All of us feel trivial.

I'm listening to Hot Water Music right now... they really can do no wrong, as far as I'm concerned. They're a band that has filled a niche since I was a teenager, and their songs continue to be awesome, even though I'm ten years older now. I like that in a band; so many songs age really badly. Plenty of bands are still ripping them off (in the best possible way, like Paper Arms) even today. That says something.

So, I've been entirely slack with updating this. It was pretty difficult to manage while I was away, because writing blog posts takes time, and that's time that I was spending on trying to enjoy other cities. Travelling was a major stress and not entirely pleasant; I'll definitely be planning future travels alone. I knew what I liked, and had a formula, and should have just stuck to it. But hey, live and learn, right?

Last I wrote, I was in Napoli. I didn't like the city; it was filthy and crowded and not exciting enough for me to ignore that (as happens in cities like Paris and London)... Florence was better. The hotel in Florence was great; it comes recommended. Here, have a link: Hotel Continentale. The staff were amazing and the place was great; clean, ultra-modern, and with awesome facilities. And it was right in the middle of everything, next to the Ponte Vecchio. I liked Florence more; I bought a pair of cute red shoes, which will be saved for being back in Australia because they're open and it's much too cold to wear them here. I saw some awesome art, ate amazing food (ribollita, fettucine with fresh artichoke, wilted spinach and chickpeas, and even fairy floss at one point!) and managed not to scream at my sister. Though I did tell her to fuck off about five times while we were waiting to get into the Uffizi argument. If there's one person who doesn't understand that arguing about opinions doesn't solve anything, and doesn't change my opinion, well, that would be her. She never quite got that I wouldn't argue because I didn't want to, not because I didn't have an argument to make. I should be a diplomat. Ugh.

Anyway, whinging aside, Florence was nice. We caught a flight from their rather small and dilapidated airport with a Swiss airline called Fly Baboo, who served interesting hors d'euvres as snacks and were generally kinda cool. Smallest plane I've ever been on; I think Jayne was a bit uneasy, because she doesn't enjoy flying, but she didn't act on her fears, so that was ok. Two seats, aisle, two more seats. I think there was about 3o people on the flight. Surely that's not profitable? Either way, I rather enjoyed it. In Geneva, we had the most horribly rude taxi driver that I've ever encountered, and it clouded any possible enjoyment of the city. We found the people rather cold (even the hotel staff; concierges are usually the nicest people!) and the whole place was overly stuffy. We did, however, go for a dip in the hotel pool and use their gym. We ate at an Italian restaurant that I didn't overly enjoy (portion sizes too small for my meal; I think Jayne's were more reasonable) and went to sleep early. Got woken at midnight by fireworks for NYE, and was only too happy to ignore them and go back to sleep.

The next day, we got up relatively early, and caught the train to Interlaken. I'm always a little edgy about train connections, but all ours went smoothly. I had a saffron bun and a coffee for breakfast. Got to use "je voudrais" a few more times, heh. (I might like, or ich moechte.) Our hotel was right near the station (what isn't? Interlaken is tiny, heh) and we put down our bags and headed out immediately. We caught the train to Jungfrau, which was the most expensive train journey that I'd booked for our entire trip. Granted, it did take three trains to get there, and two of them are antique, cog-wheeled and probably pretty high-maintenance. So, we managed to get the connecting trains up the mountain to the observation point; Top of Europe isn't wrong. The train up was fun; I was painfully hungry by the time we got there, and we went to the cafeteria for lunch. One of the restaurants was only for group tours, and we stumbled on the self-serve before we saw the second. The vege curry and rice was terrible, but I was too hungry to give a damn. The salad was pretty good. (Europe, you've made my salad standards drop considerably.) The views were beautiful and it was minus 10 outside. I was happy to be there. I'd forgotten how dizzy the altitude made me last time, and this time was no different. It was still fun, though.

We caught the train back down the mountain, and went to see the fireworks that were happening in the main square. It was completely packed, and thousands of people were there, with their teenage daughters too... or it sounded like that, because of all the girls screaming for some band that was playing. Guess they were the local hotties? Either way, we had to climb down a storm water drain to get past the crowds, and then back up the muddy side with the help of a rope... nearly fell, but didn't. It was the only way to get around the crowd. There weren't many food stalls, and most of them were just sausage anyway (we'd made it to the German-speaking part of Switzerland, can you tell?) or Gluhwein. Ugh. I went to a convenience store (thanks, Coop!) and picked up a salad and some fruit. Jayne ate a sausage. The fireworks were pretty impressive, and it was nice to have an early night. Interlaken celebrates New Years after the new year actually begins, so that's why there were fireworks and celebrations on the first.

