1000g of Hash

Lots to catch up on. So, after Helsinki, Finland we went to Stockholm, Sweden. Beautiful place, beautiful people, very touristy. We stayed in a boat hostel on the water in the middle of downtown on an island. That was sweet. It was newly renovated too which was awesome. Jess and I lost Andrew at the beginning of our day so we went off on our own. It was ok because we shopped and he hates that. hehe. In the evening, we went to the Ice Bar which was AWESOME! It's a bar that is kept at -5 celcius because the entire bar (counter, tables, chairs, and even glasses) are made of natural ice. You are given a parka with gloves when you walk in. We had a lot of fun and we got a lot of funny pictures and videos. Jess and I stayed in that night while Andrew explored (surprise, surprise). Favorites of Stockholm - cobblestone shopping streets and Ice Bar. We had to get up pretty early the next morning to catch our train to Oslo, Norway. It took us FOREVER to get to our hostel because it was in the mountains and the metro sucks there. We FINALLY got to our hostel, which was really nice. It had a gorgeous view of the city. We went hiking our first night. We found awesome trails and stumbled upon 2 unbelievable views (pictures to follow eventually). It took us a while to get back to our hostel because the roads are SO messed up. The next morning we got up really early, got breakfast at the hostel and headed to the city center. We walked down one of the main streets to the royal palace. The gardens around the palace were great and it was cool to see regular citizens lounging on the palace grounds. Next we ventured to the main harbour and got on a public ferry to museum island. Jess and I went to the Viking museum (SWEET!) and then we all went to the Kon-tiki museum (google that shit...seriously). Following the museums, we went to the hot-spot beach nearby. It was PACKED! It was so hot out that day I thought I was going to die. The beach was amazing and really big! We also walked through the nude beach part...awkward. I mean, I'm comfortable with that kind of stuff, but you cannot prepare for this kind of nudety. I tried not to stare. We lounged on the beach for a couple hours which was really relaxing. Jess and I got burnt; Jess more than I of course. It was nice to finally get some sun and color though after not having much luck in Russia. We went back to the city center and tried to go to the castle and fortress, but it wasn't open due to a concert. So, we did what we always do, Jess and I shopped while Andrew explored. We met up to get dinner at a grocery store (that's all we can afford in Norway) before heading back to the hostel. We made an awesome dinner in the public kitchen: 1000g of hash, scrambled eggs, and lefsa - delicious! We basically passed out after dinner because Oslo seriously kicked our ass; we did so much walking up really steep hills in insane heat (at least we're burning calories...?) General thoughts on Norway - insanely expensive (Big Mac = 17 dollars), beautiful city though. Favorite part - hiking and beach. We had to get up at like 5am the next morning to grab some breakfast (they opened the kitchen early for us) and catch the first tram downtown. We made to the train just fine. We had 2 trains with an hour and a half bus ride in between; long travel day. We arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark in mid-afternoon. Our hostel was only a few blocks from the train station and it was newly renovated. Jess and I went around the huge shopping area which we were basically in the middle of. We found an amazing tea store (2nd oldest in Europe, 5 generations family-run) and lucked out at Royal Copenhagen with beautiful sugar bowls. We met Andrew for dinner and ate at this great buffet (Denmark is actually affordable)! In the evening, to celebrate the 4th of July, we went to a Queens of Denmark drag show at a gay bar nearby our hostel. It was fabulous! Jess and I enjoyed completely fresh strawberry daquiris (delicious!). The next morning, we got some breakfast at 7-11 (way nicer in Europe). We took a bus to Carlsberg Brewery (Andrew hung out in a park). The brewery was awesome! We learned a lot of cool stuff and got 2 free beers with admission. After that, we walked around the city for a while. Copenhagen is great. We walked to a nearby island which has a famous hippy free society in it called Christania; it was SO interesting. Lots of colors, unique buildings, very different but friendly and lively people, and of course a blatent drug-filled atmosphere. It was very cool to walk around. We walked back to our hostel in search of Jazz music because the Jazz festival was going on. We didn't have much luck because everything cost money. We got some dinner and ice cream anyways and heard some music from the street. We finished off the evening at a nice wine bar across the street from our hostel. Copenhagen is my favorite city thus far. Everything about is great! Today we're going to Berlin, Germany! More blogging to follow. Gotta catch the train!