Tripping with Marie

Five weeks with Marie.

First Marie managed to get us work at Roskilde two days before it started. We could gooooo (240Euro is just too much otherwise.)

Roskilde is a 120.000 person big festival of 9 days with many bands, artists, stages and activities. The first five days is spend camping-in-big-numbers, after that there are four days with music and performances.

We would not have participated to all days camping (it's just a lot of drinking) if it were not that our first workshift was Friday evening. The afternoon that everybody collects in two fields (East and West) to wait untill 3am when the gate is stormed and rundown. This year though, a lunatic decided that it was time to set a record of earliest gate-smasher, and he broke through at 9pm the evening before, while we were relaxed guarding a watchtower with some equipment and fridges with our free lunchfood.

It was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A massive field, totally empty, only plastic tape to separate the field in blocks, was filled in litterly three minutes time. How is this possible. Tents were put in circles to make 'camps', you had runners and carryers, people yelled, stumbled and I've never seen so many mobile phones in action. What an organization filled with chaos, it must be like the stocks. Depending who you are which one is more fun.

Three minutes after the gate had been trampled:

We finished our first of three, eight hour shifts (we always had to watch one part of the camping area's. No fires or cooking, little cleaning, making a bonfire and BBQ, making sure nobody jumped the fence (still three people managed to do so with us, hihihi.)) and found our own camp on the other side of the festival (a 45min walk). Marie had friends who came the next day.
My little tent which was Marie's and mine home during the festival and the following hitch:
Because we worked we had different bracelets and could walk at the tru festival area from camping to camping. Before the music days it was really peacefull and interesting here. Quiet lightshowes, a free coffee and internet area, nice green grass, tent building and tecnical personal.
Lightshow of the biggest and most famous Roskilde tent, the Orange Stage:
A game during the camping days = try to roll-down your opponents full beercan. You see what I mean......

Maries biggest performance was Nick Cave, so we stood at the front of the Orange stage that time, but the rest of the bigger names (Nine Inch Nails, Coldplay, Faith no More, Oasis, Pet Shop Boys, Slipknot and Kane West) were not for us. We went most to the Cosmopol and Astoria where bands played like: Amadou & Mariam, Analogik, Deadmaus, El hijo de la Cumbia, Gangbe Brass Band, Hanggai, Hjaltalin, Kasai Allstars, Shastriya Syndicate and Rokia Traore. World music that makes you listen. With new instruments, amazing players, very different beats, the best dancing and new discoveries.
At the front with Nick Cave:

Even at the sunniest Roskilde (we did not see ONE cloud) you get dirty feet:

Because of the third shift at Saturday night we missed Grace Jones:

Marie and I Sunday afternoon after her friends had left (work the next day) so we had our own side-garden. We were still gonna go strong for one more night:

The saddest part came after those fun, dancing, smoking, meeting, listening, wondering days.

Those lazy, half-drunk, too-much-money-having kids were just able to pick up themselves, but could not be bothers with theis often perfectly new, in-tact, spotless unneccesary 'junk'. We stayed untill the very last (we were watched/waited away) and this is what the Roskilde crew has to destroy:

And that for just ten days of fun and drunkenship. I had to cry and knew that I would never get used to this anymore. I really thought about how we could prevented or use this. A subject for discussion.

THEN

A new chapter started. After some relaxed days at Maries place, we moved her room to a bigger one in the house and we were very well-done by this, we 'planned' a hitch route through the South-East of Europe: Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia and back to Denmark through Poland.

Lets start with that we had about 80 rides with every possible transport. trucks with fat Polish drivers, cabriolets with handsome, rich dentists, families with kids in the back, young boys with weed in the back, elder woman and horney guys:
One of the two cabriolet rides:

After a 1,5 day drive through Germany, where we flew with 180km/h over the highways, we were picked up by a man who enjoyed our enthusiasm about finally reaching the mountains and who drove us all the way (an extra hour for him) to the top of 'Der Drei Zinnen' (3000m) in the Dolomites in the North of Italy. Yes, we ended up in Italy, the rides had all gone too much straight South But this was incredible too.

