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2月25日 finnishing my europe tripwhen i was traveling on the road, i did a dayly blog of my travels and talked about what i was doing. i sort of stopped doing this around april but yet i was still on the road, so i used this weekend to back track to were i started off at to finnish my european tour in the form of blogs, i hope you enjoy the read and i will from now on post all my travels in the form of blogs in the future, i hope you enjoy reading them!
Adiose
Dave ending up in lodzlodz is probely unnone to the average jo and is probally only none by the people who live there, thats probally why ryanair fly there and i eneded up going there. durring the summer of 04 i meet a polish dude called bartek on a campsite i was helping out on and we became good firends. when i was telling him about my travels he didnt understand why i had never been to poland before and i guess thats what made me decide to go there. bartek lives in a city called lodz its located in the centre of poland and it is a city full of surprises. so i jumped on a flight and lodz i ended up in. as i was landing i new i was in for a surprise. as i was looking around out side my planes window i was already getting a sence of poverty, not that i mind it at its just didnt expect it to be that bad. another thing i noticed was the amount of churches, there was a church to every 3-4 blokes which surprised me. as i got off the airplane i looked around the airport to see if i could spot bartek. when i found him he kindly greeted me and took me to a bus stop. as the bus aproched me i was surprised it was still running. it was a old rust bucket on wheels but i wasnt complaining as the ride was as little as 20p per a hour. i was shocked at how cheap it was and for 20p in london that wouldnt even cover a quater of a single 1 zone tube journey. as we had some time to spare we went to a shopping mall and bartek was desprate to show me shop prices as he said if a cheap bus ticket amazed you wait till you go shopping. he was right as stuff in poland is so much cheaper than london, i was hungry so we grabbed some thing to eat, i had a large kebab for 50p and he had a cheese burger for 15p. i was starting to wounder if life in the uk was worth it. then i quickly remembered that alot of polish people do live in the uk. but if they was living so cheap out in poland they must be finding life impossible. well i wasnt going to keep on bragging about the prices as im sure he already new the big differences. we went to a supper market and the thing that amazed me so much was the amount of juice they drink there was atleast 4 rows in a huge supper market full of juice. then next to that was a complete row of vodka which again was amazing as ive never seen so much vodka down one row. then the prices, they were again shocking. you could pick up a letre of vodka for 3 quid!! well i was going to pick up about 10 bottles on the spot but i forgot i only had a weekend to drink them all :P.
we headed home after that to meet bateks family and to settle in my new home for the few days. bateks house was in a nice area in walking distance of the centre tram so access was easy. barteks house was lovely and reminded me of a spanish villa. barteks family didnt speak any english apart from his sister, but i wasnt bothered at all as i was in poland after all and it wasnt like every one had to speak english. it was funny though as his mother would often speak to me in polish expecting me to understand :P. i just nodded my head and smiled :D. that day we had a polish meal which was potatoes and vegitibles with white sausages. it was boiled in chicken sauce and tasted lovely. i got to try there tea for the first time which was intresting as you cant add milk to it apparantly or it would turn a funny colour. they laughed when i asked for milk as they dont normally use milk for that.
the next day bartek was busy at college so his sister kindly othered to show me around. we went to have some coffee and some ice creme in a kool italian bar in the shopping mall it was nice to talk about poland and her time in england as it was intresting to hear about her side of the story as its often the other way round in the papers, i was sad to hear that pub owner wasnt paying her correctly even though she was doing an amazing job. she sorted it out in the end but she didnt no if she would go back to london. bartek arranged to meet up with us after his lessons so we went to go and meet him. it was lunch time so we went to a chinese place. i ordered a large rice, big portion of chicken, lots of sweet sour sauce and a coke and to my amazement it all come to a quid!! never in london hey :P. it was alot i wasnt able to finish it some bartek helped me out, but i was amazed that you could get such a large meal for so little.
after that we head back to there place and had pancakes, that night we was going to watch matrix. but i forgot i was in poland and the whole film was in polish :P, it was an intresting watch and i think neo had a more butch voice.
