Day 7: Farvel København

We started the morning early, but without a solid plan. All we really knew for sure was that our 24-hour cards expired at 1500 and we needed to be at the boat terminal before departure at 1700. I had the idea to use our CPH cards and go into Tivoli to just wander around, so we did. They really are brilliant about admission and such: they charge a small admission fee (much less than say Kings Dominion or Busch Gardens), and then you buy tickets for the rides. Rather than paying a lot for rides you might not ride, you only pay for what you want—WIN!

We spent our last day in Copenhagen exploring Tivoli and I’m very glad we did! It was so quaint and pretty, a surprise oasis in the middle of the city. It was fairly empty, so we walked around casually and took dozens of photos of many beautiful flowers. The park features various floral gardens, music venues, restaurants, as well as the requisite amusement park rides. My favorite was the Dæmonen roller coaster, whose warning signs were enough to send us running in the opposite direction!

The afternoon was soon upon us and lunch became the order of the day. We explored some of the restaurants inside Tivoli, but most were either overpriced, too fancy, or far too meaty. We found one that looked promising and were even seated, but I had a very rare uppity vegetarian moment. Chicken salad was 9 EUR, but the one vegetarian entree (a Quorn cutlet with some sides) was 25 EUR—unacceptable! I realize that vegetarianism is a choice, but I refuse to be financially punished for that choice. We left the park in search of something simpler, cheaper, and quicker, since the day was quickly advancing. Fortunately, I had noticed while leaving the hotel that the sushi buffet we had been to our first night doubled as a deli during the day. We stopped in and found the sandwiches to be appealing and cheap, and the lady even made me a meat-free one. It wasn't terribly substantial, but tasty and would keep us going.

By this time, it was about 1400, so we collected our bags at the hotel and hopped on the 26 bus to the cruise ships. The driver was gesticulating wildly about something regarding the ships, but his English was fairly weak and we just kind of nodded, smiled and sat down. As we traversed city traffic that reminded me of mid-day DC, the sky grew very dark and we got clobbered with a thunderstorm. The rain came down in sheets and it was fairly active electrically as well. The traffic broke free and we headed into a suburban area within sight of the boat terminals.

While on the bus, we passed by everything we saw the day before, plus quick peeks at Amelienborg and the Marble Church, which did look lovely and I was kind of sad we’d missed. We saw more expensive boutiques and more fancy art galleries, thus confirming my view that CPH = NYC, and definitely not my favorite place. I also felt a little ridiculous that we'd walked all over town the day before when the buses obviously could have helped us get around more efficiently (and probably with fewer tears on my part). I'd like to think that if we'd spent less time plodding around the city and more time going to specific destinations, we would have had a better time of it. We got to watch a massive thunderstorm from the safety of the bus, which had luckily abated when the bus driver dropped us off at the corner of nowhere and nowhere, assuring us that the bus stop for the boat terminal was very close.

Here's where it gets interesting. The driver stopped at a station on a side street and, in his broken English (Danglish?), explained that he didn't go all the way to the boats and we would have to catch the NEXT 26 bus to get there, but we would have to walk around the corner to catch it. The next bus wasn't due for another 20 minutes and the sky was threatening again, so we decided we'd continue walking at least to the next bus station, and hopefully find some shelter along the way.

The rain started and my raincoat was packed in my suitcase, but Liz had an umbrella in her bag. We finally reached the next station, which had a slight overhang from the adjacent building for shelter, and stopped to rest for a moment. I had gotten a little mad because, as I looked down, I saw something fly past me and thought Liz had been annoyed and kicking rocks at me, but I didn't say anything (Note: I would never kick rocks at Scott). The bus came and we hauled our now-soaked bags on board, suddenly realizing that we would go one stop to the terminal—about 200 yards. As we got off the bus, I saw something else go flying past my view and came to the sudden and terrifying realization that Liz had not been kicking rocks at me at all: it was pea-sized hail! We sprinted for the door, as fast as one can sprint with forty-pound suitcases in tow.

We’re fairly certain that the second bus driver thought we were insane and/or retarded, but we didn’t care. We were ridiculously early, so we had to just sit around at the terminal for a while, but Scott enjoyed watching the rain and hail on the water outside. The ship for our second voyage, the Crown of Scandinavia, wasn’t as nice as our first one, but by no means shabby. I think its greatest fault was simply being laid out less nicely as the first ship. Our cabin was similar, although in the Crown, we were almost as far at the back of the ship as humanly possible, and have the pictures of the insanely long hallway to prove it. The rain let up and the afternoon got really beautiful for our departure, and we got some great views of the city from the upper deck as we pulled away. A bit further out, we were able to see the Øresund bridge in the distance, and get some blurry shots of it with the camera zoomed to the max!

We had to make “reservations” for the buffet dinner, which left us with time to kill before our seating, so we looked around the ship a bit more and found some comfy chairs to enjoy a few tasty (albeit overpriced) local Danish beers while watching the world go by. The buffet was overpriced and underwhelming, but we lucked into seats right by the window on the port side of the ship, and enjoyed fantastic views of Kronborg Castle in Helsingør (setting of Shakespeare's Hamlet...something is indeed rotten in the state of Denmark!). Scott and I agreed that the chief attraction on this cruise was the view sailing up Oslofjord in the morning, so we opted to go to bed early.

I wish I could say that I loved Copenhagen, but it was just so underwhelming. Maybe I had built it up too much in my mind, but it was crowded, overflowing with Americans, and chaotic. It felt more like an American city than a European one, and there was so much dirt on the buildings and construction everywhere that it was really hard not to feel let down. I’m glad Copenhagen was part of our trip, and there were some really unforgettable and beautiful sights, but on the whole it was less than magical. Here's hoping Oslo gets us back to feeling smitten by Scandinavia!

Day 6: Copenhagen – City of Walking

I think there's only so far we can drive ourselves before cracking, and I think we nearly found the limit today. We got a bit spoiled with the Stockholm weekend breakfast ending at 1100, so we effectively slept through ours today, but that's why we brought Clif bars! We had a fairly good sense of what we wanted to accomplish, so we set out with purpose.

