A Love / Hate relationship

10 things I like about Europe

1. They have really good food here.


2. The transportation system is better than in the CA.


3. The landscape of Norway ROCKS.


4. My aunt is here.


5. It is legal to drink once you are 16.


6. You can smoke and grow pot...I have not done either.


7. I get to spend a lot of time with Twiga (our awesome African dog who has lived on three continents and is not even two years old yet).


8. See number one.


9. I don't have to be around losers...Waite I'm with my aunt never mined


10. Traveling to a gazillion different countries and seeing a lot of things is really easy because Europe is really small space wise and there are so many countries all right next to each other.

10 things I dislike about Europe

1. Things are more expensive here.


2. I don't have friends here.


3. I'm in the middle of the freaking ocean.


4. My aunts a loser.


5. I miss my friends a lot...especially Amy.


6. It's hard to communicate with all the different languages...bascially, people don't listen when you order your food.


7. It is always cloudy.


8. It rains at random times.


9. See number three.


10. They think its cool to wear orange pants.

IKEA!!!!

I was actually woken up this morning by Twiga digging at my head like she was digging a hole in it. That hurt a lot.

The past two days have generally been spent with me walking around while my bestemom sits at home or reading. I have a book that I've started to read in anticipation of school starting. It is from the Anne Frank house and is written by this woman Miep who helped to hide Anne Frank and her family. It's actually kind of interesting.

The best thing about the past few days is that when my aunt gets home we (my aunt, grandmother, and i) all go to IKEA and look around then eat there for dinner. mmmm....meatballs!

I have been spending the rest of the time trying to get some friends. It's not easy here. The Dutch aren't very friendly, and I don't want to hang out with family 24/7....something has got to give! I have been talking to a kid named Christian on MSN messenger. His Mom works with my Aunt at the Court so maybe we'll hang out and do something sometime. He's really into video games, and has a big tv and a ton of gaming stuff. We'll see....life in Europe has its ups and downs. It's so fun to travel and see everything here, but it's kind of hard to move here for a while and not know anyone.

Driving the wine road of France

We started our drive this morning in Strasbourg. We went into the city center, to an area of the town called "Petit France" which is sort of like an old town with old buildings and stores and traditional foods and stuff. We looked around down in that area for a bit and got some brunch. I got to have steak while the others had this thing called a tarte flambe which is really popular in the area of Strasbourg. My Aunt spent a summer living in Strasbourg when she was in law school, so she knew the area and she always talked about how much she liked tarte flambe, so of course they all had to eat it. I tried a bite of theirs, but to be honest....I was not impressed!

After that we headed on down the wine road. We only did one wine tasting. While we were there there was an old man that came in and bought some wine and while the cashier was gone in the back wrapping up his packages, he stole 3 little bottles of wine...I guess you are never to old to steal. Ididn't really like the wine but it was ok, and at least I tried it. Then we were off again. Along the road we were traveling, we stopped to look at all the vineyards. This is the area where they make a lot of french wines. We saw a really big castle on the hill overlooking the vineyards, so we drove up to see what it was. The castle was so cool to be in. It was originally used in 750 so it was realle old. I love castles, they are so old and so cool. The day went so fast....we stopped at a few towns along the road, they all looked like they were from a postcard. Then we got back on the road again, drove through France and into one of the smallest countries in Europe, Luxembourg. We stopped there for dinner. After that, we had to book it home cause my Aunt had to be at work in the morning. We didn't get home until around 2am. I kind of feel sorry for her because she drives all the time on all these trips and then has to go to work the next day while we all sleep in. Oh well, better her than me!

