James & Heather Travelogues

During our stay in Fjærland, I got it into my head that we needed to visit the Arctic Circle. After a fair amount of research, we figured out a route that would get us there (taking about a day and a half) by a combination of bus and train. We looked in to the idea of flying, but unfortunately the cost was too prohibitive – a great pity because the last part of the flight would have been in a small plane flying at low altitude (also known as a bug blaster).

We caught the bus from Fjærland to Otta (taking around 5 hours) and then a train to Trondheim, before catching an overnight sleeper train to Bødo, one of the main towns in Norway’s part of the Arctic Circle.

On arrival at Bødo, we wandered around checking out the fishing village, the beach and other local facilities (including posting our last set of postcards). However, we still had a few hours to kill before we caught a ferry to the Lofoten Islands, which were our ultimate destination. As such, we decided that an ice cold beer (or a few) was in order. Now, one would normally think that drinking cold beer in a cold environment would not be a good idea (lowering body temperature and all that) and vodka or something similar would be better. However, the temperature must have been around 30 degrees C or so, which wasn’t helped by both of us dressing for arctic weather (heavy trousers & jackets, etc). As such, several beers were more than truly welcome (even at Norway prices, which aren’t quite as bad as Paris but close).
Eventually our ferry turned up and we stumbled on board for the trip to Svolvær, slightly the worse for wear.

On arrival, it was around 9pm so we quickly checked into our cabin (oops, a 6 person rather than 2 person) and wandered into to the centre of town for dinner. Throughout our stay thus far in Norway, we had not really eaten any local cuisine so we decided that we better remedy it; Norway however has whale meat as one of its delicacies. I am quite happy to eat just about anything served up in front of me and will always try new things, however I draw the line at creatures more intelligent than the average human (although given the intelligence of some people, an amoeba could outsmart them) – I was not going to eat whale (by all accounts, it’s a bit like salty beef). Heather plumped for a veal rack (baby cows are so much easier to eat) and I went for duck (Hah! Not even mammalian!). They were both served in Norwegian sauces; we could at least say that we tried.

The following day, we wandered around the beach and the town centre, where the main port is. Another Norwegian delicacy is freeze dried fish, which is made outside during the winter months on wooden A-frames. We saw a number of these, but due to the lack of snow, no freeze drying fish. Also in Svolvær, they have a permanent ice & light show gallery, which we decided to check out. I am sure that the artist tried his best, and he no doubt did a better job than I could have done, but I think his report card at Art School probably said “Could try harder”. Still, it was the only damn way we were going to get cold in the Arctic Circle… Bloody global warming.

Our final week in Sweden was spent at a campsite in the town of Jönkoping. Although a reasonable-sized town, it does not normally attract much in the way of overseas tourism and as such doesn't even rate a mention in the Lonely Planet Scandinavia guide. As such, I will try to write this in the style of a Lonely Planet entry.

About Jönkoping
Jönkoping is a small town located almost equidistant from Stockholm and Gothenburg. Its main feature is the large lake, giving it an almost coastal feel. At the centre of the lake, there is a small island with a castle located on it.

Getting there and away
Jönkoping is served by a railway line, with trains running from both Stockholm and Gothenburg. Buses are the primary means of transportation around town, although a limited taxi service is available.

Where to stay
Hotels abound in Jönkoping as it is a mecca for business conferences. Camping is also available with pitches for caravans and tents, and log cabins for those that need something more substantial over their heads (no guesses needed as to what we stayed in).

Where to eat & drink
For those on a budget or camping, there are a number of supermarkets where produce can be brought. Additionally, the campsite also has a store that can be for the emergency stocking up of provisions (e.g. when the beer supply runs dry).
For those not interested in hard labour, there are a number of eating options available. Particularly recommended, is the English theme pub where a selection of quality beers and “English pub grub” can be bought. It should be noted that opening time is 16:30 and desperate Englishmen with a wild look in their eyes have been known to hang around by the door until it opens, muttering “I need an Old Speckled Hen”.

