SWEDEN...the land of hot women?!
February 4th 2010 20:51
Time: 9:49pm Date: 02/02/2010 Location: My Apartment, Helsinki
Ok, so when someone proposes to you that there is a trip planned to travel over to Stockholm (capital of Sweden, for those who don't know) for a maximum of 5.5 hours; most people would probably begin to whine and say how it's not worth it...but me however, I said abso-freakin-loutely! Why?
Well the fact that I have only ever been to one other country in my life (Finland) was one reason but the main reason was the mode of transport to get there! I introduce you to the VIKING LINE: The Baltic Sea's link between Helsinki and Stockholm. A massive ferry that carries a lot of people, houses a karaoke contest, a night club, a casino, pokey machines in every corner with 12 year olds playing them, a tax-free shopping centre (complete with trolleys), a conference centre, the world's biggest buffet (well I thought so), and a fair few restaurants, bars and cafes. For 64 Euro; this was well worth it!
Night one saw the ferry depart from Helsinki at 5:30pm. Expected time of arrival in Stockholm was approximately 10am (local time - one hour behind Finland). This gave us plenty of time to:
1. Take part in an all-you-can-eat-and-drink buffet dinner which comprised of top quality Nordic food. This included: salmon, crayfish, prawns, potato bake, ham, chicken, beef, cheeses, vegetables, chips etc. Then the dessert menu was a whole another level. Chocolate mousse, vanilla slice, hedgehog slice, flavoured sorbet, fruit salad, toppings, brownies and the list goes on! I was in Heaven! After at least four plates of food and three beers, I felt like there was nothing left I could do! Well worth it though...
2. Buy cheap alcohol from the tax-free shop. Well actually, I couldn't because Finnish law says that you have to be at least 20 to be able to purchase spirits so for once, I had to be the minor who gets someone older than them to buy it on their behalf!
3. Consume the alcohol that we bought from the tax-free shop. Although, we were not supposed to drink whatever we had bought down into the cabins, we did anyway. This was our pre-party before we went out and ventured on to the ferry's hotspots. It's amazing how many new people you meet when they have had a few drinks. This particularly was rather interesting to me since Fins are naturally very quiet people.
4. Sing karaoke...a.k.a "It's Raining Men". I was so excited for this as I knew this was my moment to shine. Gergely (Hungarian) and I did a duet together which brought the house down. Well I least I thought it did. Seriously, shocking song selection by Smith - that was what killed us, not the singing =/
5. Walk out on the deck. This was seriously amazing. COLD but amazing. I thought I was in Titanic! As we stepped outside into probably -30 conditions, we were surrounded by ice platforms floating on the top of the Baltic Sea. As snow was falling, the picture was drawn. A beautiful and a once in a lifetime experience.
6. Dance the night away. In what Viking Line calls the 'Fun Club', a dance-floor awaits. A performance group singing 80's songs the first night and Michael Jackson the second fills the stage early. People then begin to dance to a live band (mostly the older generation) and then when they go to bed; the young people come out to the sounds of the ferry's resident DJ. When 4:30am hits, we go to bed!
7. Sleep for a few hours. When the few who were left finally got to bed in the early hours of the morning, the cabin's bed facilities were actually quite comfortable. Sleep was needed as we had a big day ahead of us but since we were located at the bottom of the ferry and at the front, this became a very complicated task. My dreams had to contest with the raging sounds of the ferry, crashing through the ice. However, I was able to sleep a little bit.
When we got off the boat, the bus took us to Stockholm, about 3km away. Although it was -12, it didn't feel that cold. There was less snow and ice on the street and more buildings than Helsinki. This may have been the reason. As the group of internationals, we headed directly for the island of the 'old city - Gamla Stan'. One word: beautiful! The streets were all so very old and small and there was a fabulous vibe running through it. It reminded me of a whole suburb of mini 'Degraves st.' back home in Melbourne and I knew my mother would just love it. There were little old cafes tucked away in back streets everywhere; we had to go into one...so we did! We quickly made friends with the owner of the cafe, a Greek/Italian who has lived in Sweden for 26 years. He knew one of the locals from his cafe who was just sitting there sipping his coffee and to our surprise, he asked this guy to take us on a 'tour'. He did! He showed us the narrowest street in the world "Martin Trotzings grand" which is less than 1m wide...amazing! Then we went to see the 'Changing of the National Guard'. That was cool. They change pretty often, every couple of days...I don't blame them when it's so cold! At least they get to move their body, unlike the British royal guards. However, like the British, I did not see them smile once =) or rather =/ Then we went to see the National Gallery and the waterfront. I couldn't leave however, without trying a famous Swedish hot-dog from the many street stands. Tasty.
Stockholm is truly amazing. The streets and the buildings are spectacular and like I mentioned before, there is a better vibe throughout the city than in Helsinki. There are almost double the amount of people and they are way more up-beat. I can now say that I have been to an ever fast increasing total of three countries!
Night two saw the ferry depart Stockholm at 4:30pm for a 9:45am arrival into Helsinki. For a complete list of night two's antics, refer to night one's itinerary, minus the buffet and the karaoke (thank God!). And also note that bedtime this time was around 5:30am!!
I do want to say though, that when we did arrive into Helsinki on Sunday morning, the P.A. lady woke us up with some fantastic news! She began her speech in Finnish, used Swedish for the middle section and completed it with English. The part that I understood was as follows:
"Good-morning ladies and gentleman, the time is currently 9:30am and we are expected to arrive into Helsinki in 15 minutes. Current temperature is currently -3 degrees!"
MINUS 3!!! Amazing! It felt like Summer and this was the sole reason that drew me out of bed!
Whether you have been to Sweden before or you are going for the first time, VIKING LINE is definately recommended.
