and an even cooler place! this post will have a much sunnier disposition than did my last, and for good reason: i spent 5 days in Stockholm and it was sunny and warm half the time! hooray!
ari, ivy, jessie, cait and i set off early...well like 9-10am thursday morning. unfortunately, paul and patricia were unable to join us :-(
also unfortunately, we made it halfway to the airport when jessie realized she'd forgotten her passport :-(
also unfortunately, ryanair staff are bitches and wouldn't let her rush to get on the flight even though it was delayed at the gate and she was at the airport in time to make it, but it was after check in closed so they weren't havin' any of it.
because we are cheap college kids, we fly ryanair. because we fly ryanair, we fly into and out of bullshit airports. our airport was a "20-30 minute drive" from the city center, according to our friendly bus ticket seller.
an hour and a half later we arrived safely in the stockholm city center. we made our way to our hostel, which used to be a prison. but it was awesome! ari and i switched into a swanky room so he could stay with us, and the old cell block shape was easily discernible in the hostel lay out. eventually jessie arrived and we all rejoiced, and opened the duty-free wine we'd brought.
we awoke to find something shocking, something i haven't seen in London for months nor expected to see again for many moons: a cloudless, beautiful day. we had gorgeous to 'pretty damn good by London standards' weather the whole time. it was fantastic. i was so enamoured of the warm weather that i threw caution and self-image to the wind and donned jessie's wife-beater. it was hot. (literally!)
okay, i'm lame. moving on. we saw skansen, which is an awesome out-door museum where they transplant historical buildings to 'preserve swedish culture'...or something like that. they move old, 18/19/20th century buildings like farmhouses and mansions and windmills to this touristy island. also they have a nordic animal zoo with mooses (meese?), brown bears, elk, reindeer and the like. it actually reminded me a lot of a few outdoor museums we went to with my elementary school back in wisconsin where they show you old log cabins and let/make you churn better so you can say "wow, living on a farm sure is hardwork" and go back home to play N64 and eat doritos.
aside: one of the things i've come to love about traveling in europe is noticing all the little idiosyncrasies that you don't really hear about in guidebooks. example: in London, what are known as "Cool Ranch Doritos" are called "Cool Original" and in Stockholm they are "Cool American" also, in Amsterdam, "Argentinian Grills" are a big deal, there are a ton of them, and in Stockholm, you can't walk 4 city blocks without finding a 7-Eleven. also, (listen up hannah, we know you read this thanks to our super stalker capabilities) what is known in Vienna as "ein Melange" is coffee with a little bit of frothed milk, like a latte but with coffee instead of espresso and not as much milk (although some places just make them with espresso i think), but in Amsterdam, a "Wiener Melange" is just coffee and whipped cream. okay, aside finished.
in addition to the skansen museum we went to see the Vasamuseet, which was awesome. its the oldest and most complete warship in the world. its a 17th century warship that the Swedish king was rushing production on to send out to the Baltic fleet during the 30 years war, but it wasn't designed well so when they launched it it floated for about a mile, then it sank like a rock. fortunately the low salt content of the water preserved it really well, and they were able to recover 95% of the ship and its now been rebuilt to 100% using the 95% original materials! friggin' sweet!
in other 'i'm a huge history geek' news, we went to the Historika Museet and they had an awesome exhibit on vikings and another one on high/late medieval religion in Sweden. it was sweet. lots of st. olaf and st. bridget stuff, along with some really cool reliquaries, baptismal fonts, church doors, altars, pews, etc. i loved it. fun fact: st olaf is always depicted standing on his killer, and sometimes his killer is a semi-human dragon thinger. neato!
...well the fact that i said 'neato' is probably a sign that i should end this post before i incriminate myself even further. so, the remainder of the trip in shorthand: go to 7-11 to buy froyo and candy. yummy swedish meatballs, yummy and purty lattes, not so yummy salty licorice and (unintentionally) saltylattes. go to 7-11 to buy froyo and candy. cait sings 90's pop songs in public, scares small swedish children. museums are fun, but art museums are closed. go to 7-11 to buy froyo and candy. weather still beautiful. drottingholm palace is pretty. the royal palace is prettier. we see changing of the guard, the swedish army drum corps plays dancing queen. meet nice girl named 'keta' who is from neenah, near appleton! picnics with salami, bread & cheese. i say "konditori!", cait gets mad. go to 7-11 to buy froyo and candy. godMORgon brand OJ + 'little water' + boxed wine = fun, meeting friends we don't remember who work at subway, meeting strangers wearing NYC shirts who argue about futball and religion, and, last but not least, mom friending on facebook.
....go to 7-11 to buy froyo and candy. bus, plane, bus, bus, home.
end scene.
