Departure: Stockholm, Sweden
Time: 19:ish

Arrival: Turku, Finland
Time: 07:ish

(in progress)

Departure: Helsingor, Denmark
Time: 09:ish

Arrival: Stockholm, Sweden
Time: 18:ish

(in progress)

After an adventure of getting our motorcycles out of the very very gravelly parking lot at the Hotel Sleep2Night, we headed with relief to our 2nd ferry of the trip, a short 20-minute jaunt across to Helsinborg, Sweden.  What a very very different experience from yesterday’s ferry!  This time, there was a huge crowd of sports bikes heading onto the ferry with us, and we joined up with them.  They were so casual: the zipped up to the front of the ferry loading, got off their bikes, and walked away.  Nothing to tie up, nothing to worry about!  We were a bit nervous, but managed after a brief discussion to follow suit, and headed upstairs for a quick coffee, which was so hot we barely finished it before we had to run down to get back on our bikes. 

Somehow, we were the first bikes off the ferry, and all the other bikers followed us, which involved me, in the lead, making a full circuit of the first roundabout and driving into a parking lot so that I could hook up my TomTom, which I hadn’t had time for before the ferry landed.  It took the other bikers a few seconds to figure out we were really just parking and didn’t know where we were going, then they drove off.  Ha.

Sweden was COLD.  We drove across to Jankoping, then north.  The drive north was absolutely stunning, on the face of a cliff overlooking the water, but we had to stop to warm up several times, and even with my wonderful electric underjacket I was really cold. 

Later, after we had left the water areas, we set the TomTom to randomly take us to some out of the way village, and had a lovely rambling jaunt through the countryside.  It completely read our minds, and we never even found that village, although we passed signs that pointed to it over and over.  Each time we passed a sign pointing to the town in question, the TomTom instructed us to go the other way, which was weird but worked out to be exactly what we’d wanted in the first place:  we drove on roads where it looked like we MUST be lost, and HAD to be going the wrong way, and then, after an hour or so of this, came out on a main highway not far from Stockholm and right on track.  Amazing.

Stockholm itself was Matt-ville.  He loved it.  He loved the streets, the atmosphere, the buildings, everything.  I think it was his Minnesota-ness coming out.  🙂  We went for a long walk and enjoyed the view from a crazy bridge that extended between a tall hill and a tower.  I saw interesting graffiti – specifically tile graffiti.  Since then, I’ve seen tile graffiti in Amsterdam too, but i think this was the first I saw.

We ate that night in a lovely restaurant near a major theatre, and the waitress had the most beautiful hair.  Thick and blond and wavy, and so stereotypically Swedish hair.  It was the honey-gold blonde with darker streaks naturally running through it.  She was also very sweet, and helped us choose typically Swedish foods that we might never otherwise have thought to try.  They were delicious, but it was another not-so-cheap dinner option for the group of us. 

Crystal Palace Hotel

The tower room.  Wow.  The shower was amazing!!!  more to come about this…

Departure:  Sassnitz, Germany
Time: 07:15

Arrival: Helsingor, Denmark
Time: 16:15

(in progress)

Big event this morning:  my first time taking a motorcycle on a ferry…. the trust issues involved!!!!  i was SO worried.  The ferry from Sassnitz to Trelleborg left at 8am, and arrived at noon.  We spent ages tying the bikes into place against the wall of the ferry.  There was one other motorcycle already there, and we tried to match what he had done.  None of the employees would give us any pointers, and i think we all had a sick feeling about it.  We barely left them in time to get out of the parking area.

Upstairs we found a big boothy section that was free except for a guy sleeping in it, so we moved in.  there weren’t very many comfortable choices, and this was the best we could do.  After about 20 minutes, he left, actually.  I saw him sharing a smaller space with another sleeper later, and we had plenty of space to stretch out in.  Matt sewed on his tank bag, Dick wrote in his journal, and I mostly slept. 

—
Trelleborg, when we got there, was very misty.  We could barely see the Swedish country side through the fog, but it was flat and spacious, from what I could see.  We headed for the tollbridge into Copenhagen and therefore Denmark, and about halfway across the bridge the weather just simply cleared up.  All of a sudden it was sunny and a beautiful day.  Apparently the sun shines on Denmark.  🙂 

Copenhagen was my first time using my new TomTom Rider v2 in an unfamiliar city, rather than semi-familiar and/or highways.  It was the most amazing thing not to be worried about missing turns or hitting cars while trying to understand the one-way roads marked on a map taped to the gas tank.  I was amazed to discover that not only did i know where and when a turn would come, i could see that i would cross a bridge and a funny pedestrian street before the turn.  wow.  Of course, it helped that the traffic was light on this particular day, and that Danish drivers are pretty relaxed. 

We drove into a neighborhood recommended by our friend Annemette, and parked without paying the parking fee because we couldn’t figure out how to do it.  There were terrace restaurants all over along a river or canal, and we tried to go to one because the place recommended by Annemette was too crowded and noisy for Dick, and had a big fight about who wanted to eat what, but then sat for ages with no service, so we got up again and went to an open-faced sandwich shop across from the recommended place.  It was lovely, service was lovely, food was fine.  Argument over.

After lunch we took the coast road up to Helsingor, which is where Elsinore (Hamlet’s castle) is located.  The coastal road was populated by limos, pleasure-drivers and other bikers.  The houses looked expensive.

