Part 8 - Finland

Part 8 – Finland

Our plan included spending 3 nights in Finland.  This section includes our drive across Sweden to get to the ferry, the ferry ride across the Baltic Sea from Umeå Sweden to Vaasa Finland, as well as the three days/nights spent in Finland. 

Day 37– Tuesday, July 23. Holmsund, Sweden.  The drive through Sweden to our hotel near the ferry terminal was long but uneventful.  The scenery along the way was prettier than that in the southern part of Sweden.  There were rolling hills, lots of lakes, and beautiful rivers.  The land was mostly forested (with larger trees than in southern Sweden) interspersed with areas of farmland.  We stopped at Max Burger in Örnsköldsvik for dinner.  There was a ski jump right across the street.  I had never seen an urban ski jump before.  After landing spot the slope went under the railroad tracks, and the final up slope to stop was elevated over a service station.  Very creative way to wedge the ski jump into a small area!   We arrived at our hotel about 8 PM.   Total distance driven in our second time in Sweden, 340 miles (550 km). Total distance driven to date, 4410 miles (7090 km). 

Roadside river

Ski jump - that ramp on the left is where the jumpers stop

Day 38 – Wednesday, July 24. Tampere, Finland.  The ferry left at 8 AM, and although we had reservations we still needed to arrive at the ferry terminal no later than 7 AM.  Fortunately I had booked a hotel that was less than 5 minutes to the ferry terminal.  As the first one to always get up, I had the joy of getting everyone out of bed at ~5:30.  Our family are not early risers, and it takes a long time to get everyone through one bathroom in the morning.  However, this morning went better than expected – thank you family!  After packing and eating breakfast we headed to the ferry terminal.  The ship left on schedule for a 4 hour cruise to Vaasa Finland.  We would lose an hour today as we changed time zones to GMT-2, so we would be arriving in Finland at about 1PM.  We would stay in this time zone until we reached Poland at which time we would transition back to GMT-1 for the rest of our trip.  Karen wanted to lay down and sleep, so we found a quiet place in the bar that had a large sectional type sofa that you could lie down on.  It was nice for a while, but then the bar opened up and a band showed up and started to play.  It was no longer quiet, but at least it was reasonably comfortable.  We used our last Swedish money on board to buy some snacks.  We had spent most of it the previous night to fill the car up with fuel.   Our next two countries both use the Euro, so we won’t have to deal with “local currency” until we get to Latvia.  Perhaps we can even get by with Euros there.  Denmark does not use the Euro, but we did not go to an ATM or bank there to get Danish currency.  We were able to use our credit card most places and the places that only accepted cash took Euros.  We did get some Danish krone as change, and then spent that at the next place that we made a cash purchase.  Certainly being able to use the Euro in half the countries makes it easier than pre-EU days when every country had their own currency, and you had to estimate how much cash you would spend or go to the bank in the next country and exchange the unused bills.

Our first goal after arriving in Finland was to find food.  Hungry or tired travelers are not happy travelers!  We stopped at a huge ABC! gas station a few km outside of Vaasa that had several restaurants inside.   We then continued on to our evening destination in Tampere.  After checking in to our hotel we drove into the city center.  Tampere is located between two large lakes, with a short river connecting them.  There is a difference in elevation between the lakes, and the Tammerkoski Rapids on this waterway made this a prime development spot during the industrial revolution.  At onetime Tampere had the nickname “Manchester of Finland”.   James Finlayson established a small mill here in 1820, and later built a huge cotton mill.  Today this large brick building has been converted into a mall of cafes and shops, but its exterior has been preserved.  There are numerous other large brick mill buildings along the river that have been preserved and converted to other uses.  We had dinner in a restaurant in the Finlayson Centre, and walked around the core part of town, crossing over the river to go to Tuomiokirkko, a cathedral which is one of the best examples of National Romantic architecture in Finland.   We then returned to our hotel to get some must needed sleep after the two previous long travel days.

Old mill building

Tuomiokirkko

Day 39 – Thursday, July 25. Helsinki.  We slept in, leaving our hotel around 11.  We had an appointment to check into our Helsinki apartment at 6PM, so we looked for options to best utilize the time that we had as driving direct to Helsinki only required about 2 hours.  We decided to go to Porvoo, which is northeast of Helsinki.  Porvoo is Finland’s second oldest city, founded in 1346.  We did a self-guided walking tour of the old town.  The old town is located on the bank of the river, and has lots of wooden buildings on narrow cobblestone streets.  We went into the cathedral, and a number the shops.  The free guide that we picked up at the tourist information office described the significance of the other buildings on the walking tour, but none were open for the public to go in.  Getting around Porvoo was a bit of a challenge for me.  Many of the towns we have been in have cobblestone streets, but most of them are flat cobblestones.  In Porvoo, many of the cobblestones are round river rock.  That makes it difficult to use the crutches as you have to methodically select where to place them, and also makes it difficult for me use my left foot and not put pressure on the front when the ground surface is so uneven.  Porvoo also had some steep hills coming up from the river.  However, we had plenty of time and I was able to complete the whole walking tour with the rest of the family.

The Old Bridge

Shore houses on Porvoonjoki (Porvoo River)

Bishops House

When we left Porvoo we had less than an hour drive to get to our apartment in Helsinki.  Similar to Stockholm, we stayed in an apartment that was in a building without a reception – most of the units are rented out on a longer term basis by locals, but some of the units are rented to tourists on a short term basis.  We met the representative at the apartment to get the keys and instructions.  There was a washing machine so I stayed at the apartment to get laundry started while the rest of the family went to get some groceries and dinner.  All I have to say is Google translate is wonderful when trying to use an appliance that only has Finish words on it and which is unlike any washer you have used before.    The biggest challenge ended up being figuring out how to get the water turned on to the washer.  There was a little lever under the faucet on the bathroom sink – Google translate couldn’t help with that!  Karen and the kids ate dinner at the pizza restaurant before coming back, and they were going to order a small pizza to go for me.  However, the owner (who they had been talking to while they were there) gave them a pizza for me at no charge.  Thanks!  After dinner we finished mapping out our plans for the following day in Helsinki.

