Copenhagen

 

1-5 Ferry Trip To Denmark

The next place on our trip was Copenhagen. To get there we had to travel by train through Germany, take a ferry from Germany to Denmark and then train to Copenhagen. The neat part was the train we were on boarded the ferry, then you would go hang out on the boat for about 45 minutes, return to the train and continue to Copenhagen. The ferry in pic 5 was like the one we were on. This one was thus traveling from Denmark to Germany. We were crossing the Baltic Sea.

 

6. View from the Hostel.

This was one of the nicest and biggest hostels we stayed in. I think it was 13 floors and we were on the 12^th. A few times I even sprinted up the stairway to get exercise. The place was very close to being like a hotel. I think Copenhagen was one of my favourite places to visit. One great part about Copenhagen was all the beautiful women and they really liked guys from North America. English was also a second language to them especially the younger people. I would use the term cozy little metropolis to describe the place. The roads were also very similar to that of Canada. They even had speed traps. They had one set up behind the hostel that I could see from my room. The first car I saw them get was a Corvette. They also had a classic car show in town, so their was a lot of American cars from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s driving around.

 

7 & 8 Copenhagen at Night

A night view from the hostel.

 

9. Sex Horoscope

A pic of my sex horoscope outside the Museum of Erotica.

 

10. Giggitty!

Me outside the Museum of Erotica.

 

11. & 12 Radhus Pladsen

I believe this is the City Hall Square.

 

13. ?

I’m not sure what this is anymore, but it’s a good example of how I started to use weird angles to take pics. I think it said something like King or Prince of Denmark so b/c of the whole Hamlet thing I took a picture of it. I also remember that it was close to where I bought a Smirnoff Ice. That’s another cool thing about some places over their, you can buy alcohol at convenience stores and drink them in public at anytime. I realize that after buying it, it wasn’t a twist off like here in Canada. I then tired to find some sharp edge so I could use the bar trick of chopping off the bottle cap. I kept trying to open it on so many things and eventually cut my knuckles up. More on this later.

 

14-19 Amalienborg

This is Amalia’s Castle. I believe this is where the royal family stays. It has changing of the guards just like at Buckingham Palace hence the guards but dressed in blue.

 

20. A Fountain

You know what makes this fountain important? Nothing.

 

21. & 22 The Baltic Sea?

No, its probably some river that I just don’t know the name of.

 

23. Enjoying My Drink in Public.

About 20 minutes after buying it I remembered I had my pocketknife on me and was finally able to get the cap off. I kept the cap as a reminder of the struggle. Here is an interesting fact: In North America the alcohol content in a Smirnoff is 7%. In Denmark it was 5% and in Germany is was 3%. I was really pissed off about that in Berlin. When I found that out I went straight to my Rum and Cokes. Copenhagen is also where we had some really cool roommates. One night when I returned to the hostel I met my new two female roommates (giggity) and stayed up most of the night talking to them. I had a lot in common with both of them. One of them also had the same problem opening their Smirnoff bottle and they also had tried the sharp edge chop. They finally found that it worked on a street sign.

 

24. Armoured Vehicle

This was outside the Frihedsmuseet (Museum of Danish Resistance, 1940-45). This was my favourite place to visit here. The horrors of the Nazi occupation of Denmark live on here. On display were relics of torture and concentration camps, the equipment used by the Danish resistance for forbidden wireless communications and the production of illegal propaganda films and a bunch of other neat stuff.

 

25-29 Museum of Danish Resistance

This place had a bunch of things I wanted to take pics of. Most museums we visited didn’t allow pics but I found out after going through everything that they allowed picture taking so I quickly ran back through the exhibit to snap a few pics, but I didn’t get everything I wanted. In 25 it is a set up of hidden communications in a persons house. In the background of 27 is a bit of a fence from a Concentration camp and in the foreground is a missile from a sub. In 29 is a navel mine.

 

30. Another Fountain

This one was near the Museum of Danish Resistance.

 

31- 33 The Little Mermaid.(Den Lille Havfrue)

The statue was erected in 1913 to commemorate Hans Christian Andersen’s creation. He is a big thing that came from Copenhagen. When we went there was a lot of Asian tourists. That day I also decided to pack light and that meant leaving my jacket and sweater at the hostel. The day started out fine then it got cold and started to rain a bit. Luckily it didn’t down pour but if it did I had at least my poncho in my bag.

