Our next destination was Salzburg. It has a rich musical culture and everything there revolves around Mozart. That's because it is the birth town of Mozart. The road leading there was very good as we were expecting more difficult roads. Once we arrived in Salzburg we searched a parking place outside the city centre. It wasn't a long walk from there as the city is quite small.
We went to this market place to get juicy fruits for a breakfast. After breakfast we started to walk around the city. We followed the tips of our travel guide visiting all these parks and squares. We also walked by the house of Mozart and ate the famous Mozart Kugeln chocolates in front of the house. After all the major sights we went to a laundromat to wash our clothes. We ate lunch in a nearby shopping centre's restaurant.
With clean clothes we returned to our car and left Salzburg. We wanted to go to Hallstatt for the rest of the day. Hallstatt is a 900 people town 30 km from Salzburg. It is famous for it's saltmines and ice caves (btw, salz means salt in German). But we were more interested in it's mountain lake:) As we got there we went straight to the beach. Water was once again clear and warm. This would be the last swimmable lake on our trip, so we had to enjoy it to the fullest. We watched the sunset at the lake and continued driving after that.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
DAY 39 - 19.7.2006
Venice was about 500 km from Rome. I had driven as far as I could the earlier night and Arttu continued in the morning. After some hours we reached Venice. We left our car in a big parking house in Mestre and after breakfast we took a train from there to Venice. The train cost only one euro and took about 10 minutes.
Everyone knows Venice and it's canals. And most of all we wanted to experience those canals. Unfortunately it costs 76 euros to go for a 50 minute Gondole ride, so it was a bit over our budget. We decided to take waterbus (called Vaporetto) number 1 which goes along the Grand Canal to the other side of the town. It was a nice way to see the city from canal's viewpoint. After our boat ride we continued our sightseeing tour on foot. They say it's wonderful to walk in the narrow streets of Venice but much nicer to get lost in there as then there are no other tourists on the roads. And so we did, actually a couple of times:)
After spending the whole day in those narrow streets, we returned to our car. We stopped at a gas station to eat something for dinner. We have noticed that many people eat at those gas station restaurants. And why not as the food is so great there. I fell in love with Paninis in gas statiolns and I had to eat two of them this time. Our mission in Italy was to try as many different foods as possible. We tried pizza, spaghetti, panini, penne pasta and gelato. Unfortunately as it was time to go to Austria, we had not succeeded in trying Italian lasagne:( Mission failed! But at least we haed accomplished another mission: spending 3 days in Italy without getting our car stolen:)
Before leaving the gas station I noticed a sign with a picture of a shower, BINGO! And it didn't even cost anything, actually the hot water cost but who needs it:) We had sweat for several days now so the cold shower felt so good. After we get to home from this roadtrip I'll go to shower at least 4 times a day to make it up for the past weeks.
Once again I had the night shift to drive the car. Near the Austrian border I had to pull over. As there is not much lights in the Alps, the stars were very visible. I had to take a 5 minute break to enjoy the bright star sky. Not far from that place we decided to spend the night there. We wanted to continue in the morning so that we could see these mountains on daylight.
Everyone knows Venice and it's canals. And most of all we wanted to experience those canals. Unfortunately it costs 76 euros to go for a 50 minute Gondole ride, so it was a bit over our budget. We decided to take waterbus (called Vaporetto) number 1 which goes along the Grand Canal to the other side of the town. It was a nice way to see the city from canal's viewpoint. After our boat ride we continued our sightseeing tour on foot. They say it's wonderful to walk in the narrow streets of Venice but much nicer to get lost in there as then there are no other tourists on the roads. And so we did, actually a couple of times:)
After spending the whole day in those narrow streets, we returned to our car. We stopped at a gas station to eat something for dinner. We have noticed that many people eat at those gas station restaurants. And why not as the food is so great there. I fell in love with Paninis in gas statiolns and I had to eat two of them this time. Our mission in Italy was to try as many different foods as possible. We tried pizza, spaghetti, panini, penne pasta and gelato. Unfortunately as it was time to go to Austria, we had not succeeded in trying Italian lasagne:( Mission failed! But at least we haed accomplished another mission: spending 3 days in Italy without getting our car stolen:)
Before leaving the gas station I noticed a sign with a picture of a shower, BINGO! And it didn't even cost anything, actually the hot water cost but who needs it:) We had sweat for several days now so the cold shower felt so good. After we get to home from this roadtrip I'll go to shower at least 4 times a day to make it up for the past weeks.
Once again I had the night shift to drive the car. Near the Austrian border I had to pull over. As there is not much lights in the Alps, the stars were very visible. I had to take a 5 minute break to enjoy the bright star sky. Not far from that place we decided to spend the night there. We wanted to continue in the morning so that we could see these mountains on daylight.
DAY 38 - 18.7.2006
We woke up early and headed to Rome. We had read that it's not so joyful to drive in Italy because of the rushes and the way they drive down here. But the bigger problem for us was to find the city centrum. Rome has 2.5 million citizens, so the city is very big and directions are not that good. So driving there was once again stressful. Finally we found a private garage near the city centre so we left our car there. The place was quite expensive but we were ready to pay for our car's safety. And now we had the possibility to leave most of our stuff in the car. We had major language problems as we were explaining how long would we be there but after a while we managed to clear everything by talking bad German:)
We didn't really want to stay another day in Rome and because it's impossible to see everything in one day, we planned which sights to see and which not. First we wanted to see the Vatican as the waiting lines for Vatican museum are the longest. We got there 45 minutes before the opening and already there was over 100 meter waiting line. Once we got inside we didn't really want to see other than the Sistine Chapel where there is this famous Michelangelo's ceiling.
After seeing all the interesting sights there we went to the centre of the Vatican. The square where the Pope says new year's greetings in every language. It was quite impressive. And so was the church of St. Peter's. We payed to get up to it's tower. To there it was over 540 steps so it was quite exhausting:) But it was worth it.
After Vatican we started going through Rome's sights in the old town. Main attraction there for us was the temple Pantheon. After Pantheon and it's nearby sights we headed to the Ancient City where the Colosseum and it's friends were waiting. The whole area was amazing. We paid to get inside Colosseum and Palatine Hill. After seeing all the ruins of the old Roman Empire we went to see some other sights including the Fontana Di Trevi. Story tells that if you throw a coin into the fountain you will be guaranteed a fast return to Rome, and if you throw 2 coins you will fall in love there. We all threw just one coin:)
At 8 pm as we were walking to the new town we noticed all the fast walking in the hot sun to take a toll on our smallest traveller. Lauri (aged 14 by the way) felt sick and threw up the remains of the Pizza we ate for lunch. He got the attention of several Italians on the little street. I have to say that Italians are extremely helpful people! Everyone were offering their help to poor little Lauri:) After Lauri had rested a bit we continued our walking. Unfortunately the sun was already setting so we didn't have time to see all the famous Italian designer cloth stores like Prada and Gucci. But it wasn't such a big loss as the window shopping would have left us feeling just miserable:)
We took a taxi to our garage and said arrivederci to Rome. They say all the roads lead to Rome and so it seemed as every road we took didn't really get us out of the city, but finally we made it. I want to visit Rome again but never again by car:) On our way to highway we were overwhelmed by the number of prostitutes standing next to the roads leaving the city. I would have thought police would do something about it but I guess I not. Well, it's one of the oldest professions and we were in one of the world's oldest cities:)
We didn't really want to stay another day in Rome and because it's impossible to see everything in one day, we planned which sights to see and which not. First we wanted to see the Vatican as the waiting lines for Vatican museum are the longest. We got there 45 minutes before the opening and already there was over 100 meter waiting line. Once we got inside we didn't really want to see other than the Sistine Chapel where there is this famous Michelangelo's ceiling.
After seeing all the interesting sights there we went to the centre of the Vatican. The square where the Pope says new year's greetings in every language. It was quite impressive. And so was the church of St. Peter's. We payed to get up to it's tower. To there it was over 540 steps so it was quite exhausting:) But it was worth it.
After Vatican we started going through Rome's sights in the old town. Main attraction there for us was the temple Pantheon. After Pantheon and it's nearby sights we headed to the Ancient City where the Colosseum and it's friends were waiting. The whole area was amazing. We paid to get inside Colosseum and Palatine Hill. After seeing all the ruins of the old Roman Empire we went to see some other sights including the Fontana Di Trevi. Story tells that if you throw a coin into the fountain you will be guaranteed a fast return to Rome, and if you throw 2 coins you will fall in love there. We all threw just one coin:)
At 8 pm as we were walking to the new town we noticed all the fast walking in the hot sun to take a toll on our smallest traveller. Lauri (aged 14 by the way) felt sick and threw up the remains of the Pizza we ate for lunch. He got the attention of several Italians on the little street. I have to say that Italians are extremely helpful people! Everyone were offering their help to poor little Lauri:) After Lauri had rested a bit we continued our walking. Unfortunately the sun was already setting so we didn't have time to see all the famous Italian designer cloth stores like Prada and Gucci. But it wasn't such a big loss as the window shopping would have left us feeling just miserable:)
We took a taxi to our garage and said arrivederci to Rome. They say all the roads lead to Rome and so it seemed as every road we took didn't really get us out of the city, but finally we made it. I want to visit Rome again but never again by car:) On our way to highway we were overwhelmed by the number of prostitutes standing next to the roads leaving the city. I would have thought police would do something about it but I guess I not. Well, it's one of the oldest professions and we were in one of the world's oldest cities:)
DAY 37 - 17.7.2006
Italy... mmm... we had waited for Italian food for few weeks now. We drove to Genova in the morning. Unfortunately Italians seem to go to work quite early as we ran into some traffic. The suburbs were in pretty bad condition, which made our drive to city centre not so enjoyable. In fact it caused an immediate culture shock on the brothers. They were expecting something else from the Italian Riviera. Avenues made of diamonds or something like that:) We drove to the beach and found out that there was only one free public beach. The beach was very small and full of old people at the early hours. It didn't bother me as I was ready for the last day on the beach. But it bothered the brothers and they wanted to leave Genova right away. Fortunately I managed to talk them over to see at least the city centre by walk after our morning swim.
The city centre was quite nice actually. I think we all were glad that we didn't miss it. At 2 pm we were back at our car. According to our plans we should have stayed in Genova the whole day and see Pisa and Firenze on the next day. But as I was the only one voting for that, the democratic solution was to go to Pisa today. And so we were on a hot road again:-
We had read that they let 30 persons in the leaning tower of Pisa every 30 minutes so we wanted to be there early as possible to be able to climb up to the tower. Once we got to the city of Pisa our hopes disappeared. There was an unbelievable amount of tourists. Masses of people were walking towards the tower from the tourist buses. And there were lots of souvenir stands along the road selling all kinds of leaning tower related stuff.
I had pictured the tower to be a lot smaller. Once we got there we noticed that the tower was huge. And very beautiful as it was so bright white. All the pictures about the tower don't really give justice to it. We went for drinks to this nearby cafeteria as we had to charge our batteries. After that we went to ask about the tickets. They cost 15 euros. That's not bad but for the first free tour group we should have waited for three hours. So we decided to skip it. We were also worried about our car as we had heard some bad stories about car thieves here. After few more photos we returned to our car. I don't think I'll get another chance to visit the tower because in some years it has to come down. I just hope that someone gets it on video:)
After finding our car in a good shape at our parking area we went to search for a restaurant as it was 6 pm and we had not had our lunch yet. Unfortunately there was not a good one on our way to autostrade so we had to go to a McDonald's. And what a big mistake it turned out to be! It took me 30 minutes to get my meal! Not that there was a big line but the sales persons just kept screwing up everything. They really got on my nerves.
Once we got on the road again, we drove to the nearest gas station to wait for the sun to come down a bit and charge our batteries. It was way too hot for driving as we weren't in a hurry. We decided to skip Firenze as we weren't really in mood for it's many museums. Of course the city has a lot else to offer but we decided to drive to Rome instead. We drove near Rome and slept at a gas station.
The city centre was quite nice actually. I think we all were glad that we didn't miss it. At 2 pm we were back at our car. According to our plans we should have stayed in Genova the whole day and see Pisa and Firenze on the next day. But as I was the only one voting for that, the democratic solution was to go to Pisa today. And so we were on a hot road again:-
We had read that they let 30 persons in the leaning tower of Pisa every 30 minutes so we wanted to be there early as possible to be able to climb up to the tower. Once we got to the city of Pisa our hopes disappeared. There was an unbelievable amount of tourists. Masses of people were walking towards the tower from the tourist buses. And there were lots of souvenir stands along the road selling all kinds of leaning tower related stuff.
I had pictured the tower to be a lot smaller. Once we got there we noticed that the tower was huge. And very beautiful as it was so bright white. All the pictures about the tower don't really give justice to it. We went for drinks to this nearby cafeteria as we had to charge our batteries. After that we went to ask about the tickets. They cost 15 euros. That's not bad but for the first free tour group we should have waited for three hours. So we decided to skip it. We were also worried about our car as we had heard some bad stories about car thieves here. After few more photos we returned to our car. I don't think I'll get another chance to visit the tower because in some years it has to come down. I just hope that someone gets it on video:)
After finding our car in a good shape at our parking area we went to search for a restaurant as it was 6 pm and we had not had our lunch yet. Unfortunately there was not a good one on our way to autostrade so we had to go to a McDonald's. And what a big mistake it turned out to be! It took me 30 minutes to get my meal! Not that there was a big line but the sales persons just kept screwing up everything. They really got on my nerves.
Once we got on the road again, we drove to the nearest gas station to wait for the sun to come down a bit and charge our batteries. It was way too hot for driving as we weren't in a hurry. We decided to skip Firenze as we weren't really in mood for it's many museums. Of course the city has a lot else to offer but we decided to drive to Rome instead. We drove near Rome and slept at a gas station.
Friday, July 21, 2006
DAY 36 - 16.7.2006
We arrived in Nice after 7am. We parked our car next to the ocean. This day was the second last chance to get a good tan. So the day was dedicated to our wonderful sun shining once again from a clear sky. Before eight there was already several people on the beach and after some time we noticed that there wasn't any more parking places free. So it was perfect timing for us.
Nice is part of the French Riviera along it's famous neighbours Monaco and Cannes. Riviera's beaches are not like the ones in Spain and Portugal. There is no fine sand, instead there are big round rocks. Because of that it required some adjusting when trying to find a comfortable position for sun bathing. But the beach had it's positive sides too: no sand flying and it was nice to search beautiful stones. I took few as a souvenir.
We stayed at the beach till 5pm. After that we went to walk along the beach avenue. We wanted to eat in one of the restaurants which had a sea view, so we chose this one place with free wireless internet connection to customers. We all took pizzas from there. After our late lunch we walked back to our car through the old town. We wanted to see Monaco on the same day so we had to hurry.
