Angers, a Norman wedding, and home sweet home...

After our short but sweet stay in Luxemburg, it was time to carry on, as we had a wedding to attend on the Saturday, in Alençon (the plan was to arrive there on Friday, since we had a hotel booked for the night). After considering various options, we decided to make a detour to Angers, to say hi to Joel and Francoise; even if Angers isn’t exactly on the way.

After speeding down the efficient French highway network, we arrived in Angers late afternoon. Great to see Joel and Francoise again; Francoise’s grandchildren Titouan and Colin were there to brighten up the mood as well. We spent a very nice day or so there, taking it easy (and, erm, taking my suit to the drycleaners – it was starting to look a bit worse for wear after two weddings already this summer)…

Friday afternoon, after a nice family lunch, we set the course for Alençon, and arrived without incident an hour and a half later. After checking in at the hotel, we headed out to explore the town. Alençon is a city which made its fortune on lace – so it has quite a dignified air, for a town of its size. The most famous daughter of Angers is one Sainte Thérèse (a nun who died at the young age of 24, who was famous for her autobiography, “Story of a soul”). This is where Mathilde was born, and grew up, before she moved to Angers. So for her, walking around town was an experience which seemed to bring back nice memories (apparently the place has changed quite little over the past 15 years, which is unusual in these fast-paces times…).

After a bit of walking and restaurant-hunting, we ended up having a nice meal in a nice brasserie near the old town. We wanted to have a dink after the meal, but really struggled to find any nice bars with people in them – and this was a Friday night?? So we ended up having a drink in the Hotel Ibis bar, where we were staying… And we had the place all to our selves – well, at least we had privacy ;-).

Saturday was Sarah & Bruno’s great day! After a pleasant day, basking in glorious Norman sunshine, we headed out to Sarah’s house. Sarah is a close childhood friend of Mathilde; indeed Mathilde had the honour of being the bridesmaid on this grand occasion. The proceeding started at the town hall (which is where people are officially married in France – the ceremony in the church actually has no “legal authority”), and from there we carried on to the church. I had the honour (and grave responsibility) of taking pictures at the church with Bruno’s camera; boy did I shoot away…

From the church, we carried on to the party venue, located in a nearby village Saint-Denis-sur-Sarthon. Thankfully we were spending the night at the venue itself, so no need for a designated driver ;-). The party was great, as always in France; with great food, great wine, and a great atmosphere. There were a lot of funny rituals going on during the festivities, most of which I understood nothing. Both Sarah and Bruno are pharmacists, for whom these odd rituals (like hitting the table with your spoon for 10 minutes) are part of the daily routine, apparently… Well, it was all good fun. I also liked the songs which mocked Alençon (where Sarah comes from) and Besançon (where Bruno comes from). What a great night!

After a good night’s sleep, we hit the road rather early (for a day after a wedding, anyway!), since we had a lot of driving to do. Our original plan was to stop on the way, maybe somewhere a bit after Lyons. But since we made quite good progress during the day, and didn’t hit any much bad traffic, we decided to drive all the way home. We arrived around midnight, happy to finally sleep in our beds.

So, that brought and end to our road trip. All in all, we spent 30 days on the road, drove about 9000 kilometres, travelled across six countries, took three ferries, attended two weddings, had four parking tickets (counting on them not finding their way to France), got flashed by one speed camera (REALLY hoping the fine for that one doesn’t find its way here), got stopped by the Police once. And most importantly, we saw loads of beautiful places, and met a lot of good friends.

Thanks to everybody we met on the way for their hospitality, even if our stays were often too short!

Through Germany and Luxemburg

After a rather costly crossing from Rødbyhavn to Puttgarden (I think we paid nearly as much as for the Turku-Stockholm crossing – and bear in mind here that the crossing to Germany took about 45 minutes!), we hit the German motorways again. We were again struck by the number of roadworks we had to face – it seemed that we spent half of the time driving 60km/h and the rest of the time 180km/h. We passed the famous Hanseatic city of Lübeck, as well as Hamburg, until we finally arrived at our destination for the day – Bremen.

We picked Bremen, since it was conveniently on the way, and also since it seemed like an interesting place to visit, based on what I’d read in my guidebook. Bremen is the capital of the state bearing the same name. This tiny state is, along with Bavaria, one of the oldest political entities in Germany (apparently Bremen is the oldest city state in the world, after San Marino). After a bit of searching, we found a nice hotel near the train station (much to our disappointments, there were no working girls to be seen this time – just the odd sex shop. Denmark 1 – Germany 0).

Having made ourselves in our room, and found a legal parking space, we headed out to explore Bremen. Bremen is a city with a long and prosperous history – it was founded in 787 (by Charlemagne), and became a member of the Hanseatic league in 1358. Most of the main sights are located around the Marktplatz – so we headed there first. And a most impressive square it is. The highlight here is the Rathaus – or town hall (a UNESCO world heritage site) – and to be sure it’s impressive, with its elaborate decoration. A statue of Roland, the city's protector, stands in the middle of the square, keeping a watchful eye over proceedings. Also to be found at the square are the four Town musicians of Bremen – the donkey, dog, cat, and rooster who feature in the fairy tale by the Grimms brothers.

Having checked out the square, we continued our exploration at Böttcherstraße. It’s a short street, located near the Marktplatz, known for its buildings in the Brick Expressionism style (yep, that came from Wikipedia). Whatever the style, it’s a really cool street – a testament to 20th century architecture (most of the buildings were build between World War I and II). Our next stop was Der Schnoor – a couple of blocks of historic buildings which survived the allied bombings during World War II. It was traditionally inhabited by fishermen, tradesmen and artisans – these days it’s unfortunately turned into a bit of a tourist trap, filled with restaurants, tourist shops and bars. Still, it was a nice place to walk around for a bit… We finished our visit of Bremen with a very filling & tasty dinner at the Kleiner Ratskeller (very much recommended should you ever find yourself in Bremen). Of course, I took the opportunity to sample local beer as well – Beck’s (what I had was a lot better that the bottled stuff they export abroad).

After a good night’s sleep, we hit the road, direction Luxemburg. After yet more frustration on the motorways, we decided to have a lunch break at Münster. We decided to do a bit of sightseeing to wet our appetites, so headed straight for the main sight of Münster; the Dom St-Paul. It’s a typically imposing German cathedral, an interesting mixture of Romanesque and Gothic styles (that came from Lonely Planet, not Wikipedia). There are two rather interesting features in the cathedral: an astronomical clock, and the statue of St Christoffer, which is holding a real tree branch in his hand. Having done our duties as tourists, we decided to have ourselves a real German lunch – a Wurst with some fries. Yummie. After a quick walk to check out the rest of Münster (there ain’t that much to see, really…), we carried on towards Luxemburg.

The rest of our journey was largely eventless – apart from a slight incident with the German Polizei. Nothing major – Mathilde overdid an overtaking somewhat. Once the stern yet polite policeman and –woman managed to explain what she’d actually done – it was off to the cash point to get the 80 euros or however much it was. Well, it added a bit of excitement to an otherwise boring afternoon on the German Autobahns ;-)

We eventually arrived in Luxemburg around 6 PM. We had quite a tight schedule – we were invited for dinner at our friends Jan & Camino’s place, and were then supposed to stay the night at Jani’s and Tepe’s place. So we didn’t have much time to do sightseeing, but did get a bit of an idea about the place. It’s one of those interesting melting pot type places, stuck as it is on the border between France, Germany and Belgium. Architecturally it seemed more French than German, and I believe French is more widely spoken (although from what I’ve been told, the Luxemburgish are one of those lot who speak like four languages fluently). I guess it’s also quite similar as Monaco in many ways, with its high average income, Lilliputian size and numerous banks. Having said that, Luxemburg is actually a proper country, with countryside and stuff, unlike Monaco.