Day 40 – Friday, July 26. Helsinki.  We bought day transit passes at a kiosk a short walk from our apartment and found the bus stop a short distance away that would take us down to the central part of town.  Full day passes cost EUR 8 for adults, and EUR 4 for the kids.  This included the ferry to Suomenlinna (more on that later).   We got off the bus about 8 blocks from the waterfront.  We started our sightseeing at the Lutheran Cathedral, which was adjacent to Senate Square.  After visiting the cathedral and Senate Square we went down to Kauppatori, Helsinki’s market square.   Kauppatori is down by the waterfront, and there are more than 100 vendors selling fresh fish, fruit and vegetables, ready to eat food, and all sorts of crafts.  We looked around and bought some crepes and cinnamon rolls to eat.   Our next and primary destination in Helsinki was Suomenlinna.  This former fortress located on several island is located about a 15 minute ferry ride from the Helsinki waterfront.  The ferries run every 20 minutes from the wharf by Kauppatori.   Originally named Sveaborg, the fortress was built in 1748 by the Swedish to protect against the Russians.  It was conquered in 1808 and became a Russian naval base for the next 100 years until Finland gained its independence.  We had lunch on the island, went to the museum, and walked around to see some of the fortifications and buildings.   Most interesting was the massive dry dock.  It is one of the oldest dry docks still in use, dating from the 1760’s. 

Lutheran Cathedral

Sveaborg dry dock

Old defense walls at Sveaborg

We decided to split up late afternoon.  I was tired from walking with crutches on all the cobblestones, and Karen and the kids were planning to go to a traditional Finnish sauna later which I decided to skip given my foot.  Karen and the kids went back to the ferry terminal while I took a break.  After the ferry they went to the Uspenskin Katedraali (Uspenski Catherdral) which in on nearby Katajanokka island.  This cathedral was built as a Russian Orthodox Church in 1868 during the period when Russia controlled Finland.  It sits on top of a small hill with a great view of the Lutheran Cathedral which is located a few hundred meters away on another hill.  They then had dinner before heading to the traditional wood fired Finnish sauna.  I took my time waling back to the ferry, and also went to Uspenskin Katedraali.  After the cathedral I walked back across the bridge and caught a bus back to our apartment.  I had only been back about 30 minutes when Matthew arrived.  After dinner he was not feeling well so he took the bus back to the apartment while Karen and Elizabeth went to the sauna.  They enjoyed their time at the sauna and got back to the apartment a couple of hours later.

Uspenski Catherdral

Day 41 – Saturday, July 27. Onward to the Baltic countries.  We had reservations for a ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn, Estonia, departing at 1:30 PM.   We packed up and departed for the ferry terminal around noon.   Total distance driven in Finland, 530 miles (330 km). Total distance driven to date, 4740 miles (7620 km).  Our favorite things in Finland were:  Matthew and Mike – Suomenlinna, Karen – the sauna, Elizabeth– the sauna and the fact that the churches were less gaudy than others we had been to.

Other observations:  Finns must either like to gamble more or have more liberal laws on where gambling can occur.  As soon as we got on the ferry from Sweden to Finland we noticed slot machines and video poker machines, and they were also at service stations and other places that we stopped at while in Finland.  We had not seen this in other countries – either they are not allowed, are more tightly restricted, or less popular in other countries.

Part 7 - Norway

Part 7 – Norway

Our plan included 7 nights in Norway.  Starting in Oslo, we would head north to Lillehammer, then work our way up through the fjords and over to the coast.  We would go as far north as Trondheim before heading east and cutting back across Sweden to go to Finland.   Norway was to be mostly about beautiful scenery and views through the mountains, along the fjords, and along the coastline.  The first two days would be primarily in cities, but the remainder would be exploring the rugged beauty of Norway.

Day 30 – Tuesday, July 16. Oslo.  We never saw in signs signifying our entry into Norway, but saw the border on the GPS and noticed that the road signs changed.  We experienced a new (to us) method for collecting tolls.  For non-residents without a pass, there are signs telling you what the toll is, and cameras taking a photo of the vehicle license.  Later, there are signs directing you to gas stations where you can pay the toll.  If you don’t pay within 24 hours, then they bill you. Presumably with a billing fee.  In our case, they would bill the car company who would bill us, potentially with another fee, so we did our best to find the gas station and pay the toll.  We arrived in Oslo about 5 PM, checked into our hotel. had dinner, and then mapped out what we planned to do the next day

Day 31 – Wednesday, July 17. Oslo.  We started our day in Oslo down at the waterfront.  From our hotel we caught a tram after we figured out where to buy tickets – at a 7-Eleven.  The Oslo transit system is fairly easy to use, although the locals are not much help.  The clerk at 7-Eleven said he could sell us transit passes, but that there were no trams that went through the area of town where we were.  We knew otherwise as two trams went by the street in front of the 7-Eleven while Karen was waiting to buy tickets!  I think something got lost in the translation although the clerk seemed to speak good English.  Once downtown we walked along the harbor, enjoyed the architecture of the buildings, and explored the murals in city hall.  The murals in the Rådhus depict Norwegian history and mythology.  The Rådhus is famous as the location where the Nobel Peace prize is awarded every year on December 10.

Oslo harbor

Around noon we caught the tram again and went to the Royal Palace to see the changing of the guard.  Our hotel was next to the Royal Palace, but based on timing of events we had to spend more time traversing the town on mass transit than we would have liked.   The changing of the guard was a disappointment.  It normally takes place on the large square in front of the palace.  However, the square was closed for restoration, and as a result a much smaller and abbreviated ceremony took place on a small gravel area next to the north wing of the palace.  There was no band, very little to the ceremony, and based on locations of fences most of what we could see was the back sides of the guards as they stood at attention.  After the ceremony we caught a tram back down to the waterfront.  Karen and Elizabeth went to Aker Brudge, a trendy newer area, while Matthew and I went to the Akershus Fortress.  Karen and Elizabeth joined us there later.  We ended the day in Vigeland Park.  This very large park is home to more than 200 bronze and granite works by Gustav Vigeland, Norway’s best-loved sculptor.   Vigeland is famous for his nude works, with pieces representing all stages of life and emotions.  We got take-out pizza at a hole-in-the-wall place between our hotel and the tram stop and ate dinner in our hotel room.

