Home For A Rest

Sorry for the hiatus folks! I didn't blog about my hellish time in Washington because any attempt to put those few days into words would have turned into an angry rant that no one would want to read. All I can say about that is never travel with an ex.
Since then I have been home spending time with friends and family. If you are ever in need of a really good hug go visit family you haven't seen in 4 years. I've only had 12 days at home to visit as many people as possible and complete a rather lengthy to-do list so while I've had some down time I've also spent a lot of time running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
I head out again tomorrow night so hopefully I will have some exciting stories for you but in the mean time I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year.

A Busy Few Days In New York City

After constantly being in transit for several days and not really getting to see much of anything in the cities we visited I was really looking forward to arriving in New York. The universe knew this and was conspiring against me because our flight was delayed once we boarded because the runway required snow removal. Why this hadn’t been done ahead of time I’m not sure, I mean it’s not like it was a surprise that we were supposed to depart at the time but hey what do I know?

After what felt like forever and a day sitting at the terminal we were finally on our way. It was the first flight of trip with entertainment and I quickly learned that I spend far too much time watching movies because they had a rather large selection and I had already seen the majority of the films. I managed to keep myself occupied for the duration of the flight, even watched some old-school TV shows like Ducktales and Goof Troop, I really enjoyed the blast from the past.

Since we were delayed in Helsinki we ended up having to circle the area a few times before being given the go-ahead to land, which was absolute torture. My ears and airplanes do not like each other. I always have a sucker to suck on during landing and normally that helps to ease the pressure in my ears but not this time. I was in agony and it just kept going on and on until we finally landed.

I thought the worst was over but then I saw the length of the queue for border control. I have only ever crossed the border into the states by land in the past so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was hoping there would be a line for US and Canadian citizens, and a line for all other passport holders but there wasn’t. Obviously the Americans had their own line but I was grouped in with the riffraff from all over the world and spent well over an hour stood in that line. The border agent didn’t even say a single word to me. Just looked at my passport briefly before stamping it and I was on my way.

The journey to the hostel wasn’t much better. It took 3.5 hours to get from the plane to our hostel, a new record I’m sure. I had originally hoped to start exploring that night and maybe check out a musical but instead I just crashed. Not a completely horrible thing because it means I was up early the next day, ready to explore.

Dom and I both woke up ridiculously early, I opted to toss and turn for several hours, and he decided to go for a wander. When he came back we decided to set off. First stop: Times Square.

We probably spent far more time than necessary in Times Square but there were just so many fun things to check out. I read online that the Toys-R-Us there had a ferris wheel in the basement; I figured it was just a rumor but I still needed to go check it out. It was not a rumor; there was one kick ass ferris wheel in that store and every car was designed based around a popular toy or movie. The epicness of the store didn’t stop there either! There was a Willy Wonka section full of candy, and it was designed to look like part of the chocolate factory. It was pretty neat. There was also a Lego Empire State building, Lego Hulk, and a gigantic dinosaur.

 I probably could have spent the whole day just in that store but there was so much more to see. Next we visited the Disney store, the M&Ms store, and the Hershey store. All of them were nice but none of them even came close to measuring up to the coolest Toys-R-Us ever.

From Times Square we made a quick stop at the Empire State Building for some pictures then moved on to Chelsea Markets, home of the Food Network. I love the Food Network, a little odd considering I’m such a picky eater but I love watching that channel. While I was interested in checking out the markets themselves I was under the impression that you could see the entrance to the Food Network studios. I was wrong, and I’m going to blame ‘The Next Food Network Star’ for putting such silly thoughts in my head. How was I going to meet Bobby Flay and Alton Brown just meandering through the markets? I needed to lurk outside the studio dammit but I couldn’t! On our way out I saw a sign for their delivery bay so I took a picture of that but it wasn’t quite what I had dreamed of.

From there we moved on to the High Line. The High Line is a beautiful park/walkway that was built on an abandoned train track, offering beautiful views of the city. A pretty innovative idea I think. In a city of this size it would be easy to become a concrete jungle with no hints of nature anywhere but a lot of thought and effort has gone into maintaining from what I can see is a pretty good number of parks.

A few months ago I called my grandma from Blackpool and she asked me if the flowers were in bloom and I told her I had no idea and that I couldn’t even remember the last time I saw grass. It’s sad really.  Blackpool has so much unused space but it is all paved. New York on the other hand could use every extra inch of space it can get its hands on but it still has parks and greenery all over the city.