the next day we explored the city for a while for a last and final shop, i was able to pick up alot of bargains for christmas presents and also treat my self on some cheap luxurys. on the way back bartek was telling me about how bad the crime level is in lodz and that i had to be careful. durring the day we went to a market, this market was like nothing else, they had live fish swimming around! and as i leaned over to look they kept picking them up going tusher tusher. wierd very ver weird! and there would be ladys standing on every coner holding gold necklaces trying to flog them off. on the way back we saw a small fiat 126 (smaller than minis) do a fat spin and park out side a off licence, the guy rolled out of the car with 2 carlsburg bottles and rolled into the drink shop saying some polish, bartek said to me that he had just stollen the car and he had gone to get some more beer, it made us both laugh. well that night i was going to experiance some polish night life. barteks friend had a summer house in the forest and he had invited me to come along. we got picked up in a girls car and given a lift to the party. well we had to pick up some booze on the way there as the polish love to drink vodka all day long so i brought along a bottle me self to experiance the culture. as we pulled out to drive away she went into a no drive zone and she had to reverse back. well she didnt get fare as she reveresed into a pole! well i laughed and off to the party we went. as we was arriving we really was in the middle of no were as the hut was in the forest some were. well we pulled up and out we got, it was freezing! extremly freezing! and i couldnt wait to get inside until i realised that was the reason we brought the vodka, because it was even more cold inside :P i will never forget the people who were trying to make a fire inside the building it was a laugh trying to warm up! well it was more of a gathering to say the truth but as the night went on more vanilla ice was being played on the cassete radio. well after the gathering we left to go back to his house and the next day i went home with many memorys of a crazy country. poland is full of surprises.
the random destination of Grazwell dont you some times wounder what would actualy happen if you was to close your eyes and spin a globe and just jot your finger onto it and then randomly travel to the destination your finger tip touched. well being Dave i just did just that. board one evening with nothing to do i fancied exploring a destination i had not yet descovered and the map was just glooming at me. i decided to travel to were ever my finger landed on and to my surprise my finger landed on Graz. Graz is a small city located south side of asutria, its famouse for its football team and being the proud birth place of hollywood actor arnie swazeneger. well it sounded like a challenge i was up to and with a free weekend aproching what a better time to go. just one slight problem all travelers face, the funding. i opened my bank account with my fingers crossed and it read 50 quid. so what already being a challenge ended up becoming a mission. well with cheap airlines and students discounts flying around i didnt want to give the challenge up just get and decided to give it a run for its money. i hunted and hunted and hunted and managed to find a 30 quid return with taxes flight for a 5 day visit to graz. what a result i thought! but then i realised i had 20 quid left if i was to book the flight. as the destination was randomly come across i didnt actualy no any one in graz in fact i didnt even no any one in austria to say the truth. even with all my international relations i was stuck with not figuring out what to do. even if i was to find a cheap hostal they wouldnt be any were near 4 quid a night that would just be silly. but then i remembered, i remembered a website i had used before that offered free accomidation and food in exchange for cultural learning and kind company, i had used the website couchsurfing before in germany and norway and thought id give it ago. when i searched for graz there was hundreds of students to choose from but it was hard to find some one who wouldnt mind the 5 days. then i come across a austrian student who had a spare room to borrow and surfer looking student who had a free floor so i decided to email them both. instantly the asutrian student who had a free room sent me a mail saying she would be delighted to host me and to my amazement a trip which was in the red from the start ended u being a result. i had managed to get all the main things you need when traveling to a country for around 30 quid, result. well i packed my bags and off to austria i went. austria reminded me of germany very much but it has a mountain orentated landscape which gave it a nice touch. the girl who i was staying with was a friendly student who was living in her perants sort of secound house so she had it all to her self durring uni time which was handy for surfers as ther was always free rooms. she worked in a music store when she was free and loved to host people from all around the world. she was finishing work later so i decided to explore graz while i had some free time. as i was walking around christmas was aproching and you could see it in the atmosphere. all the austrians love to eat sausages on the road sides from venders and in christmas time they would drink gluvien a sort of hot wine. it was to sweet for my liking but it did warm you up durring the cold winters. after my exploring i decided to go and meet my new austrian friend for the first time in her music shop. instantly she greeted me and