Scandinavia

I thought I'd pen down my experiences of Scandinavia at one go as I had completed all the four countries together. This was my longest and the second most expensive trip after Greece,Spain and Portugal trip. On this trip, I was along with Puli,Baburao, Tamchu, Rohan Rai,Gopineedi, Eda and Kunti.
The entry to Scandinavia was through Denmark. So we took a night train from Cologne to Copenhagen. That day it was Gods grace and Tamchu was not in our cabin. The above people know what I am exactly talking about. Any how this night train is the one which goes through the under sea tunnel. The entire journey through the tunnel is 4 minutes and is mostly during the night. SO there are no exciting things about experiencing it. We reached Copenhagen in the morning and had 3 hours before we moved to Oslo. So we went out in the city and saw some monuments. A brief walk around the city was more than enough as Copenhagen has not much to offer to the tourists. However we did see some India cinema halls and food courts there. There is also a Ripley's museum there. Interested people may like to go there. The museum is about 15 minutes from teh central station.

From Copenhagen we took a train to Oslo with a change point at Gotenberg. From Oslo we had to catch another train. But luck wronged us this time too. Our train stopped at a God forsaken station in Sweden and there was an announcement that train won't go any further. The railways had arranged buses which took us to Gotenberg but not before we missed our train to Oslo. We had excellent negotiator in the form of Baburao who took up the challenge and not only got a refund on the tickets, but also got us free tickets onto a bus to Oslo. The bus journey was a first for Tamchu...in the sense he was traveling for the first time in a bus that had a WC. This kept him excited throughout the journey. But fate had something else for us in store. We missed our night train to Bergen which left just 7 minutes before we reached the station.

So now we had 8 hours before the next train and nothing to do. So we started to roam on the streets of Oslo at 12 midnight. Rohan Rai was shocked to see the inflation in Norway and so was I. A pack of 17 cigarettes cost me 10 Euros. It was too cold so we avoided going to the port and saw some monuments and a fort which are right in the center of the city. When we came back at 1am we found the police telling everyone to vacate the station. This was because there is a curfew at the Oslo station from 1am to 5am (I still swear at them for driving us into 5 degrees outside). Anyways we sat outside a closed Cafe and started talking so that we don't feel cold. Some ran, some walked and some talked. After 2 hours we realized that there is a cafe open on the other side of the subway. Unable to bear the cold, we got into the cafe. I remember we just bought 2 coffee, and spent 4 hours in the cafe. The cafe owner was so kind that he did not drive us out even though he had good business coming in the form of other unfortunate tourists who had also missed the same train.

Anyways we caught the next train in the morning. Initially everyone slept as no one was able to catch any sleep last night. But the we awoke to the most amazing sights that we had ever seen. The Oslo-Bergen route is very scenic and please take a day train if you want to enjoy it completely. There are many glaciers in the way and the train stops there for sufficient time for clicking photographs of the pristine beauty. We enjoyed the Oslo Bergen train and took a next train to Flam to see the Fjords. The second train cost us more and was pretty depressing. The Oslo Bergen route was way way scenic as compared to the Bergen-Flam train. From Flam we took a cruise to see the Fjords. This was one of the most amazing experiences of mine in the Scandinavia. The entire trip was costly but every penny spent was worth it. Mind you, it can get very very cold in the Fjords, so carry good amount of warm clothing with you. The cruise ends at some place called Goodwingen from where we took a bus back to Bergen. From Bergen we came to Oslo again where I was split from my group who was returning back as some of them had classes :-P

From Oslo, I took a 6 hour train to Stockholm. The entire route is beautiful but becomes monotonous after some time. From Stockholm I had planned to go to the Arctic Cirle in Rovaniemi. I couldn't get a sitting ticket on the 9pm train. So I took a ticket on the 5:20pm train which was 15 minutes after I bought the ticket. So I decided to give Stockholm a skip and see it while coming back. From Stockholm, I went to Boden Central where the train splits into 2. One part goes to Narvik and another to Lulea. I went out to the station and found I was the only one there. Swedes are very helpful people and one of them told me that I had to go to Lulea if I wanted to go to Rovaniemi. So I was lucky to catch the part of the train going to Lulea. At Lulea, I had to take a bus that goes to Haparanda which is the border town on Swedish side. The bus takes 3 hours and is free on Eurail. I walked across a 2 kilometer border as there are no buses in between. Thus I reached the border town of Torino on the Finnish side. Unfortunately it was a Sunday and there were no supermarkets open. Nor could I see anyone on the streets. They say in Hindi " Na banda dikha, na bande ki zaat". I went to a Pizza counter. The lady told me that there was a bus at 1:20pm to Rovaniemi direct. It was 12:40 in my watch. I was happy for a moment till I realized that while crossing over to Finland, I had fucking crossed a time line of 1 hour. So according to Finnish time it was 1:40pm.

I waited at the bus station for next 1 hour as the temperature outside was -8 degrees. The air was very dry and frost could be seen all around. The good thing about that bus station was that they had also mentioned the railway timetable there. So I went to a city called Kemi in the bus at about 2:30pm. This town is 30km away from Torino. There I caught a train at 3pm which took me to Rovaniemi at 4:15pm. And at 4pm there was pitch dark in Rovaniemi. The arctic circle is about 8km from the city. I caught a bus to reach there. The Santa village closes at sunset. So try to make it earlier to get some really good Souvenirs from Santa himself :-)
I spent about 30 minutes at the Arctic Circle before I realized that I had missed my last bus to Rovaniemi. So I shelled out 18 euros for a taxi back to the station :-(
It is suggested to book your tickets to Helsinki as soon as you reach Rovaniemi as the train gets full really fast. I was very tired by then and hence booked a sleeper for the night at a whopping cost of 26 euros.

I was woken up by the guard at the Helsinki station so that the train can go to the train yard. I was so tired the other night that I slept in the train at the Helsinki station for 30 minutes after the train had arrived. Helsinki is a good business city with some gems like the port, Dom, University and the Grand Casino. I am a sattebaaz and so had to go to the casino. The casino was very pseud. They made me a entry card, which had my photo on it and verified me properly. There were host of games out there. But I loved Roulette the most. I had bet 50 euros there in multiples of 10 euros in 15 minutes. I was cursing myself, when I won a 50 euro on the last 10 euro bet. Thus in all I lost 10 euros and happily exited the casino after a good experience. Helsinki has a huge lake ans a walk along it can be very nice.

When you reach Helsinki, do book your cruise to Stockholm on Silja Line which is the ossumest cruise, by any standards. I got a whole room for 4 euros as the ship was running empty that day. There re host of things one can do on the cruise. There iss a very nice theater inside, a casino, a dance club, tax free shops, many restaurants and the deck obviously. If one wants they can do a Titanic style arm spread on the deck. Anyways, I just bet some euros in the casino, watched Die Hard 4, bought many chocolates from the tax free shops and slept really nicely on one of the best Ocean cruises.

After reaching Stockholm station, I realized that I have just 3 hours in the city as the next and the last train was waiting for me after that. I still regret that, I couldn't give enough time to Stockholm, the most beautiful city in Scandinavia. I just saw the port and the Vasa museum. This museum holds the ship that sank in 30 minutes in the Stockholm port. It is a nice experience to enjoy that. Even my camera batteries conked off in Stockholm, so couldn't get many photos out there. All in all, I screwed up the experience, I could have had in a very beautiful city. Please do keep one full day to see Stockholm.

From Stockholm, I came back to Germany via Malmo Central, Copenhagen and Hamburg. Scandinavia was one of my best adventures, I had in Europe.