The Scandinavian experience (Finland, Sweden, Norway)

I caught an early flight out of Krakow, heading for Helsinki Finland via LOT airlines.  The other options were a 26 hour bus (hahaha) or a series of trains, both would have landed me in Tallinn Estonia, where I would have had to catch a 2 hour ferry to Helsinki.  I opted for the 90 minute flight although slightly more expensive ($190 compared to $120ish) I saved lots of time and headaches (haha 26 hour bus...good one).  Now people had warned me that Scandinavia was expensive, but it was still a shock when I went out the first night and paid $18 for a pint and sandwich.  What’s funny is most backpackers use the same measuring stick when comparing costs in cities to one another.  They measure it in two ways, one is the price of a pint at a pub and the other is the price of a hostel.  In Krakow I was paying roughly $18 for a hostel and $4 for a pint, in Helsinki $35 for a hostel and $8 for a pint.  In Nicaragua I was paying $6 for a hostel and $1 for a pint *wipes away tear*.  Anyways, let’s get on to business and my first stop in Scando....Helsinki Finland! 

My first impressions?  Someone should have told me to drive to Muskoka Ontario and I would have saved a lot of money#@!^$!*.  Actually much of the Scandinavian country side is like the Canadian shield region of Ontario, especially Finland.  Just off the south east coast of Helsinki is Finland’s sea fortress which has seen several owners over the last few hundred years (Sweden, Russia and now Finland). It was pretty cool spending an afternoon walking around checking out the various things it had to offer.

So who was the mastermind behind the design and creation of this fortress?  This guy:

Please note the arm holding onto the hilt of the sword is not part of the tomb.  It was part of some stupid kid who wouldn't take his stupid arm off the statue...

Augustin Ehrensvärd who died in 1772, who also served as a soldier, lies beneath this bad ass tomb.....cool.

Other notable highlights of the island:

One of several massive cannons protecting the banks of the island

Big sub.....hold the pickles.  5 euro to go in, no thanks!

Apparently Bilbo and the gang helped defend the island....who knew?

I spent another afternoon wandering the main streets and parks snapping pictures as I usually do in any new city.

Huge church....I've seen bigger.  The inside was a snooze-fest

Mermaid statue with fish marked and main square in the background

Keith Richards selling the day's catch right off the main square....I know right, Keith Richards!

Whenever I’m in a new country I can’t help but go straight for whatever food they’re known for, in this case I opted for one of Finland’s signature dishes...the karjalanpiirakka.

Basically it’s thin rye bread with rice in the middle, then baked.  Sounds boring right?  Well it is...I have no idea why this is a staple in Finland, but it is.  There, I just saved you $7 if you ever visit Finland.  So I moved on to something else to tickle my taste buds, perhaps something that used to be alive.  Options are obviously many varieties of fish and what not but what caught my eye was the reindeer dog.

Rudolph won't be home for New Year's kids...

Ya I went there.

One thing that piqued my interest was that during the winter you can on dog sledding excursions up around the Arctic Circle, which would have been awesome but since its summer, no dice.  I kind of feel like I didn’t give Finland a chance only seeing one city for 2 days, but I guess some countries just work out like that.  The reasons behind me visiting a certain country usually revolve around 1 or 2 main attractions, but once I get there I find several other things to do and stay 3-5 days.  However since I didn’t feel like spending lots of money visiting a country side that I’ve lived in all my life, it was time to move on.  Next stop was Stockholm Sweden, where I would arrive via a 16 hour overnight ferry.  The scando’s do things right when it comes to sea travel let me tell you. 

The ferry turned out to be a freakin' cruise ship!

So I paid $80 for a ticket I was on-board this bad ass ferry.  *pro-tip* Choose the option without a sleeper bunk to save more money and sleep on the floor!  This thing had 2 bars, several restaurants, a club, a duty-free shop and even a casino.  They also had an entire night's agenda filled with live music, a magician and all kinds of other crap for kids.

Sea Fortress view from the ferry leaving Helsinki

Wrapping up Finland with some Finlandia Lime vodka and a sunset...at 11pm

I'm awoken out of a deep and delicious slumber by a bunch of stupid kids banging on the door to my cabin (by cabin I mean an area where they let homeless people/rift raft/backpackers sleep).  I grab the business end of my empty vodka bottle and think of ways to make them stop, but then think twice.  So instead I grab a hot, wholesome and delicious breakfast (crackers) and head into Stockholm, the next stop on my Scandinavian tour.

