Europe Trip Part 2: The 1,300 km Dash

The entire point of my trip was to be at a program called the Helsinki Summer School in Transportation by Monday, June 7. When we last left off, I had traveled 300 km from Flåm to Oslo and was sitting in the Gallerian, Oslo's bus station, awaiting my next connection. There were four legs to my journey: the train to Oslo, the bus to Stockholm, the ferry to Turku, and the train to Helsinki. I had completed one of those.

Friday, June 4

Leaving Oslo, I still had over 1000 km to go on my trip across the width of Scandinavia. I'd been initially hoping to get an Eurail pass and continue in the relative style and class of NSB (the Norwegian rail company) - especially in comparison to the public transit options in America - but unfortunately they had no overnight trips available to Stockholm on Friday evening. Since I was already pushing the length of my trip to the limit that cheap airfare would allow - leaving the US on Monday and returning on a Thursday to avoid the weekends - I was left to find another way of getting to Stockholm in order to avoid staying another week. And hey, since it'd save me a hotel booking, I figured there was no point to waste a day traveling so long as I could still get an overnight trip. Fortunately, some of Tory's advice came back to me during the planning phase of my trip, specifically that Scandinavia has a pretty darn effective bus system.

And so it came to pass that around 11pm I found myself boarding Swebus #888 from Oslo to Stockholm. The bus looked quite shiny and new from the outside and (like pretty much every long-distance transit vehicle I used on my trip) even had nice amenities like power outlets and an in-armrest radio. What's more, the 8 hour trip only cost about $35, and because of how their fantastic ticketing system worked, I was able to print off my bus pass weeks in advance from the internet and not even need to talk to a single human being at a ticket counter or check-in. However, the one thing the bus was lacking was leg room. Seriously, for an overnight bus, I just could not find a comfortable position - much less a place to put my knees. Maybe I should have left them under the bus with my backpack. Plus, I can report that your typical overnight bus passenger is significantly more talkative than a train passenger.

But that's really no matter, because once again I found myself staring out the window for large swaths of the trip. Again, I found it fascinating to watch the sunset and then the steady west-north-east progression of the twilight glow. Plus, it was quite interesting to watch Oslo receed behind us, then to look on as the bus navigated winding 2-lane roads across rolling hills until the border with Sweden, where suddenly the road miraculously transformed into a 4-lane, divided highway (thanks to an influx of EU funding - Norway is not in the EU - as I would find out during the conference) . Although Sweden's roads were much better, unfortunately the country is not really much to look at. Compared to majestic, mountainous western Norway, I found Sweden to be remarkably and somewhat disappointingly flat. Aside from the time when the bus rolled past a series of remarkably large lakes, picturesquely reflecting the dusky sky, there was really nothing to see after the first half hour or so of Sweden. As a result, I managed to drift off into a restless sleep, all the while thinking back to the majesty of the fjords and wondering just how long it would be before I could stand in that much awe once again. Unfortunately, no matter how soon it comes, it'll be far too long.

Stockholm

Saturday, June 5

Aside from the one unintentional stop where we had to switch buses to escape a malfunctioning and increasing malodorous toilet, I next pulled off my eye cover and found myself in Stockholm's bus terminal around 6:15am, healthily ahead of schedule. My ferry to Finland - traveling overnight once again, didn't start boarding until 7:30pm so I figured I had some time in the town to kill. Unfortunately, nothing in the station opened until 7, and the town's attractions weren't going to open until around 10am. So I checked into a computer terminal and began typing up my epic blog entry from Norway. I'm going to have to get a word count on that thing. Anyway, a few hours later I was done typing, locked up my bags, and set off into the city.


I wandered down through the train station, changed some money, and cut through the central promenade - the Kungsträdgården on my way to the harbor region. I must say, of all the capital cities I have seen on the trip - all of which have been located by the sea - Stockholm has had the most scenic harbor. Perhaps that is because the city itself is built on a series of islands that make up the very western end of the archipelago stretching between Sweden and Finland.


Stockholm started out in old town, the central island of the city, before expanding out and eventually covering the network of islands that make up the city itself. I walked around the are and took a great many photos, some of which are included in this post. Across the harbor, I could see the terminal for the Viking Line - my eventual way to Finland that evening - as well as the quite stately historic palace complex.


Nearby, I found the af Chapman - a ship named after a famous boat designer - and my future hostel home on the return leg of my trip in just over one week's time.