welcomed me to graz and she straight away helped me with my bags. we first of all went to her car which had a funky animal seat belt and headed back to her apartment. we talked durring the journey about are different cultures and i was asking questions about her and we really got on which was nice. when we got to her house she cooked me a lovely pasta dish and she told me that a bunch of aussies were arriving tomorrow who would also be staying. i get on with aussies so i was looking forward to it. in the morning she had to go to college so she gave me a lift to the centre and i decided to explore again. i went to a modern art gallery which was intresting it was full of wacky art like a ping pong table wrapped completly with police tape, i had alot of time on my hands so rather than looking at it with a wierd look and thinking o...k... i just went into a frame of an acceptable art critic. so i was thinking that the ping pong table was the community and that the police have stop the community from playing ping pong... yes like i said alot of time in my hands. on the top floor you can see a lovely view of the town with free tea. the tea at first was lovely but as it dragged on i wasnt sure if it was modern art hippy tripping out tea. well it made the view look nice. latter that day i meet up with my fellow austrian to go and play some football table with her mates. football table is big in austria and its one of there most popular sports. as i was welligton primarys over 7's champion for 2 executive times i thought id give erm a run for there money. it quickly ended when i realised that it isnt just getting the ball in the net there is actualy a skill to it which amazed me as i never actualy thought there was. but the austrians are well trained with there winning flicks so i handed over my trophy and called it a night. the next trip was to go and collect the aussies from the train station. i was looking forward to it as it would be nice to talk to some travelers on the road. as we picked them up we realised that the boot was full of spare tiers and there was no room for there sacks. so it ended up becoming a really crampt car which i found amusing. well the convo quickly went off into the direction of the cricket and the aussies loved to rub it in, i dont really follow it but that was probally for the best. when we got back to the flat we thought it would be a funny idea to watch some movies, well to my surprise they were all in german! i guess it added character. it was a cheesey 80's film about soilders getting attacked by zombies but to say the truth because it was in german it was heleriouse. every time they ran away when smoke come crepping up to them and they would scream bacon!! the next film was called deer woman, i dont even need to explain what they film was about but yet again it was cheese on wheels but the german dumbed made it funny. the following day we went clubbing in some student bars and this was the first time i really had a proper chance to spend my remaining change. student bars were cheap and enjoyable but the best part of the night was the cab back home. we got picked up my this geezer who had large glasses on, very thin and funny ears with a crunched up face, he was one kool cabbie! he must of been doing 70 down a normaly street but he cranked the music up proper loud and me the aussies and the austrian were all singing along to the music :P. one cab ride to remember. well the next day was the end of my journey and i said good bye to my new mates and off back home i went. 2月24日 camping in the middle of no were (sweden)
well i was talking to a scotish girl on msn one day and she asked me what i was doing in the summer, when people say this to you, some times you get the impresion that they dont actualy want to no what you are doing they just cant wait for you to ask them what they are doing as if they have the most amazing thing going on. well this was the case and hands down it did sound pritty fun. she was going to a jamboree (its like some scout camp which goes on for 1-2 weeks) in sweden called campx, i was thinking to my self how amazing it sounded, to go to another country and camp with a complete bunch of strangers. so my reply to her comment was... were do i sign. she sounded a little starteled to my response as that wasnt some thing she was expecting. she instantly send me a web link and i signed up. a few months latter i was on a flight to sweden. i couldnt wait, id never camped in another country and it was in the middle of no were which made it sound like a challenge. well on a ryanair flight to gothenburg was how i got there (gothenburg is prononced: yotiborie btw) and i arrived a day early :S, well with ryanairs track records i have to say well done to them :P. i had read the dates wronge for campx and i was just sitting around in the trainstation for a while woundering what to do. luckily in the distance i noticed a blue scout uniform!! and i instantly ran over to greet them. they had arranged to go to the camp site early becuase they wanted to get a good spot so i thought id jump on there band wagon and follow them on there journey. in order to get to the middle of no were in sweden its just one simple dirrect bus that takes you there so that was again another result as i was getting ready to jump on hundreds of trains to get there. well as we arrived at the campsite with my new friends who i had made i was amazed had how big the area was and how close it was to the sea. well it was turning out to be a good idea after all to do the barmy thing of spending a few weeks in the swedish country side. i went to go and sign up and