We did the almost unnoticed crossing from Norway to Finland on a seven-hour bus ride that ended in Rovaniemi. This city of 67,000 population is famous for one thing – it is the self-proclaimed home of Santa Claus. There is Santa Claus Village close by, where you can step over a white line, the supposed Artic Circle line, feed reindeer, do snow things in winter, visit the man himself (there’s several), post letters or cards, and go shopping. Never have I seen so much retail rubbish of questionable taste. We had decided not to go, but there wasn’t much else to do, and they don’t charge to get in, so we got on the nicely decorated bus and had a look. Kay bought one decoration and posted cards to grandchildren. Rovaniemi had several Indian restaurants and one showed how adaptable this cuisine is with Reindeer Curry on the menu.
Travelling in Finland either by road or rail exposes you to the same sights from north to south. Essentially the majority of your time is spent in a green tunnel with forest of mostly coniferous trees on both sides. Relief from this is the sight of lakes, of which the country has 188,000 of over 500 square metres size, plus the odd small farm and towns. We also saw a couple of white reindeer in the north. The trees are managed but there are no massive areas of clear felling and are the basis of a very important industry. They have twenty five paper mills and Finnish companies also operate mills in many other countries. The country we have been through is gently rolling and only once have I seen a high hill. The usual horizon is the tops of trees. The small amount of agricultural land is seemingly all for cropping, and we didn’t see any animals grazing, or any suitable looking sheds where they might have been hiding. Not surprisingly there is more cultivated land in the south, and right now it is wheat harvest time.
After the Santa onslaught we went to a very nice city called Oulu which is on the sea that divides Finland from Sweden. This bit of water is the Gulf of Bothnia, and anyone who knew that should feel pleased with themselves. It was not named by a lisping person from the Balkans. Then back inland to another nice place called Kuopio on a double decker bus sitting up and in the front, followed by a three stage train ride back to the Gulf and a port town called Vaasa where a ferry to Sweden awaited us on the next day.
Finns are very keen on long and complicated words and regretfully our knowledge of the language was and still is nil. As an example here is the name of the street from the last place we stayed – Hovioikeudenpuistikkp. Say that in a hurry. However almost everyone has the good sense to speak English. They have two official languages, Swedish being the second. I only found that out on our last train trip when I wondered why so many train stations had two names. The only problem we had was when asking if restaurants had wifi. Incomprehension ruled until we found out out it is pronounced weefee. We needed to ask this question because the miserable people at 2 Degrees do not have roaming in Finland. This was further complicated in Kuopio when our apartment didn’t have an internet connection. We found a mall with with good coffee for Kay that had access. My review of that apartment mentioned internet access as being as necessary as hot water. Of course the small print from Booking.com. noted this lack of connection but I didn’t see that until we couldn’t find a password in the apartment. While on matters digital and all that, one unique thing we have seen in cities in Finland are robots delivering groceries. They look like a largish chilly bin with three wheels on each side plus an aerial that flashes and are very cute. Watching them negotiate pedestrian crossings is delightful, and the last one we saw was on its way back to base and parked neatly beside three of its mates.
Compared to Norway there is a more bogan element in Finland. Not hugely, but more black hoodies, more graffiti, noisy dirt bikes, and the odd loud street person. Probably less than in NZ, but noticeable. Comparing anywhere to Norway is a bit unfair given its wealth and ability to do social stuff that is difficult elsewhere. The architecture in Finland is a little different as well and electric cars are a lot less obvious. One sight that is almost unique these days was the number of young men in military uniform. There is compulsory military service and given the border with Russia this is not surprising. In 1939, shortly after the start of WW2, the USSR invaded Finland citing the need for a bigger buffer zone. Some things don’t change. The Finns call this the Winter War and they stopped the invasion. But in 1940 the Soviets returned and in the end the Finns had to agree to hand over 9% of their country. That then lead to an alliance with the Germans to try and get that land back, and thus the Continuation War. This lasted until 1944, with no success, and then the Finns changed sides and had to chase the Germans out. And pay reparations. So Finland knows all about dealing with Russia.