I finally stumbled my way - just as I'd done in Oslo - to the city hall. The grounds themselves were intriguing, but perhaps more fascinating was the tour of the interior that I took. You see, this complex is apparently a great example of classical architecture (or maybe I'm getting my buildings confused), and although it only dates from 1923, the building is designed to look much older by incorporating such features as fake water damage in an attempt to make the structure look aged.



Long story short, the truly majestic interior rooms play host to the Nobel Prize receptions (except for the actual award presentations, oh, and the whole Peace Prize thing in Oslo). I went through the Blue Hall (it wasn't blue), the city council chamber (with its fantastic ceiling), the Artist Formerly Known as Prince Hall, and the extraordinarily grand Gold Hall. Crazy.





And what's more, I went up in the 106m tall tower. It was quite scenic, and probably worth the 30 SEK to get a good view of the city center.


As I walked back to the train station to get my bags, I saw all kinds of barriers being positioned in front of the city hall. I initially thought that some important dignitary was on their way for a visit. However, instead of waiting to see who it could be, I returned to the station, grabbed my bags from the locker, and decided to hike the 3 miles to the ferry terminal instead of shelling out the equivalent of $7 for the privilege of taking the bus. As I left the station, I saw a few helicopters buzzing overhead, and as I turned right into the main plaza, I suddenly realized what as going on as a patroon of motorcycles and cars zoomed past and suddenly two spindly Africans wearing jerseys practically sprinted by. It was the Stockholm Marathon 2010.

So I wound my way past and through the race for the entirety of my trip to the ferry terminal, including traveling past the harbor and around the edge of old town. Fortunately for me, the closing of numerous otherwise busy streets actually did wonders for my travel time, as I only rarely had to stop for traffic.

In under an hour, even while carting around 43lb of cargo, I arrived at the check in counter, picked up my ticket, and (after an airline-like wait for boarding) wound my way down into the bowels of the largest ship I'd ever been in. Well, the largest ship I'd ever been in for a journey, I figure those aircraft carriers I visited during the scouts shouldn't count. Granted, my ticket was really quite cheap considering it covered transport, lodging, and food, so it really shouldn't have come as a surprise to me that my cabin was located on deck 2, the "anchor deck". Still, though, I was taken somewhat aback by the fact that my room was actually located below the car decks of the boat. Our room did have a window, I should add... but since we were well below the water line it was simply painted on.

My room was so cheap in part because it was a shared cabin with 3 other guys. One of them was a nice guy from Hong Kong who was also making his way through Scandinavia, and I wound up hanging out with him a lot in the first evening, but the other two were very boisterous Finns, one of whom it seemed hadn't showered for weeks. I say they were boisterous because of the fact that they started out telling very enthusiastic (read: loud) stories, and this was before they decided to take full advantage of the ship's sizable duty-free store. Consequently, they were quite drunk and smelled even more bizarre than they had before by midnight when they finally conked out. In order to get some peace in the interlude, I wandered around on deck as we cruised through the Swedish archipelago. I hung out with the student from Hong Kong (I never did get his name), watched a bunch of overweight German businessmen make total fools of themselves at one of the ship's numerous bars, and closed out the night by inadvertently wandering into a philosophical and theological discussion with a half-Greek, half-Norwegian man on his way to a conference on the leadership implications of Second Corinthians.

Sunday, June 6

We were in a maze of islands when I went to bed, and we were similarly winding through islands as I woke up and headed to my 5:30am $12 "Viking Buffet" breakfast, my first real meal that I bought in the entire trip. A lot of the food was typical buffet fare, as it was in Norway, but some sections were filled with curious assortments of Scandinavian cuisine, such as loads of fish and smoked meats. I ate my fill and scurried back downstairs to grab my things. And off I stepped into Finland.

Turku, Finland

As I wandered through the streets of Turku, I was immediately struck by just how quiet and peaceful the city was. The architecture was nothing to write home about, but it was so tranquil that it had an odd beauty to it all. It took me a mile or so, but I eventually determined that this was probably mostly because it was 6:30am on an Sunday morning. Since it was fully bright, I really hadn't noticed that it was quite so early. I guess I'll never know if this is the typical state of the town. I eventually arrived in the central rail station and bought a ticket - my only non-planned intercity journey of the whole trip - and headed off to Helsinki.


More on that in Part III.