Cheapness overload

We woke up pretty relaxed after a good nights sleep and had a really lazy morning. We'd been travelling quite fast so not having to check-out was kind of a luxury. By the time we were ready to go out for breakfast it was already 12.30 so it was going to be a late one. There was a shopping mall just a few blocks down so we decided to go to see for a place to eat (not very original going to a mall but we were so so hungry). Inside we found a cute American style diner where they still served breakfast so in we went. And damn it was cheap! I got a full American breakfast (eggs, bacon, toast, sausage, whatever) for only 3 euros. Poland was starting to look ever nicer to us and our empty bank accounts.

After stuffing ourselves with cheap food it was time to head out and see the city. Our little apartment we rented (23€/night for a big, fully renovated one-bedroom!) was pretty close to the city center. Walking along the riverside we spotted a kayak rental spot so of course we got excited about it and rented one. After just a little while it turned out not to be the best idea, there was a hugely strong current so we barely moved even though we were paddling like crazy. After maybe half an hour we decided to give up and return it. Due to the current the same distance we covered in half an hour (like 200 metres) took us less than five minutes the other way. How annoying is that. You also couldn't see much of the city from the river so it wasn't really worth it. Luckily it only ended up costing us only 5 euros.

After this we headed more towards the center since there was really not much to see by the river. We headed towards the Jewish quarter which nowadays was a nice and hip place full of cute cafes and restaurants. We bumped into this small bakery where we ate our lunch (healthy of course). We ended up having meringue, chocolate and fudge cake and bought a huge cookie. It was so incredibly good and cheap we couldn't believe it.

It was so tasty that afterwards we had to go give the lady of the bakery our special thanks!

We had already planned in the morning to have a lazy night and cook some food and enjoy the alone time since we had a nice apartment with a full kitchen. Also it felt like a good idea since we'd been on the road so much and a bit tired from all the moving so a chill night would give us all the energy we needed to finish our trip. We also love to cook together and it'd been a looong time since we'd cooked a nice dinner together. So off to the supermarket. Luckily for us there was a big one at the mall right next to our apartment. We probably spent more than an hour wandering around and looking at all the food we could buy since it was also so damn cheap. But we had to restrict ourselves since we were only gonna be there for one night so we couldn't just stack the fridge full of food. So after restricting ourselves so much we ended up buying only two plastic bags full of food for one dinner and one breakfast. We bought sausages, cheeses, mushrooms, veggies, yogurt, ham, soft drinks and probably everything they had for sale for a mere 15 euros which again made our empty bank accounts happy. So off to the apartment to do some cooking!

Linnea is a Batman, Linnea needs coffee all the time!

After the long and exhausting two (or even three) minute walk we arrived at our apartment full of passion to get cooking. We did some preparations, cut the veggies, mushrooms and cheese before the main event, frying the sausages which obviously was my job (Linnea is more specialized in the healthy stuff). We really enjoyed the alone time just the two of us cooking, listening to music and enjoying each others company. After getting the sausages and mushrooms on the pan the room filled with a lovely smell and our stomachs started to growl. It was definitely time to eat. Tomato & mozzarella as a starter, sausages with mushrooms & onion for the main. F***ing delicious like Gordon Ramsay would say. After stuffing ourselves like we'd never seen food before we crashed into bed and tuned into Netflix. There was this documentary we'd been watching so we finished it and went to sleep, since the next day was going to be a rough one visiting Auschwitz.

Cheers,
Arno

Look at the random biker man. Look at him!

Warm ice coffee in Prague

To be honest, we were never planing on stopping in Prague - even as everybody kept on asking about it. Yes, I have been there once for a night or two with my parents, maybe around the time I was 12 or something. The only thing I remember is that I was having the worst migraine - as I always did and still do often - walking across a bridge and eating tiramisu under a bell tower. So not that great memories :D But I remember how beautiful the city was. And I wanted to show it to Arno!

So how did we end up there? Well. We had not booked a place for the night and before visiting my dear princess castle we saw a McDonald's. And every traveler knows that McDonald's has free WiFi (or if you didn't, now you do, such a lifesaver). So we took advantage of that and went to look what's gonna happen after the castle (and split a chocolate chip cookie ofc). Arno wanted to drive through the night all the way to Krakow (10h) and I was more about the good nights sleep, shower and re-visiting Prague. So he let me get my way through as every gentlemen (just kidding, I don't think neither of us would have made a 10h drive through the night for real).

To Prague we arrived after midnight. Just fell asleep and woke up the next morning around 9. After freshening up we headed to have some breakfast that was included in the approx 22€/night price. Have to admit that it wasn't too good, but luckily we had peanut butter, Nutella, jam and everything else in the car that gave it some taste.