So, after our quick introductory tour, we headed off to Camino’s and Jan’s place, located very close to the city centre. Camino had cooked a great dinner for us, and we spent a very nice evening with them; chatting away over champagne, white wine and great food. Seems that they are set on staying in Luxemburg, and who can blame them? It seems like a very comfy place to live, and it’s pretty centrally located.

After our pleasant dinner date, we headed off to Jani’s and Tepe’s place, located out in the ‘burbs of Luxemburg. Jani and Tepe have three kids – so I guess an apartment in the town centre isn’t the most practical solution (especially as rents in Luxemburg require deep pockets). Three kids – goes to show how time flies – last time I met them they had none. Anyway, we spent a great time catching up – there was a fair bit of that to do. Jani also proudly showed me his fancy Merc (being an ex-taxi driver, I suppose there really wasn’t any other option for him). Quite a long chat later, we hit the sack, exhausted after a looong day…

The next day, we set off early, as we once more had a long drive ahead of us.

A couple of days in Denmark

The next country on our trip through Europe was Denmark. There are basically two ways to cross from Sweden to Denmark by car; the ferry from Helsingborg to Helsingør, or the Øresund Bridge from near Malmö to Copenhagen. We opted for the bridge option, in spite of the rather hefty price of 30 euros. It is a rather impressive bridge – spanning 7842 meters, it weights 82000 tons (as a matter of fact, it’s the largest combined road and rail bridge in Europe). So I think it was worth paying a few extra Euros to drive across THAT.

Our first stop in Denmark was Copenhagen. We had managed to find a rather cheap hotel right in the centre of Copenhagen, near the train station. Oh, and before I forget, it was also right in the middle of the red-light district. I guess it’s kind of representative of the famously liberal Danish capital – in spite of the general cleanliness and orderliness of the place, seedier delights are very openly on offer in a most convenient location ;-).

Having dropped of our luggage at our room, we quickly headed out to explore the city. Our walk started at Rådhuspladsen – the town hall square. From there, we walked down what is certainly the most famous street in Copenhagen; Strøget. It connects Rådhuspladsen with Kongens Nytorv (“the King’s new square”), and is also apparently Europe’s longest pedestrian shopping street. A pleasant stroll took us past the fancy boutiques, nice restaurants, the Guinness World of Records museum, until we finally reached Kongens Nytorv. After a quick look at the eco-friendly exhibition on display, we headed down to Nyhavn; a place I’ve always wanted to have a beer ;-) It’s a very picturesque short canal, lined with gabled buildings which house bars and restaurants. We very much enjoyed our drinks in the sunshine, watching the world go by, but couldn’t help but be struck by the rather steep price (Copenhagen puts the Cote d’Azur to shame…). I guess it was cheaper in the old days when the place was a popular haunt for sailors and the bohemian citizens of Copenhagen (including one C.H Andersen who lived in one of the houses in Nyhavn, actually)…

From Nyhavn, we continued our walk, taking in a bunch of other mandatory Copenhagen sights; such as Amalienborg slott (a castle where the Royal family resides), the sublime Rosenborg slott (a former Royal residence; which to my untrained eye looks quite similar to some of the castles in the Loire valley) and of course the most famous statue in Denmark; that of the little mermaid (even considering the name, the statue is somehow surprisingly small!). All in all, it was a very enjoyable walk indeed. Copenhagen was much as I remembered it (from a couple of previous visits on behalf my dear employer) – a pretty place with impressive architecture, nice parks and inviting bars & restaurants, lively and cosmopolitan. And, expensive…

We finished off the great day by another must-do in Copenhagen; Tivoli. Tivoli is of course one of the most famous amusement parks in Europe, dating back all the way to 1843. Trying not too hard to think about the exchange rate, we paid the, erm, substantial entry fee and entered. Tivoli is actually much more than an amusement park; it also offers restaurants, bars, and various shows. It’s a nice enough place to spend an evening; it’s got an old-fashioned, fun atmosphere that's quite rare these days. The only glitch again is the fact that the place is ridiculously expensive. After evaluating the dinner options, we ended up having what basically amounts to a half-sized Chinese takeaway for about 15 euros each. Ouch. Unfortunately, there weren’t any cool shows on, apart from a jazz band, so we headed back to the hotel quite early…

We got up pretty early the next morning in order to see a bit more of Copenhagen before carrying on. We started off by driving down to Christianshavn, from where we walked to Christiania. Christiania is almost like its own city within Copenhagen (built on an abandoned military site). It’s a community with its own set of very liberal laws and regulations. For example, the sale of marihuana is permitted in Christiania (in the street appropriately named Pusher Street). We had a quick walk around this interesting place – basically a collection of run-down squats, colorfully covered in graffiti, inhabited by a very diverse bunch of people (hippies, junkies, students mostly…). I guess Christiania (like the conveniently located red-light district ;-) demonstrates the liberal side of Denmark pretty well.

After quickly checking out the imposing buildings around Slotsholmen; the part of Copenhagen which houses the Danish government, we decided it was time to push on towards the South, as we had a lot of road to cover still today…

Our first stop on the way was Køge, located about 40 kilometers South of Copenhagen. From what my guidebook tells me, Køge is a very typical Danish historic town, dating back to 1288. It was certainly a nice place to stroll around for a couple of hours, with its lively market square, the cobble-stone streets, lined with half-timber houses. We decided to have lunch at Køge – and found a nice little place in a cozy court-yard, where we enjoyed tasty Danish Sandwiches (which I guess is about as typical a lunch as one can have in Denmark).

After our lunch pleasant stop, we carried on further south, to the island of Møn. Møn was a pleasant change of scenery after the build-up Sjælland (the island upon which Copenhagen is located). Denmark in general is much more densely populated than Sweden and Finland, so it was nice to get out into the sticks for a bit, again…

The main attraction on Møn is without doubt Møns Klint (the Cliffs of Møn). It’s a 6km stretch of impressive bright white chalk cliffs, overlooking the Baltic. We figured it was about time for a walk, and what better place for it than these impressive cliffs, stretching up to 143 meters above the sea? The very scenic start of the walk took us along the edge of the cliffs, then taking us right down to the beach via a rather tall set of steps… From there, we walked back the way we came, this time following a beach, which was actually rather narrow in places! All in all, great fun, and just the kind of exercise we both needed!

We then jumped back in the car and headed to check out the nearby Liselund slott. Slott meant castle, I thought, but Liselund slott is definitely more of a manor house than a castle. Apparently it’s the “biggest castle with a thatched roof” in Scandinavia, or something like that. Hmm, I wonder… (maybe it’s the only “castle” with a thatched roof in Scandinavia?). Well, debate about whether Liselund is a castle or not aside, the surrounding gardens are very nice, anyway. According to that infallible resource of infinite knowlede; Wikipedia; “it is deemed to be one of the finest examples in Scandinavia of Romantic English gardening”. Fair enough!

