My Travels Abroad

Valborg - 30th April 2009

2009-06-17T18:52:00.002+10:00

Every year in Sweden on the 30th of April, the Swedes break out of their quiet shells and celebrate the end of winter and welcome in the spring. This day is known as Valborg day and if your a student in Malmö or Lund, then the place to be is Stadsparken in Lund. So that's where we were yesterday.

A group of us met at central station at 9.30am and boarded the train bound for Lund, pumped and ready for a day of partying in the sun. We reaches Lund station at about 9.50am and, along with the masses of other students, made the short walk to the park. When we got there, about 10am, there was already thousands of people and not a lot of space left to throw down a rug and sit in the sun. We did managed to find a place off to the side of the main section, however we weren't there for long. Vera managed to get in touch with a friend of ours, Dani who we'd met on the Russian trip, and who was a student in Lund. She managed to set up camp in the middle of the sea of people and in the sun, so we relocated.

The rest of the morning was spent taking in the sights (and yes there were many attractive looking Swedish boys everywhere you looked) and going for a wander around the mass of people. If you walked up to the stage, at the front of the crowd, you could look back down and see all the people crowded in the small section of the park. In the centre of the people was also a large pile of wood which was to be lit later that night at about 9.30pm in the traditional ceremony of scaring away all the bad spirits of the winter and welcoming in the spring. Vera also received the news from home that there had been an attack on the Dutch Queen. (For those who are unaware, the 30th of April in Holland is the Queen's birthday and there are huge celebrations all over the country and one town is chosen by the Queen to visit as her birthday gift). Some guy had tried to drive his car into the bus, on which the royal family was traveling. None of the family had been injured however five people who had come to see the Queen had been killed and another 13 or so injured. So that made for some interesting discussion for a while. Never a dull moment!!

The rest of the day was also spent either sitting and relaxing in the shade (as our sun had vanished behind a tree by lat morning) or breaking it down on the dance floor. So nothing of much excitement or importance really happened for the whole day.

At about 6pm we decided it was time to call it quits in Lund and head back to Malmö to take a shower, get some food and then head to the park near sommarstaden to watch the lighting of the bonfire and the fireworks.

After spending the day in the park, where the wind kept blowing dust and leaves on us, it was great to take a shower and clean myself before heading out again. The changing of clothes was also in order as it wasn't so warm at night. Kim spent most of the time on my computer reading and watching all the news on the happenings in Holland. Then at 9.15pm we headed across to the park.

It was a really cool place where they held the bonfire. The trees surrounded a circular field and were really high. I'll have to go back and take a photo in the daylight to show you all what I mean. At the front there was a stage which had a choir singing. Then they had a fire show, and the flames were timed to shoot up in time with the dramatic music they had playing to get everyone pumped up for the lighting of the fire. Finally they had a countdown (which started at 19!!) and then the bonfire was lit. It was quite fun to watch and being there with thousands of people, the atmosphere was really too hard to describe!

Kim and I stayed to watch the fire burn until it was just about out, before meeting up with the rest of the group. While we were waiting we got chatting to a Swedish guy who was telling us about how there had been a fire ban in Sweden and so that was why there were firemen there spraying water on the fire to make sure it didn't get too high and catch alight on the trees surrounding us. I thought it was ratehr amusing that they had a fire ban as in Australia, it has to be very hot for that to happen, but here it was only about 24 degrees, and at night it got down to about 10 degrees! When we met up with the group, Kim decided to head home because she was tried but I decided to keep going so headed on with the group to a pub on Möllevångstorget, about 15 minutes walk from sommarstaden. I found it extremely difficult to stay awake, after being up since 8am that morning, so at 12.30am had to call it quits and crawl into bed.

I can hopefully get my hands on a video that one of the girls took of the celebration in the park so that you can all see what the fireworks and bonfire was like. But otherwise, that's all from me for now.

Coming up next...VIENNA and BERLIN!!!

Puss och kram,
Alice
xo

Valborg Pics!!!

2009-06-17T18:51:00.001+10:00

Anna and I

The exchange students!!

Breaking it up on the D-floor!!

Gerda and I

Suvi and Gerda looking very relaxed

Kath (i) and Kim!!!!

Some photos of Kim and I

Look at all the people!

Kim and I catching some suns rays!

Kim arguing with a policeman...he looks really serious!

Kim and her German boys!!!

Vera, Kim and I with all the people!!!

Vera and I

Gerda, Suvi, Maria and I chilling out!

Spanish sandwich - Me, Jose and his friend (who's name I don't know!)

Me and my bottle of wine!

So many people...EVERYWHERE!!

Amsterdam!!!

2009-06-17T18:50:00.001+10:00

My trip to Amsterdam with my friend Suvi from Finland was a completely different trip to Russia and Finland. Firstly, Amsterdam is very different to Russia and secondly, we were much more relaxed during the trip, spending lots of time lying around enjoying the sunshine. We flew out of Copenhagen at 7.40pm which meant I had had the whole day to sleep in and get myself organised which was nice. The flight to Amsterdam only took one hour and so was quite quick. Once we reached the airport we caught the train into the city then a tram which took us basically to the front door of our hostel. We got to the hostel at about 10.30pm so dumped our bags and went for a walk around the area near the hostel. We were hoping to find a supermarket so we could buy something to eat but were out of luck, so instead we turned back and went to bed.
The next morning was overcast and slightly chilly however that did not stop off from setting off to walk around the city centre and check out the shops. We ended up spending about three and a half hours wandering the city. I bought myself from jeans and we both spent lots of time in and out of the shops, partly trying to keep dry and out of the rain. For lunch, we were lucky enough to come across a little restaurant, which had the best Caesar salad I have ever had and was reasonably priced, which is hard to find in Amsterdam. Suvi and I then decided to head back to the hostel to dump our purchases before working out what to do next. On our way back, the sun began to start shining and the clouds cleared. We decided that the next item on our agenda for the afternoon was to go and have a look at the Van Gogh museum because it was just around the corner from the hostel. The exhibition currently showing was Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” which is a really great painting. There were also many other paintings by Van Gogh and other painters which had a focus on the night sky and farming.
When we left the museum the sun was shining so we stopped in the park for a little while to catch some rays. We also managed to find a supermarket just near our hotel so we went and bought some food for dinner and some wine which we were going to go and have in Vondel Park. The park was really nice and a great place to sit and have a picnic dinner. We spent a couple of hours there just eating, talking and enjoying the park. We took a detour going back to our hostel and explored the neighbourhood which was very quiet but there were a lot of nice buildings. That evening we spent in the hostel watching movies on my computer, singing along to my songs and drinking the rest of our wine.
Saturday we decided to go and do the three hour walking tour around the city which started at 11am from Dam Square. Our first stop on the tour was the Red Light District and it wasn’t till we were almost through the street that I realised where we were. We had been warned previously not to take photos of the girls because they’ll open their door and throw a cup of pee over you! So no photos were taken while we were there.This took us to the Old Church which is now used as an art gallery every day except for Sundays and certain occasions. We also passed the Jewish Quarter (which was rebuilt in after the second world war and looks quite hideous) and the Royal Palace, which is just a large house in the middle of town. Our tour guide took us past the Hash, Hemp and Marijuana museum as well as the famous cofffee shop Dampkring , which was used in the movei Ocean's Twelve. We were also shown the hidden church, the hightest bridge in Amsterdam as well as the widest bridge and the narrowest house, the Bejinghof Convent, which is where people who have served God are able to stay for free and the old prison that is now a large shopping centre. The final stop was then at Anne Frnak's house and Wester church just near it and which Anne writes about in her diary. The tour was great and allowed us to see all the main sites of Amsterdam in just under four hours.

When the tour had finished, Suvi and I went to grab some lunch at a near by pub. Then once our stomachs were full we decided that while we were in the area, we'd go and have a look at the Anne Frank museum. Despite the fact that it was recently redone and so the foyer and entrance to the museum look quite modern as well as installments of televisions in some of the rooms, the house itself is still in very good condition. There is no furniture in any of the rooms as Otto Frank asked it to remain empty, so they have little models which show what the annex was like. I am still a little confused about the lay out of the factory and shop which was the downstairs part of the building. However, seeing the annex and walking through the different rooms really brought home just how small a place the eight people were living in. And what's more was how dark and stuffy it must have been, as the museum had blacked out all the windows except the one in the attic. The museum was quite moving and really worth seeing, particularly if you have read Anne's diary as it makes everything more real.

After the museum we slowly made our way back to the hostel and then decided to once again go and grab some food and wine from the supermarket and head to Vondel Park for another picnic dinner. That night we ventured into Leidseplein to hit the pubs. There had been a soccer match broadcast on the televsions in many of the pubs so there were lots of people out and about.We had quite a good night however there wasn't much room for dancing in the pubs we went into so at about 1am we headed home to bed.
Sunday was even more relaxed. We didn’t wake up till about 10.30am and did not leave the hostel till about midday. As it was such a beautiful and warm day we sat in the park near the Van Gogh museum for a few hours. I wrote my postcards as I felt it was probably time I sent something back to people at home to let them know I’m still alive while Suvi worked on her tan. We then decided that we couldn’t spend the whole day sitting around so we went for another walk through the city. We didn’t make it very far as we came across an Irish Pub which we decided was a good place to stop and grab some lunch. After another couple of hours spent eating and soaking up the sun we continued our walk into the city. We didn’t really do a lot for the rest of the afternoon, just going with the flow and stopping for coffee or food when we felt like it. We once again had dinner in Vondel Park before heading back to the hostel to chill out while waiting for Kim and some others to arrive. They had the same flight as us to Amsterdam so didn’t get to the city till about 10.30pm. Before they were to meet up with us they were going to Kim’s aunt’s place to leave their stuff. Unfortunately they took forever to get themselves to Kim’s aunt’s place and the trams along the street we were staying on decided they were not going to run frequently and when our tram did come past, it didn’t even stop to let us on. So that pretty much decided our night for us…once again it was spent in our hostel room with a bottle of wine and my computer.
Monday we had to be out of the hostel by 10am. So that meant we had to be up early so we could get ourselves organised. Instead of lugging our luggage around all day we made our way to the train station and left our stuff in a locker there. We then headed to Dam Square and sat at a coffee shop for a couple of hours. There was an event being held in the square that day (something to do with sport) so we sat and watched them setting up everything. We went for one last walk around the city before meeting up with Kim and the others at about 1.30pm for lunch. Suvi and I had previously been back to the cafe we'd been to on our first day there to get a take away caesar salad for lunch so when we met up with the others we sat in Dam Square and ate our lunch whilst watching what was going on in the square. We then joined the others when they headed to Dampkring for some 'coffee' before finally walking with them through the Red Light District once more and this time I was aware of where we were when we entered! Then it was time for Suvi and I to say goodbye and make our way back to the train station and out to the airport for our flight home, which was not all that exciting really.
We returned to Copenhagen at about 10pm and caught the train back to Malmö. When I got home I left the unpacking for the following day as it was about midnight by the time I finally got home and I didn’t have anything on the following day except doing my laundry. Amsterdam was great and I have come to the conclusion that it is one of my favourite places in Europe, but it was nice to get home and settle back into life in Malmö knowing that I had the next two weeks there to get back into my Swedish life and catch up with my friends.
Next stop…Vienna!
Puss och kram,
Alice
xo

Amsterdam Pics!!!

