Tallinn

Getting to Tallinn, Estonia, was simply a short 2hour cruise from Helsinki.

The central part of Tallinn is called old-town. It is a well preserved... old town. Right down to frequently re-laying the rocks that make the streets and footpaths.






ARTchitecture :p

White Bar. A "futurisitic" looking bar with many screens, and pulsating lights that slowly cycled through different colours. The look was much like the feel of the seats... tacky.

Protest Bar. ha ha

I had stayed in a lovely backpackers in the heart of old-town for a week. I loved the place so much and had met some awesome people.

In the 12bedroom dorm was a group of German friends travelling together. Up on the post, taking a photo was one of them.


On the first night I checked into my hostel at 11pm on a Saturday night by a very kind man who didn't have to be there, I'd asked if he could recommend some local bars to check out. He recommended a semi-underground (literally and part colloquially) bar identified by an orange light at the stairs going down to the entrance. At the bar I ordered a drink next to this lovely lady who then proceeded to introduce me to her friends, and we all continued to drink and chat into the night/morning.
Indra. A lovely Latvian lady who made me feel very welcome.

I liked my week in Tallinn so much thanks to this fascinating woman. We hung out alot and went to many different places around town. It was great.

Brotherhood/fraternity ceremony room. At 3:15am (thank you photo timestamps) we were getting ready to leave and I started talking to a member of the oldest fraternity in Tallinn. He was very keen to tell me all about it, and he also took me to their headquaters around the corner, and showed me their ceremony room.
I must confess, this was probably not the smartest move to go this alone, but I'd sensed he was a friendly guy just wanting to share his excitement about the fraternity.
It was a little weird though whilst telling me about the ceremonies, decided to bang the unsheathed ceremony sword against the table.

spaghetti

a bus mid transformation to a tram *transformer noise*

Empty snob shop. I think all the potential customers where out doing better things.

Mr Project. Now, where is Mr Coffee? I always have Mr Coffee before working on Mr Project.

Human processor?

Gates of hell

Yet another element to add to the periodic table, Bosphorus. I think it goes next to Saffronium.


More beauty of Tallin. The second photo here is of a public stage often used by students.


A modern Mary Magdalene?

Old-town with hightech spa dvd player

Bike hired through the hostel. It allowed me to get out of old town, and take a look at some recommended trails,

I was tempted to climb up one of the ramps with the bike and try pedal fast to jump the gap... but I think I would have failed.

Did anyone watch mortal combat, with scorpions trademark phrase "GET OVER HERE!"

Old town from afar

near water avec bike

an abandoned house






down a hole in the ground (where gas/water pipes would go)




And so that was Tallinn... sorry for the belated completion of this post.
I will make a post to briefly fill in the gaps in between then (Oct2008) and now.

Helsinki

Viking line cruise boat.
My first impression of this cruise was disasterous. I walk into my 4 person cabin to put down my luggage, and am overwhelmed by the scent of really bad BO. There is one gentleman in the bathroom shirtless performing some preening ritual of sorts, but no de-odourant in sight! I am forced to cut the conversation short to get some fresh air, it was sincerely that bad.
Fortunately, by pure chance, I upgraded cabins that night.

pretty

statue
obviously out of order cruise boat photo. On the roof chatting with an Aussie from Newtown.
the ripples reminded me of using the (SIN) function in qbasic with the palette command. Dont you just love nostalgia.

Good defences.

Autumn leaves.
Grave of the designer of the fortifications.

No entry to open prison... hmm...really...

Inside open prison ;)

Sculpture and building.

I think the guy in the middle lost a really bad bet.




more of military fortification... looks a bit like middle head, no?

Art of art with art.





stadium just near hostel. This vantage point had a nice look over the stadium, and another field. I spent some time up here contemplating things.

Stockholm

From Eindhoven Airport I flew to Nykoping, a town about an hour south of Stockholm.



Flight to Nykoping. Bus to Hostel.

I made a booking for the hostel but since I'd be checking in after reception closed, they entrusted me with details for accessing the hostel after hours without even so much as a surname.
In the morning I had to leave early, before reception opened, and there were instructions on how to pay by leaving money in a box with your name and key. It was really nice to see such trust.

FartHinder



Central Station
People in every direction.

