Copenhagen 24th June 2009

We took a ferry over to Denmark from Germany. It was staggering operations management! I didn't time it so I may well be exaggerating but it was about 5 minutes onto the ferry with cars and approximately 2 minutes until we left dock. It was incredible and the same happened the other end. In England it never would work, the drivers would still be finishing their pints at the bar before they even realiased they may be needed back in their cars for arrival! Needless to say it was a great journey: swift, efficient and calm!

So we arrived in Denmark - Ja!!! We only had a few hours drive up to Copenhagen (Kobenhaven) where we arrived at our camp site, the first of our roadtrip, to find it pretty quiet. Most importantly this meant we could have what is really the highlight of the trip for Andy: Our first Tranja cooked dinner!

You may think that I have missed out a detailed description of Copenhagen and the delights we saw. But if you've never been to Copenhagen, you're not missing anything! Really!

In honesty we weren't impressed, the place is covered with signs and advertisements. I made us trek to what the Lonely Planet guide said was the 'tiniest cafe in the world'. Now if you are like me you may think 'what an experience?! I wonder if the espressos are so small they're served in tiny thimble like cups, or served by midgets because they're the only people who can get in and out?'. Well, don't believe everything you read. It was small - yes, but the tiniest cafe in the world? I think not! The guy sitting outside (I know the smallest cafe in the world, had an outside - what a farce!) looked like he thought he owned the place - well he could have - and was rather unfriendly and the girl serving the coffee was frankly rotund!. All-in-all crap.

Copenhagen kind of sucked after that. It was an alright town but not really for me. It's covered in drunks, but having said that, there have been drunks wherever we've been. Maybe we're following them all on the same Europe trail only some of them obviously got seperated at one point or another! Considering Denmark is officially the happiest country in the world, people seem to be getting pretty pissed trying to forget that fact!
"I bloody hate being so happy, hit me again barman!"

So in conclusions, yes, the Tranja was amazing in Copenhagen and the curry we cooked in it (I say we, but Andy did most if it) was tasty and after our first night sleeping in our tent, we were off again....Stockholm here we come, Copenhagen, good riddance!

Stadhagen 22nd June 2009

Our drive to Stadhagen was long and the high standard of driving (compared to Italy that is) in Paris and Northern France, took a a dive as we crossed the boarder. Once again it seems no dangerous people reside in France and even if they did it is presumed they'd have no beef with Germany! No reason at all to cross the boarder with bad intentions, I mean it's not like the German's ever did something like that to them! I am presuming here that they obviously did, didn't the Germans piss everyone off?!! I've bought Bryson's 'short history of nearly everything' just not started it yet!

So as we joined the Autobahn the chaos ensued. Audi's and BMW's are apparently the German car manufacturer of choice, as it was these vehicles that whizzed past us at an almighty speed! Andy enjoyed trying to be a human speedometer, throwing out estimations with absolute confidence when one drove past. I did however discover my favorite German word - Auschfart! It means 'Exit' and it is such a fabulous word considering it sounds a lot like the....well lets just say onomatopoeia plays a role! Anyway we were auschfarting all over the autobahn it was ridiculous! Actually we weren't, I just wanted to write that, in fact, we stayed on the same road pretty much all the way, for around 300Km.

When we finally arrived at Andy's cousin's house, Maca (pronounced Matsa phonetically) we were pleasantly surprised with the German countryside and it seemed we'd brought the good weather with us too!

It was a lovely few days, involving more walking than I'd hoped, but the Bacik family are fond of a good old stroll (Remember Seleve!). Although the family spoke fabulous English I felt I struggled to get me point across. I had several jokes go down like a lead balloon, but strangely enough their two year old, Nico, found my inability to understand a word he was saying charming! So not alll was lost, although I'm still not quite sure what happened when he smelt my butt cheeks!!

We drank German beer and ate German sausages (which are no Waitrose pork) and relaxed in Maca's brilliantly self-designed home. We walked some more, obviously, and sniffed roses, for what I considered a peculiarly long time. I was told we were "appreciating our surroundings", guess I'm just a bit quicker on that front. We also took so many photos, had it not been the digital age the prints would have stacked the height of me. And despite taking almost identical photos of the same things, they were still swapped between photographers afterwards! I took 3 photos, they were nice.

So once again we are off, this time to Copenhagen!

Paris 21st June 2009

I have to say I feel a little guilty that I've not stuck to writing this blog everyday and I am shamlessly stuck not even half way through our massive summer adventure. Happily I have not been writing because I have joined the land of the employed but still my passion and future is writing and that should not be forgotten! So I must continue where we left off, in Paris:

Well we left at 9 am and didn't leave until 11:30 am so yes, we didn't do much! Oh my god, if our tour of Paris was marketed it would be named the 'Everything in one day tour (no time to even take a piss!)". It was a non-stop and exhausting onslaught of beautiful buildings and cultural iconic attractions all on foot and for the most part of the day, fueled by only a crepe!

In all honesty it's a bit of a blur but all was seen: Notre Dam, the Louvre, the Tour du Eiffel in the day, Champs Elise (from a distance) and the Sacre Cour! Here at the steps of the sacred heart we sat, surrounded by locals and some tourists, with a view of Paris and free music. Once again our visit to a city had coincided with a music festival! I think they know we're coming, "music Festival" is just a cover story so as not to embarrass us because obviously everyone had gone to so much effort for us! Anyway we enjoyed the music they put on for us and the show, even if this young girl they really built up to was sadly average! Young footballers balanced balls on their foreheads while climbing lampposts! Incredible we got it all on video! And even Germain Jackson (yes that's right) popped in to say hello, although Andy will tell you that that never happened, but he's just annoyed I saw him and he didn't! Jealously is an ugly thing!

It was after a couple of sets and after the feeling had returned to our tired feet we ambled on back to the metro, to head onto the Bastille for dinner. Max had suggested this as a real Parisian place to go and eat. We found a nice little bar/restaurant and ate THE most delicious medium rare burger that our tiring day had most definitely earnt us!

Paris done. Next....!