Roughin' it

I forgot to mention in my 'Stockholm' post about my packing strategy for this week-long Fall Break Trip:

When I went to Helsinki, Tallinn, and Riga, I brought a blue duffel bag (my dad's AT&T gym bag). It's a good size bag that can be used as carry-on, but it can be a little bothersome to lug around (especially if you overpack, I fell victim to the overpacking monster).

I decided that I wanted to pack a little lighter this trip...well, actually MUCH lighter. So instead of bringing the blue duffel with a purse, all I brought was my backpack. I'm not talking about a backpack you take on a hiking trip that can fit a bunch of clothes and a sleeping bag. No, I'm actually referring to a backpack that you would use for your schoolbooks.

You're probably thinking one if not both of these things:
1) How did you fit a weeks worth of clothes and toiletries in a single backpack?
2) Eww, that's kinda gross, Nat.

I will admit that never in a million years did I think I would ever pack this light. I knew from the get-go (a week before leaving) that I was going to only bring my backpack. All I needed to decide was what clothes I would bring and how to systematically organize it into my North Face.

Luckily, I learned from both of my parents in this case. My mom taught me how to roll my clothes and pack things in order to maximize a small space. Therefore, I brought five long sleeve shirts, three pairs of leggings, two pairs of jeans, a cardigan, a jacket, one pair of shoes and other necessary clothing. I brought toiletries too. Not surprisingly, everything fit in with extra room to spare. Score!

And let's just say, I am my father's daughter. I always used to (even just a few months ago) tease my papa for packing light when we went on trips, but now after experiencing the ease of not having to worry about bringing so much stuff and ultimately not having to carry tons of baggage, I may not turn back to my old ways ('may' is the key word here).

I like to say that while I was in Stockholm and Berlin, I was "roughin' it". I think that lack of variety in my clothing and the pictures of me wearing nearly the same outfit (jeans with a different long-sleeved shirt and a beanie) contest to this fact. Don't worry, I showered every day.

P.S. I hope this isn't TMI, I feel like you should know the interesting/obscure details of my life in Europe. Anyways, please try not to don't judge me ;)

My luggage for the week

The ultimate tourist with backpack and map in hand...at the U-Bahn station

Christmas in Scandanavia

It's only the end of October and already the Christmas Season is already upon us here in Denmark. My European friends weren't kidding when they said that stores start stocking up on Christmas decorations even before the winter season has begun.

The other day on the bus, a woman sitting diagonally from me had a brand new roll of Christmas wrapping paper in one of her shopping bags. Yesterday, as I was in the check-out line at the grocery store, a huge box of chocolate Advent calendars was staring right at me.

Although it's starting to get cold, I don't feel like it should be the end of December yet. I mean, honestly, do they just skip the month of November altogether? (I know they don't observe it, but I love Thanksgiving so I can't let that happen!)

I'll know the Danes are really serious about Christmas in autumn when I start hearing holiday music in public places (not that I'll understand the lyrics, since I'm sure they're in Danish). Hey Mom, Christmas music before Black Friday...I bet you'd love that ;)

Stockholm

So here is my run-down of the weekend trip I took to Stockholm with Anna, Katrin, and Matthias.

Matthias and I took an evening flight from Copenhagen to Stockholm, we arrived a little after 11pm. We went to the tourist information booth in the airport where we picked up maps and bus tickets, then proceeded to take a bus from Arlanda airport into the city center. Let's say it was pretty chilly when we were waiting at the bus stop, I entertained myself by watching my exhaling air form into small clouds.

I was pretty exhausted and took a short nap during the bus ride, which took about 30 minutes. Matthias and I got off the bus at the Central Station and then attempted to make our way to the hostel. Anna and Katrin had arrived early that morning, so we would be staying with them. Needless to say, it took Matthias and I awhile to figure out where to go, at one point we walked in a giant circle around the Central Station. We were a bit lost, but the upside to that was we got to see several of Stockholm's sites at night. Eventually, we did figure out where we were and how to get to the hostel. On our walk through old town, we walked straight towards a man who was walking towards us with a rifle...we quickly realized we had encountered a night guard at the Royal Palace.

A few minutes later, at 12:30am we got to the hostel. Katrin let us in and Matthias and I followed her into our shared room. I climbed into the top bunk (Anna was sleeping below me) and fell asleep.

Around 8:30am the next morning, we all woke up and had breakfast in the hostel's kitchen. Every morning, the hostel provides its guests with free toast, jam, corn flakes and milk. After eating, we headed to catch a ferry to the Vasa Museum. Matthias and I purchased our transportation cards (I got a 24 hour pass) and then boarded the ferry.

