Celebrity Status!

Turns out that Backpackers are a hot topic in Norway. I was just interviewed by a local newspaper about how backpackers travel in Norway, specifically if I would want to walk to the airport. I guess many people do, as it is only 3 km to the town, and there is no walking path. Pretty cool, my third interview by a newspaper!

The second interview I haven't blogged about yet, and was on my boat trip to the Russian border. I had an informal interview with a German travel reporter on the bridge of the MS Polarlys. The bridge was kick-ass, and I might get a mention in a Berlin newspaper!

Just thought I'd mention that, only 3 hours till take off!

Torp Sandefjord Lufthaven

I am 'en route' to Germany for what should be an epic 2 week adventure, punctuated by the last launch of space shuttle discovery on Nov. 1. And you shouldn't be surprised that I will be watching the live stream from Frankfurt.

But before then, I have a 5 hour wait here at Torp Sandefjord Lufthaven, which is a strange name for an airport, even though it is an accurate description. Getting here only took 10 hours by train, which isn't bad at all due to the rather nice trains in Norway. One day (probably when I'm back to Canada) I'll make an info-graphic detailing how much time I've spent going to places, rather than being at places, cause I'm sure it's a stupid amount.

Although, I really don't mind, as you might have guessed, this airport has free wifi! And my plane tickets were only $28 return!

Rome in Heat?

Ello ello, been a while. Taking a step back, to times of greater warmth and more pizza, here's the details of notre excellent voyage a Roma!

Starting off with the Colesum, of course, we practically ran towards it from our hostel, despite being lost, and rather tired from the hot and gross 8 hour train ride through the night with no sleep, but I digress.

Here it is, or first view of the Colleseum, it looks exactly like you would expect, and its more impressive up close, a great way to jump feet first into ancient Rome!

But noooooooo, Chris had to pee before we could go in, and here is proof if he try to deny it. :)

I must also draw attention to the photos, a lot of them are way to bright so they aren't the best, but I like it cause it shows how damn hot it was, easily 35 degrees mid day and I don't think it dropped below 25, but we had air conditioning! :)

We arrived early in the morning so there were relatively few people in the area, which was nice. It was really quiet and gave the place a nice atmosphere, before the fat tourist families started running around yelling at their wives and children.

You might notice that the walkway through the center is gone, well thats if you like to memorize details of ancient monuments like I do... They are doing some renovations and improvements, like adding more levels so you can go to the top and look out over Rome, or sit in some replica seats, but they weren't open yet. For me it was almost just as good to watch them being built.

And of course the ongoing archeology, which I'm sure i was the only one who noticed. Looks like they are doing some tunneling...

And heres the subject, peering out at what was once a place of untold death and suffering coupled inexorably with celebration and joy; the juxtaposition painfully obvious, yet somehow gracefully in its bitter irony, those who fight for their freedom only to have it taken away at the turn of a thumb, how a civilization so advanced can harbor such blatant barbarianism while the greatest science, architecture, and literature builds cities held up by warfare and imperialism by an empire that once stretched from here to London, which left ruins as a tribute to its greatness spread throughout Europe like flags claiming territory, or perhaps like disintegrating tombstones, chronicling, and maybe as a warning to the ultimate fate of those who flaunt hubris...

No, just kidding, I don't that crossed my mind once!

I did walk on one of the oldest roads in existence, to which Chris promptly inquired, "I wonder if its original?"

(its a posed walk, which is why it looks rather awkward)

After visting such advanced civilizations as Sweden, the public transit here was astonishing. Every train car had huge graphity which often covered up the windows! It think they have given up somewhere trying to prevent it.

For not being allowed to take pictures, we sure got some good ones at the bone church! The history of this is just umm well lots of monks died and I guess they got bored. I will be so bold as to say that it was an experience.

Instead of showing you the Trevi fountain, I am showing the clusterfuck which was around it. When you can't approach or even walk away from something due to the mass of people who want to get a picture which will inevitably be filled with other people taking pictures, ahhhh I don't get it. But the fountain is pretty bad ass, and a revisit at night was definitely worth it.

Moving on to the main event, the Roman Forum! For being so huge and impressive and the pinnacle of Roman history and culture, neither of us knew it existed... opps. Heres a view of the Colosseum from the forum, including a triumphal arch, one of many.

I won't show you all of the Forum, so it will be a surprise when you eventually make it to Rome so here is one of the biggest and baddest structures. A bath house on Palentine hill. While an open pit now, it used to be covered, supported by marble columns and buildings several stories high, all decked out in colored marble inlays. Its very impressive just how big of a complex this is. The whole hill is one big building, having been increased in size with each successive Roman emperor.

