http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/zofka/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from zofka en-us Fri, 25 Dec 2009 09:30:34 +0000 Fri, 25 Dec 2009 09:30:34 +0000 This year Lithuania celebrates the 1000 year anniversary for the mentioning of its name. The first time Lithuania was mentioned was in 1009 in the Saxonicae Annales Quedlinburgenses where apparently a Saxon missionary named Bruno of Querfurt was struck in the head after trying to baptise the people living in Lithuania. The year of 2009 is therefore perfect for Lithuanian capital Vilnius to be the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Vilnius/blog-387365.html The hill of CrossesIt is said that this saddle bag hill 12 km outside Siauliai was once a pagan alter. How this remote location far from anything came to be a holy place is unknown but the legend describe it as such. Many centuries later it became the home to a cross or two this is estimated to be around the 1830's and today the saddle bag hill hosts hundreds of thousands of mainly wooden cro http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Siauliai/blog-401979.html I had been told that the old city of Knigsberg was gone and that the present city of Kaliningrad was nothing to write home about. But I have decided to write home anyhow.Kaliningrad is a fascinating place seeing that almost all the inhabitants are immigrants from Mother Russia. This old Preussian stronghold which fostered people such as Immanuel Kant is today a Russian exclave in the center of E http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Kaliningrad/blog-401978.html It is freezing and I constantly feel a bit ill and with a throbbing in my throat. It has been snowy white for long periods through February while ice flakes have made their way down the Neris River which floats by my house. March is more optimistic and the sun shines through but it is still a while I am sure until I can enjoy the spring in the Lithuanian capital.I have resided in Vilnius for tw http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Vilnius/blog-384452.html Do you know the supposedly American expression of a good burn often used by the character Michael Kelso in That 70's showWell in Lithuania they really like a good burn.Having lived in Vilnius for a little more than two months I have become quite accustumed to the Lithuanian version of a good burn. I live in an apartment block between Neris and the old town and in the driveway into the yard http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Lithuania/Vilnius/blog-386450.html As I arrive from Slovenia it is too early to get my reserved bed at the hostel. I decide to spend the time walking the nearest area of the hostel. After having bought some water and a ham and cheese sandwich from a very friendly and talkative young woman I go to the little park nearby the hostel to eat and enjoy the grey June wheather in Budapest. As I sit on the park bench the birds start flock http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-365232.html The old man tries to speak to me in Russian. I try to respond. My few Slovene glosescome in handy now. He asks me where I am from. I answer Daniya. He says something about Daniya and gori. I laugh and make the motion of flat. He gives up and leaves me be. I am left with my own thoughts. I sit quietly and rest while looking down upon the village of Kazbegi. I sit at Tsminda Sameba the church that http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Georgia/Khevi/Kazbegi/blog-304651.html 15 minutes of fameI chose to buy two large sunglasses today so that I can really look like a celebrity The reason is that we have been quite a lot in AZTV. Firstly we appeared at a pressconference where all of us had to tell why we had chosen Azerbaijan and how we liked it so far Later on a tv crew came to our language course to film us while having class and afterwards I was chosen for an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Azerbaijan/Baku/blog-300887.html Today was the first day we got out of Baku for real and got to see something different from the buildingboom of the metropol.Our destination was Ganja the second largest city in Azerbaijan and situated approximately 320 km to the east of Baku. I had previous to my travel heard that the pictures of the present president as well as his father the former president are hanging everywhere. I had no http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Azerbaijan/blog-299993.html So here is my first update from Azerbaijan.I am at the moment participating in an AEGEEsummer university in Baku learning the Azeri language which is related to Turkish.We are approx 13 participants and just as many organizers from the universities in Baku.So let's beginBaku where east meets west. Where Islam coexist with capitalism. And where Ladas and Mercedes fill the streetA chok of cultu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Azerbaijan/Baku/blog-298724.html Since I've subscribed a whole lot of you marvellous people back home to my blog I have to be extra good at writing interesting stuff. So lets start with what I am best at complaining Copenhagen Airport Usually one of my all time favorite places. The atmosphere of people going away on holiday bustling around in long lines while chatting about things to do at their destination point and of peo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Latvia/Riga-Region/Riga/blog-294868.html I arrived in Ljubljana today for the first time in three years. Being back is really strange the city has changed and yet it is the same. New people old people new smells old smells. Places that I remember places that have come places that no longer exist.I am staying with Joo in a big flat in Slovenska. It is quite an inventars place. The people living here are rather artistic in one way http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovenia/Upper-Carniola/Ljubljana/blog-281957.html My bachelor degree is soon to be a reality and my time as a bachelor student is about to end. It has been a stressfull but a wonderfull year and I will look back at it with joy remembering all the great times I've had with the people around me. But before my master studies will begin I have a bit of travelling to do. Once again I will get on the road experiencing new and fantastic places.Caucasu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Denmark/Region-Hovedstaden/Copenhagen/blog-279783.html I have been off from writing for a while.This is mainly due to my bachelor coming up and so forth... but so what that should not be an excuse for not writing a bit about one particular country which I have now visited five times in one year. It is the big scary wolf of a neighbouring country. It is Germany the object of endless jokes by Danes. It is the country of sausages beerfestivals and r http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/blog-236509.html I am well back in Denmark and have finished last semester with a very nice 11. This means that my summer is starting and I can engage myself in work and books and relaxation. But since I do have to work all summer my only real vacation was my visit to Brussels which I now hope to tell a bit about. And hopefully with the adding of some embarrasing pictures of Meike whom I visited there. The bes http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/Brussels-Capital-Region/Brussels/blog-175412.html Dank u wel Brussel Merci beaucoup Bruxelles When I went to high school we went on a studytrip to Brussels and Strasburg. We went to see the EUheadquarters and NATO and Wee Manneke Pis. It was interesting and I got to learn a lot on that trip. One of the things was that it is never a good idea to get drunk the day before having a lecture in the Commision. This I discovered after fearfully have http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/Brussels-Capital-Region/Brussels/blog-166832.html My semester is about to end. All I need is to do the final exam. I have had a crazy time since my return to Denmark. I do not even feel that I have had the time to stop up and breath for a moment. A lot of confusion came out of my stay in Madrid. It took them three months to send me my papers which means that I had a long period doing which I had no idea whether I would pass my basic studies. Tha http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Denmark/Region-Hovedstaden/Copenhagen/blog-166287.html Feliz navidad feliz navidad...tralala lala..Denmark vs Spain at christmasMany things are different around the world and also in comparing Spain and Denmark but one thing seems to be the same everywhere Christmas shopping and moreover christmas stress.A Spanish Christmas is in many ways unlike a Danish. Where I am used to a december month full of christmas all culminating in the big 24th of d http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-115284.html Some time has past since I last wrote. But here is a little update.I'm residing in Madrid and step by step I start understanding the way of life here which is fascinatingly different from my own life in Denmark and therefore also very likely to give me grey hair.UniI have become enrolled as an Erasmus student in the largest University in Spain Universidad Complutense de Madrid. The universit http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/blog-95719.html I arrived from Barcelona to Valencia and still felt a bit ill when a friend of mine picked me up at the station. The next day I had to visit a doctor and got conformated the fear that my tonsels had gone bad. The next five days happened on antibiotics. This seemed offcourse pretty sad but I was with friends that I love and they have often enough seen me drunk. At the same time they also treated m http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Valencian-Community/Valencia/blog-85739.html