Leaving the room around 10am, we headed for the tourist office to get our city cards. Stopped at an Apotek along the way and found EVERYTHING behind the counter (so that’s what over-the-counter means) and a take-a-number system like the DMV, not to mention a big crowd, so we decided we didn’t need Sudafed that much! Got to the Tourist Info Office and met with another DMV-style scenario, waiting at least 15 minutes to be called.

As I had mentioned, I'd been apprehensive about Copenhagen and the local signage didn't give me much comfort. Inside the tourist information office, where we bought our CPH Cards, there were signs everywhere warning of pick-pockets. My pockets are fine, I'm happy to report, aside from the constant plundering of a strong DKK. We got our cards without incident and headed to Rådhusplasen to start down the highly-recommended Strøget (Stroy-yet: the shopping strand).

Strøget, it seems, is Danish for shopping – stores all along the streets which were swimming with people, far too many of them Americans. A few of the stores had tourist stuff, and some were unfamiliar, but the majority of them were disappointingly familiar: Athlete’s Foot (Chuck Taylors for 499 DKK), H&M, Body Shop. The crowds and commercialism reminded me a lot of NYC, which many people love but I kinda hate.

Having said all of that, there was still plenty to like here. We found a toy store that had a larger-than-life-sized Woody from Toy Story built of LEGO, which stands to reason since Denmark is the birthplace of LEGO. We got many pictures, some touristy-type souvenirs, and continued down Strøget.

Strøget dumps out at Kongens Nytorv, which is a beautiful enormous “square” (it’s really a circle). We sat for a while on a bench watching the mob go by, and noticed that the hordes of people in Danish football paraphernalia, most with Tuborg or Carlsberg in hand, all seemed to be heading to a common destination. National pride was in full bloom today as the Danes were playing their first World Cup qualifying match vs. the Dutch. As we moved to Nyhavn, a charming little harbor in the center of town, we realized that THIS was where most of the football hooligans had been heading, because the crowds were astonishing. We found a quiet spot at an Italian restaurant, had beer and pizza, and basked in the sun; we should both come back with decent tans. Suck on THAT, Caribbean!

Nyhavn was very cute, full of cafés and sliced down the center by a wide canal full of sailboats. It would have been positively charming, if not for the swarm of people, as the horde indeed seemed to be heading somewhere. We figured they must have been showing the match broadcast from South Africa on a large screen somewhere. We settled in at a pizza place as the match started and watched the herd thin out as people either got where they were going or headed back, presumably because it was full. Once the bulk of the crowd had past, Nyhavn became a lot more pleasant, and our lunch was great!

After lunch, we had ice cream at the open end of Nyhavn canal, then walked some side streets toward Christiansborg palace. We got there just in time to see the ruins of the old castle (from 1170 or thereabouts) and the current royal reception rooms. The palace was, thankfully, quite empty, so we had things pretty much to ourselves. The Great Hall, full of modern tapestries, was worth the price of admission and the blue plastic booties they made us wear over our shoes.

On the surface, Christiansborg seemed eerily similar to Sweden's Royal Palace, but there was something unique about it, which we'd find later. First thing, we visited the ruins under the castle. Apparently, this is something like the sixth or seventh different castle built on this spot! The original Havn was built here in the late 1100s, and these were the ruins discovered when the current castle was being built. We went back above ground and were the last two people to tour the castle for the day; it was like the palace was ours for a half-hour. Here, we had one of the most romantic moments of the trip thus far: in the Alexander Room, used for small state functions even to this day, Liz and I shared a waltz as if there had been a lovely gala for just us. Only for THIS woman would I do such a thing!

By this time, our dogs were seriously barking, so we made straight back toward the hotel, but managed to pass Tivoli Gardens in the process. Had we had more time and energy, we might have gone in, but since we had to take several rest breaks along the way, there was no chance. Liz almost cracked (actually, I broke down and cried at one point while sitting on a bench), but we managed to keep ourselves together and reach the hotel for a well-needed respite. Liz napped and I washed socks. Romance? We've got it, baby!

Meals have been somewhat of a struggle for us on this trip, not because we're picky, but because we've often had too many options. After our refreshing break in the room, we turned the other direction down Vesterbrogade and found an Indian-Pakistani restaurant, called Koh-I-Noor, that looked promising. I had mattar paneer (curried peas w/cheese) that was possibly the best I've ever had, garlic naan, and spicy mango pickle. My lips were buzzing and I had happy curry face. Considering Liz's conservative estimate of about 5-6 km walking today, possibly the best feature of this restaurant, however, was that it was about 30 steps from our hotel.

We’re both painfully exhausted, a bit underwhelmed with København it seems, and ready to stop pushing ourselves so hard at sightseeing that we forget to enjoy our honeymoon! The hope is that Oslo will renew our excitement and that we're not suffering European burnout with a full week yet to go.

Day 5: Riding The Rails

Another good and restful night last night. This morning was fairly relaxed because our train didn't leave until 1221, and we didn't have to be out of the hotel until 1200. We had another very nice breakfast at the hotel, and I discovered that breakfast + pickles = WIN. It's not what you'd normally consider breakfast fare, but it just works somehow.

After enjoying another massive breakfast at the hotel, we relaxed in our room for a bit watching Scrubs with Svenska subtitles. We packed our bags – seems to get easier every time – and headed back to the trusty T-bana. We rode to T-Centralen once again (it had been the point of many of our line changes), this time following the signs to the Central Train Station. Scott bought us some snacks and we boarded the train which departed exactly on schedule at 12:21pm. Thankfully, our seats were facing forward.

We headed south out of Stockholm and I was a little sad to see it go. We did get to see the Ericsson Globe as we rode out of town, though, which was wild. The Globe is the largest spherical building in the world, and what's extra crazy about it is that there is a Great Glass Wonkavator that ascends the building ON THE OUTSIDE, giving you an ass-puckering panorama of the city. Part of me wishes we'd had time to do it, but then the rational side of me remembers that I'm not the largest fan of heights.

