Holland to Germany to France to Spain

Boy there is a lot of updating to do on this blog thingy. I guess ill try and do a brief summarization of how I got to where I am now (San Sebastian, Spain). Here it goes......
 So Janine and I left Holland to venture to Aachenm Germany to visit our friend Laura. We partied hard and then headed to a small town just to the north for one of Janines classmates birthdays. We partied hard once again. The next morning Janine and I had to part ways. We said our goodbyes that tugged at the heart strings and I was off to Dusseldorf once again with Oskar. I stayed with Oskar and his family for three or four nights while I made the tough decision to leave my already neglected bike in his garage for the remainder of the trip.... Quitter I know. Oh well. It was a hard decision but realized it was too lonley and complicated to bike alone. So I did some research and decided to buy a Eurail pass for 4 countries and 6 days of travel. One day of travel means I can travel as far as I want, with as many transfers as I want, in one 24 hour period. Its a great deal if you plan it out right.

In order to get the pass I needed to take a short train to Koln (cologne) Germany. I could not get a train to Paris until the following day so I had to stay a night in Koln. While checking out the amazing cathedral (google it, its incredible) I met another American. We met up with two girls he had met a few days before, ate some brats, drank kolsch beer, and wandered the waterfront with delicious german hefeweisen. After some events I cannot elaborate on, we made it back to the hostel for some shut eye. The next morning I went to a cool Nazi World War II prison with a Canadian dude from the hostel. Then it was off to Paris.

I was staying with a couchsurfer in Paris. He was a really funny Indian kid (from India, not native American) who cooked me lots of spicy food. He insisted that I sleep on his bed and he sleep on the floor.Crazy kid. During the day I wandered the streets. And when I say I wandered, I mean... I wandered!! I walked aimlessly around for hours! Paris is HUGE. The first day I had more of plan, however. I saw Notre Dame (not too impressed after the Koln Cathedral), Champs Elysee, arc de triumph, Eiffel tower, and Montmarke. Montmarke was really cool. It was a church on the top of a hill with a view of all of paris. Mehul and I went there for sunset and there were lots of other young folk there. We met a bunch of cool people.
Yada yada yada I ran into some train trouble because the French are always on strike and had to postpone my train to San Sebastian. I finally made it out of Paris after being there for 6 days (I only planned on 3 or 4). But not Im in San Sebastian at my cousins Spanish sisters house. This morning I walked a 6 km trail through the coastal mountains with ocean views virtually the entire way. It was SOOO refreshing after being in Paris. Once I made it to the beaches I was blown away by how perfect they were. Surfers everywhere, people sunbathing and a beatiful sandy coastline. Me and this city will get along just fine. Now im off to meet up with some folks I met on the train for some dinner and drinks. Fewwhhh that was a lot of updating. Im sure noone but my mom reads this anyway haha. peace

Holland

On Wednesday morning i hopped on a train in Copenhagen and headed south for Düsseldorf, Germany. I had to change trains about 5 or 6 times along the 11 hour journey which can be pretty hectic with a bike and 6 other bikers doing the same. As we were approaching Düsseldorf I went to my bike, which was in a wagon just behind the one i was seated in, to gather my things and prepare to get off. Sadly two of my bags were missing... aka stolen. Damn. They took one of my black Ortlieb bike bags with a lot of my biking clothes (polyester shirts, bike shoes and a few stinky socks). They also stole my river dry bag that had my tent (without the poles) and my sleeping bag in it. Lame. They cant even use the damn tent. Not the worst bags they could have stolen..... no biggy. Oh ya..... they also stole ONE of my pedals! ONE!!!

I managed to ride my one pedalled bike to Oskars house (Janines friend) in düsseldorf and was greeted with some much needed whiskey. I knew me and Oskar would be great friends. Thursday morning Oskar and I drove to Meppel, holland to visit Janine and Sebastian. Meppel is a very small and very Dutch. Small cobble stone streets and little canals running through town. The night we got there happened to be the last night of a 6 week long festival that this little town has every year. They had a parade and a live music in their city center. We drank some beer and played games before heading down to the festivities. We didnt head down there until about 11:30. When we got down there i was VERY surprised by what was taking place. I pictured old dutch people dancing to some american oldies rock but i could not have been more wrong. The streets were packed shoulder to shoulder with loud house music playing. The crowd was very rowdy and very few were not dancing. I had no idea the Dutch knew how to party so hard. The late night club we went to was fun but it was a little strange to see 15 year olds wasted in a club dancing. Good introduction to Holland.

The next morning we drove with 8 of us to a place that rented out paintball gear. We created a world war III with america vs holland vs germany. Id have to say the american army came out on top once again.

Saturday we went to Amsterdam for the day. There was large sailing/boating expo going on and the harbor was filled with OLD boats from around the world. These pirate ship looking boats were HUGE. Later we of course went to a "coffee shop" that didnt sell coffee. Pretty cool place. Then after getting a little twisted we hit up the red light district. Crazy crazy place.

Today (Sunday) Janine, her brother, his friend and I went to a small town that has been nicknamed the Dutch Venice. We rented a boat and cruised the little canals that ran through the village. It was fairly crowded with boats bumping into eachother at low speeds. Pretty entertaining.

Holland has been awesome! its a beautifiul country with very nice people. Most speak English so it is easy to communicate...............

