The Odyssey (well, Kenny's Odyssey), pt. 4 - Taking the Long Way Home

The Long Way Home

Ok. So we've escaped Rome at this point (back in Amsterdam), and we know we need to be in Berlin in a few days to catch a concert that we already paid for. Plus, we had a flight scheduled out of Berlin to get back to Sweden. Added bonus. But Berlin is not that cool, so we devised a way to pack some more Europe into this already EPIC adventure.

Status: April 20th--14 days, 2 continents, 3 countries and 6 cities in to our journey. I've got about 18 pounds of belongings total. That's 3 shirts, 2 pants 4 pair of socks, a Swedish book, some documents and a computer. Oh, and some smelly oils that an Egyptian scammed us into buying (seems like ages ago...). Only 7 nights so far have been spent in a real bed.

We walked around Amsterdam for a bit and saw they had this carnival set up. Not sure if it was for the 20th or in preparation for something else. We were pretty beat, though so we headed for our couch surfer's place to plan a journey to Germany.

We learned there was a bus to Copenhagen and from there another bus to Berlin. So that was the goal. The catch is that the bus to Copenhagen leaves from Hamburg. But we're in Amsterdam at this point. How should we get there?

After talking to our couch surfer and doing some research, we found out that the route from the Netherlands to Copenhagen is prime territory for hitchhiking. May as well give it a try...

After wasting some time trying to get a ride at the wrong place (the picture above), we relocated to a designated pickup area right near the freeway. Tyler started to make us a more creative sign and before we could try it out we achieved our first ride...

We had fantastic luck. Our first ride was this guy. He was some important business man on the way to a meeting in another city. He drove a really nice Volvo SUV. He was able to drive us to a filling station a bit outside of the city. Supposedly, that's where the real action is.

We were only at the station for a little bit. Then we were picked up by this guy. He is a retired director of a music school. In a pinstripe suit. Anyway, he took us about an hour up the road to another filling station. At this point we were getting close to the border with Germany.

Our final ride was with this guy. Super nice. He gave me his business card, but I can't tell which string of letters on there is supposed to be his name... But basically, he's a businessman who buys/trades race horses. I really enjoyed talking to him...he had a jovial demeanor and a delicious Dutch accent which lent an air of sarcasm to even the most serious of subjects.

I could not believe our luck. One of the things I really wanted to do in Germany was get in a good car and see what it could do on the autobahn. Well, see our Dutch friend's car? It doesn't look like much, but that's a brand new (4k km on the odometer) $100k 12-cylinder luxury sedan. Even better, he shared the same enthusiasm for the autobahn and at every unrestricted zone that we encountered, he would bury the accelerator and whoosh us along at the big VW's governed maximum of 155mph. Needless to say, we were in Hamburg long before my enthusiasm for the ride could diminish.

We had some time in Hamburg to explore the city a bit. One of the first things we encountered was this field of illuminated squares.

We also saw this nice building. Probably some government affair.

And then we saw it again at the other side of our loop around the city.

Before we left Hamburg, we had some very important business to attend to.

A productive day. I can now add to my résumé: hitchhiking, fast driving on the autobahn, eating a hamburger in Hamburg. Settle in, and get some sleep.

We arrived in Copenhagen early. This is the first important-looking building that we encountered.

Copenhagen is another city that's big on biking. You can see the beginnings of morning rush hour in this one. And another of the important buildings of the city.

We saw this building with a strange cartoon on it at one point. Take a close look and see if you can tell what the message is supposed to be. For the life of me, I can't figure out why that man in the green suit and top hat is so pleased to be ending his life. I think the others in the cartoon share my confusion.

We saw this warning sign by the water...

...and transformed it into more of a suggestion than a warning.

A bit later, we saw this cool boat and were like, "what a cool boat!"

Then we walked around the side and found out that it is a hotel in addition to being a cool boat.

In the city center, we encountered many bum statues

Here's another...

...and another…

...and another.

Behind our couch surfer's place, we encountered this. Tyler recovered some antlers that you might notice in later pictures.

We went to see Christiania with our couch surfer. It's got some strange legal status which allows people within to completely disregard the laws of the city. It was a little strange...people selling drugs on the street, fires in 55 gallon drums, ramshackle dwellings that looked downright dangerous.

After Christiania, we stopped in some places to assemble a Danish treat. Chocolate milk is big there. Got some of that.

And of course, what would a Danish treat in Denmark be without a Danish?

