Prague

Prague is a beautiful city and very quaint in the center, but I'm afraid for me it was one of those places that I either needed to spend more time in to warm up to it, or I just found it too touristy. The first night I arrived I walked around for about three hours and it was lovely, but the next day I was sort of want for more to do. I ended up spending the whole morning visiting the palace and its grounds, which really were nice but absolutely packed. Two of the most memorable things about Prague for me were a conversation I had with a jewelry seller about green amber, and my siesta in the large park just south east of the palace. Here is the view of the city from the palace.


I loved this fountain at the entrance to the Kafka museum. Not only do the figures swivel as they pee, but I saw a guy take a drink!



This photo was taken in one of the palace buildings. I love the ceiling!


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Berlin

I had the best time in Berlin! I arrived at literally the crack of dawn on a Sunday, which meant that the metro ride to my hostel was illustriously colored with all the blurry eyed party goers returning from the night before. I stayed at probably the best hostel I have ever stayed at called EastSeven. The people that work there are incredibly helpful, and they don't reprimand you for asking the same stupid questions as every other tourist they have ever met! I liked that. Two things made my trip to Berlin wonderful: first, I took a great walking tour with Brewers group. The tour guide gave a concise but enthusiastically thorough history of Berlin from 1871 up until the present day, focusing of course on the rise of Hitler, the fall, and then soviet occupation throughout the cold war. The second, I made tons of friends! EastSeven has a great vibe, and space to meet other travelers. I ended up befriending four American guys who had just graduated from Northeastern University, a guy from Australia but living in England, a woman from Australia who was actually moving to Berlin, and quite a few more throughout the trip. We all went out on a bar crawl together and ended up at a very packed but fun night club. I wish I could recall the names of the places we went, but I honestly didn't even know them at the time.
I have never seen more graffiti in a city than I saw in Berlin. Maybe 80% tagging, which I have really come to hate, but the 20% that was artistically done almost made up for it. I wish taggers would refrain from trashing bus station signs and city maps, some people really need to use those things!


The Reichstag, in real life.


The Reichstag, in chocolate!


Memorial to the Murdered jews of Europe, designed by Peter Eisenman.


Victoria: best and most interesting history geek tour guideI have ever met.


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Copenhagen

The time to walk around Copenhagen is at dusk. I especially enjoyed strolling along the main canal, where people are dining in both restaurants and on their private boats.


The opera house is an incredible sight at sunset.


On the second day of my trip to Copenhagen I went across the river to Orestad. It is literally a whole new city being built in connection with the old city of Copenhagen. So far it mostly is home to the university, new apartments, and the largest mall I have ever been to. Here is just one of the university's student housing buildings, finished in 2006.


Here we have the palace! Maybe


Biking is of course very popular and the best way to see Copenhagen but I would recommend renting a bike from a shop. There are free ones on the street, but at least for me they were absolutely terrifying to ride. It is also hard to find an available free bike, but it is a great system! I cannot wait for US cities to catch up and provide easy bike rentals.

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Pulpit Rock, Preikestolen

For fear of Thursday's weather report, I woke up at 4 am to hike the two hours up to Pulpit Rock. Luckily, 4 am in Norway is also sunrise, so I wasn't hiking in the dark. The walk up was beautiful but very eerie due to the intense fog. The trail was marked with red spray painted T's, and quoting my new Canadian friend Jonathan, every time he passed one he thought to himself 'thank you' 'thank you' ' thank you.' I only wandered off the trail 2 times on accident, which is pretty good for me! But alas I made it to the top with only a few minor scrapes and scenic 'detours.'
The walk up:








And here she is! Over 600 meters of sheer cliff.


And here I am


By this point I was getting a little bit cold, but I took the cliff trail down to sit on top of the rock itself. While I was sitting there I realized something about myself; I am hysterically terrified of heights! There I am trying to conjure 'deep thoughts' and all I can do is succumb to a fit of giggles.
On the walk back I ran into Jonathan from the hostel and we walked down together. It was also his 30th birthday! I don't really know how to twitter but he gave me this link to follow his trip!
http://mobile.twitter.com/canadiancat



Here is a photo from our trip down


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Location:Norway

Bergen at sunset

The first hour of the ferry from Stavanger to Bergen was rough, but once I got used to the waves I enjoyed the trip. The south western coast of Norway is gorgeous. I failed to take any photos while underway, sorry, but I did take some sunset photos when I arrived in Bergen between 9:30 and 10:30! There was definitely still light in the sky when I boarded the train at 11pm.











