The Red Light District

When in Amsterdam you must visit the Red Light district. It gets it's name from the brothels on the streets that have red lights that illuminate the windows in which they have women posing in bikinis or lingerie. We saw one or two men open the windows and talk to these women (about what I have no idea... well, maybe just a little). I have to say it is really different, not awkward or exciting it's just different to walk down the street and have partial nude women tap on windows and motion for people to "buy" them for the night.



We got this picture off the net because it's very disrespectful to take photos of the brothels.

The other... let's call them "interesting" buildings on the streets were the Peep shows and coffee shops. The peep shows, from what I gather, is a live sex show that people just walk in and watch. The coffee shops aren't your normal Starbucks, these coffee shops have a distinct smell of pot (I had no idea what pot smelt like until now, so don't get the wrong idea), a thick haze of smoke and people with glazed over eyes and spaced out looks on their faces (I'm guessing that they weren't just tired from a long days work) and were sell things such as herbal energizers, hemp lollipops and magic truffles.


This is an experience that you will never forget. This is very different from everything else in the city which is old and beautiful while this is red and bright. I just don't know what to think about it.



Jake

Location:Amsterdam

Anne Frank museum

Today we went to the Anne Frank museum based in the actually annex and building. We waited in line for 3/4 of an hour until we were inside. The museum consists of why the Franks left Germany for the Netherlands, how the Jewish were being treated, the planning of going into hiding, the people who helped them, the actually annex and bookcase hiding the door,the time in concentration camps, where the Franks and the other parties from the secret annex died except for Otto Frank (Anne's father), Otto Frank's after story about how he read Anne's dairy and how he got it published and a Free2Choose section. The Free2Choose section is a yes or no answering virtual questionnaire about human rights, freedom of speech and religion through out todays society.



The front building from Anne's story

The museum was excellent, it had interviews with surviving helpers and Otto Frank, it was educational about how the Jewish were treated in concentration camps without being to confronting. The annex from what I have seen and heard was very small but when you are in it it seems much bigger then you realise (of course that is without the furniture and the eight people living in there). This is a must do in Amsterdam no matter how long the line is.

Jake

Location:Amsterdam

The traditional Dutch cuisine challenge.

Having read of our "goulash" failure my aunt was reminded of the time that she and her Dutch born husband went to Amsterdam and searched unsuccessfully for food "just like his mum used to make".

This time we did some research and set of with the names of two traditional Dutch restaurants. The first one was shut but at the second one ... Success! It even had Delf tiles inlaid into the table top.




None of us were quite game enough to try the herring and eels for mains so we tried these in small portions on the house taster plate.



Then it was erwtensoep (pea, sausage and bacon soup)for me, while Mark and the boys had stampotten .



Well Greta and Cor, I don't know if it was just like mother Dekker would make but it was tasty - even the herring and onions (in small doses).

Gayle

Location:Amsterdam

The Musicians of Bremen

With our sights set for Amsterdam, we had chosen Bremen as our stopover destination. Along the way I kept thinking that Bremen was well known for some reason but I couldn't think what that something was until we got to the camp ground and saw a postcard of this statue.



Armed with the standard camp ground tourist map (in German) we headed into the city centre. It was a very pretty and impressively big, paved 'square'. I had worked out that kirch meant church ( or something like that) but when we got to the square I discovered that there was at least two churches and statues everywhere so the sprint orienteering skills had to be put into use to orient the map and work out from the shape outlines which building was needed. (Sprint because it was now early Saturday evening and our first priority was to find a supermarket to re-provision as we had not a crumb of food left and the shops in Europe still shut on Sundays).

For anyone wanting to refresh their memory of the story, Luke found numerous You tube versions.

Gayle

Location:Bremen, Germany

Hump Day

Today is day 53, which means we are officially half way through our 105 days overseas.

With O-Ringen finished it was time once again to hit the road. We got a nice early start ( in part due to the fact that once again we had inadvertently brought the sour rather than fresh milk with the last of our Swedish Krona so there was no delay having breakfast). Also, after the perfect weather we had for O-Ringen, we woke up to light rain that promised to turn heavy very shortly.

We still had plenty of Danish Kroner left but we had to wait until we had paid the tolls for the two huge bridges before we could use the last of it on food and petrol. We were a bit sad driving through Denmark remembering that the last time we had been over these roads Jessie was with us.