Unfortunately many others were leaving the beach at the same time so we got stuck in traffic. We wanted to drive to Monaco along the shore. The scenery was great. Finally we got to Monaco. As we were looking for parking spots we drove by the casino Monte Carlo. The parking area was full of expensive cars and people trying to see famous people. Once we got the car parked the sun had already set down. It was a shame as we also wanted to see Monaco on daylight. The good way to see Monaco fast is by walking along the famous Monaco's Formula 1 Grand Prix as it goes by all the important landmarks. Lots of people were also driving alont the circuit with fast cars. At the harbour there were many big ships with their proud owners eating on the back deck. There's also many people in nice clothes so the city feels really glamorous as you walk there. After seeing enough we returned to our car and went to drive along the circuit. Monaco GP was about a month earlier so of course the streets looked normal by now, but luckily we had our F1 specialist, Lauri, with us who knew all the turns:)
It was time to go to a new country. We welcomed Italy and said goodbye to France and Monaco. Although I'm pretty sure I will return there as Nizza was such a lovely place and I want to visit Monte Carlo casino with a pinstripe suit:) We drove across the border and spent the night in one of the gas stations.
Nice is part of the French Riviera along it's famous neighbours Monaco and Cannes. Riviera's beaches are not like the ones in Spain and Portugal. There is no fine sand, instead there are big round rocks. Because of that it required some adjusting when trying to find a comfortable position for sun bathing. But the beach had it's positive sides too: no sand flying and it was nice to search beautiful stones. I took few as a souvenir.
We stayed at the beach till 5pm. After that we went to walk along the beach avenue. We wanted to eat in one of the restaurants which had a sea view, so we chose this one place with free wireless internet connection to customers. We all took pizzas from there. After our late lunch we walked back to our car through the old town. We wanted to see Monaco on the same day so we had to hurry.
Unfortunately many others were leaving the beach at the same time so we got stuck in traffic. We wanted to drive to Monaco along the shore. The scenery was great. Finally we got to Monaco. As we were looking for parking spots we drove by the casino Monte Carlo. The parking area was full of expensive cars and people trying to see famous people. Once we got the car parked the sun had already set down. It was a shame as we also wanted to see Monaco on daylight. The good way to see Monaco fast is by walking along the famous Monaco's Formula 1 Grand Prix as it goes by all the important landmarks. Lots of people were also driving alont the circuit with fast cars. At the harbour there were many big ships with their proud owners eating on the back deck. There's also many people in nice clothes so the city feels really glamorous as you walk there. After seeing enough we returned to our car and went to drive along the circuit. Monaco GP was about a month earlier so of course the streets looked normal by now, but luckily we had our F1 specialist, Lauri, with us who knew all the turns:)
It was time to go to a new country. We welcomed Italy and said goodbye to France and Monaco. Although I'm pretty sure I will return there as Nizza was such a lovely place and I want to visit Monte Carlo casino with a pinstripe suit:) We drove across the border and spent the night in one of the gas stations.
DAY 35 - 15.7.2006
Our next stop, Annecy, was behind the Swiss border, but not far away. We drove there in about half an hour. Annecy has a population of 50 000 and it's located in the French Alps. The city has a long history which explains it's narrow streets and old houses and castles. Two French girls from my university had recommended the place for us.
After parking our car we noticed that there was a market place two blocks from our car. We went to get the morning fruits from there. We bought nectarines from there. Actually we have eaten those quite a lot these weeks. They're just so tasty and cheap:) We continued to the tourist office. When I asked what places are worth to visit, the lady there gave me a walking tour map. You could see that the city is visited very often as they have these kinds of guides to give away. It just makes our search for sights a lot easier.
We made the suggested walking tours around the old town and along the lake. The scenery was very nice. The city reminded me about St. Emilion as they both look like medieval cities with castles and walls.
Like our visited cities in Swizerland, Annecy also is built next to a mountain lake. But it's beach beat it's Swiss opponents easily. The water was amazingly bright and 50 meters from the waterline you could still see the sand in the bottom of the lake. We had seen these pedal boats before and now we just couldn't resist them. We rented a 5-passenger pedal boat for an hour. It was unbelievably relaxing. We just lyed on the little boat and jumped to water whenever it became too hot to under the sun.
After our time was up we went to this normal beach and continued our relaxation there. After Annecy we would have once again quite hectic schedule and long drives. Anyways, I recommend Annecy to everyone as it's such a beautiful and unique city. What are you waiting for? Go book the flights NOW!:)
After Annecy we were going to Nice. We had to options: choose the motorway with longer distance and expensive road tolls, or the small roads with shorter distance and unpredictable roads. We chose the small roads as they seemed cheaper. The first part of the trip was good as the roads were good and nature offered us a nice show as the nearby mountains had thick clouds and lots of flashlights. But unfortunately when the smaller roads started, we turned to those mountains and now the rain was on us and road went along mountains making the average speed low. After 50 kilometres of struggling, the roads became better and our faces turned to happy faces again:) At 11 pm we pulled over, ate something and went to sleep.
After parking our car we noticed that there was a market place two blocks from our car. We went to get the morning fruits from there. We bought nectarines from there. Actually we have eaten those quite a lot these weeks. They're just so tasty and cheap:) We continued to the tourist office. When I asked what places are worth to visit, the lady there gave me a walking tour map. You could see that the city is visited very often as they have these kinds of guides to give away. It just makes our search for sights a lot easier.
We made the suggested walking tours around the old town and along the lake. The scenery was very nice. The city reminded me about St. Emilion as they both look like medieval cities with castles and walls.
Like our visited cities in Swizerland, Annecy also is built next to a mountain lake. But it's beach beat it's Swiss opponents easily. The water was amazingly bright and 50 meters from the waterline you could still see the sand in the bottom of the lake. We had seen these pedal boats before and now we just couldn't resist them. We rented a 5-passenger pedal boat for an hour. It was unbelievably relaxing. We just lyed on the little boat and jumped to water whenever it became too hot to under the sun.
After our time was up we went to this normal beach and continued our relaxation there. After Annecy we would have once again quite hectic schedule and long drives. Anyways, I recommend Annecy to everyone as it's such a beautiful and unique city. What are you waiting for? Go book the flights NOW!:)
After Annecy we were going to Nice. We had to options: choose the motorway with longer distance and expensive road tolls, or the small roads with shorter distance and unpredictable roads. We chose the small roads as they seemed cheaper. The first part of the trip was good as the roads were good and nature offered us a nice show as the nearby mountains had thick clouds and lots of flashlights. But unfortunately when the smaller roads started, we turned to those mountains and now the rain was on us and road went along mountains making the average speed low. After 50 kilometres of struggling, the roads became better and our faces turned to happy faces again:) At 11 pm we pulled over, ate something and went to sleep.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
DAY 34 - 14.7.2006
We woke up at 9.30 without an alarm clock. We had no hurry, the whole day was dedicated to Geneve's sights. Geneve has played an important role in history and nowadays many international organizations like the UN or the Red Cross have their headquarters there. Our first sight was this water fountain on the lake. It is called Jet d'Eau and it is the highest water fountain in Europe, with water shower reaching as high as 140 meters. It has become the symbol of Geneve, which you can find in most of the postcards.
After Jet d'Eau we continued our sightseeing tour. We went to see the old town, gardens, HQ of UN, the hotel where the world leaders met in 1864 for the Geneva Convention, all those basic sights. The shopping streets were big and there were many shops for rich tourists. Those kinds of shops that wouldn't let me in:)
After seeing enough we rushed to a beach. Our feet had deserved a small rest after all that walking. Next to the lake there was this outdoor movie theatre called Orange Cinema. We had read about those already in Zurich and wanted to try one. Unfortunately in the evening the wind was very strong and we weren't so interested in the movie they were showing, so we skipped it. Instead we went for a late night swim and to sleep. We had a good parking place for our car so we wanted to sleep one more night there.
After Jet d'Eau we continued our sightseeing tour. We went to see the old town, gardens, HQ of UN, the hotel where the world leaders met in 1864 for the Geneva Convention, all those basic sights. The shopping streets were big and there were many shops for rich tourists. Those kinds of shops that wouldn't let me in:)
After seeing enough we rushed to a beach. Our feet had deserved a small rest after all that walking. Next to the lake there was this outdoor movie theatre called Orange Cinema. We had read about those already in Zurich and wanted to try one. Unfortunately in the evening the wind was very strong and we weren't so interested in the movie they were showing, so we skipped it. Instead we went for a late night swim and to sleep. We had a good parking place for our car so we wanted to sleep one more night there.
DAY 33 -13.7.2006
What is great about Swizerland is that it's so small country that distances between major cities are very short. We were driving to the capital Bern from Interlaken and it was only 60km away. But that is what our plans for Swizerland was all about: relaxing in beautiful scenery and taking a break from all that driving.
But now we had arrived in the city where Albert Einstein had conceived the theory of general relativity. Bern is the capital of Swizerland with only 124 000 inhabitants. After all the wooden houses burnt down in 1405, the city was rebuilt of sandstone and from that time it has remained unchanged to the present day. The sandstone buildings give Bern a prestigious look. When you walk the streets it feels like you've gone back in time. In the main walking street there's a sign to this one apartment where Einstein lived for few years. We didn't want to pay for the few euros to get in there. It's not like Einstein was our childhood hero:)
We ate a little breakfast at Bern's university as we had to charge the batteries of our cameras. After that we continued our walking around the centrum. We stopped at every stop which the lady in reception had marked in our map. They say Bern is Europe's most flower decorated city so we wanted to check both the botanical and rose garden. Speaking of flowers, our allergic reactions were not bothering in Bern... weird. We took a little nap in the rose garden. After that we went to this bear park, but oops... we had slept a bit too long missing the bears:( Name Bern comes from the German word meaning "bear", so that is the reason why they have a bear park.
So after a little disappointment and small rainstorm we returned to our car. We were going to Geneve, our last stop in Swizerland. It was almost a 2-hour drive there. On our way we crossed the 7000 km milestone. Once we got to Geneve, we left our car next to the lake and went for a late night swim. After we had tested the water of lake Geneve, we returned to our car and started cooking Finnish pea soup that we had brought from home. Mmm... delicious as always:) Now we were ready for sleep.
But now we had arrived in the city where Albert Einstein had conceived the theory of general relativity. Bern is the capital of Swizerland with only 124 000 inhabitants. After all the wooden houses burnt down in 1405, the city was rebuilt of sandstone and from that time it has remained unchanged to the present day. The sandstone buildings give Bern a prestigious look. When you walk the streets it feels like you've gone back in time. In the main walking street there's a sign to this one apartment where Einstein lived for few years. We didn't want to pay for the few euros to get in there. It's not like Einstein was our childhood hero:)
We ate a little breakfast at Bern's university as we had to charge the batteries of our cameras. After that we continued our walking around the centrum. We stopped at every stop which the lady in reception had marked in our map. They say Bern is Europe's most flower decorated city so we wanted to check both the botanical and rose garden. Speaking of flowers, our allergic reactions were not bothering in Bern... weird. We took a little nap in the rose garden. After that we went to this bear park, but oops... we had slept a bit too long missing the bears:( Name Bern comes from the German word meaning "bear", so that is the reason why they have a bear park.
So after a little disappointment and small rainstorm we returned to our car. We were going to Geneve, our last stop in Swizerland. It was almost a 2-hour drive there. On our way we crossed the 7000 km milestone. Once we got to Geneve, we left our car next to the lake and went for a late night swim. After we had tested the water of lake Geneve, we returned to our car and started cooking Finnish pea soup that we had brought from home. Mmm... delicious as always:) Now we were ready for sleep.
Friday, July 14, 2006
DAY 32 - 12.7.2006
We woke up at 7am. Next city on our list was Interlaken, Southwest from Luzern. Interlaken is a 20 000 people town in the middle of two big lakes surrounded by mountains. As we were driving there we saw some of the most enchanting views of our trip. The morning sun made the mountains, rivers, lakes and valleys look so beautiful, that we had to stop few times to try to capture part of those in camera.
In Interlaken we parked our car and went to search a hotel where to get a map of the city. The city was pretty much what I had expected. Big mountains and lots of tourists. But the water was not so clear. As we were walking around the city we noticed that there was a large extreme sports competition this weekend. Unfortunately we had no time to wait two days for it to start. We went to swim on the western lake after enough walking.
If you want to try some extreme sports in Swizerland, then this is the place to be. The town is full of small businesses which offer extreme experiences. There is so much you can do: paragliding, skydiving, river rafting and the one I would have wanted to try, canyoning, where you go along the river with protective gear and do lots of jumps into the rapids. Unfortunately, you can imagine how much these experiences cost. So no fun for us:)
We had asked from information office about where we could get a nice view. There were lots of mountains which peaks you could reach with a chairlift. So we drove our car to one place where those leave. We decided to try the one of the cheapest mountains. A ride to the top of the Männlichen cost 20 euros, so it wasn't so much. And it was worth it! We had never been on 2250 m altitude next to the snowy mountains. The views were breath-taking.
Once we got down we drove on to see this one mountain village. It's quite weird that in Swizerland some small mountain villages don't allow cars in the city without a permit or at certain hours. This small village didn't allow driving during 20.00-24.00, but it was only 6pm when we visited the place. Those mountain villages look very... cute:)
Once we got back to interlaken we went to a supermarket and then for a picnic to the eastern lake. We had bought sausages and bread so we made hot dogs. After dinner we made a small walk along the lake. This time the sunset coloured the mountains beautifully. Tomorrow we would go up north again so we had to farewell these mountains.
In Interlaken we parked our car and went to search a hotel where to get a map of the city. The city was pretty much what I had expected. Big mountains and lots of tourists. But the water was not so clear. As we were walking around the city we noticed that there was a large extreme sports competition this weekend. Unfortunately we had no time to wait two days for it to start. We went to swim on the western lake after enough walking.
If you want to try some extreme sports in Swizerland, then this is the place to be. The town is full of small businesses which offer extreme experiences. There is so much you can do: paragliding, skydiving, river rafting and the one I would have wanted to try, canyoning, where you go along the river with protective gear and do lots of jumps into the rapids. Unfortunately, you can imagine how much these experiences cost. So no fun for us:)
We had asked from information office about where we could get a nice view. There were lots of mountains which peaks you could reach with a chairlift. So we drove our car to one place where those leave. We decided to try the one of the cheapest mountains. A ride to the top of the Männlichen cost 20 euros, so it wasn't so much. And it was worth it! We had never been on 2250 m altitude next to the snowy mountains. The views were breath-taking.