It didn't take very long before we were in the countryside, since Europe doesn't really have suburbs in the American sense. What a picturesque nation Sweden is: the barn-red and mustard-yellow farms, lush, green pastures, dense pine forests, crystal blue lakes and rivers. It was all going by too quickly to photograph effectively, but I did manage to snap a few. The whole trip, but this day in particular, has had me thinking about how hollow American life is. I'll keep the soapboxing to a minimum; suffice to say I spent most of the ride in quiet contemplation, but far from sad or angsty. It was mostly about how to simplify and improve our lives—a noble aspiration, wouldn't you say?

The scenery was nice – like Maine at first, very rocky and dotted with pines, then easing into rolling hills and leafy trees. We went through several small towns, all full of cute little cottages with cute little gardens. While riding through the picturesque countryside, my thoughts wandered. First I thought about People-to-People back in ’98 and the almost-romance I had. Looking back, I really only remember snapshots of that adrenaline-filled-heart-pounding-near-breathlessness of a few choice moments, especially the night cruise on the Seine. I think we may have held hands, or maybe linked arms, or maybe just stood very close. I remember feeling an electricity and anticipation. What I don’t remember is what we talked about, who he was as a person, or even really what he looked like, apart from that one photo of us with Suzy at the top of the Eiffel Tower – I remember the photo more than the moment it captured.

It felt odd to think about this while sitting next to my new husband, but the reality is that those memories, those experiences, got me to where I could meet him and find this life. I often wonder who I would’ve been if different things had happened: if I had a boyfriend in high school…if I hadn’t had the car accident soon after P-to-P…if I hadn’t gained the weight…if I hadn’t gone to Hollins…the list just goes on. But these thoughts are usually based on the mistaken assumption that my life would be better now for taking those different turns. What I realized today on the train was that I wouldn’t trade what I have now for anything. The future I have with Scott is the “happy ending” I always thought my life would’ve had if I’d done things differently. Turns out I made all the right choices and ended up here, with the love of my life, on our honeymoon!

And now for the second great fail of the trip: we had lunch on the train, or rather Liz had lunch on the train while I dined on failure. The train had a bistro car, so about halfway through the trip, I went forward to investigate. I got Liz some köttbullar and found a lasagna for myself. It's tough to read the ingredients list when they're all in Swedish and, although I should have, I didn't ask the attendant for help. Yeah, meat sauce aplenty. At least the Coca-Cola was safe.

To our great surprise, our train seemed to go only as far as Malmö, so we unexpectedly had to change trains there. I did have a brief moment of panic, not knowing whether or not our tickets would transfer or whether we would have seats together. To borrow from Henry Rollins, this one seemed to be “The People's Train”: side seating, no luggage space and, like the earlier train, it was “The Cranky Baby Express.” We weren't on it for long, thankfully, as we crossed Øresund and, in a matter of minutes, we were in København Central, only blocks away from our hotel. Interestingly, no passport control or customs that we could see. I'm figuring that because the countries are mostly part of the EU, there are agreements in place for land and sea transports.

It could hardly have been easier to find our hotel, but our room was another story. Three corridors took us around the inner atrium, and then we were finally “home.” When we reached the room, I discovered that three days of boat and rail travel, coupled with the use of my prescription sunglasses, had completely wrecked my equilibrium and I was SURE that the hotel was moving. I tried laying down to reset the sensors, but the springy bed wasn't helping. I boosted my allergy meds to try and calm things down and got a shower, which renewed my spirits a bit.

It was getting to be about dinner time, so we set off with only one thing in mind: SUSHI. About a block down Vesterbrogade, we found a revolving sushi buffet. Score! Everything was fantastic and I even tried kimchi for the first time—interesting, but in a good way. I got brave and had a couple slices of crab roll with roe on the outside. It was a little spendy at 159 DKK each ($1 USD ~ 6 DKK), but I definitely think we got our money's worth. I think we've both had our fill of today, so it's bed soon. Tomorrow will be fairly light because most of the attractions seem to be closed on Mondays. We may just wander a bit to see what there is to see.

Day 4: All-Day Stockholm

After a sound sleep, thanks largely to a desk fan -- oh glorious white noise -- and black-out shades built into the window panes (because, well, they need them here. It was actually a little too much and made getting up harder to do because, although it was about 0845, it felt like the middle of the night), we made our way down to the smörgåsbord. The hotel’s lobby had been transformed into an enormous restaurant, where literally hundreds of people were enjoying the extensive buffet. Having visited Europe before, I was prepared for the cultural differences with respect to breakfast, but Scandinavian breakfast takes things to another level. The usual suspects are always represented: boiled eggs, various bread and rolls, sliced meats and cheeses, yogurt and granola or other cereals, and of course coffee, tea, and juices. Sweden, and indeed all of Scandinavia, expands on these staples with smoked salmon, pickled herring in various preparations, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, various pickles and sometimes beets, plus scrambled eggs, sausages and/or bacon!

Following the indulgent breakfast, we ventured out to see more of Stockholm. Objective: Djurgården. Since Djurgården and Skeppsholmen are islands, there were undoubtedly small boats in our future. I had done pretty well with the cruise ships because, well, they didn't FEEL like boats, but the ferries in the harbor were likely to be a different story. Also, the weather was less than perfect with gray, drizzly skies and a not insignificant breeze, so the harbor was likely to be on the choppy side. We took the T-bana to the Kungsträdgården station (which was one of the cooler T stations we went through, with faux ruins and a beautiful ceiling) and walked up to Nybroplan for the Hop-On Hop-Off Sightseeing boats. I already love our Stockholm Cards or, as I like to call them, our “Everything's Fucking Free Cards,” because we just flashed the cards at the ferry crew and they directed us on board. The boat itself looked small but was actually fairly sizeable on the inside, and the trip across the harbor was so short that I never had time to get seasick.