 

34 & 35 A Windmill

The one and only windmill like this I saw. I expected to see one when I was in the Netherlands but only saw them on souvenirs

 

36. A Navel Ship

 

37. A statue outside a museum

 

38. Painting on the wall outside the museum

We didn’t have time to go to the museum so I don’t remember what museum it was.

 

39. Luc Blower Column (Lurbaeserbe)

A column erected in 1914 topped by two Vikings blowing an ancient trumpet called a lur.

 

40. More Bikes

This was another bike-dominated place. There was so many bikes here they were stacked two high. I noticed that some of the biked had long been abandoned and they had been stripped of parts.

 

41. The Tallest man

This statute was located just outside the Guinness World Records. They also had one similar inside Ripley’s Believe it or Not!. I’m 5’9.

 

42 & 43 The Electric Chair.

This was part of The Mystic Exploratorie. What you would do is hold the handles and they would start buzzing really fast and the object was to see how long you could hold on for. We both did it a couple of times and we were both able to hang on for the highest number. A weird thing I noticed during and after was my tattoo felt really weird. Ryan remembered watching something on Mythbusters about black ink used in tattoos that would explain this weirdness I was experiencing.

 

44. Mall Parking

I wanted to check out this mall and when we got there it was deserted. I felt like I was in Dawn of the Dead. We went during the late afternoon but it had already close for the day. Another thing about Copenhagen is that it was the only place with 7-11’s. I really wanted to get a slurp but it was just too damn cold to have one.

 

45. My Copenhagen Souvenir

I really wanted something that had Denmark written on it and the coolest thing was a mini flask. Now I can be the drunk Prince of Denmark, watch out Hamlet. Copenhagen is defiantly a place I would go again. Their was so many things we didn’t have time to get to such as Hamlets Castle and the amusement park.

Amsterdam

 

1. Jesus Juice

The place I stayed in Amsterdam was a Christian Youth Hostel. The funny part was the place was three doors down from the windows in the Red Light district. I was thinking about the theory about Gatorade so I thought it would be funny to have a pic of me drinking it under a Jesus is Lord sign.

 

2. The Canals of Amsterdam

 

3. Anne Frank

This is a statue of Anne Frank located just outside of her house. Of all the places I visited, Amsterdam I felt was the worst. The only thing that made it worth going was the Anne Frank house. It was quite moving. Amsterdam got better as you moved further away from the Red light district and the Frank house was a little bit away from all that crap. Did I go to one of the famous Coffee Houses and try pot? No. A lot of the places looked liked dumps. I was temped to try some Hash brownies but I’m really proud right now in life that I have never touched the stuff. I may try it when I have lived my life and I’m on the way out.

 

4. Exterior of Frank House

One thing I really loved about the Frank house was I got to see a real Academy Award Statue. Shelley Winters won the award for playing Mrs. Petronella Van Daan in the film The Diary of Anne Frank. When she died at the beginning of the year, she gave it to the Anne Frank House.

 

5. XXX

These were everywhere. They looked like dicks to me and had the XXX on them. They were used to mark where the sidewalk ended and the street began.

 

6. Dam Bikes

This was the first place we visited that relied a lot on bike transportation.

 

7. Another canal

I didn’t take too many pics in Amsterdam. It was the one place I felt like I was going to be robbed so most of the time my camera was locked up in my backpack.

 

8. My Amsterdam Souvenir

A belt with the XXX symbol and a magnet. The neat thing is the magnet fits perfectly on the metal part of the belt and makes a cool belt buckle.

 

Edinburgh

 

I now found out that this site has a limit on how many pics I can upload in a month. So a few pics from this set are missing. I guess it may be a while before I can put all my pics online. Anyone who doesn't want to wait for then to be posted, just send me your email address (g_hodgson17@yahoo.com) and I'll send the pics in a zip file along with the stories. 

 

1-3 Edinburgh Castle

This Castle is literally the centre of town, perched up on this huge hill. It’s amazing seeing this Castle from any angle from the city.

 

4-11 Views from Calton Hill

One of many hills we hiked up. Up on this hill is a partial reproduction of Athens’s Parthenon. It was left incomplete b/c the money ran out.

6. In the background is Edinburgh Castle

7,9,10 Holyrood Park: Edinburgh’s originally volcanic 800-ft minimountain, with steep slopes and miniature crages. We (at least I did) wanted to go up but didn’t have enough time.

 

12. Boing

I couldn’t help it.

 

13. ?