Once we got down we drove on to see this one mountain village. It's quite weird that in Swizerland some small mountain villages don't allow cars in the city without a permit or at certain hours. This small village didn't allow driving during 20.00-24.00, but it was only 6pm when we visited the place. Those mountain villages look very... cute:)
Once we got back to interlaken we went to a supermarket and then for a picnic to the eastern lake. We had bought sausages and bread so we made hot dogs. After dinner we made a small walk along the lake. This time the sunset coloured the mountains beautifully. Tomorrow we would go up north again so we had to farewell these mountains.
DAY 31 - 11.7.2006
We had to wake up at 9am, although I would have wanted to stay in that bed for the whole day:) Birgit had to leave 10.15 to a train station, and we were giving her a lift. After saying goodbye to Birgit we were on our way to Zürich's airport. We would once again get a new addition to our road trip team. This time it wasn't a 2 meter high freak of nature, but a 1.5 meter high little man:) Arttu's little brother's plane was arriving at 12.10pm.
Once we got Little Lauri in our car, we headed south to Luzern. Luzern is a city of 60 000 inhabitants and very famous tourist destination as it is a classical Swiss town. We parked our car few kilometres from the city centre and started our sightseeing tour from there. Immediately I got a strong allergic reaction from something there, but I didn't bother to find out what was causing it. Like in Zürich there was also a mountain lake next to Luzern. The water was once again very clear, but we managed to resist it. The old town of Luzern was pretty, but it didn't take long to explore it. One of Luzern's most famous sights is Mount Pilatus. We were hoping to get good photos of it during sunset. So we found a nice park along the lake to wait for the evening.
Once again we managed to avoid paying high internet prices as I found a free wlan spot. We checked our emails and posted four days to my blog. I think the city of Luzern was providing that internet access as the name of the connection was Luzern.wlan. And that's how it is supposed to be!
The sunset didn't colour Mount Pilatus as we were hoping for, so we returned to our car. We drove to a bit safer place to have a peaceful sleep.
Once we got Little Lauri in our car, we headed south to Luzern. Luzern is a city of 60 000 inhabitants and very famous tourist destination as it is a classical Swiss town. We parked our car few kilometres from the city centre and started our sightseeing tour from there. Immediately I got a strong allergic reaction from something there, but I didn't bother to find out what was causing it. Like in Zürich there was also a mountain lake next to Luzern. The water was once again very clear, but we managed to resist it. The old town of Luzern was pretty, but it didn't take long to explore it. One of Luzern's most famous sights is Mount Pilatus. We were hoping to get good photos of it during sunset. So we found a nice park along the lake to wait for the evening.
Once again we managed to avoid paying high internet prices as I found a free wlan spot. We checked our emails and posted four days to my blog. I think the city of Luzern was providing that internet access as the name of the connection was Luzern.wlan. And that's how it is supposed to be!
The sunset didn't colour Mount Pilatus as we were hoping for, so we returned to our car. We drove to a bit safer place to have a peaceful sleep.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Day 30 - 10.7.2006
We were relieved in the morning. We found this supermarket next to the train station and noticed that the prices were reasonable. Our visit to Swizerland was saved! And there is also lots of fountains in the centrum where you can get drinkable water. We enjoyed a big breakfast in a park.
But now we had another problem. We had taken lots of pictures at the castles so our camera's battery was empty. And no way we could go to an internet cafe to charge batteries with those prices. Luckily Zurich's university is right at the centrum so we went there to charge out batteries. Zürich's university is very nice. It's quite old building. Reminded me of Riga's university. As we were in the university I received an sms from this Swiss girl, Birgit. I had contacted her earlier via the Hospitality Club and now she answered me. She was willing to host us for the night. We had to think about it.
After our batteries were full we went to this Arboretum to enjoy the sunny day and have a little swim on the Zürichsee lake. The water was tempting as it was quite bright and clean. So we decided to relax there for two hours and continue our sightseeing after that.
There isn't really sights in Zürich, but it is an extremely nice city. There are about 350 000 inhabitants so it's a relatively small city, which we prefer. I would very much like to live there if the prices just wouldn't be so high. We went to the train station to test this one phone card we had purchased. We also called to Brigit and she gave us instructions of how to get to her house. She was living with her mother in Wettingen, near Zürich.
When we returned to our car we had a pleasant surprise: we got our first parking ticket, yippee!!!:) 40 francs which is 30 euros. Are we going to pay for it? NO! Screw you, Swiss cops:) After we had filled our water bottles we headed to Wettingen. It was easy to find Wettingen. And soon we were at the door of Brigit's house. There were two of her friends there as they had a little holiday celebration. Unfortunately I don't remember their names anymore. Sorry, girls:) We had drinks on the balcony which the girls had earlier redecorated. We didn't stay up late as Birgit and some of her friends were leaving to Dublin on the next day.
It was nice to sleep in a house after a while... and in a bed:) Oh, and the shower was great too. I can almost remember the time when I used to live in a house... mmm... the good old times:)
But now we had another problem. We had taken lots of pictures at the castles so our camera's battery was empty. And no way we could go to an internet cafe to charge batteries with those prices. Luckily Zurich's university is right at the centrum so we went there to charge out batteries. Zürich's university is very nice. It's quite old building. Reminded me of Riga's university. As we were in the university I received an sms from this Swiss girl, Birgit. I had contacted her earlier via the Hospitality Club and now she answered me. She was willing to host us for the night. We had to think about it.
After our batteries were full we went to this Arboretum to enjoy the sunny day and have a little swim on the Zürichsee lake. The water was tempting as it was quite bright and clean. So we decided to relax there for two hours and continue our sightseeing after that.
There isn't really sights in Zürich, but it is an extremely nice city. There are about 350 000 inhabitants so it's a relatively small city, which we prefer. I would very much like to live there if the prices just wouldn't be so high. We went to the train station to test this one phone card we had purchased. We also called to Brigit and she gave us instructions of how to get to her house. She was living with her mother in Wettingen, near Zürich.
When we returned to our car we had a pleasant surprise: we got our first parking ticket, yippee!!!:) 40 francs which is 30 euros. Are we going to pay for it? NO! Screw you, Swiss cops:) After we had filled our water bottles we headed to Wettingen. It was easy to find Wettingen. And soon we were at the door of Brigit's house. There were two of her friends there as they had a little holiday celebration. Unfortunately I don't remember their names anymore. Sorry, girls:) We had drinks on the balcony which the girls had earlier redecorated. We didn't stay up late as Birgit and some of her friends were leaving to Dublin on the next day.
It was nice to sleep in a house after a while... and in a bed:) Oh, and the shower was great too. I can almost remember the time when I used to live in a house... mmm... the good old times:)
DAY 29 - 9.7.2006
We woke up at 9am from the gas station where we had driven last night. We were on our way to south Germany to see two famous castles. It wasn't long drive there. After parking our car we started climbing as the castles were up on hills. The Neuschwanstein castle was beautiful. It was the inspiration for Disney castle in Disneyland. We took several pictures of it. There was also this river near the castle and we walked along the rapids. The water was quite cold so it felt gooood.
We had not noticed that with the road we were driving we first arrived in Austria. After seeing a bit of Austria... or it's tunnels, we arrived in Swizerland. We had to buy autobahn viguette in order to drive on highways in Swizerland. Unfortunately they sell only those for the whole year. So we had to pay 30 euros to drive on Swizerland's motorways for 5 days... stupid.
We noticed that the gasoline is cheeper here than in Germany, but once we got to Zurich all the rumours about this expensive country became true. We had to exchange some money because in here they use francs. Cheapest internet cafe's rate was 3.5 euros for half an hour, and the local big mac index was over 8 euros!!! First we thought we will starve to death in here. Earlier we saw some miserable looking backpacker near the train station begging money, now we knew why. If you don't get out of Swizerland fast you will end up on the street begging:)
We went to this one restaurant to watch the WC final. I was a bit disappointed of the end result but Zurich wasn't. There were so many Italians on the street partying. As we returned to our car later on the night, we realized that Italians didn't party so hard as it was quite silent at our car. Well, maybe it was because it is a work day tomorrow. But for us it's another sunday:)
We had not noticed that with the road we were driving we first arrived in Austria. After seeing a bit of Austria... or it's tunnels, we arrived in Swizerland. We had to buy autobahn viguette in order to drive on highways in Swizerland. Unfortunately they sell only those for the whole year. So we had to pay 30 euros to drive on Swizerland's motorways for 5 days... stupid.
We noticed that the gasoline is cheeper here than in Germany, but once we got to Zurich all the rumours about this expensive country became true. We had to exchange some money because in here they use francs. Cheapest internet cafe's rate was 3.5 euros for half an hour, and the local big mac index was over 8 euros!!! First we thought we will starve to death in here. Earlier we saw some miserable looking backpacker near the train station begging money, now we knew why. If you don't get out of Swizerland fast you will end up on the street begging:)
We went to this one restaurant to watch the WC final. I was a bit disappointed of the end result but Zurich wasn't. There were so many Italians on the street partying. As we returned to our car later on the night, we realized that Italians didn't party so hard as it was quite silent at our car. Well, maybe it was because it is a work day tomorrow. But for us it's another sunday:)
DAY 28 - 8.7.2006
After waking up we went to that castle I found the earlier day. We walked around the park and then headed to the city centre. We had slept quite late because we didn't have big plans for the day.
After breakfast we went to this Englischer Garten. This English Garden is Europe's largest public metropolitan park. And on a nice day like this people go there to play games and relax. We even saw some guys surfing... yes, surfing on the water. At the edge of the park there are these big rapids, and there were about 10 guys with their small surfboards.
After a long walk in the park we headed west. We wanted to go Munchen's Fan Fest area because tonight there was Germany vs. Portugal, WC bronze medal match. We arrived there about 3 hours before the game, so we got ourselves pretty good spots on the grass hill. When the game started the area was full and the atmosphere great. I only saw one flag of Portugal so it was pretty obvious which team the crowd was cheering for:) For our luck Germany won and the after party was ready to start. There were huge fireworks for Germany's victory and after that they played music and Germans celebrated. After one hour of partying we left the area. We took an U-bahn to city centre and walked to our car.
After breakfast we went to this Englischer Garten. This English Garden is Europe's largest public metropolitan park. And on a nice day like this people go there to play games and relax. We even saw some guys surfing... yes, surfing on the water. At the edge of the park there are these big rapids, and there were about 10 guys with their small surfboards.
After a long walk in the park we headed west. We wanted to go Munchen's Fan Fest area because tonight there was Germany vs. Portugal, WC bronze medal match. We arrived there about 3 hours before the game, so we got ourselves pretty good spots on the grass hill. When the game started the area was full and the atmosphere great. I only saw one flag of Portugal so it was pretty obvious which team the crowd was cheering for:) For our luck Germany won and the after party was ready to start. There were huge fireworks for Germany's victory and after that they played music and Germans celebrated. After one hour of partying we left the area. We took an U-bahn to city centre and walked to our car.
DAY 27 - 7.7.2006
Alarm clock rang at 8am. We had arranged a meeting with Vanessa in the city centre. Walk from our car to the centum took about an hour, so we took an S-bahn to get there fast. We were going to Deutsche Museum so that is the reason for the early wake up. We ate our breakfast at a park and went inside the museum after that.
The museum was about science and technology. There were 6 floors so once again we managed to spend 5 hours in there. Those kind of museums should be seen in two or more days, but we don't have neither the money or time for that:) We were quite tired after those 5 hours. Because there were so many different subjects, most of them were not interesting. But it was worth the lousy 3 euros.
After the museum we went to eat some pizza. After a little walk we went to an internet cafe to charge our batteries and put some photos on this diary. After some surfing on the web we went to this one arcade hall to play this one video game I used to play as a kid. By then we had already said goodbye to Vanessa. She got a lift from her father back to home as she had a graduation party the next day.
When it was about 9pm I decided to return to our car. I was quite tired after our long day and few short nights. When I got to our car I took a little walk around the neighbourhood to wait Arttu who chose walking instead of S-bahn. I discovered that one block north from our car was this big castle we had seen in postcards. The castle was called Schloß Nymphenburg. It's park area was large so I decided to leave it for tomorrow.
The museum was about science and technology. There were 6 floors so once again we managed to spend 5 hours in there. Those kind of museums should be seen in two or more days, but we don't have neither the money or time for that:) We were quite tired after those 5 hours. Because there were so many different subjects, most of them were not interesting. But it was worth the lousy 3 euros.
After the museum we went to eat some pizza. After a little walk we went to an internet cafe to charge our batteries and put some photos on this diary. After some surfing on the web we went to this one arcade hall to play this one video game I used to play as a kid. By then we had already said goodbye to Vanessa. She got a lift from her father back to home as she had a graduation party the next day.
When it was about 9pm I decided to return to our car. I was quite tired after our long day and few short nights. When I got to our car I took a little walk around the neighbourhood to wait Arttu who chose walking instead of S-bahn. I discovered that one block north from our car was this big castle we had seen in postcards. The castle was called Schloß Nymphenburg. It's park area was large so I decided to leave it for tomorrow.
Friday, July 07, 2006
DAY 26 - 6.7.2006
For Jari the alarm clock rang at 7am. Jari´s train left at 8am to Frankfurt. I got to sleep till 8.50. We had arranged a meeting with girls at 9.05 as we were leaving to Vanessa´s home town, Ulm. It was one hour drive to there. And of course there were no clouds in the sky as we had to drive:) We ate breakfast there and went to small tour around the city.
Ulm is not a big city but very famous in Germany for it´s beautiful old town and Europe´s biggest Protestant church. The church was very impressive. We had seen many churches during our trip but none of those had been built like this one was. The old town was also as beautiful as promised, we had to take several pictures.
After we said goodbye to Vanessa we continued our trip with the other Vanessa to Munich. It was 130 km from Ulm. As we were driving Vanessa heard from the radio that it had promised rain to Munich for the evening. And once we got to Munich it was raining. We had an umbrella and a rain coat with us, so the rain didn´t affect on our sightseeing tour. We went to walk around the city centre. And after it got dark we returned to our car and Vanessa went to her father´s place.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
DAY 25 - 5.7.2006
We forced ourselves up at 8.30am, because we were late from our sight schedule. Yesterday we didn´t have time for the Porsche museum so we wanted to check it out today. It was nothing like MB museum, it was a lot smaller and it took us about 45 minutes to see everything. After that we took S-bahn back to the city centre and went to the Staatsmuseum, the city museum. It was wednesday so students got in free. If we would have wanted to see Monet´s paintings we would have had to pay. But the free tour was good also as there were paintings of Picasso and Dali. I´m not a big fan of art, but Picasso´s paintings just are fun to watch. There was also modern art and that was just terrible! I hate modern art, it doesn´t require artistic skills, just some insanity.