make my self none. when i went to sign up i was getting ready for the hundreds of trumpets and fan bearers as i had traveled all that way to attend there camp but instead i was greeted with, an english person?? i found out that my payment had been send in a different name and they quickly sorted out the problem and i was warmly welcomed. campx was empty and i also found out that no food was going to be arranged for that night. well i had some maggy noodles in my sack (all ways be prepared and all that shizzle) and meet up with the people who i had meet on the bus to borrow there cooker. as the day went on we didnt have much to do but lounge around in the sun shine and to wait for more people to turn up. as more swedish people turned up i started to wounder how many over internationals there were. all i had seen all day was blue uniforms and nothing else. when it was getting late alot of people had started to turn up and i started to notice alot of very good looking swedish girls turning up as well. ive always had a soft sport for scandinavian girls but i didnt no how popular scouts was in sweden the girl to boy numbers were about average, which didnt bother me at all. well in the distance i noticed a guy who i was talking to before hand on msn who i had meet on the campx website and we quickly made friends and he invited me to stay with his group. well as i was on me own and the other people i meet on the bus had little space for my tent i thought what the hell and i called my new camping spot home for the next few weeks. the first night was good as it was a time for bonding with my new friends and getting to no each over. the next day was the arrival day this was when every one was to officialy turn up and set camp. but as we had a head start we thought we would make the most of it and start to construct are new sub camp named paxtu. well being english i had to show my presence and every one on are subcamp constructed a flag pole. like i said i was being english it wasnt a ordinary flag pole but actualy the biggest tallest flag pole i had ever built (it remanded the largest to remain standing through out the camp). it was nice rasing the english flag to the top of it but the sweds tutted and i grinned and alloud them to put the swedish flag above mine :P, well it was there country after all.
2月23日 what to do in guernsey for a monthme and my couson had decided for some wierd and strange reason to go on a holiday to guernsey for a month, why? well i dont no? i had been there previously that year already and stayed with my friend beth who i meet at eurojam and i had pritty much done all there was to be done there but it turned out to be the location of the brett bro's crazy adventure for the summer. well it all stayed with the journey to gatwick it was a early flight so we decided to get there well in advance and it turned out we had a long time to kill so we decided to sleep. the last time i slept there i had a kick ass chair bed upstairs but they had all been taken by the wind surfers and there equipment, why there there boards needed to sleep on a bed i have no idea. but dont worry being scouts we was prepared!!! yes that right we had portable accomidation in the form of a tent and that pitched nicely above customers and opisite to duty free. we had a nanny nap and heard some wierd coments mostly laughs and one saying "the bloody french!" (haha) well we decided to call it a day and board for are flights for some reason we both for searched even though we didnt set the alarms off i think if you wear your scout uniforms in the airport you might be considered as a bomb carrier or some thing, i thought we was a peace promoting organisation (meh). well me and matt thought we would make the most of are time at the airport and refueled on free after shave and had a nice long chat with the bacardi girls for a while. well we started to board the plane and it was getting into are heads that we were going on holiday. we landed in guernsey and the sun was out to greet us. being scouts we didnt want to get the bus to town and decided to walk it. we didnt actualy have a clue were we was going and ended up walking through a corn field then through a hourse stabels and then got chased by a few horses. finally we reached a gate but was greated by the farmer :s, luckly he saw the funny side of it and pointed us in the right direction. the way we was heading would of brought us over a cliff. we under estermated the size of guernsey and thought it was a walk in the park. we finally found the camp site we would call home for are time there and we was greeted by a crockerdile dunde looking dorset trackter talker top of a bloke geezer called fred who was expecting us. we pitched are tent and decided to head for the beach. it was a lovely day and we went for a paddle until the rest of the group who was on a later flight arrived in a locals car. the local ended up being bloke called gaz who ended up being a shaperon for the duration of are stay (i think he just wanted to be around an individual member of are group who he was fond off) well he headed back to the campsite and fell alsleep. the next day we got in contact with a old friend from eurojam, big ben. big ben was the network leader and had the key to bar. we got talking to him and he aloud us to use the cooking areas and the lounge and the bar and the pool table and tv as long as we kept it clean and looking nice for the network. so we did. it ended up being a life saver as we had some were to do every thing. also we had a bar to entertain guests which was kool, also up stairs was a full functioning cinema room which ended up