Advertisement
Published: June 12th 2007
Mmm pizza
Dinner in Berlin for 2 euros! Not bad! Yes, we are finally 'home' in London again after our jaunt up north. Internet access was impossible to get and very expensive when it was available, so apologies for the delay, but here is what we have been up to for the last few weeks!
After our trip to Edinburgh we headed to Heathrow to catch a flight to Berlin, in order to meet our Northern Exposure tour. One plane and 4 trains later (darn Berlin public transport!) we arrived at our hostel and met the people we were to spend the next 24 days with. We all had dinner together that night, then had the next day free to explore Berlin. As we had been there before and it was 34 degrees, we had a lazy day wandering the streets.
Next morning, bright and early, we headed for the port town of Rostock in northern Germany to catch a ferry to Denmark. A few hours driving later and we arrived in Copenhagen. We vistied The Little Mermaid sculpture, then headed back to camp. The next day was hectic. We started by visiting Christiania, an enclave community within Copenhagen where no laws apply and the people consider themselves
Cute Danish guards
The official verdict is that Denmark is the best looking nation in Scandinavia a separate group - interesting! We then took in the marble church, a massive white marble building that was beautiful, before heading to the Royal Palace for the changing of the guards. They looked so cute in their black fluffy hats and not nearly as stuffy as these Buckingham Palace guards! Later that afternoon we walked along the beautiful harbour and took in the sidewalk cafes, with breaks for coffee and Danishes of course! In Danish a danish is called a Vienerbrod! The highlight of the day was the texts from home telling of QLD's well-deserved victory in the State of Origin - Go Maroons!
Next morning we headed north to catch a ferry across to Malmo in Sweden. We got a chuckle out of watching the Contiki bus ahead of us get lost on the way to the ferry. There is a bit of a rivalry between Topdeck (us) and Contiki (them), so their blunder got a laugh. We got to camp late in the afternoon to find Contiki's driver attempting to turn a corner and needed three shots at it, then our driver did it in one, to the sounds of raucous applause, even from the locals
Copenhagen Harbour
How good does this look? who were watching.
Next day was a full free day in Stockholm. We visited the Vasa Museum, which showcased a massive Viking ship that had been preserved for hundreds of years. We spent the rest of the day exploring the Drottningarten, which is the pedestrian area in town, then returned to camp by Metro. We sat around outdoors playing cards until the small hours, and made 'friends' with a scary Finnish man who appeared out of nowhere. His English was atrocious, and he was stinking of alcohol, but he could belt out a mean version of 'Satisfaction' by the Rolling Stones - quite a sight! The evening was topped off by another group in the campground drinking homemade vodka and throwing knives at their cabin walls...think what you will.
We had another full day in Stockholm the next day. We visited the Royal Palace and watched the changing of the guards, then checked out the Royal Armoury. This was really cool, lots of clothes, shoes, armour and weapons of the Swedish Royal Family and Military from hundreds of years ago up til now. Late in the afternoon we met up with the others from the trip and hit
Ikea in Sweden
This is the very first one in the world! the Ice Bar. Everything was made of ice - glasses, tables, chairs, walls, television - the pics are self-explanatory!
Oslo was our next stop, a long drive, but stunning scenery along the way. We arrived late afternoon in time to visit the Holmenkollen ski jump, used in the winter Olympics and World Championships. Let me just say that anyone willing to ski down that thing is out of their mind!
The rain moved in late that evening, forcing everyone back to cabins for cards and a fairly early night. We all headed into town the next morning, in the rain, but braved it anyway! We checked out the Vigeland Sculpture Park, which was full of awesome sculptures, then went to the Viking Museum for more Viking ships! Due to the cruddy weather, museums were a good choice, so we also went to the Kon-Tiki museum. This museum showcased the expedition to prove that Egyptians could have colonised other parts of the world by sailing there in reed boats, and was really cool. We climbed up to a 13th century fortress for awesome views of the city, then spent the rest of the arvo having coffee with a couple
Queen Claire
On her throne in the Royal Armoury, Stockholm of the guys from our trip.
We said goodbye to the rain in the morning and headed to Andalsnes, further up the Norwegian coast. The scenery was mindblowing and photos dont do it any justice. En route we stopped at Lillehammer, the site of the winter Olympics, where Claire indulged her wild streak and went flying down the Olympic bobsled run! Crazy crazy girl... We stopped to see a 13th century Stave Church as well, all made of timber, which was quite cool, then arrived at camp early evening. Tonight was the Opening Ceremony of the Viking Olympics, Claire on Team Sweden and Sarah on Team Norway. This was a bit of fun, then we retired to our massive cabins for the night. Big thumbs up for the accommodation here!
We had three nights in Andalsnes, so made the most of relaxing by the lake, going for long walks and just staring in awe at the mountain scenery around us. On one of the days we did something really special, leaving early in the morning to travel up Trollstigen Pass (or 'Trolls Pass) where trolls supposedly come from. We crossed the bridge from 'Three Billy Goats Gruff' and
Ice ice baby
Keeping warm Icebar style were surrounded by snow at the top of the pass. By late morning we were in Geiranger, where we hopped on a boat for an hour long fjord cruise - again, the pictures don't do it justice. On the way back we stopped for a break and the very mature male members of our group had a massive snow fight, resulting in a cold, wet trip back!