I’m not sure what this is. It’s not a view of the Castle. I think it may be close to Calton Hill.

 

14. The Castle

 

15. Entrance to the Castle

 

16. "Were Knights of the Round table..."

I sang this song every time I was in a Castle. It would have been cooler if it was in the real Castle of ‘Holy Grail’ but it was a day trip out of town and we didn’t have time. One of my regrets, but I plan to make a trip back there.

 

17. The City

View of the city from the Castle

 

18 Me, pointing at the City

Ha Ha. I had a crude sense of humour on this day.

 

19 Cannons

Part of the Castle

 

20. Calton Hill

In the background to the upper right is Calton Hill. You can sort of make out the reproduction of the Parthenon.

 

21. Me

In one area of the Castle

 

22-24 Arms

Guns and Swords on display at the Castle as part of the Scottish National War Memorial and Scottish United Services Museum.

 

25 & 26 Hammock

Beds of I believe the soldiers, in the Castle

 

27 & 28 Me In Prison

I’m in a military jail cell

 

29. Cell

What the cell would have looked like back then.

 

30. Sitting on the toilet

I told Ryan to sit on one of the toilets in the cells and make a straining face.

 

31. Part of the Military Jail

 

32 & 33 Edinburgh

More views of the City from the Castle

 

34. William Wallace-The Cow

 

35. The Castle

From a different view

 

36-38 The Kilt

This was the first kilt I bought. Since there was no mirror around, I had to take a pic of myself so I could see what I looked like. Good thing for the timer on the camera. I said first Kilt b/c I had to exchange this one. I tried it over my cloths in the store, and when I did this I tried it too high up. When I got back to the hostel I tried it on normally and it was really tight around my waist so I went to get a bigger size.

 

39. The Castle...Again

 

40. Yet again.

 

41. Space Cadet

Ryan in a space suit at the National Museum of Scotland.

Dublin

 

1. River Liffey

 

2. Dublinia and The Christ Church Cathedral

Dublinia is the building on the right. Here you can experience what Dublin was like in medieval times. Connected to the left is the Church. Just outside the church we met an old lady who had relatives living in Newfoundland.

 

3-6 St. Patrick's Cathedral

Yes, that St. Patrick. Jonathon Swift (author of Gulliver’s Travels) was dean here. It is also where his tomb is. Why the hell did I take 4 pics of this place?

 

7. Our Hostel

This is the only pic of the hostels we stayed in. It doesn’t really do a good job of representing the types of places we stayed in, but all beds we stayed in were bunks. Mine is the one on the bottom left.

 

8. Face Mask

Me trying on a mask at Dublinia. I also got to try on chain mail, but that was in London.

 

9. Punishment

Taken at Dublinia. In order to find out why the guy was locked up you had to throw objects at the guy’s head. I recall Ryan being unable to hit the guy’s head. I think I did it on my first try. Don’t ask what he said, it was gibberish. 

 

10. Medieval Dublin

A scene of medieval Dublin at Dublinia.

 

11. Viking Inspirations

Part of the Dublinia exhibit was on Vikings. The sign tells us how Vikings have been a source of inspiration for literature and cinema. At the beginning of this exhibit I thought I was hearing Sam from Lord of the Rings screaming, and when I got to the end of the exhibit I noticed that they were playing The Return of the King trailer over and over, next to this sign.

 

12-14 Dublin

Different views of Dublin taken from the tower in Dublinia

 

15. Stairs

The stairs leading up to the tower in Dublinia

 

16 & 17 Sir Garrett

Just outside of Dublinia

 

18. On the way to the Guinness Storehouse

 

19. Guinness Storehouse

 

20. 9,000 year Lease

This is the 9,000 year lease that Arthur Guinness signed in 1759 for £45 per annum for the unused brewery.

 

21.Wall of Beer

 

22. Interactive Copper Barrel

 

23. Beer Barrel

 

24. ?

I’m not sure what it was but it’s at the Guinness storehouse.

 

25. Ryan and Guinness

Ryan doesn’t even like to drink any alcohol, but here is proof that I got him to try some.

 

26. Barrels

We watched an old school video on how these were made. It was really cool.

 

27. Gravity Bar

A view of Dublin from the Gravity Bar located at the top of the Guinness storehouse. Here you can get a 360 degree view of Dublin. The storehouse was no small building I’ll tell you that. It was 8 stories high. The gravity bar at the top is where you could drink a free pint of the dark stuff. I skipped out on the pint, but I did try the free samples. Didn’t like it, but then again I’m not a beer drinker.