2009-06-17T18:48:00.001+10:00

Suvi and I on a tram

Our crazy, weed smoking but very entertaining tour guide

Vondelpark...one of the best places for a picnic!

The coolest glasses ever!!!

Photos of Suvi and I in different places around Amsterdam

The flea market was right next to this cool looking building

A big statue of some guy who had birds on his robe

Me on one of the infamous drawbridges of Amsterdam

My favourite photo of the whole trip!

The best restaurant ever!

The Royal Palace

At the Van Gogh museum

Suvi looking thoughtful - very rare!

Japan?

The concert building

In the park outside the Van Gogh museum and just across the road from our hostel!

Yes this is a real photo!! Good aren't I!

Our friend who cam and joined us for a picnic in the park!

The three essentials for any picnic: a good bottle of wine, chocolate and strawberries!

You can just see the sign for our hostel - the Anne Marie

In our hostel room killing time!

The 3 level "bike" park

Us in Dam Square

Our shadows!

A monument dedicated to the Red Light District

The toilets for the men...and yes they are still used!

Oude Church

Typical Amsterdam houses that lean forward slightly!

The hooks on the tops of buildings were used to lift furniture up to the upper floors!

The tallest bridge in Amsterdam!

Believe it or not, but the middle building is a hidden Catholic Church!

The old Jewish Town

This building used to be the entrance to Amsterdam for ships

And you thought I was tall...

Hash pops...sold in many souvenir shops

The hash, marijuana and hemp museum

The mint

The old prison...now a shopping centre!

Amsterdam's China Town

The old orphanage

The Dam Square monument

Our tour guide again!

In Finnish this is slang for "I've just ejaculated!"

The smallest house in Amsterdam: approx. 1.8m in width!

The smallest house up close

A very cool invention - drinking and riding!

Just near the Anne Frank house

The Anne Frank House Museum

Suvi trying to be artistic!

The famous slogan for Amsterdam - "I AMsterdam"

Enjoying the sunshine

Us in the famous coffee shop, the Damkring, which you may recognise from the movie Ocean's Twelve

The clog!

The Red Light District!

At the train station waiting for our train to the airport

At the airport!

Finland and Russia!!!