By now our stomachs were grumbling, so we decided to head down to a small fishing village in the south part of the island; Klintholm Havn. Our Guide Routard had an interesting restaurant to recommend – a reasonably priced canteen-like place where actual fishermen eat. Sounded very promising, considering the less-than reasonable price levels that had confronted us so far… Well, unfortunately, turns out we were struck by the “Guide Trop Tard” effect – the place definitely didn’t look like a canteen, and there were no fishermen in sight. Instead, we settled for the 20 Euro buffet at the place next doors, which was full of tourists (with an average age of about 60). Finnish negative attitude aside, the food was actually more than decent; and definitely good value for money for Denmark!

After a relatively comfortable night in our cosy tent at a camping at the western edge of Møn, we drove on (stopping for a typically expensive omelet breakfast on the way) to Rødbyhavn, from where we were taking a ferry across to Puttgarden, in Germany. All in all, we’d spent a couple of nice, if expensive (I think I’ve gotten the point across by now?), days in Denmark.

From Stockholm to Skåne

Next up was the crossing from Turku to Stockholm across the Baltic, on another Silja-Tallink ferry (like the one we took from Rostock to Helsinki, what seems like an eternity ago…). Tax-free alcohol is sold on these ferries, which, considering the price of alcohol in Finland has made the crossings a very popular pastime for us Finns, who are not known for spitting in the glass. So this crossing brought back many memories (mostly happy ones ;-); with buffets (where we can stuff ourselves full), the tacky karaoke (where we would make fools out of ourselves, were it not for the fact that everybody; not just the singer, is typically too drunk to make a note of any artistic shortcomings the singer might possess), and the boozing youngsters (let’s not generalise though – there are plenty of boozing adults as well). Ah, those were the days… We contented ourselves with the buffet dinner, and a couple of beers in the karaoke bar (only listening, obviously – I wasn’t drunk enough to actually sing!)

We arrived in Stockholm at a dreadfully early hour. The plan was to stay at Robert’s and Doan’s place (a very nice Swedish couple I met during my studies in Edinburgh), so we decided to drop off our things at their place and borrow a guide book from them for the day. The reunion was a most happy one – I think the last time we saw them (also in Stockholm) was about five years ago. There were two very cute new family members this time around :-).

Since we’d both already seen the main sights of Stockholm, we decided to start the day by exploring the countryside west of Stockholm. Our drive took us across some islands on the Mälaren Lake. The first one was Ekerö, where we visited started off the day by having a walk around an old manor, followed by visit to a nice medieval stone church. A short drive took us to the next island, Munsö, where we visited another pretty medieval stone church.

From there we took a ferry (similar to what is used in the Turku archipelago in Finland) across to Adelsö, a similarly picturesque island, where we visited yet one more medieval church (I’m starting to feel like a broken record...). The main sight on Adelsö is Hovgården, which is one of the main archaeological sites from the Viking area in Sweden. It’s believed to be the site from where the kings and chieftains ruled the region. A lot of imagination is required here, since all that remains are a couple of rune-stones and some mounds of earth (the Kungshögarna – or royal mounds).

On the way back to Stockholm, we stopped for a visit at Drottningholm, which is the residence of the Swedish royal family. I guess you could call it the Swedish version of Versailles, with its vast, well-tended, baroque gardens; and imposing castle. We paid the rather steep entrance fee to visit the interior of the castle – but were too stingy to pay for the guide book. As a result of which we were greeted by the typical succession of imposing rooms with portraits and antique furniture – without any explanations at all about the rooms themselves. A bit cheeky to force people to buy a guide book in addition to paying the entrance fee, if you ask me… In spite of this, there’s no denying the palace is rather splendid – if a bit “over-the-top in a Versailles way” for my taste. After a 15 Euro sandwich lunch (I was starting to feel seriously ripped off), we continued on our way to Stockholm.

We arrived in Stockholm town centre late afternoon, and decided to enjoy the splendid weather in Djurgården. Djurgården is one of the many islands on top of which Stockholm is build, and one of the greenest ones. It’s basically like a big park, but also houses several famous attractions; the Wasa ship (an example of brilliant Swedish engineering – it was the most expensive ship of its time, but sank about 2 kilometres after leaving the harbour, in front of all the cheering masses), the Skansen open-air museum, and the Gröna Lund amusement park. Since we were a bit short on time, we just decided to have a walk around and enjoy the sunshine. After about half an hour spent trying to find a cash machine (strange, considering we were looking in Östermalm; one of the poshest areas of Stockholm), we got back into our car, and headed for Robert and Doan’s flat. Which turned out to be quite a challenging task – apparently there were some pretty major road works taking place, as a result of which we moved about 1 km in 1 hour (I’m not even exaggerating – I checked the GPS!). We then decided to ignore the GPS, drive out of the town centre and sort of take a big detour around the town centre. Which took us another 30 minutes… In spite of our all the hassle we had leaving the place, it can’t be denied that Stockholm is a rather splendid city, especially when the weather is nice, as it was on this day.

Thankfully, we arrived just in time for dinner… And a great dinner it was indeed, especially as it was enjoyed in such good company. It was really good to catch up with Robert and Doan, it’d been such a long time since the last time; the reunion was long overdue. Me and Robert continued our conversation post-dinner over some very fine whisky (I probably had one or two glasses too many for my own good again…), discussing everything from work, the good old times in Edinburgh, life in France to the house him and Doan are having build (looks very impressive, based on the pictures I saw).

The next morning, it was once more time to say bye-bye (with promises we would not wait another five years until the next visit…) and carry on towards the warm south. From Stockholm we headed to Vadstena, very nicely located on the Vättern Lake. Vadstena is one of the most famous historic towns in Sweden, famous for its monastery and well-preserved old town. Turns out the monastery has been converted to a restaurant and hotel, but the impressive, if sombre, church remains. We then spent a pleasant couple of hours walking around the cobble-stoned streets of the picturesque old town, with its wooden houses, enjoying the nice weather. After a nice buffet lunch, we decided to visit the imposing medieval castle, located in the harbour. It was an interesting place to visit, more in my taste than Drottningholm, which we visited the day before (I like good old honest medieval castles; with moats, guard towers and solid walls).

From Vadstena we headed to the other main tourist attraction by the Vättern lake; Gränna. Gränna really only had one thing going for it - its “polkagrisar” (candy/peppermint stick in English?). That fact very quickly becomes obvious to an observant, seasoned traveller such as myself (and everybody else who has eyes, actually, since about every second building in town seems to be a candy shop specialising in this sweet treat). We stopped long enough for a very relaxing swim at the camp site by the lake, and to buy a few polkagrisar (damn, we fell into the tourist trap….) before leaving…

Our original plan had been to stay the night in Göteborg, but realised it was getting a bit late so we decided to head straight towards Skåne instead (from where we were planning to cross over to Denmark, later in the week). We ended up spending the night at a camping in Ljungby, mostly because it was conveniently on the way. I mean, there really isn’t much to see in Ljungby (it reminded me a lot of some of the places we stopped at in Finland), we even struggled to find a decent restaurant (in fact, we ended up having dinner in a cosy, if rather deserted, pub).