But before I jump into the land of marmalade, IKEA and Mats Sundin I need to tell you I've figured out a phenomenon that has touched us all in our lives at one point or another during our travels.  Now this phenomenon is prevalent in every country of the world, and is happening as I type this.  It touches each and every one of us differently.  "What is this crazy son of a bitch talking about" you ask?  I'm talking about Japanese Group Tourists (or JGT for short).  I apologize in advance for any Japanese friends reading this (I have no Japanese friends....well at least not anymore).

Here we go:

What do you see here?  Normal run of the mill Japanese tourists right?

Wrong, it's a lot more complex then that...here is my breakdown.

From left to right you have the Apprentice who is eagerly learning as much as possible from his master, who is the Photographer.  Now the Photographer is the guy on the ground getting stuff done, you can tell he's getting stuff done by the murse he has slung over his left shoulder.  He's also the shortest of the bunch which gives him the unique ability to duck and dive around crowds to get that perfect shot.  Next we have the Coffee Run Guy who is taking notes (I'm not kidding, he's actually taking notes).  Then the Director and Producer running the show, and finally the B Roll Photographer off to the right.  It took me a few shots to get this one, and they started noticing me after a while and got weirded out.  So I pointed in the distance, screamed Godzilla! and got the hell out of there (I made that last part up).

Anyways.....back to business, Stockholm.

I walk off the boat and immediately like what I see in comparison to Helsinki.  It's more lively, there are more to see and do and it's more beautiful.

Main bridge over the river leading to Gamla Stan and the Royal Palace

The Royal Palace.  Largest 'lived in' Royal Palace in the world!

Cool water fountain near my hostel

A statue of Gustavus Adolphus, former king of Sweden in the 17th century looking onto The Royal Palace

Still feeling a bit museum'd-out I only went to one while in Stockholm and that was the Vasamuseet.  The Vasamuseet is home of the 17th century warship the Vasa.  The tragic story of this massive ship is that it sank 15 minutes into it's maiden voyage due to being top heavy (whoops!).  Most of it's crew perished with the accident unfortunately, the exact number is not known.  So there it sat on the bottom of the Saltsjon river until 330 years later it was raised and put back together.  The ship is almost all original material and sits proudly in the centre of the Vasamuseet.

The pics didn't turn out that great....just google it if you want better ones.

What the ship once looked like

I also checked out the Royal Cathedral of Sweden which was pretty cool including this statue of St. George and the Dragon.  The statue is a metaphor depicting St. George slaying a dragon (the invading Dutch) to save a Princess (Stockholm).  Neat stuff.

When I was in Krakow I met a few Aussie girls (Cassi and Jess) who were heaps fun and later I met up with them in Stockholm for Midsummer.  Essentially Midsummer is celebrating the longest day of the year (summer solstice) and is a big deal in Sweden.  In Stockholm, the longest day of the year has 20.5 hours of light, and for those 3.5 hours it's still not dark, but dusky.  Anyways Cassi knows a few locals in Stockholm who were heading out to their cottage on an island in the Swedish Archipelago.  Fortunately for me those locals (Christian and Ash) are great guys, and they invited me along for the weekend to celebrate!  This has to be the most non-touristy cultural experience I've had this trip!

They have an awesome spot out on an island...

The Midsummer crew - from left to right, Ash, Christian, Cassi, Jessica and me

We were treated to some authentic Swedish midsummer feasts including pickled herring and of course vodka.  Also the neighbours who had some 15-20 people around, treated us to some live midsummer music including singing and dancing (not half bad after a few beers).  Great times all around, and thanks again for letting me come out guys!

Next stop Norway!  So I grab an early flight out of Stockholm with Finnair and I'm in Bergen by mid-day.  Let me start my Norway bit by saying the only reason I came to one of the most expensive countries to live in was for the Kjeragbolten as well as the whole fjord experience.  But since it’s a 9 hour train ride form Oslo, I decided to make the most of the trip and see another city on the west coast, Bergen.  Bergen gets 275 days of rain a year, I found this out on the way there and I was sans umbrella....crap.  However Helios was looking fairly upon me the day of my arrival and gave me an afternoon of sun, so I took full advantage.

First off let me start by saying Bergen is a very pretty city, nestled between 2 mountain ranges with a harbour at one end.  As with any town built on a harbour, they have their fish market.

However I mentioned that Norway is a very expensive country.  Just out of camera shot there is a mortgage broker available all day so that you can actually afford to eat here.  However I gave in and bought a modest $11 shrimp/salmon sandwich anyways and I’m glad I did.

