TRIP REPORT; AACHEN, GERMANY

So im back from Budapest, but beforeei get into that, we should get my trip to Germany out of the way first.

It was to Aachen, two saturdays ago, to catch the Bundesliga game between Alemannia Aachen and Werder Bremen. It was a last minute thing, and I only decided the night before that I was going to go. Well it was only then that we managed to get tickets for the game. It wasn't a problem because we were going to drive there anyway.

So I went early in the morning, at about 8am, after only sleeping for 3 hours (Party the night before of course), with Fritz. He's German, and from Bermen, and a real football nut.. the kind who has a season ticket and gets drunk and shouts on the streets. And all his friends are too, we had 13 of us in the group and it was one of the craziest days so far in Europe. So We took turns driving, and it isnt that far anyway. Quite close to the Dutch/German border, nar Maastricht.

So we arrived at one of his friends place (also from bermen but living in Aachen) and ate while waiting for everyone to arrive. In the meantime, everyone got drunk and sang football songs (wtf?). The ticket was only 9Euro, much cheaper than Dutch football games. The stadium was shit though! Must have been the worst stadium i've beent too.. Its Bundesliga and half the stadium doesn't even have seats?!?! Well the game ended in a 2-2 draw and Bremen played like shit, but that didnt stop the whole group from going crazy, which lasted into the night.

So we went back and had pizza, getting crates of beer along the way. They drink a lot more than the Dutch. And beer is cheaper too. At 10 we went out again to go pub hopping, so that was nice.. Aachen is kinda like Utrecht. Old town, kinda small sized and based around a large student population. After hitting up 5 bars/clubs everyone went back in different groups depening on the afer bar activity. I just had a drink so we got back around 4 or so. The last group came back close to 6 and coninued the party and refused to let anyone sleep. I was beaten with piillows and shoes till i got up and drank some more. And then finally people got tired and 13 of us had to sleep in the living room and bedroom (it was a one bedromo apartment).

We got up at lunch and drove back to Utrecht. I had to go for so many group meetings and catch up on the work that I was supposed to do. So that was the weekend. GUUUUUUUUUUUUNE LAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNE!!!!!!!

back from the fall break and its busy again..
Some stuff about the hitchhiking trip here..Only one team made it to the finishing point, not us. We stopped hitchhiking after Denmark so we could enjoy the cities, instead of just checking out the highways. Was a good experience overall.

So this is the route we took. We left at 6am saturday morning and got back at 9am the next saturday
(Nertherlands) Utrecht - Groningen - Nieuweschans - (Germany) Bunde - Leer - Bremen - Hamburg - Puttgarden - (Denmark) Rondby - Kobenhavn - (Sweden) Helsingborg - (Norway) Oslo - Trondheim - Bergen - (Netherlands)Amsterdam - Utrecht!

From the Netherlands in Nieuweschans, we walked about 10 km across the border along the highway to Germany to the worst town i've ever been to in my life.. BUNDE! Had some horrible food before realising that we should get out as quickly as possible..there were only old people, and buses stopped running at 4 on saturday..its horrible. We spent the night in Bremen along the street, under a tree after failing to get a ride anywhere.

Puttgarden is one of the ferry crossing sites to Denmark, so we took the Ferry across, which took about 45 mins, to
Rondby. We spent that night in Kobenhaven, and I really like that city and the architecture there. Next day we headed to Norway and chilled in Oslo for the day, and took the night train to Trondheim, where we spent another day, and took the night train to Bergen, where we spent the longest time (2 days), and from where we flew back to Amsterdam (Via Oslo).

So.. some thoughts on the trip.. I really like scandinavia. The landscape is beautiful, and looking out at snow covered expanses is really nice too. Fresh fish and seafood from the fish market every morning is also great. Whale meat sandwiches are excellent too, but more expnsive than salmon. The girls get hotter the further north you go. Everything is too expensive in Norway (try $5.50 for a coke or coffee at 7-11, or $20 for a macdonalds meal) and i cannot get paying an extra 50cts per item in fast food outlets to sit in the restaurant. I had a great time but it was too expensive and I should go in the summer.

Also saw Arab Strap in Bergen so that was great, it was their 10th anniversary/farewell tour. They're also playing in Utrecht, but its always nicer to see a band somewhere else (with scandinavian chicks).