After a good night’s sleep in our trusty Decathlon tent, we carried on towards Skåne. Skåne occupies the very southern tip of Sweden, and was until quite recently part of Denmark. So it’s a bit different from the rest of Sweden – and this is particularly noticeable in the way they speak. Swedish is my first language, actually, but I really struggle with the Skåne accent (the Skåne people are kind of similar to the Danes when they communicate; which is to say the people sound like their mouth is full of potatoes, and that they only pronounce about every second letter in each word). It’s supposedly also a very pretty region, so I was rather looking forward to this leg of our journey.

Our first stop in Skåne was the Kullen peninsula. It’s a very rocky, picturesque place, dotted with small and picturesque fishing villages. It sort of reminded me of some parts of Scotland (the weather helped – it was raining). We stopped for a short walk around one of these picturesque fishing villages; Arild, taking in the cute little houses and the fishing boats. From there we drove on to eastern the tip of the peninsula (which is a natural reserve), Kullaberg, with its old lighthouse. We spent some time walking around the this picturesque spot (pity about the rain…), which was at times challenges as I was trying to avoid crushing the numerous ladybirds that seemed to be all over the place (much to Mathilde’s delight). After a quick visit to the small museum that was located next to the light house, we carried on to the main town of the peninsula, Mölle. It’s another very pretty little town, with a big fishing port. We decided it was a nice enough place to have lunch, and naturally this being a fishing village, we lunched in one of the port-side eateries (we both had a kind of Swedish version of fish & chips).

Our stomachs filled, we drove on to Lund, one of the most attractive towns in Sweden (according to our Lonely Planet guidebook). It is one of the most well-preserved medieval towns in Sweden, and certainly one of the most picturesque ones. It’s different from Vadstena, for example, in that it’s more of a real city (it has a big university so it’s actually quite a lively place) than a “museum town”. The architecture is also quite different – Lund being dominated by sturdy stone houses, compared to Vadstena's wooden houses. We had a nice walk around the town centre, which is admirably well-preserved, built around the impressive cathedral (with its famous astonomical clock). I also took the opportunity to buy a few Wallander novels, which I thought would make appropriate travel reading (the Wallander novels take place mostly in Skåne).

Our final stop for the day was actually the town where Wallander walks the beat, so to speak – Ystad. It was getting quite late, so we decided to head for the camping straight away. Since it was still raining, we wanted to stay in a cabin, rather than in our tent (trustworthy though it may be…). Unfortunately, all the cabins at the main camping were taken (German summer holidays being in full swing…), so we ended up renting one at a smaller place across the road (which was operated by a fellow Finn, actually; nice chap). After a decent enough dinner at the local, followed by a bit of Wallander and a good night’s sleep, we headed into town to explore Ystad. Ystad is very picturesque, historic Swedish town. It’s again a bit different from both Lund and Vadstena – Ystad is dotted with half-timber houses. Size-wise it’s also in between the other too – which means it’s more calm and easier to walk around than Lund, while still feeling like a proper town (although it’s clearly pretty touristy). It’s a very nice place to walk around – something that perhaps doesn’t come across the Wallander novels (it was rather hard to imagine this place having a “dark side” as we walked around its cobble-stone streets).

After our all-too brief Ystad visit, we carried on exploring Skåne; heading eastwards to Kåseberga – where Sweden’s answer to Britain’s Stonehenge; Ales stenar; is located. Much like Stonehenge, Ales stenar is a circle (or in this case, more of an oval) of upright rocks – the purpose of which has spawned many theories. It was pretty interesting (and better than Stonehenge in the sense that it’s not surrounded by a big fence!), as much as an oval of upright rocks can be. The location is also stunning, overlooking the rocky Baltic rocky near the edge of a cliff. Having enjoyed the sunshine there for a while, we headed down to Kåseberga harbour to grab some lunch. The thing to absolutely have here is freshly caught fish (salmon or herring) in one of the simple yet welcoming eateries. It was probably one of the best meals on our trip so far, and excellent value for money as well!

From Kåseberga we carried on eastwards through the beautiful farm-dotted Skåne scenery to Sandhammar; one of the prettiest and biggest beaches in Sweden. It sort of reminded me of the Hiekkasärkät in Kokkola, with its vast sand dunes and long beaches. We spent a couple of hours relaxing in the sunshine, entertained by two top-less ladies singing opera for us (welcome to Sweden, eh…?). After a very nice swim in the cool, crystal clear Baltic waters, we felt ready to carry on our exploration of this lovely part of the world…

The next stop on our trip was Simrishamn, another pretty little town (which also features in some Wallander novels), where we spent a while wandering around … After a brief stop a nice little castle near Simrishamn, Glimmingehus (which makes the bold claim of being the “most well-conserved castle in Scandinavia” – wonder on what they base that claim?), we carried on towards Malmö (from where we were planning to take cross over to Denmark the following day). Our next stop, conveniently on the way, was Agneta’s and Mats’ place, where we had been most kindly invited for coffee and cake. Agneta and Mats are friends of Gunnveig, a very dear friend of the family who was visiting Skåne with her companion Anders. We spent a very interesting hour or so chatting away with them – Agneta and Mats are great fun, very cosmopolitan people who have definitely been around a lot (Agneta is an artist), and it’s always nice to catch up with Gunnveig. Nice to finally meet Anders as well! And damn that cake was good…

Our stomachs once more filled to the brim, we carried on, finally deciding to stay the night at a nice camping we found near Trelleborg. Having pitched out tent, we headed into town for dinner. Since Trelleborg is quite a big town, and also a port with ferry connections to Germany, we expected to have plenty of eateries to choose from, but alas, that was not the case. Having spent quite some time checking out various options, we ended up having a very nice, if somewhat lonely dinner at one of the fancier places in town (seems like everybody else in town was at a Turkish pizzeria we had walked past earlier).

We started the next day with a refreshing swim in the Baltic, after which we drove up to Malmo. After booking our hotel in Copenhagen at a Wifi-equipped café at the train station, we headed out to briefly explore Malmö on foot. It is, after all, the main city of Skåne. Based on our short walk around the town centre (which took in the “big square” and the “little square”, as well as the main shopping streets), it seemed like a nice enough place, with plenty of cafes, bars and restaurants.

And then it was time to say bye-bye to Sweden, and take the Öresund Bridge across to Denmark. All in all, it was a very interesting, if short, visit. Stockholm is definitely one of the nicest cities in Europe, especially during the summer. But for me, the real discovery was Skåne. Beautiful countryside, old medieval towns, people who speak like they have porridge in their mouth, long sandy beaches, great seafood, “the Wallander ambience” – what else could one wish for ?

From the Arctic Circle down to the Baltic sea

Our plan was to push on to Tornio (or more accurately, Karunki) next, to meet up with Sami, our Lappish friend from Nice. Since it was kind of on the way, we decided to drive via Rovaniemi. So off we headed, escaping the rainy eastern Finland, towards the Lappish wilderness.

