We made it to Poland...

After a few short plane rides, I made it to Wroclaw Poland where I met Paul. We did some exploring around the city area and then hit the road to Opole. Opole is a small town in Southern Poland about 100 km or 60 mi from Wroclaw. This is where Paul lived and worked as an English teacher for a year after his undergraduate degree. Tom (upper right above) was Paul's roommate and fellow teacher during that time. Tom is from the UK and has been out here teaching for 5 years now. We were able to crash at his flat for the weekend.

The weekend has been a blast. Paul still has a lot of friends out here, so it has been a fun weekend with old friends. This morning we leave with one of those friends who lives in Krakow. It will take us a few hours to get there by car, so we are looking forward to hitting the open road.

The plan is to stay in Krakow tonight and then take the over night train tomorrow night to Prague. We'll still be in Prague for 2 days and then fly to Rome on Friday. The Italy portion of our trip has changed slightly. We are going to rent a car and drive to Barcelona and then on to Madrid. I'll try to post an update if I can get Internet access.

Cheers!

The big trip (4 weeks, 4 countries)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Thursday will be my last day in Copenhagen for nearly four weeks. I will turn in my end of term research paper tomorrow, which will mark the end of my studies here in Denmark. I'll then spend the rest of the day packing and preparing for my long trip around Europe.

Before I get to the details of the trip, let's talk Thanksgiving. There is a girl from the US on the fourth floor of my building and her mom has made the trip all the way out for Thanksgiving. They have been busy too. Somehow they found a turkey to have cooked for tomorrow, and she has flown out 40lbs of food from the US. After packing and finishing up my last preparations to leave town, I will head up for, what sounds to be, a great American Thanksgiving!


Now, as for the trip, here is a tentative itinerary.

Poland:
I leave this Friday from Copenhagen and meet Paul in Wrocław Poland. Yep Wrocław. I had to look it up on the map. In the past, Paul has spend more than a year in Poland teaching English, so this section of the trip is his domain. Wrocław is a small city in the south west corner of Poland and was right in the middle of the events of WWII. Paul also has some friends there, so it should make for a good time.

Next we will make our way (most likely by train) to Kraków, which is in the south of Poland. Kraków is a popular tourist destination and there should be a lot to see there.

Czech Republic:
From Poland we take a train down to Prague and spend a few days there. Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic and also its largest city.

Italy:
After our week in Poland and the Czech Republic, we take a flight down to Rome and will spend a week exploring the home of wine and pasta. We have given ourselves a week in Italy, so after a few days in Rome we will make our way up to Florence and possibly Venice.

Spain:
From Italy we will fly into Madrid and take a day at Paul's place to wash our clothes and take a breather. We will then make our way out to Barcelona. Neither Paul or myself have been to Barcelona, so it should be a good time.

Netherlands:
Our last stop will be Amsterdam in the Netherlands. We'll spend the weekend in Amsterdam and then make our way back to our respective countries.

I'll be back in Copenhagen on the 19th of December, spend a few days celebrating the end of our time in Denmark, and then fly into Phoenix on the 22nd.

I'll try to do some blogging from the road. Well, back to packing!

How time flies...

Well, this is my last weekend in Copenhagen.

I finish up my finals this week and then I'm off for four weeks of backpacking around Europe with my classmate Paul.

We have a big exchange student celebration this weekend to celebrate the home stretch. The time has just flown by. Stay tuned and I'll post an itinerary of my trip with Paul.

The Russia Trip

Vladimir Lenin, Myself, and Joseph Stalin

Seven days, four countries... what an amazing adventure.

My trip to Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Tallinn was one that I will never forget. It was a fantastic, eye-opening trip and something that I will most likely never get the chance to do again. I am so glad that I decided to take the time and money to do this trip. I learned so many new things and met some great people in the process.

So, here is the re-cap.

Day 1: Overnight cruise from Stockholm to Helsinki
We all met on Monday the 6th in Stockholm Sweden. Most of the 160 students that were going on this trip were already in Stockholm for the weekend, but I flew up solo. After a little trouble finding my way from the airport to our meeting spot, I finally ran into some familiar faces and we were off. Most of the 160 students were from Copenhagen Business School, and most of us found each other before making our way to the overnight cruise. There were three who did not however (1st lost group). This one was a minor hickup though, because these three were able to catch a bus up to the first stop of our ship and get on there. So, by midnight we were a whole group again and enjoyed a fun evening of celebrating to start the trip.

