Scandinavia

I'm on a steam boat, playing slalom down Paijanne Lake, the longest lake in Finland. Before we left Melbourne, I had no idea that I would be taking so many trips on boats during our travels, but I guess that's the nature of travel.

We got to Oslo on Sam's birthday, so it was extra nice of he and Val to let us stay with them for a few days. Again, it was excellent to catch up with an old friend and with Sam it was great to see what a life he has carved out for himself since he left Melbourne. Oh and Sam, the burgers were excellent. I look forward to tales from the Australian Institute of Burger Technology.

Oslo is a beautiful city, like most parts of Scandinavia, its very clean and the people are very friendly. Victims of our own planning, we only really had a day to explore Oslo, so Val dropped us off in Vigeland Park, full of impressive sculptures and gardens. After a bit of a wander we walked across town to the Folk Museum. Its a big open air museum, full of reassembled farmhouses from across Norway. We also perused some of the exhibits in the Museum, including a great one on Norway in the 80's. I especially liked the mullet clad mannequin, reclining in his bean bag watching a non-stop loop of Aha's 'Take on me'.

That night we watched the Michael Jackson memorial on television, just waiting for the explosive finale where he would leap from the coffin and straight into a dance number. Alas, this ultimate act of showmanship did not occur, leaving me saddened. If anyone could have pulled something like that off, it would have been Jackson.

The next day we took the bus to Sweden, but not until after we visited Sam at work for the best breakfast we've had all trip. It was a true Melbourne style cook up, which made me realise what a Mecca Melbourne is for a late lazy breakfast. Anyway, then we got on the bus for Sweden, where after the initial excitement of free wifi wore off when I discovered I still had Sam's keys. Sorry about that one Skipper.

So we went to Goteborg, chosen as a stopover simply to breakup the trip to Malmo rather than any other reason. Its another of those times I wish we had more time to look around, as it looked gorgeous and I'm sure there is plenty more to explore. We took a tram and then a ferry out to Styros, an island in the archipelago. I wish we had a day to explore it and the surrounding islands, dotted with there pretty houses and people on bikes, like a tasteful version of Rottnest. We didn't really have much time there, just long enough to have a bad burger at the local cafe/bar, as a cover band belted out the hits. Heading back we got caught in another downpour.

Then onto Malmo the next morning. We got in and found our Hotel, which had free waffles you could make yourself. Really, what more could you want in a hotel? We caught up with Maria for a bit of a meal and a wander around town. Malmo had a really nice feel to it, its definitely a place I could spend more time. It just seemed relaxing, tucked away in the corner of Sweden where no one would bother it.

We visited the old castle, now a Museum. Despite the fact we were getting quite over visiting Museums, we had a good time, and they had a great exhibition on Nelson Mandela. We also went to the Kunsthall, which had an exhibition on Sonic Youth. Lot of cool artwork from band members and collaborators, video-clips, sculpture and reverse karaoke, where Kim Gordon's vocals drifted out over an empty stage covered in instruments. I've never wanted to know how to play a Sonic Youth song more.

And then we left Malmo, jumping on a train across the sound to Copenhagen. I had been emailing Bridget as I heard she would be in Copenhagen around then. When we checked into our hotel I was told that a girl had been dancing around the lobby that morning, very excited that we would be checking in to the same hotel as them. So we caught up with Bridget, Jade and Olga that evening, wandered around the city and tried to ignore how damned expensive Copenhagen is.

All the way along the trip we had been getting told how nice Copenhagen is, and how much we would like it. Well, its ok, but I don't think I'd make such a big deal about it. I was however, very tired by the time we got to Copenhagen, I was quite over wandering around cities and sight seeing, so its probably another one I'll ave to check out again when I'm in a better mood. That said, we did have an enjoyable time watching some jazz in a beer garden in the park, and just wandering around town at night was quite nice.

And then we got on a plane and headed to Finland. Our whirlwind tour of Scandinavia was great, but we didn't really spend enough time anywhere to really get to know a place. It was a sort of our plan, to do a whistle stop tour to see what we liked and to head back again next time we are in Europe. When we have more money of course, as the aussie dollar doesn't buy a lot of kroner, be them Norwegian, Swedish or Danish.