Contrasts of Scandinavia and Russia
Day Three – 25 May 2010
Weather: Partly cloudy, 15 C in Copenhagen.
We got to sleep in till 8 am, which meant that even with watching Lost till 11:30, I got a full night’s sleep. I had a hearty breakfast and went downstairs to wait. Even though the railway is only a few blocks away, they didn’t make us walk to it. The bus made the quick trip and dropped us at the entrance. We had a few minutes to pick up snacks and I used up the last few minutes of internet time at the café to check my email.
We went down to the train platform for 10 am. There was an elevator available for people who didn’t want to take their luggage down the escalator, but I didn’t have a problem with the escalator. The train arrived at about 10:10 and we boarded. There is a section to pile luggage at the end of the car and most people got their luggage in there. My duffel fits in the fairly spacious overhead compartment. The seats face one way on one side and the other way on the other side and the tour sits together. The moment the train started to move, everyone took the empty seats. Mine didn’t have a window, so I took the seat behind me hoping they hadn’t sold it.
The train was amazingly smooth. It moved at about 140 kph by the feel of it and it was easy to move around. There were plugs for the laptop (between the seats by my legs) and on the Swedish side there was internet access, but the website was in Swedish. I bought a card from the restaurant car for 99 Kr which turned out to be about $12. Not bad for 5 hours of internet access while you’re traveling. The connection started a little slow but picked up considerably as we moved. Unfortunately, my window is quite muddy so I can’t take any pictures out my side and the Swedes in the seats across from me seemed to take offence to having a camera pointed at them.
I wonder if there are any cats in Sweden.
Speaking of cats. Lunch was a nice soft baguette with chicken and bacon with a Coke. I surfed, typed and watched the series finale of 24.
Five hours went by pretty quick with internet access on the train. Diego said it was very unlikely I would get either internet access or even a simple plug on the Russian trains.
We pulled into the station just after 3:30 and snaked our way through the crowded train station. We found our bus outside and Diego gave us a brief commentary as we drove to the hotel. The city is a lot like Copenhagen, except not as many bicycles. The hotel Birger Jarl is not far from the city center and is quite the unique little hotel.
The rooms are small. Not a problem for me as a solo, but the couples say it’s hard with two people and two sets of luggage. The room is actually kinda cute. There’s a flat screen, hairdryer, safe (mine doesn’t work) and a basic bathroom.
Umm…what else?
Well, there’s a blanket on the bed.
And toilet paper.
Yup. Sparse. But I don’t plan on spending a whole lot of time here.
The optional for the Tower and Dinner didn’t start till 6:30 so I took off to walk down the pedestrian shopping street before it closed. Of course all the touristy shops were at the far end of the 2 km long street. I picked up some nice shirts – much cheaper than Copenhagen though quality varies. Saw some really nice shawls but didn’t get a chance to price them. Diego promised us shopping time tomorrow.
I made it back in time to change for the optional. We shared the bus with the bus group that just arrived from Copenhagen by bus. They had left at 8 am and arrived at 5:30 pm (whereas we were 10:30 to 3:30). We had to wait until they claimed their assigned seats then got into the seats that were left.
First we went to the telecom tower to get an amazing view of Stockholm. It’s a basic concrete tower about 155 metres high.
There’s a basic restaurant on top (not rotating) and a lookout enclosed with fencing with peep holes for camera. Too bad the skies had not cleared.
After a few minutes, I returned back down into the gift shop and waited for anyone else.
Yes. I got out without the t-shirts calling my name.
Then we went to dinner at a family run restaurant that sits next to the cemetery where Alfred Nobel is buried.
We had a blast.
Ha!
It was a very nice meal. Asparagus soup, Swedish meatballs (and unlike the Danes who don’t call a Danish “a Danish”, the Swedes do call the meatballs “Swedish meatballs) and ice cream for dessert. The two groups were kept separate to keep the billing straight for the TDs so we didn’t get a chance to tell the other group about the benefit of train travel.
Heh.
We finished up by 9 pm, but the sun still had not set. We returned to the hotel to get a night bag ready for the ferry ride to Helsinki. Diego said the walk to the ferry is quite long for walk-ons like us, so he has arranged for our luggage to get delivered to the hotel in Helsinki. So, our luggage will get collected tomorrow morning and we won’t see it again until the afternoon of the day after tomorrow.
Just imagine the havoc if all the luggage got lost between here and there.
Go to Day Four
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