 

28. The Brewery

This is the actually brewery, but it is closed to the public. The pic is taken from the gravity bar.

 

29. Amen!

 

30-34 Dublin Castle

The courtyard was the setting in which the film Michael Collins was shoot.

 

35. Trinity College

 

36 & 37. Cricket

A game of Cricket being held at Trinity College. I’d really love to learn how to play this game someday.

London May 1^st-5^th Pics 200- 244

 

200-206 Tower of London

An ancient fortress that served the monarchs as both fortress and palace. A lot of legendary figures were imprisoned and/or executed here. It is also where the Crown Jewels are kept.

 

207. Beefeater

You might recognize these guys on the Gin bottles. They are the guides for the Tower of London and they are all ex-British military. They are really cool guides, very animated and have plenty of Jokes.

 

208. Traitor's Gate

The gate through which traitors were brought. One famous person to come through these gates was William Wallace.

 

209-211 Part of the Tower of London

Pic 211- Where a lot of people were hanged (or was it guillotined)

 

212. Beefeater Pt 2

 

213. Guard

One of the guards outside where the Crown Jewels were kept.

 

214. Chapel of St. John

Church that is part of the Tower of London

 

215. Crapper in the Tower

 

216. Model of the Tower of London

 

217-229 Royal Armouries

Located in the White Tower the oldest and most conspicuous building in the entire complex which houses the armouries, England’s national collection of arms and armour.

(228 “Holy shit even little Kids went into battle” not really )

 

230. Portrait of Henry VIII

After seeing his portrait I couldn’t get that dame Henry the Eighth song out of my head.

 

231. "I Knew that noose was too lose."

 

232. Spiral Staircase

One of many we went up and down all over Europe.

 

233. Another Tower Model

 

234. The Torture Chamber

Now it’s a gift shop. B/c it was so far down and the walls were so think no one could hear the screams outside the building. It is now a gift shop, where no one can hear you scream when you look at your bill

 

235. In one of the towers

 

236. Tower Bridge.

 

237. One of the towers

 

238. Me in one of the Towers

 

239. Tower Bridge.

 

240. Inside one of the towers

 

241. ?

The guide on the tour bus pointed this spot out but I have no clue why the hell I took a pic of it.

 

241 & 242. Monty Python

This is where Monty Python and The Flying Circus was shot.

 

243. Sherlock Holmes Pub

 

244. Ben at Night

Blurry yes, but who cares. It is also the last pic of London (at least for my first 5 days). Tomorrow (hopefully) Dublin.

157. Holmes Statue

“No Shit Sherlock!”

 

158. Sherlock Museum

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to go to this museum.

 

159. Abbey Road

The street sign for the famous street where Abbey road studies and where the most famous zebra crossing (from The Beatles Abbey Road album) are located. Everyone was wanted to get pics of the zebra crossing or the studio but I saw no one else taking pics of the street sign.

 

160. Beatles Crossing

When we finally got here we were the second tourists there. The two before us were Oriental students with all this really cool camera equipment taking pics of themselves crossing the road. They even mooned walked across the street, which was really funny. I think that is what one of them is doing in this pic.

 

161. Abbey Studios Barricade

Past visitors have wrote a bunch of sayings on the barricade. It was neat reading some of them.

 

162. Crossing

A different angle.

 

163. Studio Marker

The studio is number 5 Abbey Road.

 

164. The Studio

This is where all the magic happened. Just image all the other great artists that have recorded here.

 

165. Crossing 2

Yes, another pic. But this time no one is on it.

 

166. Yet Again

 

167. Entrance to the Studio

 

168. Entrance

What is really cool is that the day we went to Abbey Road Studios is the same day that we came across Paul McCartney in Hype Park.

 

169. Crossing 3

A closer pic of the crossing. I also took video of me crossing the street. I thought I had a pic of me on the street but I guess it’s just video. By the time we were done a lot more tourists had began to show up. I think two locals were drinking outside their apartment and thinking to themselves “Here comes some more crazed fans.”

 

170. Hodgson

I can across another person’s famous house. I’ve never heard of this person, but that fact that my last name is on it was cool.

 

171. Changing of the Guard

The guys in red are the guards.

 

172. Changing of the Guard 2

Walking towards the gates.

 

173 Changing of the Guard 3

A crappy pic of them approaching the gates. In an attempt to get better pics I would extend my arm into the air. There was just too many people in the way.

