Finland?! Yes Finland. This past weekend I hopped on another Ryanair flight and headed north to the beautiful land of lakes. In Tampere I was met at the airport my my sweet Noora. My family hosted Noora as a foreign exchange student during my junior year of high school. Five years later, Noora got to return the favor and host me for a weekend in Tampere!
After another goofy flight with Ryanair (everything about this airline cracks me up - the great lengths at which one must go to reach their remote airports, the ridiculous classical music they play when boarding the plane, the obnoxious blue and yellow interior, and the celebratory bugle blow when the flight successfully lands...) Noora and her boyfriend Toni met me at the Tampere airport. It has been about 3 years since I had last seen Noora, and she looked just as cute as ever! Plus, she has a great boyfriend who is in a band and a super legit skier! During the ride back from the airport, we immediately started catching each other up on one another's lives. As we drove through Tampere, I couldn't help to notice how serene and peaceful everything felt. The beautiful scenery combined with the calm lakes and the over all lack of people made me feel very relaxed and welcomed into Noora's country. We got back to her place (an adorable little efficency apartment - I would expect nothing less!) and headed to the supermarket to grab supplies for dinner. The supermarket was essentially the same as German supermarkets, except for the massive fish selection. We grabbed a slab of salmon, fresh veggies, and a loaf of bread and then headed back to Noora's place where we (mostly Toni) whipped up a delicious dinner. Then we went for a stroll along one of the lakes near Noora's apartment and I got to experience a BEAUTIFUL Finnish sunset. The sun sets so late in Finalnd (it's still pretty bright around 11:30pm) but the sunsets make it worth the wait! After our stroll, we got ready for bed, watched some of the Olympic opening ceremonies (which were crazy!), and chatted until we fell asleep.
Reunited!
So yummy. So sooo sososooo yummy.
Hey beautiful sunset!
So beautifuuuul!
Toni, Noora, and I enjoying a lovely sunset!
So awesome!
Saturday was a full day of Finnish adventuring. We woke up relatively early and headed to meet up with Toni at a bike rental place. We got ourselves some bikes and started off towards a Finnish breakfast place where I had the absolute best rice porridge I've ever eaten. After stuffing ourselves full of Finnish breakfast, we set out to bike around the other lake surrounding Tampere (Tampere is situated between two lakes of different elevations and mad made channels run through the city connecting the two lakes). We biked around the whole day, seeing old factories, well-pruned parks, and an authentic gelato place. We even biked up the tallest hill in Tampere which is home to an old watch tower and the best Munkki in the city. We were rewarded with the best view of Tampere as well as the tastiest Munkki!
View from the top!
Munkki. It may look like your ordinary powdered donut, but its oh so much more!
Tampere is a truly beautiful city. What it may lack in quantity (as the third largest city in Finland, Tampere rings in at about 300,000 inhabitants) it most certainly makes up with quality. Everything is so clean and well pruned! The buildings range from old wooden houses, to stone mansions, to brick factories, to new glass apartment complexes. Oh, and the lakes. Have I already mentioned the lakes? Yes? Oh well, I'm going to mention them again. The lakes in Finland and clean and calm and freaking gorgeous. I jumped into one of them. Yes, I bought a bikini for 6€ at H&M and I jumped into a super frigid Finnish lake (Noora and Toni did too). Then the three of us snuck into a sauna without paying! How crazy! I almost died in the sauna. The only seats left were in the corner furthest from the hot rocks, so I sat up in the very corner. Right after some older man in a very tiny speedo poured more water onto the hot rocks, Noora informed me that where I was sitting was the hottest place in the sauna. Then the heat hit me like a wall. I could barely breathe! So what did I do? Went and jumped back into the freezing lake, and then came back to the sauna where I found a better seating arrangement. That was truly and unforgettable experience!
In the lake! Cheesin'!