At this marvelous lookout point at the foot of those Drei Zinnen:

We got dropped off on request and were totally wild of excitement. Never expecting to arrive here on the second night of our vacation. We walked 45min to another hilltop from where we had a view TO 'Der Drei Zinnen' and were blessed with a super starry sky, solitude and super good feelings; the first and most dramatic campingspot.

Just after we had set up camp (around 4/20 and sunset):

Later in the morning, after a bright blue and sunny sky with views, this fine mist came in and made us walk back through white curtains:

That same day we decided to pass through Venice. I had been there once with my parents when I was 14, Marie had never seen it. We were so close, so lets get South untill the Adriatic sea. Just before sunset, just 20km out of Venice, we got our last ride of the day: "Marie!! He's not going to Venice, he's going to the beach!" I yelled. "Let's go!" replied Marie.

And so we ended 30km East of Venice on the beach where Marie swam at night, the beach-night guards gave us insect repellant and Redbulls and we slept on the humid beach.

We even had neighbours:

A nice beachmorning with swimming and being lazy followed into getting and being in Venice.

The Republic of Venice (118 small islands with 177 canals in a shallow lagoon connected by 400 bridges) was a major maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades and the Battle of Lepanto, as well as a very important center of commerce (especially silk, grain and spice trade) and art in the 13th century up to the end of the 17th century. By the late thirteenth century, Venice was the most prosperous city in all of Europe. At the peak of its power and wealth, it had 36,000 sailors operating 3,300 ships, dominating Mediterranean commerce. The houses are build on wood piles, they say the city is not sinking anymore, the historic centre with the many sights has 62.000 inhabitants and transport is entirely by motorboat (gondolas are only for tourists) or foot.

A paradise for photographers and curious people with it's many colors, corners, small streets and surprising and fancy architecture:

We slept in one of the parks just outside the historic centre and so we saw a very untouristic part of Venice with normal prices and the regular inhabitants of Venice.

The next day we left again and were straight away picked up by Fabio, a cool and cheerfull guitar player who took us under his wing and invited us (after a beer) to his house and the party for 'Festa della Redentore', a huge tradicional celebration to commemorate the end of the plague of 1577.

This is the first day when Fabio and a friend took us out for a delicious Italien lunch:

And after that a boat ride to two of the many islands around Venice. This one is more structured, VERY colorful and finished:

The other one had a tower way more on angle then the tower of Pisa:

Fabio had to play at a restaurant, (he's really good), and we watched. At the end of the night the owner of the place invited the giggling ladies (us) for strawberries with champagne. For sure he hoped more out of it ........ We don't think so, thanks for the champagne:

We all make mistakes and so we did ours right here; we left just before the real party started, after we had just spend the whole day hanging around the preparations.......

In Trieste, Italy we jumped off the boulevard/beach with way to many others:

And from there we got picked up by Robert Redford. He really looked like him and lived in this house with 8 or so Lipizzaner horses (they are born black but turn white with the years):

He was Italien, spoke perfect english (he was a know journalist) and lived just over the boarder in Slovenia. He had been and seen a lot and was very interesting to talk to the first day.

The city of Nove Gorica:

Next important pick-up was with Luca. He and his buddy were underway to a river-picnic to bbq with colleagues and friends. In the five minute ride we were invited along and when it turned out that the whole group worked for a rafting and canyoning company it got even better. The next day we would go canyoning with Luca. The young boys from Slovenia treated us very hospital, equal and with fun. It became a really comfortable meeting where there were no feelings of sexual discomfort.....

This is the last massive, 20m, waterfall from which you slide at the end of the canyoning tour:

It was Really cool this canyoning, I had done it once in New Zealand, Marie never and she had a little fraight for hights as well. But she managed almost all jumps and all slides from wicked waterfallsnwith enthousiasm.