Karen with royal guard

Elizabeth with new boyfriend, Vigeland Park

Boy throwing tantrum, Vigeland Park

My foot is gradually improving, but it is a very slow healing process.  Today in Oslo I probably “walked” about 2 miles total.  More than half of that was one legged using the crutches to support my full weight and putting no weight on my left leg.  I can actually keep up with the family doing that for at least short periods of time.  However, my hands and arms can only take a limited amount of that.  The rest of the distance was covered walking very slowly, putting maybe 1/2 of my weight on my bad foot (primarily on the heel) and the rest on my crutches.  I can go for much longer periods like this, but my pace is maybe half of normal walking pace.  I think I have actually figured out how to navigate stairs and they are no longer a major problem like they were.  The only exception is stairs with narrow treads   My foot is still swollen, and begins to hurt more as the day progresses if I don’t elevate it.  As a result, I took a couple hour break while in Oslo.  While Karen and Elizabeth went shopping in Aker Brudge and to the Hard Rock Café I went to the Akershus Fortress and laid on the grass with my foot elevated on a rock wall.  Matthew hung out with me and explored the fortress.  Once Karen and Elizabeth arrived we all walked around the fortress together.

Day 32 – Thursday, July 18. Lillehammer.  After leaving Oslo, we drove to Lillehammer, site of the 1994 winter Olympics. We were expecting about a 2.5 hour drive, but it was closer to 3.5 hours as there was a lot of road construction and an accident where a bus rear ended a small car.  A tiny mark on the front of the bus but the back end of the car was totally smashed in.  Fortunately everyone looked to be fine.  Once in Lillehammer we went directly to the Olympic museum.  It is located in the basement of the arena where the ice hockey games took place.  The museum chronicles the history of the Olympics, from the games of ancient Greece through the whole period of the modern day Olympics.  There were memorabilia from each of the games, with videos and text covering highlights of each winter and summer Olympiad.  The museum definitely had a Norwegian slant with information on prominent Norwegian athletes and how Norway did at each games, but it is worthwhile for visitors of all nationalities.  Most displays were in Norwegian, English, German, and French.   We bought a package that included entrance into the ski jumping tower and the chairlift ride to get to the top of the ski jump hill.  Karen and the kids got one additional item – more on that later.

We initially started walking up the hill to get where we could take the ski lift, as they had told us in the museum it was just a short walk.  However, after about 10 minutes up steep paths we got to the point where we could see where we needed to go and it was at least another km or so all uphill.  Not good on crutches.  Karen and Matthew went back to get the car and Elizabeth and I walked to where they could pick us up on the road.  At the base of the ski jump is where the flame was for the Lillehammer games. The views from the base of the ski jump were great looking back to Lillehammer and the surrounding valley, and even better from the top of the chairlift.  After standing at the top of the ski jump tower I now have a greater understanding of how insane ski jumpers are.  Ski jumping looks intimidating on TV, and we attended the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and watched ski jumping live from the bottom of the hill.  However, the hill looks much steeper and higher from the top.  I don’t mind heights at all, but ski jumping is close to throwing yourself off a cliff.  Insane.   There was one ski jumper practicing while we were there.  They have synthetic material that is like long grass all combed in one direction on the landing slope, and the outrun slope is just natural grass.  Prior to every run the sprinklers come on for a couple of minutes to wet the slope down.  The person practicing was on the normal hill, but the large hill that we went to the top was also wet so it looked like someone had been practicing there earlier.  It started to lightly rain as we were descending the chair lift, but stopped in about 20 minutes.  We stopped for dinner before checking into our hostel which was located in the Lillehammer train station.

View from top of ski jump, Lillehammer

Day 33 – Friday, July 19. Eidsdal. Today we had about a 4.5 hour drive to Eidsdal, a tiny community near the head of Geiranger Fjord.  However, before we left the Lillehammer area we had to do the remaining thing from the Olympic museum package that we had purchased the day before, going down the Olympic bobsled run on “wheel bobs”, sleds converted to have wheels rather than runners.  I did not go due to my broken foot, but Karen and the kids did.  They went down in a 4 person “wheel bob”, with a professional driver.  They said it was very fast, faster and wilder than any roller coaster they had ever been on.  They said it was impossible to keep your head straight, and their helmets kept hitting the side of the car.  Elizabeth said she forgot to breathe, despite one of the instructions being “don’t forget to breathe”.   J  The total run was over in 71 seconds, after reaching a top speed of 100 km/H.    A must for any adrenaline junkie.

Karen and the kids in the wheel bob, Lillehammer

After living the Olympic sites behind, we headed north into the more rugged countryside of Norway.  We had a wonderful drive – very scenic.  When people ask us what the most beautiful place we have been in the world, we always respond “British Columbia”.  There are many beautiful sites in the world we have been to (and many more on the “to do” list), but overall British Columbia has the best scenery mile after mile.  However, we decided that now when we are asked that question we will need to respond “British Columbia AND Norway”.  Today’s drive was non-stop beautiful.  It started with valleys with fast flowing rivers, gorgeous meadows, and forested mountain slopes with rocky tops.  As we moved higher up in elevation, the tree cover reduced and we could see lots of waterfalls.  At the highest elevations, there was tundra, lakes, streams, more waterfalls, and lots of rocky mountains.  There were still some snow patches at road level as we approached the mountain passes, and we could see glaciers further up the mountains.  The day had started out as totally sunny, but got progressively cloudier.  It would have been more impressive with sunny skies, but it was still a very scenic drive.

Roadside waterfall 

Alpine lake on drive to Geiranger

Along the way to Geiranger we stopped at a stave church.  Stave churches get their name from the buildings' structure of post and lintel construction.  They were constructed in medieval times.  The stave church we stopped at dates from 1150.  It is amazing that a wooden structure from that time period still survives today.

Stave church

As we neared the end, we descended a series of sharp switchbacks to get to the town of Geiranger, at the head of the Geiranger fjord.  We stopped there to buy some food to make for dinner, and then headed back up the other side of the valley to our accommodation for the night.  The climb up from Geiranger is very steep, with a series of ~10 switchbacks on a narrow road.  There is a great viewpoint from the top of the switchbacks looking back to town and the fjord.  There was a large cruise ship anchored near the end of the Fjord.  Another 15 minutes took us to where we were staying, a small ~250 sq. ft. log cabin located on a farm on the side of the mountain.  The cabin had a lot of character.  It was simple, but clean, and it had a sod roof, a small waterfall next to it, and a million dollar view of another fjord ~1500’ below.  Definitely the most unique place we have stayed so far.  By the time we got to our cabin it was 8 PM and was totally cloudy.