being a life saver doing the borring evenings. durring the week we had to do are own shopping which was a laugh as we managed to get all are food for silly money like 30 each for the rest of are stay which was just completly mad! durring the evening we decided to hit the town and explore the night life. lil o was funny through out that night one nocking over a pint another for looking to younge and not getting in the best club and 3 for porring marmite shots over a girls white top (ill explain that one later). well it was a great night and matt managed to find a builder (polish i think) which had a huge wod of cash on him and was feeling great as he kept buying are crew (matt mostly) free drinks all night which was mad! until he got kicked out of course. this bar was called toast and it had a theme of selling drinks which you would spread on your toast. they did peanut butter and ever thing like that. lil o decided to buy us a round of marmite shots, as he was walking over he spilt it all down a girls dress and she went barmy saying who would pull me smelling like marmite (so funny had to be there) welll i jokingly said i like marite. i liked toast it played great music mostly drum and base and every one danced on the table's. the good thing about guernsey is the no tax thing so the drinks were alot cheaper than london!! after we left toast we thought it might be a good idea to hail a cab as a 4 hour walk to safe a few quid between us didnt sound to good after all the boogying. i put my thumb out and a range rover pulled over thinking i was hitch hiking. this ended up being one of the funniest journeys home of my life! the dude thought i was hitch hiking and jumpt at the idea as he had nothing to do as he was waiting to pick his son up (bout are age he said) well he ended up bieng a diamond gezzer and driving us all the way back to are camp site, we talked about paint balling and guernsey and how he had imported his range rover on the island. we all were a little worried through out the journey as getting a lift for free didnt seem to good to be true. when he took the wronge turning i noticed matts face turn blue but when i advised him of the the wronge turning he laughed and turned around. when he dropped us off he offered him petrol money (its so cheap there any way but he kindly refused. as we waved him good bye we all turned to each offer saying what!! i guess there are still alot of good people on this planet and his kind generousity payed off as we got back to the camp site in good time to go to sleep. i on the other hand ran into a dart board and woke up the next morning. if i was going to go on about are time in guernsey i think you would need a pot of tea some im going to end it nicely with some of are high lights:
helsinki i gowell me and artu meet up for a trip to helsiniki we grabbed a train and off we went. it was fun traveling with him as i hadnt actualy traveled with a friend before so it was a first. he was finnish as well so he helped with the translations. he made me laugh as he dressed up all smart with a jacket so he was all worked up for a night out. as we arrived in helsinki i was amazed by how amazing the builiding are built they are just amazing to look at. it was a photo opitunity so we got a japanese person to take a photo of me and artu behind a sign saying helsinki. i was shocked to notice that he didnt even no how to hold the camera :P, we got some dodjy photos back and smiled and thanked him never the less, i laughed as the japs take the most photos in the world and he didnt no how to take one lol! well we thought it would be good to check in to the hostel first and get are bags sorted and stuff. the hostel was the cheapest i had ever come across it was 6 quid, which is nothing for a nights sleep when you think about it. after that we acted liked tourists and went shopping and took crazy photos with all the popular places in helsinki. as we was walking around we found some kool helsinki locals who were going around drinking beer and we decided to tag along, it was a laugh and we traveled around every were with them island to island on trams just drinking beer, we had this large boom box blearing out music and the more i drunk the more funny it got. after the dude to chick number decreased we thought it would be a good idea to go clubbing to end the night in a blast. we went around but artu didnt have idea so getting into a club was ending up to be very hard. but using my swift london skills i worked my way into a club we could both get into. it ended up to be a laugh it was still pritty early but we partyed the night away and drunk this lovely vodka and lemon mix which was a euro some thing so for finlands capital this was a bargain which couldnt be missed. i introduced artu to the english meaning of rounds and he got into the full swing of it and found it enjoyable. as the club was clossing we remembered that the hostel had a lock out time so we had to quickly make a move for it for the park bench would of been are home for the week. on the way back it for heleriouse, artu was talking to finnish people in english :P and licking poles (had to be there) but it was a very enjoyable night and we got into the hostel in the nick of time. in the morning it was like waking up to a tone of bricks on your head. but it was all good and we had some time to spare before we got the train home to tampere. me and artu decided to go to subways. my favourt munchie destination and a foot long was in store for me that day. after he recharged are bellys we chilled in the park until are train was ready. as we was sitting there the most unusual busker