… And we got rather wet from all the snow soaking through our clothes as we walked the streets trying to head back to the train station. But as they say, everyone gets lost in Venice!

We arrived in Venice via train from Udine, midmorning, and were greeted by snow covered paths and the cool air. It was pleasant, however, and we were eager to begin exploring. Perhaps because I have been so relaxed at “home” with the family, I didn’t put much effort into researching what to see and do in Venice. Thankfully, a sign pointing the way to ‘San Marco’ triggered my memory and we began to follow what became a long maze of narrow alleyways and ambiguous signs.

We eventually arrived in Saint Mark’s Square, after crossing the disappointingly famous Rialto Bridge, and were blown away by the beauty and magnificence of the basilica. The detail and effort that went into the building and decorating of the cathedral was amazing. While exploring we also saw several other impressive churches and wandered round a free exhibit dedicated to Antonio Vivaldi.

Despite the length of our visit and the bad weather that saw us leave Venice, we had a really fun time. Lots of laughs and lots of sandwiches (thanks to my Italian “mum” Ombretta!) meant that even the worst weather couldn’t have put a downer on our day trip.

It snowed in Venice… on the way to somewhere - ..you're only lost if you know where you're going..

A picture is said to speak a thousand words, so here’s my 6000 word post on Snowboarding at Tarvisio in Italy.

I all seriousness though, Tarvisio is a great place. Although others insisted on paying for the snowboard hire and lift pass for us, I don’t believe it was too expensive for the day. I do know that for 4 hours on the slopes it will set you back 24EUR.

It was just over an hours drive from where we are staying in Zompitta, (Udine) and very close to Austria and Slovenia. It’s surreal for us to be an hour away from the snow, and an hour away from the coastline. Let alone at the corner of three countries!

If you’re looking for a place to go skiing or snowboarding, definitely check out Tarvisio. There were very few people around which made it a lot easier for us to keep learning in confidence – Jess and I are really starting to link our turns well!

Snowboarding at Tarvisio, Italy on the way to somewhere - ..you're only lost if you know where you're going..

We arrived in Copenhagen at 8am in the morning after catching an overnight bus from Stockholm. It was a new experience for the both of us and I personally found it fairly comfortable.

It was Valentines Day, and when we arrived it was snowing lightly. Thankfully it was quite still compared to Stockholm and while the temperature was cold (-3 degrees Celsius) it was a lot more comfortable.

We had a hotel room for the night staying at a place called Hotel Alexandra. Travelling as a couple often presents itself with advantages – in this case we were able to find a last minute hotel room for cheaper than two beds in a hostel dorm. We booked it the day before and tried our luck with an 8.30am check in. Luckily the room was free. Hotel Alexandra is located right near the Tivoli and for walkers like us it couldn’t be in a better location.

The benefit of a hotel room is that you have a bathroom to wash clothes in and more space to dry them. Sure, you get privacy too, but at this point in the trip we were banking on doing a fair bit of washing! After washing the clothes and having a quick freshen up we went for a walk to see what we could find. Our first stop was the Botanical Gardens.

They are a bit different to those back in Australia and the one we saw in Singapore. Although flowering plants are few and far between, the snow brings it’s own beauty to the gardens. There was also an excellent greenhouse which was the perfect place for us to thaw out. From here we walked throughout Copenhagen aimlessly. We didn’t have a lot on our list of objectives here so it was nice to take it easy for a change.

Valentines Day ended with us finding an “eat all you can” pizza place called The Astor. Anyone who knows us would have a good idea of how much pizza we ate, and all for 59DKK! We went back to our room and watched some TV together ready to call it a day.

The day after we walked over to Amalienborg Palace to watch the Changing of The Danish Royal Guard. It has been pretty cool watching this in a few different countries now. I’d say Denmark has had the most impressive so far. After freezing in the cold for about an hour, the guards were changed and we were off on our way to Kastellet.

Nearby was a statue of The Little Mermaid, named after the story by Hans Christien Andersen. Interestingly enough, Copenhagen seemed like a fairytale place. The gardens and the snow, the lights at night, and the music! I swear they had Disney music playing when the trains arrived at the station.

On top of all of this it was even more of a fairytale for me; pretty much everyone in Copenhagen is a cyclist. The infrastructure is amazing, and according to the owner of a local bike store “the drivers have to watch out for bikes”, not the opposite that applies in Australia.

Short and sweet once again, just like Athens. While you could spend some time here exploring the day to day life, we both had a great two day visit.

Two days in Copenhagen on the way to somewhere - ..you're only lost if you know where you're going..

Imagine how cool it would be if you could finish work at 4pm, catch a tram 5 minutes down the road and go snowboarding (or skiing).

It’s doable for sure – lots of people live in a ski village or in the Swiss Alps, but for those in Stockholm, they are able to do so in their capital city.

Today Jess and I walked from our hostel (in Östermalm, Stockholm) to Hammarbybacken, which is just across the river. It’s about a 30 minute walk, but it’s through quite a nice trendy area full of new apartments. We could have caught the tram or the bus but we had the time and the money saved on transport bought us some varm choklads at the end of the day.