The next day, we just took it easy and went for a walk to a nearby town, following the river until it turned into a lake. Took some photos, and wandered back. Relived the joys of stomping on paper-thin ice that crackles and smashes like glass. Had lunch at a restaurant, where my pasta sucked, but I did at least eat Rosti. Yum. We caught the train at 4pm... just managed to make our transfer onto the third train, which was severely delayed in the last Swiss station. Something to do with needing to detach a couple of carriages, which needed either repairs or cleaning, and that needed to be done in Switzerland, according to Swiss Rail. So we ended up in Munich very late, and caught the train to the airport directly, because that's where our hotel was. Crawled into bed, exhausted, at 1am.

The next day, we used the gym there and then went to the airport terminal for breakfast. Jayne was all grumbly and annoyed because she wasn't eating from the incredibly expensive hotel options (none of which were remotely Megan-friendly). I had an aweeesome salad with felafel on rice and spicy sauce, so I was happy as a lark. Serves her right for being too weak to try a felafel! We went to the hotel to check out at midday, and then went to the terminal again, because Jayne wanted to use the free wi-fi in Starbucks. I'm against them in principle, and yet Jayne again didn't get that she should just drop the argument, and went on and on about how she loves them. You can see why we're polar opposites.

Anyway, I bought a coffee because I wanted a soylatte (and getting soymilk in a coffee in Germany is next to impossible) and we used the internet. They gave us a voucher, which gave us a free drink, and so I had another one. Which probably added up to a little under a litre of soylatte, because their serving sizes are disgustingly large. I drank it anyway. Free coffee, even if it is too weak and too cold. We skyped with the parents briefly, and then went to our terminal for the flight to Sweden. Flew Norwegian, who are definitely among the best discount airlines I've experienced. Everything was so civilised! We arrived in Stockholm and caught the train to the city centre, and then walked to the hotel. Everyone was amazingly friendly, and the old town was beautiful. We stocked up in a lolly shop (ok, I bought two "jam-bars", one lemon and one raspberry; like giant handmade jube lollies. Jayne stocked up properly) and had dinner in a restaurant that was just really nice. The food was completely fresh and they made me a special vegan option and everything. Jayne said her food was brilliant. My wine, now THAT was brilliant. ;)

After dinner, we walked the scenic route back to the hotel, irrespective of the fact that it was completely freezing. Walked past the palace though, which was cool. The next morning, we flew to Kiruna, again with Norwegian. In Kiruna, we were picked up by the Ice Hotel shuttle. We got a short tour of the hotel, and they recommended we take a later, single-language guided tour and a "how to survive overnight in a cold room" tour as well. So we checked in, put our suitcases in the large lockers provided, and collected our ski suits. I have to say, the service at the Ice Hotel was pretty hit-and-miss. I spoke to a woman at their Activities Desk about getting a special meal for our snowmobile tour that night, and she wrote everything down, and it was all cool. Except that there was a complete miscommunication somewhere, and I didn't actually get dinner. I was so depressed and cold and hungry! But I'll get to that.

We went to one of their restaurants for a quick buffet lunch, because we were starved. It wasn't too bad. We walked to the Sami culture centre and fed some reindeer. Or, rather, I fed some reindeer. Jayne squealed and ran away. She threw a handful of moss at them for the sake of a photo, but it was definitely me doing the feeding. Anyway, they were really nice reindeer, very friendly. :) Afterwards, we went back to the Hotel for the tours. The survival one was good; the guide explained to us all the nuances of the sleeping bag, and that we were only allowed to wear one layer, otherwise they didn't work. I bought thermals from the shop later than night, in preparation! Anyway, after the tour, we relaxed for a bit, and then went to the meeting point for the snowmobile tour. Just having to wait out in the cold for 15 minutes was painful. Despite four layers of socks, and their awesome snow boots (provided by the hotel), my feet were frozen before we even left. I was wearing so many layers... all my normal winter layers under the provided ski suit, even my coat. The balaclava provided wasn't thick enough... but oh well.

We got a quick demo on how to drive a snowmobile, and then we were away! It was great fun; I drove, and Jayne was on the back. (I'd paid for two separate snow mobiles, but there were too many people for that; again, another case of poor service.) So, with frequent stops to check that we were okay, we made our way to a wooden hut across the frozen lake. The forest trails were more challenging, but not as cold as the open ice. It felt like I was being stabbed with knives; my face, where it was exposed to the MINUS THIRTY DEGREE temperature, was in complete pain. It hurt to keep my eyes open, and my eyelashes were frozen. When I got back, my skin was all red and puffy and windburned. Ouch. Icehotel, for me, is a memory of using more moisturiser than I've ever used in my life.

