Frankfurt and New Years

When I got to Cerbere I was surprised. It wasn’t what I thought it was. It was a small town set on the side of a mountain looking over the Mediterranean. I expected it to be a descent sized place because it was a border town for France and Spain. It was really small but very nice. While I was in Cerbere I got something for dinner before I headed back to the station. I had gotten to Cerbere 4hrs before my train left to go to Mulhouse. Since Cerbere wasn’t as big as I thought I sat in the station for 2½ hours waiting patiently. When the train finally came I was really happy. I had enough of Cerbere. When I got on the train I found out that I had a seat rather then a sleeper. I hadn’t slept in the car on the train yet. It was really comfy. That night I kinda slept. It wasn’t enough though. In the morning I got off at Mulhouse. I didn’t see anything other then the station. I had enough time to hop one train and on the next. That was fine I really wanted to go to the next city. It was Basel. Basel is a border town between France, Germany and Spain. I didn’t leave the station here but it now means I have been to Switzerland. YEAH. SWITZERLAND. :P While I was in the station I went to a shop and got myself a Swiss beany and I also got a Switzerland Scarf for Leo. He is Swiss and wanted a Swiss flag but his little brother has it on his wall. My next train was to Frankfurt. That was a really good train to go on. It’s a speed train, very fast and nice.

I arrived in Frankfurt at 1330. When I got there I went straight to the hostel I was staying in. Frankfurt I found was really good to walk through. It was spread out but all the museums seemed to be really close to each other. When I got to the hostel I found I had 30mins to wait before the rooms were open for new bookings. I sat in the hostel and waited until they were open. Once I was booked in and in my room, I stayed in and watched a movie. I was really stuffed and was sick of sightseeing. I did end up going out later to get some food but that was it.

In the morning I was up at 0330 to get my next train. It left at 0500 from the Frankfurt main station and I had to get there. I walked to the closest metro and got on it. It was a 15 min walk and a 10 min train ride. That was really good I thought. When I got to the station I went and got a quick bite to eat before hoping on. My next train took me to Hamburg. The train ride to Hamburg went really quickly and really good. When I got to Hamburg, I had 5 mins to find my next train and get on it. I just made it. This train was the train to Vejle. It was just another 4-5hrs before I was going to be at the school. When I got to Vejle I had to wait for 20mins for my next train to Hedensted. I was feeling a bit impatient by then waiting at different trains for so long I was glad I had only 30 mins before I was going to be at the school again. When the train came I was really happy. It was a 10 min ride on the train to Hedensted. Not long now. The train ride was really good. It went past the fjord and then up into the countryside before I got off. I really missed the fjord. It’s like home. And I know when I see it it’s not far to go.

When I got to the station I looked out for Bamse. It was nowhere to be seen. I was sure it would be there waiting for me. It wasn’t. I gave Leo a quick call just to find out where it was. Crista had taken it but was going to be back in a few minutes. It’s not far from the school to Hedensted so I was happy to wait even though it was freezing cold and windy. I think the wind chill was colder then the temperature. When Daniel picked me up he said it was 4’c but I swear it felt more like -2. I guess that was just the wind.

When I got back to the school, I unpacked my bag, did my washing and got something to eat before tidying my room up. I finally stopped at about 1730 when Leo and I went to get some pizza for dinner. It was really good after eating on the cheap and only eating bread and water at some stages of the trip.

In the morning I was woken up by my alarm at 0545 because I had another early train to catch. This one was to Copenhagen. I hit a button on my watch hoping to put it on snooze but I ended up turning it off. This wasn’t good. At 0600 Leo came into my room and went ‘aren’t you meant to be up and ready to leave?’. I was glad he came in I was dead asleep when he came in. I got up and chucked some clothes on and grabbed my bags and walked out the door. We were on our way to Vejle station at 0610. This was still good. I had 35mins before the train arrived.

On the trip to Copenhagen, I had planned to write a bit about my trip so far. It didn’t happen. I got about 20mins of writing done before I fell asleep. I slept for most of the trip. When I woke up I was about 20mins outside of Copenhagen.

When I got to Copenhagen, I had to find my way to the hotel that Crista and her parents were staying. There we waited for Nat to come. Nat came and picked us up. He took us for a drive around Copenhagen showing us a few things. Really he was showing Crista’s parents because Crista and I had both seen it before. It’s still good to see it again. That evening Nat and I headed back to his place at around 2230. When we got there Nat’s house mates were about to watch a movie so we both joined them. I didn’t understand what I saw. The movie was in Swedish I think or at least a language that I didn’t understand and that required Danish subtitles. The dvd didn’t have English subtitles so I had to try and read the Danish ones and understand what it was saying. Not the best thing to do. I ended up falling asleep and missed most of that movie. We all ended up going to bed at around 0030-0100.

I slept in abit longer then I thought I would have but I guess my body really needed it. No, I know my body really needed it. During the day we all just chilled out. At 1400 I sent sms’s to everyone in Aus to wish them all a happy new years. I also called my family. I started to get ready for new years at 1600. Nat and I went to a party at one of his friends places. It was really good there. We sat back relaxed, listened to music and had dinner. Some of the things that are traditions for New Years in Denmark that we did were watch the Queens Speech, also watch this old tv show. The Queens Speech I didn’t understand because it was in Danish but like the night before I tried to read the subtitles that they had. One of the things I understood was really funny. The Queen made a mistake in her speech. She said something about thanks for a great year in 2006 and may 2008 be just as great or something like that. The funny thing was the 2006. On the subtitles it said 2007 and she said 2006. All of us cracked up with laughter at it. This was a national broadcast. The Queen must have been so embarrassed. I would have been. At midnight we all stood up and celebrated New Years with a glass of Champagne. Well everyone else did. I celebrated with a glass of cider. Close enough. After we went outside and set off fireworks. It was amazing. Nothing like in Australia. This was fireworks that were just about commercial size well it looked like it. There were boxes of 20-40 shots in them going off everywhere around us, and big rockets. It was amazing. I have a video of it that I’ll post up on the net for ya’s to see. After we chilled out and played a few games and listened to music. Nat and I ended up leaving at around 0500. We headed to his folks place because Nat’s place had a whole heap of people sleeping over and there wasn’t going to be enough room for us. We got to his folks place at 0600 I think it was. When I got there we crashed down stairs in the rumpus room.

When we finally woke up it was 1400. It didn’t feel like it though. I thought it was morning. We got up and headed to the station to go back to Nats place. When we got there we sat back and chilled out some more and tried not sleeping. At around 1900 we went for a walk to wake up a little. When we got back we put a movie on. This movie I understood. It was in English. We went to sleep once it was finished. This was around 2230-2300. In the morning I woke up at 1130. I missed half the day. That wasn’t good but it happens when you’re tired.

When I woke up I surfed the net and talked to some people on msn. That was good catching up and finding out what they had been doing over Christmas and New Years. I left Copenhagen at 1630 to head back to the school.

When I get back to the school my trip will finally be finished. No more tripping around Europe for a few more months. Let’s see how the money goes before I go again.

Hope you all have had a great break.