After our art tour we met Vanessas at the train station and then we went to this mineral bath. Stuttgart is famous of it´s mineral waters and so there are few mineral bath spas. We chose mineral bath Leuze because in there was a finnish sauna, and we missed sauna so badly:) It was like a spa, with normal swimming pools and mineral water swimming pools. The mineral water pools were nice experience as it formed bubbles on the skin. We didn´t like the taste of the mineral water though.
After some swimming we wanted to go to Saunas. As a Finnish sauna people we were a bit surprised about German sauna culture. We didn´t expect to see women at the same facilities, and people were lying under the sun naked. It felt like a nudist colony. What´s wrong with German people?=D Anyways, as they say: In Rome do as the Romans´ do, so we blended in. We tried different saunas, and there were some nice modifications. Smell seemed to be more important factor than the temperature. The "Finnish" sauna was also nice. We got some complaints as we didn´t know that you had to sit on a towel and keep your feet on the same towel. After the whole experience I still prefer our own sauna culture:)
After 3 hours of soaking in the water we left the place cleaner than ever, or at least so it felt as it had been some time since the last shower:) Before the spa we had also taken our laundry to laundromat so as we came back our clean clothes were waiting for us. First time in three weeks. Yeah, I know, we´re dirty and smelly men:)
We did some shopping, or rather watched Jari do the shopping. Ate at a chinese all-you-can-eat restaurant and when the clock turned 9 in the evening, we went to watch the Portugal vs. France match in the Fan Fest area. After the first half they closed the area as police informed that there was big storm coming. We moved to an internet cafe to watch the rest of the game. After the game it was raining... a lot! Luckily I had a gore tex jacket in my backpack, but Arttu and Jari had to run to our car wearing swimming pants and shorts, what a sight=)
It was a beautiful storm. There were lots of lightnings and they were close too. Really made our hearts beat faster at times. When we got to our car we hanged our wet clothes and put our heads on our pillows and listened to the raindrops hitting on the roof of our car.
After our art tour we met Vanessas at the train station and then we went to this mineral bath. Stuttgart is famous of it´s mineral waters and so there are few mineral bath spas. We chose mineral bath Leuze because in there was a finnish sauna, and we missed sauna so badly:) It was like a spa, with normal swimming pools and mineral water swimming pools. The mineral water pools were nice experience as it formed bubbles on the skin. We didn´t like the taste of the mineral water though.
After some swimming we wanted to go to Saunas. As a Finnish sauna people we were a bit surprised about German sauna culture. We didn´t expect to see women at the same facilities, and people were lying under the sun naked. It felt like a nudist colony. What´s wrong with German people?=D Anyways, as they say: In Rome do as the Romans´ do, so we blended in. We tried different saunas, and there were some nice modifications. Smell seemed to be more important factor than the temperature. The "Finnish" sauna was also nice. We got some complaints as we didn´t know that you had to sit on a towel and keep your feet on the same towel. After the whole experience I still prefer our own sauna culture:)
After 3 hours of soaking in the water we left the place cleaner than ever, or at least so it felt as it had been some time since the last shower:) Before the spa we had also taken our laundry to laundromat so as we came back our clean clothes were waiting for us. First time in three weeks. Yeah, I know, we´re dirty and smelly men:)
We did some shopping, or rather watched Jari do the shopping. Ate at a chinese all-you-can-eat restaurant and when the clock turned 9 in the evening, we went to watch the Portugal vs. France match in the Fan Fest area. After the first half they closed the area as police informed that there was big storm coming. We moved to an internet cafe to watch the rest of the game. After the game it was raining... a lot! Luckily I had a gore tex jacket in my backpack, but Arttu and Jari had to run to our car wearing swimming pants and shorts, what a sight=)
It was a beautiful storm. There were lots of lightnings and they were close too. Really made our hearts beat faster at times. When we got to our car we hanged our wet clothes and put our heads on our pillows and listened to the raindrops hitting on the roof of our car.
DAY 24 - 4.7.2006
We woke up at 9am and after breakfast we wanted to go see the Mercedes Benz museum. We had to take an S-bahn to get there. The museum was a big building, 9 floors. The museum told the whole history of MB, so it took us 5 hours to go through everything. It could have taken more but after first floors we stopped reading all those infos.
We wanted to see also the Porsche museum but we didn´t have time for it as we decided to go reserve us a good sitting place from where we could watch the Germany vs. Italy match. We went there about four hours before the kick-off and found ourselves a nice place.
The waiting was boring but finally the game started. We didn´t know which one to cheer for. There would be a big party if Germany would win, but on the other hand we would like to see other nations on the finals so that there would be others than just Germans on the streets. It is always too crowded when Germany plazs. Well, Germany lost in the end. They were pretty calm about it. We were expecting some riots:) After seeing enough Italians partying we returned to our car.
We wanted to see also the Porsche museum but we didn´t have time for it as we decided to go reserve us a good sitting place from where we could watch the Germany vs. Italy match. We went there about four hours before the kick-off and found ourselves a nice place.
The waiting was boring but finally the game started. We didn´t know which one to cheer for. There would be a big party if Germany would win, but on the other hand we would like to see other nations on the finals so that there would be others than just Germans on the streets. It is always too crowded when Germany plazs. Well, Germany lost in the end. They were pretty calm about it. We were expecting some riots:) After seeing enough Italians partying we returned to our car.
DAY 23 - 3.7.2006
After waking up we noticed that we had parked our van 20 meters from a supermarket. So the breakfast was quite close. We ate it at the park and started our sightseeing after that.
Next to the river Rein there are two big hills. On the other there is this famous tourist attraction the castle of Heidelberg. And on the opposite side there is a hill with church ruins, towers and viewpoints. We decided to walk up the hill with better views first. Road to the top of the hill was pretty good and the views were great. There were towers and a church. But the most impressive sight was this thing called "thinkstätte", it was like an amphitheater with seats for 8000 persons. The road there was named as "Philosopher´s way" and at the top of the hill there were the ruins of a church where this priest and philosopher lived. Indeed the philosopher had very inspirational surroundings.
After we came down from the hill we went to that castle on the other side of the river. The castle was very impressive, although it had suffered during World Wars. I had never been in such a big castle so it was worth the few euros to get in there.
After the castle we came down a bit to the main shopping street. We bought postcards and watched the large number of tourists who had come to see the castle.
After seeing the biggest sights we returned to our car. We arrived in Stuttgart at 7pm. We parked our car quite far from the centre. We headed to the city centre as we were going to meet this old HC-friend Vanessa. She and another Vanessa had been my guests last summer in Tampere. Vanessa showed us around the city. We decided to spend two more dazs in Stuttgart as there was quite much to see.
Next to the river Rein there are two big hills. On the other there is this famous tourist attraction the castle of Heidelberg. And on the opposite side there is a hill with church ruins, towers and viewpoints. We decided to walk up the hill with better views first. Road to the top of the hill was pretty good and the views were great. There were towers and a church. But the most impressive sight was this thing called "thinkstätte", it was like an amphitheater with seats for 8000 persons. The road there was named as "Philosopher´s way" and at the top of the hill there were the ruins of a church where this priest and philosopher lived. Indeed the philosopher had very inspirational surroundings.
After we came down from the hill we went to that castle on the other side of the river. The castle was very impressive, although it had suffered during World Wars. I had never been in such a big castle so it was worth the few euros to get in there.
After the castle we came down a bit to the main shopping street. We bought postcards and watched the large number of tourists who had come to see the castle.
After seeing the biggest sights we returned to our car. We arrived in Stuttgart at 7pm. We parked our car quite far from the centre. We headed to the city centre as we were going to meet this old HC-friend Vanessa. She and another Vanessa had been my guests last summer in Tampere. Vanessa showed us around the city. We decided to spend two more dazs in Stuttgart as there was quite much to see.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
DAY 22 - 2.7.2006
We slept quite late in the morning, around 10 or so. We went to eat breakfast next to the river Rein. After breakfast we started our sightseeing tour of Frankfurt. I like the city of Frankfurt, it´s quite spacious and new. That´s because it was almost completely destroyed during World Wars and rebuilt after that. They say the only building that survived allied bombing was a church. We went to see that church and also the European Union´s central bank.
After seeing the sights and eating enough bratwurst it was time to move on. Our next destination was Heidelberg, a small tourist village on our way to Stuttgart. We arrived there about 9pm so we didn´t have much sunlight for sightseeing. After seeing the town a little bit, we went to this park next to the river. In our car we had a litre of Sangria and a bottle of mint flavoured Bailey´s, so we drank those while lying on the grass and watching the stars. You can say that it was the celebration of our three weeks on the road. By now we have driven over 6000 kilometres, and another 6000 km of hot motorways is left.
After seeing the sights and eating enough bratwurst it was time to move on. Our next destination was Heidelberg, a small tourist village on our way to Stuttgart. We arrived there about 9pm so we didn´t have much sunlight for sightseeing. After seeing the town a little bit, we went to this park next to the river. In our car we had a litre of Sangria and a bottle of mint flavoured Bailey´s, so we drank those while lying on the grass and watching the stars. You can say that it was the celebration of our three weeks on the road. By now we have driven over 6000 kilometres, and another 6000 km of hot motorways is left.
DAY 22 - 2.7.2006
We slept quite late in the morning, around 10 or so. We went to eat breakfast next to the river Rein. After breakfast we started our sightseeing tour of Frankfurt. I like the city of Frankfurt, it´s quite spacious and new. That´s because it was almost completely destroyed during World Wars and rebuilt after that. They say the only building that survived allied bombing was a church. We went to see that church and also the European Union´s central bank.
After seeing the sights and eating enough bratwurst it was time to move on. Our next destination was Heidelberg, a small tourist village on our way to Stuttgart. We arrived there about 9pm so we didn´t have much sunlight for sightseeing. After seeing the town a little bit, we went to this park next to the river. In our car we had a litre of Sangria and a bottle of mint flavoured Bailey´s, so we drank those while lying on the grass and watching the stars. You can say that it was the celebration of our three weeks on the road. By now we have driven over 6000 kilometres, and another 6000 km of hot motorways is left.
After seeing the sights and eating enough bratwurst it was time to move on. Our next destination was Heidelberg, a small tourist village on our way to Stuttgart. We arrived there about 9pm so we didn´t have much sunlight for sightseeing. After seeing the town a little bit, we went to this park next to the river. In our car we had a litre of Sangria and a bottle of mint flavoured Bailey´s, so we drank those while lying on the grass and watching the stars. You can say that it was the celebration of our three weeks on the road. By now we have driven over 6000 kilometres, and another 6000 km of hot motorways is left.
DAY 21 - 1.7.2006
We continued driving at 7am after getting some sleep. Today´s schedule was simple: driving, driving and football. And of course the weather was perfect so that our drive to there would be as hot and sweaty as possible. We made several stops on our way to Frankfurt. No way you can drive 14 hours straight without ice cream!!!
We listened to England vs. Portugal match from our radio. When the normal and extra times were over we wanted to pull over so that we could see the penalty shootout. For our disappointment England lost. The game wasn´t the only thing slowing us down. After a while we had to stop on the autobahn. Germany´s fast motorways had once again caused another accident. For a while it seemed that we would be late from our appointment in Frankfurt.
Our friend, Mr. Jari Pulkinen, had decided to join our road trip team for 5 days. His plane arrived in Frankfurt at 7pm and around 8pm he would be in the city centre. Luckily we had just parked our car when we received his sms about arriving in the centrum. So our timing was perfect. We went to get Jari from the train station and after that hurried to the fan fest area to see Brazil vs. France game.
When we got to the fan fest area it was full. So we had to watch the game from one bridge. They had put huge big screens in the river. For our disappointment the wrong team won, goodbye Brazil:( But the French people were quite happy. We watched how they celebrated and returned to our car after seeing enough. The city was so full that we didn´t feel like going to bars or clubs on this saturday night.
We had left our car in the centrum and when we got to sleep we realized our mistake. When we were ready for sleep some small drunk French group came and were amused about us and our way of sleeping. There were also others sleeping in their cars. We got to sleep after that little situation, until at 6am another French group saw us. Because there were 3 of us in the car, one of us had to sleep on the front seat, so that was quite visible. After a nice wake up we tried to get some sleep again.
We listened to England vs. Portugal match from our radio. When the normal and extra times were over we wanted to pull over so that we could see the penalty shootout. For our disappointment England lost. The game wasn´t the only thing slowing us down. After a while we had to stop on the autobahn. Germany´s fast motorways had once again caused another accident. For a while it seemed that we would be late from our appointment in Frankfurt.
Our friend, Mr. Jari Pulkinen, had decided to join our road trip team for 5 days. His plane arrived in Frankfurt at 7pm and around 8pm he would be in the city centre. Luckily we had just parked our car when we received his sms about arriving in the centrum. So our timing was perfect. We went to get Jari from the train station and after that hurried to the fan fest area to see Brazil vs. France game.
When we got to the fan fest area it was full. So we had to watch the game from one bridge. They had put huge big screens in the river. For our disappointment the wrong team won, goodbye Brazil:( But the French people were quite happy. We watched how they celebrated and returned to our car after seeing enough. The city was so full that we didn´t feel like going to bars or clubs on this saturday night.
We had left our car in the centrum and when we got to sleep we realized our mistake. When we were ready for sleep some small drunk French group came and were amused about us and our way of sleeping. There were also others sleeping in their cars. We got to sleep after that little situation, until at 6am another French group saw us. Because there were 3 of us in the car, one of us had to sleep on the front seat, so that was quite visible. After a nice wake up we tried to get some sleep again.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
DAY 20 - 30.6.2006
After few hours of sleep we started our sightseeing tour of Barcelona. We tried to cover as much as possible. We walked the main shopping street called Las Ramblas. It was nice and there were lots of street artists performing, mostly human statues. After some walking we took a break at a park next to the beaches. I wanted to catch a little sleep because after Barcelona our next destination was in Germany, so we had quite long drive to there.
After my nap we went to find a place where to watch Germany against Argentina. Germany won which meant that when we get to Germany for the semifinal matches the atmosphere will be excellent. Good for us.
After the game we continued our walk to the northern part of the city called Gracia. There was this nice park called park Güell. We got a nice view from the top of it, but we didn´t have time to see all of the park as the sun was setting down and we wanted to eat something.
We got back to our car after midnight and started our long drive to Frankfurt, Germany. We had imagined it would be about a 1000km drive but actually it was over 1300km. At times like these I just wish we would be traveling by a train. Damned!
After my nap we went to find a place where to watch Germany against Argentina. Germany won which meant that when we get to Germany for the semifinal matches the atmosphere will be excellent. Good for us.