A Day Wasted

Do you remember that i said last night that a car window was broken in the hotel parking lot? Well we were woken up this morning at 7am to a phone call from the front desk of the hotel, saying that OUR car was also broken into. So we (and by we I mean, my parents), went down to talk to the police. Then when the police had finished finger printing they had to go to the police station. There were 5 different families, who all had their cars smashed. We were luckier than the others. All we had stollen was the........M&Ms...dun dun duuun. (I guess the looters were hungry). Soo the guests asked the hotel to pay for a taxi to take them to the police station but the hotel said they could walk, very customer friendly, this hotel. Especially, considering that they could have prevented the robbery by calling the police last night when we asked them to. WE HATE THE HOTEL

So, once all of that was over we had to wait until after 5pm to get the glass fixed on the car so that we could drive. We had reservations in Strasbourg, France for the night, and were planning to spend the last day in Paris and leave for Strasbourg in the late afternoon. Instead, we spent the whole day dealing with the car. What really blew the fuse was that when we went to check out of the hotel, they actually had the nerve to charge us for an extra night because we didn't check out till after 12...did I mention that in the mornig they had told us that it was no problem to stay in the room until the car was fixed? Don't ever stay at the Richemont Hotel in Paris....they SUCK! However, it was pretty funny to watch my Bestamom loose it at the hotel desk girl when she charged us an extra nights stay. My Aunt and I were so uncomfortable that we just backed away from the desk and left the area....my Bestamom is scary when she is mad!

We headed back into Paris after we finally got the car window fixed at 5:30pm, to get our last Paris meal of street crepes....a final drink at a street cafe and then we were off on our VERY long drive to Strasburg. We didn't get there till 2AM ish. It was a rough day....but I guess it happens sometimes, and as my Aunt kept telling my Bestamom, "now we have an interesting anecdote from Paris to tell stories of at parties".

Paris day 2

Today we started out not in Paris, but instead drove north toward Normandy (where the English touched down in their liberation of France during the Second World War) and went to the small town of Giverny where the painter Claude Monet lived and painted for over 30 years. We went to see his house, but also and most importantly the gardens of his house which were his inspiration for most of the paintings he's done. Monet was one of the most important impressionist painters, but I don't like impressionism that much. I like the Dutch painters much more because they are a lot more detailed in their painting. Impressionists like Monet paint things really fuzzy-like, and I don't like it as much.

Monet's Garden is about 45 min from Paris. It is so nice to see the garden and the water lilies...I want to live in a house like that...I got an illegal pic of the kitchen...HeHeHe

The water lilies and Chinese bridge are so cool. Then we went to the Restaurant there and got some REALLY good lunch then went back to Paris.

When we got back in to Paris we went to the Louvre again and looked at the sculptures that we had missed before. It was much quieter in there this time, since we went in on Friday night. We got some street crepes from a place that my Aunt knows (she has been to Paris a lot) and she was right...the street crepes and much better than the restaurant ones we got yesterday....I wonder why that is? Well, I won't question it, I'll just enjoy it!

Late in the evening (around 11pm) we went to the Eiffel tower and went up to the second level. The view is so cool from up there...and it was sparkling...it does it every hour. Finally we went back to our hotel (but not before getting lost in Paris for a good hour on the way back). When we got back to the hotel, we pulled into the parking garage, but felt like something was fishy. There was a car in the garage with its window smashed in and an alarm going off. We didn't know where else to park, so we took everything out of the car and went upstairs to tell the hotel desk that there was a problem in the garage and that they should call the police. I'll save the rest of the story for tomorrow! Tonight I'll leave you with all the beautiful photos taken from today!

Paris day I

We woke up in the morning and started out to explore Paris. The first place we went to was the Louvre. This is the most famous museum in Paris and I know it from the Da Vinci Code. Going into the museum is cool....it is SO big. The building is really old but to get into it, you have to go into the Courtyard of the building and then go down under the ground. To get down under the ground you go into this glass pyramid thing.....it was cool.

Right when we got in we got some breakfast at the cafe...the food there is good...then we went in and looked at the works of art. I really like it in there. There were tons of sculptures that we saw first....and I thought they were amazing. To be able to make a human look so....human, I don't think I could do it.

After a while though, we got some food again because we were tired of all the rude French people. That is one difficult thing about Paris, the people are pushy and not very friendly. After the tasty snack we went and looked at the Mona Lisa which I had really wanted to see. There were SO many people who also wanted to see it. It's difficult to get up to the front to see it, but cool that I got to see it, even if I had to push through the crowd to do it.