We had hoped to go directly to the Vasa Museum stop on Djurgården and start our tour there, but the boat took us directly to Skeppsholmen. We later found out that all ferry service to that dock had been temporarily suspended for—you guessed it—the Royal Wedding. Skeppsholmen had been on our to-do list anyway, so we went ahead and headed toward the Moderna Museet (Museum of Modern Art), which was far more interesting than Helsinki’s Kiasma. We walked around Skeppsholmen for a while, postulating on what its purpose had been based on the buildings. Given its attachment to Kastellholmen and the utilitarian look of the buildings, we figure it must have either been barracks for the Kastellet fortification or some kind of government outpost.

The collection at Moderna Museet included truly contemporary works, as well as pieces from the twentieth century. The collection was more extensive than Kiasma, and since it wasn’t solely contemporary art, it wasn’t nearly as full of bullshit. I honestly didn't last long there because many of the exhibits mirrored pieces we had recently seen at home in the National Gallery's East Wing, most notably the Matisse cut-outs. I figured we should see things that we could only find here, so we only did about half of the museum. One piece I particularly enjoyed was a massive dark blue half sphere, open on one side and hollow like a little cave or a nest. Standing directly in front of the piece, the back of the cave was lost in darkness, and the sculpture seemed very cosy and inviting, like you could curl up there and take a nap. I was very proud when I discovered the piece was indeed titled Mother as a Void, by Anish Kapoor, the same artist behind the ginormous reflective kidney bean (actual title: Cloud Gate) in Chicago’s Millennium Park.

We boarded the ferry yet again and traveled to the more southern port on Djurgården at Gröna Lund, the Tivoli amusement park. It definitely had a Kings Dominion-esque feel to it and, although our EFF Cards would have gotten us in free (because that's what they do!), we wanted to see more history. The museums on Djurgården were now uphill from us and we disagreed briefly over whether to walk or take the tram, a discussion ultimately rendered moot; we discovered that the historic tram line that still operates only on Djurgården was down for track maintenance. It also seemed that they were extending the T-bana onto the island, so the tram will probably be relegated to museum status by the end of the summer. That left one option: walking. We schlepped up the hill past the Vasa Museum and the small medicinal garden behind it (which contained hops!!) to the Nordiska Museet.

We hit the Nordic first and had lunch there. The café was situated in the great hall of the museum, which was a treat in and of itself, and the food was good, too: I had a Rostbiffsalat, which had sliced roast beef, olives, pickles, and potatoes in addition to the usual salad components. The museum itself is a massive Neo-Gothic hall with round skylights in the ceiling, and would be very impressive for its architecture if nothing else. The highlight of the museum was an exhibit on plastic, featuring something like 3,000 pieces of Tupperware and the like that was owned by a single collector. They had the impressive array set up in clear plastic cases (of course) in the hall of the museum and organized by color group, so it had the overall effect of a large plastic rainbow. The plastic exhibit also included other objects, but the rainbow of objects was a stand-out favorite.

Who'd have thought an exhibit on plastic would be so interesting? Their collection featured more than 3000 pieces of historic plastic-ware through the 20^th century, from celluloid film to Bakelite on up to more modern plastics like ABS, including one of my personal favorites, LEGO bricks. It also explored the ecological and environmental impacts of plastic and its proliferation and was quite fascinating, despite outward appearance. Another very interesting exhibit in the museum was the Sami culture of Arctic Sweden (Lapland) and how the Swedes have treated them much as we Americans have treated the Native Americans. It was rather tragic how the Sami culture has been systematically expunged from Sweden through bureaucratic means, but heartening to see how they've still thrived in the barren north despite the prejudice. Progress is being made in preserving the culture, but it stands much as the civil rights movement did in the late 60s here. Fascinating as all of this was, the building was the real feature of the museum; it was very grand with a large statue of Gustav Vasa in the entry hall and the Tre Kronor directly under the tower.

Next we hit the Vasa ship museum, a fantastic structure built to house the Vasa, a ship who sank on her maiden voyage on August 10, 1628 and was found and raised in the late 1950s. The ship itself was amazing – felt like we were in Goonies! She was meant to have been a warship, so she is a massive ship, and something about the salinity of the water in Stockholm harbor preserved the wood in such a way that 90% of the display is from the wreckage; my guess is that the other 10% was the rigging, which did not fare as well as the wood under water for 300 years. They actually had pieces of the rope and the sails on display under glass, and I do not envy the person whose job it was to reconstruct the jigsaw puzzle of ridiculously thin 300 year old cloth.

What a ship it was—pity she didn't make it out of the harbor on her maiden voyage. The story goes that, due to a tragic design flaw, the ship didn't carry enough ballast and when a sudden squall had the ship listing, she took water through the gun ports and sank just off the island of Becksholmen, still in Stockholm harbor. She was salvaged and brought to dry-dock at Djurgården, where a building was erected around her for preservation and as a museum. Both the ship and the building were magnificent. I guess I had always known, in abstract, that the old warships were big, but now I know just how big and it was mind-blowing. The Vasa was at the same time awe-inspiring, tragic, and funny—what a design flaw!

We headed back to Gröna Lund to catch the ferry again (the last ferry, as it turned out). I had the idea that, rather than wandering aimlessly around Kungsholmen (a rather suburban bit of Stockholm) seeking dinner like last night, we should see what we could find on Gamla Stan, since the ferry was headed there anyway; there seemed to be hundreds of restaurants nestled into those narrow streets. We could then catch the T-bana back to the hotel and not have to worry that the ferries had stopped for the day. After a rather scenic ride, we circled around the southern end of the island and headed up a random street, looking at menus as we went, but it was our noses that made the selection. The wafting aroma of köttbullar (Swedish meatballs) ensnared us. We headed down some steps and ended up in a cellar with some of the best food we'd had yet on the trip. I had a mixed salad, then poached cod with egg and parsley sauce and new potatoes with dill. The sauce might be illegal in some of the more conservative states back home! I still can't remember the name of the place (I've since learned it's called von der Lindeska Valvet), so I made Liz take a picture.