Being the weekend (which we have discovered means minimal trucks on the road) we had expected to make good progress. Unfortunately we travelled in our heaviest traffic to date which made slow going. It was very late in the day when we got to Bremen. We are staying at Camping am Stadtwaldsee (another camp ground by a lake). By anyone's definition this place has 5 star bathroom, cooking and laundry facilities ( I am not just saying that because I have spent the last week using portaloos and showering in a field with hundreds of other women).


Gayle

Location:Halmstad, Sweden to Bremen, Germany

O-ringen Day 5

We did it, we have finished our first ever O-ringen. We made it through, we all finished everyday, we didn't miss punch and none of us finished last.



Today we had the chasing start were the person in first place goes off first and every body else goes off behind them in order of how many minutes behind the person in first place they are. It's like if the person in first place is 87:30 minutes in front of me I go 87:30 minutes after the person in first place.


The awesome leopard man in men's 60

None of us had amazing runs and Mum spent 50 minutes on the one control (she did find it even though it took her more time to do that one control than the rest of the course!) But more importantly Dad and I had a finish split comp over the whole of O-ringen. Dad won four out of five, so it's official Dad wins... This time.



Dad didn't offer to carry me across finish line

Just a random thing we saw while we were heading for the buses, it's a duck kennel.


Well we all enjoyed our visit to O-ringen and we'd love to come back some time in the future but now it's on to the rest of Europe to have much more adventures.

Oh yeah, those who are planning Aus champs - I really don't think we need a shower paddock.

Jake

Location:O-ringen City 2012

O-ringen Day 4

After our rest day we were back and ready to run. Sadly none of us had outstanding runs, actually we all had fairly lousy runs but on a positive note none of us got absolutely, 100%, completely, running around and having no idea where they are, totally lost and we did finish and not in last place... So not a bad day at all at the arena.



The map was similar to Little Childs Creek in St.Helens. For you non orienteers (yes, and you Eddy Johnstone) it's up and down big hills and gullys, with nice wet and muddy marshes and to top it off thick forest causing restricted vision... It's a very fun map to run on mind you.

With one day to go we are more pumped then ever to see if we can make it at least into the top 85% from the top 90% to at least get a small rep on the international scale. So with our motto in mind, big attackpoints, safe routes and what ever you do don't stay out there for more then three hours, we are ready to run and complete our first and hopefully not our last international, world wide, completely and utterly unbelievably massive O-ringen.



Jake

Location:O-ringen City 2012

O-ringen rest day

Today was the rest day between the five events. We've run three out the five and we can't say we weren't looking forward to a rest. We started off our day by doing the photo orienteering map around Halmstad. It's basically a tourist orienteering map taking you around some of the sights around Halmstad.



We got some essentials to take back to camp (Jess probably thinks by essentials we mean chips and chocolate from her stay with us but no, we got gas for the Trangias and velcro for the tent... We got the chips later that day). We got barbers appointments for Luke and I later that day while we were in town as well.

We planned to go to a water park but we got there and the line to get in was out the gates and along the street to get in, but then we saw there was another line going down the street on the opposite direction. So with Dads ADHD in mind we thought we might drive on to the local swimming which was still packed but at least there were no mammoth lines to wait in.

We finished off the day with Luke and I getting our hair cut, watching the elites with their sprint around Halmstad and getting our groceries for the rest of O-ringen.


Jake

Location:Halmstad

The O-Ringen technicalities

The maps for the last three days have been similar but different. The first day was a very "Spur-Gully" type of map. For the non-orienteers (and the jerks who don't think orienteering is a sport... Edward Johnstone) it's a very distinct, clear and big hills sort of thing. Where you go up a hill, down a gully and back up a hill, basically.



The second day was "Spaghetti" type of map but it was run in a thick, mean and wet forest. For the non orienteers and Eddy it's a whole lot of high points and depressions in a forest. If you get lost you can stay lost for hours trying to find your self. To give you an example of how tough it was, the winning times across all the age groups today (middle distance) were very similar to the winning time yesterday in the long distance event.



Today was basically a "Spaghetti" map with a bit of this and that thrown in for good cause: hilly here, flat there, suburban area, thick green ugly forest. Non orienteers, it's a bit hectic - you'll get a feel for one area and 1km along its completely different. It's some very hard orienteering.



We still have two more races to go and we're looking forward to them even more but tomorrow is a highly welcomed rest day to get some shopping done.

Jake

Location:O-Ringen city 2012

O-Ringen Day 3

Today everybody had average runs, nothing extraordinary though I did have a better run than the others but still no where near the winner.

