Berlin on the Spree

Tuesday 6th April 2010
Early plane to Berlin! We arrived at about 8:30am and settled in to the cafe to wait for Daniel and Gareth (flatmates from London) who were arriving about an hour after us. Once they arrived we headed for the Couchsurfers house, dumped our bags and headed out. First stop was Alexander platz for German beer and German sausage, yum!

Daniel pointed out this would be Nicks album cover if he was a folk singer :)

Next we went on a walking tour, it was so awesome! We saw museum island, berlin wall, checkpoint charlie, hitlers bunker, Jewish memorial, brandenburg gate, etc..., and lots more. Our tour guide had like a masters in modern history so she was very knowledgeable! The tour went for four hours, so needless to say we were desperate for more food and sitting.
Daniel and the small car...
Sight of hitlers book burning, i think this guy wanted to climb in,
Jewish Memorial
Berlin Wall, Nick
Gareth and some building I can't remember...

We went back to Alexanderplatz for one of those brilliant German-Turkish kebabs and after chilling for a while we joined the massive que to go up the TV tower. We arrived at the most perfect time, dusk, we saw the sun set over Berlin from the top.
On the underground station... at the end of a long day on Bargain Hunt,

TV Tower...

Wednesday 7th April 2010
Today Nick and I headed off to see the Jewish museum, (the boys wanted to go to see the Olympic stadium from hitlers Olympics). The Jewish museum was really cool (designed by Daniel Liberskind), there were three axis (holocaust, exile- or something like that- and culture) and the exhibits were made along this axis, as well as the exhibits there were these 'voids' that Liberskind had designed into the building- one at the end of the holocaust axis was just a dead end, you walk in and the void stretches up above you and around you.


The other one you could walk into was another large void going up several stories but on the ground were all these iron faces about the size of your fist and as you walk over them the sound of them clinking together fills up the whole void.
Jewish museum stuff
Nick touching the void.
Exterior of the museum.
After the museum Nick and I went to Potsdamer Platz, to check out some buildings there, then back over near the Jewish memorial to have some lunch. Then we went exploring the Tiergarten (Berlins Central Park). On the map there was a building that looked like it was designed by Santiago Calatrava so we took bets and went to find it (and find out who designed it). I won! The Berlin House of Culture (previously some kind of world cogress) was actually designed by some modernist from the U.S. Next we headed over to where we were going to meet the guys and went in search of a cool restaurant for dinner. We found one, walked to Alex Platz to meet boys, told them of our discovery and caught train back to restaurant (which was very authentic). At the 'authentic'/ restaurant
Afterwards we went to Irish Pub in Hackescher Markt so Gareth could watch the football (not so authentic).

Thursday 8th April 2010
We had to leave the couchsurfers today so we moved to hostel in Charlottenburg. We all went to bottom lefthand corner of Tiergarten (where the zoo is) with the idea to walk to the Reichstag in the top righthand corner. We stopped halfway to go for a row around a little lake we found in the garden, then got lost and ended up in the bottom right hand corner of the garden....



these wanderings (and boat trip) took a few hours! eventually we found our way to the Reichstag and joined the massive cue. An hour later we were at the top looking over all of Berlin (again- but closer than the TV tower).
note the english boy in shorts while the aussie wears a coat....

The view from halfway up the dome.

Afterwards Nick and I were half dead and we raced the boys back to the hostel (we differed on which way would be quicker) Nick and I won by about 2 minutes. The boys then went to Charlottenburg Schloss which- quote- 'looks like Buckingham Palace' so we didn't miss much, and then they went to check out the river (and a piece of the wall still standing there) for a while. Nick and I had some delicious Asian food (Tom Kha Goong) and went to bed....