2009-06-17T18:46:00.000+10:00

Ok so now it’s been almost two months since I last properly entered a blog entry about my travels and I apologise for that. Things have been really busy but I now have found some free time while I’m sitting in the car traveling around Iceland. So I’m going to go back a little way and fill in my travels that have gone on since I last wrote about Prague and Stockholm and my current travels in Iceland.
The weekend between when I returned from Stockholm and Prague and before I was due to leave for Finland and Russia, instead of spending the weekend at home recuperating like most normal people would do, I jumped on a train on the Friday afternoon and headed to Gothenburg for the weekend to catch up with Lars, Åsa and Pontus. I had planned to visit them at a later date but they were off to visit Martina in London that weekend and my only free weekend was the one that fell in between my trips. However, it was nice to get away for the weekend and have home cooked meals again. I even got the chance to go and watch Pontus’ handball team play a couple of games. They were really good and it was good fun to watch. I now have a basic understanding of the rules and how the game works. Lars and Åsa were in the process of cleaning out the house and moving their stuff round to their apartment in the city so that the house would be all ready for a house inspection on the Monday. They had decided to sell their house in Mölndal and move into their apartment in the city and they were having people come to view the house on the Monday. So the house was in a bit of a mess and I spent some time helping to move things between the two places. But the weekend was mainly spent relaxing and catching up with them. Then Sunday night it was back to Malmö to unpack then repack my bags for Finland and Russia. (And for those who know how I pack, you’ll be impressed to know that I managed to pack a bag that was half the size of most people’s bags on the trip and I even had a pillow packed in the bag!!!) I arrived back at about 10:30pm so it was a late night for me.
This then takes me to my trip to Finland and Russia!
The day I had to leave to head to Stockholm to catch the ferry to Turku in Finland, I unfortunately found myself having to attend class from 10am – 12pm. Due to missing the first two classes because I was in Prague I really didn’t have a choice when it came to attendance! Anyway, I was due to catch the train at 12.14pm which gave me fourteen minutes to run from uni to the train station and meet my Dutch friend Vera who was also doing the trip with me. Luckily my class ended ten minutes early so I had plenty of time to get to the train station and even stop by the pressbyrån to grab some water and snacks for the four and a half hour train ride to Stockholm. The train trip was not overly exciting and I slept for most of the trip to catch up on missed sleep the night before. When we arrived in Stockholm we grabbed some food from Burger King before making our way out to Slussen where we were to catch the bus which would take us to the ferry dock. When we arrived at Slussen, we met up with Julia, my fellow Aussie, who was also coming along. We’d been told we’d need to catch any of the 400 buses to get to the ferry however we could not find the buses. We did manage to find another bus heading that way however when we got on the bus we found that Julia could not buy her ticket on the bus. So she jumped off to go and get a ticket and Vera and I made our way to the ferry. Julia ended up joining us about 15 minutes later after walking the one kilometre from the ferry terminal. When then stood around for about another 20 – 30 minutes before finally getting together with the group leaders and making our way up to the loading deck where we were to board the ferry.
The ferry trip was not all that interesting. After watching the ferry pull out from Stockholm we went and grabbed some dinner and sat down at a table on the main deck to eat it. After about an hour our little group of three had at least tripled with others from the trip coming and joining us. It was good to get to know some people before we really began the trip. Then we hit the bar for another couple of hours before deciding that it was time to get some sleep. So at 3.00am we crawled into bed. Unfortunately we were due to arrive in Turku at 6am and because Finland is an hour ahead, that was 5am Swedish time. And we had to get up before then and get ourselves organised so I think in the end we had only about 1 hour sleep.
We were met by our buses at the ferry terminal and after loading all our luggage onto them, headed off for the five to six hour trip down to Helsinki where we were to spend the night. When we arrived in Helsinki we had a city tour. We did this tour from the bus, getting off at the interesting places to have a closer look, but it was good because as soon as we got to Helsinki it started raining and didn’t really stop for the whole day. The city tour wasn’t all that interesting. We saw a memorial that was dedicated to a guy called Sibelius and had a cool monument made out of metal pipes. We also were taken to the underground church and the old city where the Helsinki Cathedral. Once the tour was finished we made our way to our hotel for the night. This hotel was probably the best hotel we stayed at the entire trip. It had a sauna, the beds were comfortable, the bathrooms clean and there was a bar in the foyer which had free chocolate. The afternoon we spent heading into the city centre and having a walk around, checking out the shops. We then spent about half an hour searching for a coffee shop where we could sit down and chill out for a while. The best place we could find was a bar and they served the worst coffee I have ever had. So after wasting a whole $4 on a coffee that even a child could have made better we went and grabbed some food for dinner then made our way back to the hotel. Julia went and had a sauna while Vera and I went and had a drink at the bar. Then it was off to bed as we had to get up early the next morning as we had to drive to St Petersburg.
The next morning we got up early, packed the buses, eat breakfast then headed off for a full day of sitting on the bus traveling to St Petersburg. We left the hotel at about 9am and three and a half hours later we reached the Finland boarder. The boarder and passport control was quite quick considering there were about 120 of us on the two buses and we got through quickly. We then had to travel another ten minutes down the road to get to the Russian board and passport control. Here it was a completely different story to the Finnish board and passport control. We got there at about 1.30pm only to find that they were all on a lunch break. So after waiting for about half an hour, one lady came and opened up a booth. So all 120 of us had to pass through this one lady to get our passports stamped and you can probably guess that this took forever. We ended up being there for about one and a half to two hours. Finally we made it through and were off. However, we were stopped again just after the passport control and a Russian boarder control person boarded the bus and we had to hold up our passports and show that we had the stamp that allowed us to enter. Once we finally made it into Russia, it was another two and a half hours to St Petersburg. Our bus arrived at the hotel about half an hour before the other bus so we unloaded our bags and went to check out our rooms. As we had friends on the other bus, Jules, Vera and I decided to wait for them to arrive before heading off to try and find somewhere nearby the hotel to grab some dinner before heading out to a night club the group leaders were taking us to.
We ended up finding a little bar where we could have dinner. Ordering our meals was definitely difficult as the waitress did not speak any English and our Russia only consisted of thank you and cheers! But we managed to order food for everyone and the meal was quite good. Real Russian food! That night we ventured out to Metro night club. This took about ten minutes by train then thirty minutes by foot to reach. So by the time we got there it was about midnight. It then took us a little while to get into the club as they had to search us then we were crowded into a small room where we had to pay and get stamps before we could enter. But once we were in it was easy to leave our coats and head into the bars. We started off on the first level where they had Russian music playing. It was not bad and we spent some time down there. However I am not a fan of smoking indoors so preferred to stay on the dance floor as hardly any people smoked in there so the air was slightly better to breathe in. We then decided to check out the second floor and I’m so glad we did. We made our way onto the dance floor and noticed that there were four well built topless guys dancing on a balcony above us. The first group of four were all wearing kilts. However, these were soon replaced by another four who had left the kilts backstage and instead were just wearing a black g-string!!! These men were rotated every twenty minutes or so but they were great to watch and kept us girls occupied for most of the night. There was even a porn room down the end for the boys! We had a great night there spending the majority of our time on the dance floor. We made it home at about 4am and hit the sack as we had to get up at about 6.30am the next morning. That night I set my alarm clock however I had forgotten to change the clock on my phone and move it forward an hour. So the next morning, instead of getting up at 6.30am the alarm went off at 7.30am! So we jumped out of bed and I don’t think I’ve gotten ready and had breakfast in such a short time! But we made it to breakfast and got our luggage on the bus in time so it was ok.
Our first full day in St Petersburg began with a bus tour around the city, pointing out all the different sites that we could later visit in our free time. Our first stop on the tour was at the Smolny Cathedral. We had about fifteen minutes to quickly run around and get photos before it was back on the bus and off to the next stop. We drove past St Isaac Cathedral and once again were given fifteen minutes to get off the bus and take some photos before pushing on to Nevsky Prospect which is the main street in the city and is about nine kilometres long. We then drove past the Peter and Paul Fortress where we saw people sunbathing along one of the walls (note: it was about 15 degrees outside and there were icebergs floating in the river that ran beside the wall!!!). The next stop on the tour was the church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood. This time we were allowed about 25 minutes which was just enough time for us to have a look around and inside the church, while others went to check out the flea market next door. Our final stop on the tour was back at St Isaac Cathedral and from there we were allowed the rest of the afternoon free. So we decide to head to the Winter Palace and spend most of the afternoon there before making our way along Nevsky Prospect.
Outside the Winter Palace there was a marching band rehearsing for a performance and so we stopped to watch them practice for a bit. Just before we were about to make our way inside, we had a special show where one of the Spanish girls on our trip decided to run in front of the marching band to reach her friend. Unfortunately for her she tripped and face planted into the ground where she lay there for a little bit. However, the marching band was closing and she only just managed to get out of the way of them. Someone even managed to capture it on video so we have to remember and laugh at as it was very funny to watch.
Inside the Winter Palace was amazing. The Winter Palace is also connected to the hermitage so we made our way through both buildings, looking at the different exhibitions and displays. Then when we got bored or tired of that we resorted to taking photos of ourselves in interesting places and positions in the different rooms. After the Winter Palace we started to make our way down Nevsky Prospect. Julia and I didn’t get the chance to make it all the way down the street as we had to leave the others earlier as we’d signed up for an optional program which was to go and see a folk concert at Nikolaevsky Palace. The concert was great to watch. In particular, I loved the male Russian dancers who dancer while bobbing down. It must be very hard on the knees and ankles but they make it look so easy. After the performance we were picked up by one of our buses and taken back to the hotel where we decided to call it a night because we were rather tired and had to get up early again the next morning as all our stuff had to be packed onto the buses at 7am!!
Day two in St Petersburg saw us head out to Catherine’s Palace and the Pushkin. As this was also an optional program, those who were left behind had the chance to sleep in and spend the morning in the city. Catherine’s Palace was amazing. There were so many things to look at that in the end you just had to choose something, for example the floors, paintings, ceilings etc, to look at because you could just not take it all in. It is definitely an amazing place and it is possible to rent it out but it would cost you an arm and a leg because it would have to cover the amount of money they make from having tourists visit. The afternoon was then ours to do as we liked. We were dropped off at St Isaac Cathedral and we had to meet the bus back there at 8pm for our night drive to Moscow. Seeing as we were already at the church, we decided to go in and have a look inside. You could also climb the colonnade and have a view of the city from up the top, which was definitely worth the 477 stairs we had to climb just to do it. Afterwards, the group I was with split up and went their different ways because people wanted to see different things. So Anne, Jules and I headed off to go and check out a few churches around the city. We went to see St Nicolas Cathedral and a couple of others whose names I’m not exactly sure of. One of them we went to see had been burnt in a fire three years ago and so was closed but we could still admire the church from the outside. After wandering around the city for most of the afternoon we met up with the others and went for dinner. Then it was off to the bus for the not so fun night bus ride.
We were all right to dread the bus ride. I don’t think I have ever been on such badly kept roads. There were so many potholes all over the road which meant the bus had to travel slower to try and avoid them and make it a little easier for us to sleep. It didn’t make much difference as we were constantly thrown about. I did manage to get about five hours of sleep which I was very impressed with.
When we arrived in Moscow we headed straight to the Red Square we were to meet our tour guides for the day. While we were waiting for the guide to arrive another man came to offer us tickets to the ballet that was being held at the new stage at the Bolshoi Theatre. Seeing as they weren’t too expensive and it’s not everyday you can go to the ballet in Moscow, Jules and I bought tickets along with Anne, Dani and Laura. We had the choice of that night or the following evening and because we chose the following evening, the bus drivers kindly said they’d wait for us as the ballet was due to finish at the same time we were due to be at the bus for the trip back to St Petersburg. When our guides finally arrived they took us for a tour around the Red Square, pointing out the Gym (pronounced g – oo – m), Lennin’s tomb, the Kremlin and St Basil Cathedral. We then jumped back on the bus and were shown around the town. We stopped for a photo opportunity on the other side of the river to the Kremlin and at a park where there was a frozen lake which many of us took advantage of for more photo opportunities. We were also shown the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and the statue of Peter the Great which is a huge statue that overlook the river near the Kremlin. After the tour we dropped the guides off then made our way to the hotel. The trip unfortunately took forever (about an hour and a half) because of the traffic. Our hotel was the old Olympic village used for the 1980 Olympic Games held in Moscow. Once we’d checked in, we headed over to the flea market that was located behind the hotel. It was a pretty cool flea market which had a section that sold souvenirs and another section that was all antiques and second hand stuff people wanted to get rid of. There were even stalls that were selling knives and guns and the owners of the stores did not allow us to take any photos in the area near there shop. We suspect it’s not legal to sell fire arms!
That night we went for dinner in a restaurant near the hotel. It was ok but once again they don’t have a rule against smoking inside so the room we were eating in had a constant smoke haze. So I ate pretty quickly then headed back to the hotel to shower and hit the sack.
Our last day in Moscow we had our final optional program which was a tour of the Kremlin. This was a cool tour which took us into the different churches and around the grounds. We once again had free time to explore the city when we’d finished the tour so we went to look at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Then we jumped on the metro and headed to one of the stations well known for its looks before then heading back to the Kremlin so we could watch the changing of the guards. We then went and looked inside the Gym, which is a huge shopping centre with all the expensive brands and labels so of course, we didn’t buy anything but drooled over many things! Then we finished off with a look inside St Basil Cathedral. It was then time for those of us heading to the ballet to head off and find some food for dinner before the concert. Of course, because we had so much time and the theatre being just over the road, we waited a little too long before making our way there. This meant that we ended up practically running to the theatre then madly running around to dump our coats and find our seats. We also were in need of the toilets and thinking that there’d be toilets on each level raced up to our level (which of course was the top level) only to find the only toilets were next to the cloak room on the bottom floor. So we ran back down, went to the toilet and then ran back up to be just in time for the start. Our seats were the worst in the house and so we had to stand for most of the performance so that we could see the whole stage, but the performance was good to watch. Though I’m not too sure what the story was all about. All I know is there was the lead male who dressed up in a tutu and was amazing. We had decided prior to the performance to leave earlier so that we’d make it back in time for the bus and because we’d had to leave our cloaks in the cloak room, we had to beat the crowd so leaving early was our only option. So just before the finale we left and made our way back to the bus who was waiting for us.
That trip back to St Petersburg was worse than the trip coming to Moscow. The road seemed to have gotten worse and therefore I had less sleep that I would have liked (about three hours!). Back in St Petersburg we had the rest of the day free to do as we pleased. So we decided to head out of the city and do a walk around the northern part of St Petersburg. Anne had the walking route in her lonely planet so she led the way. It was a nice walk around the park and past some very expensive houses and consulates. The walk was very relaxing compared to the previous days. We did get to see a Buddhist temple which was interesting. However, when we entered, because there was a group of about 10 of us they would not let us go in without paying because we were considered a group, but individuals were allowed to enter free. So we stood in the doorway and peered in. After our walk some of us headed back to the city while the others went to check out another church out of town. We were supposed to meet up for dinner at a restaurant that was recommended by the lonely planet guide, however the church was further than they expected so we had to eat without them. We had a really nice meal which was a nice way to end our time in Russia. Taking the bus back to the hotel was a little difficult for us though. We were supposed to take the number 22 trolley, however the number 22 bus came first and thinking they were the same thing we jumped on. Once it was clear we were heading in the wrong direction we’d been sitting on the bus for about half an hour. Where we’d ended up was on the right side of the river but kilometres away from the hotel. We then tried to get a cab however none came past. Luckily a minibus came past and the driver kindly took us to our hotel (and we didn’t even have to pay which was probably due to the fact we didn’t know what we were supposed to do!). We finally got back to the hotel over an hour later than we’d hoped but at least we’d made it back. That night we headed out for some drinks at a bar before coming back and calling it a night.
The next day was nothing special. The whole day was spent on the bus heading back to Turku. The boarder and passport control was much more efficient than coming through and we were out of there in less than an hour. And there were even two other buses being processed at the same time as our two buses. We arrived back in Turku at about 5pm and had some free time before we had to head to catch the ferry home. Vera, Jules and I headed to a pub with some others and just relaxed for the couple of hours we had free.
The ferry ride home was once again uneventful. We didn’t stay up very late as we were all really tired so it was a relatively early night for us. It was good to gain an extra hour as well heading back to Sweden. We arrive at 6.30am and said our goodbyes to everyone. Vera and I then made our way to the station as we had to catch a train at 8.20am so that I could get back in time for my class at 1.15pm. The train ride back was long but I managed to get some more sleep to make up for the missed sleep throughout the trip. When we arrived back in Malmö at about 12.50pm, I head straight to the university in time for my class. Thankfully the class which was supposed to be a 3 hour class only lasted an hour, so I was able to head back and unpack and start getting ready for Amsterdam then next day. So that was Russia and Finland – two very different countries to Australia but very interesting at the same time.
And if you made it to the end of this blog entry… CONGRATULATIONS!!! It’s not my shortest entry so well done. Hope it wasn’t too much of a bore!