The last 2 days have used the same arena but today we had a new arena. The course was through a beach suburban area with a nice thick and ugly forest. Coming to the beach area you ran out of the forest and bam! Out of nowhere there are probably 100 orienteers running around trying to find their own control. As well as the same number of ordinary beach goers standing in the sand dunes watching.



The heat was intense, yes I'm am saying it was very, very hot in Sweden. It really didn't help that I was running in long pants and thick socks.


Dad just had to have a beer so he could say he's had a beer at an orienteering event.

We had a good day and we're looking forward to a rest day tommorow. We are probably going to a water park (yes, a water park in Sweden) if the weather holds up tomorrow.

Jake

P.S: last night Dad taught me our famous family recipe for spaghetti and meatballs with tomato sauce. It actually wasn't that bad and I can use it when I'm a poor, struggling, hungry uni student... Remind you of anybody *cough* *cough* Jessie West *cough*

Location:O-Ringen city 2012

The "O-Ringen Machine"

For a man that likes things to be organized, this week I have totally been in awe of what I have seen and I think the O-Ringen Machine is well oiled and have near perfected (if not already) the art of running a sporting carnival.





As previously mentioned there are some 15,000 competitors, and it takes a lot of strategic & logistical planning, leadership, teamwork and dedication to pull it off.

"O-Ringen City"
It is like an organisation coming into Hobart and taking over the Domain and creating a city : "O-Ringen City" and it comes with it's own infrastructure and everything:
- council chambers (including water & sewerage, rubbish collection, council workers & trucks, local council regulations, )
- toilet & shower blocks
- restaurants & catering
- camping grounds and other accommodation
- bus system (internal and external transport), which runs like clockwork.
- police
- entertainment
- they made a orienteering training ground out the city and its surrounds
- shops (sports, grocer, lingerie, tourist bureau, jewellery)
- laundromat
- Internet cafe
- radio station
- bicycle shop ( including hire bikes)


Competition & Arena
This is like going over to Risdon Brook Damn and creating a small town,
- six different starts (Gayle and I have free starts, which means we can start when we feel like it)
- a tent full of video displays for results
- six finishing chutes
- sport stores
- bridges over roads
- wooden fences around the finish chute
- food kiosks
- toilets at every start and heaps in the arena
- showers
- radio station- connected with "O-Ringen City"
- medical facilities
- training academy
- bus link connected with "O-Ringen City"
- child minding service - very well supervised



In summary to attract 15,000 competitors every year, you have to be this well organised, and I congratulate the "O-Ringen Machine" on a incredible job.

Mark

Location:"O-Ringen City"

O-ringen Day 2

Well what I can say is we all finished. I had an 8:30am start so we had to get up at 5:15am to get ready and organized for the days event. What a different area the place is when you get there at 7:00am and not 12:00pm it was practically empty. We all finished though and we're all not coming last.




Midday

Well here's the tour of the arena. We took lots of photos since we didn't take the cameras yesterday.


The 6 different finishing chutes



The bridge into the finishing chutes



The artificial stream (that's not being used at the moment) and the front of the shower paddock



And the way to the starts

Hoped you enjoyed the tour and here's the tip of the week:
Just rip the strapping tap off your leg hair like a bandaid, it quicker that way... Ashley Nankervis

Jake

Location:O-ringen City 2012

O-ringen Day 1

Today is the day, the first day of O-ringen. We woke up this morning and got on the bus to go to the event. We drove into the arena and we were gobsmacked, it was huge. 15'000 people squished in to 2km2. The place had heaps of kiosks, a sports shop, lolly vans, public showers, child care, 6 different finish chutes, a finish leg over a temporary scaffold bridge put up for the day and an artificial stream to wash clothes in.

(sorry no photo, guess who forgot to bring their cameras... Luke and Mum)

We all had good runs and 2km walks up hill to the start. None of us got 100% totally lost and none of us finished last (none of us even got close to the top 100 though, the Sweds run really fast). When we finished our shoes were covered in mud, in some places it was like running in a chocolate cake. The wallaby tracks became fully fledged tracks and the real tracks were just ripped up into mud. In one spot Luke lost his shoe but he found it again.


Well we had to finish our experience off with an O-Ringen shower. It was a big canvas tarp around a square field, one side had over thirty shower sprayers and no covering from any body's view in the square. I definitely learnt the meaning of European style. You walk into the "paddock", take off your clothes and join the queue to wait for a free shower nozzle. Then you get up on the platform, have your shower and then go back to where you left your clothes in the paddock to get dressed.
Here's my tips for a good shower...
1. Get in and get out as fast as you can.
2. Keep your eyes looking at the horizon or your toes
3. Don't make eye contact with anybody
4. Don't sit down on other peoples chairs in there
5. Don't sing in the shower
6. Don't bump in to anybody.