And now the Piece of Resistance, I mean the best thing. My favorite, the Pantheon! This picture doesn't really do it justice. The people offer some sort of scale, but really its a place you need to visit to understand. Couple that with the fact that it is 2000 years old and it really becomes amazing! Honestly I could have spent hours in there.

Here is the front, with 16 giant granite columns. As you can see, a great day, although I hear watching the rain pour in the roof is pretty cool too.

Rome is an interesting city, as a river runs straight through it, a big river too, and it is bridged by awesome arch bridges with statues and carvings, yet there is no focus on the river at all. For example, in Amsterdam, the canals are obiously very important to the city and are well used and integrated into everyday life. In Paris the bridges are famous for their history and as meeting places, and the banks of the river are always filled with people. But in Rome, there is no one walking by the river, no shops, walkways, benches, or anything. It is almost like it doesn't exist, which is strange...

To finish of this post, here's a nice sunset over a 'mini vatican' as I believe this area was based upon the open round space in front of Peter's Bascillica.

PS. those statue people begging for money are everywhere, like pigeons. Perhaps they serve a purpose like the Peruvian pan-flute guardians...

Beer Drinking... Uh, I mean Munich's cultural, heritage, uh something.

I've gotten a lot of inquiries about Munich, specifically about the Royalty we partied with. So skipping the rest of Italy (for now), OKTOBERFEST!

Another 12 hours of train and plane travel and this time without having to sleep in a bus station! So, with a full 10 minutes until my train leaves for Munich from the airport, I have my first Munich beer. A half liter of Radler, 3 euros, the cheapest beer I've had since Italy, much cheaper than the 10 dollar beer in Trondheim, is my choice. Turns out its like beer with liquid sugar, way to sweet, bad for drinking fast. Yuk!

After the two hour train ride with hundreds of German children, (really, I was the oldest person on the train, as German kids get free train travel within a couple hundred km's of their school) and after having 3 10 year old girls stare and giggle at me for 40 minutes, before saying, "bye bye" and running off the train giggling, I get to the main station. First site? Two monks looking for their train, awesome!
And now onto my 'hostel'. I'm not going to say how much it cost, but it wasn't cheap. Definitely the worst place I've ever stayed in, not a single positive. You can see for yourself what is was.

Myself and some American girls came to call it the 'Hurricane Katrina Hostel,' as you can see below, an accurate description.

But now on to something a little more positive, the first German graffiti I've ever seen!

Can't say its the most elegant work I've seen, or even the most relevant, but unarguably German.

Now the real stuff!

I met up with Chris in the old town center and stumbled (not literally, not yet anyways) upon the most famous brewhouse (just fyi, my spell checker wants me to type whorehouse instead of brewhouse... ok) in the world, the Hofbrauhaus.

This place is amazing, its a permanent beer house with several connected buildings and an outdoor beer garden. As you can see it was packed!

And here is what Munich is all about, a mass of beer, 1L. I suppose it is necessary to say that the beer they brew for the festival is not normal beer. It is actually 2-3% stronger than regular, depending on the brewery. So that gives beer with about 6-7%, in 1L glasses!

We had our masses and went to dinner with Chris's German acquaintances. Verdict, German wieswurst(white sausage) and sauerkraut is amazing! All with another mass of beer!

Of all the places to go, Chris finds an Irish pub. Perhaps its cause of the company he finds inside?

Anyways, that was the beginning of one strange night...

But moving on to day two, before meeting up with the gang, I had some hours for site seeing. Here is the old town center, from St. Peter's tower, a great view!

I made my way to a market that has been going on for 100's of years. It is a spice market, fruit market, meat market, wine and cheese market, and farmers market, a really great place! With the world's best sauerkraut I might add!

He's got the keys to your babies!

A fast food bakery?

This one is going to be out there, but I think this is where characters from Final Fantasy buy their clothing. Honestly, this looks like the clothes from my party in FF8, all they need now is a weapon shop where you can pick up a gun-blade, some potions, and maybe some items.

And now to the good stuff, the event that brought me here, Oktoberfest!

Using some sweet German connections, lets see, a know Chris, Chris knows Alex, Alex has a girlfriend, the girlfriend has a friend, and that friend knows Gunter, and Gunter is the VIP organizer for the Hippodrom, the most famous beer tent in Munich. So yes, we got in and promptly were offered a mass of beer from a waiter.