I had expected to be in very cold weather in the northern places and packed accordingly. But even though some days we struggled to get over 10 degrees I have not needed my long johns or gloves. Maybe it’s something to do with a lack of humidity. My puffy Macpac jacket has been great, and after getting a number 1 haircut before Kay arrived, my old winter cap has been a necessity. It’s getting a bit worn and somewhere along the way we were staying by a very comprehensive male hat shop. I saw a suitable replacement but the price was about $280, which flattened any enthusiasm for a purchase. It must have been in Norway.
Eight years ago we did a day visit to Helsinki, and my thoughts then were that it was good to have been there, but it wasn’t a must see. Hence we have given it a miss this time. I feel a bit the same way about the country. It has been interesting with some nice cities, but not compelling. Unless you are a tree or lake lover.
The ferry crossing to Umea in Sweden was on a still and rainy day with nothing to see. The ship was very nice, quite a step up from the ones we are used to in NZ. I had booked Comfort Class and a meal, which meant heaps of room and reclining chairs, with almost silence away from the dance floor in the main seating area. The buffet meal was a winner, easily the best value feed of the trip so far with an outstanding seafood section. I replenished the gin supply from the onboard duty free shop after a lot of mental arithmetic to sort out the best deal, which was two Gordon’s in 500ml plastic bottles, ideal for travelling.
When we got off the bus from the port in the middle of Umea, I had the joy of now having roaming again, so opened maps and off we went following the dots. The only problem was I had not noticed the guidance was for driving, not walking, and the streets were one way for traffic. It didn’t take too long to understand we were going the wrong way but it doubled the expected seven minutes of bag towing. Our hotel had a new for us, and surprising, in-room feature – a set of hand weights on the wall beside Kay’s side of the bed. Not something ever seen before. The weather wasn’t wonderful the next day, but we did a hike to a museum and gallery, had lunch and few samples from food festival in the central square, said hello to the town’s river, and didn’t over extend ourselves. The next, and last, smaller city of the whole trip was Gavle about six hours train ride south. This day’s trip was better than the previous green tunnel rides, with more agriculture and even about eight cattle and twenty strange looking sheep, and more towns and villages. Lots of skinny logs ready for rail transport, and in the second leg of the journey we got up to 199 kph in a train that didn’t look very smart on the outside and had seats with not a lot of padding on the inside. Our last apartment stay was in Gavle and the bathroom had a huge spa bath with a chandelier over it, plus helps of space in the other three rooms, but (there’s usually a but) we had to initially make the bed ourselves. Who goes travelling and wants to do that ?
During the train ride to Stockholm I discovered the Swedish Rail site has all sorts of useful information, including telling me we were two minutes late leaving Gavle, and giving me live updates of when were gaining back that discrepancy. It turned out there were two Radisson hotels beside Stockholm Central Station and we initially visited the wrong one, but it was only a 50m correction. An orientation walk up the main shopping street produced no expenditure, probably because Kay had a nasty cold and wasn’t feeling like making big decisions. A highlight for me in Stockholm was the Vasa Museum. It has a statement warship built in 1630s that was launched to great fanfare, sailed about two kms, tipped over, and sank. Then bought back to the surface in the 1960s and 98% of it is original, inside a special museum. Deservedly it is a major sight. The ABBA Musem is close by and not worth the entry cost in my blues, rock, and jazz orientated opinion. My wife would not agree.
On our third day in Stockholm Kay declared a lay day for herself, and I went off on a walk that took in three joined-up islands and nearly eight kms. I visited a famous interior design shop and was glad it wasn’t in NZ, lovely Scandinavian design which I have been a fan of since my student days, but eye-watering prices. Then I headed for a "hip" area and got far away from other tourists for quite a while, ending up outside a closed bar called Bar Agrikultur. Where I took a photo to send to the Agricultural Correspondent. He’s a bit old now and has to stay on his farm, but he’s still young at heart. One of our travel rules is to never eat in the same place twice. On our last night in Stockholm we broke that, having found a small Japanese place called Naked Fish nearby that was exceptional, and the house sake was the nicest I have ever tried.