After walking the High Line from one end to the other we headed back to Times Square to line up at TKTS to buy discounted tickets to a Broadway show. The line was heaps longer than the one at the airport the day before but once the booth opened it probably only took 15-20 minutes to get served and we ended up with orchestra seats to our first choice show!

Once we had acquired our prime tickets for the theatre we were both pretty beat so we headed back to the hostel for a rest and some food before going to the show. It was only a short rest then we were off to see Avenue Q, a hilarious show with a cast of puppets and people. It was once described to me as Sesame Street for adults and now that I have seen it I would say that is pretty accurate. I also preformed on Broadway last night. It was pretty magical. There is video evidence of this fact unfortunately Dom (my videographer) didn’t want to be seen with me at the time so the video is sideways and you can’t hear me singing at all so I wont post it but know that I have sang and danced live on Broadway. What have you done with your life lately?

I passed out seconds after walking through the door from an exciting night out so I was up at the crack of dawn again this morning. First stop: Statue of Liberty. Elis Island and the statue itself are both closed at the moment due to damage from Hurricane Sandy but there was still an option to get a little closer to the statue, and it saved me a lot of money so I wasn’t going to complain. I took the train to Battery Park, which also appears to have taken a beating during the hurricane, and then took the ferry to Staten Island. A free ride that took me much closer to the statue than I was at the park, and in my opinion a much better option than the $25 cruise to the island that didn’t even stop to let you off the boat.

From there it was a quick walk around Wall Street and a bit of a wander around Grand Central Terminal, neither of which were overly exciting, before heading to Central Park. I spent an hour or two walking in the park with the occasional break to people watch. The park was beautiful although a lot of the open areas were closed for the season, which I found to be a little disappointing.

It took me a while to find a subway station after leaving the park but I eventually managed and it was off to Rockefeller Centre. I’m far too cheap to pay to go to the top, I just wanted to see the Christmas tree that was set up outside. It was a lovely tree but the area was far too crowded for my liking so I didn’t stick around for very long.

I was pretty exhausted by this point so I headed back to the hostel for a bit of a rest. I ended up bumping into Dom and after resting my legs for a bit and putting some food in my tummy the two of us set off. It was time to walk the Brooklyn Bridge. I kind of wished I had found the motivation to walk it while the sun was still up but Dom walked it earlier today and said it was definitely better at night so maybe its for the best I decided to take a break.

On our way back to the hostel we decided to stop by the former site of the World Trade Centre, which now appears to be a construction zone. There is a memorial set up and we talked about registering for a timeslot to check it out tomorrow but I feel like the news of yesterday’s shooting has broken my heart enough for the time being and I don’t need to relive another tragedy.

I’m now cozy in my hostel bed winding down from my action packed day. I feel like I may have done more than I have mentioned but can’t think of what I may have left out and this is already a novel.

Tomorrow we are off to Washington DC, another day spent mostly in transit so I should go get some rest because I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be exhausting. Have a good night boys and girls, If you actually made it this far thanks for reading the whole thing, I’ll try to keep it brief next time.

Oslo and Helsinki: What A Silly Plan

We woke up bright and early on Tuesday and made our way to the train station after less than 24 hours in Stockholm.  For some reason I thought the train to Oslo was only 3 hours and was looking forward to doing some exploring but the journey actually took 6 hours and even though we left at 8:30am we pulled into Oslo just as the sun was setting.

We checked into our hostel and decided to go for a wander even though it was dark. We walked for about an hour and didn’t really see anything noteworthy except maybe a church or two and the opera house. If the sun was still up or if it had been warmer I probably would have been keen to continue exploring but it was dark and frigidly cold. I was wearing several layers so most of my body was warm but didn’t have a scarf so my face was left open to the elements. I felt like my face was going to fall off. It was so cold it was burning so we stopped by a grocery store to pick up some supplies for dinner and headed back to the hostel.

The next day was much of the same, we woke up and headed to the airport for our flight to Helsinki, which was delayed, so once again by the time we reached our destination the sun had already set.

Our hostel was about a twenty-minute walk from town so after we checked into the hostel we called it a night. We woke up early this morning to explore but it was still dark so again we didn’t see much.