was going around, he appeared to have a dick on his head, like a strap on? and he played the guitar and walked along with a pot to put money in. the music was so bad and i guess he was trying to act like a dick head, well it made me laugh. so we headed home, artu to sahalati and me to london, i had a bus to catch to and artu got a lift from his dad, he didnt look to happy, i dont no if it was because he had to pick artu up or if he had pranked called him while he was drunk who knows? well i had a few hours till my plane was going to set off and a few minutes to catch my bus which was going to take me to the airport. well it was going smoothly until i was left with a shock. rather than lugging my ruck sack around helsinki i paid 3 euros to lock it up in tampere and took my day sack for helsinki but i had run it over 24 hours and it fines you around 40 euros for going over the day. well you have to remember that this was my last day, and i had around 3 euros left for the bus to the airport. my face went blue and i began to shack because if i missed this flight i would of been so stuck that i would have had no way of getting home. well there was a god that day, luckily because the finnish people are so understanding and kind they unlocked the locker for me with in minutes of me being able to catch the bus. if that was in london no way would of they had done that, i think that if all the world was like the finnish the world would be a better place. well it wasnt the end of my problems, as i got on the bus it was 3 euros 50 for a journey :S yes just as i said before i only had 3 euros yet another problem, the driver couldnt let me on because if you dont pay the correct money the poll thing doesnt move so i was stuck. but finnish people to the rescue!! a elderly lady was kind enough to give me 50. i no it was only about 24p but it saved me from missing the plane and that ment alot. so the bus toom me to the airport, the plane took me to london the train at stansted took me to totlham and the tube took me to walthamstow and the bus took me to chingford, but does it end there? well i sort of hadnt told my family i was arriving early so i went to gilwell park to camp for the night, why you ask?? because cub and beaver day was on so i thought they might need a help with things. then i went home. tampere or canada?durring my last visit to finland on my return flight i got talking to a lovely girl who was from tampere, ever since we had talked on msn and really got along. when i told her i was visiting again they kindly offered me a place to stay for a while. i was ever som lucky as they had like granny anex sort of like a 1 bed room house within there house so it was perfect for me to stay in for a few days. it was so nice to see her again as we didnt think we would meet up again after are last meeting and it was enjoyable staying with her. she had a lovely home and her family was very friend and i got long with her other 2 brothers as well. they all spoke perfect english which was because they used to live in canada and it was like to talk to some fluent english speakers as i hadnt bumpt into any for the whole trip. that day we went to the beach to meet some of her friends and i was quickly alearted to the fact they was in a cheer leading squad and they was all very good looking, it was ashame i had nothing to offer compared to the ice hocky players who were playing volly ball at the time :P. after that we explored tampere and looked around. i was trying to find a venue for a england match againts some latin american team but we had no luck so we decided to watch it at her house with her brothers who didnt really find football intresting. it was a good match and the finns at the end of it still didnt really see the reason why i enjoyed watching it, they ensured me that ice hockey was a better sport to watch and i said i will give it a try and watch it when it starts showing on bbc. that night she had a friend pop over and we went to grab a ice cream really late in the night, her friend was also a cheer leader and very good looking. i think i just have a soft spot for scandinavian girls to say the truth as they all look very pritty. the next day her and her brother was very kind enough to give me a cycle tour of tampere, we went to some sqaure were we had some wierd black sausage (i think it was black pudding but they claimed that the finns invented it) after that we went to some tall tower and looked at a rotating restaurant :P. when we went back her father had returned after a trip and he was nice to meet him for the first time. he made me laugh as his wife had but him on a diet but yet he always had sneaky beers and snakes durring my stay, i found him very funny and a entertaining man to be around, he kept sneaking beer into my coca cola cup when we was out in his garden talking(hehe)! after we had dinner i went to the sauna with her brother, i love the finnish sauna and its great with a beer or to. its wierd going to sauana naked but by then i had just got used to it. well i had a lovely time staying with them and it was nice to see them again after the flight were i had meet them. they kidly dropped me off and the girl who we went to grab a ice cream with went along with me to say good bye. it was nice to see her again and we swapped emails. artu heard that i had never been to helsinki the finnish capital before so he thought it would be a good idea to go there for a day before i go. i was dropped off at the transtation to grab a train to helsinki with artu who i meet at the station. i said good by to my kind finnish/canadian family and headed off to meet artu.
