Hello from Scandinavia!

Hello everyone. Hope all is well. Happy Birthday Mom (Lynn Hannum)!! Congratulations to Casey and Adrian (sorry if misspelled) on their wedding yesterday. Sorry we couldn't be there.

Just got into Stockholm a couple hours ago but there is much more to share before we get to that.

Well, today marks about half-way on the trip. An even 2.5 months. We have been to eleven countries and don't regret a single day.

From Amsterdam, we traveled to northern Germany. We stayed in a small town called Puttgarden. It is where the ferry leaves from that goes to Denmark. Found a great deal on the only Pension in town. Had a good dinner at the only restaurant in town. I think you get the idea. Very good nights sleep with another lovely German breakfast. This time our hard boiled egg was soft boiled. If you get a chance to have one of those, pass on that. Aub lost hers back onto her plate. Not a pretty sight. However, the toast was good. Man, what we wouldn't do for some biscuits and gravy right now. Jumped a gigantic ferry to Denmark. The train actually drives onto the ferry. How cool is that. Went straight to Copenhagen and found a cheap hostel. Dropped the bags and hit the town. It is a very beautiful town that was enhanced by the jazz festival that was going on. All around town there were concerts in parks, bars, and everywhere else you can think of. Made for a lot of cheap entertainment.

Most of our full day was spent with DIY tours. We have become pros at giving ourselves introductory tours of any given city. At midday we went to a organ concert that was held in the main church. It was a powerful performance that we both really enjoyed. The church itself was built just after the reformation so it had a completely different style as they were trying to separate themselves from Catholicism. It looked more like a Greek palace than a church. Pretty refreshing to see a different type of architecture. In the afternoon we visited Christiania. This is a piece of land on the outskirts of Copenhagen that was abandoned by the government in 1971. Shortly thereafter, people moved in and claimed sqautter's rights. They have been there ever since. This place makes haight-ashbury look like McDonalds Playplace. They only have nine rules including no cars or hard drugs. There was weed being freely smoked everywhere you looked. Many "houses" were built from scraps or alternative house building methods. If you want a case study in alternative lifestyles look this place up. It was interesting to see but we were definately a bit uncomfortable.

Headed back to town for some more Jazz. We were sitting on the canal listening to a band and people watching when out of nowhere, the skies opened up and here came the rains. This was the heaviest, most severe rain we have ever witnessed. It lasted about five minutes and it made the thousands watching the band scream and run for cover. We tried to make a tent out of our two umbrellas but that didn't work out too well. Had to head back to the hostel for dry underwear. Spent the rest of the evening watching street performers and relaxing as the locals do. Explanation: Drinks are so expensive at the bars or restaurants that everyone just goes to a convenience store and drinks in the squares. Makes for great people watching.

On our way out of town this morning, we walked by a club and heard the unmistakable thumping sound reverberating from the building. The damn place was still open at 9am. Hazen had to look in; People were still dancing and carrying on like crazies. These europeans are something else.

Probably should get going as we only have three days to enjoy stockholm before making our way to the land of 24 hr sun (or rain).