Puss och kram,
Alice
xo

Fun Pictures from Russian Trip

2009-05-27T03:09:00.001+10:00

Here are some pictures from the Russian trip. These photos include all the group photos and some other fun pics that were taken over the week and a half. They're not in order....that was just a little too hard for me!!! More photos will be coming shortly!

Enjoy!

Puss och kram,
Alice
xo

Anne, Dani, Jules, Me and Vera at the Red Square in Moscow

Our ballet skills in front of the Gym

Theresa, Dani, Me, Vera and Anne in front of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

Us at the gate to the Kremlin in Moscow

The typical Russian woman!!!

Eva, Inge, Me, Jules and Anne crammed into a cab to head back to our hotel!

Jules, Anne and I with St Basil's Cathedral in the background

Me using the ATM which didn't like my card

Dani, Anne and I at a bar in St Petersburg on our last night in Russia

At an underground station in St Petersburg

Eating Russian food at the flea market in Moscow

Relaxing on the roof of the underground shopping centre

At the gates of the White Palace

The New Stage at the Bolshoi Theatre where we watched a ballet performance

Us eating some typical Russian food outside a flea market in Moscow

Anne, Laura, Julia and I outside the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

At the last restaurant we visited on our last night in Russia! Fantastic food for not too much money!

Us relaxing on the roof of the underground shopping mall

Us watching the fashion show on the TV in the restaurant!

Taking a stroll past the Gym (pronounced guuuum)

Theresa, Jules and I at the Russian Folk Dance

Inge, Theresa and I

Us on the steps of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

Vera and I in front of a very cool blue building!

Vera and I on the bus with the Kremlin in the background

Anne and I posing in the Gym

Our attempt at spelling Moscow! We almost succeeded and even managed to combine a few languages spelling of Moscow!

(In case you can't see it actually says MOSKOW!!)

One of the Metro Boys!!!! (They came out in black G-strings just afterwards!)

Linda, Vera, Dieter, Jane and I at Metro

Us attempting a jumping shot in St Petersburg somewhere

Us outside St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow

Vera jumping in on the guys photo!! Lucky them!!!

The sexy Russian guards who walk around in uniform everywhere and look so young!

Us at the entrance of the Kremlin

Me in front of on of the many churches inside the Kremlin

An ATM in a Church!!!

The Babooshka Dolls

Us on a bridge over one of the many canals in St Petersburg

Jules, Vera and I on the boat home

Me with the lions with golden wings

The University of Moscow!! Quite an impressive building for a uni!

Me with the sexy Russian fur hat

Jules and Anne in front of another church in St Petersburg...not too sure the name of this one!

Jules and I in front of St Nicholas' Cathedral

Jules imitating a guard!

Anne and I with the tower in front of St Nicholas' Cathedral behind us

Dried fish anyone??

Jules in a little Russian supermarket

The Sleeping Beauties!

With my Russian soup!

In front of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

Me with the Kremlin in the background

Russian Road Trip #89 2009

Dinner in Moscow. One of the worst restaurants ever!!! It was like sitting in a chimney with all the cigarette smoke!

Not too sure where this is. Somewhere in RUSSIA!!

Walking in Red Square

At the Red Square!

Behind us is the Kremlin in Moscow

At the top of St Issac's with St Petersburg in the background

And now the pictures complete!

Thoughtful!

Me and the sports centre in the background

Standing on the lake in front of some fancy building

Me with the ducks!

Anne and I laying a kiss on mummy duck

Us with the ducks that were given as a present by the Dutch!

Jules and I on the bus

Jules and I in a square in the old town of Helsinki

Jules and I at one of our many toilet and food stops

Jules and I at the entrance to the underground church

Me in the underground church

Jules and I in the Underground

Me on some decoration in the Helsinki underground station near out hotel

Theresa, Inge, Eva, Anne and I with the Smolny Cathedral behind us

Group pic outside the Smolny Cathedral

And another in black and white!

Us waiting around outside a square in St Petersburg

Our first dinner in Russia!!! I'm surprised we managed to order anything due to the language barrier!
NB: Sign language goes a LONG way!

Our sexy footwear we had to wear in the Pushkin. It felt like we were on the set of Scrubs or something!

Us waiting for our guides at the Pushkin

Take One of the group photo of Bus B (the best bus!)

Take two!

Dani, Eva and I outside Hotel Ladoga

Dani and I outside our hotel in St Petersburg

Group shot at the top of St Issac's

Dani, Vera and I at the to of St Issac's in St Petersburg

The gang in front of the gates to the White Palace and Hermitage

Me and some fancy table. I think I blend in well!

Me pointing to where I thought we might be on the map (I actually had no idea!)

Me, Elwin and Jules in the White Palace

Vera, Jules and I in the White Palace

An attempt at an artistic photo of Vera and I

Theresa, Inge and I on some steps in the White Palace

Dani, Inge, me, Vera and Anne in best club in St Petersburg: Metro

Theresa dancing with some random Russian boy

Me, Eva and Jules in Metro

Theresa, Laura, Inge, Dani, Eva, Anne and me in Metro

Anne and I in Metro

Me behind the fence in Metro

Vera and Eva in Metro

Jules and I in the much loved (or not so loved) bus!

Vera and I on the boat

Jules on the boat leaving Stockholm to head to Turku

Vera outside the Viking Line terminal in Stockholm

Me also outside the Viking Line terminal in Stockholm

Finland and Russia Pics!!!

2009-05-05T23:46:00.045+10:00

Finally...here are the pictures from Russia and Finland.

Enjoy!

Puss och kram,
Alice
xo

The Viking Line Terminal in Stockholm

View from the ferry as we were leaving Stockholm

Part of the ferry!

More of Stockholm!

Some of the sights of Helsinki as seen through the wet window of the bus! (A few of these buildings I'm not sure of names or uses! Sorry)

One of the main streets in Helsinki

I think this was the National Museum

Sibelius Monument

Sibelius' Head

Under the Sibelius Monument

The entrance to the underground church

Not sure what this building was!

Helsinki Cathedral

Not sure which building this was but it was in the old part of Helsinki

I think this was the library in the older part of town but I'm not 100% sure

The statue in the square outside the Helsinki Cathedral

Helsinki Cathedral

Inside the Helsinki Cathedral

The Land and Sea Fortress in Helsinki

Our lovely hotel in Helsinki

Inside the metro station

The name of the metro station near the hotel...try and say that!

Out hotel in St Petersburg

The main bridge which is an extension of Nevsky Prospect

Smolny Cathedral

The Smolny Institue where women are taught how to be and how to act if they become royalty!

I'm not exactly sure what this was a picture of! Somewhere on the Neva River

St Isaac's Cathedral

A monument somewhere in St Petersburg that represents something (but I have no idea what!)

I think this must have been a place where new mothers go. There were so many prams parked out in the street!

How the Russians mark a huge pot hole in the pedestrian street

St Isaac Cathedral from a distance

Nevsky Prospect street sign

The Alexander Column at Palace Square

The Peter and Paul Fortress

The Neva River with icebergs still floating on it

An old ship anchored outside the Peter and Paul Fortress

The Peter and Paul Fortress

The church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood

Inside the church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood

The Winter Palace and the Alexander Column

The marching band rehearsing outside the Winter Palace

Inside the Winter Palace and the Hermitage

The General Staff Building opposite the Winter Palace on Palace Square

The Winter Palace

St Catherine's Church on Nevsky Prospect

Outside Nikolaevsky Palace where the folk performance was held

The Folk Performance we went to see

Our hotel room in St Petersburg

The outskirts of St Petersburg (not nearly as nice as the city centre)

The main (and only) rail road between Moscow and St Petersburg

Outside Catherine Palace

Inside Catherine Palace - every room was decorated with amazing furniture, ceilings, furniture, walls...you get the picture!

The old style heaters

A group of male singers who performed for us. They were really good too!

The only remaining original floor in the entire palace

The gardens at Catherin Palace

Catherine Palace out at the Pushkin

The view from the Colonnade at St Isaac Cathedral

Inside St Isaac Cathedral

A cool bridge with lions over a canal in St Petersburg

The tower near St Nicolas Cathedral

A church with a green roof (name unknown to me!)

The tower near St Nicolas Catherdral

St Nicolas Cathedral

One of the canals in St Petersburg

The monument outside Trinity Church

The Trinity (a.k.a. Troitsky) Church which had a fire in it about 3 years ago

MOSCOW!

St Basil's Cathedral

The Red Square

The Gym on the Red Square

Another fancy looking church somewhere in Moscow

The entrance to the Kremlin

The Kremlin

The church of Christ our Saviour from a distance

Some church we passed on the bus tour

Moscow University, which if you ask me is a rather fancy looking building for a university!

A castle like building at a park we stopped at...and note that the lake is frozen solid!

The Gym!

Our hotel which was the old Olympic village

The flea market near our hotel

Our guide and some of the others in our tour group!

Inside the Kremlin walls

Some of the churches in the Kremlin (names unknown to me!)

Inside one of the churches

The old bell found within the grounds of the Kremlin

The statue of Peter the Great (which is the guy you can see standing on the ship)

One of the fancy metro stations (which if you ask me was not all that special!)

Some cool blue building we passed

The church of Christ our Saviour

Just near where the changing of the guards was held

The changing of the guard outside the Kremlin

The Red Square (I'm not too sure exactly what the names of these buildings are!)