Luca and Marie:

A volleyball game and drinking beer kept us busy that evening. I so badly wanted to climb this pointy mountain behind the town of Bovec, it really was the most beautiful area of what we've seen in Slovenia:

Next day brought us to Bled, a very touristy town made famous through a beautiful turquois lake with a little island with a quite church and a massive cliff with a castle in the backdrop:

The water was really warm, full with swimmers, and tempted us to swim to the island to explore it and it's pretty church. A very relaxing afternoon.

We were getting really brown by now, such good weather:

And more hitch hiking, on our way to Ljubljana, the capital with 280.000 inhabitants:

Here as well they have a sort of 'Christiania' like in Copenhagen. Relaxed, hippy-like, where I found the skirt of my life for 4Euro in the secondhand store.

It was 4/20:

These kozolec (hayracks) were seen all over in the countryside. The ground in the Alpine and hilly areas can be damp, therefore corn, wheat and hay are hung from the racks, allowing the wind to do the drying faster and more thoroughly:

Then we got picked up by a group of five man and one woman who invited us for coffee (we were invited for coffee VERY often by the way, even I drank a coffee or ten this trip!). After this cheerfully first meeting we were taken up the mountain (with one stop at a restaurant for a giant pizza) to a ten-house-town because they had nothing to do, were a little tipsy and good-willed. One of them was a little drunker and fell asleep with his arm in the pudding.

We slept on a forrest path on the Austrian boarder where a hunter warned us for bears and by coincident became one of our rides the next day.

We ended the hitch of that day in Vienna, the capital of the Republic of Austria with 1.7 million inhabitants, founded around 500BC. Marie had been here two times before and so she guided me through the first district with it's huge, majestic white buildings, imposing private homes and important monuments. Vienna also has many very pretty and peaceful parks and so it was not hard to find a quiet place to sleep.......:

Untill we woke up in the morning and my Peruvian handmade bag with my Bolivian covered diary (with all the e-mails of the people I/we had met), my Panamanian etui with digital camera with photo's of this trip, my passport, drivers license, bankpass, 4/20 and other dear souvenirs was gone. Shit!

The passport and drivers license were send by mail to the police four days later. The police send it to the Dutch ambassy who destroyed the passport because they are legally not allowed to send it by mail but did send my license to my home address in Holland. Nothing else is (yet) retrieved.

And then through Czech.

We took all the small roads and enjoyed the farmcountry and an invitation of Helena who brought us to Jan in the little town of Sušice, where this free man runs a private, simple, relaxed manege with 13 horses. He had many more animals and it was a girl- and childrens playground. Jan and Helena too embraced us like we were long-time friends and we visited different bars and a beautiful lookout over the Bohemian Forrest of Czech, really really apriciated.

Jan had green fingers besides being good with animals and it was often 4/20.

Jan, Marie and I above the Boheemse woud:

We left them around noon, those wonderful people in the South of Czech, and made a long and boring 24 hours hitch to Denmark with a last sleepover at a petrol station.

It was a fantastic vacation, Marie is such an easy, cheerful, charming and clever friend. I admire her busy life in which she is a medical student, sets up researches and is involved in projects as a volunteer which she knows to combine with all those cool travel adventures.
You're absolutely not Stuu-Pid my lil' Denish flower.

I love you!

After a few last days in Copenhagen we had to make an end to this togetherness, Marie had a new course to attend and I had to really start my new life in Holland.

I was not sad, more excited, scared, full with questions and insecurities but not at all loosing my positivity.

This new period in my life is gonna rock as well!

PS:

Dear Fabio in Punta Sabioni, Fabio in Nova Vas and Luca in Bovec,

As you might have read above is my diary with your directions stolen in a park in Vienna while we were sleeping. We are so sorry that we are not able to trace your names on the internet combined with all the information we remember. It is impossible to send you your deserved photo's we made together and to remind you of my 30th birthday party the 10th of March next year. We're soooooo sad about his. We hope you still feel the appreciation we have for all of you. I hope you might remember and search mine or Marie's name one day to find us somewhere, we should be easy to find.

Sorry!