Rovaniemi is the biggest city of Lapland (which isn’t saying much, really…), located just south of the Arctic Circle. It’s another typical example of Finnish post-World War II town planning – (unlike the towns in the east which had been destroyed by the Russians, Rovaniemi was destroyed by the Germans when they retreated from Finland at the end of World War II) – which is to say it’s rather ugly. There is a bit of an odd curiosity of a sight, though – the Lordi square. Yes, that’s right, a square dedicated to the 2006 Eurovision song contest winners (these guys) – who hail from Rovaniemi… We obviously also HAD to have lunch at the Lordi “Rockintola” – a “cosy” little eatery; with its cavern-like interior and charming decoration consisting of skulls and axes. Well, with a price of 10 euros for a monster burger, it was well worth the visit (even better than Hesburger). Obviously we couldn’t leave Rovaniemi without visiting Arktikum; which is probably the top tourist attraction of Rovaniemi. It’s a very interesting museum dedicated to Lapland and the arctic, where we spent a couple of hours learning all about the Sami way of life, ice bears and the arctic nature. One of the best museums in Finland, definitely.

Before heading towards Tornio, we decided a detour to the Arctic Circle was called for (since we were only a few km away…). The “Arctic Circle” is a bit of a bizarre place. I guess it started off as a pretty normal highway services, but has over the years been transformed into a bit of a tourist trap (yihaa, mass tourism has arrived in Finland). There is Santa Claus’ post office (which is a pretty neat idea, actually, “you know, for kids”), SantaPark, Santa’s work shop, the “famous” Arctic Circle line (a bit like the Greenwich mean time line in London), not to mention a massive shopping centre full of tourist trinket shops. Never thought I’d see the like of it in Finland. Anyway, it was all very amusing in a very tacky & wacky sort of way, but we nonetheless pushed on (having sent our Santa post cards).

A couple of hours later, we arrived in Karunki – a place we have heard so much about (mostly – no, actually only – from our friend Sami). Turns out it’s not a very big place (blink and you’ll miss it) – in fact all the houses in Karunki seem to be lined up along the main road going through town. We joined Sami at his parents’ house, who warmly welcomed us with coffee and cake (as the custom is in Finland). During a very entertaining hour or so, Sami and his parents told us about what makes Karunki such a fascinating place (basically it’s all about fishing – I never realised all the politics involved…). From there we headed down to Kukkolankoski, to watch the local fishermen in action. The idea was to be there for the “fish distribution”, which is still done the “traditional way” (the rules for which are to complex to explain here – suffice to say that the rules were devised during a time when fishermen were illiterate) – unfortunately it didn’t take place when we were there... We then headed down to Sami’s parents’ cottage, very nicely located on the shores of the Tornio River. And this was a proper traditional Finnish cottage – which meant dry toilet and no electricity (and naturally a wood-fired sauna). After a very nice sauna bath, and swim in the river, Sami took us out on a boat ride along the moonlit Tornio river. It was a very pleasant experience indeed – especially since we were treated to the rather special sight of two elks walking along the mist-covered shoreline. And to top off a great evening, we had some tasty fish Sami’s mum had smoked for us –what a culinary delight!

After a peaceful night’s sleep, it was time to carry on. Before bidding our farewells to Sami’s parents, and leaving beautiful Karunki, we did scale the local mountain though, from where we were greeted with some great views over the surrounding landscapes and the Tornio River. Our next stop was at Tornio, right on the Swedish border. We visited the church, with its pretty interior, after which we decided to go for lunch. After considering our options, we opted for a very “original” choice – crossing the border to Haparanda in Sweden, and having meatballs and mashed potatoes at Ikea!

After this culinary experience, we carried on to Oulu, where Sami lives at the moment (now there’s a bit of a change of environment – from Nice to Oulu…). After dropping off our things at his place, we headed into town for dinner. We had about an hour to kill before dinner, so had plenty of time to walk around Oulu. It’s quite a nice town actually, with quite a lot of well-preserved, old, wooden buildings. Oulu is also a pretty lively place, with a large student population and a big concentration of high-tech companies (including a rather big Nokia site…) – it’s sort of like the silicon valley of Northern Finland. We had dinner at a Greek restaurant, where Lauri and his lovely wife joined us. Good to meet Lauri again – he’s an old colleague of mine from Southwood, who decided to relocate to Oulu a year ago or so (from what he told me, he also suffered from some mild reverse cultural shock ;-). After the meal we headed to the local Irish pub (surely proof that Oulu is a cosmopolitan place in spite of its remote location – dinner in a Greek restaurant and drinks in an Irish pub!!), where we were joined by Jari, an old friend of ours from Nice. After a couple of pints of Guinness, and a ridiculously overpriced shot of Lagavulin (welcome to Finland…), it was time to make our way back to Sami’s place for some well-needed sleep…

The next day, we headed off relatively bright ‘n early, having said our emotional good byes to Sami, as we had a long drive ahead of us the next day. The road took us into the flat landscapes of Ostrobotnia, which is also peculiar in that large parts have a Swedish-speaking majority. Landscape-wise Ostrobotnia is sort of boring; this part of Finland is largely devoid of lakes or any height variance (hence some call this part of Finland “Pampas”). Our first stop in Pampas was Kalajoki, where we visited the famous “Hiekkasärkät”.- basically a long dune-covered beach – one of the most famous beaches in Finland, in fact. And quite justly so, it would’ve been a very nice place for a swim – a pity about the cold winds. Still, the place was well worth a stop.

From Kalajoki we carried on to Kokkola, where the plan was to meet another ex-colleague from Southwood – Markus. We were once again kindly treated to coffee and cakes at Markus’ and his missus’ house, located just outside Kokkola (or Karleby, as it’s known in Swedish). Great to catch up with him– it’s been about 4 years since we last met, I reckon… After finishing our coffee, they took us for a short walk around the nice old town of Kokkola, amusingly named “Neristan” (means “Down in the town” in Swedish), with its typical wooden houses and cobble-stone streets. Neristan also had a rather peculiar artefact – a boat captured by the locals from the Brits during the Crimean war (yes, the Brits made it all the way to Finland…).

The next destination on our journey was Jakobstad, where the plan was to meet up with yet another old mate from Southwood, Niclas, and his wife Portuguese wife Andreia. The drive up there took us through the “7-bridges archipelago”, which made a nice change from the otherwise rather flat landscapes of Pampas. After our rendezvous in the centre of “Jeppis” (as the Swedish-speaking locals affectionately call it), Niclas took us to a nice seaside restaurant for dinner. A great place to enjoy the late-summer Finnish sunshine, along with some nice food… Andreia’s parents were also visiting, actually, no doubt to dote over their young daughter… Our stomachs full, we carried on back to Niclas’ parents place, located at next-door Pedersöre (thankfully, I passed the breathalyzer test I had to take after leaving the restaurant). The Knuts clan live a at a typical Ostrobotnian farm, very rustic and cosy indeed. Niclas & Andreia are actually building their own house next to the main farm (they’ve done very well so far I think, considering the recently-arrived baby, Niclas’ company etc. – although a fair bit of work remains). We spent a very pleasant evening, watching Ocean’s 13 on their great home cinema system (like during the good old days at their place in Fleet)…

The destination for the next day was Tampere. But before then we obviously paid a visit to Jeppis town centre, with its typically Finnish wooden houses and cobble-stoned streets (most Finnish towns used to be built mostly out of wood, which is why a lot of them no longer exist – they’ve burnt down). Having strolled around there for an hour or so, we set the course for Tampere. There isn’t that much to see between Jakobstad and Tampere, so we decided upon a rather unusual stop – at Tuuri. The main (only?) attraction of Tuuri is the biggest village shop in Finland. Basically, it’s a massive shopping centre in the middle of nowhere, with the associated restaurants, a hotel, casino, spa, etc. The only lasting memory of the place was that I had the worst fajitas of my life there – it’s one of those dishes I thought you couldn’t go wrong with (obviously I was wrong…). As far as the “village shop” itself is concerned, I don’t really understand what the fuss is about… (I’d rather go to Stockman in the centre of Helsinki).