Anyway, we warmed up by a fire lit by our guide in the wooden hut. Or rather, we froze more slowly. All the others ate reindeer soup and salmon wraps, and I sat there, wanting to cry. I was so cold and hungry and miserable... even warm lingonberry juice wasn't going to fix that. I was pleased when we finally got back on the snowmobiles for the trip back. I saw the Northern Lights, which were softly growing green, and got up to 35 kmph on the snowmobile. It would have been a really good tour, if I wasn't so hungry. Back at my locker, I retrieved the apple and train mix that I'd stashed earlier. (We got back at about 11pm, which is when all the restaurants closed.) I ate that, which tided me over until morning, albeit in a terribly unsatisfying manner. We got into our thermals, boots, and coats, retrieved sleeping bags, and ran to the Ice Room that we were in. Climbed into the sleeping bags, glad to be getting into them, seeing as we were only wearing the single layer of clothing, and it was still -5 in the hotel. (We had to run through the -30 degree night to get to the hotel, though, because everything is single-story, separate buildings.) I wrapped my coat around my head to keep it warm, and to block out the cold air from the face-hole in the sleeping bag.

Needless to say, it took me hours to get to sleep, and I woke often, always with freezing feet. But I survived it, anyway. We were woken in the morning at our requested time with a cup of hot lingonberry juice, which we needed badly. We went back to the dressing room (the warm area with bathrooms, reception, and place to get ski clothes etc) and just got dressed instead of showering, because we had a snow-shoe walk planned. Unfortunately, snow-shoe walking just meant that we got to sit in a sled and get taken to a place about 20 mins away on snow-mobile. There, we walked about 200 metres to the hut, had the obligatory cake and warm drink around a fire, and then walked 200m back. I was thinking that we'd actually spend more than 5 minutes on the snow shoes, but unfortunately not. A newlywed Indian couple were the only other people there, plus the guide of course. The most exciting part was when the sled got stuck on a drift by a road, and the local post van pulled it out. See, the Swedish people are so friendly!

Anyway, after that, we showered and movoed our things over to the warm accomodation, which was like a hotel room in an oversized cabin. Comfortable, adequate, and not made of ice, which suited me entirely. Jayne and I went to the same restaurant for lunch, and the buffet was the same. Hot dish was different, but not me-friendly (day one was reindeer, day two was moose or something) so I ate a lot of salad. Kind of a recurring theme on the trip, but not an unpleasant thing. (I ate a lot of terrible pasta on the trip, though. Also some amazing pasta, but yeah, some was god-awful.) We went on a dogsled trip that afternoon; the dogs were friendly and it was a fun ride, except that I was at the front and therefore the coldest. As in, so cold it really hurt; I never managed to warm up in the hut (obligatory hot tea/coffee/lingonberryjuice and cake around the fire again) and the ride back was hell. My feet felt like they had been broken; I could barely walk when we got off the sled. We went straight to the dressing room, where we went into the large ladies' bathroom/showers/dressing room, which had heated floors. After stripping off the thousand layers, down to my thermals and bare feet, I was finally able to get warm.

That night, we went to the Log Cabin Restaurant, which was really lovely food. I had a salad as an entree (surprise) and a mixed vegetable dish as a main, which was delicious. Funnily enough, there was another vegan in the restaurant that night; the waitress nearly had a fit of laughter. Guess it made it easier for the chef to kill two birds with one stone! Anyway, after dinner, we went back to the room and had an early night. The next morning, we had breakfast, checked out, and caught the hotel shuttle to the airport. Then our flight was delayed by two hours, so we were stuck in an airport the size of my parents' garage, with an entire flights' worth of people. We were there early, so we managed to check in and get rid of our bags, and then nab a table at the tiny cafe. So many people had nowhere to sit... anyway, we waited there for two hours, and then finally got on our flight. I was so starved that I ate two small tubes of pringles, which consequently made me feel sick. We managed to make our connecting flight in Stockholm, but had to rush through the airport.

We arrived in Copenhagen, caught a taxi to the hotel (I had already researched the cheapest and easiest way to get to all our hotels, complete with maps etc) and had dinner in the restaurant there, which was pretty respectable. Sweden seemed to have an obsession with raw onion though. For the record, I hate raw onion; I only eat it when I'm starved, because afterwards, I can taste raw onions for days, no matter how many times I brush my teeth, and it makes my throat hurt. I don't get how people can enjoy that! Anyway, the next day we did lots of tourist sites and went shopping. I found the Cheap Monday shop, but Jayne was sour about being there (though you should have seen her in Urban Outfitters! At least there she sat down in a provided chair while I went shopping) so I wasn't able to take full advantage of their having a sale. More on that later, though. That night, Jayne got room service for dinner, so I went down the street to the local Japanese place. The ramen soup was normal, nothing special, but the chilli edamame were delicious. It was nice to finally get some chilli.