Geiranger – with large cruise ship in fjord

Our log cabin in Eidsdal

Day 34 – Saturday, July 20. Alesund.  During the night we had some light rain, and we woke to dense fog.  As we had breakfast and got ready to go there were periods of time where we could see part way across the valley, but other times we could only see ~ 100 feet.  At no time could we see down to the fjord.  This was the day we planned to take a 2.5 hour “tourist” ferry on the fjord, from Geiranger to Validal, and we were wondering if it would make any sense to do it with the dense fog.  The other option we had was to take the ferry that the locals take (a 10 min ferry) from Eidsdal to Linge, and then continue our drive to the coast.  The fog was very dense when we left our cabin, but as we got closer to Geiranger the fog started to lift and we could see an occasional patch of blue sky.  By the time our ferry left at noon the sky was almost clear, a perfect day.  The scenery on the fjords was amazing.  We started on Geirangerfjorden, then continued on Sunnylvsfjorden, and finally Norddalsfjord.  Norddalsfjord was the fjord that we could see from our cabin the night before.  The entire 2.5 hour cruise was beautiful, but the first ~45 minutes on Geirangerfjorden were the most spectacular.  There were sheer cliffs on both sides of the fjord, many >2000 feet high, and so many waterfalls that we lost track.  The area was mostly pristine, but there were a few small farms hugging some of the tiny level spots along the cliffs of the fjords.  For many of these places the only access was by boat, and the hike up to the farm was 1000+ feet at a >45 degree slope.  No wonder that most of these farms are abandoned.

Elizabeth and Matthew with troll in Geiranger

Switchbacks from Geiranger to Eidsdal

Waterfall, Geirangerfjorden

Waterfall, Geirangerfjorden – note kayaks in water for sense of perspective

After driving off the ferry, we drove to Alesund.  This town is located on several islands by the mouth of the fjords that we had been on earlier in the day.   The drive from Validal was only 1.5 hours.  It was still scenic, but not as nice as the ferry cruise or the drive the previous day from Lillehammer to Eidsdal.  There were 6-8 tunnels, with the longest ones being a couple of miles in length.  The area along this drive was more populated, with several small towns and a lot of farms.  We arrived at our accommodations at ~4:30.  We were staying at a place advertised as a “bed and breakfast”.  It did have beds and breakfast was included, but it was not what you think of as a B&B.  It was really a dorm room in a “folk high school”.  These schools are becoming increasingly popular in Norway, with ~80 of them nationwide.  They are often attended by students as a transitional year for those seeking a break between upper secondary (high school in US) and higher education (college in the US), or for young adults contemplating what their future plans are.  The schools do not provide degrees, and there are no formal examinations.  Each school has a theme or area they focus on. The one we stayed at, Borgundveien folk high school, is a “tourism” school.  They do a lot of travel, with some optional trips, and some whole school trips like the entire school going to Israel.  When they are not traveling they go skiing, hiking, kayaking, etc. in the local area.  It sounds wonderful, but I am curious how many students can afford to do this.  The web site says you can get educational loans, but at >$30K per year (+ more for optional trips) it seems hard to justify spending that much money on a “break to consider your future” and taking out loans to fund that.  Perhaps I am too practical, but for that cost you could attend college, spend a year taking a mix of introductory courses to decide what you like, and at least end up with some of the classes counting towards a degree that you ultimately picked.  We took advantage of our early arrival at our “B&B” and the fact that they had washing machines to do our laundry.

Day 35 – Sunday, July 21. Kristiansund.  We woke to drizzle and fog.  We had planned the day to be mostly a driving day, taking a winding path around the coastline of the fjords rather than the taking the most direct route to Kristiansund.  However, given the weather we decided to find an indoor activity in Alesund in hopes that the weather would improve.  After reviewing several options (polar museum, history museum, art museums …) we decided to go to the aquarium in Alesund.  The aquarium focused on sea life from the North Sea and the Norwegian fjords.  All the displays were in English as well as Norwegian which was nice.   We enjoyed our visit – the displays were well done and very informative.  After leaving the aquarium it had stopped drizzling, so we decided to go to Fjellstoua viewpoint, a high point in the city famous for the views of Alesund and the surrounding islands.  Unfortunately by the time we got to the top the clouds had dropped down lower and the drizzle resumed.  We were able to see the immediate area of town below, but not much else.  I have seen photos on clear days and it is beautiful.  Guess we will have to experience that on a future trip.

Matthew and Elizabeth “playing” outside Alesund aquarium

Mike playing with lobster, Alesund aquarium

After lunch we resumed our trek northward.  We followed the edges of the fjord, and had a 30 minute ferry ride from Vestnes to Molde.  Midway between Molde and Kristiansund is a stretch of road named the "Atlantic road.".  It has been ranked in severla puplications as one of the most scenic sections of road in the world.  The road connects a series of islands along the ocean.  It's signature bridge is the Storseisundet Bridge, which curves from left to right as it also curves up and down.  Unfortunately, it was cloudy when we drove through late afternoon, and not as beautiful as photos we had seen online.  The Altantic Road is connected to Kiristiansund by the Atlanterhavstunnelen.  This is a 5.7 km (3.6 mile) long tunnel under the water.  It goes down to 250 m (820 feet) below sea level.  By contrast, the "Chunnel" between France and England only is 75 m (250 feet) below sea level.

Day 36 – Monday, July 22. Trondheim.   We woke to sunshine and a clear blue sky.  We decided to backtrack and drive the Atlantic Road again and then rejoin our planned route east of Kristiansund.  This added ~ 1 hour of additional driving time.  The decision was worth it, as we were rewarded with beautiful vistas that looked like we had seen online.  The morning sunlight was perfect for taking photos to the west, across the numerous rocks and small islands that were off shore.  Most of the islands are not populated, but some have houses on them, and there are a couple of small (5-10 buildings) fishing villages.  We continued our ~4.5 hour drive around the fjords and on to Trondheim.  There were only a few small communities along the way.  The majority of the land was either forest or small farms.  Most of the farm houses had million dollar views of the fjords, even if they did not have waterfront property. 