What to do
Walking around the lake could be considered an activity, but you would want to set aside at least a day to do it (it's a big lake). Other activities include a Troll museum, the world's only safety match museum (a riveting display no doubt) and swimming in the lake.
Due to the long hours of daylight, plenty of reading matter is recommended and a personal stereo if you want to filter out unwelcome noise. TV stations tend to transmit in English with Swedish subtitles; unfortunately they also tend to transmit drivel like Dirty Dancing and When Harry Met Sally. Obviously the stereotype about the Swedes isn't true…

After arriving by train Örebro, we checked in to our new hostel. It appeared that it was miles from the centre of town on the map, so we ordered a taxi but it only took about 5 minutes. Hmmm, next time we will look at the scale.

For our first full day in Örebro, we decided to do a walking tour of the town. The Lonely Planet has about a 3 line entry for the town, so it was left to us to figure out what to do. First stop was the castle and a quick walk through that. Unfortunately, we arrived just after the English language tour had finished so we had to guide ourselves. By all accounts, the tour includes a number of actors re-enacting pivotal moments in Öorebro history, scenes of torture, etc. Could have been fun to watch.

We then explored the old town of Wadköping. Whenever a city is being "modernised", the existing buildings are demolished - usually while the town planner has a manical gleam in his eye which would put the average psychotic to shame. However, Örebro decided to uproot the old buildings and move them to an area just outside the main city and opened it up as a museum. It is something that a lot more towns should consider to preserve their heritage. Cement monoliths may be efficient but they are ugly.

While on our walking tour, we managed to find an English theme pub where I was able to work my way through their English beer collection (and we were meant to be drying out in Scandanavia).

After our short time in Turku, we said goodbye to our friend Dan and boarded the ferry back to Stockholm. Unlike the outgoing leg, this boat was not quite so comfy (air conditioning on overdrive didn't help) and even worse than that, it was full of Moomins! Apparently, they are still big in Finland, to the extent there is even a Moominworld. After 11 long and painful hours, we arrived in Stockholm and went straight to our hostel where we crashed for the night.

The following day, we headed to Stockholm airport to meet Heather's mother as she was joining us for our time in Sweden before heading to the centre of the Old Town. This is the most picturesque part of Stockholm and has many side streets, some no more than 1 metre wide. I managed to pick up a decent newspaper as well, so I could catch up with whats happening around the world.

By the next day, we decided that Stockholm (although pretty) didn't have a lot to offer so we spent a day relaxing in the park and planned our next leg. After some head scratching, we decided the following day we were off to Örebro

On arrival in the port of Turku, we picked up our hire car from the rental agency. I had booked a VW Polo or similar as it was the cheapest option, but they gave us a free upgrade to an Audi A3. Nice one! Then it was off for a 300km drive to a tiny town called Siipy in the north of Finland, where our friends were getting married.

We eventually arrived at midnight (we had set off at 9pm), however as Finland is so far north, it was still broad daylight making us finding our cottage supposedly easier. In reality of course, we had problems and we had to give the bride-to-be a call and ask her where we were. After a number of phone calls, and disturbing a jet-lagged friend who had just flown in from Australia, we found our cottage and slept. And slept. And slept some more.

When we eventually woke up, we decided to head to the sauna with our friends Sarah, Dan and Tommy. The baking heat was interuppted only when we threw ourselves off a pier into the freezing lake - much to the amusement of the spectators we did not know we had. If I had known, I may have worn a cozzie!

The wedding itself was really nice, held in a Finnish church and conducted in two languages for the benefit of those of us whose Finnish is up there with their Swahili. The bride looked stunning and the groom looked appropriately nervous.

The post-ceremony celebrations started with a traditional wedding breakfast, and then the just as traditional revelerie. However, it is a Finnish custom to have a few games to get people in the party mood before hand and also for a couple of men to kidnap the bride. Once these festivities were over, it was down to the serious business of partying...

Music was provided by a live band, who did covers of some popular tunes plus a few of their own (this band has had a couple of gold albums in Finland). However, to keep the party going, plenty of drink was available - one was a lethal punch created by Jon (the groom). My first thoughts were that it was watery, one bite into a piece of apple convinced me otherwise. This was supplemented with a homemade beer called Sahti. This beer was as thick as syrup and was pretty potent.

I think there were many sore heads the morning after...