The next day, April 23 (!). We went to walk around the city again. Unfortunately, I sprayed cleaner inside of my lens, so the pictures are not so good. This one is of the stand where that famous Mermaid statue usually sits. The Danes had hauled it off to China before we could get to it, though.

We also saw this swan nest.

Complete with eggs! It was pretty cool to get so close.

We pretty much just walked around the city for a while after that and I got a bunch more blurry pictures, but I won't post those here.

This one turned out decent. It's a thermometer on the corner of that building. Thought that was neat.

Next morning, we got up early to catch a bus to Berlin.

The bus station in Berlin had a very informative sign posted over the restrooms.

Once we figured out how to get there, we made our way to the city center and got close to that famous tower.

Like any other big important city, there were plenty of nice looking buildings scattered about.

Also in Berlin, there's a street where a lot of car manufacturers have decided to build stores. This is the first one we came across.

Next was the Mercedes store.

They let you get in the cars there. Remember the antlers?

Next were the Bentley and VW stores.

This one's nice. Too bad they don't let you get in like at the Mercedes place.

VW had a neat setup for displaying the colors available to put on a car that you buy from them.

Just takin' a closer look...

There was also a shop for Skoda.

And Seat.

Seat's color display was slightly less cool than VW's...

...unless you're small enough to get in it.

Next thing we got to look at was this gate.

After that, it was time to find a nice building to stop near for a break. This one will do.

Just chill out with the antlers and a beer for a bit. That lady on the right of the frame seems to disapprove. I wonder if it's because of the antlers or the drinking. I'm guessing antlers.

With the majority of the city explored, we started to make our way to where the concert would be. On our way, we discovered that Berlin certainly has one of the best underground systems in history. Our previous ride revealed good clean trains and stations, but it wasn't until this amazingly nice/clean tunnel between stations that we realized just how good it is.

We found our way to the venue. I thought it was a pretty unique one. Looked a bit like a church.

Unfortunately, they didn't let cameras inside and I decided not to break the rules even though everyone else did. I'm still mad at myself for it too. It was a fantastic show. The main guy had a different (and really nice) guitar for every song. And he used a toothbrush to play on a few occasions. It was a pretty neat effect. If you ever listen to them, I bet you'll be able to figure out which noise it is that the toothbrush and guitar make together. Noah and the Whale is the band.

Here's one that I stole from Tyler.

Next day, we went out to explore some more of Berlin. This was a neat area. I took a picture of its name in case I need to get back there some time.

Some cool buildings that were nearby. And old people, I suppose.

Next, we went to see some wall, but stopped for coffee near the museum for "Checkpoint Charlie." I guess that's one of the better places to see a Berlin wall.

They've got all stuff set up for the tourists to see what it was like when that wall was still keeping East Germans corralled.

Did you see Charlie before? Here's a better picture.

Useful info...

Look at this guy. The one on the right in the orange-ish shirt. He's some bum that we noticed while we were having coffee earlier. He was going around checking trash cans and bags that people left unattended. We left our bag sitting out while we were taking pictures of the checkpoint and he had a look inside, but decided that we owned nothing that was worth his trouble. I was insulted.

Here's the wall. It really is as boring looking as that, but I still managed to take hundreds of pictures of it.

Lookin' good.

This chair. We came across it in the trash area of some living complex. Tyler rolled in it for quite a while. The Germans that we encountered during his rolling stared. I guess it's not every day that you see a colorfully dressed gentleman with antlers rolling down the streets of Berlin.

A couple more famous buildings.

This was the moment that I took note of the bag that I had been carrying around since Copenhagen.

We came across a park, and a bench in that park with this view.

It wasn't long before the inevitable happened. Nap time!

After nap time, there was this really nice flower display.

Look at this giraffe.

Yep. It's Lego’s.

Having seen the sites, it was time to eat a brat...

...and have a beer.

Before heading back to our couch surfer's place for the night, we stopped for one more bratwurst in a nice area.

Why would anyone want their coffee shop named that?

Well, I never thought the day would come, but it was the very next morning that we found ourselves on a plane and on our way back to Sweden!

We got back just in time to catch the last Swedish class.

Our lovely friends cooked up some delicious tacos. A fantastic way to wrap up the last day of one of the most ridiculous adventures of my life.

That's it for now... We stayed grounded for a while after this last trip. Mostly catching up on school and re-assimilating to life in Sweden. 20 days on the road, a run in with a volcano, a romp around Egypt...that'll do.