Scandanavian Adventures

We didn't visit these countries at the same time but it made sense to put them together :)

Oslo harbour - view from Fram museum

Saturday 16.1.10
After just a few hours of sleep we dragged ourselves out to Kates car for the rather sleepy trip to Stanstead airport. One uneventful flight later we found ourselves in a winter wonderland. We'd had plenty of snow in London but it would always melt after a few days. This snow was deep, and not going anywhere!
After finding our hostel and dropping our bags we headed straight for elegant Vigeland Park. The Park has a broad tree lined field leading to a long bridge and promenade lined with statues of entwined lovers, screaming toddlers and attentive fathers. This all culminates in a big obelisk on top of the hill, the obelisk itself is a statue made up of entwined human bodies. We had fun walking through the deep snow, having snowball fights and making snow angels. Norwegian families were happily skiing through the park and down some of the longer slopes. Children in Norway are cute, all rugged up in their one-piece ski suits, with ruddy cheeks and they all seem to have a little birdsnest in the back of their blond hair- adorable!


Me in the Park
Looks like trouble...
Innocent Kate
Or is she??
Kate & TJ gang up on Nick


Bullseye!
Two little Aussies
Making snow angels


Crazy ducks swimming in the only non frozen bit of the stream
The Gates to Vigeland Park.

After getting thoroughly wet and cold we all got on the tram, Nick and I got off at a design shopping mall (all shops dedicated to design!) and Kate and TJ stayed on to see the Nobel Peace Prize centre. We checked out the shopping centre for a while, enjoyed some live music, then walked down the hill to check out the Nobel Peace prize centre and catch up with Kate and TJ. After a look around we all headed back to the hostel to thaw out and put on dry socks. It was late afternoon by now so we chilled out for a while before heading out for dinner. We spoke to the hostel owner and asked for a local food spot- we didn't want a touristy restaurant or anything, he suggested what the locals call a brown cafe... basically a cafe that serves alcohol and pub grub- sounded good to us! We found the place fine and had some delicious dinner (nick and I had fish) and enjoyed some local brew. After dinner we headed over to the beautiful opera house to check it out...... Kate, TJ and I amused ourselves by sliding on our feet down the frozen slope of the roof where it meets the ground.

Dinner- delish!

Nick and the Oslo opera house

Sunday 17.1.10

Once we dragged ourselves out of bed (very hard when its dark outside!) we headed over to see the Polar Ship Fram. The bus dropped us about 1km from the museum so we had a nice snowy walk down some pretty streets before we got the the museum itself. The museum wasn't heated at all (or insulated it seems) so it was one of the coldest museums I've ever been in but it was worth it! SO interesting, had heaps of info on Polar exploration especially the trips done by the Fram, and the explorer Nansen. Highly reccomended if anyone goes to Oslo! Nick had to leave from here because he is off for two days in Amsterdam on his own (hence I doubt there will be an Amsterdam blog), and I stayed with TJ & Kate.
We made our way back into the city and wandered around the historical area which has the castle, the University and the main pedestrian road through the middle of everything. We went to the Nowegian National Gallery which I totally loved. As well as Munch's 'The Scream', there were loads of other artists which I'd never heard of that were really good! We had a big lunch and then headed off to look for 'brown cheese' which TJ couldn't leave Norway without. We found a supermarket in the train station and stocked up on Norwegian cheese, chocolate and hot chocolate to take home with us, then headed off to catch our plane!

Sweden!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Swedish road.
Thursday 1st April 2010

We had an early-ish flight from standsted airport, decided on the train (over the cheaper but longer bus) and it was really quick! We arrived at the airport in Sweden and walked to the local bustop. On the way about 1,000 Volvo's passed us and when we stopped into Macca's to ask for directions Abba was playing- oh and there was an Ikea next to the bustop! So Swedish! Plus all the people we spoke to were so friendly.
We caught the bus to Uppsala and Christopher, Nick's Swedish cousin, picked us up at the station. We drove to his place which is about 30 mins from Uppsala, in a smaller town called Knivsta- literally translated Knife Town!!



Chris' House
He has this great little farm, an old farm house (renovated) from the 1920's, a sauna, a pool and a little summer house (1 room with a balcony), he has all this land in front of his property with beautiful forests at the edges & two gorgeous cats Teddy and Alicia. Lovely!
After a little while we headed out to meet another one of Nick's cousins' Tobias. We met Tobias' girlfiend (who is pregnant- due in July) and met his two cats. While we were there another Aussie guy called Mike came over (their cousins from their Dad's side) he was also from Coffs Harbour and his aussie accent was so strong! He's been in Sweden for ages... more proof for my theory that our accent is very hard to shake!