Anna wanted to go to the Vasa Museum, and I'll admit that I had no idea what I would see. It was a really interesting exhibit and the ship was huge! We took a guided tour and then saw a 30 minute film about how the Swedes were able to raise the sunken ship after 333 years.

Afterwards, we headed to a little grocery store to pick up some bread, cheese, carrots, and apples for lunch.

Giant, I mean GIANT crackers!

We ate quickly and then headed to Old Town for a walking tour, but upon arriving there were no English tours. I searched everywhere and even asked a tour guide who was leading a group in Swedish, but we came up empty. Instead, Katrin had her Lonely Planet book, so she was quickly nominated as our tour leader. She took us around Old Town. I really enjoyed the quaint streets, there was so many cute shops. We went into quite a few, I saw so many things I wanted to buy (homemade sandals, knitted headband, boots).

The Royal Palace

Street in Old Town

We took the metro into what appeared to be the downtown part of the city and stopped for a late afternoon coffee break. Then, we headed back to the hostel and had a nap. We ate heaps of free pasta with a delicious pesto with zucchini and onions sauce that we all helped to cook. It was delicious but contributed to a food coma for all of us. We called it an early night.

We repeated the morning's events of previous day with a breakfast and then Matthias and I headed to the two-hour boat tour that would leave at 11am.

(One interesting fact I learned on the tour is that the crown princess of Sweden married her personal trainer...which was quite the scandal in the country. She became the wife of a commoner?! Makes for a good tabloid story or Hollywood film)

City Hall

The big barrel is one of the original Absolut Vodka barrels

After the tour, Matthias and I headed back to the hostel to meet Katrin (Anna had already left for the airport since she had class the next day...no Fall Break for her). We headed into Old Town to get a nice lunch, we were planning on having pasta again for dinner (so we wanted to have a nice lunch). Katrin referred to her Lonely Planet: Sweden book. There was a Thai restaurant and a vegetarian restaurant that caught her attention, they were pretty close to each other so we decided to check them both out. The Thai restaurant was closed, but down the street the vegetarian place called Hermitage was open. We decided to eat there, it was a pretty tasty all-you-can-eat buffet. There was lentil soup, bread, lasagna, brown rice, potatoes, a salad bar, a vegetable stew, peanuts, rice crackers, and other goodies. I filled up on a warm meal, I really enjoyed it. I thought it was really thoughtful of Katrin and Matthias to choose a vegetarian place for lunch since neither of them are vegetarian, they did that for me. I was grateful and so was my belly. I have great friends!

After lunch, Katrin headed towards the Junibacken, the children's museum (although she ended up not going) and Matthias and I went to the Nobel Museum (Katrin and Anna went earlier that morning). We made it just in time for a tour that was about 45 minutes long. Our guide gave us an overview of Albert Nobel's life, his will and what he wanted to do with all of his money. He explained how the Nobel prize winners of each category are chosen and by whom, and this year's recipients. Afterwards, we saw the temporary Marie Curie exhibit, browsed some of the awards from decades ago, took a look at the place settings of the prestigous Nobel banquet and watch some of the short clips in one of the two theaters that show highlight previous Nobel recipients. The museum wasn't very big, but it was dense and very informative.

Outside the Nobel Museum

Albert Nobel's will

Marie Curie's lab equipment

We left the museum right before closing (5pm) and headed back to the hostel. Katrin met us in the kitchen where we all hung out, talked, and skyped with our friend, Sam, who was in Istanbul. Around 6:30pm, we cooked dinner...pasta, of course. We ended the evening around 10pm and so ends my short, weekend trip to Stockholm.

...Now, on to Berlin!

My Fall Break destinations: Stockholm and Berlin

Today is the first day of my week-long Fall Break. It's odd to me that we've only been in class for five weeks, yet we already have a break. Apparently, that's common here in Europe. I'm so used to going fifteen weeks with a few days off for certain holidays. But hey, I'll take full advantage of this.

In a few hours, Matthias and I will be flying to Stockholm for the weekend where we will meet Katrin and Anna (they arrived in Sweden this morning). Come Sunday and Monday we will be splitting up, Anna will be coming back to Copenhagen since she doesn't have a break (medicine started later than all the other departments), Matthias and Katrin will be doing an Eastern Europe trip (to Helsinki, Tallinn, and a few other cities), and I will be flying to Berlin early Monday morning and staying until Thursday afternoon. Sarah will be joining me there.

I'm so excited for this trip! I'll be sure to post pictures and blog entries along the way!

