My place..

Check out my map on they draw and travel, lovely place to be inspired, and great people..

NSB - going down

NSB, Norwegian Railroad, gets criticism for their work all the time, but now. They have decided to go down on expectations on their own. Sinking as low as 65% on the "happy customer" scale. It's not been that low since 2003, yey, well done NSB..

Edinburgh travel in drawing

At our trip to Edinburgh I decided to draw instead of taking photos. I don´t expect people to understand anything about it, but still a fun way to document a trip, and remember what you have done. So here it is, six days with nothing...

traveling Europe Summary Part 6

Finally back in scandinavia AKA Copenhagen, Denmark

Traveling from Amsterdam to Copenhagen, there were no direct trains, we had to backtrack two hours, change trains four times, stop in Hamburg, take a ferry and stand/ sit on the floor since the last train was more than fully booked. Sounds like fun you say? Actually, it turned out to be the best leg of our journey by train. When stopping at a station to wait on the next train, you get to look around, breathe some fresh air and stretch your legs. We ate a hamburger in Hamburg and was amazed when the train drove onto the ferry. When we arrived in Denmark they even attached a second train set in order to supply everybody with seats for the last two hours of the ride.

Already having booked a hostel, we crossed our fingers and hoped it would be better then the one in Amsterdam. It sure was. The staff was friendly and helpful, rooms/ bathrooms were clean, we hooked up with some nice people and we had a barbeque. Denmark has got it figured out, being able to buy alcoholic beverages all hours of the day all days a week. Norway has got something to learn. Good ecological beer and food at decent prices.

First thing, our first priority was to scour some good arabica. Meaning first stop = Coffee Collective, whenever you visit copenhagen make at least one stop at their location in Jægersborggade. I had a clean and crisp guatemalan aeropress brew. Picked up some beans and on our way to do some shopping. Natural stops were among others Henrik Vibskov and Woodwood, I purchased a sweater and four pairs of socks. Some more shoppimg went by, then dinner, then it was time to get some shuteye.

Tuesday, was spent in the Industrial art and design museum. It was alright, but It was a little bit disappointing. The one in Oslo has a much better collection and is free of charge as well.

For anyone interested in design I´d recommend the DDC (Danish Design Center) instead.

The evening was spent in the Tivoli.

Last day started out checking out of the hostel, then chilling some more at the Coffee Collective. Slowly we made our way to the docks through the cemetery, and downtown.

There is something really serene about walking through a cemetery, paying your respects to the greats that have passed. It puts your mind at ease, maybe more if you´re not carrying heavy luggage. We stocked up on provisions and boarded the Oslo-bound ship. I can´t think of a better way to finish our trip. Next morning we arrived in Oslo and walked back home.

It was a good trip and a lot of new experiences have been made, I woudn´t ave missed it for the world and am good for another adventure. Alright, this is the last travelpost and I hope you readers(if anybody reads this crap) have not been bored. Thanks for staying with me.

...Lars

traveling Europe Summary Part 5

Not much to say about Amsterdam...

Like many a morning, it started out hopping on a train. It was a long and continuous trainjourney. Not much sleep since we had to move around on the train a bit. when we crossed the border into the Netherlands the train changed staff, Dutch sounds so funny we were cracking up.

We arrived mid-day/afternoon, hostel was already booked so it was just a matter of locating it.

Big disappointment. I would describe the hostel with these words: dirty, crowded, hot, dank, clammy, smelly, far from the city centre, horrible. It looked like somebody had been murdered in the bathroom. Utterly horrendous. A small tip when booking hostels, try to book the uptown ones.

On a limited budget, we just combed the canals, sitting down eating sirup-waffles and browsing the Interior-design shops. I really like the narrow houses by the canals, even the houseboats looked real cozy. I´d imagine myself drifting on one of those, just chilling and living life at my own pace. The biggest general impression from the trip is how crappy Oslo is with bikes.