We arrived in Tampere late afternoon, and were happy to see that the sun was shining (it had been pi**ing down all the way from Jeppis). The plan was to spend the night at a colleague of mine, Pentti’s, but we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and walk around Tampere for a bit first. Tampere is what one could maybe call the Manchester or Birmingham of Finland – this is where the industrial revolution of Finland kicked off in many ways. As a result of this, it’s also a city with strong working-class roots – during the Finnish civil war in 1918, it was the focal point of the reds’ resistance. Anyway, the industrial past of Tampere is very noticeable as you walk through the city, with its red-brick buildings and large factory buildings (many of which house museums, bars and cultural centres these days).

After our wander around, we headed back to Pentti's and his girlfriend's place, located in a very nice and leafy suburb of Tampere. Pentti is another friend from our days in the UK, who moved back to Finland a couple of years ago. Into a very nice house, it must be said! (the place is quite a maze, I got lost there more than once). The evening kicked off with a delicious dinner. Proceedings started with a delicious mushroom soup (which Pentti’s better half had picked, naturally), followed by some equally delicious barbequeued elk meat (which Pentti had acquired during a hunting trip), accompanied by some very nice Chilean red wine. After a very nice sauna session (in a rather high-tech sauna), and some (too much…) 15-year old whisky, we hit the bed for some well-needed sleep…

The next day was dedicated to visiting Tampere. We started the day with a visit to Pyynikki, a big park located on the outskirts of Tampere, with its panoramic tower. The views from up there were rather nice, with a great view towards Tampere town centre and also one of the two lakes between which Tampere is located – Pyhäjärvi (the other lake is Näsijärvi). A pity about the grey sky, though… We then headed back to the town centre, and started exploring Tampere seriously. The positive impression I got during my last visit to Tampere (which was during winter), was strengthened during my visit – Tampere is perhaps my second favourite city in Finland, after Helsinki. I like the red-brick architecture, the location between the two lakes, and the down-to-earth people. We had a look at the famous library (with its Moomin museum), the cathedral, the Finnlayson cultural complex (a very nice conversion of the old abandoned factory buildings), Vabriikki (another factory, converted to a collection of museums – all of which were closed, unfortunately, today being Monday), had a mustamakkara (the local speciality – “black sausage” – quite similar to black pudding) and finally, visited the Lenin museum (the only one of its kind in the world). All in all, a very pleasant day, then!

Having “done Tampere”, we jumped into our car, and sped down to Pargas, where our summer house is located, and where we were spending our last night in Finland for this trip. On the way, we stopped in Kangasala, just outside Tampere, to pay visit Miguel and Tuija, yet another couple we know from our days in the UK, for yet another coffee and cake session. Great to catch up with them again, and meet the new family member! A couple of hours’ drive later, we finally arrived in Pargas. My parents had kindly prepared a proper “kräftskiva” for the occasion. Kräftskiva is a mainly Finnish-Swedish tradition, which involves dressing up very formally, eating loads of crayfish, drinking even more snaps, and singing drinking songs. Great fun, everybody should try it at least once… This time we did a light version, which meant no formal attire, white wine instead of vodka, and no singing. In spite of this, it was great fun!

Having spent Tuesday relaxing, resting (we needed it!), and reorganising our bags for the next leg of the journey (Sweden), we drove up to Turku in the evening to catch our ferry to Stockholm. In a way it felt sad to leave; for me this part of the journey had really been a great one (rediscovering my country, seeing friends & family, and just enjoying the peace and quiet the Finnish nature offers, which is quite rare in most parts of the world these days…). On the other hand, it was raining again, so we were happy to leave for sunnier pastures ;-).

Along Via Karelia to Kuusamo

After the wedding, it was time to continue our trip (the plan was to drive along Via Karelia by the Russian border up to Kuusamo, over the next few days). After a stop in Heinävesi, in order to collect some affairs my grandmother (who recently passed away) had left, we said bye bye to everybody, and set the course for Koli.

Koli is a place I’ve wanted to visit for some time now. Koli is sort of like a collection of hills flanking Lake Pielinen - a place which has inspired Finnish artists, such as Axeli Gallen-Kallela and Eero Järnefelt, for a long time now. Apparently, the composer Jean Sibelius actually had his piano transported to Koli for his wedding night! The place is undeniably one of the most beautiful places in Finland. The views over the lake are just amazing – especially as we were lucky enough to be there on a cloud-free day. We visited all the three “Kolis” – Ukko-Koli, Akka-Koli and Paha-Koli. After this emotional experience, we made our way back to the sheep farm we were spending the night. After a nice typical Carelian dinner, and a not very impressive sauna session (the temperature was around 50 degrees I think), we hit the sack.

After a nice buffet breakkie, we set off towards Lieksa. Our first stop for the day was the famous sculptor Eeva Ryynänen’s atelier and house. She basically sculpts everything from animals, furniture and human shapes from massive tree trunks. I have to say I really found her art impressive – and the house itself also (no Ikea furniture there - pretty much everything in the house was made by her). We also visited the beautiful church next to her house, the interior of which she has decorated.

After this rather interesting museum visit we headed on to Ruunankoski, a river just by the Russian border. The main activity Ruunankoski is famous for is kayaking and white water rafting, but we decided to go for a hike instead. And a very pleasant place for a walk it is! The footpaths are very clearly signposted (in spite of this, we did manage to get off the main foot path at one point), and there are even wooden planks along the boggy and wet portions of the footpath, to make life easier. The walk took us along the busy rapids, through very typical Finnish landscapes (trees, trees and yet more trees).

After this most refreshing walk (which did take us more like 4 hours instead of the originally planned 2 hours…), we carried on to Lieksa. There isn’t much of interest in Lieksa, apart from the modern church, designed by Pekka Saarinen. We really liked the interior of the church – it sort of reminds me of Temppeliaukion kirkko in Helsinki.

From Lieksa, the road took us up to Nurmes. The main attraction in Nurmes is the Bomba house, and the “typical Carelian village” which surrounds it. Bomba (or Jegor Bombin, as he was actually called) was a Carelian merchant who lived during the 19th century, who had a big log manor constructed for his son in 1855. The original house was in Suojärvi (now in Russia, to whom Finland lost part of Carelia after World War II), and was torn down in 1934 - but some enterprising people decided to reconstruct the house in Nurmes in 1978. To be perfectly honest, the house and the surrounding village is just a hotel/cabin/spa/restaurant complex, there isn’t much of interest there, really. So we quickly headed on towards Kuhmo, where we were planning to stay the night.

As we approached Kuhmo, we entered the vast wilderness of Kainuu. We were now in one of the most sparsely populated areas of Finland – which is to say it’s very sparsely populated indeed! Kuhmo is mostly famous for two things: the Kalevala village, and a chamber music festival. Having pitched our “2-seconds to mount” Decathlon tent (it does actually work – it’s brilliant!) at the Kalevala camping, we headed to explore Kuhmo town. Unfortunately Kuhmo is very similar to a lot of Finnish cities of the same size – which is to say it’s not very pretty, and there ain't nothing to do there... We did find one pretty nice restaurant, where I had a tasty steak. I asked 2 young ladies who were sitting at the table next to us if they could recommend a nice place for a drink – the response was a questioning look, followed by the answer “what do you reckon? This is Kuhmo...”. So we decided to head back to the camping, instead. So a quiet night it was then, watching the sunset over the lake (not a bad idea at all – it was a beautiful sight...).

