Saturday, March 8, 2014

3-7-14 Barcelona bar


- no alarm in the morning. Longest we've slept so far. Very much needed 
- walked into town. Saw a famous bakery. Debated going there for lunch but decided that Istanbul pizza was necessary 
- walked around more, came back to the hostel and relaxed
- walked over to max's friends' dorm to hang out
- went food shopping with them to make dinner
- made homemade pizzas. One of the guys studied in Italy for a year and knew his stuff
- dinner, drinks, bar. Good authentic young Danish night life 

Friday, March 7, 2014

3-6-14 ...and the light turned green


-woke up at 6 30am to head to the airport. One more quick picture of the grand place early in the morning when no one was there
-walked to the train. Train ride to the airport got a little delayed but we got there. Good thing we bought a ticket! Oh wait just kidding no one checked on the way there or back. See ya wouldn't wanna be ya 17 euros 
-quick check in and security at the airport. Walked around and hunted for breakfast. Ended up getting the standard and nutritious croissant, hot chocolate, and chocolate croissant
-flight was short and easy
-landed and headed to hostel in downtown Copenhagen. I can feel Hans Christian Anderson's presence 
-dropped our stuff and walked around for a while. Never seen max happier. He basically rules over Copenhagen and knows where everything is
-got lunch at max's favorite Turkish pizza place that he went to every day when he was here. So sentimental
-came back to the hostel to take a break. Max's Danish friend who wasn't supposed to meet us til 6 surprised us at the hostel. So much for resting
-walked around more and saw Nyhavn. It's famous google it
-back to hostel to sit for the first time since the flight and to get ready for night time festivities
-walked to max's old dorm where all his Danish friends live. We cooked a delicious dinner in the kitchen and hung out for a bunch of hours 
-full, exhausted, but happy to be amongst the happiest people in the world 

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

3-5-14 delirium via delirium


- woke up around 9 30. Latest we've slept in so far
- walked around and found a cute breakfast place. 3.50 euros for a croissant, chocolate pastry, and hot chocolate. Do people eat like this every day? I think yes. Once again, never leaving
- walked into every chocolate shop we could find. I could do this all day
- lunch of French fries with a mini fork
- went on a free walking tour of the city at 2 that left from grand place. Guide was from Venezuela. Venezuela, Brussels, same thing? Whatever he was great 
- tour was 2 hours long. That's right. 2 free hours of walking around and history lessons
- hunted for more chocolate
- took a 10 min break at the hostel
- back out walking around. Did I mention that it was 50 degrees today?
- dinner at an Italian restaurant. Gnocchi and pesto...such a treat
- more chocolate and wandering 
- delirium cafe for some delicious Belgian beer. If only all beer could taste like this 
- Denmark tomorrow!! 

3-4-14: better than willy wonka's magical chocolate dream house


- woke up at 8 30 ish in hostel. Breakfast at hostel
- bus stop right outside of hostel to go to airport
- fastest time through airport security ever
- very short and easy flight to Brussels
- train to hostel. Checked in in one location, walked to actual hostel from there
- hostel is approximately 5 steps away from grand place. Can see it from the door
- dropped our bags and walked around for hours
- got waffles and lots of chocolate. Actually chocolate shops every other store. This is what heaven looks like 
- ate dinner at a cute little Italian restaurant. Delicious, reasonably priced, not touristy 
- walked around grand place at night 
- waffle with ice cream and chocolate to finish off a perfect day 

Monday, March 3, 2014

3-3-14 Baby lamb


- woke up at 5:35. This time was more of a success than yesterday
- left the hostel at 6 to walk to the bus stop. The bus left around 6 30 for Galway
- 2 hours to Galway. The bus left a little while after for cliffs of moher
- stopped at a farm along the way and saw beautiful scenery. Tour guide was awesome and sang to us 
- drove to the cliffs. Perfect weather. Most beautiful natural wonder I have ever seen in my life
- went to lunch in Doolin. Chicken, veggies, potatoes, and oh wait more potatoes. They know how to do portions the right way
- drove back to Galway along the coast and stopped along the way to take pictures 
- back to Galway at 5:30. Left for Dublin at 6 
- dinner and more Guinness at o'connells. So much goat cheese 
- exhausted. Great day. Brussels tomorrow. No sleep til Belgium! 

3-2-14 Pints on pints on pints


- wake up at 5 am even though we discussed waking up at 5:20. I thought max kept snoozing his alarm and I didn't want to be associated with him so after the 4th time it went off at 5 15 I angrily woke him up. Turns out it wasn't his alarm. Whatever we woke up at 5 15 instead of 5 20
- walked down the street to the bus stop around 5 40. Got a little lost. Luckily a bar across the street still going strong from the night before had the fire alarm go off so everyone was outside, including tenants of the building (I guess not so lucky). One guy in his pjs walked us to the bus at 6 am. You know you're in Scandinavia when...
- made the bus to the train station. Bought train tickets and got on the most beautiful and efficient train ever to the airport
- very easy flight. Empty. Max and I had our choice of seats. 
- Dublin!!! Such a beautiful city. Got to our hostel via an airport bus, dropped off our bags, and headed to lunch. Got a traditional Irish breakfast...yup I ate sausage 
- the waiter sat down with us and drew places to go on the map. Would have gotten a big tip in the US, but oh wait we're in Europe 
- walked to the Guinness factory for a tour. So much fun. Got a free pint at the end. The lady never took our ticket, so we got another free pint downstairs and poured it ourselves. So much beer in my belly 
- walked back to the hostel, checked in, went back out to grab some cheap pizza. So nice that we can eat semi affordably here! 
- had to get shamrock shakes at McDonald's. #americantourists
- bed early ish because we have to wake up at 5 30 tomorrow for an all day tour to Galway! 

Saturday, March 1, 2014

3-1-14 tobogganing down a Norwegian mountain


Saturday, march 1st
- wake up around 9 and got breakfast at our hostel
- took the bus to the metro and went all the way to the north in the mountains and snow and trees
- went toboggaining aka sledding aka the best time ever 
- went into town to get 7 eleven for lunch bc it's the only semi affordable option 
- back to hostel to change out of wet clothes and relax a little 
- tried to go to the Viking ships and failed
- back into town to walk around, explore, get more 7 eleven
- back to hostel to shower and get ready for an early flight to dublin tomorrow!! 

2-28-14 I am Elsa

Friday, feb 28th
- fly into Oslo, very easy flight and virtually no customs
- took a bus to our hostel but got lost after the bus. Some guy saw our confusing faces, asked if we were confused and needed help, and then walked with us to our destination. So nice! In NYC I would never expect someone to do that/be scared of them of they did 
- put luggage down but couldn't check in til 3. It started raining
- bought bread, ham, and jarlsburg cheese to make sandwiches. Everything is so expensive!
- decided to go on an adventure. Man at supermarket told us to take the bus into town so we hopped on (didn't pay) and went uptown by accident. We ended up at a mall in an industrial looking part of town. After walking around the mall for a little, we found the same bus going downtown 
- downtown Oslo is beautiful! Mix of old and new. We saw the presidential palace and lots of statues and the port and walked around the shopping streets 
- got over 10 dollar halal food that was gross for dinner. All other dinner options were so expensive. Like 50 US dollars for a pizza. No thanks. 
- came back to the hostel and relaxed. So exhausted!!