View


Bldgs

I originally booked only one night in Stockholm, but after a little while in Stockholm, I booked a second night. Because I sensed there was plenty more to see than just two days worth.
The Stockholm city bikes are really cool. Once you buy a pass (I bought a 3-day pass) you can simply go to a bike station and collect a bike, then you must return it to a bike station. There is a low resolution bike-station map they provide, but its hard to see exactly where the stations are, so you may have to wander around a little before you find the one your looking for.


I *heart* stockholm bikes

On a wharf


Pigeons on statue finger

Three ducks, three masts

Lots of SEK's

Ubuntu cola


I love lamp... street-lamps

The hostel I stayed at in Stockholm had a prison theme. This was an unexpected surprise and I realised it wasn't actually a theme, but a former prison. Which made sense because it was on an island just off the mainland.

When I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, I was startled by this guy who was just outside my door.

My Cell #2. This was a luxurious 4-bed dorm room.

Cell block tango. I just had flashbacks of chicago when walking through here. Pop, six, squish, uh uh, cicero, lipschitz!



Piece of art I saw in a museum.
I liked this one because it looks like a man and his wife presenting their point from a rights-book to a panel and some large/powerful men who are not impressed. Also you'll notice later this style of art was in the Vasa Museum.

Crown on Bridge
Outside contemporary art museum.

Partitions in art gallery. I like this because its partitioned, but you're still free to wander as you please. I wish Ikea shops did this.

Invisible piano, Max Earnst.

Contemporary art I liked.

Architecture museum piece.

Red facade. I love these off-season travel colours

Boat ride

Concrete art. I wish councils could afford to do more of this, its much better than a bland grid, or solid wall.

More art for arts sake.

I *heart* food, not bombs

Dizzy handdisk. If i were a DJ, that would be my alias.





Coloured model of Vasa in foreground, with real one in background.

Similar style to aforementioned artwork.
my blog is boring, who's reading this, seriously

Vasa museum (big viking boat)



Mustard and sauce dispensers like singled-teeted udders.

Hilarious posters at viking line cruises.
This is just before I got on the overnight cruiseboat enroute to Helsinki!

Goodbye Amsterdam

The trip to Den Haag and staying in the hostel at Rotterdam made me really crave further backpacking. Also after the inital museums in Paris, Lille, and Amsterdam, I realise I prefer contemporary art museums, or simply street art and observations.

Back in amsterdam...

A poster for a movie or play in Amsterdam.

Yes, those are potato chips in between the diagonaly cut halves of my salmon club sandwich!


A new appearance near Amsterdam Central Station. This is a 7-billboard wide display of parkour! woot!!!1

I caught the train from Amsterdam to Eindhoven, and didn't correctly anticipate the delay in busses from the train station to the airport, so I had to catch a taxi (24Euro :(
On the way I was able to get a good shot of this sculpture.
Bowling for Eindhoven.

On the plane I took some photos of the bed of clouds over Sweden, but that will be for another post later on.

Its been quite a session, but I'm glad to have updated the blog. It gives me some feedback as to how not to take too many pictures.

Hope everyone is doing well. Thoughts of family and friends have come to me throughout the writing of these blog-posts. I'm thinking about you all.

The Hague and Rotterdam

I took a train from Amsterdam to The Hague. In Dutch this is, Den Haag, which sounds like "deneag" in case you expect it to sound like "den harg", and think you're on the wrong...

The first think I did was took a number 1 bus to the beach and soaked in the warm sun.
I had some fish and chips, and as usual there was a large dollop of mayonaise

Wow.


So after a pleasant afternoon in Den Haag, I took a short train trip to Rotterdam for the evening.

Crane art. What I noticed is that alot of art in Rotterdam was themed around cranes. This is a great idea because there genuinely was alot of cranes to be seen, so making the art mimic that disguises there omnipresence.

Here were 4 large crane-like lamps that shone over an open pedestrian area. This was pretty much in the heart of town, so in Sydney this would become over developed due to it being "Prime realestate".

What I've liked about most cities is that the city centres are not CBD's.


Street urinal. Unfortunately every toilet in a pub/club costs money. A macdonalds had a toilet which cost .30 Euro, a night club cost was 1 Euro! At first I walked into the macdonalds toilet, and had an old lady follow behind me. I didn't realise she was calling to me until she stood beside me at the urinal. I hadn't started by then, so it wasn't too awkward. But she wanted her 30 cents.


