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| 4th of January |
Stockholm |
Sweden |
We woke up around 9 o'clock. After having prepared our breakfast, we entered the living room of the hostel, and there he was... The hotel guest, that had tried to take over my bed, was now (still) sitting in front of the television, a sleep! Maybe he hadn't understood my remarks after all...
After having asked the girl at the reception to guard our backpacks, we left for the center of Stockholm. Trust me, it is even nicer with daylight! We watched the changing of the guards at the royal palace... It was far more impressive to see, than the one in front of Buckingham Palace. We later on found out that apparently, the Swedish deliberately tried to out perform the Brits, not only the guards did a better job, but the Royal Palace contains exactly one room more than Buckingham palace!
Did you know that... |
We lateron climbed up to a panorama point, before heading towards the television tower, the highest tower in Stockholm.
==>
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| 12th of January |
Copenhagen |
Denmark |
Scandinavia was great fun, but unfortunately University would start again soon, so this was going to be our last day... but we were not about to go back home without having visited the Carlsberg Brewery!
Okay, it was only 10.30 when we entered the museum, but that wasn't a problem for us... We left our bags at the entrance, each received 2 coupons for free beer, and entered the plant.
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I must say, the museum was dead boring... We had expected to at least see parts of the production process, but it turned out to be just an old museum with nothing moving, let alone any beer. The result; we spent about 10 minutes in the museum and headed for the bar. Here we enjoyed our two beers and while I honestly had only planned to get an extra sweater from my bag, I ended up with 6 more coupons, since the entrance desk was abandoned and the coupons just lay there out in the open on top of the counter... |
We left the brewery feeling more than happy and headed for I lunch. Spareribs, eat as much as you like! Competently stuffed we crawled back to the train station where we picked up our bags, took the bus back to the Netherlands....
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| 11th of January |
Copenhagen |
Denmark |
For those interested in our evening program on the Ferry, it was the same as 2 days ago!
We arrived in Stockholm around 08.30. Not too early, but too late to catch the first train to Copenhagen, where our journey was about to end. But hey, why rush... After all it was our holiday. On the other hand however, we really needed to be in Stockholm before 15.30, since still needed to pick our EuroLines bus tickets in order to get back to the Netherlands.
But what could go wrong? During the entire week, non of the trains had been delayed for more than 5 minutes... Of course our train was! We ended up calling the EuroLine office from the train to make sure we would not loose any time finding it.
We arrived at the train station 5 minutes before closing and decided to change from both going to the office to plan b: Erik guarding our backpacks, me? Running through Copenhagen and being just in time to see the last customer leave... Luckily they were willing to let me in.
I left they office 5 minutes later, 2 tickets in my pocket.
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All that was left for the moment, was to find our hostel, drop our bags, eat as much pizza as we liked in the center, visit the Guinness book of records museum and head for the local pub!
===> Day 10 <=== |
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| 9th of January |
Tampere |
Finland |
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After a very short night, we were woken by a very friendly lady.She announced that the ferry would arrive at Turku Harbor in one hour... Okay, nice gesture, but I for us, 15 minutes before arriving would have been fine too...
Shortly after arriving we took the train to Tampere, where we would stay for two days. Luckily we were able to stay in an empty student flat. (The flat had belonged to an Finish student who I got to know during my exchange, just before our trip)
It could not have been better, a kitchen, shower and above all.... A sauna!
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That day, we visited the city center, the local McDonalds and the Tampere University (to check our email). In the evening we first enjoyed the sauna, the Finnish beer and we had our first big meal in about 10 days. We originally planned to go for a beer in the city center, but instead went to bed early. We intended to make a walk over one of the lakes, the next day.
===> Day 8 <==
| 8th of January |
Götenborg |
Sweden |
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After a small breakfast in Oslo, we took the first train to Gothenburg.
We arrived just before noon, and were looking forward to have a look at the city. A friend in Finland had told me that the city was great, lots to see and do, so we were curious if we could see enough in just three hours!
That was the time that we had, before we had to catch our train to Stockholm.... Since oure ferry to Turku, Finland would not wait.
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Well, let's say that we considered three hours to be more than enough! We both agreed that there was not that much to see, at least not in, or just outside the city center. Okay, we've only been there for 3 hours, so maybe we shouldn't judge so quickly... But when I contacted my Finish friend, to ask her why Gothenburg was so great, she told us: 'Well, it has such a nice shopping mall, completely indoor!'
I guess I should have asked more beforehand...
Luckily the train was on time, and we left for Stockholm...
Here we took the Vikingline ferry and enjoyed several tax free beers...
==> Day 7 <==
Of course it depends on what you would like to see, but if you are planning to both visit cities and enjoy the scenery, I'd advise you to visit the following cities!
| My Top 3: |
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| Bergen |
A great city, very beautiful and lots to see and do! |
| Stockholm |
Very nice scenery, nice to stay for a few days and great location to travel from |
| Copenhagen |
Nice city, bit milder climate and a nice place to start |
In most Euorpean countries, you simply purchase a ticket, board the train, and sit anywhere you like (in either first or second class)
In Scandinavia, this is not the case! You will find a carage and seat number on you ticket, and you are expected to go and sit there!
If you've paid a reservation fee, on top of your scanrail card, you are safe... But for instance, in Finish trains, your sainrailcard is enough! The only problem, you might be sitting in somebody's chair without knowing it... Meaning, you will have to move!
Night trains are a great way to cover long distances, but by traveling during the day, you will be able to see a lot of the country and scenery.
Especially if you intend cities near the fjords, like Bergen, Stavanger or Trondheim, the last part of the trainride, offers a great view over the hills and forests!
It is commonly known that Scandinavia countries are among the most expensive countries in the world, especially in Europe.