Farm outside of Kristiansund

Atlantic Road

Storseisundet Bridge

We arrived in Trondheim in late afternoon.  Trondheim is the third largest city in Norway, behind Oslo and Bergen which is located further south along the west coast.  We didn't have time to go to any of the museums in town, but did go down by the waterfront for dinner at an open air restaurant, went to the cathedral, walked over the Town Bridge, looked at the colorful buildings built on pilings along the River Nid, and finished our day walking around Kristiansten Festning, the fortress on a hill above the old part of town.  Our hotel was only a couple hundred meters from the fortress.   Our hotel, Singsaker Sommerhotell, is a dorm for NTNU, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.  It is operated as a hotel during the summer months and is reputed to be the largest inhabited wooden building in northern Europe.

Cathedral in Trondheim

Buildings alongside river in Trondheim

The end of today was the middle of our trip.  36 days complete, 36 to go.   On one hand it doesn't seem like that long, but on the other it seems like a long time since we were walking around Paris.  For that matter it seems like a long time ago since I was able to easily walk around anywhere.  L

Day 37 – Tuesday, July 23. Onward to Finland.  Today was our longest planned driving day, to go from Trondheim, Norway, to Holmsund, Sweden.  Holmsund is just outside of Umea and is where we would catch the ferry to Finland.  Our drive would take us from the western part of Norway to the eastern part of Sweden,  ~400 miles (640 km) on winding two lane roads, or ~9 hours of driving time.   From Trondheim we took the E6 highway along the fjord to Stjørdal, before turning inland on E14.  One exit before we wanted to get off of E6 we saw an exit sign for Hell.  According to the sign there are accommodations and food.  We didn’t go, but if it is anything like the rest of Norway, Hell must be quite beautiful. Not sure why it always gets such bad press.  J

We had ~150 Norwegian kroner left, so we made one last stop before we arrived at the border with Sweden.  Karen and Matthew went into a grocery store with the goal of spending our remaining Norwegian money to buy food for lunch.  They succeeded and walked out of the story with the food and 1 krone (~$0.17) left over!  We arrived at the border with Sweden shortly before noon.  Total distance driven in Norway, 820 miles (1320 km). Total distance driven to date, 4070 miles (1320 km).  Our favorite things in Norway were:  Matthew – ferry rides and the wheel bob, Karen – trolls and the fjords. Elizabeth – the scenery, the stave church we visited, and Peppe’s Pizza, Mike – the fjords.

Other observations:  In the United States most children are taught from a young age that it is impolite to stare at other people.  In general it is rare to see someone blatantly staring at another person, especially for a long period of time.  We have noticed that is not the case in Europe.  This apparent cultural difference was most apparent in Norway.  People would just sit and stare at you.  It didn't appear to be anything unique with us (I don’t think we look like aliens) as we observed other people being the object of attention for the people staring.  One time a couple of people were staring at Karen, and she decided to see how they would react if she stared back.  She turned slightly so her body was directly facing them, leaned forward, and intently stared back.  Zero reaction from them.  They just continued to stare.  I think most Americans would find this behavior strange, if not rude, but then I am sure we have behaviors that Europeans find strange or rude.

Part 6 – Sweden

Part 6 – Sweden

Our plan included 9 nights in Sweden, 8 consecutive nights after leaving Denmark, and one additional night when traveling from Norway to Sweden.  My mother’s paternal grandparents both emigrated from Sweden to the US in the late 19th century, and I have relatives in Sweden that we plan to visit in several locations in addition to sightseeing.  Our longest stay in Sweden would be 3 nights in Stockholm. 

Day 22 – Monday, July 8.  Lund, Sweden.  After crossing the Øresund Bridge, we headed to Skanör to visit with my relatives, Sivert & Agneta.  They previously spent about 3 years living in the United States and speak excellent English.  After visiting for a short time at their house, Sivert took us around to show us the local sites.  Skanör is located on a peninsula, and is the “Florida of Sweden”, with miles of beautiful white sand beaches.  It was a beautiful sunny day, and would have been perfect for swimming.  We didn’t have enough time for that, but the kids did get to go wading in the water. I made it as far as the end of the boardwalk but wisely decided that trying to walk through soft sand on crutches was a bad idea.   We also stopped at the local boat harbor, and two of the churches in town.  We then drove to some Bronze Age burial mounds.  There are a lot of them in the local area, and they provide good vistas of the area as the land is otherwise very flat.  After that we went to our hotel in Lund to check in.  Sievert then took us through Malmö which is one of the fastest growing areas in Scandinavia.  Much of the old shipyards where Sivert used to work have been transformed into new development, with lots of new jobs being created.  One of the newer buildings in Malmö is the “Turning Torso”, a 54 story residential building which was the tallest in Scandinavia when it was completed.  The uppermost segment is twisted 90 degrees from the ground floor. After leaving Malmö we headed back to Skanör and had dinner with Sivert & Agneta and their youngest son Peter and his family.  Dinner was wonderful and we had an enjoyable evening visiting with them.

Matthew and Elizabeth on the beach in Skanör

The "Turning Torso" building in Malmö

Day 23 – Tuesday, July 9.  Broakulla.  We got a late start as we didn't return to our hotel the previous night until ~11 PM.  We headed north to Osby to go to the Brio museum.  Growing up one of Elizabeth and Matthews favorite things (and mine) was building elaborate train layouts out of Brio.  A lot of the museum was geared toward younger kids, but we enjoyed it.  While we were there I felt like an actor on "What would you do?", an American TV show that uses hidden cameras and actors to create certain situations to see if people walking by will stop and "do the right thing" or walk by and ignore someone in need of help.   In my case I stumbled on the uneven floor with my crutches and fell.  There was a woman only 10 feet away who watched me fall and then struggle to get turned over without further injuring my foot. She stared and me, said nothing, and then waked away as I was still trying to turn over and reach my crutches which had fallen several feet away. Once I got turned over I was unable to get up as I had nothing to pull myself up on. Several other people walked by and stared at me sitting/lying on the floor of the museum and also did nothing other than keep walking. Finally my family came by and helped me get up. I would like to think I would "do the right thing", but I guess you never know. 

