I-Bike

One of the greatest things that I have gotten from living here in Copenhagen is biking. A few months back, I wouldn’t have thought that I could use a bike as my main method of transportation for this long of a period. I must say however that I truly love it!!!

It is more fun that I can explain, it makes you feel like you are a kid again.

My advice is that you keep your car parked for a week and try a bike for yourself. Aside from the fact that biking is so much fun, it beats the stress of driving and being stuck in traffic. It is also better for the environment, allows you to exercise while you commute, and helps to alleviate our dependency on the bastards that own oil companies and who raise the prices whenever it suits them for profit at the expense of people.

It is amazing to see how many people bike here in Copenhagen, they are literally everywhere (rain or shine) all the time (day or night), and they bike with their babies sitting in the back, or a bunch of kids sitting in a little box in the front. I’ve even seen couples holding hands as they biked (I’ll take some pictures soon and post them).

I hope that once back in the states, I will be able to bike as much. I realize that it is much more dangerous to do it there simply because there are very few bike lanes and drivers get annoyed by bikers and

seem to want to hit them. But we shall see, I would love to give it a try.

Viva La Velorution!

A Street in Amsterdam

Budapest, Hungary

2- The Chain Bridge (the first to connect Buda and Pest). Top pic is also of the chain bridge.
4 – The Gellert (a famous bath)
5- A swimming pool in the Gellert.
6- The longest escalator that I have been on (inside the metro station)
7- Buda side
8- The Hungarian Parliament.
9, 10 – Inside the Parliament.
11, 12 – A synagogue (the biggest synagogue in Europe and the second largest in the world. As explained during the tour, it looks like a mosque from the outside and a church from the inside).
13- The market hall.

Geneva, Switzerland

1- Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (was closed when I tried to visit)
3- Reformer’s Wall
4- Floral watch (a reference to the watch industry)
8- View from the St. Pierre Cathedral.
9- La veille ville.
10- Taken from the Mont Blanc bridge (the famous Jet d’eau is shut off during the winter which is why it’s not in any of the picture. I kept on looking for it and people would tell me to keep on walking … and they would point and tell me that its right there. I kept walking and kept searching, I mean it’s this 7 meters spash of water and hence should be seen from anywhere is what I kept on thinking ..until finally one lady told me that it is off. The other people were just pointing me towards the big ” hose” where the jet d’eau emerges).
11- Statue in front of the World Health Organization.

Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Last Big Trip

I took my last trip in Europe last week
Anyway, it was really great … I went to Amsterdam, Geneva and Hungary.
First off, Amsterdam is not all sex and drugs. I found that the city has much more to offer than just that and it’s a pity that the city is only known for that. I already told you guys everything that I though about the place or did so no need to repeat it. I will just say that hostels suck (not to mention smell) and I am hoping not to have to stay in one for a while. Except John’s cozy little hostel in Berlin, all other hostels that I’ve stayed at were pretty bad.
A couple more words about Amsterdam: on December 20, they had Santa’s birthday in Amsterdam. Now I have never heard of this but it was quite cute… lots of kids just stood in the main square with plastic bags waiting for the Santa’s to come and distribute candy.

 Geneva was interesting … I didn’t think that it was particularly great. Maybe because my expectations were so high, I don’t know but nevertheless it was nice to see it. Too bad I missed the UN’s headquarters though as it was closed on the day I went ( I am still getting over that one).
I’ve had pretty bad luck when it comes to having stuff open on the day I am there.
Juts to mention a couple: Potsdam: a famous prison during WWII used by Hitler and now has been turned as a museum (by the time we got there and actually found the place, it was literally just closing). Austwich: we went to see the 2 infamous concentration camps (the guide book was wrong, the place didn’t close at 6 but at 5). But overall, Geneva was pretty good .. very diverse, has a very nice mellow feel to it.

 

Hungary was a pleasant surprise to say the least. I was really surprised by how alive and nice the city is. It has lots of history, a lot of mixture between old and modern…etc. The views from Castle Hill and the ” statue of liberty”were breathtaking.

Pictures are to follow. As always your comments are welcome, about anything that you want and particularly about the pictures. By the way, if you are into the Absolut ads, you can scroll down and look at the ones for Cracow, Berlin and Venice as I just added them (forgot to do it before).

Hej Hej
Sandra.