photos from the Netherlands and out one day Cologne

here´s some more photobucket pics. Turns out Flickr has a 100MB per month limit so its back to this until July
so heres the photots mates

The Netherland´s and the Journey to Sweden

From the flight from London, we arrived in Amsterdam at about 9:30 and made our way directly to our hostel where we dropped off our luggage before going on a walking tour of the city. Our self-led tour led us to a small café on a quiet canal where we had a relaxing lunch. Our room was ready at 2:00 so after lunch we headed back to the hostel for a nap and shower before our big adventure to the red light district. After our nap we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the park near our hostel which is situated right in the middle of the museum district. Then we headed over to the Leidsplan for some Indian food. From the restaurant there was a really nice view of a cobblestone alley which was great for people watching and the waitress told us all about how to make what we were eating. YUM! From there we visited the Rembrantplan for a few beers and finally delved our way into the red-light district. It was like the Disneyland of prostitution. Women standing in lit up windows wearing nothing but bikinis, apparently they do have to wear that now with the conservative government you know, line the streets between sex clubs, greasy kebab stores, and coffee shops. For those of you who have visited this part of Amsterdam before it is probably a bit smaller then you remember. The recession seems to have hit the district hard. We walked the whole six by three block grid in a couple of hours enjoying the bath of neon and the oddness of it all. On the way home to the hostel we got a bit lost and ended up having to take a taxi to save our aching feet. The next day we had breakfast at the hostel and went out to explore some the nicer sides of the city before we had to catch our train to Vreizenween, a small town in the northeast of Holland where our next host lives. First we made a swing by the Van Gough museum but even ten minutes before they opened the line was horrendous so we compromised and went to the Rijks museum instead. Afterwards we went to the Waterloo market to check out the Dutch version of a flea market and I ended up buying a bike lock and bell for about five dollars. In the afternoon before our train Todd went to do the Heineken Experience and Dan and I headed back to the hostel so we could grab our stuff and meet him at central station. One thing Todd forgot to tell us was that his backpack was is luggage room number one not luggage room number two with all of all luggage so before we could leave we spent a good 15 min thinking that all of Todd’s had been stolen. Once we starting thinking logically we figured out what the problem was and finally got the hell out of the hostel’s crowded lobby. The train up to Vreisenween only took about two hours and our hostess Sabrina met us at the train station. She lives with her parents and younger sister so we got to know a bit about the whole family and are welcomed back anytime. It was a bit nice have a mom around for a bit. The first night we had spaghetti Bolognese and this tasty vanilla-chocolate pudding which comes separated in a milk carton. We slept in until noon the first day and generally spent the day lazing about as seems to be our first day routine everywhere we go. In the afternoon we walked around the little city close to them called Alemo, saw some shops and enjoyed a nice beer on the canal. That night we cooked dinner for the family. We had not made a very good plan and arrived at the store about 20 minutes before it closed so we ended up just having baked chicken breasts and a nice salad. Around 10:00 we headed out to meet some of Sabrina’s friends at the pub back in Alemo. Apparently asshole is something like the national card game of the Netherlands. When I suggested we play it sometime during the night I was genuinely laughed at and educated on the longstanding Dutch asshole tradition. The next day Sabrina and her sister drove us all the way to Cologne in Germany where we would have to wait until two in the morning to catch a bus to the apparently obscure airport out of which I had booked our flight. Note to self: when you fly with Ryan Air it is never convenient. So we spent the day walking around Cologne with Sabrina and sister in tow. We spent a lot of time exploring the famous Dom. Before meeting up with a big group of couch surfers who happened to be having a tapas dinner night to welcome someone home. The dinner was fun and I met a few people I would like to come back and visit. Afterwards we went down to the river in a huge group to kill some time and drink beer which seems to be a central social activity most places that we have been. We did that until about one in the morning when we headed over to the bus station to catch our airport line. The walk along the Rheine is really quite beautiful and the views of the Dom at night are amazing. It turns out Frankfurt (Hahn) airport is an old American military base that Ryan Air is leasing from us. When we got the entrance I thought maybe they were taking us to a concentration camp or something, not really but it was a bit creepy. After the terribly long night and three hour wait in the airport our flight was surprisingly nice. We got really lucky and sat in the emergency exit row so we all had mega amounts of leg room. Stockholm (Skanska) is just about as much a part of Stockholm as Hahn is a part of Frankfurt so following the flight we had another two hour bus ride to get into the city where-thank god- our friend Linn whom we have been staying with, met us at the bus station. As you can probably guess we spent our first day here in Stockholm sleeping off the exhaustion from our journey so we did not see much of the city or even Linn’s apartment until the next day. I will tell more about Stockholm and our adventures here when I have a bit more

