seats in it and the screen was marginally bigger than a TV. Secondly the audio started playing without the visuals and I had to go out and alert a member of staff to fix it. Instead of restarting the film they just flipped the switch, meaning we all missed the ‘integral’ setup. Thirdly, the film was just crap. Terrible script, crap plot, lame flashbacks and a very creepy CGI Jeff Bridges. Boooooooo. The day got infinitely better after a pint of cider at the pub and an Indian dinner with Freyja and her boyfriend Simon (a very lovely English fella who has a beard and shares my love for drafting scornful email responses to complaints).
On Wednesday we attempted to go to Tabitha’s house. A walk that should have taken 30 minutes took us almost an hour and a half. I blame Sheffield’s oddly placed street signs. There are also one billion steep hills around the city. We finally arrived and spent the afternoon drinking tea and chatting with a significantly pregnant Tabitha (and briefly Gareth – her husband). We watched a nutso show called Man vs Food where this dude travels around America taking on various food eating challenges. In this episode he tackled a giant 7pound burger. Inexplicably craving burgers, Timon and I had dinner at Swanky Frank’s and found the shorter way back to Freyja’s. We went almost immediately to watch Freyja train with her Sheffield Roller Girls roller derby team. We felt quite guilty watching these ladies doing intense exercise while we sat on the sidelines. For almost 3 hours! There are two great things about roller derby – the outfits (stockings, sparkly shorts) and knocking people over. We saw some mega stacks, speedy skaters and Freyja score some points in the final scrimmage.
On Thursday we lolled around the house until about 3pm. We only left the house to get me a new beanie (I lost mine somewhere) and for Freyja to get hairdye. Back at home Freyja asked me to prepare a meal of vegetarian chilli using fake mince while she went to a roller derby meeting. I found this very stressful because I’d never cooked with such weird ingredients and Tabitha and Gareth were coming for dinner. In the end it turned out ok and everyone seemed to enjoy the food. We did drink a fair bit of wine so that might have helped. The next day Freyja had an early job interview so we met up with her and Frannie afterwards for lunch in the city, then sat by the phone all afternoon waiting for the verdict. We met up with Nate, Duncan and Simon at a uni pub, drank plenty of booze and ended up at home with lots of pizza and junk food. For those of you who are interested, we spent valuable film viewing time watching American Hot Babes (aka Deep in the Valley), Idiocracy and Eraser. Eesh.
I had booked the megabus for Saturday morning to take us to London. We made it to the station super early and were able to jump on an earlier bus. 4 hours later we entered the outskirts of London, passing Lord’s crickety place, Sherlock Holmes’ Baker Street and palace looking things. It was the first time I saw real excitement on Timon’s face!
Friday, January 7, 2011
The American Man of Berlin
Okay everyone, I know that Julia has been looking after this blog and she has been doing a wonderful job, but it's about time i got on board and added something to this Blogger McBlogstein. After all it is my trip too! So this is (in some way) the story of the first hostel friend i have ever made.
It all began on our first night after arriving in Berlin. Julia, Ross and myself decided we would have a quiet drink down at the Hostel Bar. A quiet drink soon gained momentum into a giant snowball of drunkenness and Julia and Ross were intensely involved in a discussion about smoking (which i had NO part of). Somewhere in the conversation someone dropped the W word and out of nowhere an American voice popped out of the dark corners of the bar and joined us. He introduced himself with a very heavy America accent as Graham (although to my ears it sounded like Gram, i was corrected later), a solo traveler who had come to Berlin for New Years and obviously to try and make some friends. After joining in on our conversation on smoking, Julia and Ross soon got dragged into another involving discussion and I was left to chat with this interesting American Man.
Now, I had already been indulging quite heavily in the cheap (about $3 AU), half litre bottles of Erdinger Dunkel but i will try to communicate as much as i can remember of this fine young gentleman. As his initial 'in' to the conversation with us (Julia and Ross were now well and truly occupied in their 'discussion') was drugs, he began to tell me a story about what had just happened to him. Like us, he had just arrived in Berlin that day but he had come from Amsterdam where he had spent the last week doing the things that can only be done in that crazy Dutch country. Regardless as he was leaving, one of the people he met in the hostel (from Lithuania i believe he said) offered him a little package of 'something something' (pronounced with a bit of ghetto) to enjoy when he arrived in Berlin. So off he went and waited at the train station for his train. Now he didn't say (or i can't remember) if he was an animal person or not but after he arrived in Berlin a lovely, friendly dog came up to say hi. So he calmly gave the dog a pat and went to tell the owners that he thought their dog was so lovely and friendly. Unfortunately it turned out that the 'friendly dog' was actually a sniffer dog and that the owners were actually undercover policemen. So off they took him for interrogation.