Inside the Gym

Inside St Basil's Cathedral

St Basil's Cathedral lit up at night

BACK IN ST PETERSBURG!

Some of the houses we saw on our walking tour through the north part of St Petersburg

The park we walked through

The Buddhist Temple

The view from the ferry as we were leaving Turku to head back to Stockholm

Ice Hockey - Sweden vs Switzerland

2009-05-02T03:44:00.011+10:00

So after arriving back from Stockholm at about 4.30pm, it was a quick rush back to Sommarstaden, dumping of luggage, eating and trying to get in touch with the others going to the ice hockey to work out where we were supposed to be going and where we could meet.

Thinking that the game was at the local stadium about 5 minutes by bike from Sommarstaden, Hanni and I decided that we'd leave about 6.15pm so we could meet the others at 6.30pm and be all seated and ready for the 7pm start. Unfortunately, just as I was about to leave I received a phone call from Suvi to inform me that she was at the stadium and there was no one in sight. Slightly panicked, I used my friends computer only to find out that the stadium we needed was on the outskirts of Malmö and only two buses run out there on event days, but not very often. So as I was trying to tell Hanni we had to run to catch a bus to get to Södervärn because I was under the impression that the buses didn't stop at Mobilia, despite the fact they drove straight past, while also trying to contact Suvi to tell her to run and catch a bus and that we'd meet her at Södervärn. So slightly frazzled and puffed, we made it to Södervärn and found the bus stop where the bus to the stadium was leaving from. Unfortunately, Suvi hadn't yet arrived and the number 85 bus arrived just after we made it to the bus stop. Once again I found myself madly trying to ring Suvi, because we'd also found out that the bus did in fact stop at both Dalaplan and Mobilia, the two stops between Sommarstaden and Södervärn. However, I was unable to get onto Suvi until she called to tell me she was at Södervärn, only for us to be passing Mobilia bus stop at that minute. There didn't seem to be any more buses heading out to the stadium either so Suvi was stranded at Södervärn while we were on our way to the game. We arrived with about 10 minutes to spare. We met up with Thomas, Samuele and the others and hurried inside to find our seats. I hadn't heard back from Suvi as to whether or not she was able to get out there so all I could do was sit and watch the game and hope she made it.

The game started and was so much fun to watch. To begin with, the two teams came out onto the ice and stood facing each other in the dark while music played. The the lights came on and the players were off, skating around to warm up. About 10 minutes later the game started. Sweden scored the opening goal within a minute of the game beginning. So everything was off to a good start. The Swedish team even had their own band who'd play music to help wind up the crowd. Ice hockey is nothing like my beloved AFL but it was definitely enjoyable. I had no idea what was going on half the time but the speed and aggression they play with makes it very enternaining.

Just before the first break (there are three thirds and so two breaks after about 20 minutes of play) Suvi called em to tell me she was at the front gate and so to come out with her ticket. Unfortunately, it must have been my leaving to get Suvi because Switzerland scored 2 goals in the time I was gone, which was bout 5 minutes before the first break.

At the second break, similar to the AFL games, they had the little league come out and play to entertain the crowd. They were all so cute, and small, but surprisingly good for their age. It was very fun to watch and cheer for them! They also had two machines come out at each break and clean the ice. And to make sure the ice didn't melt too much during the breaks, the lights over the court were turned off.

The remainder of the game was pretty good to watch though there wasn't a great deal of scoring. Sweden scored one more goal but unfortunately so did Switzerland, making them the winners. So at least Hanni and Samuele (who is actually from Switzerland) were happy.

Catching the bus home was much easier and less dramatic than getting to the stadium. Once back at Mobilia, it was decided that an ice cream from Burger King was in order before Suvi catching her bus back to Celsius and Hanni and I heading home to bed.

Overall, very, very fun night, despite all the dramas of getting there. And for all of those who have never seen and ice hockey game, I recommend trying to get to a game, or if that is impossible, watch one on TV or online.

So that was my ice hockey experience. And now I'm just hoping to try and get tickets to a soccer game. The good thing is I know that they play the games at the stadium just near sommarstaden, so there will be no confusion next time :-)

Puss och kram,
Alice
xo

Ice Hockey Pictures!!!

2009-05-02T02:46:00.015+10:00

Here are the picture from the ice hockey game I went to go and see.

Enjoy!

Puss och kram,
Alice
xo

The players lined up opposite each other waiting for the game to begin

The Swedish Team Support Band (I don't actually know their proper name)

The Swiss team

The game!!

Thomas and Samuele - poor Samuele was one of about 5 Switzerland supporters!

The University Island people!!

Suvi, Hanni and I

Hanni and I

The boys got right into it. Thomas for Sweden and Samuele for Switzerland

Hanni and I

Suvi, Hanni and I

Us again!

The big screens!

Inside the stadium

At each break the ice cleaning machines came out and cleaned down the ice

The little kids came out and played for us at the second break...they were so cute

The goalie was about smaller than the goals

The littlies going at it!

The big guys going at it!!

The Swedish teams bench

At the first break the band went down onto the ice to play for everyone

The two teams going at it!

The winners - Switzerland

At the end of the game the teams stood opposite each other while they announced the winners and gave a brief presentation

The teams shaking hands at the end of the game

The Swedish team having their photo taken with the band members

The Swedish team heading to the change rooms after the game

How to Make Rock Candy

2009-05-01T21:29:00.010+10:00

Here are the videos of the two guys making rock candy!

Enjoy!

Puss och kram,
Alice

Stockholm and Prague!!

2009-04-25T03:29:00.015+10:00

Wow, trying to write this now after 3 weeks is definitely a challenge. So much has happened that this trip seems like a distant memory now. But I will try to remember as much as I can. So here it goes!!!!

The Friday that I was due to go to Stockholm with Valerie also happened to be the day that I had to give my presentation of my picture book to my Children's Literature class. So after spending a rather relaxing morning listening to everyone's stories I rushed to the station to be in time to catch my train that would take me to Stockholm. It was a long train ride (being 5 and a half hours) and it was rather depressing to watch the sunny weather in Malmö turn cloudier and colder as we headed north. The worst part was when we saw it snowing out the window!!! However, there was no snow falling when we arrived in Stockholm, however there was slushy snow all over the streets.

After working out how to buy our train tickets and work out which station we needed to head to we boarded the train and made our way to our hostel for the night. The walk from the station was one I will not forget quickly! After watching Valerie clear the snow from the footpath with her case, she was then very unfortunate when it came to crossing the road. Just like you see in movies, Valerie was standing at the edge of the road waiting to cross when a car drove past quite fast. Unfortunately there happened to be a puddle of water in front of Valerie and in the path of the car. And yes, most of the water managed to find its way onto Valerie. However, this was not the last of her bad luck. After crossing the road, she was just not fast enough in climbing the fence and another car drove past for take two. By the time we actually reached the hostel, Valerie's pants were quite wet and she was rather cold!

Our first hostel was a new experience. We were in a shared room with 10 other people. However it was not any normal room. Instead, it was a room on a boat. This meant very little room to move, not much room above the beds and one very crowded room. Our nights sleep was also an experience, with about 8 French people waltzing in at about 3.30am and making as much noise as they possibly could for about an hour. Let's just say that Valerie and I were not very impressed. Valerie even felt the need to make a speech to them all the next morning as we were leaving telling them how embarrassed she was by them, being a French person herself!

So after our night on the boat, we left our bags in the locker room and headed out to explore the city. As I had been to Stockholm previously, I became the tour guide. Valerie and I headed out to Gamla Stan where we walked around for a little while and after finding out that the castle didn't open to the public until 11am, we decided to go and visit the national gallery before making it back in time to see the changing of the guards at 12pm.

The exhibition at the gallery was very interesting. It was a whole lot of furniture and bits and pieces that you would find in a house. Rather cool if you ask me. Anyway we managed to see most of the museum before we had to leave so we could make it back across to the castle for the changing of the guards. As it was last time, the process of changing over the guards takes about 30 minutes. So it's not exactly a quick process. And for those who have seen the changing of the guards in London, it's very, very similar.

Next on the list of things to do was to actually go and see the castle. We managed to make it to the treasury and see the Royal and guest apartments before the castle closed at 3pm. They were basically unchanged since I last saw them in 2007. But it was still fun to walk around and see everything again.

As we had about an hour before we needed to head back to the hotel to collect our bags before heading out to Nyköpping where we were to spend the night, we decided to have a coffee and cake at one of the restaurants in stortorget. It was nice to have the chance to sit down and relax a little after all the running round we'd done that morning.

After collecting our bags and heading back to the central station where we were to catch the airport bus out tot the airport where our hotel was, we had to run through the station in order to make our bus. But we did make it, though we were rather hot a sweaty by the time we got on the bus, so it was good to have an hour and a half of doing nothing on the bus. I caught a few winks of sleep and Valerie did some work on her dissitation.

The hotel we stayed at that night was very luxurious. It even had a gym and sauna that its guests could use!!! So after having something to eat down at the restaurant, Valerie and I hit the sauna for some rest and relaxation before heading to bed. Luckily for me, I remembered that we had to change our clocks forward an hour due to daylight saving, so we did not miss our flight at 10.30am the next morning.

Being right next to the airport was great. We got up about 8am, had breakfast and then strolled over to the airport. Once we'd checked in we then had to make it through the security checkpoint. Unfortunately, it was not as simple as just walking through. Thanks to the fantastic airline company, Ryanair, they would not allow Valerie through with her backpack and computer because they were two items of hand luggage and Ryanair only allows one. So we had to go back to the check in counter and buy a large, white plastic bag for Valerie to put both her back pack and computer bag into, because this was considered one item of hand luggage!!! So after that slight drama we made through to the gate where we sat down and relaxed for about an hour while we waited to board our plane. Valerie was most amused by the fact that there were men sitting at the bar having a beer ... and yes this was at 9AM!!!!