After my crazy lake/sauna experience, we decided to go out for pizza. We all ate whole pizza by ourselves, and I think with all the biking we did that we earned our pizzas fair and square. We headed back to Noora's place and gabbed the night away. Noora and Toni introduced me to the Finnish cartoon series Muumi, or The Moomins. Apparently it is also a sensation in Japan. Of course. I can't believe Noora didn't tell me about this 5 years ago because now I'm kinda obsessed. Just have a look:
Sunday we got up, returned our bikes, and then headed to this awesome little waffle place. They served sweet and savory waffles. I opted for a savory waffle and got one with salmon (when in Finland!), sour cream, and dill. To say it was delicious would be an understatement. Then before I knew it, I had to part ways with my Finnish sister and her awesome Finnish boyfriend and head back to Germany. I think my favorite part of the weekend was discovering that no matter where we are, or what we are doing with our lives, Noora and I can pick up right where we left off and act just like we did back in high school - sisters.
Just had to include a picture of this epic waffle
And last but not least, me and my beautiful Finnish sister!
This past weekend I made my first foray into Northern Germany and visited my friend Michelle. Michelle has been living and working in the burg of Hams for about a month now, and I have been wanting to visit, so this past weekend I made it happen. I got to Hamburg using a good ol' Mitfahrgelegenheit for 22€ each way, can't beat it! I was a little nervous since my last experience with ride sharing left me stranded in Berlin, but I'm pleased to report this time was much better. I didn't get into the city until a bit after 10 on Friday evening and upon arrival I was greeted by Michelle at the train station. Together we headed to a 'Sex, drugs, and rock & roll' themed party at her place of work. Germans are crazy, designers are crazy, so you can only imagine how crazy a party thrown be German designers was. Plus there was an open bar. I'm just going to skim over the rest of the evening...
Fast forward many libations and a few hours and Michelle and I were waking up with große Kater (look it up). Luckily Michelle lives around the corner from an American style breakfast all day diner called Mamalicious. It basically saved my life on Saturday.
Thank goodness for Mamalicious. (Note my coffee mug)
After we mustered up some strength, we headed to the Miniatur-Wunderland, home of the world's largest model train! The walk there was through Hamburg's Speicherstadt - a little island full of old warehouses. Hamburg is a harbor city with tons of bridges and canals. Even more canals than Amsterdam and Venice says tourguide Michelle.
Bridge and harbor action
Building the crazy Hamburg symphonie building
Me and a canal running through the Speicherstadt
So this Miniatur-Wunderland. I'm going to go ahead and say it was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen in my live. The scale, the modeling, the figurines, the DETAIL. I just couldn't believe it. Every scene was so intricate, so involved, so well schemed. There were mini versions of cities in Germany, Switzerland, Scandanavia, and the good old USA. There was a mini airport with mini planes that would take off, and a mini terminal with mini parking garages filled with mini cars and mini people. The people were just barely bigger than a Polly Pocket, to give you an idea for scale. Not only were the trains and the tracks super cool on their own, but the scenes that they weaved throughout were just absolutely insane! For example:
A couple fornicating in the bushes
A mini music festival
The grand canyon and some pueblos
Mini Hamburg
We were so exhausted after the Mini-Wunderland (and still not feeling our best) so we headed back to Michelle's places for a nap. After a sufficiently long snooze we made some delicious guacamole and watched Harry Potter movies into the wee hours of the night. We needed a night in after the craziness that was Friday. Sunday we woke up feeling very well rested and set off to see more of the city. We walked around Michelle's neighborhood as well as the Altstadt downtown before eventually heading to the infamous Reeperbahn and red light district. Conclusion: Hamburg is rad.
A shanty town near where Michelle lives! Safe!
Cool German squalor
Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, one of my favorite train stations yet!
Rathaus aka town hall
Super old partially destroyed church whose name escapes me...
I think I may have mentioned earlier that I bike to work everyday. Well... practically everyday. Sometimes I'm just too darn lazy. Or sometimes it's raining so hard that I am literally soaked through to my underwear if I don't cower under an umbrella. Oh, Wuppertal. Back to the Greenservation at hand: Radfahren. The sustainable observations about cycling versus driving are plentiful and apparent. Since I've been rather scatterbrained lately, I searched for a list of 'the benefits of biking' online so I could organize my thoughts. Here are a few of my favorites from the list:
On-going use of a bicycle has virtually NO carbon footprint.
Bicycling can be faster than walking, transit or motor vehicles.