Now personally i can't think of anything more terrifying then being taken away by German police in possession of a Lithuanian's idea of a good time in a tiny little plastic bag but he was telling the story so obviously they didn't kill him. Turns out while he was in the police station there were other people getting interrogated begging to be let free and swearing they didn't know what it was or where it came from or who it got there or who gave it to them. However our American friend had a plan. When ever the police asked him anything he told them nothing but the truth (including selling the Lithuanian drug lord down the river) and after a while they let him go. The only thing he didn't admit to was knowing that there was actually something a little stronger then just a funny smelling spice in that plastic bag.
So our conversation continued on for the rest of the evening, he had been to college to study some political bachelor which we talked about for a little while, we chatted about my upcoming trip to New York where he suggested moving to Brooklyn because it was very cool and 'up and coming'. All in all a good chat. Then off he went to the bathroom and with Julia and Ross' 'discussion' coming to an end we decided we had enjoyed enough beverages and went off to bed. It wasn't until we got upstairs that I realized I had forgotten to say good night to our new friend.
Whoops.
Unfortunately this became a running joke between Julia, Ross and myself about this poor guy who we had been (well really only me) talking to for a few hours and then as soon as he left we all bolted out of the bar and to our rooms. I can't imagine what he must have thought when he came back from the toilet.
Regardless we did end up seeing him the next evening as we were actually sitting in the exact same seats as the previous night. None of us being able to remember his name (nor him remember ours) we had another awkward reintroduction and got back into another conversation. Julia and Ross (clearly with enough friends in the world) continued their exclusive talk which left me to chat with this gentleman again. After being joined by a pair of American girls from Connecticut, I left Graham with the company of these girls and went off to dinner with Julia and Ross.
Over the course of the next few days we saw him quite a few times drinking in the bar but it seemed he hadn't really appreciated being ditched by me twice in as many nights so we didn't manage to hang out and really chat again until the final night. Before Julia and I left Berlin, we decided we wanted to get this giant box of Pizza we had seen people eating a few nights in a row before we left. The pizza was literally two family pizzas stuck together to make a giant pizzalicious oval in a super big box, nothing sounds better then that. Sadly, we had to assume these pizzas were awesome because as it was New Years Day most things were closed (we wandered up and down the street for 30 minutes before finding the closed pizzeria hiding behind a roller door). In our travels though we discovered what looked like a nice greasy chicken spot. So feeling a little seedy from New Years and wanting something awesomely greasy we went in and bought enough deep fried chicken to feed a family (probably why it was called a family pack). Now who else was sitting in this chicken eatery other then our lovely American friend, Graham.
So on the last night we managed to wrap up our friendship with a lovely little chat about where he was going next (i think he was going back to Amsterdam) and we wished him well on his travels and he us.
Well there you have it, my first travel story about my first hostel friend and my first blog post, hope you enjoyed it!
T
It all began on our first night after arriving in Berlin. Julia, Ross and myself decided we would have a quiet drink down at the Hostel Bar. A quiet drink soon gained momentum into a giant snowball of drunkenness and Julia and Ross were intensely involved in a discussion about smoking (which i had NO part of). Somewhere in the conversation someone dropped the W word and out of nowhere an American voice popped out of the dark corners of the bar and joined us. He introduced himself with a very heavy America accent as Graham (although to my ears it sounded like Gram, i was corrected later), a solo traveler who had come to Berlin for New Years and obviously to try and make some friends. After joining in on our conversation on smoking, Julia and Ross soon got dragged into another involving discussion and I was left to chat with this interesting American Man.