After checking into our (awful) hotel, we went joyriding around that part of Denmark.  It was gorgeous, with little windy roads and more relaxed drivers.  Such small roads! 

We saw the castle, and Matt and Dick posed as Hamlet and Yorick’s skull.  Then we spent about an hour as it got colder and colder while Matt tried to fix his malfunctioning tail light.

A little grumpy from too active a day, we parked in the center and looked for food.  Everywhere that looked good was full with a long waiting list, so we ended up in this horrible-looking and empty "Italian" place.  The food was terrible, didn’t match its descriptions very well, and so overpriced that we were actually shocked when we got our bill and did the math.  The waiter/only employee we saw there was a horrible, grumpy old man. 

We noted, while eating, that all the men we saw around town were very effeminate looking in style.  Pink shirts, overly clean and blow-dried hair, ironed jeans, etc.  I had to text Annemette to congratulate her for apparently snagging the last real man in Denmark!  🙂

After dinner, it was back to the hotel and SLEEP – much needed, long awaited.

Hotel Sleep2Night

blossoms in the Vondelpark

a trenchcoat out of wood on Spiegelstraat

origami poster & graffiti on Amstel

home sweet home

this morning i stepped outside to head off to work, and there was a sideways sleet coming down outside.  given that i have a longish bicycle ride to work (on the amstelveenseweg end of the vondelpark), the windy sleet didn’t appeal to me as an ideal riding condition, so i took the tram.

on the few occasions that i take the tram to work, i usually have some kind of reading material to keep me occupied.  this time i didn’t, so i looked out the windows.

what a different perspective!  the buildings look different, more complete.  it helped that the sun kept breaking brightly through the clouds.  since i didn’t personally have to concentrate on not hitting them, the antics of tourists trying to experiment with double-seat bicycles in the middle of commuting traffic was amusing rather than irritating.  i still had to shake my head, though, when they fell over into the street just as the car that had been very patiently waiting for them to find the edge of the road had begun to edge past them.  the tram route took me past the places that i regularly pass on my bicycle, and i saw other bicyclists that i recognize from my daily commute, but they look different from slightly above. 

once a week or so, i’ve started walking to/from work rather than bicycling, but it hasn’t been so notably different as today’s tram ride was.  anyway, i’ll be walking home again today, through the vondelpark, past paradiso, muntplein, nieuwmarkt then home.  the magnolia trees have started opening up… it’s spring!  yay!

Hey anyone driving to Leipzig from the Netherlands,

Does anyone have any car space where we can send with you our festival luggage (probably a smallish suitcase each)?  We will be on our long motorcycle road trip, so either have to mail it to the hotel or send it with someone.  Happy to pay a portion of your gas money, for the privilege!  We’ll be getting to the hotel Friday afternoon. 

Thanks!

last week was shit.  the whole week.  absolute hell.
work was shit (long story to skip), so i had to explain to my boss that i was overloaded.
house stuff was shit (long story to skip), involving my landlord and our cv ketel and a gas bill.
matt was gone, so no help with these things.
i didn’t sleep well all week, and was really really tired and crabby.

then my aunt and uncle (who i haven’t seen in 15 years) came into town. 
exhausting, but fun.  even if my aunt seems to be more of an extremist, religion-wise, than i’d known.

they’re still here.  house stuff still unsolved.  back to work. 
on the plus side, my boss brought me a little present today.  🙂  that’s really sweet of her.  and she really is trying to solve the overloading problem, although it will take time.

ugh.
and i didn’t go out to get really drunk, as i would have liked, friday or saturday, because i was so damn worn out.  my apologies to you,

manraypat

.  i really didn’t flake, just fell completely and desperately asleep before clubbing time, on the sofa.  😦

some of you probably already know of my motorcycle plans this year.  anyway, i’m looking for help with a couple of things:

1. do i know anyone who lives in or around copenhagen, stockholm, helsinki, or anywhere in between?
2. does anyone i know have any recommendations to take into IMMEDIATE account in planning the part of the trip where i’ll be between those 3 places?
3. do i know anyone who lives in poland, pretty much anywhere?
4. do i know anyone who has any particular recommendations… (see 2)?

and for context, the plan thus far:
25th april:  leave amsterdam and head towards hamburg.  no hotel plans so far, but we’d actually like to get just past hamburg, as close as we can get to the ferry on E47 that will take us to Denmark.
26 April: Denmark or Sweden
27 April: Sweden
28 April: Stockholm (we need to take the ferry in the morning to Finland, and i believe it’s 5 hours – IF ANYONE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT THIS, PLEASE TELL.  i have a website to check, and will probably do so this evening, but experience is great)
29 April: Helsinki
30 April-4 May: St. Petersburg
5 May: drive to Tallinn (Estonia)
6 May: drive to Jurmala (next to Riga, Latvia)
7 May: somewhere in Poland (I really wanted to see the Devil’s Museum in Kaulas, Lithuania, but we’re running out of time to get to WGT well rested, and i’ve already booked the hotels in russia and the baltics)
8 May: somewhere in Poland
9 May-12 May: Leipzig – Wave Gotik Treffen
13 May: somewhere in central Germany
14 May: home to Amsterdam
15 May: back to work…

actually, if anyone knows anyone in any of our destinations, introductions would be great.  you never know…  🙂