lots of catch up

So catching up…Our last few days in Germany were spent in Anni's apartment and hanging about Esslingen, possibly one of the most adorable cities in the world, and Stuttgart, a short train ride away. Our first night we enjoyed getting to know her quirky roommates who will both be hopefully my long standing friends. The next day we walked about the city a bit checking out the old city where there is a really beautiful medieval church and market square which houses a really quaint used bookstore next to a open pavilion with a refreshing fountain. Perhaps you can tell by the number of adjectives in the last sentence that we really enjoyed the old city. Later that afternoon Todd and I went out and met Anni's roommates for a drink before having a small dinner party for which I cooked my now well established mango, garbanzo bean curry and followed that by going out and enjoying some wine in the park. The next day we lazed about because it was raining a bit, tried unsuccessfully to find a luggage store, and organized our bags. In the afternoon Anni`s cousin dropped by to spend the night. In the evening we went out to Stuttgart to have drinks with some of the people from the dinner party and another aupair friend of ours Max who happens to live in Stuttgart. Stuttgart is a beautiful city and I ended up enjoying myself so much that I had to walk the whole way to the train station barefoot crooked on Anni's arm for support. Word of the recently wizened: don't mix Sekt with Erdbeer liquor with white wine with Fig Vodka. No matter how good it tastes or what stomach of steel you think you have. Just say no. What would have been another late morning was destroyed by Todd's sudden early morning (f-ing 7:00 am) desire to cook breakfast for everyone. I’m not knocking it the breakfast was really quite tasty. After a very slow morning we toured more of Esslingen with Anni and her cousin Simon and even made it up to the one spot we had been meaning go to from the beginning. Above the city the hills are covered grapes for a few local vineyards and at the top of the hill runs the remaining side of the medieval city wall and fort tower fortifications. From there is an amazing view of the valley which extends for a few towns in each direction. After the long trek up the hill and a break to eat some ice-cream for, we headed over to the park to the roomies and say goodbye to Anni as she had to go to a birthday party back in Seedorf. Lacking much energy we slowly picked our way home to pack and recharge for a barbeque we had been invited to by some friends of Anni from school. Around 6:00 Vera, one of Anni´s friends from school who is really rad, came by to collect the five of us for the party. Michaela’s garden, where the BBQ was happening was nice a cool with a laden cherry tree and a stone BBQ. Michael, Vera, Todd and I walked over to the grocery store to pick up bread and things to be grilled and came back to freshly made salads and good company. Throughout the night the barbeque grew and grew until there were maybe 15 people when we headed off to Stuttgart around midnight. We spent most of the night sitting outside of the clubs as most of the places we went were packed and the ten of us all prefer different types of music. Ultimately we ended up going to three great clubs and heading home on the night bus at 4:15 in the morning. Needless to say we slept in a bit the next day and did not get up until around 1:00 in the afternoon. Daniel and I went out to get some lunch a bit later and as everything else was closed because of the bank holiday, we ended up at a small Italian restaurant. Around 4:30 we left Anni’s apartment and her roommate Marcus drove us to the airport. On the way we got stuck behind a four car accident and we were literally parked on the autobahn for about 30 minutes. The flight over to Stansted was uneventful following a ridiculous check-in process. After we had checked our bags I realized that I had forgotten my passport in my backpack and had to get my bag brought back out and then check it back in. After that I was really paranoid about them losing my bags but everything came out on the other end so everything worked out ok. After an hour and a half wait at the airport our friend Leigh picked us up and took us back to his house outside of Chelmsford which is as he describes it the beginning of the ass end of the middle of nowhere. His village literally consists of two or three houses and a pub which only serves food two days a week and is run by an 74 year old man. We did not get to his house until about midnight but Leigh’s mom and step-dad stayed up and had tea with us before we all crashed. The next day we had our typical late morning and spent some time watching Sleeping Beauty with Leigh’s mother’s god children. After that Leigh drove us over to a small fishing town called Molden where I got to have a Pukka-pie which is a pot pie that is pukka or tasty. In the evening we had a couple of pints at the pub next to his house and then had a tasty spaghetti dinner made by Leigh’s mom. After dinner Leigh’s stepfather taught us an interesting game called 3-5-7 that he learned from a Peruvian monk while he was stranded in the Andes for eight months. In the morning we met up with two of Leigh’s friends from neighboring villages and took the train into London for the day. Our first adventure in London was a visit to the British Museum followed by a walk over to Buckingham palace. It was the Queen’s birthday but we spent to much time at the museum and getting lunch and missed her arrival at the palace. After a nice walk through the park where we got a view of Big Ben and the Eye we went on a shopping mission in Camden Town followed by a nice hour and half relaxing in a pub close by. We got back to Chelmsford around 6:00 and went out to dinner with Leigh and Sarah at an Italian-American restaurant. Before going to sleep we had to pack as we had to leave the house at 4:00 in the morning to get to the airport in time for our flight. The drive from Leigh’s to the Gatwick airport led us through some really beautiful parts of the English countryside and we also got to see a beautiful sunrise. On the way to the airport we were all wishing that we could stay longer in England.