I’m currently sitting in the Helsinki airport waiting for my flight to New York and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed with how the past few days turned out. When we first started booking things I had wanted to spend about a week in Norway. Only a day or two in Oslo and the rest exploring fjords and driving down the Atlantic Highway (Google it, it’s pretty gnarly), but the more research I did the less feasible it seemed. Norway is crazy expensive and a lot of the things I wanted to do are not accessible after September so we changed our plan.

I kind of wanted to spend more time in Helsinki as well. Several years ago I lived in a city in Canada that has a large Finnish population and during that time I found that they are very kind, and often very attractive people. I wanted to visit the place where my friends’ ancestors came from but in the end flights were cheaper if we only stayed for a day.

I was silly for thinking one day in any country would be enough to see major landmarks, meet people, or try to absorb any amount of culture at all, especially during winter when the sun sets around 3pm. If I could do it over again I would reduce the number of countries I visited and spend more time in each place.  Luckily the crazy part of the trip is over and we are starting to slow down now. There are still a few places that we are only spending two or three days in but I’ll take that over 20 hours any day.

I guess the positive I can take away from this experience is I learned something and that’s never a bad thing. Okay, I should go hop on my plane but I will be back soon with some fun stories (hopefully) to tell.

Stockholm: I'm On A Boat! Or Am I?

After writing yesterday’s blog post Dom and I stocked up on snacks at the grocery store and made our way to the ferry way earlier than we needed to. I am always ridiculously early for anything transportation related but I once missed a ferry due to circumstances beyond my control and was paranoid it was going to happen again. I did a little happy dance when we got on board and got some strange looks from people but I was just so happy to be on board.

We checked into our cabin then did a short tour of the boat.  It was a decent sized vessel, much larger than any ferry I have ever been on before but much smaller than a cruise ship. There were multiple restaurants, and bars on board as well as a casino and a disco.  I didn’t get much sleep the night before so after we had seen what the boat had to offer we headed back to our cabin. Dom had never seen A Christmas Story before, how you make it to the age of 24 without seeing what is arguably the greatest Christmas movie of all time is beyond me, but I knew it was something I needed to fix pronto. I loaded the movie onto the laptop and promptly fell asleep until the credits rolled.  He thought it was ‘just alright’ clearly this kid needs some movie education.

The brief nap I had during the movie was pretty much the only sleep I got for the rest of the night. I didn’t manage to fall back to sleep until about 2am and minutes later I was woken up by the drunken idiots in the cabin next to ours. I was in the top bunk, which is a fold down bed against a wall. They kept putting their top bunk up and letting it slam back down, making a loud bang and shaking my bed in the process. I nearly shit my pants the first time it happened and the 30 times it happened after that it was all I could do not to go knock on their door and kick someone in the teeth when they answered. If that along with the constant shouting wasn’t bad enough, they started to have sex on the top bunk and my bed started to move with every thrust. Lucky for me buddy was a minute man but it was still a horrible experience, for me and probably the unfortunate soul he was with for those 45 seconds as well.  Round two began about 10 minutes later and didn’t last much longer than the first.

I was tired and grumpy when we finally arrived in Stockholm 16 hours setting off and the last thing I wanted to do was walk uphill for half an hour while carrying all of my worldly possessions but I didn’t have much of a choice. The walk to the tube was horrible but eventually made it there and in time to our hotel, which was on the top of yet another snowy hill.

I collapsed on the bed as soon as we checked in and that’s when I started to feel like I was on a boat. I was fine from Riga to Stockholm but as soon as a put my head down on dry land everything started to sway. It was very unsettling and I still haven’t entirely shaken off the feeling, luckily I’ve managed to move pass the nausea that accompanied the strange feeling this afternoon.

Because I wasn’t feeling well, and was stumbling like I was drunk, the one-day I had to spend in the city was pretty much a bust. I wandered around for about 2 hours before heading back to the hostel to lie down.  I ventured out again after a bit of a break but I still wasn’t feeling so hot and sightseeing in the dark just isn’t the same. I passed a grocery store on the way home and decided to pickup some dinner, the winning combination of potato salad and Pringles. Dinner of champions!

I’m now laying in bed trying to figure out why my body insists on thinking that it’s on a boat and hoping that I feel better in the morning. It’s an early start tomorrow as we catch the train to Oslo bright and early. Hopefully my adventures there will be a little more noteworthy so I can give you guys something worth reading.