Oh, and it was also my birthday. Even though I had spent the whole weekend celebrating, someone on the ship spilled the beans and everyone wanted to continue to celebrate. Who was I to argue?

Day 2: A day in Helsinki
We arrived in Helsinki on Tuesday morning and made our way to the main train station to lock up our backpacks. We then had the rest of the day to explore the city. It was a beautiful sunny day and warmer than we expected. It had snowed the week before and was hovering around 3 or 4 C. Helsinki was a beautiful and clean city right on the water with some beautiful sights.

Day 2.5: Arrival in St. Petersburg, Russia
After leaving Helsinki on Tuesday night we arrived just 6 hours later in St. Petersburg. The boarder crossing was relatively easy. They stopped the train at the boarder and the Russian boarder patrol came on board and looked us over (no drug sniffing dogs or bag checks, as we had heard was the case on previous trips). Upon arrival in St. Petersburg, we had chartered busses waiting for us at the station and they took us to our hotel. Thinking back, things were going so smoothly in St. Petersburg. Busses picking us up, and hotels that were accommodating. Boy, did we take those things for granted.

The hotel in St. Petersburg was very nice and we had a market just across the street. Everything was extremely cheep. They had a huge beer selection for about 50 - 90 cents you could get a 16 oz bottle. A Snickers bar was about 30 cents and a bag of chips was about 50 cents. We loaded up on snacks and took headed back to the rooms to enjoy our 50 cent Russian beers.

Day 3: A day in St Petersburg
We woke up fairly early on our first day in Russia even though we were two hours ahead of Copenhagen. The hotel provided a free breakfast buffet and then we were off on a day of sightseeing by bus that was included with the trip. We saw the Winter Palace (winter home to historical Russian Tsars), the Hermitage Museum (according to wikipedia - one of the largest, oldest, most important and famous art galleries and museums of human history and culture in the world), the Church on Spilt Blood, the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Bronze Horseman, Palace Square, Saint Isaac's Square, Monument to Nicholas I, the famous Nevsky Prospect Avenue, and the Narva Triumphal Gate (built to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon).

In the afternoon, we were set free to explore the city on our own and a group of us visited a number of the spectacular cathedrals around the city. We then found our way back to the hotel via subway during rush hour, which was an experience.

That evening a group of about 50 of us decided to go out and explore the night life. In St. Petersburg, this is a bigger commitment than you may think because the city is entirely surrounded by the Neva River. Now, it's not the river that is the problem, it's the bridges. Every bridge in the city is lifted at midnight and doesn't come back down until around 5:00 am. Therefore, if you decide to go out into the city and are staying on the other side of the river (like us), you have to ride it out until 5:00 am before you can get home. So, it was a late night.

Day 4: Last Day in St. Petersburg
Even though the previous night was a long one, a small group of about 13 of us were very motivated to visit the famous Hermitage Museum. So, on Thursday we woke up early, checked out, and started the trek to Moscow station to store our backpacks. One of the guys found a tour guide for hire on the web and we were able to meet her in front of the museum. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip. She was a wonderful guide and the museum was one of the most amazing that I have ever seen. It is huge. If you walked through all the rooms, you would have to walk nearly 14 miles. They also have the largest collection of items in the world at just over 3M. If you spent 8 hours a day and only took one minute to look at each piece it would still take you almost 6 years to see the entire collection. (I have a lot of great photos of the Hermitage in my pictures).

Day 4.5: Overnight train to Moscow (we run into a few troubles)
Ok, this is where things start to derail a bit (no pun intended). Upon arrival at central station in St. Petersburg we found out that they weren't going to be able to accommodate our entire group on the 10:30 pm train to Moscow. This meant that a large portion of our group would have to take the midnight train. In addition, when we got on the train we found that we were scattered among Russian travelers and not all in cars by ourselves. This made for an awkward overnight trip to Moscow. I slept on the top bunk in a cabin with two old Russian men and even though it was sub-zero temperatures outside, it was about 100 degrees inside. I just couldn't sleep, and had to keep getting up and walking between cars where I could get some fresh air.