dave returns to sahalatiwell tampere was sort of my next town, sahalati is a small area just out side were i will be going next. this was to meet up with my favourt finnish family the rantalas (i think i spelt it right :D) i stayed with them last time and they was the kind family who hosted me for christmas. they said that the summer is so much better and that i would have to come and see the difference my self. so i did. sahalati got to see dave for another week :). jenni was at church camp which most finnish teenagers go to for around 2 weeks in order to gain there confermation, so she wasnt home while i stayed this time so her brother was kind enough to look after me while she was there. it was so much different in the summer it all looked to pritty and it showed me how amazing some parts of the world can really be. that day artu told some of his mates to meet him by a bbq hut so we got on a motor bike and off we went, it was funny to see all his friends again and i was amazed that they all remembered me. we cooked sausaged on sticks with a fire we made and drunk some beer. we then went home for another day. it was weird sleeping in finland because the sun hardly never went down and sleep i was finding hard. the next day i helped to clean up there huge garden. of course i jumped to the chance of using the sit down lawn mower as i was happy to drive that around for hours and they were pleased with the work i had done, but i could of driven that thing around for hours on end. the thing i liked about jenni and artus dad was not only how kind he was as a person but how he had built his whole house and every thing, while i was there he was busy building his summer deck on the front of his house and i was amazed at how easy he made it look, he was truley a man who had big ideas of building the perfect finnish house. i loved there house not only because it was perfectly designed to suit there lives but because i fell in love with the wooden houses ever since. well i had to move on again and meet with another family who lived in the centre of tampere. living in ouluwell i was fully recovered for another day! my birthday was aproching and i was going to be turning 17. when i was thinking about this the sound of music song come to my head "i am 16 going in 17" (lol) and i thought it was time for a treat. i wasnt able to splash out as my money was strict to the tee as every penny saved every day aloud me another day traveling so i didnt like to spend alot as the more i saved the more i had for the road. but it was my birthday coming up and my clothes were getting rough and i had arranged to meet my long distant friend eve and i didnt want to meet her looking like a scruff bag ( she is very good looking and fashionable so i wanted to look my part of course) so a trip to h n m was in store. i was lucky as the world cup had past and becuase no one was from england in oulu there was alot of england gear on sale and i ended up picking up alot of bargains but yet looked affective with the ladys so it was a result of a birthday treat. i then arranged to meet eve in a coffee shop which was a student place were i have meet her before but it was raining and i got really wet so i didnt look so good in my new gear after all, it was lovely meeting her again and we went shopping and had some lunch. i then had the mission of finding a place to stay for a while. eve was bad timing as her grandma was traveling a long distance from canada to meet her and her family in tampere ( were i was heading next) and she hasnt been in finland for 9 years or something like that so eve was a no, i had fun hanging out with her but i she promised if i was to visit again we could meet up. so i had a problem as there wasnt a hostel at the time in oulu and i didnt no any one else. as i was thinking back i remember the girls house who i stayed around on new years eve and i thought id give her a shock, we hadnt talked since and it was wierd getting in contact with her again, she was delited to see me again and she loved the idea of letting me crash on her couch. so i had a place to stay, i was looking forward to seeing her again. when we meet up it was wierd because i forgotten how good looking she was and how little english she could understand. she took me back to her flat and showed me my new home for the week. it was lovely and had every thing i could possible need. there was enougher person staying as well who was her couson, i found out that she could speak could english so she turned into my translater for the stay. there wasnt much to do on a monday but i remember her being obsesed with karioki so off to a sing along bar we went. it was a good laugh with in a nice remote bar which was very entertainning, she was a great singer and she she introduced me to some finnish drinks so it was a nice casual evening. the next day i she had to work so i explored oulu and noticed how different it was with out all the snow. ive always like oulu as i like the remote but lively atmosphere. durring the day i went to help her brother into his new home with his girl friend. i remember them both from news years eve so it was nice to see them again. it was fun cleaning up and talking to them and her perants. i laughed as no matter what size the house is finnish people will have a