Now, I had already been indulging quite heavily in the cheap (about $3 AU), half litre bottles of Erdinger Dunkel but i will try to communicate as much as i can remember of this fine young gentleman. As his initial 'in' to the conversation with us (Julia and Ross were now well and truly occupied in their 'discussion') was drugs, he began to tell me a story about what had just happened to him. Like us, he had just arrived in Berlin that day but he had come from Amsterdam where he had spent the last week doing the things that can only be done in that crazy Dutch country. Regardless as he was leaving, one of the people he met in the hostel (from Lithuania i believe he said) offered him a little package of 'something something' (pronounced with a bit of ghetto) to enjoy when he arrived in Berlin. So off he went and waited at the train station for his train. Now he didn't say (or i can't remember) if he was an animal person or not but after he arrived in Berlin a lovely, friendly dog came up to say hi. So he calmly gave the dog a pat and went to tell the owners that he thought their dog was so lovely and friendly. Unfortunately it turned out that the 'friendly dog' was actually a sniffer dog and that the owners were actually undercover policemen. So off they took him for interrogation.
Now personally i can't think of anything more terrifying then being taken away by German police in possession of a Lithuanian's idea of a good time in a tiny little plastic bag but he was telling the story so obviously they didn't kill him. Turns out while he was in the police station there were other people getting interrogated begging to be let free and swearing they didn't know what it was or where it came from or who it got there or who gave it to them. However our American friend had a plan. When ever the police asked him anything he told them nothing but the truth (including selling the Lithuanian drug lord down the river) and after a while they let him go. The only thing he didn't admit to was knowing that there was actually something a little stronger then just a funny smelling spice in that plastic bag.
So our conversation continued on for the rest of the evening, he had been to college to study some political bachelor which we talked about for a little while, we chatted about my upcoming trip to New York where he suggested moving to Brooklyn because it was very cool and 'up and coming'. All in all a good chat. Then off he went to the bathroom and with Julia and Ross' 'discussion' coming to an end we decided we had enjoyed enough beverages and went off to bed. It wasn't until we got upstairs that I realized I had forgotten to say good night to our new friend.
Whoops.
Unfortunately this became a running joke between Julia, Ross and myself about this poor guy who we had been (well really only me) talking to for a few hours and then as soon as he left we all bolted out of the bar and to our rooms. I can't imagine what he must have thought when he came back from the toilet.
Regardless we did end up seeing him the next evening as we were actually sitting in the exact same seats as the previous night. None of us being able to remember his name (nor him remember ours) we had another awkward reintroduction and got back into another conversation. Julia and Ross (clearly with enough friends in the world) continued their exclusive talk which left me to chat with this gentleman again. After being joined by a pair of American girls from Connecticut, I left Graham with the company of these girls and went off to dinner with Julia and Ross.
Over the course of the next few days we saw him quite a few times drinking in the bar but it seemed he hadn't really appreciated being ditched by me twice in as many nights so we didn't manage to hang out and really chat again until the final night. Before Julia and I left Berlin, we decided we wanted to get this giant box of Pizza we had seen people eating a few nights in a row before we left. The pizza was literally two family pizzas stuck together to make a giant pizzalicious oval in a super big box, nothing sounds better then that. Sadly, we had to assume these pizzas were awesome because as it was New Years Day most things were closed (we wandered up and down the street for 30 minutes before finding the closed pizzeria hiding behind a roller door). In our travels though we discovered what looked like a nice greasy chicken spot. So feeling a little seedy from New Years and wanting something awesomely greasy we went in and bought enough deep fried chicken to feed a family (probably why it was called a family pack). Now who else was sitting in this chicken eatery other then our lovely American friend, Graham.
So on the last night we managed to wrap up our friendship with a lovely little chat about where he was going next (i think he was going back to Amsterdam) and we wished him well on his travels and he us.
Well there you have it, my first travel story about my first hostel friend and my first blog post, hope you enjoyed it!
T
Monday, January 3, 2011
** New Years Eve **
We signed up for all-you-can-eat burgers at the hostel NYE party so stuck around playing cards and eating until around 9pm. Full and mildly drunk from happy hour booze, we grabbed a train to Potsdamer Platz with the intention of walking right up to the Brandenburg Gate. This didn't work out so well as they'd cut off the whole area and were funneling people through small gates. We joined the masses on what I'll call a silent cold death march through the Tiergarten. Once we reached an opening we were bottlenecked and spoken to in German over a loudspeaker. This was a slightly scary moment. They were just checking for alcohol and then let us through. The main street was lined with beer vendors, food stalls and people selling flashing lights and warm hats. We grabbed a couple of drinks and tried to make our way as close to the stage as possible. We had to pass a massive ferris wheel and a hundred of the same stalls but made it close enough to the gate, but also where we could see the big screen. I'm assuming 'very famous' german celebrities sang and chatted while we shivered and waited for the countdown. I must have missed the 10 to 1 but definitely saw the fireworks display. Awesome. I tried to capture it on camera but was barely successful.
