This far north, it’s still spring. The days are mild, the nights fresh. Everything is still in bloom.
Of course, ‘night’ doesn’t really mean much, here. Night is when we sleep, not when it gets dark. Normally, the sun is still above the horizon when I crawl into my sleeping bag, and well above it before [...]
Whilst I was writing that last entry, somebody stole my sleeping bag, Stefan’s sleeping bag, and Catrina’s mattress. With one mattress, one blanket and one sleeping bag between us, it was a long, uncomfortable, cold night. I was wearing four layers and slept in my shoes.
This is the point at which Scandinavia stops being comically [...]
Well, we finally got all of our clothes dry. Upon arrival in Copenhagen, we made a beeline for the cafe Den Nye Vej to meet Freya, a school friend of mine. After her tour of the city centre and an obligatory walk to see the Little Mermaid, we went out for a few midsummer drinks [...]
There is a German phrase, “Wenn schon, denn schon,” which doesn’t translate literally or make a whole lot of sense, but means something like “If you’re going to do something, you may as well do it all the way.”
About ten days ago, I had the idea that I’d like to see twenty-four hours of sunlight. [...]
I love Berlin. Today was a perfect day. I think I could live here. Berlin is fun without being expensive, funky and gritty without being seedy. It’s got street culture without the usual bobo (bourgeoisie-bohemian) posing. Berliners themselves are open, have style without pretension and seem to be patient and even welcoming with foreigners.
A few [...]
After a rather tiring weekend of cycling, bopping to German punk and the occasional/continual pint, it was a pleasure to drive the hour or so northeast from fun, noisy Dresden to Anja’s quiet village of Kreinitz, near Riesa. Germany is a beautiful country, and the plains of Saxony are no exception. The drive took us [...]
Dresden is a fascinating, exciting city. I arrived just in time for the DBR festival. The streets of the Neustadt are filled with punk bands, cocktail stalls, flea-markets and street bars. The music starts early and goes til late. Not really any point trying to sleep, seeing as my room is only one story above [...]
I made it. I even got a decent night’s sleep, somewhere along the way. 1300km, 29 hours.
Almost suffocated to death sharing a compartment with two chain-smoking Bosnian women between Sarajevo and Banja Luka. I suppose it’s almost karma that one of them left a full packet of cigarettes and a lighter on the seat [...]
I thought we were all Yugoslavian. One day, I woke up and my friends were in the hills, shooting at me. I realized they were Serbs.
–Bata
I’ve spent almost two weeks in former Yugoslav territory (from Slovenia to here), and twice as long in Bosnia and Herzegovina as I initially intended. I’ve been learning a lot [...]