Save travel money by biking. If the switch is from a car this includes purchase price, gas, tires, fluids, insurance, maintenance, washing, parking, etc.
Regular bicycling helps with personal weight management - new full-time bicycle commuters can expect to lose an average 13 pounds their first year of bicycle commuting if they maintain the same eating habits.
Bicyclists can ignore the highway traffic jam reports.
Reduces road kill and saves animals.
Biking is fun.
You should really check out the whole list for more great and environmentally friendly reasons to bike instead of drive! Now, I'm going to continue to overwhelm you with statistics and reasons why you should get off your lazy bum (I'm lookin at you Mom and Dad) and get pedaling! According to a study from Environmental Health Perspectives, if 30 million urban and suburban midwesterners replaced JUST HALF of their short car trips with cycling during JUST THE WARMEST six months of the year, they "could save approximately four trillion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, 1,100 lives and $7 billion in mortality and health care costs for the region every year." Boom. Sustainable, healthy, and fiscally responsible. What more could you want? Oh, an awesome infographic about the benefits of biking? Here you go: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/13/bike-to-work-infographic-benefits-health_n_1145815.html
I really hope that the USA adopts a more bike-friendly mentality in the immediate future. I've observed and experienced firsthand all the benefits of biking to work, and I have been lucky to do so since I live in such a bike-friendly country. Everywhere I go I see racks of bikes on bikes on bikes! Just look at what I get to be a part of! (Below left: Amsterdam, below right: Munich, bottom: Heidelberg)
I plan on seeing even more sweet bike action in a few weekends when Michelle and I head to Copenhagen, the city of bikerly love! I hope this post has inspired you to green up your life by embracing the wonder that is biking. If it hasn't inspired you to do that, maybe I've inspired you to work on your hyperlinking skills. Bis später!
Es tut mir leid for the lack of posts on here lately. I promise I have been doing exciting things I just have been too preoccupied to blog about them. I'm realizing that my time here is quickly winding down - I can't believe that I only have a little over a month here in Germany! I've been continuing to try and take advantage of travelling as much as possible.
This past weekend I met up with Ian in lovely little Heidelberg, Germany. I confess, I have this horrible habit of falling asleep within 7 minutes of a train ride. Most of the time, it's not a horrible habit, but more of a useful skill. However when your train ride is a 3 hour jaunt along the Rhine river passing picturesque cities and medieval castles you kinda want to stay awake for it! Unfortunately I wasn't able to snap any good pictures from my train, but tust me, it was breathtaking.
The breathtaking views continued on throughout the whole weekend in Heidelberg. The most marvelous part of Heidelberg is of course the ruins of the old castle. The earliest castle structures were built around 1214 AD. 1214 AD I say! The age of some things in Europe still blows my mind. Some of the castle was destroyed, some still stands, but all of it is beautiful. Not only is the red stone castle a gorgeous sight, but the views over the quaint city nestled in the river valley are best from the castle grounds.
It was windy up there!
Castle ruins
View over Heidelberg and the Neckar river
Part of the castle chunked off...
I mean seriously Germany, stop being so freaking beautiful.
Heidelberg is also famous for it's old university, Universität Heidelberg. Founded in 1386, it is the oldest university in Germany. I'm telling you, the age of some of the stuff over here! It's incredible! My favorite part of the old university was the Studentenkarzer or "student prison". It's basically a place for the establishment to lock up unruly students for their bad behavior, i.e. getting really drunk and setting some hogs loose. I think Wikipedia describes it best: "While Karzer arrest originally would have been a severe punishment, the respect for these punishment diminished with time, particularly in the 19th century, as it came a matter of honour to have been incarcerated at least once during one's time at university. At the end of 19th century, as the students in the cell became responsible for their own food and drink and receiving of visitors became permitted, the "punishment" would often turn into a social occasion with excessive consumption of alcohol." Oh Germany, you are awesome.
Enter if you dare...
Apparently silhouettes were the thing to do?
A typical confinement room.
I fear the day that Cincinnati embraces it's German heritage and institutes a Karzer...
So awesome.
Hello beautiful.
This weekend I'm headed to Hamburg to meet up with Michelle! More German adventures to come!