After the game we continued our walk to the northern part of the city called Gracia. There was this nice park called park Güell. We got a nice view from the top of it, but we didn´t have time to see all of the park as the sun was setting down and we wanted to eat something.
We got back to our car after midnight and started our long drive to Frankfurt, Germany. We had imagined it would be about a 1000km drive but actually it was over 1300km. At times like these I just wish we would be traveling by a train. Damned!
DAY 19 - 29.6.2006
We arrived in Valencia around 4 am. It took a bit longer because we made that stop in Benidorm. Luckily there were showers in Valencia´s beach, so we had a late night shower. At 5 am we were ready for short sleep. We slept four hours and went to search for breakfast. After breakfast Arttu went to the beach and I to an internet cafe. I wasn´t so eager about the beach because I had burned myself a bit the day before. After surfing on the web I changed my mind and went to the beach. After the hottest hours at the beach we were ready for the city centre tour.
First we checked those little shops next to the beach. In Alicante we had already seen these African women who did cornrows and those other hair things for people. They were also in Valencia so I asked one how much would cornrows for whole head cost. The price was 50 euros but I offered all my money to her, which was a bit over 14 euros and after hard bargaining she agreed to do my hair.
It took about half an hour to do my hair. Lots of tourists passing by were lookin as the African woman kept pulling my hair. At one point some reporter lady and a man with a video camera came and interviewed me. They asked me what do I think about Valencia. Of course I had to say nice things to a camera, although I had not really seen more than the beach. I wonder if they ever used that footage and where. Well, that was my fifteen minutes in fame:)
Finally we got to the city centre. It was about 4 km from the beach. There are not so many sights in Valencia, but it is a nice city. We went to the old town to walk around a bit and eat. After seeing enough we started to walk towards the beach where our car was parked. We were there at about midnight. There were lots of young people at the beach even though it was thursday. We didn´t have time to stay there because there was a three hour drive to Barcelona and we wanted to get at least few hours of sleep that night.
After leaving Valencia we ran into police´s check up. I don´t know whether our darkened windows looked suspicious or if it was the driver´s hair style:) Anyway, after a relatively long drug search they let us go. I drove all the way to Barcelona during the night. It´s such a big city that it took a while to find the city centre. But finally we found it and got to sleep. At that time it was almost 6 am. So no long and sweet dreams for me:-/
First we checked those little shops next to the beach. In Alicante we had already seen these African women who did cornrows and those other hair things for people. They were also in Valencia so I asked one how much would cornrows for whole head cost. The price was 50 euros but I offered all my money to her, which was a bit over 14 euros and after hard bargaining she agreed to do my hair.
It took about half an hour to do my hair. Lots of tourists passing by were lookin as the African woman kept pulling my hair. At one point some reporter lady and a man with a video camera came and interviewed me. They asked me what do I think about Valencia. Of course I had to say nice things to a camera, although I had not really seen more than the beach. I wonder if they ever used that footage and where. Well, that was my fifteen minutes in fame:)
Finally we got to the city centre. It was about 4 km from the beach. There are not so many sights in Valencia, but it is a nice city. We went to the old town to walk around a bit and eat. After seeing enough we started to walk towards the beach where our car was parked. We were there at about midnight. There were lots of young people at the beach even though it was thursday. We didn´t have time to stay there because there was a three hour drive to Barcelona and we wanted to get at least few hours of sleep that night.
After leaving Valencia we ran into police´s check up. I don´t know whether our darkened windows looked suspicious or if it was the driver´s hair style:) Anyway, after a relatively long drug search they let us go. I drove all the way to Barcelona during the night. It´s such a big city that it took a while to find the city centre. But finally we found it and got to sleep. At that time it was almost 6 am. So no long and sweet dreams for me:-/
Thursday, June 29, 2006
DAY 18 - 28.6.2006
We couldn't believe our eyes as we woke up: the sky was white from clouds. After an hour of waiting in the car the sky got bright again. It's usually like that in here, but before this morning the clouds have disappeared a lot sooner so that delay made us worry. Anyway, the day was saved and we could go back to plan A.
We went to a supermarket to get some breakfast and went to eat those to the harbour. Arttu said that Alicante is a bt like Monaco. Thats because the harbour is full of big ships. There seems to be lots of rich people in Alicante. Two thirds of the population is from abroad so that tells something about this place.
The beach was quite full as we got there. But it didn't matter. We put on our sun tan lotions and started to worship the sun. We spent about eight hours at the beach and the result was as expected: I managed to burn myself and Arttu did not. Well, I was using quite small SPF as this was our seconde last day in a beach before going to middle Europe. I took a risk and lost. So it goes. After getting enough sun we went to eat at the same tapas restaurant as yesterday. The tapas are just so delicious there. After eating we went for a little walk. We bought postcards and new beach towels.
The rest of the evening went by lying on the beach writing these diaries and waiting for the fireworks to start again. This time we decided to watch the spectacle at the other side of the beach closer to the fireworks. We got to test our new beach towels as we lied down on the sand watching the show. The towels were excellent but they wont ever replace the old one I lost. The smell in that one was so unique... sniff...
Today's fireworks were once again spectacular. It wasn't same as yesterday but now they even had sounds in their rockets. I don't mean the explosion sounds, there were also other sounds after the big booms. It was also amazing to watch those from such a short distance. In Finland that kind of distance would be illegal. Ok, enough of the fireworks.
After the show we left Alicante. Now we were on our way to Valencia. But before Valencia we wanted to stop at Benidorm. Not because of it's reputation, but because we wanted to check if there were showers on the beach. For our surprise there were none in Alicane, and neither in Benidorm. I don't really know when was the last time we used shower with soap:) The side effects don't bother us, but I'm starting to think it bothers others;)
We went to a supermarket to get some breakfast and went to eat those to the harbour. Arttu said that Alicante is a bt like Monaco. Thats because the harbour is full of big ships. There seems to be lots of rich people in Alicante. Two thirds of the population is from abroad so that tells something about this place.
The beach was quite full as we got there. But it didn't matter. We put on our sun tan lotions and started to worship the sun. We spent about eight hours at the beach and the result was as expected: I managed to burn myself and Arttu did not. Well, I was using quite small SPF as this was our seconde last day in a beach before going to middle Europe. I took a risk and lost. So it goes. After getting enough sun we went to eat at the same tapas restaurant as yesterday. The tapas are just so delicious there. After eating we went for a little walk. We bought postcards and new beach towels.
The rest of the evening went by lying on the beach writing these diaries and waiting for the fireworks to start again. This time we decided to watch the spectacle at the other side of the beach closer to the fireworks. We got to test our new beach towels as we lied down on the sand watching the show. The towels were excellent but they wont ever replace the old one I lost. The smell in that one was so unique... sniff...
Today's fireworks were once again spectacular. It wasn't same as yesterday but now they even had sounds in their rockets. I don't mean the explosion sounds, there were also other sounds after the big booms. It was also amazing to watch those from such a short distance. In Finland that kind of distance would be illegal. Ok, enough of the fireworks.
After the show we left Alicante. Now we were on our way to Valencia. But before Valencia we wanted to stop at Benidorm. Not because of it's reputation, but because we wanted to check if there were showers on the beach. For our surprise there were none in Alicane, and neither in Benidorm. I don't really know when was the last time we used shower with soap:) The side effects don't bother us, but I'm starting to think it bothers others;)
Day 17 - 27.6.2006
Next on the list was Granada. It was located in the inner land, so no beaches for us:( Granada reminded me of Brussels. The streets were a bit old and dirty and the sights were just about old buildings and stuff like that. So it was a "granny city" as we call those. Not worth to visit before the age of 80 years:) Oh, speaking of grannies. There are lots of grannies who pull you over by handing you some stick and then they read your future from your hand in 30 seconds. One of them said at least that I get a beautiful wife and two children. Suits me:) The rest what she said I couldn't understand. But maybe she put some curse on me because I didn't give her one euro, so she took that stick away from me. Damned tourist harrassing grannies!
In Granada we walked with our flag of Finland attached to my backpack and finally it happened: as I was waiting Arttu this one security guy walked by me and said to me "Finland" and after I answered him he said something about Lordi!!! :) Our first Lordi comment of our trip. We should have that flag with us more often, but we always forget it. Yesterday when we were driving to Malaga we ran into some heavy traffic right outside the city so we pulled over to a Lidl supermarket and bought something to eat and then went for a picnic into this traffic circle. We put our flag on the grass and got few happy reactions from people passing by. But I think rest of the people didn't really like our place of picnic:)
Anyway, after quick sightseeing tour in Granada we left the place. We were in a hurry because we wanted to get to our next destination before Brazil's game would begin. The drive to there took about three and a half hours and once again during hot sunshine. We didn't get there in time so we watched the first half in a restaurant next to our road.
Once we got to Alicante our hopes came true. The beach was right in the city centre and it was perfect! The only problem was that it wasn't just for us, lots of other people had found the beach as well:) The water had not been warmer in any places we had visited so far. It was about seven when we got there so we could not improve our tan. We just relaxed and waited for evening's game: Spain against France. We went to this one bar to watch the game. Once again bars and restaurants had brought their tables and stools outside.
We have been quite disappointed of the way Spanish people follow the world cup. there are no big screens in cities, just those in bars. Well, there's one in Madrid but we weren't going there. Now we had the chance to see how they cheer for their own national team. We didn't have to wait long as the Spaniards scored quite early in the game. They were quite happy, but nothing like football fans in Portugal. For my pleasure, the rest of the goals were made by the French so France won. I like France's team more than Spain's. We watched the game once again with a litre of Sangria as our company. There was no driving for tonight as we wanted to enjoy Alicante's beach for a whole day.
After the game we went to eat at this one tapas bar. Tapas were 1.20 euros each so we took several. After eating we were ready to call it a day, until we saw lots of people going to the beach . We wanted to see what it was all about. We remembered that in our travel guide it read that there was this week long festival going. We just had not seen anything related to it during the day. But once it was midnight a huge fireworks show started. It was nothing I had ever seen. It lasted over half an hour. I thought I had seen all the fireworks but now I saw something new. There were rockets that made pictures like flower and a heart and rockets that went up, came down a bit and went back up again... wow!=) After the show we finally returned to our car and went to sleep.
In Granada we walked with our flag of Finland attached to my backpack and finally it happened: as I was waiting Arttu this one security guy walked by me and said to me "Finland" and after I answered him he said something about Lordi!!! :) Our first Lordi comment of our trip. We should have that flag with us more often, but we always forget it. Yesterday when we were driving to Malaga we ran into some heavy traffic right outside the city so we pulled over to a Lidl supermarket and bought something to eat and then went for a picnic into this traffic circle. We put our flag on the grass and got few happy reactions from people passing by. But I think rest of the people didn't really like our place of picnic:)
Anyway, after quick sightseeing tour in Granada we left the place. We were in a hurry because we wanted to get to our next destination before Brazil's game would begin. The drive to there took about three and a half hours and once again during hot sunshine. We didn't get there in time so we watched the first half in a restaurant next to our road.
Once we got to Alicante our hopes came true. The beach was right in the city centre and it was perfect! The only problem was that it wasn't just for us, lots of other people had found the beach as well:) The water had not been warmer in any places we had visited so far. It was about seven when we got there so we could not improve our tan. We just relaxed and waited for evening's game: Spain against France. We went to this one bar to watch the game. Once again bars and restaurants had brought their tables and stools outside.
We have been quite disappointed of the way Spanish people follow the world cup. there are no big screens in cities, just those in bars. Well, there's one in Madrid but we weren't going there. Now we had the chance to see how they cheer for their own national team. We didn't have to wait long as the Spaniards scored quite early in the game. They were quite happy, but nothing like football fans in Portugal. For my pleasure, the rest of the goals were made by the French so France won. I like France's team more than Spain's. We watched the game once again with a litre of Sangria as our company. There was no driving for tonight as we wanted to enjoy Alicante's beach for a whole day.
After the game we went to eat at this one tapas bar. Tapas were 1.20 euros each so we took several. After eating we were ready to call it a day, until we saw lots of people going to the beach . We wanted to see what it was all about. We remembered that in our travel guide it read that there was this week long festival going. We just had not seen anything related to it during the day. But once it was midnight a huge fireworks show started. It was nothing I had ever seen. It lasted over half an hour. I thought I had seen all the fireworks but now I saw something new. There were rockets that made pictures like flower and a heart and rockets that went up, came down a bit and went back up again... wow!=) After the show we finally returned to our car and went to sleep.
DAY 16 - 26.6.2006
I had once been in Gibraltar so I wasn't really sure should I join Arttu to see all the sights of "the Rock". Finally I decided to just walk across the mountain without seeing the sights I had already seen and it just cost 1 euro that way. The views were nice and so were the monkeys, or actually macaques.
At one point Arttu went to see the rest of the sights and I walked down from the mountain. The main shopping street of Gibraltar was pretty crowded. The majority of tourists were British, as Gibraltar's official currency is the Pound and official language is English. I returned back to Spain to eat cheaper and to wait Arttu. As I waited I decided to go to a beach next to our car. After Arttu returned we headed to our next city.
Because there is not much to see in Gibraltar, we wanted to see another city today. That was Malaga. Unfortunately there was a 2 hour drive and we had to drive daytime. So for two hours we had to sweat in our van. As if that wasn't too bad, our car's air condition started to act weird... well, we don't really have an air condition, it just blows not so cool air inside the car and now it was just blowing it on the windshield. At times it worked normally.
Malaga turned out to be a beautiful city. It didn't have a beach in the city centre, but the walking roads and avenues were pretty and clean. If I will some day come to Costa del Sol, I will definitely make a day trip to Malaga to do all the shopping there.
After long walks in Malaga, we left the city and went to a gas station to sleep. We have slept in gas stations for several days now. I just wonder how many days less will our lives last because of that:)
At one point Arttu went to see the rest of the sights and I walked down from the mountain. The main shopping street of Gibraltar was pretty crowded. The majority of tourists were British, as Gibraltar's official currency is the Pound and official language is English. I returned back to Spain to eat cheaper and to wait Arttu. As I waited I decided to go to a beach next to our car. After Arttu returned we headed to our next city.
Because there is not much to see in Gibraltar, we wanted to see another city today. That was Malaga. Unfortunately there was a 2 hour drive and we had to drive daytime. So for two hours we had to sweat in our van. As if that wasn't too bad, our car's air condition started to act weird... well, we don't really have an air condition, it just blows not so cool air inside the car and now it was just blowing it on the windshield. At times it worked normally.
Malaga turned out to be a beautiful city. It didn't have a beach in the city centre, but the walking roads and avenues were pretty and clean. If I will some day come to Costa del Sol, I will definitely make a day trip to Malaga to do all the shopping there.
