Scandinavia
It's been a while since my last update, and I'm now part way through my latest trip which is to Scandinavia, the Arctic, Iceland and Greenland.
Mum and I flew from London over to Helsinki some days ago. We got in late and so just got a taxi in from the airport and went to bed. The hotel was pretty funky...it's all about the Finnish design I guess. It's called the Hotel Klaus K (http://www.klauskhotel.com/). Breakfast was a pleasant surprise - instead of your normal derivative breakfast fare, they had a selection of various dishes from around Finland as their breakfast buffet. Excellent food!
We only had the day in Helsinki as we were booked on an overnight ferry to Stockholm, but fortunately downtown Helsinki is eminently walkable. We started early, walked around and had seen most of the downtown area including the lovely market by the harbour and the Russian Orthodox church on a little hill (you almost forget that St Petersburg is a short ferry ride away from Helsinki until you see it). We had a nice lunch and looked in various design shops and the Moomin shop!
In the evening we got on board the Viking Line ferry to Stockholm. Big big ship - think overnight ferry from England to France or similar...duty free store, bars, slot machines etc. and the Finns and Swedes seemed to be taking full advantage of it. Cabins were extra, and although we had one, there were clearly people who just stayed up all night partying.
On the way into Stockholm in the morning it was a bit surreal. We looked out of the window of the ship and the scenery, islands, foliage and buildings were almost identical to the cottage country in Canada where we spend some summers. It was almost as if we'd woken up on the lake we go to, but in a oversized ferry.
Stockholm has something like 24,000 islands in its immediate vicinity, so there is a lot of water. The city itself is spread out over a number of islands, but you never really get the impression of being on top of it like you might in Venice. While there is a lot of water, the islands themselves are solid rock, and don't appear to be reclaimed land.
In Stockholm we walked around a bit and took a boat over to the Vasa Museum, which is a large purpose-built building which houses the incredibly well-preserved remains of the Vasa battleship - a 17th century ship which sank in Stockholm's harbour on its maiden voyage. A combination of the brackish water and the pollution kept it incredibly well preserved (95% of the ship has been recovered), and it was only rediscovered in the 60s. It was painstakingly raised up, treated to stop it decaying, and exhibited in all its glory. It is incredibly imposing, and you can walk all around it, both above and below it in the purpose built galleries in order to get a feel for the sheer scale of it. Highly recommended if you find yourself in Stockholm.
Yesterday we went to Skansen which is an outdoor historical area - I'd say a village, but it's pretty large (300,000 square metres) and it's made up of lots of different buildings and so on from different areas and periods in Sweden and its history. They've also got a good selection of Scandinavian wildlife - elk, bears, wolves, lynx etc. I've put pictures up on my flickr account (link at end of blog).
Today we went to a modern art museum in the morning, then flew to Oslo in the evening. It was supposed to be the afternoon, but due to a mix up, we had been booked on a flight leaving a month today. As a result we had to switch flights and wait at the airport for 5 hours...
Anyway, we finally made it to Oslo, had a quick wander around and had dinner and here I sit now back at the hotel. Tomorrow we sightsee, then the following morning we take a train, boat and bus out to Bergen on the South West coast of Norway.
Pics of the last few days here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenokumura/sets/72157621741351589/
Mum and I flew from London over to Helsinki some days ago. We got in late and so just got a taxi in from the airport and went to bed. The hotel was pretty funky...it's all about the Finnish design I guess. It's called the Hotel Klaus K (http://www.klauskhotel.com/). Breakfast was a pleasant surprise - instead of your normal derivative breakfast fare, they had a selection of various dishes from around Finland as their breakfast buffet. Excellent food!
We only had the day in Helsinki as we were booked on an overnight ferry to Stockholm, but fortunately downtown Helsinki is eminently walkable. We started early, walked around and had seen most of the downtown area including the lovely market by the harbour and the Russian Orthodox church on a little hill (you almost forget that St Petersburg is a short ferry ride away from Helsinki until you see it). We had a nice lunch and looked in various design shops and the Moomin shop!
In the evening we got on board the Viking Line ferry to Stockholm. Big big ship - think overnight ferry from England to France or similar...duty free store, bars, slot machines etc. and the Finns and Swedes seemed to be taking full advantage of it. Cabins were extra, and although we had one, there were clearly people who just stayed up all night partying.
On the way into Stockholm in the morning it was a bit surreal. We looked out of the window of the ship and the scenery, islands, foliage and buildings were almost identical to the cottage country in Canada where we spend some summers. It was almost as if we'd woken up on the lake we go to, but in a oversized ferry.
Stockholm has something like 24,000 islands in its immediate vicinity, so there is a lot of water. The city itself is spread out over a number of islands, but you never really get the impression of being on top of it like you might in Venice. While there is a lot of water, the islands themselves are solid rock, and don't appear to be reclaimed land.
In Stockholm we walked around a bit and took a boat over to the Vasa Museum, which is a large purpose-built building which houses the incredibly well-preserved remains of the Vasa battleship - a 17th century ship which sank in Stockholm's harbour on its maiden voyage. A combination of the brackish water and the pollution kept it incredibly well preserved (95% of the ship has been recovered), and it was only rediscovered in the 60s. It was painstakingly raised up, treated to stop it decaying, and exhibited in all its glory. It is incredibly imposing, and you can walk all around it, both above and below it in the purpose built galleries in order to get a feel for the sheer scale of it. Highly recommended if you find yourself in Stockholm.
Yesterday we went to Skansen which is an outdoor historical area - I'd say a village, but it's pretty large (300,000 square metres) and it's made up of lots of different buildings and so on from different areas and periods in Sweden and its history. They've also got a good selection of Scandinavian wildlife - elk, bears, wolves, lynx etc. I've put pictures up on my flickr account (link at end of blog).
Today we went to a modern art museum in the morning, then flew to Oslo in the evening. It was supposed to be the afternoon, but due to a mix up, we had been booked on a flight leaving a month today. As a result we had to switch flights and wait at the airport for 5 hours...
Anyway, we finally made it to Oslo, had a quick wander around and had dinner and here I sit now back at the hotel. Tomorrow we sightsee, then the following morning we take a train, boat and bus out to Bergen on the South West coast of Norway.
Pics of the last few days here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenokumura/sets/72157621741351589/
posted by Ken at 10:15 pm
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