Dinner time... later

short stay in copenhagen

I was a little overwelmed when I arrived in denmark and all bike shops were closed (could not fix my flat) and hostels were full. I had not heard from any couchsurfers yet either. I started to get a bit frustrated dragging my wound bike along. I could not go in to any bar for long for fear my bags would be stolen in the heart of this huge city. I decided to give a hostel a try anyway. After initially telling me thay were completely full I started asking about other options- camping like a hobo in the park, paying 2000 danish krowns for a hotel room, or walking a few miles to a campground. The man at the hotel decided to do some research (which involved him flipping through multiple binders and lists of some sort) and found me a bed. A petty 175 krowns for a place to store my bike and get a much needed shower. Crisis averted. I wandered the city until about 1. I saw a guy on a bike get hit by a taxi (he was fine), learned a new pool game with 3 balls and mini bowling pins and scoped lots of beautiful ladies.

In the morning I fixed my bike and bought a train ticket to Dusseldorf. Which I am on now. Peace

heading south

Just as the sun wasd beginning to set and I started to cramp up pretty bad I heard the dreaded hiss and a small gurgling noise from the wet road below. I had acquired a small hole in my tire. This made my decision to not continue on to Varberg an easy one.

After talking to a few locals I set up camp in the grass outside the only shop that sells bike equip. in this small farming town called Veddige.
I woke up to rain once again. After waiting it out I went in to buy a new tube (I know I should have already had one, shut up). But unfortunately they did not have any that fit my bike (only 2 to choose from). I discovered that my patch kit was all out of glue. However, I did find this spray stuff that fills your tire with foam and plugs the holes. I used it to fill the tire but when I pulled the hose off of the valve foam shot EVERYWHERE like a mentos and coke bomb! Very lame. No biking for me today for sure.

After some research I raced to the train station to catch a train to Varberg. When I got to the station it was already there so I decided to just jump on and see what happens haha. I was able to buy a ticket on the train luckily. Then I was talking to a lady who was transferring to a train to Copenhagen 10 mins after our arrival to Verberg. Just enough time for me to buy a ticket. And that's where I am now- on the train to Copenhagen. Sweet. Crisis averted once again.


Holy shit I stink!

biking in the rain

I left gothenburg by bike at about 8:30 pm. It was a late start but I knew that the bike path had no vehicle traffic. I only made it about 16 km south where I camped on a little island in the north sea called stora amunda. Took me a while to fall asleep but eventually wass able to get a solid nights sleep.

I did, however, wake up to a downpour. I got rained on a lot of the ride today.
I made it to Verbaggen at about 9pm. 80 km (About 50 miles) I was hoping to make it to Varberg tonight where I could catch a train to copenhagen but I stayed too long in kungsbacka (pronounced koons-bock-yuh). Very cool little town 20 km south of gothenburg. Ate a nice lunch, used the internet and charged my phone at the library, and got some snacks for the ride. Just when I was starting to cramp up and I lost the cycle path I had been on, I got a flat tire. But it was getting dark anyway and I had luckily just entered a small town with a sporting goods store- Crisis averted. I really enjoyed the ride today and am getting excited to see copenhagen and germany. And of course be with someone I know. I will be sad to leave Sweden though. This country is pretty badass. The girls are absolutelt gorgeous!!. Kinda expensive though.

Goodbye Göteborg

I have just finished the first leg of my European adventure- The Way Out West festival in Göteborg, Sweden (pronounced Yettí-Booty to the locals. Although they make it sound much cooler).
 The 15 hour flight that went from Seattle to Iceland, Iceland to Stockholm, and Stockholm to Göteborg went smoothly with all luggage, including my massive bike box, arriving safely. April (a friend from Montana who now lives in Stockholm for school) was waiting for me in the airport. We then made our way to the couchsurfers house to drop my bike off. Stephan's house was easy to get to via tram. April and I became very familiar with the tram system here and utilized it for our entire stay.

Thursday night I was a bit jet lagged to say the least but made our way downtown anyway. However, after a few hours of walking around in the rain and long lines to get into the concerts we decided to make our way back to Stephans house to get some sleep.

Friday, the first day of the festival, was very action packed with Panda Bear, Wu Tang, Local Natives, the National, Miike Snow, Iggy and the Stooges, LCD soundsystem and MIA all back to back. The whole day was awesome with Miike Snow and M.I.A taking the cake for best shows. And also LCD. We then headed back to Stephans to recharge with some Vodka before heading to a bar to see Sleigh Bells. The night was very hectic and blurry from then on. Ending with a nice sunrise tram ride back to Stephans house where there was dinner waiting for us in the fridge. (Stephan, you are the man!!) He also cooked us breakfast everyday! I am forever grateful for his hospitality.

Saturday was pretty much deja vu of friday with Chemical Brothers stealing the show. Another sunrise tram ride back to Stephans capped the night... or morning I should say. Now it is Sunday and April left this morning with no more than MAYBE two hours of sleep. Your a trooper April. I ran some errands to put some final touches on my bike before heading south along the North Sea Cycle Route this evening. The city was VERY lively today with a Futball game and a Culture Festival. Simon at Sportson bike shop helped me out a ton with maps and bike parts. Takk Simon.

Well, its off to Copenhagen, Denmark to catch a train to Dusseldorf to meet up with Janine.
Welpppp........... See ya later