Wednesday 30 April 2008
Sunday 20 April 2008
April 20th
Well, happy 4/20 everyone. I hope your days have all been fantastic. Mine, not so much. I was covering two nightshifts this weekend at a hotel near here for a friend of a matt's. I was very happy to finally be having some cash coming in instead of going out. The shifts were from midnight until 8am Friday and Saturday night, so I was awake at midnight and 4:20 on today, the most infamous of days (Hitler's birthday, is of course what I'm referring to). So I was awake, but oblivious when, sometime this morning, disaster struck. Someone stole my ipod, right out of my fucking backpack, which was sitting (i'd assumed safely) in the hotel's laundry room. Fun times? Not so much. I discovered it this afternoon when I opened my backpack only to discover a big gapping whole where my music should have been. This time last year I was sitting out on the lawn in front of Bateman, absolutely fascinated by the clouds passing by, with my biggest concern being how to get the bits of bubble tea pearls out of my teeth.
I miss st paul. I miss macalester. I miss all of you.
I miss st paul. I miss macalester. I miss all of you.
Wednesday 9 April 2008
adventures in holland
ok peons, prepare yourselves for the most important update to hit the blogosphere since rick astley first rolled onto the scene.
our romantic dutch honeymoon is admittedly a little bit blurred in my head now, but i'll do my best to bring some parts it into focus for the benefit of you all, my dear friends, family, and hired henchmen.
so after that first harrowing evening, our time in the dam became decidedly more docile. our first day in the city we went on a quest to locate some of the coffeeshops that had been recommended to us. we tried the grasshopper first, a trendy but overpriced shop in the heart of the centrum, the central district of amsterdam. there we sampled the baked goods, baked a little bit ourselves, and marveled at the weather outside as it shifted from snow to blue skies and sunlight to hail to everything in between.
after the hopper we walked around the city and took in the beautiful architecture of dam square and the old church -- we went into the church to see the exhibit they were hosting on afghanistan, not so much to cross cultural boundaries as to purchase a couple pairs of sweet afghani gloves that meg had told us could be had for quite cheap. so while we were browsing around the gift shop we found another item of note in addition to the stylish gloves -- a certain book. the book was in dutch, but we didn't really need command of the language to understand it: it was a "Where's Osama?" book that was created after the fashion of waldo! in an afghani culture exhibit. heinous? yes! hilarious? also yes!
so it was about that time when we discovered abraxus, our favorite coffeeshop in all of the dam. we had heard from multiple people that it was great, and the guidebook recommended it so of course we dropped on by -- and wow! the food and shakes were terrific and the atmosphere was really nice too. there was a lot of wood finishing and an upstairs with nice benches to sit on, smoke, and socialize.
afterwards, we went for pastries at a delicious bakery just down the road and also got some coffee and read at a cafe for a while. we ended up divvying up most of our time between smoking in coffeeshops and drinking coffee and reading in cafes -- the days start to blur together on this count, but suffice to say that it was one of the most relaxing times i've ever spent in my life!
so that's how we filled our days. of our nights, we spent several of them with great company over at an apartment complex east of the city center called funenpark. these lovely apartments were inhabited by none other than mac students studying abroad at the university of amsterdam, and their friends whom they'd met on the program! ej and i quickly developed a rhythm with tim -- go to albert heijn's (the grocery store), pick up some ingredients for dinner and many bags of a delicious treat called stroopwaffel for dessert, go back to his place to cook, smoke, eat, and generally hang out, and then smoke and watch mr. show, and then smoke and whip up some playlists for each other to listen to before bed. so we became fast friends, bonding over our shared love of food, TV, and music! we also hung out with our new friends sarah, halley, and christy, two of whom we knew a little bit from macalester and one of whom we had never met. but we got to know each other over a delicious burrito dinner that sarah cooked, and a few bottles of albert heijn's house red and a few (not albert heijn's) bowls.
so besides all the coffeeshopping, cafe-ing, and funenparking, we did only a few other things. we had a wonderful time seeing the van gogh museum -- we spent quite a while there and enjoyed it immensely. we became regulars at a place called "eet-cafe de valk" between the centrum and funenpark and we spent lots of time there. we thought the place gave elliott and tim food poisoning -- they both ordered the "spicy chicken sandwich" against my advice ("the dutch don't know how to do spicy..."). also, ironically, i ordered a sandwich (as had become my custom) called the healthy roll that had ham, egg, gouda, and 'salad' (veggies) as the brits would say. but later we found out that some brand of evil dutch flu was responsible for all the subsequent vomit fests.
also, the red light district was amazing! the prostitutes stand at glass windows with red lights behind them showing what their mommas (and likely in some cases, science) gave them. we wandered around bleary eyed in amazement and in a haze -- really, we couldn't believe what we were seeing. at one point we got a little bit lost, and e arbitrarily chose a direction to go -- one that led along a canal, and one in which the sidewalk began to slowly disappear, giving way to a sandy embankment alongside the water. we kept walking, finally along one narrow strip of concrete and eventually emerged back onto a main road next to a bridge -- it was at that point that e looked at me and said, "did you SEE her?" and it was at that point i realized that i had totally ignored a (apparently gorgeous) prostitute who had been banging on the glass to get my attention, but obviously, i was too classy for the likes of her.
