Stockholm and Helsinki – 4th and 5th August 2017

Hei from Finland,

We left Copenhagen in the early morning and we had a HUGE drive day to Stockholm. With comfort stops and a lunch stop, all up we were on the coach for about 10 hours today…man everyone was a bit shitty when we arrived.

Anyway, we arrived in the city centre late afternoon and Grace took us on a small walking tour. We saw the old standards – parliament, castles, churches and palaces…not to sound ungrateful but I’m really feeling like a tourist at the moment rather than a traveller… this is not my preferred method of travel, but I digress…

Gamla Stan (old town) is pretty much how I remembered it from 11 years ago, but it was nice to see some other parts of the joint that Mick Phillips and I missed. We strolled for a bit before finding a restaurant where local salmon was on the menu. I had thinly sliced salmon with herbed potatoes in a creamy dill sauce where Jen went for the salmon pasta. It was pretty good and it felt great to rip into some hearty, peasant fare. An early night then ensued for one and all as we were all pretty shagged from the drive.

The next morning we were bright eyed and bushy tailed as we were driven into the Jurgarden region of Stockholm. Jen decided to see the Vasamuseet, but having seen it before, I elected to tour the Nordica Museum. This was initially set up to house stuff from all over Scando, but ended up just being Svenska. The museum was OK…I saw some really cool lights, costumes, jewellery and furniture – plus I learnt about the Sapna people (formerly called Laplanders which is now a derogatory term) and their coexistence with the reindeer. All knowledge is good and the morning spent on the garden island of Jurgarden was pretty good. Jen loved the Vasa (as I know she would) and then hired a pushie and cut around, snapping up a storm.

We jumped back on the bus at 11.30 and walked around Gamla Stan again for a few hours before we drove to the Viking Line ferry terminal and boarded the MASSIVE boat “Mariella” for the overnight crossing from Stockholm to Helsinki.

Stockholm was very clean, beautiful and pristine and much like I remembered it. I had forgotten how unforgiving cobblestones are on the old feet though, but we grabbed some cracking snaps, checked out some exquisite antique shops and had a pretty nice time.

Anyhoo – onto the party vessel…

Mariella was 10 storeys high and we were on Level 4. We checked in to our small cabin, made up our single bunk beds and headed to the bar and restaurant level for a bracing ale as we navigated our way through the Swedish Archipelago, headed for Finland. Most of the tour group came up for a wee bevvy, before we had a salad for dinner in one of the restaurants. We then turned our attention to karaoke in one of the bars and had a blinder of a night. Jen and I both sang, and the entire Expat crew really bonded on this night.

I haven’t really talked about the group much yet on this tour, but they are all seasoned travellers – half the bus is Aussie with the rest consisting of Saffas, Poms, a few Seppos, Currys and S.A’s – pretty good mix of male and female, young and old, cool and piss annoying – Ha-ha – I’m such an intolerant prick sometimes.

The next morning and this little fella was a bit sick. I swear it was the motion of the ocean and not the Jaeger and pint combo…bloody ferry.

We arrived in Helsinki in the early morn – had breaky on board, jumped back on the Expat bus and punched on into the city centre. We saw a Russian Orthodox Church, complete with gold onion domes, and a wedding. We then parked up and spent the day wandering around the city centre, the wharfs and the main garden/street precinct called The Esplanade. This was a Saturday and the placed was absolutely packed. There were more Finns here than in a bowl of Chinese soup!! We bought a couple of kilos of the biggest, fattest peas that you’ve ever seen and happily grazed on them as we trawled the food and souvenir markets. Lunch was a Blitzen Burger – yep a reindeer burger complete with onions, pickles, mayo and mustard…delish. I left my run too late to try moose meatballs as they were all sold out… D’oh. We had great coffee in cool café, checked out the park, Cathedral (weddings everywhere – but I guess when you only have summer for a few weeks, you’ve gotta smash that shit out) and the main streets. Helsinki – just like Copenhagen and Stockholm – is green, has lots of water, wide clean streets, beautifully dressed Nordic Gods and Goddesses and a general sense of happiness in the air. We boarded the bus in the arvo, went back to our Radisson Blu awesome room, crashed out for a bit and then had an included dinner of roast salmon, potatoes and salad. Delish. An early night then followed before we rose at 5.30am to drive to Russia. It’s now 7.18am and I write this en-route.

Russia should be a blast – will let you know how it is in due course.

Ciao

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