Uppsala

Friday 2nd April 2010
Today we headed to Uppsala on the bus, the bus driver was really friendly and wouldn't let us pay! Once in Uppsala lots of things were closed because it was Easter Friday but we headed straight for the two famous sights- the church and the castle. The church was really beautiful and there were choir singers practising while we were there which was really lovely, the castle was nothing special close up- it was more impressive when you see it from the town below. The centre of Uppsala is really pretty with beautiful buildings and a fast flowing river that runs through town. Chirstopher told us that at the end of April Uppsala has a boat race down the river, everyone makes their own boats which makes for some pretty spectacular crashes and boats sinking. By this time it was past lunch time so we thought we should eat something. We went to a lively looking restaurant which had awesome food! I got a Spanish salad (truly delicious) and Nick got a local dish, fried Herring with potato mash and lingam berries, he said it was one of the best meals of the whole trip.
Back at Chris's in the evening Anthony (another cousin), his flatmate Jonas and two of Chris's other friends came over for a traditional Swedish easter dinner. We had Potatoes, Salmon, Meatballs, Sausage, Eggs with mayo and prawns, pickled fish (Sil - rollmops in Aus), this crispy swedish bread (which is a bit like Ryvita) with cheese on it and lots and lots of Schnapps! And lots of singing Swedish songs! It was really hilarious.


Anthony & Jonas

Saturday 3rd April 2010
Stockholm! Headed into Stockholm in the morning and went straight to the old town to check it out. Stockholm is a really beautiful city with loads of little islands all joined by bridges making up the majority of the city. As we walked up to the castle there was a big military parade and a marching band, it was really cool (the marching band), the Army/ guards looked funny because they didn't have to have short hair so some guys had long blonde hair coming out of their hats. After a bit more wandering we headed down to the waters edge and walked over to the next island. We had a look at the Architecture & Modern art Museum and then headed along the water for about 30 mins to yet another island to see the Vassa museum- all along the water front the Swedes were out enjoying the warm weather. Several times we saw people just standing in the sun with their eyes closed soaking it in, saying hello to an old friend who'd been away for some time.

Models of the Vassa
The Vassa is a 16th century boat that sunk on its maiden voyage (a la Titantic), but in the 50's someone found it in Stockholm harbour, refloated it, and restored it really well. The boat is huge! It was very impressive when you first walk in and totally worth the Scandanavian sized entry fee. We saw a movie hat explained why it was built, why it sunk and how it was restored. After a while we headed back towards the centre of town, looked at some shops and bought a couple things. Then we caught the train back to Knivsta and Chris picked us up at the train station. We had dinner with Chris and went to sleep early.

Sunset in Stockholm

The waterfront in Stockholm

Cini's in Stockholm Downtown Knivsta at dusk
Chris whipping us up some dinner.

Sunday 4th April 2010
Today was pretty quiet, spent the morning hanging out at Christophers then Anthony and Tobias picked us up and we went off to visit Monique (another cousin!) who was sick in hospital. We spent about 2 hours talking with her which was really nice. Afterwards the guys took us to dinner in Swedish Chinese restaurant, which was pretty much the same as an Australian Chinese restaurant!! That evening we hung out at Anthonys.

Nick, Annette and Chris eating breakfast.Lunch at Ikea- Gravadlax & Meatballs...

Monday 5th April 2010
This morning we had Breakfast with Chris, his friend Annette and his dad Anders. After breakfast we left for Stockholm again, went to the Ikea mothership (biggest Ikea in Stockholm) and had an Ikea lunch (I had swedish meatballs and Nick had gravadlax). Then we went back to see a little more of the old town and wandered around exploring the little streets. At 5 we went to catch the bus to the airport hotel (which is only 50m from the airport)- had dinner and went to bed early!