After long walks in Malaga, we left the city and went to a gas station to sleep. We have slept in gas stations for several days now. I just wonder how many days less will our lives last because of that:)
Monday, June 26, 2006
DAY 15 - 25.6.2006
Sevilla, famous for olympic games and Expo '92. We got our car in a nice place next to the river. And we also slept quite well even though it was saturday night and the Spaniards are good party people. We didn't get much sleep because we wanted to make sure we got tickets for tonight's bullfighting. So we went hunting for them. There was lots of tickets left so we got our tickets easily for the show at 7.30pm. They cost only 9 euros. Maybe the matadors were not so famous as they were so cheap.
After getting the tickets we realised something. It was Sunday and nothing seemed to be open. We found few places which opened early and ate our breakfast there. After that we continued exploring the city. We went to this castle or palace called Alcazar. There was no entrance fee for students so we decided to go in. It was quite a big place and beautiful as well. We also saw this chuch which had the Guinness world record for being the largest church in world.
We walked around until it was time for the day's first world cup match to start. We watched it in this american bar. England beat Equador... nice. After the game we headed to the bullfight ring.
The seats in the arena were small. Actually they were just numbers on stone steps. As soons as we saw people carrying small pillows we knew it would get rough:) The arena was quite full, only one quarter, the seats straight towards sun, were almost empty. I didn't know that there was this "band" playing horns and stuff. Whenever a new phase in bullfight began they played as a sign. I'm not going to write here everything that happened. I just want to say that as an experience bullfighting was spectacular. It was something so unusual for me. Of course it's a bit cruel but it just shows how different and rich cultures can be. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
After 3 matadors each had killed 2 bulls, the spectacle was over. It was 10.30 when we returned to our car and got back on the road again. Next stop: Gibraltar.
After getting the tickets we realised something. It was Sunday and nothing seemed to be open. We found few places which opened early and ate our breakfast there. After that we continued exploring the city. We went to this castle or palace called Alcazar. There was no entrance fee for students so we decided to go in. It was quite a big place and beautiful as well. We also saw this chuch which had the Guinness world record for being the largest church in world.
We walked around until it was time for the day's first world cup match to start. We watched it in this american bar. England beat Equador... nice. After the game we headed to the bullfight ring.
The seats in the arena were small. Actually they were just numbers on stone steps. As soons as we saw people carrying small pillows we knew it would get rough:) The arena was quite full, only one quarter, the seats straight towards sun, were almost empty. I didn't know that there was this "band" playing horns and stuff. Whenever a new phase in bullfight began they played as a sign. I'm not going to write here everything that happened. I just want to say that as an experience bullfighting was spectacular. It was something so unusual for me. Of course it's a bit cruel but it just shows how different and rich cultures can be. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
After 3 matadors each had killed 2 bulls, the spectacle was over. It was 10.30 when we returned to our car and got back on the road again. Next stop: Gibraltar.
DAY 14 - 24.6.2006
Sad news. We have lost a beloved friend: this morning when we woke up in Faro and were preparing ourselves for the beach, we noticed that my beach towel wasn't there. I had bought it from Thailand and although it was quite cheap, it's sentimental value was priceless! It had been my favourite beach towel and a good friend for two years. And now it was gone. Lying somewhere in Estoril. We will miss you, towelie!
So now we were in Faro. Faro is the capital of the Algarve, the area of South Portugal famous of it's sunny days and beaches. Although it is the capital, it still haves only a population of 55 000. There wasn't a beach at the centre, so we had to go there by bus. It took a while because everyone had the same idea.
After getting few hours of sun we returned to the city centre. One of our plans had been to go play golf in one of Algarve's many golf courses, so we asked tourist office about different options. We ended up choosing a place called Colina Verde, which was on our way to Spain.
After a little struggle we found the place. It was quite empty as it is not tourist season yet. The course consisted of nine holes and the area was very beautiful. It took us about 2 hours to play nine holes. The result was that I beat Arttu, yippee:)
After relaxing games we returned our rented golf sets and prepared to move on. Next stop would be in Sevilla, Spain. So we had to say goodbye to Portugal's cheap ice cream and welcome Spain's cheap gasoline.
So now we were in Faro. Faro is the capital of the Algarve, the area of South Portugal famous of it's sunny days and beaches. Although it is the capital, it still haves only a population of 55 000. There wasn't a beach at the centre, so we had to go there by bus. It took a while because everyone had the same idea.
After getting few hours of sun we returned to the city centre. One of our plans had been to go play golf in one of Algarve's many golf courses, so we asked tourist office about different options. We ended up choosing a place called Colina Verde, which was on our way to Spain.
After a little struggle we found the place. It was quite empty as it is not tourist season yet. The course consisted of nine holes and the area was very beautiful. It took us about 2 hours to play nine holes. The result was that I beat Arttu, yippee:)
After relaxing games we returned our rented golf sets and prepared to move on. Next stop would be in Sevilla, Spain. So we had to say goodbye to Portugal's cheap ice cream and welcome Spain's cheap gasoline.
DAY 13 - 23.6.2006
The schedule for the second day in Estoril was quite simple: Sun as much as possible! After waking up we went to get some breakfast before going to the beach. We took enough food so that we wouldn't have to get out of the sun because of lunchtime
Before driving to South, there was still one place we wanted to see. Our travel guide mentioned a place called Sintra. It is supposed to be an old town near the mountains with beautiful fairy tale castles and green parks. A big favourite among backpackers. So we took the 7pm bus to there. Because the last bus back to town would leave 8.30pm, we didn't see much of that place. What a shame, it really looked nice as far as we saw it. But it mostly was all about taking long walks along the beautiful scenery, and me and Arttu really weren't so interested in romantic walks:)
When we got back to Cascais, we went to buy some food for the evening and went to Estoril to get our car. We had very nice time here, but more adventures were ahead.
Along with cheap ice cream, one other thing was great in Portugal. Portugal has the best radio channels that we have heard so far. Especially during night time. In other countries where we have driven there isn't really good radio stations. I mean both the quality of music and size of stations. We have had to change stations quite often as their signals become weak. There hasn't been good nationwide stations, but in here it's different. Driving during the early hours of the night has been a pleasure, and it still was as we were driving to Algarve. Maybe Arttu doesn't agree as he has had to listen my singing while we drive. But at least one of us is having good time:)
Before driving to South, there was still one place we wanted to see. Our travel guide mentioned a place called Sintra. It is supposed to be an old town near the mountains with beautiful fairy tale castles and green parks. A big favourite among backpackers. So we took the 7pm bus to there. Because the last bus back to town would leave 8.30pm, we didn't see much of that place. What a shame, it really looked nice as far as we saw it. But it mostly was all about taking long walks along the beautiful scenery, and me and Arttu really weren't so interested in romantic walks:)
When we got back to Cascais, we went to buy some food for the evening and went to Estoril to get our car. We had very nice time here, but more adventures were ahead.
Along with cheap ice cream, one other thing was great in Portugal. Portugal has the best radio channels that we have heard so far. Especially during night time. In other countries where we have driven there isn't really good radio stations. I mean both the quality of music and size of stations. We have had to change stations quite often as their signals become weak. There hasn't been good nationwide stations, but in here it's different. Driving during the early hours of the night has been a pleasure, and it still was as we were driving to Algarve. Maybe Arttu doesn't agree as he has had to listen my singing while we drive. But at least one of us is having good time:)
Sunday, June 25, 2006
DAY 12 - 22.6.2006
Damned, we screwed up badly! When you get a ticket as you go to a highway you are supposed to give it back in 12 hours, well, we didn't really know that so it took us almost 13 hours. The result: we had to pay double amount for the highway toll. And it was 65 euros!!! Got damn how it made us pissed off. We're trying to travel as cheap as possible and then this happens. What a great start for the day. We hate those tolls because there are no such things in Finland and it feels very weird to pay for those. And because we're driving a bigger car we belong to the second class which is more expensive.
Anyways, after reading our travel guides, we decided not to go to Lissabon, but to a nearby beach town called Estoril. From there we could go to Lissabon by train quite fast so it felt as a good choice. We had been waiting for to spend a cloudless day in the beach. Estoril was pretty nice, and so was the neighbour town called Cascais. Those were both quite small cities. We parked our car in Casino's parking place. That Casino is said to be the biggest one in Europe and it looked nice. After parking our car we wanted to go straight to the beach!
The beach was great. It was a typical tourist resort. Long beaches with walking avenues and showers behind the beach. And also some tourist shops. We put on our tan lotions and started to burn ourselves.
After getting enough sun and swimming we packed our bags and left to the train station. From the train station it was 30 minute drive to Lissabon city centre. In Lissabon we were in a bit of a hurry because we wanted to catch Brazil's game in Estoril's restaurants. So we explored the city fast. We went to this nice castle to see a nice view over the city. After that we continued walking the narrow streets and small parks before returning to the train station.
Back in Estoril... or actually Cascais we went to this area where there were outdoor restaurants and tvs turned on for the game. The atmosphere was nice as quite many seemed to cheer for Brazil. Luckily Brazil won and made several goals. We watched the whole game while drinking Sangria. Which is GREAT by the way!
After the game there was lots of people celebrating the victory along the streets. We returned to our car next to the Casino. But we were not leaving. We had decided to spend an extra day there because it was just so nice to relax there on those beaches. And because we had been quite fast earlier days we had this one extra day to spend somewhere. I was too tired to go see the Casino, but Arttu went there. It's just a bit frustrating when you can't afford to use your money there:) But at least I could wake up easily tomorrow early for the beach.
Anyways, after reading our travel guides, we decided not to go to Lissabon, but to a nearby beach town called Estoril. From there we could go to Lissabon by train quite fast so it felt as a good choice. We had been waiting for to spend a cloudless day in the beach. Estoril was pretty nice, and so was the neighbour town called Cascais. Those were both quite small cities. We parked our car in Casino's parking place. That Casino is said to be the biggest one in Europe and it looked nice. After parking our car we wanted to go straight to the beach!
The beach was great. It was a typical tourist resort. Long beaches with walking avenues and showers behind the beach. And also some tourist shops. We put on our tan lotions and started to burn ourselves.
After getting enough sun and swimming we packed our bags and left to the train station. From the train station it was 30 minute drive to Lissabon city centre. In Lissabon we were in a bit of a hurry because we wanted to catch Brazil's game in Estoril's restaurants. So we explored the city fast. We went to this nice castle to see a nice view over the city. After that we continued walking the narrow streets and small parks before returning to the train station.
Back in Estoril... or actually Cascais we went to this area where there were outdoor restaurants and tvs turned on for the game. The atmosphere was nice as quite many seemed to cheer for Brazil. Luckily Brazil won and made several goals. We watched the whole game while drinking Sangria. Which is GREAT by the way!
After the game there was lots of people celebrating the victory along the streets. We returned to our car next to the Casino. But we were not leaving. We had decided to spend an extra day there because it was just so nice to relax there on those beaches. And because we had been quite fast earlier days we had this one extra day to spend somewhere. I was too tired to go see the Casino, but Arttu went there. It's just a bit frustrating when you can't afford to use your money there:) But at least I could wake up easily tomorrow early for the beach.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
DAY 11 - 21.6.2006
After early wake up call we headed to the serpentine roads of Peneda-Geres. Next place would be Porto famous of it´s port wine. Because the roads to there weren´t so straight we came to the city at the rush hour. We left our car as soon as we were near the city centre and went to search for some form of public transportation. There was a metro nearby so we didn´t have to walk very far away. The streets in the centre were quite small and went up and down again. Luckily we didn´t try to get further with our car. We read our travel guide and wondered around the centre. For our surprise we found that food... and ice cream is very cheap in Portugal. The local Magnum index was 1.30 euros, which isn´t so good, but better than in last countries.
Porto is not located right next to the beach, but the city has been built next to a river. We crossed that river with a nice looking bridge. The river area is pretty nice with all those houses with orange brick roofs. On the other side of the river there were lots of Port wine shops and their workers kept handing leaflets about wine tasting and boat trips along the river. We didn´t want to do either. Instead, we hanged out at the park next to the river. There was a big screen where they showed world cup games and we noticed that there was Portugal´s game today. So we couldn´t leave anywhere, we just waited while relaxing in the sun.
The atmosphere was great when the game started. Luckily Portugal won so everyone was happy. After the game we returned to the centre. There wasn't many sights in Porto so we went to get our car.
Next stop was going to be Lissabon but we didn't have to hurry there. While we were driving an evening game of World Cup started, so we pulled over to a gas station. It was Argentina against Holland. After the game we were pretty tired so we decided to spend the night there.
Porto is not located right next to the beach, but the city has been built next to a river. We crossed that river with a nice looking bridge. The river area is pretty nice with all those houses with orange brick roofs. On the other side of the river there were lots of Port wine shops and their workers kept handing leaflets about wine tasting and boat trips along the river. We didn´t want to do either. Instead, we hanged out at the park next to the river. There was a big screen where they showed world cup games and we noticed that there was Portugal´s game today. So we couldn´t leave anywhere, we just waited while relaxing in the sun.
The atmosphere was great when the game started. Luckily Portugal won so everyone was happy. After the game we returned to the centre. There wasn't many sights in Porto so we went to get our car.
Next stop was going to be Lissabon but we didn't have to hurry there. While we were driving an evening game of World Cup started, so we pulled over to a gas station. It was Argentina against Holland. After the game we were pretty tired so we decided to spend the night there.
Friday, June 23, 2006
DAY 10 - 20.6.2006
The clouds were still there when we woke up. Because we had made some changes for our route the day before, our schedule for today was mostly driving. Because we didn't have an idea what the roads were going to be, we couldn't make good estimates when we arrive in Portugal. So our plan was to drive straight to Portugal. First place in there was going to be the natural park of Peneda-Geres.
As we kept driving the weather was getting better. Actually we didn't want that because it was much nicer to drive in a bit cooler car. We stopped at one place to eat some lunch. It was quite small gas station and of course no one spoke english. It didn't matter as we succeeded to get some food for our stomaches and some hand waves of what direction we could find a mailbox. The mailbox was in a small town right next to the gas station. It seemed like a ghost town because it wasn't as green as the towns near coast. And we didn't really see many people there.
Anyways, around 6pm we finally crossed Portugal's border. The road went through the mountains so about an hour we had to go up and down the hills. But it didn't matter as the views were spectacular! The national park of Peneda-Geres is located near the north border. We thought we would get there in good time, but once again we were wrong:) We had to ask few times for directions as we kept driving through small villages. In those small villages people didn't really speak english, what a surprise.