so! that is a selection of stories from our time in amsterdam. we relaxed. we met great people. we enjoyed the beauty of the city. there are other stories to tell about the swedes at our hostel, seeing our friend marlene, and a hellish day of travel but i'll leave those for the next update.
so good night dear readers, and stay tuned for the next (final) installment of our dutch holiday.
and you should know a few things more too:
Were no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do i
A full commitments what Im thinking of
You wouldnt get this from any other guy
I just wanna tell you how Im feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
ya'll just got ROLLED
-jp
our romantic dutch honeymoon is admittedly a little bit blurred in my head now, but i'll do my best to bring some parts it into focus for the benefit of you all, my dear friends, family, and hired henchmen.
so after that first harrowing evening, our time in the dam became decidedly more docile. our first day in the city we went on a quest to locate some of the coffeeshops that had been recommended to us. we tried the grasshopper first, a trendy but overpriced shop in the heart of the centrum, the central district of amsterdam. there we sampled the baked goods, baked a little bit ourselves, and marveled at the weather outside as it shifted from snow to blue skies and sunlight to hail to everything in between.
after the hopper we walked around the city and took in the beautiful architecture of dam square and the old church -- we went into the church to see the exhibit they were hosting on afghanistan, not so much to cross cultural boundaries as to purchase a couple pairs of sweet afghani gloves that meg had told us could be had for quite cheap. so while we were browsing around the gift shop we found another item of note in addition to the stylish gloves -- a certain book. the book was in dutch, but we didn't really need command of the language to understand it: it was a "Where's Osama?" book that was created after the fashion of waldo! in an afghani culture exhibit. heinous? yes! hilarious? also yes!
so it was about that time when we discovered abraxus, our favorite coffeeshop in all of the dam. we had heard from multiple people that it was great, and the guidebook recommended it so of course we dropped on by -- and wow! the food and shakes were terrific and the atmosphere was really nice too. there was a lot of wood finishing and an upstairs with nice benches to sit on, smoke, and socialize.
afterwards, we went for pastries at a delicious bakery just down the road and also got some coffee and read at a cafe for a while. we ended up divvying up most of our time between smoking in coffeeshops and drinking coffee and reading in cafes -- the days start to blur together on this count, but suffice to say that it was one of the most relaxing times i've ever spent in my life!
so that's how we filled our days. of our nights, we spent several of them with great company over at an apartment complex east of the city center called funenpark. these lovely apartments were inhabited by none other than mac students studying abroad at the university of amsterdam, and their friends whom they'd met on the program! ej and i quickly developed a rhythm with tim -- go to albert heijn's (the grocery store), pick up some ingredients for dinner and many bags of a delicious treat called stroopwaffel for dessert, go back to his place to cook, smoke, eat, and generally hang out, and then smoke and watch mr. show, and then smoke and whip up some playlists for each other to listen to before bed. so we became fast friends, bonding over our shared love of food, TV, and music! we also hung out with our new friends sarah, halley, and christy, two of whom we knew a little bit from macalester and one of whom we had never met. but we got to know each other over a delicious burrito dinner that sarah cooked, and a few bottles of albert heijn's house red and a few (not albert heijn's) bowls.
so besides all the coffeeshopping, cafe-ing, and funenparking, we did only a few other things. we had a wonderful time seeing the van gogh museum -- we spent quite a while there and enjoyed it immensely. we became regulars at a place called "eet-cafe de valk" between the centrum and funenpark and we spent lots of time there. we thought the place gave elliott and tim food poisoning -- they both ordered the "spicy chicken sandwich" against my advice ("the dutch don't know how to do spicy..."). also, ironically, i ordered a sandwich (as had become my custom) called the healthy roll that had ham, egg, gouda, and 'salad' (veggies) as the brits would say. but later we found out that some brand of evil dutch flu was responsible for all the subsequent vomit fests.
also, the red light district was amazing! the prostitutes stand at glass windows with red lights behind them showing what their mommas (and likely in some cases, science) gave them. we wandered around bleary eyed in amazement and in a haze -- really, we couldn't believe what we were seeing. at one point we got a little bit lost, and e arbitrarily chose a direction to go -- one that led along a canal, and one in which the sidewalk began to slowly disappear, giving way to a sandy embankment alongside the water. we kept walking, finally along one narrow strip of concrete and eventually emerged back onto a main road next to a bridge -- it was at that point that e looked at me and said, "did you SEE her?" and it was at that point i realized that i had totally ignored a (apparently gorgeous) prostitute who had been banging on the glass to get my attention, but obviously, i was too classy for the likes of her.