The next day was more touristy things, and I'd made a resolution to get my hair cut. I finally found a place that had time free, and walked back there alone later in the day (Jayne didn't want to come and wait around while I had my hair cut). Anyway, turns out that my hairdresser used to work in a rock'n'roll styled salon, and was completely awesome. She was really excited to cut my hair, and it looks awesome; I was lucky to stumble across someone good! I figured that I was in a town full of awesome haircuts, so I had a good sporting chance. So, we termed it a "moderate Chelsea"; shaved at the back, long at the front, graded sides. I love it. It's exactly what I would have done, had I had access to clippers in Pb. So, yeah, awesome. :)

I'd said to Jayne that I'd meet her that night at the hotel, in time to go out for our dinner. I walked back through the main shopping street, keeping my eyes open... and found the little side street with the Cheap Monday shop again. Aweeesome. Also got to check out the gentleman working there for a second time, which was a welcome opportunity. I'm such a sucker for good haircuts and full sleeves. Anyway, I bought jeans! They were half price! So, 25 euro per pair. I was super smug. (Oh, and the day previous, I'd managed to nab a cute coat and three singlets for the equivalent of AU $80ish. Win!) I walked through the royal palace, saw the little mermaid statue (ran into my sister there) and then we walked back to the hotel. It was really foggy and cold, and a bit creepy.

I had a couscous salad as a snack, because I hadn't had lunch, aside from a quick saffron bun before the hairdresser (and the complimentary coffee while I was there). So I pretty much inhaled that, I was so hungry. I got changed into nicer clothes, and we caught a taxi to Geranium, which is an amazing restaurant... molecular gastronomy style. We had the tasting menu (mine was the veg tasting menu, tailored to be vegan) and it was amazing. Seriously, phenomenally crafted food, and everything was delicious. It was definitely more money that I'd like to spend on an evening (hello, credit card) but it was worth it, especially for the last night away on the trip. I'll make a list of what I ate at some point...

The next morning, we packed up our stuff and checked out of the hotel at midday (the usual check-out deadline). We went to the airport, where Jayne was able to check her bags in, because she was flying internationally. I was only flying within the EU, so I wasn't able to drop my bags... which sucked, because I had six hours before my flight. Jayne's flight was at the same time as mine, but she decided to go duty-free shopping. So I sat in a cafe, ordered a cup of tea, and watched a movie. Four hours later, I checked in. Ate awful Asian-themed food for dinner (ran into Jayne, who ate pasta) and caught my flight back to Koln/Bonn airport. Then an S-Bahn to Koln Hbf, where I bought a salad for dinner, and caught trains back to Pb. I got home at about 11:30pm, chatted briefly to Steffi and Matze, and went to bed.

The next morning, it was up early again (I was so tired!) for more German course. That night, I was too tired to do anything; too wrecked. Slept badly and took the next day off from German class; I would have been too useless, and I had a headache from tiredness. I slept in until 10am (new world record for me! I haven't slept that late since I lived in Adelaide), which shows how wrecked I was. I think doing that was a smart move; I no longer feel like I'm coming down with something. Win!

So, Tuesday night I wrote my presentation for Wednesday (I really hate having it that close to the line, it makes me uneasy), gave said presentation on Wednesday, had another person approach me to say he thought the lectures were great, had someone in the class tell me they loved my hair, and generally went home feeling much happier than when I'd left that morning! Thursday and Friday I managed to endure class, and Friday night I watched Tangled (new Rapunzel animated movie) which was funny. Very cute. Steffi had recommended it, and I needed something brainless to watch, so it was good.

This morning I went to the markets to buy fruit and veg for my empty shelf in the fridge. Can't let it feel too naked, after all. I love Saturday mornings; I go to the market, then I sit in the kitchen, surrounded by fruit and veg, making and preparing and unpacking. Sometimes that's when I chat to the parents on skype; they weren't online, but I did get to chat to Amy, and I drank plenty of soylatte. ;)

This afternoon I went for a jog for 45 minutes (I jog more slowly than I walk, I swear)... my foot is hurting again, and I think I should probably have it X-rayed or something, because it gave me a lot of trouble during the trip. But that can wait. I go home in 10 weeks, so I'll deal with it then. Anyway, post-run I was feeling tired but happy. I reworked yesterday's satay for dinner (added ginger, more chilli, and more peanut butter, plus some green veg; improved it heaps!) and have been mentally working out the wording for my violent note to my upstairs neighbours. It's not just their squeals and screaming that I can't stand; but also overhearing, ahem, 'intimate moments'. I'm seriously about to kill them. Instead of murder, I've got my headphones plugged into my laptop, and I'm listening to Hot Water Music. All will be ok... home in 10 weeks.