The flight to Prague was fine and when we landed it was cloudy but not too cold. So OK weather! After managing to find the ATM and buy a ticket for the train we made the 30 minute journey into the city to find out hostel. The accommodation was quite nice and after choosing our beds and dumping our bags, we headed into the city centre to have a look around and try and find a tourist information centre to get some information about what to do with the next couple of days we had there.

Finding the city centre was not difficult, however it took us over an hour and a half to find. However, when we got to the main square, there was a festival going on, I think to celebrate the beginning of spring. So there were stalls selling typical Czech food and drink, souvenir stalls and a stage where there was traditional Czech performances going. Valerie and I spent some time walking around having a look at the performances and tryings some of the food. I bought a Trdelnik which is just some bread rapped around a log and cooked over coals. The bread is then dipped in sugar and is really quite tasty. We also came across a rock candy store where you could watch them making the candy. We stayed there for about 20 minutes, watching them and as a result, got to sample the final result, which was a mango flavour. It was fun to watch them making the candy and see how they get the pictures inside the candy. This is done by make the candy as a cylinder about 30cm wide and then rolling it out to get the final product. I even took some movies of the process which you can have a look at to see what I'm talking about. We were also in time to see the Astronomical clock give it's performance, which it does on the hour every hour...though it isn't as cool as our clock in Melbourne Central.

When we finally found the tourist information, we went in and raided their brochure section, grabbing lots of maps and booklets with information on what to see. Afterwards, we finished strolling around the shopping streets before deciding it was time to head back, find a supermarket on the way so we could grab something to cook for dinner. The supermarkets were basically the same as they are in many countries but the plus was that this one sold all kinds of alcohol...a luxury I've been missing while in Sweden. So we grabbed some beers along with some pasta and salad and made our way back to our hostel. We had a nice dinner, sitting and gazing out our hostel window. Afterwards, Valerie and I took advantage of the free internet before calling it a night.

The next day it was up early and off to go exploring. We first made our way, by train, out to Malostranska station. From there, it was about a 15 minute walk, up countless steps, to get to the Royal Palace which is situated on the top of hill. Unfortunately, it appeared as though there was something going on at the palace as there were lots of guards walking around and the palace and it's gates were closed off to the public. Still not too sure what was going on but it may have been that the president or someone important was there at the palace. It was quite a nice looking palace and we were disappointed that we couldn't go inside and have a look around, so we had to make do with have a look at the buildings around the square in front of the palace.

Next it was back down the hill and back to St Nicholas Cathedral which we had passed on our way to the palace. The inside of the cathedral was just amazing. Next stop was the the Charles Bridge. We took our time walking across, stopping to look at all the little stalls set up on the bridge. There was also two panels on one of the stuatues where, so we were told, if you rubbed the dog and the and the lady, you would be brought good luck. The view from the bridge was quite spectacular, as you can see from the photos. Then it was on to the National Theatre, just to have a look at the building before continuing on to the National Museum. Here we went inside and had a look around at all the different exhibitions. They had a special exhibition about World War Two and it's effects on the Czech Republic which was very interesting. They also had some different sections in this exhibition that were set up to replicate different aspects of life back in those days, so they had some shops, rooms inside a house and a classroom.

We then made our way to Henry's Bell Tower and on the way, passed the new Town Hall, which we stopped at and took some photos but were unable to get inside as it was closed. At the Bell Tower we were able to go up to the top and have a look at the view back over Prague. It was great as you were able to get a 360 degree view back over the city centre of Prague. They also had the bells there on display and a display of photos take from the top of the tower. The final stop for the day was then the Jerusalem Synagogue. This place was amazing. We were just in time to get inside and have a look around. There were so many colours that it was really quite beautiful to look at.

Then it was back to the train station and back to the hostel. We made a quick trip out to the supermarket again to get some more salad for dinner before spending the rest of the night at the hostel. We did head down to the bar after dinner for a drink then it was off to bed as we were both so tired and had one last day to spend sight seeing so we need to be awake and energetic as a lot of walking was to be expected.

Tuesday morning we got up about 9am and headed down for breakfast. Then, before heading out, I had to take a shower. I am glad I waited until after breakfast as the shower as a completely new experience for me. Not only were the showers all in one larger shower area, no curtains or walls to separate the showers, but I managed to misread the signs for the showers and ended up taking a shower in the boys showers. Luckily for me no one came in while I was showering otherwise it could have been rather embarrassing!!!! And I don't think I've ever showered so much in my life. Good practice for when I go back home!

After the mornings fun, we headed out for our first stop of the day...the Old Jewish Town. I didn't realise how large it actually was until we started walking around visiting the different synagogues. The first place we visited was the Jewish Cemetry. This was very similar to the other cemetries I had seen previously, though I did learn why there were stones placed on top of the grave stones...it was a sign that someone had visited the grave. Right next to the cemetry was the Ceremonial Hall, which was where they prepared the bodies for burial, and the Klausen Synagogue. Inside the Synagogue they had all the different prayer books, the Torrah and different objects of religious significance. For example, they had Hannuka candle holders, Torrah pointers and Torrah crowns. After that we walked past and had a browse at the flea market that was set up in the street next to the Klausen Synagogue. Then it was on to the Old New Synagogue. Here there were also displays which told of the history of the Jewish people in Prague. We then went on to see the Spanish Synagogue, which was also quite impressive and very colourful and had more displays dipicting important people in the history of the Jewish poeple, before then taking a slight detour to go and see the Prague Metronome! The metronome was also at the top of a hill and so the climbing of steps was required. I think Valerie and I become expert stair climbers by the time we left Prague! The view from up at the metronome was rather spectacular. However, it was slightly hazy and so we could see as far as we would have been able to on a clear day. It was still worth seeing though!

We decided to then grab some lunch before tackling the climb up to the viewing tower. Although it was a very tough climb, very steep and seemed to go on for ages, the view from the top of the hill where the tower was situated was amazing. Prague is definitely a very beautiful city! Unfortunately our bad luck was continuing. When we reached to tower, we found a sign saying that the tower was only open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays!!!! But we sat at the top for a while, enjoying the sun and the view before making our way back down the hill. As we had been on our feet for most of the day, we made the decision to head back to our hostel, eat and then have an early night. We made a quick stop off again at the supermarket to stock up on supplies for dinner and I also took advantage of the cheaper prices of vodka and brought a couple of bottles to take home with me. When we got back to the hostel, we both decided to take advantage of the fact that it was pretty quiet in the dorms and so once again had one of the fastest showers in my life. This time I even managed to use the right showers. However, I think the boys showers were better as the entrance to the showers was around the corner to where the door into the showers was. In the girls though this entrance was just near the door into the showers, so if someone came in as you were climbing in or out of the showers, anyone walking past the door at that time would have a great view of EVERYTHING!!!

Wednesday morning we got up at about 9am and had breakfast before packing our bags and making our way back out to the airport. We managed to check in just fine, however I also had to check in my case as I could not carry through the vodka in my hand luggage and my bag was a little too heavy! So after paying about $45 to check in my bag we walked through the security check, not problems with bags this time around, and went and did some browsing in the duty free shops. We were planning on going and sitting for a coffee before boarding the plane, however when we checked the schedule, we noticed that our plane had started boarding an hour before it was due to leave, so we had to forget about the coffee and make our way directly to the gate. The flight home was fine and I even managed to grab some 40 winks.

When we arrived in Stockholm, we grabbed our luggage and went to join the huge queue to get onto the buses that would transport us back to T-Centralen in Stockholm city centre. Luckily enough, Valerie managed to get on the second bus and was able to get me onto the bus, despite the fact we'd gotten separated in the line and me being further back in the line. We made it to T-Centralen just fine and met our friend Anna at the station. As we'd not had lunch and by that stage (it being about 4pm) we were ratehr hungry, we sat at one of the cafes at the station and had something to eat. We then had to go and buy more train tickets so we could get out to Arlanda airport (about 1 hour from the city centre) which was where our hostel for the night was situated.

We arrived at the airport at about 8pm and found the free bus that would take us to the Jumbo Hostel, our destination for the evening. It was definitely one of the coolest hostels I've ever stayed in. For those who don't know, the Jumbo Hostel is an old jumbo jet that they have done up into a hostel. Anna, Valerie and I all had a room to ourselves which was very nice. We even had our own flat screen TV which we watched Fast and the Furious: Toyko Drift. Definitely not one of my favourite movies ever made! We just relaxed that evening. We drank some wine and Anna and Valerie planned their road trip around Stockholm that they'd be leaving for the next morning while I just sat and watched the TV.

The next morning we got up and checked out. Then I said goodbye to Anna and Valerie who left to go and collect their hire car while I headed to the airport so I could catch my flight home.

I have to say that I really liked Prague and think it was a beautiful city. However, tourists have taken over. You really can't go anywhere without seeing countless tour groups wandering around, seeing the sights. We'd have taken one of thsoe except for the fact that even the FREE walking tours expected you to tip at he end of the tour. So we settled for doing our own tours.

Also, if ever you need a place to stay in Stockholm, don't forget the Jumbo. It's about the same price as any other hostels but is much nicer!!! If you have the money, you can even book the cockpit!!

Anyway, that is all for this post. Next up...ICE HOCKEY!!!!!!

Puss och kram,
Alice
xo

Stockholm and Prague Pictures!!!

2009-04-18T17:50:00.059+10:00

At last...here are the pictures from my trip to Stockholm and Prague.

Enjoy!

Puss och kram,
Alice
xo

The view out the boat window that was right next to my bed

Our hostel room

There was not a lot of space between the bed and the roof.

Valerie and I planning what to do the next day

The view out the window at breakfast

Valerie looking very awake at breakfast!

Me eating my toast with cheese!

Our boat hostel was the big white one

The monument in Stortorget

Valerie pretending to be a statue

Just to show how narrow the streets are!!

Typical Swedes!!!

This was a really cute palace guard!

A supermarket in the middle of Gamla Stan (it really does look out of place!!!)