After breakfast and check out we stayed in the hotel lobby having an office morning, doing some work stuff, filling papers, sending emails and booking hotels. It took an hour and then we were free to jump in the car and drive off to the old city. We walked in the old city that was full of tourists but was as beautiful as I remembered. Long bridges, statues, street artists, beautiful paintings, riverboats and white swans flying above us.

We walked around for a while before settling down for coffee, in a cafeteria by the river. We sat outside as the sun shined, birds swam in the water and smell of fresh coffee filled the air. I ordered an ice latte for my thirst as Arno went for his usual, Coke. After living a year in America I was used to my ice coffees being cold or freezing. It was my every Wednesday morning treat as we sat on the yard of our favorite farmers market with a huge group of friends - every week - cinnamon-raisin bagel with cream cheese and the best ice coffee I have ever had, the Amish really know how to cook. But well this coffee I ordered in Prague wasn't freezing, nor even cool. It was warm, but not as warm as coffee is when you usually drink it. But not cold enough that you could call it ice coffee. Then Arno - my beloved non-coffee-drinker - reminded me that Europeans cook warm coffee were they add a scoop of ice cream, not like Americans like it with ice ice baby. But I mean after all this talk of that coffee experience of mine I have to add that it was a good warm ice coffee, very delish!

After we left the cafeteria I told my handsome better half to stand still because I wanted to take a picture of him in his new shorts! And this older lady heard us talking and offered to take a picture of the both of us - in Finnish. Such a sweet woman that got me almost fall into the water because I totally did not see that coming, always get so confused if someone starts speaking Finnish to me abroad.

We continued our trip, hunting for food because the restaurant didn't have that much to offer us. And we didn't want to eat surrounded by tourists so it took us a while before finding anything. But we accidentally bumped into this little door that took us to this cute, sunny inner ward where they served so tasty food I had difficulties to make my pic. It was nice sitting there with fresh bread, salad and raspberry-basil lemonade.

After late lunch we walked to the car and continued our way towards Krakow. It ended up being a nice 4 hour visit in Prague but just a stop along the road so we had to keep driving. Although the other cars around didn't so after an hour of driving we were standing in traffic, not moving for a few hours. By six o'clock we were so done with it that we just decided to go for dinner to the next place we'd find. maybe the traffic would ease off. We took the next exit on right side and found our way to this tiny tiny town that had one open restaurant where all the locals were hanging out. We got loooong looks as we walked in and asked for a menu, in English. Well there was no menu in any other language that either of us would speak (and I mean we both speak or understand like 8-10, but not Czech). The nice waitress guy promised to translate for us but he could barely say "meat", "vegetable", "lamb" or "pork" so we just ended up taking the meals that had the words "angus" and "ribs". But with 7-12 euros each we got so good meals! I got an angus steak with vegetables and mushroom sauce, Arno ate ribs with bacon bread and different sauces. And with the same money we both drank two cokes too! I mean in Finland you may end up paying 7 euros just for two Cokes..

So full and happy we got back where we left the traffic at and continued driving with no cars around. Just us two, good music and the sunset in the horizon, talking deep and laughing together. Moments I treasure so deep in my heart! Love travelling with my sweetheart since we are not just a couple, but we were friends first and that is something we have kept all the way where we are now. We can just talk, joke and horse around with no end. That's why trips like driving 6h to Poland are no big deal. I mean of course we get pissed off and stuff once in a while - everyone does sometimes. But we always apologize right away, talk things through and end up laughing about it together. There's nothing bigger than the trust I have towards him and his love. And nothing more beautiful than sitting together in that car - free, happy, together and madly in love <3

Kisses,

Linnea

Mountains, waterfalls and princess castles

So we slept a little later (like until 9am) because the check-out time was at 11am and we were a little worn out from last night's drive. The morning mood was way better, the house wasn't spooky at all in the daylight. We had a slow morning, the sun warming through the open balcony door, a mountain river running under our window with huge power and loud voice, snowy mountains and goats roaming around with clinging bells in their necks. I was brushing my teeth and walking around the hotel lobby, said hi to the passing owner that was the only person besides us and a few hikers we ever saw at that hotel.

We felt fresh after a well slept night and shower. But hungry for breakfast. So we drove around this little mountain village we had not seen in the darkness when we arrived. And holy macarony it was cute! We even managed to found a supermarket even cheaper than Aldi (I myself did not believe something like that could even exist). We went around and bought ourselves salami, rice puddings and fresh pastries. Again we headed out to hunt for a place to eat them. I think my expectations were something like a meadow with a view over the town so we drove up towards the ski jumping place that Oberstdorf was so well known for. Arno passed all those ”don't drive any further” signs to be a little rebel and all the sudden we saw water floating. We had found our place!