As you can see, its packed. Opening day of Oktoberfest, everyone is excited and the band is playing traditional music, punctuated with "Hey Baby" every 10 minutes.

And here is what all of the questions have been about, the German royalty. One of the Germans we were with was telling us about the famous nature of the tent we were in, and then pointed out some Royalty that she recognized. They were right next to us, and looked very royal, nice and posh. They were drinking the same beer as us, 'normal' people, but were not dancing on the tables. The pictures not the great, but you get the idea, it just added to the awesomeness of the night.

I forgot to mention the best part, FREE BEER! Yes thats right, for this special night with all of the 'important' people, the beer is free, and boy did Chris want lots!

We stayed until we were almost forceably removed. Its not our fault really, they close the tents rather early, at 10:00 they have last call, then start closing at 10:30. I suppose its for the best, cause they open at 10:00am and we really didn't need anymore beer. :)

Little known fact, Oktoberfest used to be a festival about wine, horse racing, and shooting. The first festival was in 1810, also the only year to have shooting, I wonder why.... 1 L beers and guns... ya.

But Chris managed to find one, and man that gun did not shoot straight, Chris couldn't hit a thing. But I managed to get 2/2...

Sorry for this next one, very blurry, but here is Chris flanked by two of the lovely Germans whose company we enjoyed.

God thats a bad picture....

And now moving on to the next day, by this time Chris had left with his German troop, and I had another full day before my train/bus/flight/flight/bus/bike ride back home.

A great fountain.

Today was the 2nd day of the festival, so why not have a parade that lasts 6 hours? Sounds good to me. The most people in a parade ever. Dozens of marching bands, horses, historical soldiers, ladies, guys, young people, old people, and things I don't even know, such as the bearded men below.

Each of the six breweries had a horse drawn cart with traditional beer kegs.

Hunting is pretty big I guess, lots of stuffed animals, and even freshly dead ones (that I presume get cooked). But the coolest was the eagle/falcon brigade! Yup thats right, they had about 10 people with HUGE birds of prey on their arms, I had no idea how big they were. The wing span on the one below was easily as long as that lady is tall.

After about an hour, I got the idea that parade wasn't going to end, indeed, it went on for 4 hours more. Pretzels are big here, oooo nice one Darcy. They are both huge and hugely popular, even used instead of bread!

Now on to a more serious side of Munich. Unlike Berlin(its monuments are huge), Munich has chosen to remember the Third Reich with small, subtle memorials, very custom and very personal.

The one below is a path of golden bricks on what was 'Dodgers Alley' for the people who refused to salute a guarded Nazi monument, which was required by law. The act of walking down the alley was made illegal, and people were arrested and sent to Dakou, the concentration camp outside Munich.

There are marble hand bills placed in the street around the University. This is to commemorate several students, a brother and sister and their friends, who were caught handing out sheets of paper with anti Nazi content. They were tried and executed for it. This one really struck me, as I can't imagine current comfortable 'American' youths taking such a risk. But this also made me think of how great our country is.

There are almost weekly protests and gatherings at the Parliament building, and it is completely legal, and sometimes the government actually cares. But whether or not the government cares, or even if the cause is stupid, the fact that the people can do so if they choose, without being murdered by the government is fantastic.

Back to site seeing, those memorials are rather heavy.

Another great day of weather, perfect sky, about 15 degrees and sunny!

Of course the beer didn't stay distant for long, I went on a 'beer appreciation tour' and hung out with about 8 Aussies, 2 Canadians and a Greek girl who couldn't handle her beer and really got annoying, fast!

Augustiner, everyones favorite year after year.

We got into a tent no problem on the 2nd night, just walked in and found a table, no hassle at all. Well, I think we kinda stole it but whatever.

I suppose I should say, they aren't so much beer 'tents' as they are permanent structures, ha.

On our way out, there was some blurry drama. I swear, its not the camera, it actually looked like this!

PS. pretty sure thats a body bag.... gross.

And now, for the end of the trip. The trian ride to the airport was slightly long at 2 hours, but the German country side is great, not as great as Norway, but almost flat like Canada. To show how ahead Germany is in the 'green' thing, here is one of many solar power plants along the train tracks. I have no idea what the smoke stack is, but I think its a great juxtaposition! I also passed towns and villages where every roof was covered in solar panels, really neat!

And that is Munich. I hope you made it to the end, this was a really long post. Stay tuned for some more of Italy, and then I go to the Russian border by boat, a 4 day trip north on the Norwegian coast!