Brio Museum

Elves at work in Santa's Workshop at the Brio Museum

Part of the southern area of Sweden is known as “The Kingdom of Crystal”, or Glasriket.  It is famous for its many small factories and craftsman making hand blown glass.  We had originally intended to go to a glass factory today close to where we were spending the night, but our late start meant that by the time we got there only the shops would be open and the glass blowing would be done for the day.  So, we went directly to our B&B, a nice place out in the country ran by a Dutch couple.  Our room was on the second floor, but given my foot and challenge in climbing stairs they gave me a small room on the first floor at no additional charge.  Matthew stayed with me in case I needed any help during the night, and Karen and Elizabeth slept upstairs.  

Day 24 – Wednesday, July 10.  Oskarshamn.  We were going to go to one of the larger glass factories that we had read about online, but ended up going to Shrufs Glasbruk in Skruvs.  This place was recommended by our B&B as a more intimate small place that was also free (many of the larger places charge to see the glass blowing).  The recommendation turned out to be excellent - when we were in the glass works watching the craftsman make pieces we were the only ones there.  You definitely knew you were not in the United States.  After the craftsman completed each piece, he had to take it to the annealing oven, and to do so he walked right between us, we could have stuck our hand out and touched the almost red hot pieces if we had been stupid enough to do so.  In the United States there would have been a barrier to keep us from getting close, and likely we would have been on the other side of a glass wall.  In the US the laws (or the concern over lawsuits) results in keeping everyone away from anything that could potentially be dangerous, whereas most other countries assume that people can use some common sense and that if someone does something stupid their first thought is not to sue.

Glass blowing

We then headed to Kalmar Slott (Castle), an imposing castle built on an island adjacent to the city of Kalmar.   Fortifications on the site date from the 12^th century, but it was during the 16^th century that the fortification were turned into a castle fit for a renaissance king by King Gustav I and his sons.   It started raining before we got to Kalmar and was raining hard as Karen dropped me off along with Matthew close to the entrance while she looked for a place to park. The ticket booth was outside and there was a line. My faith in people was renewed when the people ahead of me in line saw me on crutches and insisted I go to the front of the line.  With the exception of my bad experience at the Brio museum, everyone has been very helpful of me with my broken foot and crutches – going out of their way to help me, moving so I could sit down and rest, etc.  The website for the castle said they had wheelchairs to loan, but unfortunately that turned out to be inaccurate.  I did get free admission, and there was a lift to get to the second floor of the castle.  There were still a number of stairs to be navigated up and down to go around the 2^nd floor, but I made it all the way around with the help of numerous benches along the way to sit and rest.  I skipped the 1^st floor displays and a live exhibition in the courtyard which the rest of the family went to.  After leaving the castle we drove north to Oskarshamn where we would spend the next two nights.   Shortly after checking in a couple of my relatives met us at the hotel to give us information on the arrangements they had made for me to get my foot checked at the hospital.  We found that the hotel had a washer and dryer available free of charge for quests to use, so we did a couple of loads of laundry before going to bed.  

Kalmar Castle

Day 25 – Thursday, July 11.  Oskarshamn.  We were originally planning to spend the full day visiting relatives and going to locations tied to my family history in the area.  However, with help from one of my relatives, I had gotten an appointment made to visit an orthopedic surgeon to get my foot checked again and determine next steps for treatment.  The appointment was at 11:30 in Kalmar, about 1 hour drive from Oskarshamn.  After a late breakfast Karen and I headed to Kalmar and left the kids to do another load of laundry at our hotel.  We easily located the hospital in Kalmar, but it took a while to find the right entrance for the orthopedic department.  My visit was relative quick and overall good news.  The doctor said that based on the type of fracture, recent research has shown that the break heals quicker without a cast.  Her recommendation was to just wrap the foot and ankle, and I could gradually apply weight to the foot as pain allowed – initially almost no weight on the front of my foot, but as time went by I could use the foot more and more.  She said it could take up to 14 weeks to fully heal.  The other option was surgery to screw the bone back together.  That could result in quicker time to get back to 100%, but there are potential complications with surgery, not to mention that option would requiring delaying our trip to get the surgery done.  I went with her recommendation, and happily left without the cast.   I was still using just one leg and the crutches to get around, but happy to not have the plaster cast as an anchor on my leg.  The appointment with the doctor only took about 45 minutes total, but then we had to wait more than an hour to get the paperwork as first they had computer issues and then the secretary was gone for lunch.  Unlike in Netherlands where they took my insurance information and agreed to bill the insurance, in Sweden they required advance payment (SEK 2000, or about $300) before they would let me progress past the waiting room.  I will have to deal with the bureaucracy of submitting an insurance claim when I return home, but am very happy that I was able to get an appointment and had good explanations from the doctor in English.  My foot felt much better without the cast, but I think part of that was psychological, as it was throbbing and I had a lot more pain later in the day.  Without the cast I was also able to get a good look at my very colorful foot – large green/yellow bruise along most of the top of the foot, and dark red/purple bruises on the bottom of my foot and the inside of the ankle.  The foot also has a lot of swelling.

We returned to Oskarshamn around 2:30 in the afternoon.  One of my Swedish cousins, Åsa, and her husband Kalle and their 4 children met us at the hotel.  They live ~ 2 hours southwest of Oskarshamn in Ryssby, but had come to Oskarshamn to visit with us and other family members.  We followed them in our car to the family farm in Ström, which is where my great grandfather lived before he immigrated to the United States.  Åsa’s brother, Dan, currently lives in the house in Ström.  The original house is still there, but Dan has added on to it and extensively remodeled it.  At Ström we were also met by Åsa’s uncle Karl-Ivan and his wife Gunilla. We learned about some of the history of the farm.  The farm included some of the Islands offshore in the archipelago, which came with fishing rights.  This was very valuable in the days where people needed to be primarily self-sufficient.  After leaving Ström, we briefly stopped at an observation tower by the local nuclear power plant.  The kids and Karen climbed the 100+ steps to the top to get a view of the nuclear power plant, the offshore islands, and the surrounding countryside.  We then went to Åsa’s mothers (Ingegärd) house for tea/coffee, cookies, and fresh strawberries.  The fresh strawberries reminded us of Oregon strawberries – very flavorful.  The house that Ingegärd  lives in is the same house that she grew up in.  The weather had cleared up and we enjoyed sitting outside and visiting.  Ingegärd lives in the country with beautiful flowers in her yard.   Åsa’s brother Dan joined us after his business meetings were over.   After leaving Ingegärds they took us to Götehult.  We visited the house there that my great-grandfather was born in.  The farm house there was built in sometime in the 1600s and has been changed very little over the years.   It was great to see all the history, and amazing that many of these places have been in the family for 200+ years, passed down from generation to generation.