More street sculptures.


In Rotterdam, I met a guy in my room of the hostel who was keen to come out with me for the night, even though it was a Thursday night, and he had work in the morning.

To explain the club we went to, i've copied the following from "http://sustainablerotterdam.blogspot.com"

---

Club Watt, World's First Sustainable Dance Club - Live opening

Friday, September 05, 2008

A milestone towards a more sustainable future was accomplished yesterday evening in Rotterdam when Club Watt opened its doors to the public.
---

To recycle this plastic cup, you return it to the bar... simple!

"Sustainable Dance Floor". Each of these tiles generates electricity from vertical motion, so as you dance, you generate electricity. I think the clubs would be better off forming a partnership with a gym, and putting one generator on one excercise bike. This way they could generate more electricty than the entire dancefloor. Seriously, each tile I think had its own little generator. www.sustainabledanceclub.com has a video


Crap Salad. This one's for you Warren. This photos was taken at a club called Vibes. Its hard to see, but the picture is of a scrunched up newspaper that looks like a lettuce. Let-us dispose of crap newspapers!

Industrial life. I named this one becuase I think that is what represents Rotterdam's appearance. I can still see crane's in this sculpture.

This was taken on my way to Rotterdam station from the hostel. I was walking with another guy from the room I stayed in, and we couldn't figure out what it was the gnome is meant to be holding in his right hand...

The famous bridge in Rotterdam. As seen on many postcards.


Industrial scene. In the forground is a piece that I think is a very large pump. In the background is genuinely used machinery.

OMG its the pixel police!!!

Detail. Little figure atop street sign. awww


Building Infrastructure. The plaques inside were written in Dutch, but I guess this was to do with the bombings in the second world war.

Bas (friend from Amsterdam) said that there are some light jokes between the Dutch and Germans, such as "When am I going to get my bike back?"

I then took the train back to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam

My friend Bas was kind enough to let me stay at his place for the near week I was in Amsterdam.

Bikepark. A multi-leveled bicycle parking lot.
Just a small indication of how much bikes are part of life in Amsterdam...

Bridge.

Westerpark. A lovely park just a short stroll from Bas' place.

Street scene. On the right is a metal statue fixed to the street. A not too uncommon occurance in Amsterdam. A bike is on the left, and a tram in the background.

This one's for you Marianne. A picture of the vegetable that was on that t-shirt. I finally saw one in real life!

Bug street sculpture.

The keys to Amsterdam. Me in yet another museum.

A religious framed sculpture. I think it was meant to be Jesus! Perhaps just before he was reserected?

Wires. I started to like the lamps suspended by cables. The tram lines added a nice touch to this I think.

Freedom. Beautiful scenes in Amsterdam were not hard to come by. The dot in the middle is of someone rowing down the canal.

"We are everywhere and unstoppable", Sabokru.

"Free your self" "Refuse Revolt Resist"

Hooks. The hooks on the top of practically every unit are used to attach a pulley, and lift furniture up the levels. This would be convenient for the terrace houses in Sydney!

More graffiti art.

Mosquito. There is said to be a bit of a problem with mosquito's in Amsterdam. Obviously due to the water from all the dams. But I didn't find it much of a problem; no more than I'd found in places i've lived in Sydney.


Mint tea. hmm not sure why this is suss to me.

Courtyard. This is the view of the courtyard from Bas' balcony.

"Setpoint. Passion for men only" is what I thought it said... i think it says "fashion" :p

Human Garbage? Not sure if "Humana" translates to human, I hope not! otherwise this dreamy town has some seriously scary skeletons in its closets...

Church.

Church and fountain.

DUMP Adventures. I'm not taking a dump adventure thanks.

Polariod. I took this in some side street which had most of its wall done like this. I'd love to have this as a postcard!

I *heart* Amsterdam!

Belgium. Brussels train change to Amsterdam

From Lille to Amsterdam, I changed trains at Brussels...

mmm, chips in a roll with processed meat, pickles, and other salad vegies


pseudo pigeon

Window of train.

So that was Belgium... Not really a visit, but was on a bit of a mission to get to Amsterdam before my friend went to work for a few days.