Once we were done there we went out to take Twiga for a walk and get a drink for us. We walked until we found a cafe to sit outside at. It was cold and rainy today, so the family got some hot tea....but I stuck with my coke. We were sitting outside under the canopy and it started to rain. After the downpour we walked up by the Notredame cathedral and then took Twiga back to the car. Then we...I mean the parental things I live with...went shopping...can you tell i love to shop with them. Finally, for dinner we stopped at a crepery and got some Crepes...those are good. I get crepes with jambone and fromage (that's ham and cheese for you non-French speakers out there). We figured that it had been a pretty full day at that point, so we headed back for the hotel, so we could rest up for another big day of exploring Paris tomorrow.

Off to Paris

I spent the morning just walking around it was so boring. Today we were mainly getting ready to leave tonight for Paris. So my Bestemom sent me to get some snack food for the road (we are driving to Paris so that we can see more of France....on the way back we will drive through the Alsace wine region and then up through Luxembourg). We were supposed to leave around 4 or so, but my Aunt didn't get off work until 6:30. We were hungry then, and since we were already SO late leaving we went to.....................SHOARMA...........................I LOVE IT (it is my favorite food here so far....Turkish food apparently, it is SO good). Then off to Paris. We got in very very late at night (after midnight), but lucky for me, I slept through the whole drive.

Delft again

This morning Twiga was very friendly and would not leave sight of my Bestemom and me. That made it hard for my soft hearted Bestamom to leave the house. She was dog blackmailed. Finally we had to go or we would miss Delft...our second trip to the city. In order to get there we have to take public transport. (in order to get anywhere we have to walk, bike or take public transport). We had to walk to the tram stop and get the #1 tram. The walk to the tram stop is really long and longer still because they closed the bridge over the canal that we need to get over, so it is necessary to take a ferry across the canal and then keep walking till you get to the tram stop. Cars are easier to use as transportation, though I am learning a lot about environmental issues and am not sure if I think cars or public transportation is better. Cars are more convenient, but public transport is better for the environment.

To make it worse, it is a bit complicated to use public transport in Holland. In order to get on the tram you have to use this strippencards that you stamp different amounts depending on were you are going...there are different "zones" that need different amounts of stamps, only it doesn't seem totally clear where these zones begin and end.

When we got to Delft we had Poffergies (Poffergies are little pancake like things, but made in sort of small flat balls with powdered sugar on them and then you can get whipped cream and strawberries or what ever you want)...they are so good. Then we did some shopping...why that is legal I don't know...but after that we got some food. I love ham and cheese toasties. Then we walked around a little more, and headed home to spend the evening at my Aunt's house with her.

Amsterdam Part II

Today we headed back to Amsterdam for day 2 of our exploring the city. The ride is long to get there (about 40 minutes by train) but you see cows so its all good. Once in Amsterdam we bought that boat taxi ticket and went to the Anne Frank house. It is so weird to be in the building and see the annex that they lived in for two years. The rooms were so small I would have hated it there. I have to read some books about the places I'm traveling to for school, so I picked out a book from the Anne Frank house to read, written by Miep Gies, who helped to hide Anne Frank and her family.

From there we want to the Rijks museum to see a bunch of delft paintings and delft ware...i didn't like it much but it was ok i guess...After that we went to look for the Heineken Experience but we never found it so we went back to the cafe that was by the Rijk museum and ate there. Finally we got on the boat and went to the train station and went home.

Amsterdam was pretty cool as a whole, and has tons of cannals and water ways. The city is built in a circle around all the canals, which was pretty interesting to learn about. I guess since we are living in The Hage which is pretty close to Amsterdam, we'll go back to Amsterdam another weekend. For now, it was enough....I'm exhausted.

