Already at Baiba's camp 2008 I was invited to Aachen, few times through Internet conversations and of course when Janine visited Tallinn later.
It's not easy to be a working person. You only have chance to run away at vacation or public holidays. And some holidays are just not meant for traveling.
And if I didn't work... I would have no money for it.
Easter is a blessing - long holidays and not that serious religious holiday. In Estonia people only have fun breaking boiled eggs :)
For long time after trip to Ukraine I had no urge for planning travels until suddenly I felt it and decided Aachen will be my destination for Easter and also picked my destinations for SummerTrip 2009.
In no time it became clear, I have to go by plane (because not enough time for hitch-hiking) and this will be my first flying experience. Picking flight company wasn't too hard. RyanAir did sound as a perfect choice. The question was - to Weeze or to Brussels. I was a bit lazy and Brussels became fully booked earlier. This made choosing easier and I booked my flight.
Booking itself wasn't that easy - all those terms were confusing. And "hand luggage" - dimensions and weight, what can't be taken along, etc.
The holidays were supposed to begin on Friday and until Sunday evening. As I didn't get whole vacation last year, I got two extra days free with no problem now.
I decided to go to Riga in the evening before flight and CouchSurf a night. Or to stay in hostel and still have fun. Bus trip did sound a little better than hitch-hiking after working day, as it gets dark quite early.
Bus trip took 4,5 hours for these 307km. I could have hitch-hiked because the weather was fine and thanks to that it didn't go dark that early. Of course that would have required some luck. The Eurolines bus ticket was only ~12 EUR anyway.
Agnese, my friend in Riga, reminded me they have Regular Meetings on Tuesdays. I wanted to attend one for a long time already and that made my mind on taking a bus - not to be late for that too much. Unfortunately I had to skip my Finnish lesson. I didn't even think about it...
That Tuesday was the first time for me to be at work without suit (except stocktaking day this year). When doing to work in a trolley, I noticed trams have Latvian flags next to Estonian flag. Most definitely to greet my decision to visit Latvia.
Arriving to Riga was at the time the Regular Meeting had already started. I still didn't have map of Riga (it IS important to have one) so I took a couple of photos
and decided to walk around a bit and find the place by looking street names. I was successful after finding a church first from which I heard organ concert and saw light show.
As I usually walk in Riga and after some time find myself in the same spot like a vicious circle, also this time. Good thing I saw the Riga Old Town hostel, because after a couple of hundred meters I would have been in bus terminal again.
The meeting had started but everyone staying outside. That reminded me one topic in CS forums "Is Riga nightlife non-smoker friendly?". Turned out not very friendly - non-smokers have to stay outside with smokers.
After they finished painting jobs inside, we could move in. Drinking some beer, chatting, having fun
And we had to go home... sleeping. All of us three - me, Agnese and Didzis had to be up early. We took Lady Taxi - only women at wheel! I still owe part of this ride. But I'll make it even when Agnese's promise will be fulfilled and they visit Tallinn :)That evening we had some Vana Tallinn Cream liquor, listened Roots Rock Reggae (many thanks for that!) and went to sleep. Me on air-bed and members of the household - on the COUCH :-D
Next morning we woke up, ate a little and with Agnese left to the center. I into the bus for airport on last second and to airport when it was already almost gate closing time.
I went quickly to info desk, asking where does RyanAir go from. They told "Gate B7" and showed direction with hand.
I stood up in queue. Rudely between others as my plane was about to leave. Baggage check. And not only - I had to strip there! Taking my jacket and belt off...
Then asked to open my bag. I knew pressured cans are not allowed and I was thinking I don't have any spray with me. But I had shaving cream... forgot.
And then... these perverts... told that I can't take half a liter of Vana Tallinn on board. I didn't have anybody to give it to and didn't have time to go back from the gates so it traveled to recycle bin. Hopefully cleaning lady will recycle it at home...
I was wondering if they had let me to drink it if I asked :)
I reached exit of terminal and there I saw sign "B7". Smart info desk...
Rolling to starting point took some time, I already thought we're gonna roll to Germany.
