Interestingly enough, I am writing again in the Heathrow airport, but waiting to go to Paris this time. A week ago, we boarded our flight at 10:50pm and took the four and a half hour flight to Tel Aviv. I was hungry so I waited for the food to come around. The collateral damage – one hour of sleep before landing. I was too excited.
After arriving, we were cattle proded to passport control. I was ready for the Israeli interrogation to begin. This is how the conversation went:
Passport man: what is the purpose of your visit?
Me: Pleasure… Im here to see my friend’s wedding
Passport man: an Israeli?
Me: No, his fiancé grew up in Jerusalem
Passport man: how long will you be here?
Me: A week
Passport man: enjoy your stay in Israel.
That was it. That is literally all he asked. The people in Riga were more stringent about things than Israel. This is not the blanket case though. Mike received the third degree and it was funny. He was still talking with the man when I left and he had a good five minute head start. We went through to baggage claim.
There was my bag. Mike’s? Still in London, as we learned when we went to the lost baggage area. His trip was not starting off well.
We went through the arrival’s gate, and at 5:30am, I heard this voice. None other than the groom-to-be, Grahamy yelling across the terminal. In a “chariots of fire” kind of manner, we ran toward each other and embraced. First time I had seen my childhood friend in over three years. Now here I was in Israel about to see his wedding. Graham had things planned and took me to meet the others. They were getting ready to head to the Dead Sea. Mike had to go to Jerusalem and meet Lizzie as she was flying in later that day. I was running on adrenaline. It was exciting to meet all his/Nomi’s friends from grad school. We picked them all up and went to the Notre Dame hotel in Jerusalem where Mr. and Mrs. Bennett were staying. I walked in the door and there I was met with Mrs. Bennett yelling out my name in the lobby coming over for a hug. Soon thereafter, I saw Mr. Bennett. Still awesome. They haven’t changed a bit.
I changed and no later than fifteen minutes after my arrival did we leave to go to the Dead Sea. I rode in the car with Graham (driver), Nomi, and Eva. It was a 90 minute drive which turned into a two hour drive because people wanted to stop and ride the camel. I wasn’t interested…
It was a busy day. We first stopped at the Masada, a fort build by Harod in the first century, B.C. It was interesting to see how people lived and the backdrop was really interesting as the Dead Sea lay right in front. Another interesting note was the huge ramp made by the Romans which took them two years to build. I cannot imagine what it would have been like to be a Roman solider building a massive ramp in that heat. We took the cablecar up and then back down. That was more or less uneventful.
We then traveled onward to a wadi, or a small natural water source. That was really cool because we walked in this warm, salty water to get to some natural pools. After 600 meters or so, or walking we stopped and just laid in the water.
Then we went to the Dead Sea. That place is nuts. Most of the time, you try to stay afloat in regular water. Here, you struggled to have enough of your body in the water to not keep flipping over. It was insane. I can’t float in regular water, but in the dead sea, basically 70% of my body was above water. Ok, not that much, but it was an amazing feeling. After about twenty minutes though, the salt really starts to burn, and if you have any open wounds, it is rather painful. Dead Sea water is also horrible to the touch.
Afterwards we took the 90 minute drive back to Jerusalem. It was a nice ride, talking to Graham and Nomi about getting married and getting to know Nomi herself.
When we got back, I collected my things from the Bennett’s room and went to where I was staying. A church. It was nice because with Nomi’s connections, I got to stay for free in nice little rooms. I was there with Rob, my new Canadian friend living and working in Sierra Leone. He works for Mercy Ships and actually didn’t know Graham before he got to Israel. He was traveling with a girl, Gini, who went to school with Nomi. He and I stayed at the church. It was great because we were the only two who were guys that didn’t know anyone else really. We spent a lot of time together hanging out.
Getting back I took a 30 minute nap. Rob woke me up to go out. It was 7:30. He apparently had been saying my name for five minutes before I came too due to my exhaustion. We went out and got some food and hung out for a little while walking around the old city before I came back at eleven to pass out. I was out, and it was a real struggle to get up the next morning at 7am. I honestly don’t remember about 90% of that night… due to the lack of sleep.
Day 2
Rob woke me up the next morning, and I hated him for it. We got ready and walked over to the hotel again and met everyone for a walking tour of Jerusalem. One of Nomi’s family friends who is working on his Ph.D. gave a walking tour of the city. It was really great because he was an American who has been living in Israel for over 14 years. He was also a theologian.
We got in cars and drove to Mt. Olive and took some pictures there. Brian was the name of the guide and he was just fantastic. Without any notes or references, he quoted scripture from the Bible and related current sites to verses in the book. He took it a step further and made sure to explain the significance of each place. Since it was a mixed group from many different religious backgrounds, he was very good about using the Bible as a historical text in addition to a religious one.