Amsterdam Part I

It's Saturday. I spent the morning in the house with Twiga while the parental units went to the farmers market getting food for Twiga. I think that the dog may eat better than I....the family certainly seems more worried about her food than about mine...what's up with that???
Then we went to a book store in the Hague and got some food before we went to Amsterdam. Once we were there we went to the floating flower market and got some tulip bulbs, black ones. They sold pot plants at the flower market and I tried to get my Aunt to let me grow weed in the house because it is legal but she said no because it would be frowned upon at her work (she's an international human rights lawyer)...oh well, it was worth a try because I didn't really think I could so it was perfectly fine not to get to. Then we walked around looking at stores...how surprising...but we at least looked for food while looking at stores. We had found a place to eat that i really liked but we didn't eat there because my Aunt wanted to eat at her DUMB cafe that SUCKS...i didn't like the food like stuff they had there. When you order they don't listen...at all. What is up with the Dutch and not listening to my order?? I do NOT want mayonnaise on my food! This is REALLY NOT a tough concept!

It's All about the Food

Up until Thursday of this week it was really boring but finally we did something fun. We went into The Hague and naturally...we had to shop for a little then did something fun...we ate some Mexican food. I love Mexican food so it was really nice to have.

However, this brings me to a difficulty that I am experiencing in Holland. While they do speak English as a general rule, it is definitely the second language of the Dutch and since I do not speak any Dutch, there are sometimes communication troubles. Somehow, these troubles seem to arise when I am ordering food. I have specific foods that I will and won't eat and a specific way in which I want this food to arrive at my table....so far, it is almost always wrong. I think I am clearly ordering what I want, and it always comes wrong. For example, I ordered a chicken quesadilla without the vegetables...and got a vegetable quesadilla. This was not good. However, they did take it back and fix it.....whew, I was NOT going to eat a vegetable and cheese quesadilla! Anyway....

Then on Friday we went to the Mauritshuis museum in the Hague. I don't really like this museum that much but my Bestemom did so we went through it twice...sigh...then we went to Leiden and walked around for a little. After that we found a really good Indian food place and had dinner there. Finally we went to this cafe and got hot cocoa with whipped cream...there is as much whipped cream as there is hot cocoa. I love this place....vive la whipped cream!!!

The Dutch....a special breed

I have now been in the Netherlands for over a week and have noticed some weird things.

For example i have seen people wear Orange pants. Why would you were Orange pants?

The language is also a little weird and sounds very...interesting. I have learned a few words:
Donkuvell - means thank you, Bedankt - means thanks.

One positive thing I've noticed - the public transportation system is really good here which makes life easier. We take the train, the bus and the tram....and we can go almost anywhere.

People ride bikes here a lot! My Aunt is supposed to be supplying me with one, but so far she has not produced one. I think there should be a letter writing campaign - "Free Chris" in order to get me some wheels!

Oh, and the toilets....I'll save those for another day, but needless to say...well, there is a lot to say.

On The Road Again II

Naturally we had a late start and got pastries in Gothenburg, Sweden for breakfast. Then on the road for straight driving/sleeping till we got to Keil for dinner...ya we didn't have lunch...I'll never forgive them. But we at least got pizza for dinner so it got better...you can never get enough pizza. Then we kept going/sleeping all the way through Sweden, Germany, and Denmark till we were Finally in the Netherlands. Then it was oooonly a two hour drive to the house where I ate a little more food and then went to sleep. So, pretty much the last day of our trip to Norway was spent driving and sleeping.....mostly driving for my Aunt and mostly sleeping for me.

On The Road Again

I was forced to wake up early and get packing so we could head toward home. :'(

But naturally once we get in the car I went to sleep. We were headed toward Flam to see if we might take a boat ride up the smallest fjord, the Naeroyfjord. However, there was difficulty when we figured out that we would have to leave the car for the entire day (as we are traveling with Twiga after all). So, we did a little research quickly and figured out that we could catch a ferry up the fjords (both the Naeroyfjord which is the narrowest fjord and the Songerfjord which is the largest and widest fjord). So, we headed out to catch that ferry. I feel sound asleep again, but I was again awoken once we got to the ferry to go through the fjords and keep going to Sweden. The ride on the boat was really long but fun. The fjords are really amazing...but two hours of it can be a lot...