Hammarbybacken is a basic snowfield, for sure. It has three runs, plus a training area and a small skills park. There are two lifts, but no chairs – just T-bars.

Jess and I opted for snowboarding, because we had done it before and enjoyed it. For a 3 hour hire of a snowboarding kit (board, bindings, boots) it was 225SEK each. A 3 hour session was 140SEK, plus 45SEK for the SkiPass-kort, which is essentially a card that you use to swipe through to get on the chairlift. If you were staying for multiple days you’d only have to pay the 45SEK once.

As it turns out we met a fellow Aussie, Ross, in the rentals room. He’d never been snowboarding before so the three of us kind of kept together and laughed at each other stacking it. I think all of us had at least one decent stack at speed.

It was the first time either of us had used a T-bar lift; at Fall Creek we used a chairlift and a poma. As it turns out, T-bars are easier to use than a poma, but for newbies like us it still required a bit of concentration.

Unless you’re both experienced and fit, 3 hours is plenty of time to tire yourself out. We probably got around 12 runs in, with the first three runs taking the first hour or so. It’s been almost three years since we’ve been on a board so it took a while to pick up where we left off. The runs are quick, but the lines at the lift are short and it only takes about a minute to get back to the top.

It’s no ski resort, but to break up the monotony of sightseeing it was just what we needed, even if the top of the “mountain” (hill) was an excellent place to view the city of Stockholm. We had an absolute blast, and we’ll have the memories for days to come by way of bruises.

For 410SEK each (AUD$64) it must have to be the cheapest snowboarding in the world. You can find more information on the SkiStar website.

Snowboarding Hammarbybacken in Stockholm on the way to somewhere - ..you're only lost if you know where you're going..

We landed in Sweden last night at 10:50pm after an hour and a half bus ride and around two hours on a plane. After we landed there was to be another bus ride to Stockholm. (Read: Ryanair may be cheap but there are hassles involved).

As we were landing there was a lot of cloud to fly through, so I pretty much gave up on looking through the window and just waited to land. You know how you can hear the engines changing speed and the wind resistance on the plane before it lands? I was sure we must be landing soon, but with every quick glance I made through the window I saw the same thing – clouds.

Then I realised. The last glance wasn’t clouds! We were close to the ground, and that was snow! Snow like I’ve never seen it before! Houses were covered (literally) with snow – on the roof and banked up against the walls.

We landed at a little airport in a town called Nyköping, around 100km South-West of Stockholm. It was an interesting landing.. Safe I’m sure, but certainly more “urgent” than usual. While the ensuing bus ride seemed like a major inconvenience, it gave us time to see the suburbs and outer Stockholm. Well, I saw the lot, in typical Jess style she saw some in between naps. I wish I could sleep like her!

Although it was dark at the time, the forests looked amazing – pure white snow on the ground and on the branches. It is the sort of thing you see on a postcard or (for us computer addicts) a “nature” screensaver.

We arrived at the Stockholm Cityterminalen bus station at 12:50am. Our hostel was only around 1km away, so we had made the decision earlier to walk. I’d studied the map multiple times so I was sure where to go. Of course I didn’t count on the names on the signs being different.

We shuffled around in the snow up and back down the same road. Jess was freezing despite wearing her snowboarding jacket, beanie and gloves. Did I mention it was minus 8 degrees?

Standing at an intersection I saw the toughest family sedan around – an Audi RS6. It sounded so awesome even just taking off slowly. While I was bouncing off the walls on the inside, on the outside I was trying not to look interested at all so Jess knew I was using 100% of my attention to get us to the hostel. Seriously though, this is what I was hoping to see in Stockholm (rare European cars), and since then I’ve spotted an RS6 Avant too (the wagon version).

Another blank stare at the map and a “stuff it let’s just walk this way” and I got my bearings. We were on the right track and Jess was able to enjoy herself again.

I have to say – being lost at 1am in a freezing cold city with a backpack on looking like a completely vulnerable tourist you’d think you would be scared, but I really felt very safe for the both of us.

We walked across the bridge that was meant to be crossing a river but there was no river. For a few seconds we thought we were lost again, only to realise that it was a river, just a little more frozen than those back home in Australia.

We buzzed in, dumped out backpacks, quietly sorted our beds and had a drink. After a slow few days in Paris, I think the adventure has began for the both of us again, certainly for me anyway.

Today we took it easy, and actually did a bit of shopping. I bought a jacket that is perfect for “casual wear/fricken cold”, and Jess found a pair of jeans that will hopefully alleviate the “I’m sick of wearing the same damn clothes” feeling that she is having.

We have met a nice fellow from Finland, who has just found work in Stockholm. He’s staying at the hostel until he sorts out permanent accommodation. As it turns out, his mate is living in Whistler as a mountain bike tour guide. I thought it was just Adelaide that is this small?

Anyway, that will do for now. Adjö´ så lä´nge!

Lost in Stockholm on the way to somewhere - ..you're only lost if you know where you're going..