We dropped the cars off and as a group walked the old city, going to the Garden of Gethsemane, going to museums, walking up stairs to some palace and learning that is where Jesus did some of his teachings, we went to the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It was a fantastic and mentally draining tour. He was so good though. All the sites were just amazing. Going through gates and pathways where Jesus walked is incredible to think about. Seeing Hasidic Jews bobbing back and forth in front of the Western Wall, in deep prayer was an interesting site as well.
In the Holy Sepulcher, there are six different orthodoxies represented, one being the Armenian Orthodox. That was interesting because I was able to read the inscriptions and have a general idea of what they were saying. There is a small but recognizable presence of Armenians in Israel.
We finished our tour and went to find dinner and then hung out as a group. That was good because it was the first time we were able to hang out together and get to know one another.
I came back and used a new razor to shave my beard. Just in case there were some uneven tan lines, I wanted to make sure there was enough time before the wedding to make the color more even. I looked so weird afterwards. I guess I got used to it. And my face just felt naked. It felt nice though.
Went to bed around midnight.
Day 3
Much like the previous two days, we woke up early and met at the hotel. This particular day we were going up north, close to the Syrian border. The drive was about two hours so we left promptly at 7:15am. Israel has several security check points. Usually when they see a bunch of tourists they just wave you through, this time they stopped our bus and asked for passports. I as well as several others didn’t have our passports. Nomi’s father who is fluent in Hebrew spoke with the guard and explained that this was not just a tour group but part of a wedding party. When the guard asked whose wedding it was, and Ray, Nomi’s Dad, said it was his daughters, he just opened the gate to let us by.
So, tip for the day: If you are in Israel and you are faced with a hairy situation, incorporate some kind of wedding story into your explanation and people will smile and roll out the red carpet.
Shortly after the checkpoint, we got to the a nice place to enter the water of the Sea of Galilea. Rob and I decided it was essential to get in the water. We swam around. I tried to enter the water by way of the famed “Baywatch method” but even twenty meters into the water, the water did not come above my knees. It was a bit ridiculous. We were almost 100 meters out before the water got up to my navel. So, even though Ray told us we had 15 minutes there, we convinced James and his wife to get in the water thus prolonging our stay.
The road we were on led us right next to Jordan. There are huge and wide border gates and fences between the two countries. Ray made a big deal about seeing the Jordan River. We saw it. It looks like every other river…
One of the reasons, now, I feel I should read the Bible is because we went to all these sites where Jesus did something significant but not only do I keep forgetting the significance but also the names. After the Sea, we went to a place where Jesus multiplied fish and bread. (Mom, you can explain this to me when I get back, or give me the Bible verse). It was nice being there because Eva just got her masters in something Bible related and was nice enough to explain everything to me. Its just so much information to take in at one time when you are running on fumes. It was really nice there. I took a picture of an olive tree. It only seemed right.
We continued onward to Capernaum, where Peter lived (?) and Jesus(?) – back to needing to read the Bible. Not too much there, just ruins.
We drove to Cana where Jesus turned water into wine. I only remember this story because I think it’s a pop culture thing now. Everyone knows about this. If you don’t, maybe you should get on the Good Book. I certainly need to…
We ate lunch in Nazareth. Actually I just bought a 1.5 liter of water and had that because 1) Im trying to burn off the McDonald’s weight and 2) trying to stay hydrated.
Onward to Mt. Of the Beatitudes where there was the Sermon on the Mount. Really pretty there. We then continued onto Mt. Carmel where I learned that Elijah had a show down with the Pagans. Lots of good views up there too. We drove by Megiddo where the root word gives us “Armageddon”. I think this is where people are planning for Armageddon to begin. I don’t know how you prepare for Armageddon though…
I should really thank the Bennetts for really taking care of me. Any time I got money out to pay for something, Graham would come up and say “we already paid for you” or Mr. Bennett would say, I got my family and make sure to include me when paying for tickets. They were fantastic and so welcoming and nice. Although anyone who knows the Bennetts already know this, they really helped to make Israel an amazing and unforgettable place. This was the last day of our real hardcore touring. So, to the Bennetts, thank you.
More on it's way. Lots to catch up on. Thank you for those reading.
Ok, so I tried to load some pictures but its not working...
Until next time...
Day three
I took the dog out again. We went to the same spot and watched the ducks swim around. It is so nice out there. Did I mention that Rasmus and Marie live right across the street from where ABBA used to have a recording studio. True story. It is now a gym and some offices. Nice ones.