Day 5: Arrival in Moscow (a day of troubles)
We arrived in Moscow at about 6:30 am. It was freezing and snowing heavily. We were all very tired and still upset with the train situation. We had to put that behind us though, because we had another challenge ahead of us. The rest of our group including the leader of our group were on the later train and weren't set to arrive until 10:00 am. So, as you'll see in the pictures, there was about 70 or 80 of us just camped out with all of our luggage right in the middle of Moscow train station. The floor was solid stone, which was like lying on a block of ice. We got plenty of funny looks from locals throughout the entire ordeal - 80 students huddled together in the middle of Moscow station for 4 hours.

When the rest of the group did finally arrive, we made our way out into the wet snow to catch our chartered buses for a half day of sight seeing. This was pretty disappointing though. It was snowing pretty heavily, so it was hard to see, and everyone was so tired that most of us kept falling asleep between stops.

At about 2:00 or 3:00 we finally made it to our hotel, and the trouble continued. The hotel only had about 60 of the 160 names on their coffee stained paper reservation list.

See, Russia is not exactly tourist friendly. To get a visa you have to have written, stamped, and signed invitations from each hotel you are staying at. Then when you get to Russia, each hotel needs your passport, visa, immigration card with boarder stamp, and a record of your reservation. If any of these things are missing, you're out. This is what happened at the hotel in Moscow. We had people who were on the list, people who weren't on the list, and people who had misplaced their immigration cards. So if you can imagine we had 160 cold, tired, and hungry students with no more patients fighting to check into this hotel. It took two hours but everyone eventually got their rooms.

Day 6: Last Day in Moscow and Russia
A group of us again, got up early on day six to spend the day exploring Moscow. We made the 45 minute subway trip to the central station and stored our backpacks. Then we were off to Moscow's famous Red Square, home of the Kremlin (where the current Russian President Vladimir Putin works), Lenin's Tomb, St. Basil's Cathedral, and the Iberian Gate and Chapel.

After some exploring of the grounds, we were able to track down a tour guide for hire and get a tour of the Kremlin. This was another highlight of the trip. Inside the Kremlin walls we saw the Cathedral of Dormination (where Tsars were crowned), the Cathedral of Annunication, and, my favorite, the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael. We also took a tour of the famous Armoury, which holds the largest collection of diamonds, gold, platinum, and crown jewels in the world. Including the world's fourth largest diamond and the Imperial Crown of Russia. We also saw the heavily guarded modern buildings where President Vladimir Putin lives and works today.

Day 6.5: Our overnight train out of Russia (more trouble for some)
We meet again at the main station to catch our train out of Russia and this time the train was better planned so we were able to secure cabins together. Most of the group made it on the train. I say most because seven of the group were late to the station and missed the most crucial part of our trip - the ride out of Russia.

The problem was that our visas expired at midnight of the 11th and we weren't actually going to make it to the boarder until 3:00 am of the 12th. This was a problem, and legally they could pull us off the train and hold us until we secure proper visas. There has also been stories of requests for money etc. However, because we were such a large group and it was 3:00 in the morning they fortunately let us through. As for the seven that missed the train, they caught the next train out of the country which was a train to Helsinki. The last thing we heard was that they were pulled off the train at the boarder because their Visa's were about 7 hours expired. I'm still waiting to hear if they have made it back.

Day 7: A day in Tallinn Estonia
We were all relieved to make it to Tallinn early on the morning of our seventh day. We had made it out of Russia, and were in a country that thrives on tourism. Tallinn was great. It's a beautiful city with a fantastic medieval history. We found most of the locals spoke English and were very nice. They also had some amazing hand made things for sale all over the historical old city. We all spent a lot of money in Tallinn and wished we could have stayed longer.

Day 7.5: Overnight ferry back to Stockholm
On the last night we had a great time on our overnight ferry. We did plenty of drinking and traded contact information with all of the new people we had met through the trip. You would be surprised how close you get to some people when you have to share a cold slab with them in somewhere like Moscow station.

In the end, there were some troubles but for the most part everything worked out. We all had a wonderful and enlightening experience and I will never forget the amazing experiences and sights we were able to see during the trip. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience.