We ate pizza in the park both days, and that´s basically our stay in Amsterdam. The city with many a coffee shop but no good coffee oh, and plenty of bicycles. Wish I had one.

traveling Europe Summary Part 4

Berlin, Germany

What strikes me most in my general impression of taking the train in Germany is how an industrious country Germany really is. It´s a fucking machinery where people move automatically. Very efficient and a bit bothersome. One of the pros/cons of interrailing is the prospect of just jumping on any train without worrying about reservation. Just find a seat and sit down. In Germany, this is hard to put in effect. Even in a next to empty train-car people will make a bit of a fuzz if you are in the place they have reserved. We´re talking about grabbing hold of a conductor instead the direct approach. Then you move and wait in suspense in between stations. No sleep for tired Norwegians.

After a very long trainride, we arrived in Berlin. Both of us really looking forward to a good stay, having high expectations. Almost immediately it got shot down, first thing we did and biggest mistake was to go to the tourist info to book our accommodation. The dude behind the counter was a real asshole and we ended up feeling like we´d been had. It amounted to booking three nights at a pension we really did not want to stay at, since we had booked it the same day it proved impossible to get a cancellation. Next big crack in our budget, to top it off, the asshole managed to sell us a 72 hour transportation ticket that we barely used. had we reserved at a hostel beforehand, we would´ve saved more than a hundred euros. If you haven´t already guessed it, it put a pretty big dampener on things and almost ruined Berlin for us.

We tried to suck it up and drown our sorrows and our misery.

Next day....

Always in the search for a more than excellent cup of coffee, we headed out into the unknown and thanks to google maps located Bonanza Coffee Heroes. Hopes high, anticipation equally. I was not disappointed, rather impressed really. Nothing but good things to say. Heres a summary in key-words (impressions linear from start to finish): Nice place, Hip-looking people outside, Hearing words in english, nice looking espresso machine, ooh a small roaster, friendly barista, wheres the black coffee?, ethiopian, nice, taking pictures, chit-chat, smells good, sit down, draw some, nice coffee, espresso time, not bad, new barista, getting directions, nice neighborhood, and off we go. Thanks for the great coffee! why settle for mediocracy? Quality focused coffee shops giving you great experiences are starting to pop up. Soon we might be able to drink good coffee in all cities, well maybe not yet. The prospect has me a little bit aroused tho. mmm.. Coffee.

Next on to shopping/ browsing and gallery hopping in the Mitte district. Soo much good stuff, this is where it´s happening. We definately felt the aftermath of the big tradeshows (Bright, Bread and Butter). Even a CTRL pop-up store.

Lunch was up, I ate the gazpacho an Hilde Marie had a piece of Veggie lasagna. so good. The place was in the backyard right around the corner from the Circleculture gallery.My one objective in Berlin was to pick up the newest issue of Lodown magazine, such an easy task and a delightful one as well. We strolled right into a magazine/bookstore filled with all sorts of Art/design/Culture-related magazines, I cannot remember the name of it, but still very inspiring. It could´ve meant some more kilos in the backpack, but like a pro I just picked up my copy of Lodown.

Shopping, we got an invite for a vice party the same night, we thought hey, cool/free booze. We browsed some more, then headed back to our meagre accommodation to freshen up. Right off Alexanderplatz, it shouldn´t have been too hard to find. We managed to spend an hour and half trying to locate it! Amateurs. Anyway, we found it. Taking the elevator all the way up, 15 stories or so, the place was located on the friggin´rooftop. nice place, with a nice view of the atomic clock- tower thing at Alexanderplatz. Place was packed, neither the music or the mural in progress had me enthused. No free drinks either, I ended up paying 4 euros for a 33cl bottle of Carlsberg! Probably the most expensive beer on our trip. A Danish beer! In Berlin! At a Vice party! It wasn´t even a Pint! Something is wrong with the world, we can´t just accept it.

Vice... your party sucked!

Next morning we tried to sneak out to go about our business. Suddenly, out of nowhere pops this old really friendly Korean guy (Apparently he was the owner of the before mentioned establishment.) he wouldn´t let us leave until he had served us a cup of coffee, truly insisting upon it. We came to love this charming Korean geezer who didn´t know a word of english and took our picture. It´s weird how a thing like that can turn your impressions all the way around. (service, service). This day went about with a lot of the same content as the previous. One major difference was walking all the way around Tierpark (the BIG city park) trying to find a zoo that din´t exist. (apparently the name of the zoo was Tiergarten) Our mistake. Oh, and we also did some touristy things: Berlin wall, Checkpoint Charlie and Topography of terror. We had indian for dinner and went to bed to get up early next morning.