Riga: It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

We arrived in Riga early Friday morning and since we spent the night at the airport the first order of business after finding our hostel was to catch up on sleep. We ended up napping most of the day away but went for a nice wander just after dusk.
The weather was much nicer than it was in Copenhagen. It felt like home. It was cold, but comfortable, and snowing. It was nice. We wandered through the old town for about an hour using my favourite mode of navigation (using church spires as landmarks) before heading back to the hostel where Dom made us pasta for dinner. I wasn't feeling very well so I opted to stay in and rest while Dom went on  pub crawl.
The weather the next day was not so inviting. It was freezing cold. I actually saw a birds poop freeze before hitting the ground. Something I have never seen happen before. I managed to brave the frigid temperatures and do a fair bit of sightseeing before retreating to the warmth of the hostel.
Dom had decided to go bobsledding with the Latvian bobsled team so I was flying solo and loving it. I enjoy not having to worry about what someone else wants to do and just doing my own thing.
The first order of business was to find the Christmas Markets. I had noticed a large looking outdoor market near the bus station when we arrived so I headed there first. It was not at all what I was looking for and probably the weirdest market I have ever been to. The first few rows of stalls were selling fresh produce and artisan goods like honeys and jams but as you progressed into the market things started to change. People were selling fur hats and other warm clothing which seemed appropriate but others were selling clothing you would wear on a night out, hardly fitting for the setting. It got weirder still as people were selling nicknacks and second-hand electronics. There were several stalls selling the most amazing combination of goods: reading glasses, shoelaces, and Christmas lights. I'm not really sure what the connection was between those three items and while it made me giggle it also baffled me.
I decided to put my hunt for Christmas Markets on hold because a large beautiful building had caught my eye and I wanted to check it out. I'm still not entirely sure what it was but it was beautiful. There didn't seem to be anything else noteworthy in that part of town so I headed back to the hostel then wandered off again in a new direction following a trail of buildings that caught my eye and through a beautiful snow covered park. The old town of Riga is quite small but there is a lot to see in the area. I was constantly taking pictures and in awe of my surroundings.
The trail of beautiful buildings finally lead me to targeted destination: the Christmas market. I have visited quite a few of these while travelling Europe and my favourite thing about them is generally the street meat. There is nothing quite like a bratwurst on a panini while you check out what the vendors have to offer. I was a little disappointed that all of the food on offer required utensils to eat but enjoyed myself nonetheless. Since there was no street meat the highlight would be the children's choir performing carols for the crowds. I have no idea what they were singing but they were pretty cute. I took a video so you can judge for yourself.

I was frozen solid by this point and had seen a good chunk of what the city has to offer so I started to make my way back to the hostel. I was about half way there when I started to hear loud singing. I decided to follow the music and ended up in yet another Christmas market but this was different than anyone I had been to before. Every other Christmas market I have been to has vendors selling products out of small rustic looking wooden cabins. This one was full of small purple and white cabins. I think they were trying to be hip. The music I heard was a group of Children's entertainers performing. I'm not sure if the girls were supposed to be elves or mushrooms or something else entirely but it was interesting to watch even though I didn't understand a word they were saying. For those of you from Muskoka they didn't hold a candle to Peanut-Butter and Jelly but again I will let you be the judge.

I watched Latvia's version of the Wiggles for a few minutes before my toes started to go numb so I made my way back to the hostel where I hung out in the lounge until Dom returned from his day trip. Upon his return we headed across the street to a pub for dinner. The food was a little disappointing but I've been in Latvia for almost three full days now and still haven't had any fast-food so I'm going to call it a win. After dinner it was back to the hostel to relax before bed.
I woke up today with plans to do a walking tour through the Russian part of the city known as Little Moscow but that plan was derailed after I walked outside and instantly felt like I was going to die of hypothermia. I still walked to the meeting point for the tour to try to suss things out but when no one else showed up I decided it would be best to make another plan. Dom and I headed to a coffee shop for some lunch and to reevaluate the day while we warmed up a little. We had already visited 'Europe's largest market' located in some old Zeppelin hangers on the way to the meeting point so the only thing I still needed to see was the castle.
With warm food in our bellies we headed towards the castle, which was more of a square building with a round tower on one of the corners. Dom wanted to see the Christmas markets I had visited yesterday so I lead him to them then headed back to the hostel. Not a very productive day but I am happy with the amount I have seen since arriving and the next few days are going to be quite hectic with 4 countries in 4 days so a lazy day today might even be a good thing.
Okay, I'm off to go make sure I have all my ducks in a row before I hop on an overnight ferry. Fingers crossed I don't get seasick.