One engine was shaking a bit but it didn't make me worry. We took off. Good thing I was sitting by the window. So it was interesting. No fear for flying. I was even wondering how it would feel to have some problems up there... Of course I was glad nothing happened.
Landing on Weeze (Düsseldorf) airport didn't feel so good. Maybe because of feeling hungry my stomach was complaining.
The weather was great and I felt like walking a bit, finding place to eat, looking the neighborhood and finding out which way I really should go (this smart guy just LEFT the maps at home, only a couple of printed Google maps were with me).
The neighborhood was cute. Horses in people's gardens, blossoms, flowers and everything green. Very different was one thing - people were doing same works as here in Estonia in the country but they didn't have new John Deere tractors everywhere. Later I noticed same things with bikes - rarely I saw a new bike. But here if the bike doesn't look good, it stays in basement... "Good thinking" award goes to Germany.I reached to town called Kevelaer (almost like the famous material). There I saw sign Pfeffer Grill and I already felt really hungry. The waitress thought I was an Englishman (and a couple of others during this trip did - not like usually - Polish).
Little uncomfortable for me is to get service and then pay. Later I found out it's like that even it toilets (which actually is great if you're really in hurry) ;)
But I'm afraid of running out of cash. Or that bank cards doesn't work.
The food was good and portion huge. The best was salad. After eating all that, moving myself was a bit hard. Recommendation the waitress made for beer was very good!On the check the food was called "Schlemmer" (dictionary says "Glutton". But it was "daily special". There were also "pommes klein" and "speisen" in the list on my check, but not beer?!
Finished my feast and continued walking. By then already knowing which way and finding good hitch-hiking spot was my next plan. After a couple of kilometers I found it. And it started raining. Heavily. Then stopping for a while and more falling... a few times like that.
I got SMS from Janine that hot shower, some soup and cold beer is waiting for me in Aachen. From that moment a tune from Guns'n'Roses kept playing in my head "take me down to the Paradise City...".
Then I was picked up my an old man, about 80 years old. By then I had walked about 13km.
The Old man was speaking English quite well. He was showing asparagus fields and telling this is Capital of Asparagus or something like that. Then he showed towards old windmill and telling it's the oldest in Germany and about 500 years old. He was in team restoring it and now volunteers work there. He claimed himself not doing things for money... well, he was driving quite new Mercedes-Benz.
Anyway I was glad to be his "good deed of the day" as they were told when he was young scout.
He dropped me off in very nice hitch-hiking spot. I stood on pedestrian and cyclists' path and waving my poster.
Stopped a man with a van. He didn't understand English that well and looked a bit crazy. He saw my poster "Aachen" but asked about destination, talking mostly in German, sometimes saying "cows" in German and waving towards cows on field. Mentioning "cowboys". And very soon after picking me up turned away from the main road (just like in Estonian movie "Jan Uuspõld Läheb Tartusse" the milk truck driver).
I thought he just has to pick something up or to change the car... whatever.
We stopped at a warehouse of Bioland. There were more funny looking men, pretending to work and load trucks. But they weren't acting suspicious. Not talking English very well, but still understandably. Sharing me tomatoes, oranges and constantly mentioning "Bio". The tomatoes were better than the usual ones we have in supermarkets but not half as good as my mother is growing at the country. The oranges were good also.
One obvious question the man who brought me there, asked "why are you going to Aachen?". I answered "to visit a friend". "Girlfriend?", he asked. I said: "No". "Boyfriend?" he asked next.
After perhaps half an hour waiting another man told me he's ready and we left for Venlo. It was old truck, driven already 1 300 000 kilometers. The driver was cool, but not making very long conversations. Fortunately he left me on great hitch-hiking spot at the start of autobahn 61.
Something that wasn't very fortunate... nobody wanted to pick me up.
Suddenly some guys passed me, driving in small red van in distant lane not the way I needed and after some time first car stopped... they offered to take me to next railway station. I politely refused - I wasn't that bored yet and it was light outside. Moreover, it was perfect place for hitch-hiking.
Right after this one left, small red van stopped (probably the same from which they were shouting before). And they offered to take me to railway station. I thought perhaps there will be a gas station on the road and sat in the car. While driving they offered me joint... just in talk. I refused.