photos from England

the diatribe will soon follow but here are the photots from our 72 hour visit to the United Kingdom.

finally photos from Germany

click here for slideshow

sorrz for the delay..photos from Belfast...Gemany photos soon to come

I could not get the slidshow link to work so click here to see our Belfast photos

Germany so far..

On Tuesday morning Todd left us in Dublin at three in the morning to catch his 6:30 flight to Frankfurt. The story of his day there may be best left up to him. Daniel and I had a luxurious morning, slept in until about 9:30 and as I was feeling a bit under the weather made a slow departure for the city center. After getting everything organized we realized that the plan we had made with Todd to meet in Frankfurt was far to vague especially considering the first email we got from him was entitled help and said only HELP!. We have now come to a pack that we will make much more solid plans and avoid beer drinking before we make any big moves. Still in Dublin we did our best to reassure Todd via email and then left the situation to a prayer. After the lengthy bud ride back to the city center we found a Chinese buffet place to eat our 2:00 PM breakfast/lunch/dinner and whiled away the couple of hours before our airlink bus to the airport by stuffing ourselves. Our flight with Lufthansa from Dublin over to Frankfurt was really nice. I spent most of the time sleeping, woke up just in time to have a beer and prepare for the landing. This is where the chaos began. Our original plan was to take the train from Frankfurt to Stuttgart where we would meet Annika and drive to her home in Seedorf about an hour away. When I went to by train tickets from the Deutsche Bahn website however we discovered that the train tickets we 56 Euro per person. When I spoke with Anni on the phone she told us that she would pick us up in Frankfurt instead because it would be much cheaper. So we tried to email Todd with the changes in our plan but got no reply and had no way of checking once we got into Frankfurt. Dan and I spent an anxious hour and half in the airport waiting area devising options for what we would do if Todd did not appear before Anni. We decided that perhaps Todd had not gotten any of our messages and would be waiting for us still at the train station. So when Anni arrived with her 80 year old Opa in tow and found us Toddless we convinced her to let us try and find Todd at the Haupbahnhof. So it turns out that the main train station in Frankfurt has a section for each direction. To end your suspense here we found Todd within ten minutes of searching completely by chance as he was actually on his way to meet us at the airport but had gotten completely lost and was adopted by a helpful character who helped him get there in junction to the airport After that excitement we drove the three hours from Frankfurt to Seedorf accompanied sometimes by Todd’s snores and sometimes by folk songs from Anni’s Opa. The three of us are staying in Anni’s bedroom in the attic of her families country home which has a big queen size bed and two twin mattresses for us to fight over. We woke up around 11:30 on Wednesday to a fabulous breakfast on the balcony downstairs looking out over glowing green fields and farm houses. Anni really went all out with a big basket of local breads, homemade jam, meats, cheeses, and scrambled eggs. She has really been the kindest friend and best host ever. After a relaxed breakfast we all headed off to on a tour of the