Jake

Location:O-ringen City 2012

But wait there's more...

It started off with Luke needing A pair of socks...
First we got Luke his socks when Mum found a pair of cheap Craft pants that fitted her and a bargain pair for Luke. Dad went to look at chair bags and found a 40L chair bag designed for orienteers especially. But wait, there's more - a refrigeration pocket and a rain cover. But wait, there's more - a pocket for your compass, whistle and Si stick AND a special hole to put your shoes or change of clothes in. Dad bought one for all of us. Mum found a shirt for Luke, and extra pairs of socks for me and two O-ringen drink bottles. And we couldn't not buy Jessie an O-shirt and headband from Sweden






Isn't it amazing how a pair of socks can go to everything but the kitchen sink.

Jake

Location:O-ringen city 2012

O-ringen Day -1

Just outside of Halmstad is the heart of O-ringen, O-ringen city. The city consists of tents, cars and camper vans and a "town square" filled with sport shops, food places, massage tables, results boards and heathem ore. The biggest events in Australia bring about 900 people, O-ringen has about 15'000 people. So you could understand that we were just a little overwhelmed when we got here.






Once we got our bibs we went to find our tent area, which if that was a reflection on how we are going to orienteer for the rest of the week I don't even want to think about it. We spent 30 minutes looking in an area but it turns out that we were the lot over.... Not happy Jan!

The next morning we had two different practice maps so we could see what the terrains were like. The first map was in the forest around O-ringen city.The second map was only half an hours drive away and the terrains were amazingly different. One was a thin, typical European forest and the other was a thick, bushy beach side suburb. From what we've done today we are keener then ever for O-ringen.



Jake

Location:O-rigen City 2012

To Poppy/Good bye Jessie

Today was the day we had to say good bye to our favourite sister (and our only sister) but first we had something to do... Three years ago our grandfather or as we called him "Poppy" past away. The night before our whole family came together for my birthday and had Poppy's favourite dish... KFC. He left our family some money which we have put towards this amazing holiday. So we had to thank him and the best way we thought would be to have a commemorative lunch at KFC.



So here's to Poppy, Thank you.

With the comemretive lunch over we had a sad thing to do... say good bye to our favourite sister (and our only sister) as we dropped her off at the airport. Jessie from all of us have a great time back at Uni, study hard, don't party too much and see you in September.

After dropping Jessie off we made our way to O-ringen (see O-rigen Day -1). Coming out of Copenhagen we went across the massive bridge spanning from Denmark all the way across to Sweden. The sight of the bridge was amazing, from one side you couldn't see across to where the bridge finished.

Well, it was a hectic and busy day but we got through it and came out smiling. Good luck Jessie.

Jake

Location:Copenhagen

O-Ringen Countdown

With only three days until the beginning of the world's biggest orienteering carnival, O-Ringen 2012, it's time to check in with the West family and weigh up their odds for this years title!




Dad-
Claiming having only gained 4kg since the beginning of the Euro trip, although we both know it's more like 6, Dad is definitely more suited to the M45A Short course for this years event. While his training hours have decreased over the last month (despite his morning runs), it's his change in diet that is of most concern- FYI beer and chips are not usually considered as there own food groups. Running in a field of just over ??? heres hoping Dad can finish in at least the top half and prove that beer is better than Powerade!


Mum-
While starting strong at the beginning of the trip, Mum has fallen victim to the warmth of her sleeping bag and European pastries in more recent weeks. With a mammoth 2.5km walk to the start on almost every day of the carnival, rumors have been circulating that her goal of the competition is to make it to the start of her race and drink more ciders than k's. Having tapered for the past three weeks, I'm sure that these goals are more than achievable. With all rumors aside, I'm sure that by following her age old technique technique- the tortoise and the hare- Mum will wow the Swedes with her Orienteering ability.

Jake-
With legs as long as half the Swedish trees, Jake is relying on these secret weapons to pull him through with the goods. After a lack of training in preperation for this event, Jake is taking up the challange and running the A course for his age division. With a positive past in orienteering carnivals one question remains- How will one of Australia's best fair amongst his European counterparts?

Luke-
As the youngest and, if you ask me, still the shortest of the Wests, Luke is hoping to make his name known on European soil. Despite a not so successful race in Sherwood forest, lack of training and departure of his coach only a few days before Competiton, I'm sure Luke will pull it all together and put forward a very competitive time in M13 - if he manages to keep his eye on the prize and not on the different varieties of European pine cone. Will Luke be able to live up to his name of 'The Wonder Child'?