Family photo in front of house in Ström 

 After Götehult we said goodbye to Åsa, Ingegärd, Karl-Ivan, and Gunilla.  We drove back to Oscarshamn to visit with another cousin, Birgitta, her husband Thim, their daughter Eva and her husband.  Birgitta was the one who arranged for my appointment with the orthopedic surgeon in Kalmar.  I am very grateful to her for the help that she provided.   We stayed until ~10 PM visiting with them, learning more about our Swedish heritage and getting to know them.

Day 26 – Friday, July 12.  Stockholm.  After leaving Oscarshamn, we stopped at Misterhult, to see the church there.  This church was built in 1779, and played a key part in reconnecting with our relatives in Sweden.  My mother has long been interested in genealogy and knew where her grandparents had come from in Sweden, but had no information on relatives still living in Sweden.  She made numerous attempts to locate relatives, and one of those was writing a letter to Misterhult Parish Church, which was in the area that she knew her grandfather had come from.  In her letter she provided what information she knew, and requested that anyone who knew of relatives still in the area to write to her.  She did not hear back for several months, but eventually got a letter back from one of her long lost relatives Sweden.  Apparently the church had posted the letter, and someone had read it that was related.  My parents have made several trips to Sweden to visit with relatives and reconnect with my mother’s heritage, and this was my second trip there.

Church in Misterhult

After leaving Misterhult we drove north to Stockholm, a 4 hour drive.  Along the way we crossed the Göta Canal, which cuts across Sweden, linking the city of Gothenburg on the west with the Baltic Sea on the east.  This canal was built in the early 19^th century, primarily to transport goods.  Today it is used primarily by recreational boats, and has earned the nickname “divorce ditch” for the troubles that couples have to endure while trying to navigate the many of the 58 locks by themselves.  We arrived in Stockholm in early evening, and easily found our apartment.  There was no reception, and the agency had emailed us the access code to the front door and to the apartment a few days earlier.  It is a nice, newer, studio apartment with kitchenette.  We bought some groceries, ate dinner, and then spent the rest of the evening mapping out our two days in Stockholm.  Our hotel is just across the highway from Hammarbybacken, which is a ski area just minutes from the center of Stockholm.  There are only two lifts, and a maximum vertical drop of 82 m.  That is tiny compared to some of the ski areas in Oregon that have over 1000 m of vertical drop, but you can’t beat the location and convenience.  While we were there we saw the lifts operating, towing bicyclists up the slope.  We also saw runners getting a workout running up the slope.

Day 27 – Saturday, July 13.  Stockholm.  We spent most of our first day in Stockholm at Skansen, an open air museum that was founded in 1891, advertised as the first in the world. It has more than 150 buildings relocated from across Sweden, from old farm houses to churches, post offices, etc.  There are staff in period costumes performing tasks typical of that done in the era of the buildings and providing explanations to visitors about the history and function of the buildings.  There is also a zoo there, with animals native to Sweden including bear, moose, fox, lynx, and reindeer.  Skansen is very large, covering more than 75 acres.  Fortunately they had wheelchairs for loan, so I was able to get around without using my crutches other than to go in some of the buildings.  The site is very hilly, and most of the paths are not paved, so Karen and the kids got a good workout pushing me, and my upper body also got a good workout as it required effort from both me and the pusher to navigate some of the hills.  

Skansen

After leaving Skansen, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and for Karen to purchase a pin.  We forgot to look up where it was and determine the best route the night before, so we asked at the information desk when we were leaving Skansen.  They told us which subway stop to get off.  We asked for directions when we came out of the subway, and found that it was about a 10 minute walk away.  For me that translated to 30+ minutes that just about did me in.  My hands and wrists were especially killing me from the crutches by the time we got there.  Fortunately on the way back we found we were able to catch a bus right across the street from the HRC that got us back to our hotel with only one transfer.  

Overall we found the Stockholm transit system moderately complicated to use.  Online they only had PDF maps for the handful of subway lines.  There was an online tool to show you the best way to get from point A to point B, but no downloadable map that you could take with you that showed the tram (streetcar) lines and stops, or bus lines.  The tram line that was closest to our apartment was shut down for some reason, so that added some complication the first day while we had to figure out what bus to take to get the subway.  We had to ask a couple of other questions in the stations on where to go, but ultimately we got where we wanted to go without lots of delays.  We also found that the riders in the subway were very aggressive and a lot of them in a hurry – lots of people running for trains with no apparent regard for other peoples safety.  This was something we had not seen in any of the other big cities so far.  Matthew got knocked to the ground by one man (who did stop to help him back up), and Elizabeth got ran into and nearly knocked down.  I, being either a coward or quicker to adapt, sought shelter next to a pillar whenever a new train arrived and a throng of people went dashing by.  The last thing I needed was to be knocked down, especially since I no longer had the protection of the cast.

I know that I originally said that I broke my foot falling off a stool, but I was really just trying to be modest. The real story is that I broke my foot saving the life a woman who was falling off a building.  We spotted the woman below desperately clinging to the side of the building with her fingernails.  I rushed over, getting there just as her last nail broke and she started to fall.  I was able to catch her, but the force of her falling broke my foot.  She didn't suffer any injuries.

The "real" reason for my broken foot

OK, that is not the real story.  It sounds better than falling off a stool, but the photo above is in Stockholm.  There is a dummy clinging to the side to the building ~30 feet above the ground across from the central subway station.