Away we go to... (guess what´s next)

traveling Europe Summary Part 3

No sleep in Vienna

Waking up in switzerland, we wanted to chill a bit before boarding the train to Vienna.

So we started out with a picnic by the lake, I guess it should come as no surprise that we ate, yes you guessed it. Swiss cheese in the lovely Gruyere version stored for twelve months in a grotto. Yummy. After that, we explored parts of town and hopped on a train bound for austria.

Taking the train when traveling provides the possibility to sit and draw, so I drew.

Going through the alps, we saw some amazing scenery. It was all quite reminiscent going through the mountain range in Norway really. Beautiful. It was a direct train, so no changes. We arrived in Vienna at fifteen minutes to midnight. To say the least, we felt pretty tired after traveling all day. Since we had not booked any accommodation beforehand, finding a place to sleep seemed to be an impossible task.

A great many thanks to Wombats hostel who phoned around to check for availabilities as well as letting us sleep in the lobby and give us a free beer. This is where you´d want to stay if you are in Vienna. Real cool place.

Next we had to get up real early to get to Berlin.

Traveling Europe Summary Part 2

Switzerland

Day two started out hopping on a train out of Paris, something we found out to be harder than we´d actually thought. In france, they have a quoatation system for interrail-travelers, with a limited number of seats per train, in some instances none. Basically we were told there were no availiable trains out of paris until monday. we were not too keen on spending another night, so we found a way. This is a secret and a mystery. taking the TGV was incredible, moving at 300km/h we crossed france in about four hours. There was a quick stop in strasbourg, on the german border to change trains.

Then we took the slow train to Basel, a very interesting city bordering Germany and France, that meaning it has got suburbs in three countries. Too bad we missed out on both The Basquiat exhibition as well as floating down the river. After cruising, we picked up a basket of raspberries and pushed onvards to Zürich.

For me Zürich was wan of the nicest cities I´ve been to, even though we had to spend the night in a kitchen. One of the cleanest places, very bike friendly, even it geographical location, by a large body of water going up into the hills of the mountain. it reminded me of a cleaner, better Oslo really. Also, I was impressed by the banking in Switzerland, it has come so much further, showing your own currency when you pay by plastic. Nice. Definitely a place for the future, Only one disappointment... Coffee, having to go to S-bux for a cuppa joe is always a defeat.

Of course, being in switzerland brought an opportunity to pick up a swiss timepiece, so I did.

Really happy with my Swatch, classical and real simple, how a watch ought to be. setting me back about 60 CHF (swiss francs) not a bad deal at all.

On to Vienna.

Traveling Europe Summary Part 1

Paris, France

Day one started out flying from Moss Rygge airport to Paris Vatry.

One little bit of advice: Never fly ryan air. When we arrived at the airport, we found out there was no train. The Closest train station was at Disneyland and in order to get there we had to take the bus for two hours. from then on a 45 minute train ride. This was the first major blow for our next to nonexistent budget.

Finally we arrived at the hostel, chilled out for a bit then we decided to check out Colette for some posh Parisian window shopping. Nice place, three stories with a cafe in the basement. It´s definately the most immense streetwear/ culture shop I´ve been to. If you are in Paris, you should chek it out.

After that we bought some fresh baguettes, mustard, sausage and chevre cheese (french goat-cheese) and enjoyed our meal in the shade of the eiffel tower. for some reason I haven´t gotten to scanning any of the pictures from France, therefore I am borrowing from google.

My mission whilst in france was to pick up an issue of Fixé magazine, a magazine about fixed gear culture made by the people behind Cream Bmx magazine. So I managed to do and found it quite excellent.

Next stop: Switzerland.

Summertime traveling.

I just came back from traveling by interrail these past two weeks, and I though I´d give you an update. This might be a bit lenghty with a lot of pictures, but be patient and enjoy.

This was our itinerary:

17.07 Oslo- Paris

18.07 Paris- Basel- Zurich

19.07 Zurich- Vienna

20.07 Vienna- Berlin

23.07 Berlin- Amsterdam

25.07 Amsterdam- Hamburg- Copenhagen

28.07 Copenhagen- Oslo

Following, I´ll post day by day as it went along.

Starting Monday.