Everybodies going surfing, surfing C.O.U.C.H

Arrived at the bus stop to meet Matteo who was to be my host for the night until I left the next day around 2 for Geneva.

Using the couchsurfing site (www.couchsurfing.com) I'd emailed a few people living in Milan and Bergamo and asked if i could sleep the night on their couch. Not expecting many replies seeing as i was giving them a days notice and it is still the holiday period and near to christmas, I was stoked when they started to arrive.

A few dead ends at first; "Sorry, on holiday...", "Not in Bergamo right now..." and "Already have some guests..." etc had me worried but then the day before I left Matteo replied with a simple "hi Mark, ok, you can stay in my home :)" and i was away.

Eating pizza... outside some castle...



And it has turned out awesome. Met at the bus stop, toured around for a bit (Cathedral, Castle, China town, otherstuff I don't know the name of etc). It was a quick but good (cause i only have a night) tour and I even got to secure some luck for my trip by spinning around on the heel of my foot, twice, on the balls of a bull in the middle of a gallery. Go figure. And dinner was an authentic Italian pizza at a pizzeria and it was, of course, superb.

The Cathedral...

Will be back. But today I head to Geneva to meet back up with erin and spend the New Years in France's french alps.

Time for some Pizza

Caught the ferry from Fredrikstad to Tonsberg in Titanic sinking waters. Waves as high as the boat and winds whipping up a literal storm outside, had me questioning if the flight would be a go. From here it was a quick bus ride to the airport in Torp and then off to Italy, no problems at all.

Only problem was missing the bus to the ferry but Knut Erin drove me instead and this worked out well as i would otherwise have not had enough cash left to pay for it!

Flight to Italy was the usual except for flying over the Alps. And they were perhaps just the Bergamo Alps and not the big ones? Either way they were a sight to behold. One of the many things I have seen on this trip that makes you stop to stare and try to etch into your memory to draw up in drearier times. They stretched into the distance, white capped mountains, darkened valleys and another perfect blue sky with the sun lighting the tips to make the white even more briliant. I'd not even try to use similes to describe it as the thing itself was so good that I could only fall short in trying. Really was spectacular. Then as we neared Bergamo the white fell away to show the greens and browns beneath and then the city opened before our eyes as the plane swooped for a turn. Italy, the outskirts at least, are just as you'd imagine.

Then I was off to Milan to spend the night with my first couch surfing host...

Norweigan boat cat

Check out the extra digits...

Job??

Christmas

Dinner with Rasmus' host family

Why do i always put title and then try and fill them in months later? Like this one from a month ago. I can't remember anything! Haha.

What I do know is that the food was divine. Being Danish originaly, the dad was a master chef. Roast duck with brown sauce (with added heart and kidney), sweet potatoes, beetroot salad thing, green stuff, it was awesome.

Family and their dog were also very cool and the home made chocolates went down a treat.

Dinner with (2nd host family)

So today we headed off for a dinner with Erin's second host family. All very nice as usual.

Roast chicken with spuds and salad was dinner, followed by sweets and home made ice cream. This is where it got interesting...

So I chomped down on my first mouthful, savouring the flavour and letting it just slowly melt on my tongue and pour down my throat. When all of a sudden, i feel my throat begin to tingle. Then to tangle and finally to tongle (oh yes, that is a word for all you doubters out there). The mum had accidentaly added baking soda instead of sugar!

Each swallow made it feel like there were pop rocksa exploding in the back of your mouth added to a slightly bitter after taste. Never mind burping!

But it was eadible and I wasn't really in a position to complain so it was "ah, don't worry. it tasts fine" all the way.

But maybe i will skip Norweigan ice cream in the future...

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

All right. Who did it? Who wants to be a funny guy? Who thinks they're clever? Put it back. Jokes over. No really, jokes over!

So while we were away skiing someone came and removed all the snow from where we are staying.

What happened to my first white Christmas!? Huh? Anyone think of that?

No, you just took the snow.

Selfish. Plain selfish.

Very immature.

Crossing the country Norweigan styles

Well if the title were true, I'd be about 3m further than when i started. 1m of travel before I fell over and then 2m of my body lying in the snow (arms outstretched (o:).

Knut Eric took us up to his cabin in the mountains to try out some cross country skiing. Instructions were "You don't need any". Brilliant.



So first we start on a hill. Yep, great idea guys. This saw me and Erin on our arses almost instantly and then to get down the hill to where there was a flat frozen lake to practice on, Erin travelled on her arse the whole way and I just went down in the gutter so that every time my skis decided to try and go fast, I could just fall over into the snow. This happened a lot. The 'Pizza' just wanted working.

We then pottered around the lake for a bit, playing on a few hills and getting to know the snow on a more intimate level. By the end we could probably do a fairly decent impersonation of a 4 year old Norweigan on skis (they start before 1!).

Then it was a drive home (I slept - you sleep heaps here as it is always dark) and then we ate (you eat heaps too as it is always dark, haha. For some reason this makes you hungry. In fact you could blame almost anything here on it always being dark).