So we backed our Hyundai into this obviously legal parking spot on a hill and continued towards the sound of water carrying all breakfast needs in a backpack. And instead of a river we found a huge, wild waterfall behind the bushes. Beautiful. The fresh mountain air, nature around us and the drops of water keeping us cool under the sun. We sat ourselves down and started eating our rich brunch enjoying the moment and thinking about all the crazy places we have eaten all around the world. So we sat, talked, enjoyed the filling meal and took a few pictures. I was wearing a white skirt that kept on coming up because of the power of the falling water and white shoes that got black from climbing on the slippery rocks and wood stocks. And of course like always in most of the picks my long hair was covering my face that I had painted in the morning with not so waterfall proof makeup. But we got some cool shots after all.

Because our Hyundai was dying to hit the roads where every BMW, Audi and Porsche flew past it, we started our journey. Navigation pointed us towards this Disney princess castle my inner little girl had been dreaming about since my fearless prince had googled it a few weeks ago and of course I pulled him all the way to Germany to see this castle that had inspired so many princess movies. Neuschwanstein! (Yep I still can not spell it, thank goodness for Arno).

After driving for a few hours we saw the castles in the horizon. And the hundreds of tourist that we did not expect to bump into in the middle of a German forests. But of course. And with the tourists comes the service. And the cost of the service. We drove to the parking lot and this parking guy informed us that our little drop by at the castle would cost us at least 35€. I mean you know parking, tourist bus tickets, guided tours and all. So we turned around on the expensive parking lot and headed away from the castle until we found this private tennis club parking like 400 meters further. So we parked for free, changed clothes, filled water bottles and started hiking towards the castle.

It took us like 20 minutes to reach the top, much more fun also than sitting on a tour bus. But damn the castle was huge and b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l! I felt like a Disney princess (only thing braking that picture in my mind was the fact that we did not arrive with a white horse but a gray Hyundai that doesn't actually even move much faster than a four legged)! We walked around the castle, courtyard and surroundings. You could see the mountains, villages, a waterfall, a lake and the neighbor castle on the mountain next to us. I really felt like moving in!

Too bad after taking a ton of pics and walking around there wasn't much more to do so we headed back down the same way we came up. Our reliable car was waiting for the up coming cruising cause now we started making our way to Prague, Czech Republic. And as many of you know about Germany we were excited to get to speed on the Autobahn where there are no speed limits. So we both got this little garidge of ours going for little under 185 km/h! (When you pedaled the gas as much as possible and went downhill with no wind pushing against it... but anyway) I had never driven that fast since it is not really a legal habit in Finland or USA – Zimbabwe again is a whole different story with the bumpy roads that you can not speed on. And so we were cruising on the fullest speed the car could go. Yet there were still people passing us with the speed of over 200 km/h. After that, slowing down to 130 felt like walking.

We were selective about our dinner place and it ended up being our doom. So we found ourselves at a gas station eating leberkäse (German meatloaf kind of super delicious food I had been craving for a long time) and fried fish. Not the best option but it got us all the way to Prague where we arrived after midnight and checked in late and super tired. So ready to get some rest for the upcoming day.

Hugs,

Linnea

49 minute country

So as Linnea already said we headed off to Liechtenstein and Switzerland. I was rather interested in visiting Liechtenstein since we were travelling the region, mainly to see if there is anything to see around and how cool is it to say you've visited Liechtenstein, a country that almost nobody visits. And after walking around for a while I stopped wondering why. We spent a whopping 49 minutes in the capital Vaduz, which was more than enough to see most of it. You could easily miss the whole country driving by since it is only the size of your average township with it's ~35'000 inhabitants. After entering the country from the Austrian side it took us about 10 minutes to reach the capital and another 5 minutes to get out of the country and into Switzerland. The only advice I could give you for visiting Liechtenstein is to go there with a big pile of money. We had some plans of eating some lunch there but it never happened since it was so ridiculously expensive to eat there. We didn't even find a grocery store so we wondered where they do their daily shopping.

So did we do something else there beside look at the sky high prices? As a matter of fact yes. I sent a postcard to the old lady living next door at home (I bet she's never gotten a postcard from Liechtenstein), we looked at the castle and went to a super expensive toy store where all the toys were handmade in Europe. So you can guess how many toys we took home. I've also never seen so many fancy cars in one place. It was Porsche, big fat BMW:s and Audis one after the other. I guess there is not much more to do in Liechtenstein than to show off to your neighbour who has the biggest and baddest car. The only real plus side in Liechtenstein is the beautiful scenery, since it is located in a valley surrounded by beautiful mountains.