The next morning, we decided to check out the Kalevala village. Kalevala is the national epic of Finland – the reason there is a Kalevala village in Kuhmo, I guess, is that Elias Lönnrot, the poet who collected and put to paper the old stories that make up the Kalevala myth, did a lot of his writing in this part of Finland. Unfortunately, turns out the place was closed – the tourist season is over (in Finland the summer tourist season is basically july...). So after a quick walk around the overpriced gift shop, we carried on towards Kuusamo.

The Kuusamo area is another place I was really looking forward to visit. It’s one of the best regions in Finland for outdoor activities, whether it be during the winter or the summer (Ruka, one of the biggest Finnish ski resorts, is located near Kuusamo). I came here when I was a kid, and can vaguely remember having had a great time. Mathilde was also happy to see her first reindeer here :-)

Anyways, on the way to Kuusamo, we noticed a signpost to one of the places somebody had told me we must absolutely see – Julma Ölkky. So off we went, down some very narrow and badly maintained roads (again, ominously approaching the Russian border). Eventually, we arrived. Julma Ölkky is one of the most famous canyon lakes in Finland, also known for its rock paintings. There were two options for visiting the lake; one was to walk around it, and the other was to take a boat tour. Since it was already late afternoon, we opted for the lazy option and took the boat. The lake itself is definitely impressive, with its dramatic rocky cliffs. But we were rather disappointed with the rock paintings – you need pretty sharp eyes to see them at all – and a lot of imagination to make any sense of them.

We then drove on to Kuusamo. After a quick visit to the tourist office, we headed to the local camping site, where we ended up renting a cabin (the weather was a bit rainy, so we decided to choose the “luxury option” rather than pitching our tent). For dinner, we wanted to try some Lappish cuisine, so headed for the local Sokos hotel (according to the tourist information centre, it’s the best place for it…). The food was pretty decent (apart from the disappointing dessert), although the bill was rather steep (as eating out in Finland tends to be…).

On the following day, we set out to do a walk (that's pretty much the only thing you can do in the area - apart from hunt, drink and fish). The original over-ambitious plan was to complete the perhaps most famous hiking trek in Finland – Karhunkierros (“the bear trail”). But rather quickly we realised that our plan was a bit ambitious – the hike takes at least 3 days... So we decided upon the “Pieni Karhunkierros” instead (little Karhunkierros), which is a mere 4-5 hours long. So off we went, driving past Ruka, up to edge of Oulanka national park, where the hike starts. The hike started in the village of Juuna, and carried on into the national park from there, along the Kitkajoki River. The hike took us through some very dramatic scenery, along imposing cliffs, past raging rapids (including the Jyrävä falls), across rapids on suspension bridges, and even past a mill (Myllykoski). All in all, we really enjoyed it – definitely one of the highlights of the trip so far! And parts of it were quite challenging as well, especially the steep ascent to Kallioportti (“Cliff’s gate”). Good thing we set off bright ‘n early as well, since we noticed the trail got considerably busier towards the end of the walk – and of course the rain started dropping in the afternoon as well.

After an unwise attempt to visit the famous Oulanka Canyon (we didn’t find a parking nearby...), as a consequence of which we did briefly pop into Lapland, we headed back to Kuusamo. The rest of the day was spent taking it easy, since the weather was *crap* all evening again (the weather did clear up for an hour or so – we took advantage of the respite to go for a refreshing swim in the lake by the camping). We did visit the local museum - the kind of museum to visit on a rainy day – which is another way of saying “nothing to write home about”, I suppose. For dinner we had a real Finnish camping meal – Cabanossi sausage with mustard – yummie!

That spelt an end to our eastern Finland adventure – time to head west, after a great few days in the vast, quiet, wild East...

From Helsinki to a Carelian wedding

The next leg of our journey took us across the Baltic sea, from Rostock to Helsinki, by ferry. This option gave us the best compromise between time/money/comfort (except maybe for the comfort bit – since we decided not to take a cabin – it was expensive enough as it was without it!). The voyage, which lasted about 24 hours (but the early morning departure time meant we had to spend 2 nights on the ferry, in practice), sort of brought back memories from my youth of wild nights spent on the ferries to between Finland and Sweden. Except the clientele for this ferry is obviously not the same – the bar closed at 11 I think. All in all, apart from the lack of sleep, it was quite relaxing, especially since the sun was shining all the way...

We arrived in Helsinki on Thursday morning, bright ‘n early. The first stop was obviously my parents flat in Fredrikinkatu, where we deposed our luggage, before setting off to do a bit of shopping and socialising. Our first rendez-vous was with my good friend Jocke, with whom we had lunch with at a Chinese restaurant my parents had recommended. Nice to catch up with him – we were most impressed to hear about his latest investment (a Rolls Royce!). After a bit of more shopping, I sped off for my next meeting, with Jani, in one of our old haunts in Helsinki, Kaisla, for a couple of pints of nice Czech pils. He was off to Sweden for one of his “old army buddies drinking weekends”.

From Kaisla we sped on drop off our shopping bags at my parents place, and then ran down to Torni, where we were supposed to meet my parents and Aki for another drink. The Torni bar, which is located on the top floor of the hotel, is I suppose the place in Helsinki where you can enjoy the best view over the city whilst enjoying your drink. After the drink we headed down to Pizzeria Dennis (where, as everybody knows, the best pizza in Finland is served), where we were joined by Aki’s better half Maija. The occasion was a grand one since not only had I ever met Maija before, but also Aki and Maija had just gotten engaged! After a pleasant evening of wining, dining and chatting, it was time to head back home to catch some sleep. Quite exhausting, all this socializing!

We had a long drive all the way to Kitee in eastern Finland ahead of us on Friday (where we were attending my cousin Eeva’s wedding on Saturday), so we decided to set off early-ish. We decided to make a detour to the “Finnish design outlet complex” at Arabia, to continue our wedding present hunt. The usual suspects; Marimekko, Iittala, Pentik and Arabia etc. were well represented. Unfortunately the prices were nearly as shocking as downtown Helsinki (I do like Finnish design – but paying 20 euros for a plate is still asking for a bit much, if you ask me. I guess I’ve been “Ikeanized”).

So we carried on, empty handed. Our next stop was Lappeenranta, which was conveniently kind of half-way on the way to Kitee. It’s a nice enough place, with a couple of wooden houses preserved. The top draw is the military fortress in the harbour. It was interesting enough, but if Finnish military fortresses is your cup of tea (for some odd reason), I would recommend Suomenlinna, rather. A salmiakki ice cream later, it was time to hit the road again.

We arrived in Kitee by early evening, and settled into our room; we were staying at the polytechnic where Eeva is working. Having settled in, we decided to go restaurant-hunting downtown with Janne and Katja. Unfortunately, the choices were rather limited. There was a pizzeria-kebab place and Ravintola Karhu (which, not atypically for my country, seemed to be more oriented for drinking beer than having dinner). So we decided to go shopping and cook ourselves instead. Having wined and dined, and welcomed the rest of the Turtiainen clan, we hit the beds quite early, so as to be ready for the big day.