I hope all is well with everyone, have a great weekend :)


Nat

Here comes winter

Just as fast as I blogged that the weather was so nice last week, it has drastically changed. I'm reluctant to say that I now believe the first signs of winter are fast approaching. It all began for me about two days ago on Saturday when I could feel a shift in weather. When I originally just wore a beanie or knit headband on when my ears were a little chilly (I'd get funny stares because the Danes, other Europeans, and many Americans from the mid-west and east coast obviously didn't think it was THAT cold, but hey give me a break, I'm from a city that doesn't experience seasons), I am now forced to bring gloves to keep my hands warm. I'm not looking like such a wimp anymore. Everyone else is wearing their bulky winter coats and parkas that are lined with fur.

I can see my breath now and yesterday night as I was riding back to my kollegium from dinner at Keops, a digital sign flashed that it was 9 degrees Celsius (which is 48.2 degrees Fahrenheit for all you Americans, haha)! And I'm afraid it's only going to get colder....AHHHH!!!

Guess I need to start getting used to it now, but I heard that the end of December and January are the worst of the winter months here in Copenhagen. I'm relieved (yet a little disappointed, only a little though) that I will not be here to experience those harsh(er) winter months. What I naively considered "cold" in San Francisco is not even minutely close to what I have already experienced here in Scandinavia. I'm sure I'll get my rude awakening as well as a fair share of unbearable winter weather (snow included) during the rest of my stay.

I'll just have to continue drinking lots of hot tea and keeping my extremities and the rest of my body warm with hats, gloves, socks (fuzzy and wool), and a coat.

A day in Riga

Anna, Sarah, and I woke up early to catch the 7:20am bus to Riga. We ate breakfast, made lunch, and then took a cab to the station where all of the buses left. We were all a little tired but very excited for the day trip.

The afternoon before after Sarah had arrived, we went to a travel agency to purchase our bus tickets to Riga. It was a little last minute, but we all wanted to experience Latvia (at least for the day) since who knows if we will ever be back that way.

We were on a nice charter bus that had wifi and televisions, but the three of us mostly slept through the four hour drive. When we arrived, we walked to the Old Town, picked up maps at Tourist Information and then headed off to see Riga's most important sites. The map led us to a dozen historical, must-see locations.

I took heaps (you can thank the Australians for getting me hooked on that word!) of photos, here are just a few from the day:

Freedom Monument, the symbol of Latvian independence and Riga's major landmark.

The spectacular panoramic view from atop St. Peter's Church

The day we were there, there was a festival taking place in Ratslaukums' Square. From what we could tell, it was to give thanks for the harvest.

Built in the 14th century, the House of Blackheads belonged to the Guild of Unmarried Merchants. At that time, it was the richest and most prestigious venue in Riga. It was rebuilt in1999 after it was damaged during WWII.

Riga Castle, the primary workplace of Latvia's president

See the pulleys on the outside of this building? Old school elevator system baby!

Three Brothers, a group of residential houses each from a different century with the oldest dating back to the 15th century.

Powder Tower, one of Riga's fortification towers. It dates back to 1330 and stored gunpowder in the 17th century. Since 1919 it houses the Latvian War Museum.

Walking towards Old Town

National Opera, constructed in 1863 as the German Theatre.

 Central Market, one of the largest and oldest markets in Europe that has hundreds of vendors selling clothes, flowers, candy, pastries, seafood, meat and lots of local produce.

A furniture store inside Central Market. It felt like we had gone back in time while we were in there. "Hello old school couches".

Inside one of Central Market's five food pavilions.

An outside vendor selling grapes and lingonberries

Walking through the underground tunnel to get to the other side of the street

Streets of Riga (adjacent to Central Market)

We ate dinner at a restaurant in Old Town. All of us were craving sushi and that meal hit the spot. I ordered a cucumber roll and a vegetable stir fry, it was pretty good but not like it is at home. 

After dinner, we walked to the bus station next to the Central Market where we waited for the bus back to Tallinn. We left at 7pm and for most of the ride back I read and took little cat naps. 

We arrived back in Tallinn after midnight. We took a cab back to the Monk's Bunk where Anna and I waited in the common/living room until 3am when we needed to leave for the airport. It was a long night and I was delirious from not getting a sufficient amount of sleep (Anna took a nap on the couch when we got back to the hostel). I kept myself awake by reading, I'm not sure how I was able to do that.

We had a short layover in Riga and then finally got back to Copenhagen around 8am. Needless to say that when I got back, I slept until 4pm. 

It was a whirlwind and extremely eventful 5 days in Eastern Europe. It was a fantastic experience, I had no idea that while I was in Copenhagen I would ever have the opportunity to visit Finland, Estonia, and Latvia...three countries I knew very little about until going there. I'm really happy I went because I probably never would have gone in my life if Anna hadn't suggested it. 