They dropped me at small gas station, telling trucks will be stopping there after 10 in the evening. How many times I had heard this sentence before so I didn't even consider waiting there.
The road we turned down from autobahn was one-way. So I started walking south... to find hitch-hiking spot. There were cars and nobody stopped. It got dark.
Good thing - there was hotel nearby and at one point I decided to go and ask about closest railway station (I heard trains passing before). Knowing that if you hear trains in Estonia, they can be 10 km away and closest stop too many kilometers away.
At the hotel they invited one man who spoke English very well. Others did too, but I guess they were a bit shy.
The man printed me train departure times and platforms and names of places I needed to change trains. Then he showed which way was the station - only 800 meters away. Of course - trains in Germany are as quiet as elevators here. That's why you can't hear them 10km away.
Waiting at Boisheim train stop (funny saying: "Some trains stop at every recycle bin") :-DAnd finding out which ticket I needed and trying to get it from special machine... not the easiest task. But I managed to do it. One man in train even checked my ticket and it was OK.
On that train I did some "bad stuff" with my marker pen. I painted on small recycle bin... actually I just covered little "bomb" image painted on the bin.
I thought trains are very serious in Germany, but train radio surprised me - at some point heard laughter, rapping, bulls* talking from loud speakers.
I managed to get to Aachen and change train there to get to East End and find my CouchSitters - Oliver and Marianna. Even though already in Boisheim my phone said "Whatever! I quit!" and switched off...We went together to my host's, Janine's, place. She, unfortunately, had to leave to work already few hours ago. So I was talking to Olli and Marianna until they left.
I had nice long sleep without any thought of work and responsibilities and I woke up a little before Janine. It was lovely welcome after several months we saw last time.
We had breakfast of fresh bread rolls brought same morning, tasty cheese and left to do sightseeing. The weather was wonderful! But before sightseeing I wanted to visit factory shop of Lindt & Sprüngli. Because next day it was supposed to be closed for (inter)national holiday.
It was together more than 2kg of sweets and next morning when I saw the bag of sweets next to my rucksack I noticed the bag of sweets is bigger... and there was more stuff I had to take back home. Somehow I managed to fit the sweets in it.Anyway first object in sightseeing object was small park with tower and café at the top. We had a beer inside. The waitress was asking after ordering one alcohol-free beer "who's the poor one that has to drive?" :-D
The view from up there and the little park reminded me homeland Estonia in the summer
Then we did sightseeing tour. Janine is definitely better guide than professional ones. She took me to all important places and stories were in most interesting order - special stories according to place. Also she was worried about my health and lead me to tap of healthy water. Don't hesitate trying it if you go to Aachen. And it's for free!
And then... too bad - Janine had to leave for work. But she had found a guide for me - my CouchSitter Olli!First I went eating before meeting Olli. It was simple restaurant, looking nice inside and service was good. One thing the waiter didn't know was name of the place. He went to ask :-P
Food was great - baked potatoes, salad and little grilled meat pieces. And not expensive.
Then it was the time to meet Olli. He planned little biking tour up to border meeting point of three counties - Germany, Netherlands and Belgium.
We would have gone there with Janine anyway, but on bike it was much more fun - inside forest. Especially coming down over the pine roots and along cycling path quite fast because unlike here in Estonia there was no need to hold back because of holes in asphalt.And there was another fun event in plan for this day - Regular Monthly CS-Meeting of Aachen. Real CouchSurfing week - already third regular meeting in 7 days.
I had great dark weissbier (wheat beer) Franziskaner!
After the meeting was over, I left to Janine's place. There I ate the soup she had made. And that was super tasty. Spicy, but not burning like Estonian mustard, still you could feel the spices.Next morning I also woke up little before Janine. Had bread rolls and tea on the balcony, sun was shining, birds singing and I felt wonderful.
As it was already Friday and the holiday Janine was preparing special food with asparagus, boiled potatoes and salads. Olli also joined the dinner. It tasted real good. I wonder why asparagus is not that well spread in Estonia.