I had the full Swedish culinary experience. I had an appetizer of reindeer mousse with caviar on a dense bread, then meatballs with gravy, potatoes, and lingonberries, all of which was delicious. We decided to continue the awesome with ice cream in freshly made waffle cones. The ice cream vendors cleverly positioned their waffle irons next to open windows along Västerlånggatan, so the heavenly scents would bring people in despite the cool weather. It started out a bit drizzly, but culminated in pretty significant winds, which made us look a little ridiculous holding ice cream cones, but we didn’t care. I enjoyed a scoop of apple cinnamon and a scoop of marzipan chocolate, and mine was a swirl of vanilla, pear, and strawberry. Yeah.

Since most of the shops on Gamla Stan had already closed, we made our way back down to the T-bana. There's a grocery INSIDE the station! I had seen that there was some kind of shop down there on previous trips through, but I guess I figured it was some sort of newsstand or convenience store, but it's a full grocery. We went in and looked around for things that were uniquely Swedish (namely some sort of horrific preserved fish in some strange sauce for Liz's dad), and it didn't take long. I thought it had just been a Think Geek April Fools' Day joke, but I'll be damned if they didn't have squeeze bacon in a tube! Fortunately, we were able to get a picture of it. The T-bana is full of surprises: in the Rådhuset station, there's an Eritrean restaurant. Try to imagine for a moment putting a three- or four-star restaurant in one of the subterranean Metro stations here.

We both loved Stockholm, despite our exhaustion and squabbles, and in spite of the mercurial and unfriendly weather. I can only imagine what it would be like to visit Stockholm on a day like our second day in Helsinki. Thankfully, tomorrow’s adventure will require far less walking, and be less affected by the weather, as we have a six hour train ride to København. København (Köpenhamn, to the Swedes) has me a bit apprehensive, but I've been proven wrong several times already on this trip.

Day 3: Arrival in Stockholm

It was a bit confusing waking up this morning since, at some point during the night, we crossed from Finland time to Sweden time. All of the ship's clocks are set on Finland time, but the cruise programs were all in “Local Time”, so we had no idea. Thanks to this confusion and due to my paranoia about missing breakfast, I was up at 0645 in (as it turned out) Sweden time. After dragging me out of bed at 8am, Scott and I had a pleasant (albeit obscenely crowded) breakfast at the ship’s buffet. We hit the upper deck just in time to see the ship pull in to port while standing on the bow in the rain. The morning was gray and drizzly but the coastline was still grand. Liz said it was like the Canadian maritime provinces only more so. One of my favorite moments of the trip so far was pulling into the harbor and docking while Liz and I stood on the bow of the ship in the rain watching it all happen. It was definitely one of those “how cool is this?” moments.

After disembarking, we were somewhat surprised and a little disappointed that we didn't have to go through passport control or customs—I want my stamps, damn it! We walked out of the terminal, luggage in tow, through the rain looking for the subway station. We thought it prudent to follow the rest of the crowd from the terminal as there had to be somebody in the group that knew where they were going. Eventually, after a rather unpleasant uphill schlep, we found the Tunnelbana, or T-bana. We activated the Stockholm cards that we had purchased on board and headed down to the trains. It was clear very quickly that Sweden would be a little different.

Whereas Helsinki signs and maps typically offered Finnish, Swedish and English, Stockholm pretty much only gives you Swedish with the occasional smattering of English where they feel it's really important (like train safety). Also, the currency is rather different here. The Euro is on par with the US Dollar in terms of conversion—usually a factor of 1 EUR to 1.3 USD—but the Swedish Krona (SEK) differs by an order of magnitude: 1 EUR is approximately 10 SEK.

The T-bana is very clean, efficient, easy to navigate, and cool: each station has different kinds of art or design that we managed to get some pictures of. We discovered, much to our pleasure, that the Rådhuset (Road-hew-set: Court House) station came up right under our hotel, so we would be able to access the city with the greatest of ease. It was, surprise surprise, too early (at 10:30am) to check in, but thankfully, they had no problems holding our bags for us until check-in. We rested in the lobby for a few minutes, made a plan for the day, and headed back to the T-bana to visit the old town (Gamla stan).

The old city is quite a sight. Liz pointed out that this was my first REAL taste of Old Europe: cobbled streets, narrow alleys, strange small doors and curious shops (possibly even shoppes) were literally everywhere you could look. We didn't really have any set agenda for the afternoon, so we just kind of wandered through the streets looking at whatever there was to see. As we approached the noon hour, we both started to think about lunch and started a specific search for restaurants, and we didn't have to look for long.

Just a few steps into Gamla stan, we found the self-proclaimed only vegetarian/vegan restaurant in the old town, (Hermitage Vegetarian Restaurant, the only veggie restaurant on Gamla Stan. w00t!!) so naturally we had to stop there for lunch. Their lunch buffet was small, but good: vegetable korma, kasha salad with corn, pasta salad with olives, hummus, mixed greens, and some kind of veggie latke thing (large veggie cakes that looked like overgrown falafel, but tasted like stuffing). I noticed during lunch that the restaurant had several fleece blankets in baskets or hung over the backs of chairs, available to anyone who felt cold sitting there. It seemed like a nice, homey gesture, and turned out to be very prevalent throughout Scandinavia.

After lunch we were headed toward the Royal Palace when we heard lots of noise and marching; we reached the edge of the main Palace courtyard just in time for the elaborate changing of the guard ceremony! It never even entered my mind that we might see something like this here, so I was thrilled. In the courtyard, they had the Royal Guards and the Mounted Band (one of the last in the world, apparently) performing a ceremony that only takes place in summer. I was riveted; I stood agape at the spectacle of these soldiers performing on horseback—one hand on the instrument, one hand on the reins—with the Flip video camera we'd borrowed from Mom for nearly a half-hour. I've seen marching bands before, but this was a whole new level (it was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen).