When we finally got off the ferry, we headed down the road quickly and after another long drive (most of which I spent sleeping....minus the moments when the family woke me up to see something or other), we got to Oslo. We stopped in Oslo for dinner. That was really good. Then we quickly piled back in the car and drove on further to Sweden (Gothenburg) where our hotel room was waiting for us.

A Little Fishy

We spent today at the fish market in Bergen. I had more fun lookig through the stores and standes around the fish markit then in the fish market itself. I founed a really cool belt and a new wallet the first time through. We stopped for lunch down at the harbor and my family ate fish. Since I don't like fish, I ate two miny bagets. SO filling...not!!!

After lunch, we finished our shopping in Bergen (I bought a belt and a wallet) and then headed out to the old city of Bergen. It's like the folk museum that we visited in Oslo....I guess each city in Scandinavia has some form of it. Anyway....we went to it but there really wasn't much to see. I had a headache and we were all thirsty but nothing was open there. So, we weren't there for long, before we headed back to the B&B we were staying at.

I was slightly bummed out because the B&B had a boat that we were supposed to get to take out on the fjord, but they had just recently moved it and so it wasn't able to be used. Instead we sat outside and had a picnic for dinner overlooking the fjord and it was pretty fun (despite the fact that I think I've been with my family every second since the moment I arrived here and its getting a little old). But, it was pretty fun, and we decided to have an early night tonight because we are planning to be out very early tomorrow so that we can try to make it onto a boat on the fjord tomorrow. Wish us luck!!

World Famous Lom Bakery

Today we went to the best bakery in the world and got great pastry's to start our day and sat by a window looking out onto a waterfall that turned to rapids beneath....it was cool.

From there we visited a stave church....these are churches from the time of the vikings and there are only around 20 some left in Norway...

So, I was thinking my day was starting off pretty good....and then my family left me at the car while they ran up to the ATM machine for 2 minutes to pull out cash. 45 minutes later, I was really wondering where they had gone...but eventually they managed to find their way back to the car....with packages in hand. OF COURSE....I should have known, they went shopping while I sat in the car. Very cool...no really, that was fun for me.

So, anyway....we headed down the road leading to Bergen and the Norwegian fjords. The drive today was actually really fun because we were driving through the tallest mountains of Norway with glacier ice and stuff. We stopped at one point for a picnic and were able to fill our water bottles with the water from the river which was so cold and clean.

We continued on the road, though my Grandmother did not love the road that much, she gets nervous with 10 hair pin turns (the guide book described them as white knuckle hair pin turns, but I think the author may have exagerated), but my Aunt is a very safe driver, so there really is no need to be worried.

Naturally a day cannot go by without us getting lost, and so we found ourselves out on some tiny pennisula in the fjords at around 11 at night looking for our bed and breakfast in a town that didn't have a bed and breakfast. I really don't know how my Aunt messed this one up, I mean getting lost is one thing but ending up in the entirely wrong town is another.

We had to ask some people who lived in the town, and they called the bed and breakfast and got us the actual directions to the actual town that we were staying in. We arrived after midnight, and went pretty immediately to sleep! Tomorrow we begin to explore Bergen and the west coast of Norway where the fjords are. I'll tell you about them tomorrow.

Family Roots

Today was a day all about family. We headed out early today to visit my mothers side of the family who are still living in Norway. They live in Nordburg and Skjak in the Gudbransdal Valley. We first went to visit Aslaug Nyhus who knew both my Great Great Grandmothers side of the family and my Great Great Grandfathers side of the family. She didn't speak any english (and we spoke no Norwegian) but we were able to communicate through her granddaughter, visiting from Oslo on holiday. After visiting with Aslaug for a while and learning more about the family and the area, our cousins arrived and we all met and talked and then we drove to the farm where my great great grandmother was born and lived until she went to the United States. It was pretty cool to see where they came from and my grandmother was really having a good time. I thought a lot today about how important family is and it is really good and interesting to know where I came from. We went back to the cousins house and saw the farm where my great great grandfather came from. We spent the rest of the day there with our cousins looking at old photographs and hearing stories. It was pretty cool. They also showed us the church in the town which is was really beautiful inside. Olga is my grandmothers second cousin and Siv is her neice. Siv is a school teacher at the local school and went away to college but came back to live there. I really liked the whole area and thought it was someplace that I could see myself living. They were all so nice and they prepared this whole big lunch for us at Siv's house (her house is so cool and looks really Norwegian). We had porridge and cheese and ham and potato salad. There was a lot of food and not all of it is even describable, but I did my best to try it all and I liked most of it, which was good to find out.