All I can say it that time will only tell!

Jessie

Last Day in Europe / Dedication to Bec

Today, my last full day in Europe, was spent in the city of Copenhagen- the capital city of Denmark and the home of Princess Mary.

After setting up base at the local campsite we ventured into the city to visits the sites. Our first stop was 'The Little Mermaid'- This statue is just off the shoreline in the water and is heavily based on the fairytale by the same name and was built in order to honor the writer Hans Cristian Anderson who not only wrote this fairytale but many others, but more importantly lived in Copenhagen.




The next stop was afternoon tea with Princess Mary, Prince Fred and the kids. Nah not really. Despite hopes and dreams of special 'Tasmanian access' to the palace, we must have blended in too much with the rest of the tourists and were only allowed a regular visit. Despite this, unlike Buckingham palace, Mary's home is a lot more low key and you were allowed to walk amongst her guards right up to the palace walls.






Ringing the doorbell at Mary's

After looking around the palace for a bit we then made out way to a Sand Sculpture Festival. The sculptures, to say the least, were amazing! They are meters high and are so detailed it was hard to believe they are made only from sand (although we did find out that their centers are made from wooden pyramids). We even got to see one of the artists in action.


Before...


After...



Or maybe not...

We finished off our days sightseeing with a walk around the city, in particular the Grand Canal, while eating two scoops of ice cream in freshly made waffle cones topped with whipped cream. For a European capital city it was amazing how quite and peaceful Copenhagen actually was.



Tomorrow I will be heading back home and back to Uni for the start of second semester (yes... I passed semester one!). I have had some of the best and most unforgettable times on this trip and I am truly grateful (thank you Mum, Dad & Poppy).

p.s. Bec this blog is dedicated to you (I promised you'd get a mention so here it is)

Jessie

Location:Copenhagen, Denmark

It's a Legoland after all

Today, after arriving in Billund yesterday, we went to Legoland. Billund is a very, very quiet town and not really the kind of place you would except a world famous theme park. But in this small town, Billund, a long time ago Lego was first created- a toy that created fun, creativity and thought in a child's mind- and since has been on the floor in houses all over the world.


We got there at 9 o'clockish, an hour before official opening. But boy were we glad we did, at ten there were hundreds of people all queuing to get in and we were thankfully very close to the front. When it opened everybody flocked in quickly to get to the attractions, some even ran! We would have been almost at the front of the line for the new Polar X-Plorer or the Ice Flight School if Mum had gone to the toilet before we came instead of on our way to Polarland :(


But thankfully there was no line at the Ice Flight School as it just opened as we got there. Jake and I had a grudge match with the pilot school. When I was six we went to America for ten days and whilst we were there, there was a giant robotic arm, the same as Ice Pilot School, and being 6 and 7 we could only do level one, but this time I was determined to take it all the way to level five. So when we got there we loaded our level and moves onto a card, gave in to the lady and strapped in. This was the first real thrill ride I have ever done so naturally I was scared in that waiting period before it started but when it went it was very fun and I couldn't stop laughing. We did lots of other rides and things like the Polar X-Plorer(with unique five meter free-fall), Firetrucks, The Temple, Xtreme racers, Jungle Racers, Viking Splash, Lego Canoes, The Dragon, Lego Pirate Boats and the Imagination Studios. All of it was very fun.


We spent a bit of time looking around mini land and admiring all of the large amount of work going in to it all.


We think we just managed to escape the massive downpour that came soon after we left. I think that it was a brilliant day.



Luke.

Location:Legoland

Hamburgers in Hamburg

One of the things we wanted to do in Germany was have a hamburger in Hamburg. We drove to the old spice warehouses (Speicherstadt) and looked around. Now came the tricky parts: 1. Find a place that sells hamburgers (surprisingly there were hardly any) and 2. Find a car park near by. When we started looking Dad said "We haven't driven hundreds of kilometers around Europe to have a McDonald's hamburger in Hamburg!" so we looked for a while and we were starting to get desperate as we started to drive out of town. We saw a sign for McDonalds and Dad was tempted to turn in but out of no where we saw a sign for... Burger King. So Dad turned straight in to Burger King so we could have a hamburger in Hamburg.



We drove on from Hamburg well fed and with a Dad happy that we stuck to his rule.

Jake
(note: hamburgers and Hamburger have no connection as far as we know - an authentic Hamburg meal would contain fish).

Location:Hamburg