After the performance was over, we walked through the courtyard only to find that the Royal Apartments were closed due to the impending Royal Wedding—a theme that would dog us throughout our visit. We took a few pictures and walked down the south face to the Palace Chapel, which was lovely and comparatively understated (the Palace was constructed during the “France is the standard by which all things are measured” period of history, so it has a mini-Versailles quality to it), and down into the Royal Treasury, which contained the Swedish Crown Jewels in all of their sickening splendor. I say sickening not to imply that I wasn't impressed or didn't enjoy seeing them, but rather to impress just how far beyond “jewelry” these things really are. Lastly, we went through the Armory which has been converted to a museum containing everything from regalia and coaches to arms and armor and even an exhibit on royal pets throughout the years. Seeing all of this really drove home the point that this was my first visit to a sovereign state.

After seeing what there was to see in the Palace, we crossed back through the square to visit the cathedral (Storkyrkan). Although not as jaw-dropping as the big Gothic cathedrals, this was still damn awesome. The style was called Brick Gothic, and the “skeleton” of the vaulted ceiling was visible in red brick on the plastered ceiling. The altar was a massive piece in carved ebony with silver, and the royal pews were beautifully decorated. Storkyrkan was the site of the ever-present royal wedding, which took place on July 19.

While in Storkyrkan, Liz and I both lit candles for loved ones that we miss, mine specifically for my grandparents who both passed last August. We continued back down the hill, feet aching, through Stortorget (the city square) and down to Tyska Kyrkan (the German church) which, admittedly, was much grander outside than in. Some of the features, though, were still pretty amazing, like the golden pipe organ and the strange glassed-in room just to the left of the altar. What we later found out was that we had intended to go to the Riddarholmskyrkan, the oldest church in Stockholm, rather than the Tyska Kyrkan, but we weren't disappointed having seen the latter.

Gamla stan was so quaint with its narrow cobbled streets – I think I took a picture at every intersection! We found the fuss over the royal wedding really entertaining, as they have paraphernalia in every shop. They have commemorative plates, spoons, tins, magnets, pins, and the really amusing stuff like “official royal wedding chocolate” and special tea towels! I was holding out for the royal wedding commemorative shot glass or cigarette lighter, but apparently the Swedes are too classy for that.

Now completely exhausted, we re-boarded the T-bana and went back to the hotel, where we could finally check in. Our room, like our room in Helsinki, is simple but not ghetto. It's not exactly luxury, but it's not the Super 8 either. After a shower for me and a quick nap for Liz (I promptly passed out for a solid 45 minutes), we set out in search of dinner. We strolled around the island of Kungsholmen reading menus on the many restaurants we found before finally deciding on Dolce Vita, not far from our hotel. Simply wow. I had freshly-made fettucine with olives, feta, peppers, and a spicy tomato sauce. I ate myself senseless. I even got to try one of the local Swedish beers, Åbro, which wasn't bad. I had spinach-ricotta tortellonis (the three largest tortelloni I had ever seen) with a mild gorgonzola sauce. All was quite delicious, as was the assorted gelato I had for desert, which included a coconut flavor, a fresh strawberry variety, and a tasty mystery flavor…the gelato was kind of yellow-orange in color, and Scott noted a fruity taste while I picked up a decidedly nutty flavor…perhaps marzipan mango?).

Poor Scott had been up since 6:45am (we had planned to hit the breakfast buffet on the ship before the crowds got bad, but I refused to get up), so we went to bed fairly early in anticipation of a very full day exploring more of Stockholm.

Addendum: As we were preparing for bed, we saw the spot where Liz misjudged the seat in Heathrow and she now has an EPIC bruise on her thigh. There will be pictures!

Day 2: Helsinki and a Boat

Woke up once during the brief period of semi-darkness that passes for night (11pm to 4am), then again after dawn, but slept for the most part fairly well until after 8am after going to bed at 9pm! More importantly, Scott got some solid sleep at last, and was back to acting like himself again.

Oh, glorious sleep!

I woke up this morning shortly after 0800 and was a bit groggy, but none the worse for wear. We went back down to the hotel's restaurant, Lastu, for our breakfast, and it was a nice buffet, even if my stomach wasn't quite ready for it. We did discover a wonderful thing, though: Finnish Rice Pasties. They're these fantastic little pastry-type tartlet things made of a pouch of rye dough filled with what could be described as baked rice pudding, only not sweet, and served with an egg butter. They were very tasty and became comfort food rather quickly.

After breakfast, we set out to explore more of the city, and set off first to stow our luggage at the ship terminal since that was going to be our ultimate destination. I was oddly a bit mentally foggy (and therefore a little bitchy) at first, which caused a bit of concern, but we made our way aboard the tram and through town to the terminal.

Riding the trams we had seen zooming around the day before gave a very different perspective on Helsinki. Our tram took a route through previously unvisited parts of town, and whizzed us through familiar parts so that we had a good sense of how close most things in town were to one another. The tram took us past Kiasma and the Central Railway Station, which was literally just a block or two past where we had turned around yesterday, and then down past the big cathedral, then around the harbor market and up the hill to the Olympiaterminaali.

After a slight hiccup getting checked in at the empty terminal (a stark contrast to how it would look in the afternoon, the agent assured us), we were able to stow our bags in the storage room/office of the tiny convenience store in the terminal and head back to the tram. We decided to ride all the way back to the Central Railway Station and make our way back toward the harbor on foot. I had seen the Station in photographs, and briefly from the tram as we passed through, but seeing the masterpiece grow larger as we got closer made me realize how impressive and beautiful the structure really is. The style is kind of a fusion of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, and the proliferation of architectural styles in Helsinki makes everything seem kind of like a movie set, or like Ayn Rand wrote the entire city! Brick and granite, linear and geometric adornments…then turn around and the Neoclassical Ateneum is across the street!