sauna, the house was a lovely 2 bedroom house of course with a sauna :P. after that we went back to her flat with her cozon to get ready for the evening, every night after that we went clubbing in my favourt night club oneila!! we went there every night from that day, even for my birthday. i got to no her mates very well and we often meet up there all the time, we went to some other clubs before we went to onlela and some times back to theres to crash for the night. i had a fun time partying with them but i had to move on as my drinking budget was decreasing by the day. on my last day i will never forget as i arranged to meet up with some more old friends. the people who i became good friends with from the night club were very friendly and offered me a lift to my old firends house. i said good bye to them and promised to call them if i returned. my old friend juha who i haddnt seen since the summer of 05 had invited me to an important finnish celebration. when you finnish school in finland you graduate and this means that you dress smart and wear this saler looking hat. and it basically shows your independance of moving in to man hood and finishing education to the perants (you also get a rose which means something as well) but to the people who pass like juha it means get dressed up and get ready to party all night long until you cant stand up :P. as we went to the centre of town to meet all the other educcation leavers we saw some funny sights like a bloke tripping over about 50 bicycles at once (lol) it was entertaining and i had a good time. it was nice catching up with juha again and also to spend time with him durring one of the biggest days of his life. but duty called and i had to move on. tampere was my next call... haparanda to ouluso i arrived in happarada after the long journey on the train which wiized passed by talking to the crazy norwigian students. after i hopped on a bus and passed the swedish boarder into finland i was a little lost at first but a kind afganistan bloke offered me a lift to the buss station in haparanda some were. little scared hitch hiking, sitting next to a dog who stared at me like i was a yummy piece of lamb chops. he dropped me off at the bus station and i thanked him kindly for getting me out of trouble and taking me to the location to hop on my next bus. but i hit a problem, the bus wasnt about till about 6 hours, well it was 2 in the morning and i guess life cant always be on the bright side :P. so yup its late (still light of course as the artic is like a 24 7 light bulb in the summer!!) so i explored haparanda for a while, not much really to look at apart from some russian orthordox churches that looked intresting as there shapped like onions. i was playing the hard rock halaluya song by lordi at the time as finland had just won the eurovision song contest and the finns were so happy about it. i liked the song so playing it over and over again as i walked around the tiny haparanda past some time for a while (the norwigians blue thoothed it to me so fresh music on the road is like gold dust :P) well i looked at a golf course which was unique for having a golf course between 2 countrys which was intresting ( i wounder how many passport stamps you could get out of that if you was caught in a bunker). well it was bout 4 and i had seen every thing there was to see in the small town so i located my self to the nearest bench and got out my sleeping bag to call it a night. well what can i say, its not really the warmest of places up in the artic so it ended up being an extremly cold sleep on a bus stop bench but i dozzled off after some shivvers. at about 8 i was woken up my a nudge from a large guy who at the time i though it was ricky jevas in another one of my dreams but it ended up being the bus driver. i was chuffed when he speaked finnish to me as i had a sense of aceptance that the finnish people sleep in benches and its not just us silly brits abroad. at first i thought he was kicking me off the bench but when he realised i was english he quickly replyed with. are you hopping on my bus? and hop i did, still in my sleeping bag i picked up my rucksack and hopped on and fell asleep to my journey to kemi. i liked the bus driver as he speaked little english but yet he still liked to talk to me (i guess it was because we had 4 hours and i was the only passenger on board) i like him as he played elvis on stop and song along to every word. he asked my funny questions like how is the queen and if i liked finland (it was a wierd question as i had just passed the baorder with him) but i loved finland and i always will due to my last visit which was magical. he dropped me off at kemi and i thanked him for the great bus journey and off he went singing aint nothing but a hound doll. well i was only in kemi for a few hours so i used the time wisely and had a little nanny nap on the bench at the train station to recover my self for the long day. the train to oulu arrived and hopped on and had enough time to wash my socks in the train toilets sink. i was looking forward to oulu because i fell in love with it durring my last visit and i didnt no what it was going to be like when i arrived as i visited in the winter when it was covered in snow. |
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