After enjoying our 49 minutes of Vaduz and not paying for parking (again) we headed off to Switzerland. We didn't really have a plan on where to go so we looked on Google maps some place relatively close to the border since we booked a hotel in Germany for the night. Every hotel/hostel/whatever in Switzerland was waaay out of our budget. We ended up in this small town of Rorschach at the Bodensee lake. We were really hungry since we skipped lunch in Liechtenstein because of the prices. Well not much more luck here. We looked around and looked around but the cheapest we could find was a pizza for about 15€, crazy eh? So no choice for us but to hit the supermarket. Linnea ended buying a horrible bagel and Lemon soda and I bought a pasta salad,muffins (discount -50%) and two sodas (also -50%) and we still ended up paying 6,50€ each!? We went to sit by the lake and tried to enjoy our lunch which wasn't really too tasty. At least we had a nice view sitting by the lake. After sitting around for half an hour or so we had had enough and wanted to move on to our hotel in Germany.

Our hotel was located in Oberstdorf, a famous winter sports town in the German Alps. We had found a cheap room for about 40€ which was the cheapest we found along our way. The drive took us half an hour longer than expected since the road we had to take in the first place was closed due to road works. Typical. After finally making it to Oberstdorf we were navigating the dark streets to find our hotel. The navigator pointed us to a small unlit gravel road on which we drove for a few kilometres. Out of the darkness a house emerged with only a few lights on. I felt like I was in a horror movie driving towards our death. We stopped at the front door where there was a small note written, “If you have made a reservation, please go inside and check-in yourselves”. So we did as the paper indicated. I went inside and there was nobody. Just a set of keys on the front desk where we could choose our room from. We took a nice looking room facing the backyard. As we took our stuff out of the car I saw a silhouette in one of the windows which really gave me the chills. We quickly unpacked the car and went to sleep hoping to wake up alive in the morning.

Cheers,

Arno  

Amazed by Austria

So we hit the road towards Innsbruck – one of the biggest cities in the Alps, on the side of Austria. And a thunderstorm hit us on the way. While Arno was sleeping I was loosing my little mind as the already twirly mountain roads became so slippery and soaking wet. At least the speed dropped from 130km/h to 100km/h. But still I felt like the car would just slide from under me down the mountain. And let me tell you, that little 40 cm tall fence would not hold our tiny Hyundai if gravity would decide otherwise. But luckily my sleepy co-driver woke up as we were beginning to get closer. I also have to admit that I did not fight against the storm for hours. The weather phenomenon was rather interesting as we drove through tunnels and always on the other side of the tunnel it was shiny and nice as the other side seemed like the sky would fall down on us. Like coming to a new world. But as said, we did survive after all.

So we parked the car in an underground parking and left to explore the city. We got to walk around and see some of the old city before the shower started again. So we ended up walking under roofs, checking cool cuckoo clock shops and looking for a place to eat dinner. But we could not really find anything so after an hour of walking under the heavy rain we just got bored and headed towards our hotel through a grocery. Which was a mistake on the side of dinner since by the hour we found any nice looking restaurant from the road it was late and every place that served anything edible was closed. So Arno ended up snacking a gas station burger and I just ate some snacks we had stored for the next day.

And so we drove up up the little mountain roads in the rain, behind a truck, with gear 1.. Our little Hyundai was roaring like a lion cub and telling us to switch on 5 but if we put on even 2 it did not make it and started slowly falling backwards. Luckily we finally found our way to the top of the mountain and after driving in circles also the hotel we stayed for the night. It was this cute Alp side guest house and after a well slept night and few hours of writing blog posts we actually saw the whole place in daylight for the first time. And shuuuuu it was pretty! This Alp village, with fields of flowers and snowy mountains all around. The air was so fresh.

We had bought food from a supermarket to make our own breakfast a) because it is cheaper b) some places it is hard to find a restaurant that serves breakfast c) we can eat what we want, my tummy for example is really sensitive about many things and d) we can eat in places way cooler than restaurants. We have had such cool places all around the world where we have eaten our takeaway or own snacks and those are always the best and most private moments. Just the two of us, no smokers on the next table, slow service, grumpy servants or anything else.

So this morning we headed to find a cool place for ourselves, drove a while out of the village and parked where Arno thought we could keep on by foot. And we did not walk a long way until in front of us opened a beautiful view of the meadows and mountains. So we sat ourselves on a flower field and ate our breakfast with a view. Greek yogurt, banana, our Slovenian apricots, PB, Nutella and seeds. Yummy! It totally was an awesome breakfast that got us back on the road, towards Liechtenstein and Switzerland..

xoxo,
Linnea