Once again, the architecture really made this city stand out; there is art in its simplicity. That's not to say that it's dull, though. The railway station is red-brick Nouveau, with its neon signs, clock tower, and statue lights; Ateneum is neo-classical perfection, not unlike the NY Public Library; the office buildings surrounding the square are the typical sanitary, steel and glass monoliths, but as I said before, it doesn't seem to clash.

After some furious touristing and the clicking of many shutters, we meandered up the street ahead of us. We could have gone over an additional block to the main street we had seen on the tram, but it seemed like a very busy shopping strand and we didn't have time to get caught in crowds—the cruise leaves at 1700. We soon found ourselves on the western side of Tuomiokirkko, the Lutheran cathedral and dominant landmark of the city. To limit the flower prose, it was breathtaking. Verdigris domes adorned with golden crosses and painted golden stars, bright white columns (I'd say marble, but I didn't get close enough to know for sure), and some rather imposing steps. Inside was very staid and subdued, but undoubtedly a beautiful place of worship.

The striking beauty of Tuomiokirkko lies in its magnificent scale, rather than in the details, as with Gothic cathedrals. A few blocks away, in striking contrast to Tuomiokirkko, lay the equally magnificent Uspenskin katedralii, which also managed to tower over the city like a mighty fortress. It was truly breathtaking in its 19th Century grandeur and ornate Eastern Orthodox interior.

For as simple as Tuomiokirkko was, Uspenski was quite the opposite. Eastern Orthodox churches tend to be much more ornate, and Uspenski follows that tradition quite adequately with its golden “onion” domes and the intricate artworks within. Sadly, we weren't allowed to photograph inside, but it's quite inspiring. Uspenski is also atop a knoll with a fairly good view of the harbor and the southern parts of the city, so Liz and I paused in the grass to take it all in. Our agenda for the trip was quite ambitious, so it was imperative that, every now and then, we stopped what we were doing to remember where we were and why we were there.

The path up to Uspenski from the street was shaded with trees and lilac bushes, so we paused a while to rest on grassy slope and enjoy the lovely weather. The day was so perfect, with pleasant temperatures and a gorgeous blue sky with hardly a cloud to be seen. We ended up paying the price for this weather by sporting awkward-looking sunburns for the following few days, but it was completely worth it. After taking some artsy upside-down photos of the Cathedral, we made our way down to the market square and through the stalls of products for sale. At the far end of the market, vendors had fresh produce of all kinds, and we vowed to get some of the luscious looking fresh fruit to sample after lunch.

The harbor itself is a hive of activity, with ferries going in every direction and massive cruise ships seemingly at every turn, but the activity isn't all in the water. Kauppatori (Cow-pat-tor-ee: Market Square) lies on the northern shore of the main harbor, and it's a huge open air market for everything from fresh seafood and produce to handmade jewelry and artwork of all sorts. We wandered through the tents for a bit, just to explore what was being offered, before stopping for lunch at one of the food tents.

We found a row of stalls selling traditional dockside lunches, all prepared on enormous griddles with all the food sharing the same oils and heat. Thank God Scott decided to start eating fish, or this trip would already have proven difficult! He had read online about the salmon soup (Lohikeitto) available at one of the vendors, which he sampled with gusto. I tried the more standard offering of fried goodness piled high on a paper plate. My lunch included little anchovy-sized whitefish (fried up and served whole with a garlic cream sauce), a fish cake, huge salmon filet, battered squid rings, small yellow potatoes, snap peas, and paella! After lunch, we hit a few shops and stocked up on touristy essentials like t-shirts and hats, then hit the produce end of the market for the most delicious fresh berries. We sat by the fountain to enjoy our berries and marvel at the beautiful city, nearly losing track of time and having to rush back to the terminal (at which point, naturally, the tram took forever to arrive) to board the boat.

The boat.

I had been stressing about the cruises for a while now, given my tendency toward panic attacks upon leaving dry land. I don't get motion sick or anything, but I've never been a water person and being surrounded by it is rather unsettling. There was no turning back, though, so I stuck my chin out and boarded. Since we had checked in early, boarding was no problem and there was no real queue, so we got straight to our cabin (no evil room number this time). The only real downer here is that Liz and I will have to sleep in separate beds, but we kind of expected that. We cast off right on time (Liz said she'd punch me if I don't stop using nautical terms) and as we left the dock and headed out into open water, I waited for the panic to set in. It never came. Shockingly, I was really enjoying the cruise.

Finland has a stunningly beautiful coastline: innumerable rocky islands and outcrops roll by with staggering frequency. It was somewhat bittersweet watching Helsinki fade into the distance, because, aside from it being my first real European experience, it is a very friendly and engaging city that we both agreed was short-changed on this trip. I think that if we ever get back to this part of Europe again, Helsinki will most certainly get the attention it deserved.

The cruise ship was quite impressive: it had a massive atrium with cabins overlooking the promenade, which was lined with duty-free shopping, a full casino/nightclub and several restaurants and cafes. For dinner, we opted for the seafood restaurant, which had the not-at-all Finnish name, The Happy Lobster. It certainly made my mouth happy, though. I had parmesan-encrusted halibut with a port wine sauce, potatoes in a lemon-dill cream sauce and asparagus. I enjoyed seared tuna with wasabi butter, asparagus, parsnip puree, and black garlic. Fantastic!

Afterwards, we decided to take our notebooks up on deck, reflect on the day, and settle in to watch the Nordic summer sunset. As of 9:45pm, the sun had only just barely started to sink and turn orange. As we watched over the next hour, we were treated to a gorgeous sunset, and took dozens of pictures to capture the romantic moment.

Day 1: Heathrow to Helsinki

As I mentioned, 0510 came disgustingly early, especially considering my internal clock still said Midnight. If there's one thing I'm good at, though, it's soldiering on when there's a task at hand. We mercifully left the cramped, stuffy cabin behind and headed for the flight. Thanks to some careful planning and skillful execution, we got checked in, through security, had time for a spot of breakfast (though I discovered that I'm still not ready for smoked salmon), and still reached the gate with twenty minutes to spare. The airport was so quiet in the early Wednesday morning. My day was made by the unexpected delight of two minutes outdoors under steely London dawn sky as we came up from one terminal to enter another. As I'm sure you know, I'm a major aviation geek, so I took some of the extra time we had to slink down the terminal a bit and photograph the Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 two gates down. What an incredibly large aircraft that thing is!