As we got out quite late this evening we just walked to the center and around a bit and Janine had to leave for work...
Me and Olli continued the plan of visiting Maastricht that day. We went there by bus and I didn't even noticed when suddenly we were in territory of Netherlands.
Maastricht is really beautiful (as Aachen, of course). River (which is always nice to see) and lots of green.
Janine had advised us to go eating Belgian fries (in English they are know as French fries).Unfortunately Reitz was closed and we had to find another place.
We found it next to a big square. There was in the menu they also serve only the fries (for two EUR). Later I found out for small (but tasty) portion of tomato sauce they charged 1 EUR. Olli was also surprised about the pricing when they asked for simple Pita (with some middle-east type things inside) a little too much.
Waitress asked what we'd like to drink. I ordered beer. And if she could recommend me one. She brought alcohol-free. Now I know - in Netherlands beer = some weird alcohol free liquid (don't get angry on me, dear Dutchmen) :-D
On our way back in the bus (we almost missed it because of trying to be smarter than bus schedules) we just laid back. We also though of visiting a pub this evening.On web page of the pub they said "no dancing because of the holidays!"
But while being laid back in the bus, a stranger started to speak with Olli. Soon it came out he was also CouchSurfer. An Albanian.
Later we went all together to the pub. On our way was tap on the "health water" again. I suggested him to do some touristy stuff and try the water. He was very suspecting but eventually tried it. You gotta have some fun with visitors :)At the pub. There was no dancing. Just a couple of guys making weird moves in the middle of dance floor. The Albanian bought us beers (thanks!) and I did a couple of moves (but not dancing) myself.
Then I walked to Janine's place and found out actually I don't need buses in Aachen to go to center. It was only 3km walk.
The next day I also woke up late. Not too long time before Janine. Fresh bread rolls again, tea, sitting in balcony and reading LonelyPlanet about Germany.
Again Janine was cooking and serving beer. This time pumpkin risotto. Never had it before. I know next time she will hack the recipe a bit ;)Then her parents came visiting. This was also fun! Such a great couple! And not too serious. Quite fun loving, I'd say. I hope to host them in Tallinn one day!
The plan for that day was Medieval event, strongly recommended by Janine's colleague. Even though Olli was invited he had something else to do.
So we went, me and Janine, by car. Driving there was fun and nice. The Eyneburg castle where the event was taking place was in Belgium. In beautiful hilly area.
The only thing even with map and road descriptions it wasn't very easy to find it.
It was pretty amazing how much they had worked at this event - all the costumes, accessories, swords, decorations, songs, old style speeches, communicating with audience, tricks, music, dancers, traditional drinks (I had green herbal sweet something), traditional dutch food (something pizza-like, with crunchy onions and ham). Probably I also forgot something...
Then the sad part... we had to leave. Janine for work and me to Airport. My plane was going to leave next morning but there wasn't very good transport option for the morning and I didn't find any CouchSurfers in Weeze to come out with me. They responded me later. To bad I didn't ask more time ahead.When we reached Janine's place we were quite in a hurry. Quick tea, a couple of bread rolls for the road, eating rest of the salads and we left.
She took me to the best railway stop and bye-bye... of course I promised to go back as there is still much to do that I didn't during these busy days.
This should be the segment here to write how good my host was. But I really can't. I have only one problem - to vouch for her for thanks. Another Aachen CS community member Chris told me: "You are staying at the best host of Aachen". I don't have any doubt. And I'm not going to ask different people for couch next time.
And not only host... she's the perfect friend to have. Especially cute were little letters she left for me to make me as comfortable as possible.
Then I experienced Deutsche Bahn train running late. About 15 minutes. That could be a problem, because the train numbers shown in Internet (but not on the ticket) doesn't match. So you can't really know it's the right one.
Then you can't know when it will arrive to your destination. Fortunately there were train stops running in info boards.I changed the train. This one was (luckily) also late but no info boards. So I had to count stops and look out what's the current stop.
In that train I had conversation in which I used German words a lot more than in any other conversation I had these days. The conversation partner was quite drunken "local" guy. Hands pretty dirty. But he had nice attitude.