The Royal Palace

Opening times of the national museum

Actual time!! (10:40am)

Valerie sitting and waiting patiently for the museum to open

The Royal Palace

The changing of the guards

Valerie with on of the Palace Guards

Where the changing of the guards takes place

Monument in Stortorget

My two favourite buildings in Stockholm!!! They look so cool!

PRAGUE

The Powder Tower

How to make rock candy!!

The final product!

The spring festival that was being held. There were many stalls selling food and souvenirs.

Traditional Czech dance

Valerie's hot wine

Trdelnik - a Czech food which is sort of like a donut

The Astronomical Tower and Old Town Hall

The tourist information centre which took us over and hour to find!!!

The Church of Our Lady Before Tyn

Tyn Cathedral with the Spring Festival in the square in front of the building

The monument found in the square

A viewing platform so people could see the stage

An eagle who was used to entertain the crowd

The spring festival!

All the trees were decorated with colourful balls and ribbons

The fake flowers that had been wrapped around the branches of the tree

A cool puppet shop which even had a life size Pinocchio puppet at the entrance to the shop

A fancy hotel

Our hostel room

This was taken just outside one of the train stations near the Royal Palace

St Nicholas Cathedral from behind

A tram!

The Parliament building

The side of the Royal Palace

The view from up the top of the hill where the Royal Palace is situated

The Royal Palace

Me in the guard's box

The main gates to the palace

The main gate into the Royal Palace

Palace Guards

The dreaded steps that lead up to the Royal Palace

St Nicholas Cathedral

Valerie in front of the monument in front of St Nicholas Cathedral

Inside St Nicholas Cathedral

The tower at the entrance to Charles Bridge

On Charles Bridge

The view from Charles Bridge

Me on the bridge with the city behind me

The Royal Palace

Apparently if you rubbed these two carvings it is supposed to bring you good luck. (The gold part has been kept that colour by everyone rubbing the picture!)

Guy playing the violin

More pictures of the view from Charles Bridge

The view of the Royal Palace from Charles Bridge

The front of St Nicholas' Church

Can't remember what this was....I think it was just a cool looking monument!

The National Theatre

The back of the National Theatre

A very nice looking hotel!

Typical Czech Alcohol

ABSINTH!!!!

The Alcoholic Shop Windows

The National Museum

Another church!

The Town Hall

Cool picture on the wall

Some church in Prague

Henry's Bell Tower

A cool painting on the wall of a building!

The view from the top of Henry's Bell Tower

The bells in Henry's Bell Tower

One of the old bells from the bell tower

Some old machine!!

The outside of the Jerusalem Synagogue

Inside the Jerusalem Synagogue

The entrance to the Jewish Museum. The white building with the red roof is the Pinkas Synagogue!

The Old Jewish Cemetery

The Ceremonial Hall

The Klausen Synagogue

The white building is the Klausen Synagogue, the brown building with the red roof is the Ceremonial Hall and in between them lies the Jewish Cemetery.

The flea market just next to the Klausen Synagogue

The Old New Synagogue

A really nice looking building that was a restaurant/bar!

The church next door to the Spanish Synagogue

The front of the Spanish Synagogue

Inside the Spanish Synagogue

The Giant Metronome!

The stairs that take you up to the Giant Metronome

The view from up the top of the hill, next to the Giant Metronome!

The viewing tower which is situated on top of a really large hill!!! From the top of the tower you get an awesome view back across Prague!

Our bad luck continued...we made it to the top on a Tuesday only to find it was only open Saturday and Sunday!!

The gateway that lead to a garden just opposite the tower

Valerie and I in front of the viewing tower

The view from somewhere near the top of the hill!!!

Some fancy hotel in a very nice building!

STOCKHOLM

Inside the Jumbo Hostel out at Arlanda Airport, Stockholm

The Jumbo Hostel from the outside!

Here are the pictures of my Stockholm and Prague trip. Enjoy!

Puss och kram,
Alice
xo

Happy Easter

2009-04-04T23:01:00.003+11:00

Hi everyone.

I hope this finds you all well. I just wanted to wish you (an early) HAPPY EASTER!!! I hope you all have a great break and relaxing weekend. And of course, hope the Easter bunny/bilby finds you all and you eat your fair share of chocolate!!! I'll be celebrating Easter this year in Russia, which I'm rather excited about. I'm not too sure which city exactly, but no doubt where I am it will be an Easter to remember.

Should hopefully have my blog updated with Stockholm/Prague, Russia/Finland and Amsterdam pics and trip details by the end of May. So until then...

Puss och kram,
Alice
xoxo

My School Placement - Bladins International School

2009-03-26T22:55:00.004+11:00

So I have just finished an amazing 15 days at Bladins International School for my school placement. I spent the 15 days in PYP 6 (Primary Years Program - IB) and was able to teach both language (English) and maths lessons which was lots of fun.

The class had 26 students which meant that there were a lot of students who took up most of the space in the classroom and not much room left to move around. They're hoping to move the school for next year so that they can have bigger classrooms which will make teaching a little easier. The students came from all over, with some from Greece, Italy, Japan, India, Denmark, Mexico, America, England, Holland etc ... you get the idea!!! So it was lots of fun listening to all the different accents. In the class I was in there were 7 EAL students which made it an even more interesting class to teach. These students, instead of taking Swedish lessons, had extra English lessons to help improve both their writing and speech. All the students in the class were so well behaved that it made teaching them so easy to do. It also allowed me to have some fun with them during the lessons as they still got on with their work and never got carried away or too silly.

Being an IB school, it was interesting to learn about the IB curriculum which is a little different to the VELS curriculum back home. The main difference was that they have 6 units of inquiry throughout the year where they are able to do their own study into certain subjects. While I was there, they were in the middle of their "A Better Future" unit of inquiry which also involves them putting together an exhibition for their parents. This unit required them to chose a global issue, either social or environmental, which was of interest to them and do research into how the issue came about, what effects it is having on the world and how they can help to fix this problem. It has been really interesting to watch the students conduct research into their different interest areas (the credit crunch, endangered animals, global warming, pollution, ocean pollution and animal cruelty). They also had to give an informative speech highlighting the research they had done so far. All of the talks were very good and showed that the students had really looked deeply at their issue and how it is effecting us. Their exhibition will be at the end of April and I am planning to go and see them all present their research to their parents. It will be interesting to see how far they've come and the finished product!!

I was very lucky in that I was able to take so many lessons. Because half the day was spent on the unit of inquiry, it was difficult to find lessons that I could take. But in the end I managed to take most of the maths lesson for about 3 weeks (which involved 3 maths lessons a week) and a series of language lessons in which I both conducted the lessons and also assessed the work. The work I did in the language class was one of the benchmarks and so their marks will go on their end of year reports. This was a great learning experience for me to have to come up with the writing activity of rewriting a fairy tale and then also create a marking criteria which I then used to mark all the students' work. All the students did really well on the task and it was great to read their modernised versions of Hansel and Gretel or Little Red Riding Hood.

I also tagged along to the PE lessons which were lots of fun. Quite fittingly, the main unit they were doing while I was there was dance and I had lots of fun joining in with them and watching them learn how to do the nutbush, the heel and toe polka and the cha cha slide.

The best part though was that I was assessed for this placement by one of the university staff, which I had to do in order to be able to do a rural placement next semester when I get home. This now means that I don't need to be assessed next semester so it's over and done with and out of the way. I always find it more enjoyable when you don't have to worry about making sure your placement folder is all up to scratch and your lesson plans and observations are all organised!!!

So now my placement is finished and while I'll miss the students , it'll be nice to have my days off again!! 5 day weeks with 7am starts gets rather tiring after a while. However, I'm going to have to wait at least a week until I can get a day off as this morning I had my final exam for my Global Children's Literature course, which I feel went well, but am glad to have it over a done with. Then tomorrow I have to present my picture story book which I created and was our project work for the course. Tomorrow evening however I am off to Stockholm with Valerie before heading to Prague from Sunday to Wednesday. I'll be back home Thursday for the night for the ICE HOCKEY match (my replacement for not having AFL here!!!) before leaving Friday afternoon to go and visit Lars, Åsa and Pontus in Göteborg until Sunday. I'm quite excited about this because I get to go and see a handball match...apparently Pontus is quite the pro!!! Then Monday I leave for Russia and Finland for 9 days. But it doesn't end there. The day after I return from Russia and Finland I'm off to Amsterdam. So I can bet that April will fly by and suddenly I'll be on the home stretch!!!! (which is a little scary to think I will have been here for about 4 months).

I'm going to warn you now that the blog will not be updated for about a month but when I finally get the chance to breathe, I will put up all my pictures of Stockholm, Prague, the Ice Hockey match, Göteborg, Finland, Russia and Amsterdam. So I'd also better apologise in advance because, knowing me, it'll be lots for you to read and look at...but I promise it'll be interesting!!!!

So until next time....I hope you are all well back home and I wish you a happy and safe Easter. Try not to consume too much chocolate over the Holiday!!! Oh and go CATS!!!!!!

Puss och kram,
Alice
xo

Bladins International School

2009-03-26T22:50:00.004+11:00

Here are just some pictures of Bladins, where I was on placement for 15 days. These are just of the outside of the school and the classroom that I was in - very small for 26 students!!!

xo

PYP 6 Students with JoAnna

The classroom of PYP 6

The school is pretty much hidden from the road by trees

More Pictures of Malmö!!

2009-03-13T02:24:00.007+11:00

Here are some more photos of places around Malmö. These picture were all taken down near the beach.

Enjoy!
xo

The harbour right near the beach!

The lovely hole we made in the ice using a rock!! (Note that most of the harbour water was frozen!!)

The bridge from Sweden to Denmark!

These taps were fixed onto a wall above a pond. Not too sure what the purpose was apart from the artistic look!!

The children's playground just opposite Turning Torso!! I thought it looked like a pretty cool playground!!

The base of Turning Torso - the most famous and well known building of Malmö

Valerie looking very attractive in front of Turning Torso. She wanted so badly to be in the photo that she had to jump and her head managed to find its way into the photo!!

POLAND - KRAKOW!!!