We boarded the flight to Helsinki, and it was pretty wide open; at one point, Liz stretched across the three seats opposite us and dozed for a few moments. I stubbornly sat next to my lovely husband in our ridiculously tiny seats for most of the flight before realizing that nobody’s feelings would be hurt if I stretched out in the empty row of three seats across the aisle from us. Too late did I lie down and doze off, since we began descending almost as soon as I got comfortable. The flight itself was uneventful, though I nearly left my passport in the seat pocket. Though I blamed this on sleep deprivation, it was one of three near misses with my memory. Thank God Liz has a good head on her shoulders, or I'd still be lost in Europe somewhere.

As we approached for landing, Scott and I crowded at the plane’s window looking down at the most incredible landscape. Dipping below the clouds it was like nothing either of us had ever seen – THOUSANDS of islands of all sizes and shapes for miles in every direction. I had read about Stockholm’s archipelago but hadn’t bothered to discover that the coast of Finland is just as amazing. We took a few pictures from the plane, but what we captured barely did justice to what it was like to see all these tiny islands feathered out across the sea.

After landing, we disembarked onto the tarmac and boarded a bus to be shuttled to the main terminal. The airport itself was surprisingly small – I guess because it was international, I expected Vantaa to be on a scale comparable with Dulles or Heathrow, but it was really more like Roanoke! We went through passport control, then picked up our bags from one of three carousels, going through a door marked “customs” but encountering no personel or questions…quite different from how it would be in the States. In truth we had no issues with security or customs at any of the three airports we visited – people really need to stop complaining. Of course, I do feel like I’m in some futuristic Orwellian film when I stand in those lines, take off my shoes, and hand over my papers to some government ape…but that’s beside the point.

Our first real challenge of the trip came at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. Our travel agents, Nordic Visitor, arranged for taxi service from Vantaa to Helsinki, since it's about 17km outside of the city center, but, unfortunately, the driver they sent spoke very little English. Liz had to stop at the WC on the way out, leaving me with the poor fellow, and, being me, I tried to make conversation with the guy. After three tries at “How are you?”, I gave up. It made the ride into Helsinki a little awkward, although he kindly left the radio on an all-American disco station, presumably for our benefit (but who can be sure). We reached our hotel and found that the desk clerks were much more skilled in English.

Now, rewind the tape a bit to Heathrow and the YOTEL where we were given Cabin 13. I'm not much of a numerologist and I don't tend to be superstitious, so this didn't really strike me as odd. When we checked into our hotel in Helsinki, the Scandic Continental, and the receptionist apologized for the room number, I must have shot her a strange look. She handed me the key cards to room 666, and I started to fear a pattern.

Blearily, we ascended to the sixth floor and entered the room, which was very nice with a lovely view of Töölönlahti (Tuh-lun-la-tea: Töölö bay). When we reached the hotel room at last, I thought for sure that Scott was going to have a full on panic attack – once again, the room was hot and stuffy, he’d barely slept in two days, hardly eaten, and he looked like he would either pass out or cry. Luckily, showers are like reset buttons, and we both stayed human long enough to get rinsed off and head out to explore near the hotel. The park across the street and the bay were lovely, as was the skyline it revealed. Even Creepy Speedo Guy didn't spoil the scenery. It was beginning to hit me: I had finally really made it to Europe, and it was a nice place.

Helsinki is a very cool city with some amazing architecture. Blends of Old Europe, Art Deco and Nouveau, and modern Scandinavia seem to somehow meld into a very pleasing whole. We walked down through the park to Finlandia Hall, which is much touted, but somewhat bland comparatively. Up on the other side of Mannerheimintie (Mahn-er-haim-in-tyeh: the main boulevard through Helsinki) stood the National Museum, which was remarkable. It was never completely clear if it had been made out of a renovated church or had just been built to emulate one, but it was spot on either way. We got some great photos of the tower against the perfect blue sky.

Helsinki was odd but completely charming. Cars, trams, bicycles, buses, pedestrians and dogs filled Mannerheimentie, but a few steps further and we were in the beautiful park beside Töölö bay. Lilacs bloomed everywhere, and their scent mixed with the diesel fuel in the crisp air; cool breeze, clear blue sky, nature and city in harmony. We found ourselves drawn further and further, past Finlandia Hall and the National Museum, past the Parliament house, until we reached the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, where we paid too many € for lunch and bullshit disguised as art.

They had a cafe, which was fortunate, and the food was tasty, if small, and, like all restaurant food here, expensive. The museum itself, however, was quite a letdown. The exhibits were sparse and poorly arranged, and the art was, well, not that good. The one thing that stuck out in my mind was the video of an artist (a round woman with a blond bowl cut entirely too reminiscent of Augustus Gloop from Willy Wonka) sitting stone-faced in a chair, while two people misted her with water from spray bottles. It was supposed to extol the virtues of mist and fog which we're losing to global warming or some such hippie nonsense, but it was mostly just annoying. The one honestly cool thing in Kiasma was the “ribbon forest”. An artist had welded a number of metal grids together and strung multi-colored ribbons from the suspended grid hanging to the floor, and patrons were invited to walk through. It was like color attacking you from all sides, but softly. Definitely a highlight of an otherwise forgettable stop.

We trudged back to the hotel, kind of regretting having walked so far in our earlier excitement, and had a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant. I had a strange sort of upscale interpretation of a Big Mac with tomatoes and tsatziki, while Scott had a halloumi "burger." The day was still raging on, along with the traffic outside our window, at 8:30pm as we headed for bed. After our travels and the change in time zones (Helsinki is GMT +2), we were lucky to have made it that late!