Schwartzwald which took us first to the Schwartzwaelder Freilicht Museum, a historic house and lifestyle museum which taught us all about how people used to live over the last 400 years. After the museum we drove to the highest waterfall in Germany which is in a small town called Friberg. On our way back from Friburg we stopped at the family home of Anni’s father where here Aunt, Uncle, Cousins, and Opa still live. It is a huge farm with two large houses, . They raise pigs and dairy cows and while we were visiting with her Opa we all got to try Schwartzwurst, blood sausage, made from a pig that he had raised. When we got home Anni threw a BBQ for us with a bunch of her friends and cousins. It was a really nice time and we got try even more of the local specialties. Later in the night we had a bonfire in their backyard and did not get to bed until later again. We spent Thursday relaxing, doing laundry and also went on a shopping journey to find Topo maps for Todd’s GPS which ended up being to expensive and to find a new charger for Dan’s laptop which we could not find. The trip was successful though as both Dan and Todd found some nice shoes. For dinner we made our own pizzas from scratch. It took us a lot longer to make the pizzas and we did not finish until 11:30. On Friday we climbed the highest mountain in the Black Forest- Feldberg- with Anni and her sister Louise. It was a really beautiful day but we all got a bit sunburned. After the hike we swam in the Titisee and made an exhausted trip back home. After hot showers we felt much better and we all along with Anni’s sisters Michaela and Louisa, went out to the best local German restaurant in town. Dan got to try his first schnitzel (read: not in anyway a sausage) and I got to have Jaeger schnitzel which had a nice mushroom sauce. Dinner was so filling that we had to come home and have schnapps afterwards with a few of Anni’s girlfriends who had come over while we were out. Around 11:45 we headed out to a party thrown by the local youth club which is about a five minute walk from Anni’s house. The party was held in the smallish clubhouse which was filled with loud music and all the youth from the surrounding villages. We were somewhat of celebrities because of our foreignness and specifically because we are from California. All night people wanted to buy us cocktails and the whole club was very drunk. Around 1:00 is started to rain and the three of us went out to enjoy the first rain we had felt in months. It was really fun getting to practice my German with so many locals. The whole visit here has been really beneficial for my language skills. Saturday we woke up very late and after a small breakfast headed out to visit Burg Hollenzollern, the ancestral castle of one of Germany’s royal families. From the parking lot it was a fifteen minute walk up to the castle and about five minutes into our journey a drenching rain starting to pour which made the visit very cold and a bit unpleasant but we enjoyed it none the less. We had made plans to go shopping in Tubingen but as we were soaking wet we decided to come home and make soup instead. While Todd was making the soup, I learned how to make Dampfknoedeln which is a yeast dough dumpling dessert served with vanilla sauce from Anni’s mom. Today we spent the morning watching movies and then packed our things and headed bz train to Esslingen where Anni goes to school. We are staying here until Thursday then flying to London. I will write more when I have more energy.