But, really, what is there to say about Norway? Or Sweden? Or Denmark for that matter? They were all quite nice, though expensive, and each of the countries had an oddly intense obsession with hot dogs that I found a little bit concerning. They were very clean and the architecture was fantastic but this is the part where I don't need to give a play by play of what I did every day because much of it was similar. We hitched our way down, starting in Oslo, and it wasn't awful. It wasn't the best hitching I've ever had either though. It just seems like the northern European countries are a little more reserved and a little more afraid of strangers standing on the side of the road. There were a couple memorable hitches that we got heading south though. One was from a young kid and the other a man from just outside of Amsterdam. We'll start with the kid.
It was early in the morning and we'd just been dropped off by our first ride at some outlet mall sort of thing right on the border of Norway and Sweden. We stopped for a chocolate and coffee break before walking a little bit away for a good hitching spot. Didn't take more than five minutes for a silver Mercedes to come to a stop for us. After a quick conversation with the driver we determined we were both headed in the same direction and I jumped up front while Kayzia got in the back. There wasn't much said in the first couple minutes but he broke the silence with some small talk questions like "where are you from?" and whatnot. It didn't take long before he started to tell us more and more interesting things. He told us he was only 16 and wasn't supposed to be driving the car really casually. Me and Kayzia were both burning to ask who owned the car then if he wasn't supposed to be driving it. He then proceeded to tell us about the wild night he'd had partying and how he had to run away from the cops yesterday for some odd reason or another. The story was very jumbled and it was difficult to discern what was true and what wasn't, as well as putting all the events he told us in chronological order. By the end of the car ride we'd learned that he also drives to Germany with his older brother and friends in cars of unknown origin and to buy carloads of liquor to smuggle back into Sweden and sell for profit which is certainly not legal. He told us all about these wild police chases and things him and his friends had to do to get the alcohol into the country. It was all hilarious. We didn't know whether to believe him or not. Maybe he was telling the truth and maybe he wasn't. No doubt he was at least telling some of the truth, we knew that, but he is also a 16 year old boy. Regardless, by then end we were a good 100km down the freeway and had a great story to tell for it.
The next memorable ride comes from international waters. Yeah, that's right, we hitched while on a boat. We were taking the ferry from Denmark over to Germany because it was the quickest route to get out of these more expensive countries. But to say 'boat' would be a little bit misleading. It was more of a floating mall. It had an all inclusive buffet and a few other restaurants aboard as well as a liquor store and arcade. We spent the hour ride drinking cider and beer on the upper deck. As we neared Germany a voice came over the intercom asking all the drivers to return to their cars. That meant us as well even though we didn't have a car. We quickly gathered our things and went down to the car deck. All around us were people getting into their cars and starting their engines like it was the starting line for a racetrack they were all about to speed off from. Which, in fact, they were because autobahn! Anyways, we walked the lines of cars with our thumbs out and laughing about the ridiculousness of it all as everyone shook their head no or turned their eyes away. At the end of the last line, still, no one had shown any interest in picking us up. But that happens a lot, you have to give them a moment to think about it so we walked the lines again and at the end a man rolled down his window to ask where we were headed. We hopped in, explaining our destination and he was extremely welcoming. Jan was a great guy and we soon learned he was headed to Amsterdam the next day. After a short discussion, it turns out we were also headed to Amsterdam the next day. Germany could wait.
Ah, Amsterdam. What is there to say about Amsterdam that you haven't heard about already other than it's all true. There are 'coffee shops' on most corners, but no one goes for the coffee. Psychedelic shops aren't hard to find either. And the red light district is nothing short of mesmerizing despite your motivations for checking it out. It really was quite an adventure and a great couple days spent in the city exploring museums and odd cultural peculiarities. I wish we could've spent more time wandering the canals and interacting with the locals, but it was exciting enough that we managed to end up there on accident in the first place. Next time I come around I'll be going back for a more in depth adventure of the city.
Be happy,
Beacon
Be happy,
Beacon
No comments:
Post a Comment