Take a look at all of the pictures from the trip here

Back from Russia!

I made it!

After two over night ferries, two over night trains, a day train and countless bus, taxi, and subway rides, I successfully made it in and out of Russia safely. However, it was quite the experience. Russia is by far the least friendly travel destination I have ever experienced, even trumping my trip to China in the spring. On the positive side there were so many amazing things to see and it was one of the best adventures I have ever had. And I stress adventure, because it was just that.

It was not the smoothest trip. We ran into several problems along the way including the expiration our absolutely necessary Visas about 4 hours before we actually made it across the boarder. We also spent about four hours sleeping in the middle of Moscow station one morning, and seven of our party missed the train out of the country. We still don't know what has happened with that group. The last word was that they were pulled off a later train out of the country because of their seven hour expired Visas.

All in all, those of us on the trip agreed that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we felt so fortunate that we were able to make the trip.

I have hundreds of pictures and many more stories to share, but unfortunately I have a final tomorrow and have to concentrate my efforts there. Stay tuned and I will put up another post to expand on many of the stories I have mentioned above as well as a few I haven't mentioned. And of course all of the pictures!

Off to Russia....

Tomorrow, I am off on a week long trip of Russia with a group from the Stockholm School of Economics. They do a couple Russia trips every year and this year they were kind enough to send down an invite to the students at Copenhagen Business School. As soon as I saw the itinerary, I emailed back and said I was in.

Russia is not a easy place to visit, and getting the opportunity to go with a large experienced group is a great opportunity.

The trip: As you can see on the map above we do a big loop. On Monday I fly up to Stockholm Sweden to meet with the group. We spend the day in Stockholm and ship out on Monday night for an overnight ferry ride to Helsinki Finland. We spend the day in Helsinki and then catch a train to St. Petersburg Russia. We'll spend two days there sightseeing and trying not to freeze to death. On Thursday we check out and catch a train to Moscow. We have a large part of the train rented out for the group and we share four person cabins for the long trek to Moscow. We'll arrive in Moscow on Friday morning and have two days to explore the city before heading out. On Saturday night we take the night train to Tallinn Estonia. We'll have one day here and then jump back on an overnight ferry back to Stockholm. I will then arrive in Copenhagen next Monday and run straight to class.

It should be a great trip and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. Stay tuned.

The end to a fun weekend...

After a fun weekend of sight seeing, exploring Danish culture, and celebrating my birthday, Nick and Jess are heading back to Paris tomorrow while I leave for my trip to Russia.

All in all we had a fun weekend. We ended today with a walk through the famous area of Copenhagen called Christiania. This is an area of town that until recently was a completely self-governing neighborhood of about 850 people. (See their flag below)

From Wikipedia:
Christiania's Mission Statement: "The objective of Christiania is to create a self-governing society whereby each and every individual holds themselves responsible over the well being of the entire community. Our society is to be economically self-sustaining and, as such, our aspiration is to be steadfast in our conviction that psychological and physical destitution can be averted."

It turned into the Hash and drug haven of Copenhagen and eventually was taken over by the local government. It was still operating independently until just a few years ago and was a very bizarre and interesting sight to see.

Take a look at the pictures of the entire weekend here.

Nick and Jess come to town...

This weekend my good buddy and classmate Nick is up to visit with his wife Jess. Copenhagen has a lot going on this weekend so it is sure to be a good time.

MTV is in town for the Euopean music awards and last night marked the start of the Christmas season for Denmark. We celebrated at a pub that was participating in the traditional Tuborg Christmas brew release. Every year on the first weekend of November, Tuborg, a local large brewery, releases their winter brew with a big celebration. A number of participating pubs around town are packed and at exactly 8:59 pm, a truck drives up and out comes the Tuborg team cheering, giving out shirts, and delivering the beer. It was a good time.

Today we are exploring the city and will visit the Carlsberg Brewery - Denmark's largest brewer.

I'll post all the pictures at the end of the weekend.

Winter has arrived...

Well, winter has officially arrived here in Copenhagen. We all woke up this morning to some colder temperatures which has resulted in a day of snow. It is not terribly cold, but the wind is brutal.

It made for a tough walk to class this morning. I am enjoying being back in my room and just watching from the window.