 

174 -176. Changing of the Guard

 

177-179 Guys On Horses

 

180. Opened Gates.

 

181-186 Time to Go

I think the whole changing of the guard took between 30 and 45 min. Will all the soldiers and hooray its funny that they only leave one or two soldiers behind. I guess that’s why its called the Changing of the Guard not Guards

 

187. On a Double Decker.

We went on a Double Decker tour bus on our last day in London.

 

188. ?

This is a statue of some guy. It was high up on a building so I thought being this close to it on the bus was really neat. The guide said who it was but I forgot now.

 

189. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese.

A pub where Voltaire, Dickens frequented.

 

190. St. Paul's Cathedral

The front to the Cathedral where Diana was married. I’m on a moving Bus hence the not so great pic. We were too lazy to walk to this side when we were on foot the first time we were here.

 

191. The Great Fire

Monument to the Great Fire of London.

“On Sunday morning, the 2nd September 1666, the destruction of medieval London began. Within 5 days the city which Shakespeare had known was destroyed by fire. An area of one and a half miles by half a mile lay in ashes; 373 acres inside the city walls and 63 acres outside, 87 churches destroyed (including St. Paul's Cathedral) and 13,200 houses. In all this destruction, it is amazing that only 6 people are definitely known to have been killed. However, it seems likely that the actual death toll was much higher. In destroying the close packed houses and other buildings it is also likely that the fire finally put an end to the Great Plague that had devastated the city in the previous year - killing 17,440 out of the population of 93,000.”

 

192-194. Tower Bridge.

 

195 &196 The London Dungeon

An interactive tour through the dark history of London with actors. Unfortunately we never had the chance to go, but we did have a chance to go the Edinburgh one. It would have been nice to experience the Jack the Ripper part of the London.

 

197 –199 Tower Bridge

Going over the Bridge on the Double Decker Bus.

London May1st-5^th Pics 124-155

 

124. MJ

What is a wax museum without MJ?

 

125. Queen

Freddie Mercury

 

126. Chris Reeve

 

127. Sly and I

Hehe

 

128. Connery

“The games afoot Trebek”

 

129. Jones

“We named the dog Indiana”

At least it’s a little better in profile.

 

130. Hopkins

“A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.”

 

131. Hitchcock

I think he sees some food.

 

132. Brando

“You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it.”

 

133. The King.

“Its good to be king”

 

134. Monroe

“Can we get a little more wind?”

 

135. James Dean

My favorite old time actor.

 

136. James Dean. The Man

Do you know who this is? James fucking Dean. The Rebel without a Cause.

 

137. Doing my Dean Impression.

“You're tearing me apart!”

 

138. Brosnan

“Sorry Pierce, we want Daniel Craig as James Bond now.” I still think Clive Owen would make a sweet fucking Bond.

 

139. Chaplin and Chaplin

I love this guys films. I so want a cane like his

 

140 Chaplin

Grace: I once gave Charlie Chaplin a handjob
Jeff: Wow, was he silent?
Grace: Not after I got thru with him.

(Scene from Grandma’s Boy)

 

141. Bogart.

“Hey don’t Bogart the joint man”

“Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she had to walk into mine.”

 

142. Picking Sadadm's Nose

Self explanatory really

 

143. Shot to the Nuts

Giving Bush a shot to his nuts.

 

144. Nut Grabbing

Grabbing Bush and Blair’s Nuts. It was quite funny reaching for there crotches on a podium with a whole bunch of people around.

 

145. Hitler

I don’t think he liked me taking his pic. I get him back in Germany…stay tuned for that pic.

 

146. It's Dick

“I’m not a crook”

 

147. Kennedy

“Heineken? Why it's the finest beer in the world! President Kennedy used to drink it!”

 

148. Shakespeare

“Yours shits the Bomb, Yo”

 

149.Royals

 

150. Princes

They are so loved over there that you had to pay to get your photo taken with them (That goes for the Queen as well)

 

151. Diana

Conspiracy Theory: Can anyone get a non-blurry shot of her wax figure

152. Ali.

Sorry… I’m the Greatest. I think I may have him intimidated.

 

153. The Beatles

 

154 Great minds think alike.

He had messy hair so I came up with the idea of taking off my hair and messing up my hair too. I made some guy watching me do this laugh.

 

154 & 155 Vlad

The inspiration for Dracula. I was really looking forward to going to his Country. It pisses me off our plans got screwed up.