We even got that far to compare families. He also had a "schwester" and two brothers. But he was the youngest in family.
When he was leaving, we didn't shake hands - his were dirty and sinks too far. So we waved and when he was out, he (and me following) made a pat against train window.
I arrived to Weeze. It was a bit raining. Before I had heard hail falling. At the train station there were Asian looking people sitting next to big backpacks and playing cards outside under roof. I left train station. There was sign showing "to Airport". Next time I saw one was outside of town again. So in the mean time I was guessing which way I should go.
Before I left the town I walked around a bit. Very nice place. Next to big church outside some coal was still glowing - looked like someone just finished barbecue there.
Then I noticed one man going into the church with a woman. It was already passed midnight. Romance probably ;)
I walked out of the city and heading to airport. A couple of kilometers after (it was still raining a bit) a car stopped by me and asked in German "to airport?". I answered and sat in the car.It was a few kilometer ride. At the airport I ate my breads, drank a couple of teas and nodded off a couple of times.
In the morning I went to the baggage check and no problems... this time they wanted other half of my ticket. That was weird. Now I had two different halves of two tickets.
There was still time until we were allowed to go to plane and in that time I found out how terribly annoying can be Italian youngsters after my night without proper sleep. They were loud, stupid, pushing each other...
Then the boarding. This time I wasn't lucky (fast, even trying) enough so I didn't get seat under the window. And without window flying is boring (especially when you leave headphones home to carry another bottle of Vana Tallinn which travels only to Airport recycle bin) but luckily I was so tired I slept almost whole flight. Not too comfortable though...
Landing was smoother than last time and sun was shining. Still a bit chilly. I decided to walk a bit and to see if there's good way to hitch-hike from there. I didn't find it and map didn't support me. So I took a bus. Unfortunately Agnese had left the city so in the center I sat on tram and left towards city border, the usual hitch-hiking spot. On the way there I met ticket control. They were even more funny looking than ticket controls here, in Tallinn.Before starting, I thought of eating something and as I didn't see any place suitable, I went to Maxima and bought something usual.
I reached the spot and two girls were already hitch-hiking. I wished them luck and stepped few meters behind them. Before I got to take out my poster "Tallinn", a car stopped by me and two girls offered me ride. They also had two kids on back seat.
The ride was only few kilometers to my next usual spot. I spoke in Russian with them. At least they could understand me.
And I didn't wait for my next ride too long time. A car with British license plate stopped. Ride was offered to Saulkrasti. Quite young man was driving, mother sitting on the (right!) side. Again talking in Russian. They had come from Great Britain by car through Paris and other nice cities. Driver was also member of CouchSurfing but we didn't talk about it much. He explained some Russian web site which also deals with that. For some time he explained his mother CS-things and traveling hitch-hiking. Then he told me how some people are hitch-hiking - instead of showing thumbs, they use same radios as truck drivers.
At the end of the ride the mother offered me to CouchSurf at their place in Saulkrasti. I refused, because I had to be at work next day.
The spot was good for hitch-hiking. But again - nobody wanted to stop for long time. So I walked, sat, enjoyed the sunshine. Finally one man stopped.
Destination - Ainaži. I said "labdien" so correctly that the man started talking in Latvian language with me. Right away we went over on Russian. But didn't talk much. Bright light and the night without sleeping did their job, I nodded again during this short ride.
In Ainaži I didn't wait. Just walked to Estonia. It was a bit confusing, because I hadn't crossed that border on foot yet and there was no border - just buildings.
In Ikla I think I waited most half an hour. A car with Estonian number plates stopped. I said greetings in Estonian. The answer was a bit weird. Anyway I sat in and quite soon it came out the old man was Latvian, already from 70s living and working in Estonia. That was very interesting ride.
He made long report on topic "bringing cars from Germany as business", "dealing with Polish mafia and the connections the mafia had", laughing together over people living in huts about to fall apart but driving Lexus cars and many many more things.
Still the man was bright enough to check from time to time if I really was listening. Yes, I was and also talking. In Russian, of course.
Wonderful trip and I will go to Aachen again. Unfortunately not time to hitch-hike there.