Day 28 – Sunday, July 14.  Stockholm.  The walk to the Hard Rock Café the previous day along with helping to propel myself up the hills around Skansen in the wheelchair did me in.  I was exhausted when we got back to our apartment, and my hands, and arms were still tired and sore the next morning.  We had an active day planned that required a lot of walking, and I wasn’t up for it physically so I made the decision to stay back at the apartment and rest, catch up on the blog, and do some research online for upcoming days.  The family headed off at about 10:30, with the first task at hand to find an alternative place to park the car as the street we were parked on was posted no parking from midnight to 6 AM on Mondays.  They found a place to park one street over.  Parking in the section of Stockholm we were staying in was SEK 15 per hour (~$2.25), but only Mon-Friday from 0900-1700.  Since we arrived late in the afternoon on Friday, we only had to pay for 2 hours of parking for the three nights we were there. 

Karen and the kids spent the first part of the day on Gamla Stan.  This is the oldest part of the city, dating from the 13^th century.  They went to Storkytan, the Royal Cathedral of Sweden, and then to Kungliga Slottet, the Royal Palace.  At the Royal Palace they watched the changing of the guard, a 45 minute ceremony complete with a 30 person band.  They also wandered through the narrow streets looking at the interesting architecture.  Later in the afternoon they went to the Vassamusset.  This museum houses the Vasa, a large warship that was the pride of the Swedish crown when it set off on its maiden voyage in 1628.  Unfortunately, the ship was very top-heavy and it capsized and sank within a few minutes.  It remained buried in the mud until 1961 when it was painstakingly excavated and reconstructed.  Putting the ship back together was like a 14,000 piece three dimensional jigsaw muzzle.    The ship is in remarkable condition after being underwater for more than 300 years.

Matthew and Elizabeth with royal guard in Stockholm

Day 29 - Monday, July 15.  Borlänge.   We packed up and left Stockholm Monday morning, heading to Borlänge to visit with my relative Bengt. Borlänge is about a 3 hour drive northwest of Stockholm.  Along the way we made two stops.  We first stopped at IKEA.  Karen loves IKEA, and had to go to one in Sweden, the home country of IKEA.  At home we pronounce it “eye-key-uh”, but in Sweden they say “ee-kay-uh”.    She didn’t buy anything other than lunch at IKEA, but enjoyed it since it was larger and had more “stuff” than the stores in the United States.  Karen’s only disappointment was that she wanted to buy some Swedish fish (candy), but they did not have any.  So, she bought some Swedish moose instead.  After IKEA we drove to Skokloster Castle.  This castle was built between 1654 and 1676, and is a monument to the Swedish Age of Greatness – a period in the middle of the seventeenth century when Sweden expanded to become one of the major powers in Europe.   One notable thing about the castle is that construction stopped when the owner, General Carl Gustaf Wrangel, died in 1676.  In fact, in the large banquet hall, you can see the partially finished room, complete with workbenches full of tools.  The day that Wrangel died the builders stopped working and left because they were afraid they that they would never get paid.  The room looks almost identical to what it looked like 337 years ago.  Overall the castle is remarkable in that the contents have been mostly kept intact over the past 300 years because Wrangel dictated in his will that none of his collections could be removed from the castle.  I managed to make it through the entire 1 hour guided tour of the castle with my crutches – all the way to the 4th floor and back down (32 stairs per floor), but if there had been even another half flight of stairs I probably wouldn't have made it.  However, a week ago I probably would have struggled to make it to the second floor.

Skokloster Castle

We were running late when we got to Borlänge, so we checked into the hotel but then went to my relative Bengt’s house without unloading our luggage.  He lives only about 5 minutes from our hotel.  We had dinner with Bengt and his friend Majt.  They both speak English very well – Bengt used to be a high school English teacher before he retired.  After dinner we had some more of those wonderful Swedish strawberries and visited with Bengt and Majt.  They were both very nice.  We left shortly after 10 to return to our hotel.  We had an interesting room.  The bathroom was larger, but the main part of this hotel room made our room in Copenhagen look spacious.  There was a twin bed on one side of the room, and a bunk bed on the other side of the room with a pull out trundle bed under the bottom bunk.  When the trundle bed was pulled out it came within about one foot of the twin bed on the other side of the room.  Not quite wall-wall beds, but close.  Most mysterious was that the ladder for the bunk bed attached on the side of the bed where the trundle bed pulled out from.  Elizabeth slept on the top bunk, and once she got into bed we had to remove the ladder to pull out the trundle bed where Matthew was going to sleep.  During the night Elizabeth needed to get up once.  We had to wake up Matthew, push in his bed, and reattach the ladder for Elizabeth to get out.  Bizarre setup. 

Giant Swedish horse on drive to  Borlänge

Day 30 – Tuesday, July 16.  Onward to Norway.  Today we had about 230 miles to drive, 150 miles to the border with Norway, and then another 80 miles to Oslo.  We will spend one more night in Sweden on our way to Finland, but will finish this Swedish section of the blog as we enter Norway.  Our final day driving through Sweden to catch the ferry to Finland will be included in a later section of the blog.  Our drive to Norway was mostly uneventful, although it took about 6 hours as almost the whole way was on winding two lane roads with low speed limits and limited passing opportunities.  The further west we got, the more varied the terrain became as we left the mostly flat terrain of eastern Sweden.  The land was mostly forested, with a number of lakes, hills that could be considered mountains, and the first fast moving rivers we had seen on the trip.  The area is very sparsely populated.  The one challenge we had was that we could not find a gas station in western Sweden that took either cash or a magnetic stripe credit card for payment.  They only took cards with embedded smart chips which we did not have.  We experienced a couple places previously that took smart cards at the pumps, but they always had at least one island that you could pay inside with a “traditional” credit card.  Alter trying several stations and being told “no gas stations in Sweden take cash or magnetic stripe cards” (which we knew was not true as we had previously filled up the car in Sweden), we finally resorted to asking another patron at a gas station for help.  We found a man who was willing to use his smart card and have us reimburse him in cash.  After thanking the helpful man, we headed on towards Norway.  We probably had enough fuel to make it to Norway, but who knows what we will find there.  We arrived at the border at 3 PM.   Total distance driven in Sweden, 1030 miles (1660 km). Total distance driven to date, 3240 miles (5220 km).  Our favorite things in Sweden were:  Matthew – Vasa Museum, Karen – strawberries and painted wooden horses, Elizabeth – Gamla Stan and the changing of the guard, Mike – visiting with relatives and getting my cast off even if it was still a challenge to get around.

Matthew, Mike, & Elizabeth - Lake by Sweden/Norway border