Stockholm & Coppenhagen

Stockholm... Stockholm is a BEAUTIFUL city and I mean beautiful in every sense of the word! There is not ONE ugly person in all of Stockholm! Not kidding at all, I feel like I stepped right into a Nautica Ad! Plus the city is so clean, the parks, the SQUARES i mean everything is fantastic!

The weather was so great. It felt like a crisp fall day with clear skies and an amazing sunset at 12:30am!! and an equally beautiful sunrise at 3:30am! (and yes, I was awake for both...)

My first day and night, I walked all around the Old Town and the canals. Stunning! And then, that night my new friend Andy from my hostel and I grabbed dinner at this restauran that was called "garlic and shots." I had a delicious pasta and chicken meal with of cousre tons of garlic! But if you know my mom, she loves cooking with garlic, so Andy was a little taken back on how much there was, and i could hardly taste it! :) after dinner we headed to a few bars. very fun and interesting in that it feels like it is 6:00pm when in reality it is 12:00! Also in the majority of the bars they have casinos! So..needless to say, i played couple of hands of black jack...and WON! wahoooooooo!! so much fun and dangerous! I am sure they make a killing off drunk Swedes and tourist!

The next day, Andy and I decided to take the boat tour throughout. Really cool and interesting. I am not sure if you all know this or not, but Stockholm is made up of several islands all connected bridges and trams. Unfortunately, it rained, but that didnt stop us for enjoying the day! So after our tour and walking around, we headed up to the top of the TV Tower to see some amaziong views. The wind was so strong at the top, it knocked me off my feet. It was quite hysterical!

That night we hit the town, Stockholm style. Ok, well more tourist Stockholm style.. lol.. We went to this AMAZING restaurant for dinner, where we ate Reindeer! Yes, I am sorry but I ate Rudoloph and I am pretty sure Andy at Dancer! And let me tell you, it was UNBELIEVABLE! So delicious!! We both practically licked the plate clean! Highly recommend you try it some day! Then after dinner, fully stuffed, we headed to the Absolute Stockholm Ice Bar. Super Fun! Great cocktails and my poor little toes were freezing, but well worth it! We still had a blast! And then we were onto a bar that was on a boat! It was really fun and of course after a few cocktails Andy says.. hey, where are the girls... and of course in true RG style I was oblivious to the fact that it was Gay night... it was really funny! So after a little while of people watching we headed home.

The next day, Martin, an awesome local, took me to Vaxholm. An amazing little island about 40min-1hr by ferry. We had a delicious lunch and went to see the castle, which again we had to take a ferry to. But what was so funy is that the ferry is seriously the length of the distance to the island. So once the captain basically turned the boat around, we were at the other island. Hysterical! And this "castle" was quite pathetic. Sure there were some cannons and stuff. But really the museum inside was quite sad. But we made the best of it! After touring the rest of Vaxholm and some ice cream, we headed back to town. There we walked all around and managed to work up an appetite and tried some Libaniese Food (i am sure i spelt that wrong). It was very good but with a little kick. Then i said good bye and headed to Coppenhagen.

The night train to Coppenhagen was interesting. I was in a room with 5 other guys and one of them probably snored louder then anyone i have ever met. It was dreadful. He slept right above me and every 30min or so i would smack him so he would shut up! Awful! But dont worry, he told me he snored and gave me the A-OK to hit him...

Upon arriving to Coppenhagen, I am now so beat. I grab a locker for my stuff, since i plan on taking the night train to Berlin, and some food and head to the park for some light reading and napping. So nice. I was out! I set my alarm for my bike tour and I was ready to go!

The Coppenhagen Bike tour was alot of fun! It was just me and a dutch couple along with the owner / tour guide Neils. Coppenhagen is a fantastic city! And the MOST Bicycle friendly city in the world!!! Because of traffic, the government actaully removed one car lane and turned it into a bike lane. And at rush hour and all throughout the day, watch out b/c there are millions of bikers cruising around town - in suits, dresses, with strollers attached, you name it - very cool!!

Christiania in Coppenhagen is this fanatic commune that Neils took us through. About 40yrs ago or so, the government was sick of all the hippies hanging out in the city center so they forced them all to Christiania. There, they were basically allowed to do whatever they wanted. Old bulidings that have not been used since to the war or earlier were theirs to live in. So basically this is a squatters town. They even have their own flag. It is so artistic and fantastic but also very drug friendly.. The main street is known as Pusher Street for pushing drugs. They have graffetti everywhere and huge NO CAMERA signs all throughout. Basically if you have a camera out, they think you are a cop. Very crazy. Now the government is looking to "reclaim" Christiania and clean it up, make it into parks, etc... but the Christianians are not having it. Therefore, there have been major protests. Also what is cool about Christiania is that no one can move there or build anything, sure you can fix up what you have, but no new buildings can go up. And the only way to live there is if your family has lived there for generations with the "land" being passed down (even though they dont own it.) Very interesting place!

Neils was not only my tour guide, but my Coppenhagen hero. My night train was canceled, actaully no longer exists, so he graciously let me sleep on his couch free of charge. (Which we all know is fantastic when you traveling and are low on funds!) :) The rest of the day, Neils and I paled around on bikes. We went to his friends cafe in the park that has this amazing view and he told me some amazing traveling stories. He sailed his boat from San Francisco to Tailand! And now, from Sept 1st - May 1st he lives in Tailand and the rest he is back in Coppenhagen. All the while traveling and seeing the world. Absolutely amazing and Neils is probably one of the nicest guys I have ever met! Later we headed to a really cool wine bar with a couple of his friends, it was alot of fun!

Early that morning i took an extremely long train to Berlin... that is where i am at now. This city is awesome.. but more on that later! :)

Pictures to come, soon!!