Our train to Gothenburg was a minute late, and my window seat had a decorative panel of wood beside the window that limited the view. However, inland Sweden is geographically repetitive, being pretty much flat, so the restricted view was not a major. And it was a grey drizzly day. A majority of the wooden buildings in the country are painted a dark red colour. Reasons why relate to the colour originally coming from iron ore processing (Sweden has lots of iron ore), and one explanation was in the old days it was the cheapest paint, another was that because of the iron content it stops wood rotting. Probably both would be correct, but it is ubiquitous and sort of fits in. In WW2 Sweden remained neutral and supplied Germany with high quality iron ore which is not something they shout about. Recently they abandoned their neutrality and joined NATO. Putin had a bit to do with that, and obviously doesn’t need their iron ore. Each of Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark has long ago historical reasons to be a bit wary of at least one of the others, and the one I heard about most was Sweden v Denmark. I assume sporting matches are the proxy battles these days. We visited a museum in a twenty two thousand square metre underground complex near Gothenburg which was developed during the Cold War to hide airforce assets, and was supposedly safe from nuclear attack. It is now full of aircraft and associated gear from that era, and you can sit in the cockpit of jet fighter and have your wife take your photo. Mine is available at no cost on request.
Two things about people-watching in Sweden stood out – there are seemingly more immigrants than in the previous two countries, and people with mobility problems are certainly more common. I have no idea why the later is the case, but maybe the government is generous in supplying mobility scooters and wheel chairs.
Our last train ride was to Copenhagan in Denmark, which included a big bridge and a tunnel that joins the two countries. Our hotel in Copenhagen was a late replacement for a cancelled Airbnb and finding anything with availability near the railway station had not been easy. I warned Kay as we trekked to the room from reception not to get her hopes up, She was stoic, mainly because I had the side of the bed with not a lot of space to siddle along, trying not to be hooked up by a radiator. On our first day Jain Tait’s Danish family took us on a drive along the coast to Elsinore (where Hamlet did boring Shakespearean stuff), and provided lunch of local open sandwiches. I had difficulty getting around my three of them. It was really nice to spend time with some locals. We did our usual free walking tour the next day, and amongst the many facts provided was the origin of the tech word Bluetooth. If you don’t know that look it up, a nice combination of old and contemporary history. All of our free tour guides on this trip have not been locals, this one was a quite refined Aussie guy, who finished the tour with a lengthy explanation of how a young lady from Tasmania ended up the present Queen Mary of Denmark. We already knew all about it because a few years ago in Suva, at the Grand Pacfic Hotel, we couldn’t get any service when we visited for morning tea. All the staff were in the main lobby area waiting for her so they could sing Isa Lei for her farewell. She was then the Crown Princess and in my opinion Fred, the now King, made a good choice. We walked around plenty of Copenhagen, a very nice city as most of you will know, apart from heaps of cyclists who assert their right of way vigorously. The Aussie tour guide said Danes are reserved people until they get on a bike. He also mentioned the huge government duty on new cars, which I checked by looking up the local price of my recently purchased vehicle. In Denmark it is more than double the NZ price so there is no surprise that bikes are plentiful. As usual at the end of a trip Kay likes to go shopping to take home lots of family presents, and we spent a day doing that. The consequent need for more luggage space was met by her asking at our hotel reception if they had any abandoned bags. I confidently said that was a was a waste of time, but as often happens, I was proved wrong. One hopes it has not been previously used to transport drugs.
It is now two months since I set off to tick off little countries, and the travelling life has become a routine for me that could be continued, but it’s time to head for a place where I can understand what people around me are saying. Apart from the Norway coast none of these Nordic countries are physically exciting. But visiting countries that always top the indexes for contented citizens is interesting, and the quiet pleasentness of all the places we have visited fits right in with that. It’s not spectacular but it is different from other western societies. There are the usual problems that relate to drugs and gangs, with Sweden’s gangs seen as a very nasty lot, as well as some people who seemingly cannot be helped. The big difference from other western countries is that high tax rates are regarded as very acceptable, because in return you get the certainty of free education and health care plus old age pensions that are enough to live on. And a fairly calm political acceptance of this from both left and right which means no radical changes. I wonder how dealing with falling birth rates and the consequent need for more immigrants will change future attitudes, but at present it all looks relatively good.
Hej Hej.
Dennis.
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