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Location:Bergen, Norway

Stavanger in the afternoon

After a slight miscalculation of ferry timetables, I found myself in Stavanger for the afternoon with Jonathan, the Canadian. Here are some photos of our walk around town.





Electric car! Annnd huge crazy cruise ship.


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Location:Stavanger, Norway

Pulpit Rock prep hike

The first day I arrived in Preikestolen I was greeted with a very stubborn rain storm. I knew I couldn't hike up to pulpit rock as planned, so I figured I'd just wait it out in the lobby. 4 hours later after a rather embarrassing but much needed nap, I awoke to still more rain. Around 4 o'clock it finally cleared up enough to walk around. The only problem, I did not bring my hiking boots. Instead I was sporting the equivalent to slippers with soles, but they worked out just fine. In fact, when I started my mini 2 hour hike around the lake I realized that they were the perfect water shoes. Had it been 10 degrees cooler though I would have been in trouble. No one was going to get through a hike that day dry, so instead of having 4 pound boots turn into 8 pound water weights, mine remained relatively light!
The trail:


This is where I decided to turn back.


The state of my shoes at this point:


The walk back:


Back at the base of the hostel:


Here is the view from the hostels lobby. Not bad ey?


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Location:Preikestol, Norway

17th of May, Happy Independence Day Norway!

Because you sure know how to celebrate!
To be fair, I haven't celebrated my own country's independence day since I was 13, but I hear it's party. I have seen Bastille day though and that was awesome! But Norway. Well, let me just show you:


And the best part- everyone gets dressed up in traditional Norwegian garb!


Just take one second to admire her matching purse before we move on. Ok, next- the men!






Ok back to the women.


But the parade is all about the kids, says the lady I met at the hostel.


After the parade I decided to check out the sculpture park I keep hearing about from Ethan and Selena. It was beautiful!


And it was also a great place for a nap. Until the ground started to shake from these guys!


I shouldn't have been napping anyways. Check out this crazy concert in Kuba park! I found it the best way I know how- follow the crowds.


Quite a day ey? Tonight I am headed by night train to Stavanger, then up to pulpit rock.
One great thing about parades and festivites in general, the food.
Last bite:



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Location:Oslo

Goin' Norway!

This isn't Norway, maybe Denmark?



Thiiis is Norway:



To say the least I was excited on the plane.
First impressions were a little dreary, but I think that was due to the weather. Right as I landed and got on the bus to Oslo it started to pour! But when it cleared up it changed completely. Here is a shot from my first walk through town.



Today I walked 11.5 miles around town says my calibrated and always accurate pedometer...(*)
I don't know about that, but my feet say I'm tired! Oslo is beautiful, and if you don't believe me here is the proof.






The opera house:






Still don't believe me?






The main problem- it's so expensive! I actually had a 'reverse China moment' when I first arrived. I'll explain. When Charles and I first arrived in China, there was a day or two where we honestly did not know the exchange rate. But when we found out we were very happily surprised! Here, that was not the case. Just to give some reference, a kebab is 55 nok, so roughly 10 bucks usd. To pee- approx 1 usd. Metro ticket, 5 usd. Hostel, I'm afraid to say about 40 usd a night! And the guy in the bunk above me snores terribly so.... Not a good bargain.
BUT there is an upside. While walking around the pier today, which is basically one huge boardwalk, I found the cheapest item in town to eat: a hot dog with onions, ketchup and mustard. Upon discovering this I realized what my favorite 'only in desperation' meal is: a hot dog with onions, ketchup and mustard!
Cannot wait for lunch tomorrow. Oh serendipity.



One final thought for today-- is crosswalk guy this stylish in other cities?



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