If you ever have the opportunity to experience countries in Eastern Europe, I'd say take it!

I love Tallinn!

After our ride on the cruise ship, Anna and I walked to The Monk's Bunk hostel in Old Town Tallinn, where we would be staying for three nights (technically two nights of sleeping though, since we had to be at the airport at 3:30am on Sunday morning for our flight back to Copenhagen). Anna Google mapped how to get there on her phone, which was a brilliant idea because without it we easily would've gotten lost.

The walk took about 20 minutes, we went through the downtown area to get to Old Town. Immediately, Anna and I concluded that Tallinn was a more lively city than Helsinki. There were more people out on the streets and cars on the road. Everything seemed to be a lot more in motion. On our way to the hostel, we passed another Vapiano...I bet you know where this is going. Haha. But I'll get there later.

Our hostel was inside the Old Town, which was really beautiful. It reminded me of the smaller towns in Italy.

Entering Old Town

After we dropped our stuff off at the hostel (we would be staying in a 10 person room with some Italians and Brits), Anna and I headed to tourist information to pick up some maps and brochures of the city. We wandered along the streets in the rain and then bought some food at a supermarket called Rimi. The Monk's Bunk had a communal kitchen that everyone could use, so Anna and I bought fruits, veggies, cheese, cereal, yogurt, and snacks for breakfast and lunch.

We headed back to the hostel and made ourselves some dinner. That night, Anna and I, along with several of the other young travelers we met (who were also staying at Monk's Bunk and it's sister hostel, Tallinn Backpackers) went to the Backpackers' Bar and Embassy Club. We had a lot of fun playing a life-sized version of Jenga, Super Mario on a vintage video game console, dancing, and getting to know people from all over the world (I met people from the UK, Chile, Dublin, Australia, and Tallinn).

The next morning, Anna and I went on a walking tour around Old Town. I forgot to mention in the last post that Anna was the "tour guide" in Helsinki. She led me to all of the significant locations and read all of the descriptions. While we were in Tallinn, it was my turn to read the map and take us to all of the must-see sights. I think I did a pretty good job. Here are some of the pictures from our walking tour:

Kiek in de Kok: means "peep into the kitchen" because guards could see down the chimneys into the houses below (38m tall). It currently houses a museum on the town's defenses.  One of Tallinn's many towers

Maiden's Tower: used to house a prison for prostitutes

Tallinn Parliament

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral: A Russian Church established in 1900 as a symbol of Tsarist power over the Estonians. It is now the main church where Estonia's Russian Orthodox worship.

Cathedral of St. Mary the Virgin: more commonly known as "Toomkirik" or Dome Church, it is the main Lutheran church in Estonia. It was established in 1233 for the elite, German nobility. Inside there are their coats of arms and tombs. It has been rebuilt several times.

The view from Kohtu Street viewing platform

View from one of the two platforms

View from Patkuli platform

Town Hall

In the Town Hall Square

This guy was giving the crowd a more than convincing monologue in an attempt to get us to eat at this restaurant

After the first part of our tour, Anna and I headed back to the hostel for lunch. We met up with another traveler from Chile during our walk, so he ate with us too. We took a rest and then Sarah, our friend from Copenhagen who had just arrived in Tallinn joined us on the final leg of our tour.

A knitted bike covering...so neat!

St. Catherine's Passage, considered the most photogenic of Old Town's lanes, it has a bunch of crafts shops where hats, quilts, and ceramics are sold.

After the tour, we headed back to the hostel to drop off our stuff and then headed to dinner. Since Sarah hadn't experienced Vapiano, we decided to go there. It was no more than a ten minute walk from the hostel. We ate and then sat in the cafe area and drank tea (mine was a yummy vanilla flavored one) and sampled the chocolate cake and cheesecake. We sat and talked for awhile. It was nice to just relax since we were all pretty tired. Afterwards, we walked back to the hostel. By this time, it was dark and it looked as if the rain might be approaching...so we got a little extra exercise and power-walked/jogged. Look at that sky:

As we were walking from the downtown area, we saw these storm clouds over Old Town

Anna, Sarah, and I went to bed pretty early that night, partly because we had a very long day and eventful evening the night before and partly because we would need to wake up at 5:45am to catch our bus for the day trip to Riga. Anna and I purchased ear plugs when we arrived in Tallinn knowing perfectly well that we may not be getting much sleep if our roommates were stumbling in late at night or if there was noise outside...let's just say those were our best investment of the trip.