All in all, we had a really great time. I sort of wasn't planning on liking today that much....I thought it would mostly be boring family stuff. But, I actually really liked meeting my family from Norway and learning about where I come from. It was hard to say goodbye at the end and leave....but we did. Maybe someday I'll go back and visit there again, it's one of the places that I've liked the best so far and I hope I see it again.

The Road to Lom

Another day at the bed and breakfast means, another day that I get to eat a really good breakfast. This time I filled up even more in preparation for a morning with the women of my family....shopping! Seriously....don't they ever stop. How many times can you look at a scarf??

They finished up their shopping and we headed North, on the road to Lom. Lom is in the mountains in the middle of the country and is mostly farm land. My family is from the area and we still have relatives there so we were really excited to go and meet them all. But, first we had to drive there.

Of course, as soon as we got on the road again, I fell asleep. My family woke me up in time to have lunch in Lillihammer. They told me that the 1994 winter olympics were held here. I could see the ski jump from the road coming off the mountain. Lillihammer is a nice city but its pretty small for holding the Olympics in. The main street was not for cars but only for pedestrians. We could only make a short stop here since we had to get to the B&B in Lom, so we just got a few postcards and ate our lunch. After lunch we stopped at the berry bar to buy the best strawberries that I have ever eaten in my life.

The next thing I knew, I was waking up and we were in Lom. I saw farms on all sides and the mountains all around. Lom is really small and our bed and breakfast was just outside of it. The B&B is actually a working farm with sheep and horses. We are staying in a sod roofed cottage that was dug into the mountain side...so at night we have sheep walking on the roof. It really freaks Twiga out, but when she is outside she can't get enough of the sheep. It is also really beautiful in Lom....I think I might stay here and not return to the States.

The Village People Sing

Check it out!!!

A Day in Oslo

When I woke up and got ready to go, the family headed down to breakfast (a very good part about bed and breakfasts). I had ham and cereal. Then we headed out to the Folk Life Museum, which was really interesting and surrounded by trees. The museum had old wooden sod roofed houses and barns, and an old stave church and animals. In the "village" there were people dressed like they would be at that time period playing violin and singing. My grandmother really wanted to do this rope dance, so we all danced with the village people. It was kind of weird, but it made her happy, and I figured I would never see any of those people again anyway....why am I telling you about this??

From there we headed to the viking ship museum. It was so cool. It had old ships and sleds that that vikings used. I took a ton of pictures.

After that we went into Oslo, and once again my family...shopped!

After they got some shopping out of their system, we headed for the Resistance museum and the fortress on the hill overlooking the Oslo harbor. I have to admit....it was cool and all, but I was exhausted. My Aunt kept making me read the exhibits and asking me about stuff, but I was really tired. I did learn that there was a large Norwegian resistance movement during the Nazi occupation of Norway during WWII.

Well, you would think that that was a pretty full day. But, no....my family wanted to do more. So, we headed to Vigeland Sculpture Park. Vigeland was this sculpture dude who made sculptures throughout the whole park and dedicated them to the city of Oslo. They are all of people and they are really cool....and it was such a nice day that the entire city of Oslo seemed to be in the park. Even, as tired as I was, I had fun there.

After that, we headed back to the B&B. The rest of the family went out for dinner down at the harbor but I stayed in with Twiga. (I do NOT like seafood). Anyway, I was tired, and tomorrow is another day....