All fuelled up and ready to tackle a rare sunny Bergen afternoon; I headed up nearby Mount Floyen for some picturesque views.

You can see the restaurant and look-out point up top

I decided to take the tram up the mountain as I’ve heard it’s cool...and I like cool things.

Cool

The view from the top was worth the trip to Bergen alone.

$12 pint, million dollar view

I took the next day off to loaf around the hostel as it was raining anyways, so the following day I caught a 5 hour boat to Stavanger.   Stavanger is the most expensive city to live in Norway.  What a great destination for a budget backpacker slumming it around the world for a year or so right?  Well Stavanger is also the launching point for the Kjeragbolten among other fjord excursions.  And by complete coincidence Stavanger hosts am annual world beach volleyball tour event, which was on the week I was there!

The cheapest hostel I could find ($50 a night) was a 5km walk out of town, unfortunately the town isn’t built around budget travel....who would have figured.  I met this guy at the hostel, and if you grew up in the 90’s and watched sitcoms you know why I took the pic.

Alright, it’s time for the Kjeragbolten....the reason I was in Norway and one of the top things I've looked forward to in Europe.  It stared off with a modest 2.5 hour climb up to about 1000m above sea level.  Nothing like Nicaragua though as the temperature was only 10 degrees, perfect hiking weather.  There were some tricky spots where you needed to hang onto a chain to avoid falling into oblivion, but other than that it was rather tame.  And unfortunately the day started off with heavy fog...

Look closely you'll see a kid and dog leading, with parents in tow....that's how the Norwegians roll baby

Uhh where's the chain to help me get up this steep section

And then out of the mist....comes the Kjeragbolten

Ok, I’m going to stop there with the pictures and explain what the Kjeragbolen is for people who haven’t Googled it by now (mom and dad).  In short, it’s a large boulder that fell sometime ago and is lodged between 2 sheer cliffs, and has been stuck there ever since.  The deal is you walk out onto the Kjeragbolten, have someone take your picture and that’s it.  But there’s a catch....the cliffs plummet 1000m straight down into the Lyseford.  In terms of scale that's roughly double the height of the CN tower...ya I know.  And there’s another catch, the walk onto the Kjeragbolen is not safe by any means..  And since it was foggy, I’m going to steal this pic and video clip from the internet to give you an idea of what I’m talking about.

Random pic off google...

A video clip of some guy walking out on the Kjeragbolten http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=894OseKgzyw

Ok, now that you’ve probably shit yourself....here’s me out on the Kjeragbolten shitting myself.

My 30 seconds of glory...

Awful picture I know, but what can you do.  My journey out on the rock went something like this:

I watched 2 people turn around and walk back from the saying no way, that’s crazy etc etc.  I told myself ahead of time if it was safe enough, I’d do it no matter what (it was safe, we got the all clear from the tour guide).  So my mind was already made up, I was going to get out on that rock.  So I managed to squeeze myself past the initial trail that leads out to it, and there it was in front of me.  Unfortunately it’s not flat, nor is there an easy way out.  You can either just take a giant step out onto it or shimmy/crawl your way out.  I took the shimmy/crawl way out because it felt less dangerous.  It took me a minute or so to actually get out on the boulder, and then there I was on all fours staring down at the famous Kjeragbolten.  A few feet in either direction was a 1km drop to the fjord bottom below.  I tried not to think about that, but it was tough not to sneak a peak or two.  It was damp with the fog, but thankfully no wind.  I told myself  “Shawn, you just need to stand up...just stand up, get the picture and then go back to safe ground”.  So I did...slowly and carefully with legs trembling.  It was the most freighting thing I’ve ever done in my life, and definitely one of the most memorable.

How I felt right after:

There were others who also went out on the rock that day, some casually walked out and even posed standing on 1 leg for the camera!  Mostly experienced German/Norwegians climbers though...

Other pics of the area:

The fog started to clear out on the way back down (of course)

Zoomed in portion of the picture above

Norway was by far my most favorite country out of the 3 I briefly visited in Scandinavia.  And I'll never forget the Kjeragbolten experience!  Currently I’m on a 9.5 hour night train from Stavanger to Oslo, where I’ll arrive and have a 3 hour layover until my flight into Brussels Belgium.  I’ll be there for 3-4 days, and then off to Amsterdam for a week!  I ate an entire pizza and smashed back 3 beers in celebration for dinner so I should sleep well. Think I’m nuts for going out on that rock?...maybe....leave a comment and let me know J

-Coubs