One of the coolest things, apart from being in Berlin of course, was that David Hasselhoff was on stage! I just turned my head and saw him up there dressed in all black with an ankle length leather jacket. Sadly, the audio was shocking and I couldn't hear him sing but check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvY3MW5Pd9A
Brilliant.
Surprisingly we made it home with relative ease. The train station was a little scary due to random fireworks being shot around but there were plenty of security and police directing people. We managed it home safely around 2.30 and were asleep by 3am.
The hostel was winding down when I got up around noon the next day. People looked very sad and hungover, draped over couches in the common room. We decided to pursue this restaurant Timon had researched that sold GIANT schnitzels. We didn't realise unfortunately that as it was New Years Day, most stuff was closed. We found a very German-y restaurant and ate away the afternoon. Ross went to the bus station soon after for his 19 hour journey home while Timon and I grabbed a quiet space and watched hours of Friday Night Lights.
We headed to the airport the next morning, after a quick Back Factory, and said goodbye to Germany. It was fun but we were exhausted. And my shoes had started to let in water :(
One of the coolest things, apart from being in Berlin of course, was that David Hasselhoff was on stage! I just turned my head and saw him up there dressed in all black with an ankle length leather jacket. Sadly, the audio was shocking and I couldn't hear him sing but check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvY3MW5Pd9A
Brilliant.
Surprisingly we made it home with relative ease. The train station was a little scary due to random fireworks being shot around but there were plenty of security and police directing people. We managed it home safely around 2.30 and were asleep by 3am.
The hostel was winding down when I got up around noon the next day. People looked very sad and hungover, draped over couches in the common room. We decided to pursue this restaurant Timon had researched that sold GIANT schnitzels. We didn't realise unfortunately that as it was New Years Day, most stuff was closed. We found a very German-y restaurant and ate away the afternoon. Ross went to the bus station soon after for his 19 hour journey home while Timon and I grabbed a quiet space and watched hours of Friday Night Lights.
We headed to the airport the next morning, after a quick Back Factory, and said goodbye to Germany. It was fun but we were exhausted. And my shoes had started to let in water :(
Germany!
When we jumped off the bus in Berlin we decided quite quickly that our luggage was too heavy to we got a taxi to the hostel. And there was Ross! Waiting! Sadly we'd not had much luck contacting him about our delay so he was expecting us a few hours earlier. The nutjob had taken a 21 hour bus ride all the way from London, so everyone was a little tired that night. We did manage to take the train to Alexander Platz and walk back along the way to the Brandenburg Gate which is a super impressive sight. Check out Facebook for lots of pics. It was cold and snowy and slippery (which Timon continues to struggle with) but beautiful. I also saw a bar called Gandalf's - miss you buddy :(.
Ross, in his extended wait for us, had discovered a modern miracle called Back Factory. It was a cafe type place where you grabbed a tray and filled it up with random awesome foods and paid for it at the end. There was lots of bread, rolls etc but also some delish sandwiches, wraps and pizza strudels. We pretty much ate here everyday.
The rundown of our time in Berlin is simple - we ate, drank lots and froze our butts off. We wanted to see a film but nothing much was on. The cinema area was stunning though, very fancy film houses and an exhibition. There was an IMAX which was briefly exciting until I realised they were playing Ultimate Wave Tahiti 3D and that it was sad for me to be thinking about (old) work. We explored some Christmas markets, drank Gluwhein (German Glogg sans almonds), ate goulash, potatoes, pork, pork, pork, croquettes, sauerkraut, this intense melted cheese thing and strudel. I loved the food, but Timon was disappointed we couldn't find a place with GIANT chicken schnitzels. The boys drank lots of beer in ridiculously shaped glasses and I filled up on "Mann girl' sized glasses of wine (that's just how they pour them!) and a grapefruit beer that was bearable.