The next few nights were really just stops on the way up the coast. We had a night each in Steinjker, Korgen, Tysfjord and Skibotn. In these places we did a few more Viking Olympics events, such as a game of volleyball, a scavenger hunt and a trivia night. On our travels up the coast we stopped off in other cities for a few hours, like Trondheim and Narvik, and our personal favourite...Hell. Yes, we have been to Hell and back. And it's really not a bad place! In Norwegian, 'Hell' actually means prosperity and luck...but hey, why ruin a good tourist attraction! In Skibotn we took part in the Polar Plunge. This stupid activity involves stripping to a bikini, above the Arctic Circle (which we crossed along the way) and then
running into a river full of water from melted snow, then bolting to the sauna...apparently it's good for you. Claire obviously thought so, as she did it three times (did I mention crazy and Claire in the same sentence above?). Sarah did it once and that was more than enough!
We finally made it to the top of Norway, Hammerfest, the most northerly city in Europe. The wind was howling, so we huddled around the campfire, then jumped on another bus and headed to Nordkapp, the very northern edge of mainland Europe. It was a three hour drive from Hammerfest, but the sun was still awake, so not dark. Unfortunatley the weather was one of the worst evenings we had had on our trip, overcast and drizzly, so the midnight sun wasn't as bright as usual, but the rolling fog and clouds just added to the feeling that you were at the end of the world. We stood out on the peninsula at midnight, looked down that cliff and felt very insignificant! We got back to camp around 4am and went to sleep, very weird when it hasn't been dark at all the whole night!
The next day
ohmygodohmygodohmygod
Yep, she's in there somewhere. Funny thing, the Norwegian word for bobsled is 'wheelibob'! (or later that same day actually) we headed into town and went out on an Arctic fishing expedition, with Lars the Norwegian fisherman. Claire was in her element with fishing lines and fish guts everywhere, while Sarah was a little more...squeamish (Claire had to take Sarah's fish off the line for her...can you imagine it?). Between the two of us we brought in 5 fish, not a bad effort! Between the 15 of us from the tour out on the boat we caught enough fish for dinner the next night and ended up throwing some back as we had plenty, lots of fun!
The next morning saw us leave Hammerfest and Norway altogether. We crossed into Finland and headed toward Rovaniemi, where Santa Claus lives. We went to visit the jolly red man, and put in a good word for you all. He promised that on Christmas this year, he we reach us in Australia faster than Qantas does! We arrived at our hostel late afternoon and had the closing ceremony of the Viking Olympics. Sadly, neither of us were in the winning nation, but we had fun bribing, cheating and certainly trying to win!
Our next evening
These trolls are everywhere
The story goes that trolls turn into stone if they are exposed to sunlight was spent in Jyvaskyla, a student town further down south. This was really just a stopover on our way to Helsinki, the funky capital of Finland. We had a pretty good campground here, and made the most of our time, enjoying a street salsa parade and the beautiful harbour. The weather was awesome, so wandering the streets gave a good overview of the city. We visited the Olympic Stadium, Sibelius Monument and the Church in the Rock (closed for a wedding!).
Our last destination on the trip was Tallinn, the very cool capital of Estonia. We caught a ferry from Helsinki across the straight, a trip of about 2 hours. We had two nights in Tallinn, the first of which we spent singing karaoke in an Estonian bar...the second night dancing til dawn (is there a dawn when the sun doesn't set properly?) in an Aussie bar called the Bar With No Name (trust Aussies to be so original). We had a great time, being the last stop of the trip we all wanted to get out and have a good time and that's just what we did. We also sampled the local cuisines, such as coffee and cake,
Trolls Bridge
About half way up the Trolls Pass coffee and cake, coffee and...
So, that brings us to today. This morning was an emotional one, saying goodbye to all of the new friends we have made as we go our separate ways. A few of them were continuing on through Russia, others traveling further east, and others still heading back to London. We were on a flight this afternoon with two new friends, and I'm sure we will keep in touch.
Hopefully we will do a better job of keeping in touch with you guys now that we are back in the UK. We leave for Ireland on Thursday, so keep an eye out for tales of Guiness and leprechauns!
Love Claire and Sarah
PS The photos you see are just a taste to keep you interested. They show our adventures up to the Arctic Circle, so keep an eye out for the next pictorial instalment!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.08s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0453s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
therese & Will
non-member comment
can't believe the places you've been!
Sorry, had beena little SLACK in checking your blog site! Looks like you girls are having sooooo much fun! Caught up with your mum last weekend...she came to work on Hannah's Deb dress!! You are lucky to have such a clever mum! Anyway, enjoy the REST of your trip! I'm sure you will. Travel safely......Therese and Will xoxox