After we got on to the right road, we ran into another problem. The road was in very bad condition and the altitude was once again chainging quite much. So our average speed was pretty low. We started to think about how big mistake this was until we made it to this big lake between the mountains. Now we knew what's so special in Peneda-Geres. The scenery was amazing. We had to stop quite often to take a picture. Around 8.30 pm we parked our car near the village of Geres. There was beautiful lakes and rivers so we felt it was a nice place to spend the evening. We walked around the place as long as we still had sunshine. Sun in Portugal comes down around 10 pm so we had to be quick to see as much as possible. The national park was very good for hiking. I wish we could have had time for about a week and just hike around there and sleep outdoors. When the sun set down we went for an evening swim before going to sleep. The water was very bright there and also very clean! We took some pretty night pictures after the swim. It was just so nice to sit back there and watch the scenery in perfect silence. I couldn't avoid of starting to think my girlfriend and how perfect it would be to have her there beside me. Too bad there's just few thousand kilometres between us:( Miss you, Leena!
As we kept driving the weather was getting better. Actually we didn't want that because it was much nicer to drive in a bit cooler car. We stopped at one place to eat some lunch. It was quite small gas station and of course no one spoke english. It didn't matter as we succeeded to get some food for our stomaches and some hand waves of what direction we could find a mailbox. The mailbox was in a small town right next to the gas station. It seemed like a ghost town because it wasn't as green as the towns near coast. And we didn't really see many people there.
Anyways, around 6pm we finally crossed Portugal's border. The road went through the mountains so about an hour we had to go up and down the hills. But it didn't matter as the views were spectacular! The national park of Peneda-Geres is located near the north border. We thought we would get there in good time, but once again we were wrong:) We had to ask few times for directions as we kept driving through small villages. In those small villages people didn't really speak english, what a surprise.
After we got on to the right road, we ran into another problem. The road was in very bad condition and the altitude was once again chainging quite much. So our average speed was pretty low. We started to think about how big mistake this was until we made it to this big lake between the mountains. Now we knew what's so special in Peneda-Geres. The scenery was amazing. We had to stop quite often to take a picture. Around 8.30 pm we parked our car near the village of Geres. There was beautiful lakes and rivers so we felt it was a nice place to spend the evening. We walked around the place as long as we still had sunshine. Sun in Portugal comes down around 10 pm so we had to be quick to see as much as possible. The national park was very good for hiking. I wish we could have had time for about a week and just hike around there and sleep outdoors. When the sun set down we went for an evening swim before going to sleep. The water was very bright there and also very clean! We took some pretty night pictures after the swim. It was just so nice to sit back there and watch the scenery in perfect silence. I couldn't avoid of starting to think my girlfriend and how perfect it would be to have her there beside me. Too bad there's just few thousand kilometres between us:( Miss you, Leena!
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
DAY 9 - 19.6.2006
A new week and a new country. This time it's Spain's turn to charm us. I think the whole idea of this fast traveling from city to city is that we see as much as possible and in the future we can easily decide which places are worth to visit again. During our first week few places have left me thinking: "I have to come back here again". Now was San Sebastian's chance to get into that short list.
San Sebastian is quite small beach city not far from France's border. Lots of french people come here although not because of the beach but because tobacco is cheaper in Spain:) France has it's own beaches which we will hopefully see in July.
It didn't take us long to see all the main area of San Sebastian. We walked around the city's streets and ate some tapas, which they call here as Pinxtos or something like that. We also climbed to one of the two little mountains or hills actually. From there you have a nice view over the town and it's white beaches.
After coming down from the hill, we went to the beach to take a little nap. This time it was impossible for us to burn ourselves, because there was thick clouds in the sky. Back in Finland I heard from one international student that Northern Spain is very beautiful, but the weather is very unstable. So it seems.
After saying goodbye to Setsuko, we headed to Bilbao... UNTILL we ran into heavy rain. While waiting for the rain to stop, we decided to reconsider our travel route. We had made our plans in Spain quite quickly. So quickly that we had not noticed what the coast is like. It was quite roughed so the altitude changed constantly. The roads were nothing but turns, so we made a big change for our route plan. We decided to drive to Portugal a bit further away from the coast. We also read our travel guides and decided to skip few places in the north coast.
We decided to drive a bit south behind the mountains in order to avoid rain and coast's wet climate. After getting to a nice place we went to sleep. It gets dark so much sooner here in the south than back in Finland. I miss Finland's nights!!!
San Sebastian is quite small beach city not far from France's border. Lots of french people come here although not because of the beach but because tobacco is cheaper in Spain:) France has it's own beaches which we will hopefully see in July.
It didn't take us long to see all the main area of San Sebastian. We walked around the city's streets and ate some tapas, which they call here as Pinxtos or something like that. We also climbed to one of the two little mountains or hills actually. From there you have a nice view over the town and it's white beaches.
After coming down from the hill, we went to the beach to take a little nap. This time it was impossible for us to burn ourselves, because there was thick clouds in the sky. Back in Finland I heard from one international student that Northern Spain is very beautiful, but the weather is very unstable. So it seems.
After saying goodbye to Setsuko, we headed to Bilbao... UNTILL we ran into heavy rain. While waiting for the rain to stop, we decided to reconsider our travel route. We had made our plans in Spain quite quickly. So quickly that we had not noticed what the coast is like. It was quite roughed so the altitude changed constantly. The roads were nothing but turns, so we made a big change for our route plan. We decided to drive to Portugal a bit further away from the coast. We also read our travel guides and decided to skip few places in the north coast.
We decided to drive a bit south behind the mountains in order to avoid rain and coast's wet climate. After getting to a nice place we went to sleep. It gets dark so much sooner here in the south than back in Finland. I miss Finland's nights!!!
DAY 8 - 18.6.2006
The first night in a car didn´t went so well for our new travel companion:) Well, neither did we get the best possible sleep, but we have gotten used to it. We had slept in a gas station. It was our first night in service station and it was quiter than I thought it would be. We tried to get out of the main road, but once you got out, you had to pay a toll for using the main road. So we didn´t want to pay extra because we weren´t sure how the toll is determined. Anyways, France was the first country where there were tolls on highways. Our travel guide said that you won´t get cheaper traveling with a car than a train unless there´s at least three persons in the car. The tolls were quite expensive. But at least now we had third person with us to share the toll.
Next big city in our list was Bordeaux. Some helpful HC member in Bordeaux had told us that there´s a famous medieval wine town near Bordeaux. That place is called Saint Emilion and it´s one of the biggest wine producers. The same place was also mentioned in our travel guides so we searched it from our roadmap. It seemed to locate before Bordeaux so we decided to visit that place first. It was a bit hard to find the town, but after using my excellent French skills we found it.
Saint Emilion is absolutely charming! It really looked like a medieval town. All the buildings were very old. And the town was surrounded by vineyards as far as could be seen. At the main area, all those vineyards had a little tent where they presented their wines. With 2 euros you could buy a wine glass and walk around those tents tasting wine as much as you wanted. Me and Arttu took it quite easy because we had to drive but our little japanese friend took a bit too much wine for her size;)
We were lucky because this day was the last day when there was a festival. It was some medieval festival and people were dressed according to it and playing funny music. We didn´t stay there to see the whole show because we still wanted to see Bordeaux and two HC members there.
After a short drive we were at Bordeaux city centre. We met Sandra and Louise there and went for an ice cream. Bordeaux is one of the prettiest city we have seen so far. It is quite old and every building there is light brown so it seems like it´s carved from one big stone:) After saying goodbyes to our friends in Bordeaux, we tried to find some place to eat. It was a bit difficult because it was sunday evening. But after a little walk we came to this World Cup area where there were different restaurants offering food while televisions were tuned for the Brazil - Australia game. As I had never eaten japanese food and we had a good expert of japanese cuisine with us, we decided to go to the little japanese outdoor restaurant. Setsuko explained us what each food was made of. I myself ordered one piece of Sushi and Maki and surprise surprise... the same miracle that was in Germany happened again, I loved that food! Well, love is a strong word but it was very good. Thanks to Setsuko, now I have the courage to go to a japanese restaurant in Finland.
After Brazil had beaten Australia, we head to our car and south towards Spain.
Next big city in our list was Bordeaux. Some helpful HC member in Bordeaux had told us that there´s a famous medieval wine town near Bordeaux. That place is called Saint Emilion and it´s one of the biggest wine producers. The same place was also mentioned in our travel guides so we searched it from our roadmap. It seemed to locate before Bordeaux so we decided to visit that place first. It was a bit hard to find the town, but after using my excellent French skills we found it.
Saint Emilion is absolutely charming! It really looked like a medieval town. All the buildings were very old. And the town was surrounded by vineyards as far as could be seen. At the main area, all those vineyards had a little tent where they presented their wines. With 2 euros you could buy a wine glass and walk around those tents tasting wine as much as you wanted. Me and Arttu took it quite easy because we had to drive but our little japanese friend took a bit too much wine for her size;)
We were lucky because this day was the last day when there was a festival. It was some medieval festival and people were dressed according to it and playing funny music. We didn´t stay there to see the whole show because we still wanted to see Bordeaux and two HC members there.
After a short drive we were at Bordeaux city centre. We met Sandra and Louise there and went for an ice cream. Bordeaux is one of the prettiest city we have seen so far. It is quite old and every building there is light brown so it seems like it´s carved from one big stone:) After saying goodbyes to our friends in Bordeaux, we tried to find some place to eat. It was a bit difficult because it was sunday evening. But after a little walk we came to this World Cup area where there were different restaurants offering food while televisions were tuned for the Brazil - Australia game. As I had never eaten japanese food and we had a good expert of japanese cuisine with us, we decided to go to the little japanese outdoor restaurant. Setsuko explained us what each food was made of. I myself ordered one piece of Sushi and Maki and surprise surprise... the same miracle that was in Germany happened again, I loved that food! Well, love is a strong word but it was very good. Thanks to Setsuko, now I have the courage to go to a japanese restaurant in Finland.
After Brazil had beaten Australia, we head to our car and south towards Spain.
Monday, June 19, 2006
DAY 7 - 17.6.2006
We started from where we left: traffic. We came to Paris late on the friday night and suprisingly there was a rush hour. We didn´t know that so many people come to Paris on weekend nights to party. The roads were full, not very badly but quite stuck. We left our car in the safest place we found. Safe in this situation meant a small street with small bars along it. We were already betting when the car gets stolen or broken in.
After leaving our car on it´s own, we headed to the city centre. I had been in Paris 1.5 years ago and from that trip I had a good map which made our search of centre easier. We didn´t take a metro, so we walked. We walked till Rue de Rivoli and looked some lighted sights. We were hoping of catching the flash lights of Eiffel tower and luckily they still showed it at 1am. After that we walked along Champs Elysee. It was weird how lively the place was because of the friday. When we got back to our car we were happy to see that it was still there. Thank you, God:)
In the morning we decided not to pay the parking ticket. Actually it was impossible to do with cash. It reguired some card so we were hopeless. We went to the city centre again with a metro to see all the sights in daylight. First we went to Eiffel tower and at it´s park we ate a breakfast. I went to get some baguettes and croissants from this little shop. My french skills were soon discovered as I greeted this french woman and she started laughing:) As I ordered my breakfast she always corrected me when I said some english word. After a little struggle and humiliation I managed to get our breakfast.
We used this river boat to see France from the river´s point of view. It was nice and after you bought a ticket you could use the same boat all day. So we used that to get to different places like Notre Dame which was on the opposite side than Eiffel. Arttu went to the uppest level of Eiffel tower, but I went only two the second stage where you can go by climbing the stairs and it cost only 3 euros. I had seen the top of Eiffel tower last time I was there.
This Japanese woman, called Setsuko, had contacted us because she wanted to share the ride to San Sebastian or Bordeaux. So at eight we met her at Notre Dame. After meeting her, we continued to our car and left Paris.
After leaving our car on it´s own, we headed to the city centre. I had been in Paris 1.5 years ago and from that trip I had a good map which made our search of centre easier. We didn´t take a metro, so we walked. We walked till Rue de Rivoli and looked some lighted sights. We were hoping of catching the flash lights of Eiffel tower and luckily they still showed it at 1am. After that we walked along Champs Elysee. It was weird how lively the place was because of the friday. When we got back to our car we were happy to see that it was still there. Thank you, God:)
In the morning we decided not to pay the parking ticket. Actually it was impossible to do with cash. It reguired some card so we were hopeless. We went to the city centre again with a metro to see all the sights in daylight. First we went to Eiffel tower and at it´s park we ate a breakfast. I went to get some baguettes and croissants from this little shop. My french skills were soon discovered as I greeted this french woman and she started laughing:) As I ordered my breakfast she always corrected me when I said some english word. After a little struggle and humiliation I managed to get our breakfast.
We used this river boat to see France from the river´s point of view. It was nice and after you bought a ticket you could use the same boat all day. So we used that to get to different places like Notre Dame which was on the opposite side than Eiffel. Arttu went to the uppest level of Eiffel tower, but I went only two the second stage where you can go by climbing the stairs and it cost only 3 euros. I had seen the top of Eiffel tower last time I was there.
This Japanese woman, called Setsuko, had contacted us because she wanted to share the ride to San Sebastian or Bordeaux. So at eight we met her at Notre Dame. After meeting her, we continued to our car and left Paris.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
DAY 6 - 16.6.2006
We managed to screw up our visit to Brussels early. We slept pretty late, so late that when we arrived Brussels, it was in the midle of the morning rush hour. It took a while to get to the city centre but luckily we found a parking place quite fast. We bought a city map from a gas station and asked for directions. We used the metro and got up at the cathedral in the centre. We walked around the centre and saw the sights including that pissing boy, 'manneken pis'.
Our travel books said that when in Belgium, you have to taste waffles and famous Belgium chocolate. The national dish was too expensive, because it included everything like champagne. We skipped also the chocolate Pralines, but the waffles were wonderful.
The day was beautiful. No signs of the clouds we saw in Amsterdam. So after lunch we went to this big park to take a nap. We didn't want to travel in such sunshine. After an hour of sleep we headed back to our car. On the way there we met these two finnish girls. They noticed us because we had bought a flag of Finland from Hamburg, and we kept it on our backpack. Sometimes at crossroads or rushes we also wave that flag from our car. Unfortunately we don't have Lordi's eurovision song on a cassette, so we can't play it loudly at the same time:)
We tried to leave before the rush hours but unfortunately we stayed too long at the park. It was amazing how many people came to work from neighbouring cities. We spent about an hour and a half in the rushes. Not just because of the rush hour but because of bad signs in roads. It was almost impossible to find a right way to Paris. So we made lots of wrong turns.
I can't wait for the rushes in Paris.
Our travel books said that when in Belgium, you have to taste waffles and famous Belgium chocolate. The national dish was too expensive, because it included everything like champagne. We skipped also the chocolate Pralines, but the waffles were wonderful.