After a rather early breakfast, and a sauna & swimming pool session (of course!), we decided to explore Kitee for a bit. Unfortunately there wasn’t that much to see – Kitee is one of those typical Finnish towns which has been almost completely reconstructed after the Second World War – with predictable end results when it comes to aesthetics. Unfortunately the Kitee museum was also closed (where we no doubt could’ve learnt about “Kiteen Kirkas” – which is the local moonshine Kitee is famous for). So, we soon came to the conclusion that there isn’t much to do in Kitee. We then met up with the clan for an ABC lunch (welcome to Finland!).

And then it was time for Eeva’s and Henkka’s big event. Things kicked off with the usual ceremony in a nice old church (the priest was a bit more “suited for the job” than the one at Eeva’s sister's wedding - he was actually also Eeva's Ph.D project supervisor), after which we moved on to the main party venue. Once again, the place was great; an old wooden country house by a lake - just right for a Finnish summer wedding. All in all, it was a really great party, with good food, fun and games, and great weather. Everything was just perfect. And the proceedings were remarkably civilised for a Finnish wedding (this is the third Finnish weddings in a row now without any alcohol-inspired outbreaks taking place – what’s happening to my country??).

Great catching up with the relatives as well, like Ulla, Maikki (and little Aapo of course who was decidedly more mobile than last time), Mikko (with cute kids) and Jukkis (who entertained us with his crayfish business stories...). The night culminated in a very Finnish way – with a post-party sauna. There’s just nothing quite like it; having a good “löyly” in the sauna after all that merry-making, followed by a swim in a moonlight-bathed lake. So all in all, thanks to Eeva and Henkka for a memorable night! And of course to poor Jukkis, who was delegated to the role of “taxi driver” again…

Through the Teutonic lands...

After our speedy crossing of France, it was time to head into Germany. Our first rendezvous was to attend a little reunion of sorts in Sankt-Goar. The plan was to meet up with a few old friends I used to study with in Edinburgh, at the reputed Heriot-Watt University (although it has to be said that I spent more time in the pub than reading books for my degree during that mad year), with Ramon and Andi who live in Frankfurt, and Camino and Jan who live in Luxemburg (Sankt Goar is located conveniently half-way between the two places).

Sankt-Goar is a pleasant town located on the Rhine village, dominated by an impressive ruined castle (apparently once “the mightiest fortress on the Rhine”). We sat down for lunch in a panoramic restaurant, which afforded us great views over the town and the river. It was really great to catch up with everybody, it really had been a while… And little Lorenz sure has grown up since I last saw him! A hearty Teutonic meal, washed down by a pint of German pils later, we headed down into town for a walk. We even took the ferry across to Goarshousen, the town on the other side of the Rhine River, where we had a quick walk around the old town, enjoying the sun… After saying our good-byes to Camino and Jan, who had to head back to Luxemburg, we drove back to Ramon’s and Andi’s place near Frankfurt, where we were staying the night. After a very tasty dinner, accompanied by some German beer tasting, we went to bed with smiles on our faces.

The next day, the plan was to visit Frankfurt, and then drive down to our next destination – Berlin. Frankfurt is quite an interesting mixture of new and old. It is one of the oldest cities in Germany – having been founded during the 8th century, and was the most important city in Germany during its heyday. As is the case for many German cities, Frankfurt was largely destroyed during World War II. Since then, though, large parts of the old town have been restored, and Frankfurt has of course also become the banking capital of Germany (it hosts the biggest stock exchange in Germany, as well as the German and European central banks). So it’s a city of contrasts then – parts of the city being dominated by skyscrapers, and other parts by old (or reconstructed) historic buildings. During our couple of hours of walking, we managed to get a pretty good impression of the place – the town centre is actually very compact (on the whole, it feels like a surprisingly calm and unhurried place). Anyway, after a proper Frankfurt lunch (where I tried the local culinary speciality – Frankfurter green sauce, along with the local apple wine), it was time to bid farewell to Ramon, and push on towards Berlin.

Thanks to the wunderbar German autobahns, we managed to cross Germany rather quickly and arrive in Berlin by early-ish evening. We did observe that half of the motorways seem to be under repair – meaning that one is driving 180km/h half of the time (a lot of the motorways still don’t have speed limits), and 60km/h the rest of the time (unlike in Italy, for example, the speed limits during road works are actually respected). Anyway, we did arrive eventually, at our destination, which was Adrian’s and Yda’s flat. It was a bit late for us old geezers to experience the legendary Berlin night life, so we contented ourselves with a meal at the local Greek restaurant.

The next day was major sight-seeing by foot time. And boy did we walk... Berlin is a big place, and most of it we covered by foot. And it is an extremely interesting place to walk around, actually. It definitely isn’t one of the prettiest capitals in Europe; in fact it’s probably one of the ugliest. But it’s definitely one of the most interesting ones, literally oozing with history and atmosphere. And there are certainly loads to see and do – whether it be museums, restaurants, bars, churches, parks, and theatres, whatever. It seems to be a very culturally active place. Obviously what really makes Berlin an interesting place is the recent history – and I suppose a lot of the dynamism of the city also comes indirectly as a result of the fall of the Berlin wall.

Anyway, to summarize, during the day, we saw most of the main sights (including many bits of the Berlin wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Unter der Linden, Brandenburger Tor, Tiergarten, Potsdammer Platz and the holocaust memorial, and of course the Reichstag). All this is of course very interesting, but what is kind of more fascinating is the atmosphere of the place, and some of the very creative things they’ve done with the old let’s say not so pretty architecture in former Easter Berlin. After a nice Japanese meal (were we ever going to get to try some local cuisine??), Adrian took us to a very interesting place called Zapata. It’s a multi-storey museum/cinema/bar/nightclub complex, located in an old and run-down squat! I’ve never seen anything like it – but the place was just great. Somehow very descriptive of what modern Berlin is all about. After a few drinks, it was time to head back – Adrian made some excuses about having to work the next day or something ;-)

Our 2nd day in Berlin followed pretty much the same formula as the 1st day – meaning more walking and walking, as we checked out the few places Adrian hadn’t taken us to. This time our wanderings took in some of the modern buildings constructed near the Reichstag, as well the more classic sights in what used to be western Berlin (the fancy shopping street of Friedrichenstrasse, the pretty Gendarmernmarkt square, the Humboldt University, and Berliner Dom). We also visited the famous Alexandersplatz, which was once upon a time, apparently, “the beating heart of a cosmopolitan city”. Alas, it was badly bombed during World War II, and unfortunately aesthetics were not very high on the priority list when the square was rebuilt in the 1960’s – I suppose the end result could be called a lesson in “post WW II communist architecture”. We also had time to visit a couple of interesting museums – the holocaust museum and Checkpoint Charlie museum (which was particularly interesting – examining the Berlin during the time period it was split in half by the Berlin wall).

After a curry near Adrian’s place, and another set of tear-filled farewells, it was time for us to hit the road again. The destination was Rostock, from where we were taking the ferry to Helsinki. Anyway, for us, Berlin was a real revelation. I can warmly recommend a visit there to anybody (it’s the kind of place that has something to offer to everybody)… And there’s still so much we didn’t see!