Eating Danishes with the Danes

Today we planed to see more of Copenhagen and then drive through Sweden to Oslo...the Capital of Norway. So, we got all packed up and checked out of the hotel and walked a LLLOOOONNNNGGGG way to a pastry shop to eat some Danishes with the Danes. The eating danish part was great, but I wasn't so impressed with Copenhagen. It is REALLY dirty...and our dog, Twiga kept eating everything off the ground on our walk. We were definitely ready to leave the city center when we did.

But, before leaving Copenhagen all together, we drove to the waterfront and took pictures of the Little Mermaid. No, not the Disney character...the golden statute of a mermaid that is out on the rocks at the harbor in Copenhagen. Apparently, Hans Christian Andersen first told the story of the Little Mermaid before Disney ever got ahold of it. Hans Christian Andersen lived in Copenhagen and was Danish....thus, the reason for the statute.

After we were finished there, we headed for NORWAY!! My family on my mother's side is from Norway, so it was a really exciting trip for the whole family and we were all excited to go.

On the way to Norway we had to pass through Sweden which is a lot nicer than Denmark. Right when you cross the border there are farms all over. Then when you go farther into Sweden there are trees. It was really "beautiful" and all, but.....I fell asleep. Only once in a while my annoying family would wake me up to see something out the window. Of course, I was asleep so I don't really remember what they wanted me to see anyway.

Finally, they woke me up for something good....FOOD! We stopped in a small village in Sweden and ate pizza, against my grandmothers will. Then we were back on the road and I was back to my sleeping. This time when I woke up we were in Oslo, Norway and we were driving around trying to find the bed and breakfast we were staying at. FINALLY, we found it. By then, it was really late and we were really tired, so we unpacked, got some snacks from a deli nearby and went to sleep.

Gridlock sucks....Even in Europe!

We left the hotel early today, fumbled around at the gas station trying to figure out (in German) whether to pump first or pay first. Finally, all dieseled up and ready to go, we headed out for our quick 4 hour ride to Copenhagen.....

....oh, did I mention that there is traffic, even on the audoban?? So, the day which was supposed to be spent getting an overview of Copenhagen, Denmark was spent....in the car!

We finally made it to Denmark, and to our hotel, and got checked in for the night. We then headed out to spend the night at Tivoli, a really large amusement park in the center of downtown Copenhagen. The park is really fun (filled with amusement rides and food, almost NO SHOPS!!!) and it stays open till about 2am. When we got in the park, I got rid of the parental units and while they ate, I rode! The only problem with the park is that the lines are pretty long. I feel like I spent my entire day in lines....first in a line of cars and then in line to ride. Oh well....it was still fun!

Off to Germany

Today we started on our road trip to Scandinavia. My Aunt had to work and then after work, go pick up our rental car and then we all loaded in (My Grandmother, my Aunt, Twiga and I) and headed North. Since we started late, we only plan to get as far as Germany tonight and then start into Scandinavia tomorrow. The landscape was mainly farm land and pretty flat (so I fell asleep). Once we crossed the border into Germany the landscape was still flat, but my Aunt and I did have a fun time with the road signs. We particularly like the road sign labeled, "Ausfaurt". I'll leave our comments to your imagination. ;-)

We headed for Hamburg where we found our hotel and then went in search of some food. We drove down to the waterfront in search of German fare and I figured out that I LOVE German food....which consists of a lot of meat. Though we were in Hamburg, I chose not to eat a hamburger and instead had polish sausage and schnitzel. We also had some German beer (which I liked a lot more than the Dutch stuff). Tonight, I am headed to bed and tomorrow we head into Scandinavia where the real vacation will begin.

I spent today packing to go to NORWAY... YAY

Day 2

I slept in....jet lag says it all.

Today I visited Delft (a small Dutch town famous for some pottery and a painter dude). We got lunch (my favorite thing to do), and I had my first beer in Europe. Whitt beer (made with wheat, not barley....the good ol American stuff is better, if you ask me).

The women in my family drug me to my first of many (I'm sure) museums in Europe...something about Vermeer, the painter guy. Afterwards, I was rewarded with more food. Pofferjes...one of the best things about the Dutch.