Barthelona!

the view from our room

We arrived into Girona (Ryanair's version of Barcelona), passed quickly through passport control and customs- and jumped onto the first bus heading to Barcelona. We dozed off listening to Nick's ipod and before we knew it we were in Barca... We had booked a hotel in the olympic site, or so we thought! Sadly it turned out to be a completely different hotel with the same name. It was lastminute.com's fault, they had put a link to buy a room at this other hotel on a page specifically advertising the hotel on the olympic site. Once you went onto their page there were no other pictures or anything to show you it was a different hotel, you just selected double or twin then paid... After we got over the annoyance and our frustration at a total lack of customer service from lastminute.com we just sat back and enjoyed our sea side hotel with lovely views and the quiet viallge atmosphere of area. We had Spanexican for dinner :0

A short 15 min train trip brought us to the centre of Barcelona and we headed straight for the Arc de Triomf as we were both curious to see how it compared to the Parisian version. It was nice but not as impressive. We wandered up to the L'Eixample area to get some brunch and take in some of Gaudi's most popular buildings- undulating La Pedrera and sparkly Casa Batllo, along with some other funky Modernism gems.

I went off then to catch up with some people from home while Nick explored Barcelona's many design shops, walked over to the Sagrada Familia, waited in line for while then found out it was closed. Not to be defeated he walked over to Barcelona's own gerkin building- the better, newer, more fabulous Torre Agbar, hoping to see the colourful building be 'switched on' for the evening. But after waiting in the failing light for sometime he gave up and headed back over to Las Ramblas and met up with me under the shadow of Christopher Columbus.

Nowhere in Barcelona is as lively as Las Ramblas, and it is at its most convivial in the early evening when tourists, travellers and even the odd local wander the wide boulevard and up the lanes of Barri Gotic browsing boutiques or looking for the perfect place to have some tapas or a cool sangria. We happily joined in

6.12.09

This morning we headed for another one of Barcelona's architectual tidbits the Food Markets – designed by Enrique Miralles From there we walked to Sagrada Familia for a second bite of the cherry. This time we languished in the park opposite enjoying the outside views rather than battling the crowds to get inside.

Eventually we retreated into the metro and high up to the hillside district of Gracia to visit Parc Guell, Guadi's playground of colorful mosaics, paths and plazas. The house Gaudi lived in (after it failed to sell) and several other gingerbread Modernisme buildings kept us more than entertained and we could've stayed until sundown but we had more to see! We strolled back down the hill, through the district of Gracia enojying the beautiful apartment buildings and following the Passeig de Gracia from its beginning, right along until it becomes the wide boulevard that eventually led us down to Placa de Catalunya. We arrived there as the sun set and the sky was filled with pink smudges and the warm colour was reflected onto the striking department store Corte Ingles.

We didn't linger here long, we continued our amble down through Barri Gotic, skirted along La Ribera and down to slightly frayed-around-the-edges La Barceloneta to seek out some of that famous seafood Paella. After a delicious dinner we headed to the metro again for take two of that colouful cucumber Torre Agbar. Looking like true tourists we dashed across highways to take blurry photos of a pretty building. It was worth it though.

7.12.09

This morning our first stop was the Olympic site and Montjuic. We walked up from Placa Espanya and the first place we stopped was The Barcelona Pavillion by Mies Van de Rohe, not suprisingly we lingered a while. I was really surprised by how much I liked it, everything about it was pleasing to the eye: the marble, stone, water, glass and steel; and how these interact, reflect and repeat. After some time we wandered up the hill through the gardens and towards the main Olympic site. We saw Santiago Calatrava's tower, tennis and swimming complexes, the main stadium, and coming down the other side of the hill we saw the famous diving pools with spectacular views over Barcelona (think Kylie Minogue's 'Slow' filmclip).

Skipping the furnicular we ambled down a somewhat forgotten path (there were homeless people living in tents) down into the Port Vell area. After a few fairly bland streets we came out where Las Ramblas meets the sea, walked over Rambla de Mar to a big (floating pier type) shopping centre/ restaurant area with lots of overpriced tapas bars. After a peruse, we wandered back up Las Ramblas (picking up some souvenirs on the way) and through Barri Gotic to a little Cafe and had a very late lunch. After a bit more of a wander around we walked up to the bus station to begin our journey home to London.