so! that is a selection of stories from our time in amsterdam. we relaxed. we met great people. we enjoyed the beauty of the city. there are other stories to tell about the swedes at our hostel, seeing our friend marlene, and a hellish day of travel but i'll leave those for the next update.
so good night dear readers, and stay tuned for the next (final) installment of our dutch holiday.
and you should know a few things more too:
Were no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do i
A full commitments what Im thinking of
You wouldnt get this from any other guy
I just wanna tell you how Im feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
ya'll just got ROLLED
-jp
Monday 7 April 2008
"amsterdamning"
okay, so the title of this post is blatant plagiarism, but at least i'll give a plug with a fancy amsterdamning hyperlink, sound fair? good deal.
after our first glorious day in amsterdam, josh and i bid farewell to megan as she headed off for krakow, and we in turn set off on our own journey to find our hostel. again, we would find ourselves battling inclement weather at every turn; but this time, this time, it was different. we had an advantage. we had cheese.
our 'directions' from hostelworld said "metro/sneltram 51 (subway), you go off at Spinnerij (15 minutes walk, see map) or at Sacharovlaan (bus 199, 3 minutes)"
well, we had no map to see, so we got off at sacharovlaan and caught the 199 just about dusk. 'success!' we thought.
we stayed on the bus, but saw no hostels, and after about 15 minutes we came across something familiar: a metro stop we'd passed on the tram about 30 minutes before... we got off, got back on the metro, went to spinnerij, and decided to walk the 15 minutes. we knew that we had to go vaguely southwest from the metro stop, so we walked vaguely southwest. as night fell, our bones chilled, and our spirits began to flag, we decided to stop in a bar and ask directions. a friendly dutchman turned from the bar to slosh the beer from his mug and yell to us that it was "teyan keelomeetars south. then FEEFTEE KEELOMEETARS WEST!"
the bartender chuckled, then drew us a glorious map that outlined the remaining 10 minute walk to our hostel. 'ok.' we're set, we thought. and as we set out into the dark night, reinvigorated and secure in the knowledge of our hostel's location, it began to hail.
this is where the cheese comes in. we two travel weary companions, without an umbrella, weathered the coming storm as best we could; we laughed at mother nature in her petty attempts to dissuade us from our mission. we opened our satchels, took out our melba toast and cheese, and feasted as we made unflagging progress towards our destination, cackling at the absurdity of our predicament and challenging mother nature to give us her worst as we ate our delicious dutch cheese en route.
the hostel was quite nice. our camping chalet was very new, very clean, and inhabited by a dutch woman of few words. so we decided to go back to the helpful bar for a beer. after that, we went to the communal kitchen, smoked, and devoured two packages of cookies.
quite a successful evening.
after our first glorious day in amsterdam, josh and i bid farewell to megan as she headed off for krakow, and we in turn set off on our own journey to find our hostel. again, we would find ourselves battling inclement weather at every turn; but this time, this time, it was different. we had an advantage. we had cheese.
our 'directions' from hostelworld said "metro/sneltram 51 (subway), you go off at Spinnerij (15 minutes walk, see map) or at Sacharovlaan (bus 199, 3 minutes)"
well, we had no map to see, so we got off at sacharovlaan and caught the 199 just about dusk. 'success!' we thought.
we stayed on the bus, but saw no hostels, and after about 15 minutes we came across something familiar: a metro stop we'd passed on the tram about 30 minutes before... we got off, got back on the metro, went to spinnerij, and decided to walk the 15 minutes. we knew that we had to go vaguely southwest from the metro stop, so we walked vaguely southwest. as night fell, our bones chilled, and our spirits began to flag, we decided to stop in a bar and ask directions. a friendly dutchman turned from the bar to slosh the beer from his mug and yell to us that it was "teyan keelomeetars south. then FEEFTEE KEELOMEETARS WEST!"
the bartender chuckled, then drew us a glorious map that outlined the remaining 10 minute walk to our hostel. 'ok.' we're set, we thought. and as we set out into the dark night, reinvigorated and secure in the knowledge of our hostel's location, it began to hail.
this is where the cheese comes in. we two travel weary companions, without an umbrella, weathered the coming storm as best we could; we laughed at mother nature in her petty attempts to dissuade us from our mission. we opened our satchels, took out our melba toast and cheese, and feasted as we made unflagging progress towards our destination, cackling at the absurdity of our predicament and challenging mother nature to give us her worst as we ate our delicious dutch cheese en route.
the hostel was quite nice. our camping chalet was very new, very clean, and inhabited by a dutch woman of few words. so we decided to go back to the helpful bar for a beer. after that, we went to the communal kitchen, smoked, and devoured two packages of cookies.
quite a successful evening.
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