We went on the most excellent free walking tour in Berlin that everyone should do if they visit. The history is so interesting and juicy, from World War 1 through the Berlin Wall with bits in between. My favourite part is the Wall while Timon was very taken with the bullet holes and damage from bombs still evident in some buildings. However! I must recommend that people taking this tour do not go in winter -12 weather.
We took a day off Berlin to visit Potsdam, a town 20 minutes out that star the palace called Sansoucci. For those of you Facebooking Ross you can see his photos. The summer palace of Frederick the Great has absolutely stunning grounds and the building itself is pretty and yellow. Let's call him the SunKing if you will. We spent hours walking around and went home exhausted but happy.
Ross, in his extended wait for us, had discovered a modern miracle called Back Factory. It was a cafe type place where you grabbed a tray and filled it up with random awesome foods and paid for it at the end. There was lots of bread, rolls etc but also some delish sandwiches, wraps and pizza strudels. We pretty much ate here everyday.
The rundown of our time in Berlin is simple - we ate, drank lots and froze our butts off. We wanted to see a film but nothing much was on. The cinema area was stunning though, very fancy film houses and an exhibition. There was an IMAX which was briefly exciting until I realised they were playing Ultimate Wave Tahiti 3D and that it was sad for me to be thinking about (old) work. We explored some Christmas markets, drank Gluwhein (German Glogg sans almonds), ate goulash, potatoes, pork, pork, pork, croquettes, sauerkraut, this intense melted cheese thing and strudel. I loved the food, but Timon was disappointed we couldn't find a place with GIANT chicken schnitzels. The boys drank lots of beer in ridiculously shaped glasses and I filled up on "Mann girl' sized glasses of wine (that's just how they pour them!) and a grapefruit beer that was bearable.
We went on the most excellent free walking tour in Berlin that everyone should do if they visit. The history is so interesting and juicy, from World War 1 through the Berlin Wall with bits in between. My favourite part is the Wall while Timon was very taken with the bullet holes and damage from bombs still evident in some buildings. However! I must recommend that people taking this tour do not go in winter -12 weather.
We took a day off Berlin to visit Potsdam, a town 20 minutes out that star the palace called Sansoucci. For those of you Facebooking Ross you can see his photos. The summer palace of Frederick the Great has absolutely stunning grounds and the building itself is pretty and yellow. Let's call him the SunKing if you will. We spent hours walking around and went home exhausted but happy.
Leaving Denmark
It was most certainly dark when we woke up at 5am on the 28th. I had a sneaky shower in Ida's room while she was asleep (in the dark!) and we got all our luggage together. We were very sad to say goodbye to Ida, as she'd taken great care of us for over two weeks. We jumped in a taxi and found the bus station. Sadly, the bus didn't have the same luck and we waited for aaages. We asked some strangers about the bus and they kept us updated for the next half hour as we all waited to board the bus. They suggested we wait for a second bus which was coming, which we did, although it was 15 minutes late so we ended up missing the ferry to Germany! It just meant that Timon and I could nap for an extra two hours as we waited in the bus at the ferry terminal. Boarding the ferry was super cool as we drove into its guts and jumped off the bus. Everyone was lined up all orderly and it was fun. The view was also incredible as we left the mooring and carved our way through the icy waters. We grabbed a snack of very terrible coffee and a muffin and enjoyed my homemade rolls of pate and salami. 1.45 hours later we were in Germany but....it looked exactly the same! But with signs in German! We drove for another 3 hours, enjoying the foggy snow and gingerbread style houses.
Boxing Day continued...
So you may have noticed that I haven't written on the blog for a while now. Since we left Ida's. The difficulty in hostels is that when I'm typing away Timon doesn't have anything to do. There's no TV at the hostel and drinking alone is just sad. So I'll finish off the details from Boxing Day and then move on to our awesome bus/ferry/bus ride to Berlin!
26th December. After carefully making our way through danger streets of terror that were covered in icicles Ida took us to a snow covered park with the promise of toboggan rides. As we approached a small hill with little kids riding down it I was sure we would stop. But then Ida took us further to a completely terrifying, jaw dropping mountain and expected us to sit on a sheet of plastic and ride on down. What?! It was even scarier at the top and I was very hesitant. Timon and I sat down and pushed off and it was craaaazy! As soon as I figured out to keep my feet on the ground for control and steering it was pretty fun. Ida had given me some rad puffy overalls to wear to keep warm and dry so Timon tried to cut me off and push me off but in the end I triumphed, and he fell off at least twice. We had about 5 goes before Jakob picked us up and drove us back to Anne and Klaus'.