A Day In Copenhagen

Yesterday was a fairly uneventful day spent mostly in transit. We woke up, had some crepes, and headed to the airport. The walk to the bus stop was incredibly uneventful, people were still setting up for the day so we only got hassled by two taxi drivers who were easy to blow off since they were actually in their taxis at the time.

The line up to check in at the airport was pretty ridiculous and the staff at Marrakech were pretty rude in general. When we finally made it to border control the two girls working were chatting together so I stood behind the line even though one of them was free and she gave me so much attitude when she finally called me forward which she did by tapping her pen on the desk.

The flight itself wasn't too bad but let me warn you if you are ever told the flight you are boarding has inflight Wi-Fi resist the urge to get excited thinking you will be able to catch up on last nights TV shows during the flight. It just won't happen. Everyone and their dog is trying to connect to the same network so you won’t be able to do much of anything. I managed to check Facebook a couple of times but even that was a struggle. 

The flight was delayed (probably due to the useless employees at the check-in counter) and we didn't arrive in Copenhagen until roughly 8pm so we were pretty exhausted by the time we made it to our hostel. After we checked in we went for a quick wander around the town, and bought some food at a grocery store to bring back to the hostel for dinner. 

Today is our only real day in Copenhagen since we arrived so late yesterday and fly out at 6:45am tomorrow (I'm really looking forward to being at the airport for 4:30) so we needed to make the most of it. I decided to set realistic goals for a change, all I wanted to get done today was to see the Little Mermaid statue, and eat a Danish, any other sightseeing would be a bonus. Dom's goal was to see the Tivoli Gardens.

We started out wandering through our neighbourhood before heading to Nyhavn street (the famous street overlooking the canal with multi-coloured buildings most people think of when they think of Copenhagen) that looked like it would be a really cool place to hang out in the summer time. Today however it was freezing cold and I wanted to run back home and snuggle under some blankets.

From there we wandered past a theatre and the Royal Palace. 

We were on the hunt for the mermaid but I was so cold I was actually in pain so we headed back to the hostel so I could put on some long underwear. I used to think you could take the girl out of Canada but you can't take the Canada out of the girl but now I'm not so sure. I think the last time I wore long johns at home was during the grade 6 trip to Yearley. The saddest part is that it's not even that cold. It is currently -4 and I'm sure it was warmer while the sun was up and we were out exploring. It's a damp cold though and it really chills you to the bone.

I put on a few more layers and we headed off again. We walked by another palace and a few churches before finally making our way to the mermaid I had so desperately wanted to see. I took a few pictures and we were off on our merry way again. My stomach was rumbling by this point so we started on the hunt for food while heading in the general direction of Tivoli Gardens.

On our hunt for food we walked past the Royal Palace again and accidentally stumbled upon what I'm pretty sure was the changing of the guard. I took a video of the ceremony, you can find it at the bottom of this post. The event moved quite slowly and standing still only made me feel colder so we continued our hunt for food and the gardens.

We stumbled upon some Christmas markets but eventually ended up at McDonalds, not very adventurous but it was a warm building with reasonably priced food so I was sold. 

For dessert we headed to a bakery we passed on the way for our danish. It was delicious! The girl sat next to us was a little annoying though. A woman from California had just moved here because she married a Danish man, who gave her a gigantic ring that she was all to proud to wave in our faces. She started a conversation with us and the whole time I felt like she was talking down on us and seemed to think she was the greatest thing since slice bread. I couldn't get away from her fast enough.

When we finally escaped the horrible conversation about crown jewels and expensive restaurants we headed to Tivoli Gardens. We wandered around the outside for a while to see if it was worth paying to go in and decided that it wasn't. It’s an amusement park that is supposed to be completely decked out in Christmas lights right now. We didn't want to go on any rides and the lights display looked pretty dismal so we decided to pass.

We headed back to the hostel and have been in veg mode ever since. It might not sound like we did a lot but I feel like we walked most of the city and according to our map we walked passed about 95% of the major attractions so I think we were fairly successful with our day in Copenhagen.