By planning your trip in advance, you can stick to a budget, but I'd simply add 100 euros to it! Believe me, you'll spend it in no-time.
Bare in mind that only Finland has joint the Euro, so consider exchange rates aswell. The easiest way to pay is for everything by Credit Card, everybody does it, even for one cup of coffee!
If you are fond of some stronger alcoholic drinks, it is advisable to bring it with you! Generally, alcohol stronger than 4.9% can only be purchased in special shops. These are always state-owned and the taxation is extremely high! (in Finland 100%)
The same goes for cigarettes, very expensive to buy.
Strangely enough, we discovered that photo films are also about 3 times as expensive as (in our case) in the Netherlands.
| 4th of January |
Stockholm |
Sweden |
The tower indeed provided a great view over stockholm, but unfortunately the pictures didn't turn out that well. After having lunch in the tower (Sandwhiches with ham) we walked back over the ice and went back into the city center.
By the time we got back to the hostel, it was (of course) dark again. Luckily the girl behind the reception did not mind us (ab)using her kitchen again so we prepared our dinner and went over the planned trip again...
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Finally, it was time for our first train! We planned to take the night train from Stockholm (21:35) to Trondheim, Norway (11.30). To be honest, this was about the only train that we took according to our original schedule!
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We managed to find a comfortable and empty compartment. Of course we saw a dog sign, but since we didn't speak Swedish, we ignored it. Unfortunately one of the very few dog owners in Scandinavia also planed to take the train, so we had to move... Later on, we ran into the one of the staffmembers, who offered us to sleep in the goods compartment, where we could lay down our air mattresses. Perfect! ==> Day 3 <=== |
| 7th of January |
Bergen |
Norway |
06.30, the train arrived in Bergen. Indeed, it was early! Of course everything was closed, including our eyes. We decided to have a hot meal for breakfast, and who would we be to break our very own tradition, we cooked in the train station. (yes, pasta again...)
To give you a brief summary of my impression of this city/town: THE BEST ONE!
If you appreciate the scenery and you visit it with nice weather (300 days of rain a year) you'll love it for sure!
Around 08.30 we decided it was time to explore the city, so we left our backpacks in a locker and headed for the Tourist information. Basically this means following the signs into the center, were it not that those sign suddenly disappeared. By the time we found it we had already seen most of the center...
The staff gave us some good advise... walk along the shore and then climb the hill.
Well, the weather was great, so that's exactly what we did |
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Apparently we were not the only ones exploring... We were just about to photograph the sun coming up, when two submarines surfaced right in front of us!
Very impressive to see! |
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| 6th of January |
Oslo |
Sweden |
Oslo; again a beautiful city! (and again -17 degrees). We arrived early in the morning and had breakfast at the central station. Afterwards, we got ourselves a map and crossed Oslo, partly to see as much as we could, partly just to keep warm!
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We walked through the harbor and were surprised to see that most of the water was not frozen.
After a while, it was time for our lunch break. And maybe it was because of the temperature, but the nearest kebab place seemed like a 5-star restaurant! |
| After two giant kebabs, we headed back out into the city and had a look at the Royal Palace. It did not take long to get dark again, so we headed back to the train station . |
| Here we invested a large some of money in two cans of beer and casweh nuts, which we would enjoy in the train. Again we had dinner in the central station, preparing our pasta carbonara in the central hall. This time the train was almost empty, plenty of room for us to enjoy our beers and play backgammon.... Our destination, Bergen! |
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| 5th of January |
Trondheim |
Norway |
We woke up around 9 o'clock, since we had to switch trains. We transferred onto a small train with a broken toilet, I just whish they had told us, before they started serving free coffee!
I was a beautifull train ride trough the countryside. Looking back, we both agree that we should have taken more trains during the day, since it is a great way to see the country. We arrived at Trondheim central station at 11.30.
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We quickly discovered that the city itself was not that big, and was easily discovered by foot.
We walked until 3.30. At that time, the sun started to disappear and the temperature dropped to a comfortable -16.
We therefore decided to see what a Norwegian cinema was like.
On the way back, we stopped at a Scottish bar. |
We seriously thought of asking the bartender if we could pay the beer in terms, because of the alcohol prices!
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| 10th of January |
Tampere |
Finland |
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As planned, we woke up, had breakfast and started to prepare for our 'walk on ice'. This included a quick look at the temperature outside. The thermometer showed a nice and warm -28 degrees! Nevertheless, we simply put on an extra pair of everything and took the bus to the lake.
Tampere is located between two lakes. Without these two lakes the city probably would not have existed. The difference in height between the lakes, made it possible to generate electricity. |
The lake was (of course) completely frozen, so it would not be a problem to reach the small island in the middle, called Viikinsaari.
Already after 10 minutes, we both started to look like we were taking part on an arctic expedition.
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Half way our journey we ran in to a fisherman, who was more than willing to explain how he was catching the fish, and how he managed to place his nets under the ice, interesting, but fishing at -28....
After our walk, we headed back home, took our bags , ran for the train and traveled back by ferry to Stockholm.
===> Day 9 <== |
| 5th of January |
Trondheim |
Norway |
We slowly walked back to the trains station, where we picked up our backpacks and decided that it was time for dinner... But cooking outside was not really an option, why not cook in the station?
Although some locals frowned at us, we decided that this was something to keep in mind in other cities. Even though cooking included things such as boiling water and fire, we were never thrown out of the station!
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The food tasted fine, and while enjoying our pasta, we decided not to head for Bodo, since that was even more up north (located above the Arctic circle). Instead we decided to head for Oslo! Luckily the train was warm. We had a beer, played backgammon, and almost thought everything was perfect, until a passenger with a dog showed up. The dog managed to wake everybody about every two hours.
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