Back at the house I helped Anne create the two herring dishes for the dinner. That means I finely diced some apples and mixed the herring together with curry powder, onion, apple, cream and stuff. I also cut up the cherry tomatoes to decorate the top. We also made a red herring dish that is marinated and also has mayo, capers and ketchup. Jan, Charlotte, Josefine, Ida's grandma and her partner came for dinner and we enjoyed the herring dishes on rye bread along with pate, cheeses, roast pork, salmon and rare beef. It was like a Danish tapas almost :) Now the rule with Schnapps is that you have to eat the herring to get the Schnapps. I'm not sure how much Timon like the herring but he liked the schnapps. I was the opposite. So I ate his herring and he drank my schnapps. Worked out well.
Ida had told us to bring a selection of small ($2) style presents to put in the middle of the table for a game. You passed a dice around the table trying to roll 6's. If you did, you chose a present from the pile and DID NOT open it. Once that round was completed a timer was set and we rolled again, this time to steal presents from other people. After this round the presents were opened so everyone could see. The final round is where you get to steal presents again, knowing full well what they were. It was mad fun, except I felt a little guilty stealing people's presents.
Finally, I had a chat to Ida's grandmas about her trip to Phillip Island and the Ballarat Wildlife Park in the early 90s. Pretty small world.
The 27th was spent relaxing, emergency shopping for shampoo and aspirin, and watching Friday Night Lights. Oh and packing. Ida's friend Rikke came over and we went to an Indian restaurant for dinner. It all seemed fine, but when 45 minutes went by without an entree we got very very hungry. The food, when it did arrive, was great and I realised how much I love love love Indian food. We ended up going to bed around 1am and sadly set the alarm for 5am.
26th December. After carefully making our way through danger streets of terror that were covered in icicles Ida took us to a snow covered park with the promise of toboggan rides. As we approached a small hill with little kids riding down it I was sure we would stop. But then Ida took us further to a completely terrifying, jaw dropping mountain and expected us to sit on a sheet of plastic and ride on down. What?! It was even scarier at the top and I was very hesitant. Timon and I sat down and pushed off and it was craaaazy! As soon as I figured out to keep my feet on the ground for control and steering it was pretty fun. Ida had given me some rad puffy overalls to wear to keep warm and dry so Timon tried to cut me off and push me off but in the end I triumphed, and he fell off at least twice. We had about 5 goes before Jakob picked us up and drove us back to Anne and Klaus'.
Back at the house I helped Anne create the two herring dishes for the dinner. That means I finely diced some apples and mixed the herring together with curry powder, onion, apple, cream and stuff. I also cut up the cherry tomatoes to decorate the top. We also made a red herring dish that is marinated and also has mayo, capers and ketchup. Jan, Charlotte, Josefine, Ida's grandma and her partner came for dinner and we enjoyed the herring dishes on rye bread along with pate, cheeses, roast pork, salmon and rare beef. It was like a Danish tapas almost :) Now the rule with Schnapps is that you have to eat the herring to get the Schnapps. I'm not sure how much Timon like the herring but he liked the schnapps. I was the opposite. So I ate his herring and he drank my schnapps. Worked out well.
Ida had told us to bring a selection of small ($2) style presents to put in the middle of the table for a game. You passed a dice around the table trying to roll 6's. If you did, you chose a present from the pile and DID NOT open it. Once that round was completed a timer was set and we rolled again, this time to steal presents from other people. After this round the presents were opened so everyone could see. The final round is where you get to steal presents again, knowing full well what they were. It was mad fun, except I felt a little guilty stealing people's presents.
Finally, I had a chat to Ida's grandmas about her trip to Phillip Island and the Ballarat Wildlife Park in the early 90s. Pretty small world.
The 27th was spent relaxing, emergency shopping for shampoo and aspirin, and watching Friday Night Lights. Oh and packing. Ida's friend Rikke came over and we went to an Indian restaurant for dinner. It all seemed fine, but when 45 minutes went by without an entree we got very very hungry. The food, when it did arrive, was great and I realised how much I love love love Indian food. We ended up going to bed around 1am and sadly set the alarm for 5am.
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