**Note: Sweden is also highly recommended!
The Famous Swedish Hot-dog Stand!
Ok, so when someone proposes to you that there is a trip planned to travel over to Stockholm (capital of Sweden, for those who don't know) for a maximum of 5.5 hours; most people would probably begin to whine and say how it's not worth it...but me however, I said abso-freakin-loutely! Why?
Well the fact that I have only ever been to one other country in my life (Finland) was one reason but the main reason was the mode of transport to get there! I introduce you to the VIKING LINE: The Baltic Sea's link between Helsinki and Stockholm. A massive ferry that carries a lot of people, houses a karaoke contest, a night club, a casino, pokey machines in every corner with 12 year olds playing them, a tax-free shopping centre (complete with trolleys), a conference centre, the world's biggest buffet (well I thought so), and a fair few restaurants, bars and cafes. For 64 Euro; this was well worth it!
Night one saw the ferry depart from Helsinki at 5:30pm. Expected time of arrival in Stockholm was approximately 10am (local time - one hour behind Finland). This gave us plenty of time to:
1. Take part in an all-you-can-eat-and-drink buffet dinner which comprised of top quality Nordic food. This included: salmon, crayfish, prawns, potato bake, ham, chicken, beef, cheeses, vegetables, chips etc. Then the dessert menu was a whole another level. Chocolate mousse, vanilla slice, hedgehog slice, flavoured sorbet, fruit salad, toppings, brownies and the list goes on! I was in Heaven! After at least four plates of food and three beers, I felt like there was nothing left I could do! Well worth it though...
2. Buy cheap alcohol from the tax-free shop. Well actually, I couldn't because Finnish law says that you have to be at least 20 to be able to purchase spirits so for once, I had to be the minor who gets someone older than them to buy it on their behalf!
3. Consume the alcohol that we bought from the tax-free shop. Although, we were not supposed to drink whatever we had bought down into the cabins, we did anyway. This was our pre-party before we went out and ventured on to the ferry's hotspots. It's amazing how many new people you meet when they have had a few drinks. This particularly was rather interesting to me since Fins are naturally very quiet people.
4. Sing karaoke...a.k.a "It's Raining Men". I was so excited for this as I knew this was my moment to shine. Gergely (Hungarian) and I did a duet together which brought the house down. Well I least I thought it did. Seriously, shocking song selection by Smith - that was what killed us, not the singing =/
5. Walk out on the deck. This was seriously amazing. COLD but amazing. I thought I was in Titanic! As we stepped outside into probably -30 conditions, we were surrounded by ice platforms floating on the top of the Baltic Sea. As snow was falling, the picture was drawn. A beautiful and a once in a lifetime experience.
6. Dance the night away. In what Viking Line calls the 'Fun Club', a dance-floor awaits. A performance group singing 80's songs the first night and Michael Jackson the second fills the stage early. People then begin to dance to a live band (mostly the older generation) and then when they go to bed; the young people come out to the sounds of the ferry's resident DJ. When 4:30am hits, we go to bed!
7. Sleep for a few hours. When the few who were left finally got to bed in the early hours of the morning, the cabin's bed facilities were actually quite comfortable. Sleep was needed as we had a big day ahead of us but since we were located at the bottom of the ferry and at the front, this became a very complicated task. My dreams had to contest with the raging sounds of the ferry, crashing through the ice. However, I was able to sleep a little bit.
When we got off the boat, the bus took us to Stockholm, about 3km away. Although it was -12, it didn't feel that cold. There was less snow and ice on the street and more buildings than Helsinki. This may have been the reason. As the group of internationals, we headed directly for the island of the 'old city - Gamla Stan'. One word: beautiful! The streets were all so very old and small and there was a fabulous vibe running through it. It reminded me of a whole suburb of mini 'Degraves st.' back home in Melbourne and I knew my mother would just love it. There were little old cafes tucked away in back streets everywhere; we had to go into one...so we did! We quickly made friends with the owner of the cafe, a Greek/Italian who has lived in Sweden for 26 years. He knew one of the locals from his cafe who was just sitting there sipping his coffee and to our surprise, he asked this guy to take us on a 'tour'. He did! He showed us the narrowest street in the world "Martin Trotzings grand" which is less than 1m wide...amazing! Then we went to see the 'Changing of the National Guard'. That was cool. They change pretty often, every couple of days...I don't blame them when it's so cold! At least they get to move their body, unlike the British royal guards. However, like the British, I did not see them smile once =) or rather =/ Then we went to see the National Gallery and the waterfront. I couldn't leave however, without trying a famous Swedish hot-dog from the many street stands. Tasty.
Stockholm is truly amazing. The streets and the buildings are spectacular and like I mentioned before, there is a better vibe throughout the city than in Helsinki. There are almost double the amount of people and they are way more up-beat. I can now say that I have been to an ever fast increasing total of three countries!
Night two saw the ferry depart Stockholm at 4:30pm for a 9:45am arrival into Helsinki. For a complete list of night two's antics, refer to night one's itinerary, minus the buffet and the karaoke (thank God!). And also note that bedtime this time was around 5:30am!!
I do want to say though, that when we did arrive into Helsinki on Sunday morning, the P.A. lady woke us up with some fantastic news! She began her speech in Finnish, used Swedish for the middle section and completed it with English. The part that I understood was as follows:
"Good-morning ladies and gentleman, the time is currently 9:30am and we are expected to arrive into Helsinki in 15 minutes. Current temperature is currently -3 degrees!"
MINUS 3!!! Amazing! It felt like Summer and this was the sole reason that drew me out of bed!
Whether you have been to Sweden before or you are going for the first time, VIKING LINE is definately recommended.
**Note: Sweden is also highly recommended!
| 66 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