2009-03-12T03:08:00.002+11:00

Where to start...Poland was AMAZING!!! I suppose I'll start from leaving Malmö....

Thursday morning I was one of the unfortunate people traveling to Poland who had to attend class for 3 hours from 9am till 12pm. Then it was a rush to get back to Sommarstaden, finish packing, have lunch and be ready to leave by 1:30pm for the airport. We were able to catch a bus to the airport from Södervan which is only about 3 minutes away with the city bus. Kim, Christina and I met all the others, about 13 of them, on the bus as they had boarded at Centralen, which was further away from us than Södervan.

Malmö airport was much bigger than I expected and quite nice. Unfortunately we couldn't buy anything duty free as you have to fly to a country that isn't a part of Europe to receive the tax free. So after checking in then spending another one and a half hours killing time before our flight we were finally able to board. The flight was not the most enjoyable I've ever had. It was such a bumpy ride and the plane was even rocking from side to side as we were taking off and landing. But we made it to Katowice safely and in one piece which was relief. Then it was a quick stop at the ATM to get some zloty before borading the bus that would take us to Krakow. The bus trip took about an hour and a half so we didn't get into Krakow until about 8:45pm. When we got there, we headed for the other hostel where all the others, except for Kim, Christina and I, were staying. That took about another 30 minutes and so we finally got to our hostel at about 9:15pm. We quickly changed, dumped our luggage and then made our way to Main Square where we were meeting the rest of the group so we could go and grab some food before calling it a night.

The restaurant they found for dinner was rather amusing. It was a western kind of restaurant where there were paintings of American Indians on animal skin hanging all around the place. The food was good and nice and cheap, which was a nice change from Sweden where everything is so expensive!!! Once we were fed, we made a quick trip via MacDonalds on the way back to our hostel because Kim decided she wanted an ice cream. So at about midnight, we finally got to pile into bed and go to sleep.

That night was definitely an interesting one. We had booked a dorm room with 12 other beds and all except for one were filled that night. 6 of the beds were occupied by a group of Spanish girls. Well....they didn't come home until about 3am and then spent an hour banging, crashing, talking, laughing...basically making as much noise as possible. After numerous shushing noices were directed at them and Kim even swore at them in Dutch and threw a bottle at them they finally climbed into bed. That wasn't it from them though unfortunately. They found it amusing to make loud snoring noices and clicking noices for about another minute or two before deciding that they needed to go to sleep.

Unfortunately that was it for them. At 8am they got up and once again making as much noise as they could, got themselves ready and packed which took them another hour. The only good thing was the fact that they were packing which meant that they would not be returning the following night...luckily for us!!! So having had an eventful night, Kim, Christina and I got up about 9am when the Spanish girls had left and got ourselves dressed and ready for a day of sight-seeing. We went for breakfast, provided by a small cafe next door to the hostel. It was an ok breakfast, nothing overly special but enough to fill the stomach for the morning!

We had decided that the best way to see everything would be to start with the castle, then head to the Old Jewish Town before heading back to Main Square to go shopping. It was a really beautiful day and I was even able to walk around with my jacket and scarf off!!!! When we got to the castle, we ran into the others who had decided to start at 9am (which was just a little too early for us) and so we joined up with them and headed to the Old Jewsih Town where we had lunch before visiting the synagogue there. After that is was back to Main Square for some shopping. The big building in the middle of the square was home to a market (kind of like the Vic Market) and so we wandered round there for a while. Once the shopping was done we decided to treat ourselves to the best hot chocolate in Europe. And it was pretty good. Imagine a chocolate pudding with chocolate sauce and that sauce poured into a cup for drinking. Very filling tho and so getting through a small cup was quite an effort. Unfortunately Poland still allows smoking in cafes and the cafe we were at was like a smoke house. It was so bad that I had to drink my hot chocolate quickly and head outside as the smoke gave me a headache and made me feel a little queezy. That night it was MacDonalds for dinner as we couldn't be bothered going anywhere and it was on our way back to the hostel. That night Kim and I stayed in while Christina headed round to Dominika's (one of the exchange students here in Malmö with me) flat, as she lives in Krakow. They then headed out to the clubs I think!!

The next morning I had to get up early as I had booked myself on the tour to go and see Auschwitz - Birkenau and I was to be picked up at 8:55am from outside the hostel. Kim joined me for breakfast which was nice and I said farewell to both her and Christina, as they were headed back to Malmö that afternoon. The trip to Auschwitz was definitely one I will remember for a very long time. The tour I'd booked with meant that we were provided with an english speaking guide for both Auschwitz I and Asuchwitz II - Birkenau. We visited Auschwitz I first as this is where we met the guide and there are all the museums located in the blocks in the camp.

AUSCHWITZ - BIRKENAU!!!

2009-03-12T03:07:00.002+11:00

***Please note that this entry contains some details about life in the concentration camps. This content may be disturbing and upsetting for some so please be aware of this before reading!

The first thing that really struck me about Auschwitz was the fact that it is located within a small town. I expected it to be in the middle of the country with no houses about. We were given a headset where we would be able to hear our guide. This was great as it meant we could be away from her, in the next room or looking at something else and you could still hear what she was saying. Walking through the gates the first thing you really see is the sign Arbeit Macht Frei (Work means freedom). We were then shown to Block 3 to begin the tours through the museums. Each block looks at a different aspect of the camp. The first one gave you information about how many people were put in the camp and where they came from. They also had documents that had been recovered from the German Nazis which detailed the names of the people entering the camp. The Nazis were very organised in keeping records of eveyone who entered or left/died in the camp. However over 90% of these records were destroyed when they began to lose the war. It is amazing to see these documents and the long lists of names. Often the lists were divided up into men and women. In one display case there were even train tickets from the Jews who had been transported to Auschwitz. Aparently they even made some of the Jews by their own train tickets, saying that they were being relocated to another town.

The next museum we went into showed a model of the gas chambers, as all except the small one at Auschwitz I which was transformed into a bunker, were destroyed. There was also a pile of empty tins which had once contained Cyclone B which was used to kill many thousands of Jews. One tin was enough to kill 100 people. The next museum we visited was the hardest one. It had piles of shoes (almost a whole room), glasses, brushes, pots and pans, children's shoes, prayer shalls and the most disturbing one was the room where there was a huge pile of womens hair that had been shaved off and was used to mag hair cloth (some of which they had on display). There was so much hair that is was hard to comprehend and imagine just how many people they must have come from.

Then it was on to the final museum which was Block number 11, also known as the death block. There we were shown the execution wall, where prisoners accused of crimes were shot. These prisoners slept on the floors of block 11 and out of all the people to stand trial, over 90% were found guilty and sentenced to death. This bunker was also the only bunker which had been left in the exact state as they had been when the prisoners were there, with the bunks and sleeping arrangements. There were also photos on the wall of some of the prisoners. This was aparently one method of keep track of all the people admitted to Auschwitz in the early days. However, as the numbers increased, this method became too impractical and so that's when they started to tattoo all prisoners. This block was also the one where we were taken down to the basement where there were prison cells. This was where they took prisoners for punishment. There were starvation rooms, used for when prisoners tried to escape and others in the group would be punished. The most disturbing though were the standing cells. These were tiny rooms where there was only a door that you had to crawl through. Inside, 3 - 4 people would have to stand in there, as there was no room to sit down, for the whole night and then go out and work the next day. There were also small rooms where 40 or so men would have to stand and as a result, some died from suffocation because there wasn't enough air getting into the room. (They only had one small tiny window in the wall to let air and sunlight in). In these cells was also where Cyclone B was experimented on using prisoners selected at random and prisoners from the hospital. In one of the cells, there were drawings which had been made by one of the prisoners while imprisoned.

Once we had finished there, we mde out way out of the back fence towards the crematorium. This crematorium was the only one that survived, mainly due to the fact that the Germans had transformed it into a bunker towards the end of the war. Inside you could see the room where the people were gased. There were small holes in the ceiling that were large enough just to drop the contents of the Cyclone B into. Then there was a small door leading into the room where 4 large furnaces stood. These furnaces however could only fit 3 - 4 bodies at a time, which is such a tiny number compared to the larger crematoriums at Asuchwitz II.

While outside the camp we were also shown the place where Commandant Hirsch was hanged at the end of the war for the crimes he had committed. We then passed round the outside of the camp and headed back to the main building where we were to leave our headsets and board our bus. Our next stop, Auschwitz II - Birkenau.

The strange thing I found when arriving at the camp was the close proximity of many houses. I'm not sure I'd want to live so close to such a place!! Compared to Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II was huge. There were huts as far as the eye could see. We arrived at the back gate so as to see the monument and plaque errected there at the request of the survivors, so as to be a constant reminder and warning of the horrors that occured within the camps. There were also plaques reading the same message in each language that was spoken by the prisoners of the camp.

Next we walked over to the ruins of crematorium 2 where we were shown which sections of the ruins were the certain parts of the gas chamber - which section was the change rooms, the "showers" (gas chamber) and which was the crematorium. It was rather unnerving standing so close to the place where thousands of people were murdered.

After that we walked along the track that lead us to the main gate. On the way we stopped about half way, which was where the loading dock would have been. It was here that we were shown a photo of a guard during the selection process, either pointing to the right or left and deciding the fate of each person who arrived in the camp. It was eerie that looking at the photo, you could imagine it exactly as we were standing beside the buildign where in the photo, the people selected to be taken down to the crematorium were gathered.

Finally, when we reached the front of the camp we were shown into two of the wooden huts. One was the sanitary hut where the lavatory and wash troughs were. The other was a sleeping hut, where the bunk beds lined the walls. It is hard to imagine so many people sleeping in such a small about of bed space.

I have to say that I learnt a lot on this tour, and considering my previous studying of the concentration camp through novesl read in school, it was good to be able to see the camps with my own eyes. You are not able to fully comprehend or imagine just what the camp is like until you have seen it. It is a place I definitely feel everyone should see at some point in their life...if not to remember those murdered during Hitler's reign, but to help gain an deeper understanding of our history and to ensure this can never happen again.