Gap Year

So to make you all happy, here's my itinerary as it stands at the moment.
23-24/06: Copenhaguen
25: Malmo, Sweden
26-27: Ystad
28-29: Gothenburg
30-2/07: Oslo, Norway
3: Bergen
4: Oslo
5-8: Stockholm, Sweden
9: night ferry yay!
10-11: Turku, Finland
12: Tampere
13-15: Helsinki

Nothing else booked beyond this point. Am having a lot of trouble even getting hold of a letter of invitation to Russia so it's looking a little like that isn't going to be happening atm. I'm going to keep evaluating my bank balance and I think possibly I might like to go back to the Netherlands for a bit longer but I haven't decided about that so who knows? I change my mind all the time so...! Anyway just to keep you updated! Went to Odense yesterday which is Hans Christian Andersen's home town and so old and quaint -or at least some of it was-! I was pretty impressed by the museum too which had all the info you could ever possibly want on him and then some, including his dentures in case you were interested! Anyway I had fun as you all know how much I love fairytales! And to be frank I haven't felt any signs of growing out of that anytime soon. Anyway Helsingor tomorrow -a place you may know better as Elsinor. Still not ringing any bells? Hamlet my dear, Hamlet. Oh btw I think I forgot to tell you -I booked a bed in a large dorm in Copenhaguen as my guidebook said about 30 beds which was a little unpleasant to think about but I decided to just suck it up and save the money. Then I got here and he was like: you're in number 54. 54!!! How many are there??? 64. Yay!!!!!! (I guess it meant 30 ish bunks, 2 to a bunk) Ah can you just imagine how happy I was at this news? That said, it was only 110 ddkk -about 12 pounds- and I slept like a baby. So why complain really?

There was one quote at Hans Christien Anderson's hous I want to put:

"To travel is to live."

Enough said really.

So did a self-guided walking tour yesterday that was supposed to be 3 hrs long. Well. Maybe if you ran the whole way and never stopped to take pictures or as it went to wait out the occassional thunder storm. Anyway I saw a huge swathe of the city but to summarise: some cool little alleyways, Nyhavn (which was pretty much what people think of when they think of Denmark), Little Mermaid statue, Changing of the Guard at the winter palace, Christianborg Slot -home of parliament-, citadel complete with windmill, outside of Rosenburg Slot, Round Tower...as you can see I was pretty busy! For today: Christiana -you know the 'you are now leaving the eu' free town where everything is so green because a sewage pipe broke and ran into the water hence lots of nutrition in case you wanted to know! And maybe Rosenburg Slot I think. Tommorrow; Odense then back to Copenhaguen for a couple of days before on to Sweden.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was so not ready to leave Amsterdam but anyway quickly to finish writing about it,

-went to Anne Frank's house which was not that touching at first but then there was an interview with her best friend and also her dad. Tears were flowing...I am such a sap but nevermind

-went to world press photo exhibit in the Old Church (you know, the one in the red light district) which was also even more moving but I don't really think I can describe it. Photos of modern times is all I can say.

-found out where name Big Apple came from. There's a Dutch saying, if you didn't get much money for something you sold it for an egg and an apple. Well, when they traded NYC to Britain it didn't seem like it was a big deal but now...

-as if I didn't love Amsterdam enough, several things happened. first it was sunny and glourious, then I met my hostel's cat, then I found a Lush and had a wonderful time people watching -e.g. a woman knitting behind the apparantly intentionally phallic war monument, a guitarist being chased by someone in an m&m costume, etc... Anyway v.fun.

So...on to Cophenhagen. But wasn't ready to leave Amsterdam! So I think I'm going to try and go back! Anyway Copenhagen seems quite nice, my first taste of Scandinavia but no more time to blog so ttfn

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Amusingly when I put the title in the computer suggested "Amsterdam is Heaven" and it is people! It is! I would have written my last post big enough to fill a whole page if I could have! I've done so much here all ready but have had loads of fun just wandering around and I did this AMAZING free tour! When the pics are put up on their website I'll post them but I had a guide called Kevin who was completely hillarious and so so interesting. Saw the smallest house which if I remember correctly was only 2 metres wide, looked around the red light district, saw the coffee shop where Ocean's Twelve was filmed (as an extra interesting tidbit part of the national square was closed off on my first day here and the rumour is going around that it's filming for the next James Bond), the outside of Anne Frank's house -going to see it today and lots of other things besides. Plus he showed us where to go for the best chips in Amsterdam and I went back later and they were wonderful though I imagine they were probably deep fried 3 times but anyway! Plus such interesting stories about grafiti, holy pilgrimages to Amsterdam revolving around a fire-proof piece of bread, public toilets, prisons, and just all kinds of things! I was walking around with a German woman I met who's living in Amsterdam and afterwards we shared the hugest piece of unsweetened apple tart you have ever seen -it had at least 3 whole apples in it- and watched the boats go by. That's not even nearly everything even from that first day but Í only have so much time! Also been to Van Gogh museum - never before do I think it's been so clear to me the artist's mood but you can really tell and it was a very good museum, even worth 10 euros so it must have been good! Also went to a pretty famous (lots of people go to Saturday Night Live from it) comedy club last night called Boom Chicago which was very fun though undeniably very American humour and had a delicious pineapple passionfruit daquiri! Yummy! Anyway I'm starting to feel a little light headed from the smoke down here so moving on but I just feel I need to reiterate I LOVE AMSTERDAM. I'm promoting it to my favourite city ever. People are so friendly! Just on the tram to my first hostel -one woman gave me her seat because she said I needed it more than her and then when I failed to figure out how to open the doors :-( and missed my stop another woman got off at the next one with me and walked me back as she was so concerned I would get lost, even though you know I could just have followed the tram tracks! I mean wow! It doesn't get much nicer than that! And Amsterdam is so beautiful too! They said to me if you like Brussels go to Paris, if not go to Amsterdam and it's so true! I think I need to learn Dutch and move here! In case you didn't already get this I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!