The day was beautiful. No signs of the clouds we saw in Amsterdam. So after lunch we went to this big park to take a nap. We didn't want to travel in such sunshine. After an hour of sleep we headed back to our car. On the way there we met these two finnish girls. They noticed us because we had bought a flag of Finland from Hamburg, and we kept it on our backpack. Sometimes at crossroads or rushes we also wave that flag from our car. Unfortunately we don't have Lordi's eurovision song on a cassette, so we can't play it loudly at the same time:)
We tried to leave before the rush hours but unfortunately we stayed too long at the park. It was amazing how many people came to work from neighbouring cities. We spent about an hour and a half in the rushes. Not just because of the rush hour but because of bad signs in roads. It was almost impossible to find a right way to Paris. So we made lots of wrong turns.
I can't wait for the rushes in Paris.
Friday, June 16, 2006
DAY 5 - 15.5.2006
At the land of windmills. Well, actually I saw only one windmill. Maybe there's something wrong with my eyes or they had just disappeared from the roads we were driving. Anyways, what I remember from Dutch scenery is that it's flat everywhere and often it smells a bit weird:) But the roads were in pretty good shape.
Our first impression of the Amsterdam wasn't so good. We had very hard time finding a parking place for our car, because we didn't want to pay too much. We never found a free parking. The smallest amount we saz was two euros for an hour and it continued until midnight. So because of that and driving in the small streets all over the city we were pretty pissed. Oh, and for the first time it rained... damned. No wonder drugs are legal in Amsterdam, after driving around the city in a search for a parking spot you have to get some drugs to release your stress:
Once we got to the city centre our bad feelings disappeared. It was nice to see lots of busy tourists and all those little souvenir shops. And the houses, canals and bridges were also very beautiful. We walked quite long in those beautiful scnenerys. At one point we stopped at the harbour and decided to have a tourist boat trip along the waterways. It was nice as we could just sit back and listen to introductions in english instead of trying to read everything from the Let's Go's and Lonely Planet's books.
As it is obvious, most of the souvenirs related to drugs and the famous red light district. We skipped the drug experimenting because we were leaving the city on the same day. We also had to see the red light district. But we didn't do anything there... honestly;) But it was worth of seeing, even though the day was still bright when we got there.
We left in the evening, said goodbye to Holland and welcomed Belgium.
Our first impression of the Amsterdam wasn't so good. We had very hard time finding a parking place for our car, because we didn't want to pay too much. We never found a free parking. The smallest amount we saz was two euros for an hour and it continued until midnight. So because of that and driving in the small streets all over the city we were pretty pissed. Oh, and for the first time it rained... damned. No wonder drugs are legal in Amsterdam, after driving around the city in a search for a parking spot you have to get some drugs to release your stress:
Once we got to the city centre our bad feelings disappeared. It was nice to see lots of busy tourists and all those little souvenir shops. And the houses, canals and bridges were also very beautiful. We walked quite long in those beautiful scnenerys. At one point we stopped at the harbour and decided to have a tourist boat trip along the waterways. It was nice as we could just sit back and listen to introductions in english instead of trying to read everything from the Let's Go's and Lonely Planet's books.
As it is obvious, most of the souvenirs related to drugs and the famous red light district. We skipped the drug experimenting because we were leaving the city on the same day. We also had to see the red light district. But we didn't do anything there... honestly;) But it was worth of seeing, even though the day was still bright when we got there.
We left in the evening, said goodbye to Holland and welcomed Belgium.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
DAY 4 - 14.6.2006
Hello World Cup!
We left Julesminde and Ieva early on the wednesday morning and headed to Hamburg, Germany. We arrived in Hamburg around noon and after asking for direction we found a perfect parking place for our car near this one lake. We walked from there to the city centre. You could see that the number one topic in Germany at the moment was football. Everywhere you could see something related to football. We saw some national football team leaving Hamburg, when we first pondered why police was stopping every car and making the street empty. At the city centre there was lots of different tents full of different food for the football fans. I tried the famous german sausage Bratwurst there... and suprisingly I liked it. Actually I ate those the whole day:)
After getting to know the centre, we headed to the World Cup Fan Fest. It's a festival area for all those football fans that didn't get tickets to the games. There was a big screen where you could watch a football game and lots of different shops selling fan stuff. There was also lots of free things. For instance we went to paint our faces to show our support to Poland's and Germany's football teams. We watched Spain's game which started at 3pm and then we went to walk around the city before the evening game Germany versus Poland started. When we got to the Fan Fest area in the evening the area was full of people, mostly germans cheering for their team. I got some mean looks from the German fans because I wore those Poland's flags on my cheeks.
We wanted to leave early so that we could still drive while sun was up, so we only watched the first half of the game. Unfortunately Germany didn't score on the first half. We wanted to hear how much noise they'd make. But so far they had made so much noise that we could have imagined how the fans would scream after a goal. We jumped into U-bahn to get to our car. We made some wrong movements and got a bit lost in there:) That's why as we started the trip towards next city, the game was already ended. From the sounds of the car horns, we knew that Germany had won:)
Go Germany!
We left Julesminde and Ieva early on the wednesday morning and headed to Hamburg, Germany. We arrived in Hamburg around noon and after asking for direction we found a perfect parking place for our car near this one lake. We walked from there to the city centre. You could see that the number one topic in Germany at the moment was football. Everywhere you could see something related to football. We saw some national football team leaving Hamburg, when we first pondered why police was stopping every car and making the street empty. At the city centre there was lots of different tents full of different food for the football fans. I tried the famous german sausage Bratwurst there... and suprisingly I liked it. Actually I ate those the whole day:)
After getting to know the centre, we headed to the World Cup Fan Fest. It's a festival area for all those football fans that didn't get tickets to the games. There was a big screen where you could watch a football game and lots of different shops selling fan stuff. There was also lots of free things. For instance we went to paint our faces to show our support to Poland's and Germany's football teams. We watched Spain's game which started at 3pm and then we went to walk around the city before the evening game Germany versus Poland started. When we got to the Fan Fest area in the evening the area was full of people, mostly germans cheering for their team. I got some mean looks from the German fans because I wore those Poland's flags on my cheeks.
We wanted to leave early so that we could still drive while sun was up, so we only watched the first half of the game. Unfortunately Germany didn't score on the first half. We wanted to hear how much noise they'd make. But so far they had made so much noise that we could have imagined how the fans would scream after a goal. We jumped into U-bahn to get to our car. We made some wrong movements and got a bit lost in there:) That's why as we started the trip towards next city, the game was already ended. From the sounds of the car horns, we knew that Germany had won:)
Go Germany!
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
DAY 3 - 13.6.2006
On the road again...
We woke up at 8am from the parking area. Our first objective was to find food. 500 meters away we found a Lidl. It didn't open until 9am so we went to nearby gas station to wash our faces from the first not so pleasant sleep at our car. After a satisfying breakfast we headed to Odense.
On our way to Odense we decided to skip it and go straight to Billund, the hometown of Legoland. At billund I decided to go visit Legolandia and Arttu decided to stay outside the gates because he had already seen the place. Legoland was nice. A short trip back to the childhood. We met at our car at 4pm and after a shower in a nearby camping area we headed to the small town of Julesminde. Our old Hospitality Club friend, Ieva, was staying there so we wanted to visit her. Julesminde is located next to the sea so after we got to the school Ieva was staying we went straight to the sea for a swim. The water was not so cold as I expected it to be. At the beach we met the rest of the women Ieva was staying with. They were kind enough to offer us an accommodation for the night and a dinner. After the dinner we made a long walk along the shoreline. This night we didn't have to argue about who gets the better sleeping place in the car because we had two good beds for us. Thanks Ieva and the rest of the group in Julesminde!!!
We woke up at 8am from the parking area. Our first objective was to find food. 500 meters away we found a Lidl. It didn't open until 9am so we went to nearby gas station to wash our faces from the first not so pleasant sleep at our car. After a satisfying breakfast we headed to Odense.
On our way to Odense we decided to skip it and go straight to Billund, the hometown of Legoland. At billund I decided to go visit Legolandia and Arttu decided to stay outside the gates because he had already seen the place. Legoland was nice. A short trip back to the childhood. We met at our car at 4pm and after a shower in a nearby camping area we headed to the small town of Julesminde. Our old Hospitality Club friend, Ieva, was staying there so we wanted to visit her. Julesminde is located next to the sea so after we got to the school Ieva was staying we went straight to the sea for a swim. The water was not so cold as I expected it to be. At the beach we met the rest of the women Ieva was staying with. They were kind enough to offer us an accommodation for the night and a dinner. After the dinner we made a long walk along the shoreline. This night we didn't have to argue about who gets the better sleeping place in the car because we had two good beds for us. Thanks Ieva and the rest of the group in Julesminde!!!
DAY 2 - 12.6.2006
Alarm bell started ringing at 7 Sweden's time. Because we had skipped dinner the earlier day, we wanted to wake up early and go to eat a big breakfast. Nothing beats Stockholm cruise's breakfast. After eating properly it was time to pack our bags and move to the car deck. We had to be there early so that there would be no waiting moving the cars outside. That's why we couldn't watch the ship coming to the shore. But hey, we've been on a cruise many times so it was nothing new to us. For the same reason we planned to skip Stockholm and head directly to Denmark. Sweden welcomed us with a cloudless sky. Too bad because that meant 5 hours of driving in a hot van.
We had to stop at a gas station right after leaving Stockholm. At the gas station we met a Swedish hitch hiker called Elias who was heading to Berlin so we promised to give him a lift to Malmo. We had never given a lift to a hitch hiker, so we were a bit sceptic about the whole thing. But our thoughts were soon to be changed. We had nice conversations with Elias... mostly about ice hockey and Eurovision song contest... GO LORDI!!!
We asked Elias about good swimming places along our way. After driving 2 hours in a hot car we needed a swim. Elias guided us to a little but famous town of Gränna, next to the one of the biggest lakes in Sweden, Vättern. He also wanted to buy us Gränna's famous candy called "Polkkagris". Not bad, not bad at all. In candy store we asked our sales person about nearby beaches and there was one few hundred meters away. We went there to swim, get some sunshine and eat our Polkkagris. We stayed there for about 2 hours and continued our trip. Afterwards we noticed that we had managed to burn ourselves at the beach. Second day of the trip and already our shoulders were burned, way to go!
It took about 3 sweaty hours to Malmo. We decided to skip Malmo and go straight to Copenhagen so that we could see that city before the day changed. We dropped Elias in a nearby store and continued to the big bridge separating Sweden and Denmark. We arrived in Copenhagen about 8pm. We left our car near the city centre and walked the rest of the blocks. Our main goal was to visit the walking road called Stroget. We ate our "lunch" there and walked around. We decided to skip the Tivoli because it cost too much. Instead of that we walked to our car and found ourselves back on the highway after few wrong turns.
The sun had already set when we reached the next big bridge. After the bridge we pulled over to this small village and parked at the parking area of this one hotel. That was going to be our sleeping place for the night.
We had to stop at a gas station right after leaving Stockholm. At the gas station we met a Swedish hitch hiker called Elias who was heading to Berlin so we promised to give him a lift to Malmo. We had never given a lift to a hitch hiker, so we were a bit sceptic about the whole thing. But our thoughts were soon to be changed. We had nice conversations with Elias... mostly about ice hockey and Eurovision song contest... GO LORDI!!!
We asked Elias about good swimming places along our way. After driving 2 hours in a hot car we needed a swim. Elias guided us to a little but famous town of Gränna, next to the one of the biggest lakes in Sweden, Vättern. He also wanted to buy us Gränna's famous candy called "Polkkagris". Not bad, not bad at all. In candy store we asked our sales person about nearby beaches and there was one few hundred meters away. We went there to swim, get some sunshine and eat our Polkkagris. We stayed there for about 2 hours and continued our trip. Afterwards we noticed that we had managed to burn ourselves at the beach. Second day of the trip and already our shoulders were burned, way to go!
It took about 3 sweaty hours to Malmo. We decided to skip Malmo and go straight to Copenhagen so that we could see that city before the day changed. We dropped Elias in a nearby store and continued to the big bridge separating Sweden and Denmark. We arrived in Copenhagen about 8pm. We left our car near the city centre and walked the rest of the blocks. Our main goal was to visit the walking road called Stroget. We ate our "lunch" there and walked around. We decided to skip the Tivoli because it cost too much. Instead of that we walked to our car and found ourselves back on the highway after few wrong turns.
The sun had already set when we reached the next big bridge. After the bridge we pulled over to this small village and parked at the parking area of this one hotel. That was going to be our sleeping place for the night.
DAY 1 - 11.6.2006
Gentlemen, start your engines!
The road trip has started. Around 2pm Finnish time we jumped in our car and headed to the Katajanokka harbour in Helsinki. At first, it seemed we had to hurry in order to catch the ferry on time. We drove about 130km/h to Helsinki. It doesn't sound much but with our car we have to keep our top speed below 100 or the car will use too much gasoline. The distance from Tampere to Helsinki is about 200 km, so it meant that our gasoline price for the route was pretty high.
Helsinki was less crowded as we expected, so we made it to the cruise ship on time. Unfortunately our rushing had caused us to forget to draw money from our bank account, so we had to start our trip without cash. Well, there's no use of euros in Sweden or Denmark so we have to put our faith in our Visa credit card anyways.
Weather was perfect, almost too perfect. It's not so nice traveling in good sunshine. We had brought some food with us to the ship, so we decided to skip the dinner buffet. After doing all the shopping in tax-free shop, we went to the cabin for a quick nap. The earlier night was kind of short because of our farewell party, so we needed a sleep. After naptime we were ready for the dance floor:)
The road trip has started. Around 2pm Finnish time we jumped in our car and headed to the Katajanokka harbour in Helsinki. At first, it seemed we had to hurry in order to catch the ferry on time. We drove about 130km/h to Helsinki. It doesn't sound much but with our car we have to keep our top speed below 100 or the car will use too much gasoline. The distance from Tampere to Helsinki is about 200 km, so it meant that our gasoline price for the route was pretty high.
Helsinki was less crowded as we expected, so we made it to the cruise ship on time. Unfortunately our rushing had caused us to forget to draw money from our bank account, so we had to start our trip without cash. Well, there's no use of euros in Sweden or Denmark so we have to put our faith in our Visa credit card anyways.
Weather was perfect, almost too perfect. It's not so nice traveling in good sunshine. We had brought some food with us to the ship, so we decided to skip the dinner buffet. After doing all the shopping in tax-free shop, we went to the cabin for a quick nap. The earlier night was kind of short because of our farewell party, so we needed a sleep. After naptime we were ready for the dance floor:)
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