Since our Stockholm Card ran out at 12:30pm today, we had to act fast. We went to Hard Rock Café because I collect the pins. The collectable pins. (I know, lame hobby- but some of the pins are really intriguing). It was closed, so we went to City Hall and took the tour there. That was really engaging because we had to have guide. Totally worth it. We saw the “Blue room” where Nobel Laurites get their Nobel Prize. We walked to the different chambers and city parliament. The riveting part of this was to learn that 90% of the city parliament have other jobs. Meetings are held in the late afternoon or the evening to accommodate those who work. I think this is the way that politics should be. People are not over consumed with election because if they don’t get relected, they still have a job. They know what it means to be a working class part of society and make decisions as such, not a disconnected member of politics. Also, anyone from the city is allowed to come to any of the meetings. All sessions are open. I really appreciated this aspect of the Swedish Parliamentary procedure. City Hall itself is a beautiful building itself; of course it needed to be if it were to hold the Nobel Prize Awards every December 10th.
Went back to Hard Rock to buy a pin. They had a lunch special so we just ate there. It was good. I ate half a sandwich there and the other half later on. I bought my pin too but I won’t mention how much I paid for it because things in Sweden are borderline prohibitively expensive. Not really, but coming from Armenia, or Turkey, or Lativa, it certainly is.
Since our Stockholm card ran out and the center of Stockholm was not too far away, we just walked to NK which is like the Harrods of Stockholm. This was Mike’s idea. He wanted to walk around a department store. He found something. A hat you would see in the 1994 movie “The Newsies” (I don’t know if that is the right year, but it does have Christian Bale). Again, I won’t say how much he spent on that hat.
We also saw Patti Smith, the winner of the Polar Music Awards. If you don’t know who she is, neither did we. She must have been big there though because there were some teenage girls crying. Either that, or she got some hot pepper in her eye in the proximity of Ms. Smith.
Knowing that our cards were expired, we went to the metro station to see how much a ticket would be. It was $3.50 each for a one way ticket. We said “Tak” and turned around and decided to walk back. Thirty minutes later, we were back. It was a really nice walk. That is the beauty of the Stockholm Card, if a museum is bad, doesn’t matter, you have already paid. If you make a mistake going somewhere in the wrong direction or whatever, doesn’t matter, because you have already paid for the card. Winston-Salem, get a “Winston-Salem” card, and develop the same kind of public transportation as Stockholm. (This is a joke- albeit, maybe not funny).
Since the following day we would be going to Orebro, we decided to stock up on some supplies. We got two tubes of stuff. One was cheese in a metal tube and the other was crayfish flavored metal tube thing. We haven’t tried either yet. We are excited to try them in Israel. (I mean, they have to still be good right? They were not refrigerated and they are in a metal tube).
We ate dinner with Rasmus and Marie. They made the traditional dinner for Thursday night. Pea soup and pancakes. No, I am not kidding. This is tradition in Sweden. You eat Pea Soup and pancakes. Marie scared us by talking about the Pea Soup and making it sound like it was awful. It was really good. The pancakes were more like crepes and we ate those with blueberry jam that Marie made and cloud berry jam (I don’t know what that is either…) We also drank Swedish Punsch. That is how it was spelled on the bottle. It is a 21% alcohol, extremely sweet liquour. It was good but one glass was enough of that stuff (and by “glass” I mean one shot glass.”)
I took Liza out at night and saw the amount of people who were out. After work it seems like everyone either rides their bike, runs, or cross country skis on roller blades that look like short skis.
We then packed and watched TV. TV. It had channels, in English too. We saw “forgetting Sarah Marshall.” Why not?
Day 4
It looks like the rate that I am typing it is about a page and a half per day. I hope you (as the reader) are hanging in there. Good thing there are pictures too…
Mike and I woke up early, again, and made sure we had everything. We took showers and had breakfast with Rasmus and Marie. Apparently a traditional Swedish meal of oatmeal with yogurt, fruit, and some juice. It was good and I think I will try and eat the same thing when I return home.
Rasmus was super nice, again, and went with us to the train station. Maybe to make sure we got on the train, so he wouldn’t have to deal with us anymore. Kidding. We had a great time with Rasmus and Marie and I really hope that I meet them again sometime in the future. Mike is convinced he is going to try and study in Sweden. He better get a job, buy a house, pay it off, and use his house as collateral when he takes out a second mortgage to pay to go and live in Sweden.
To Rasmus and Marie, thank you a million for letting two strangers stay in your house, showing us around, talking with us, and cooking us dinner and breakfast. Overall, making us feel very welcome in your home.
We went to the platform and hung out there for a while until we learned that the train was delayed. But only by 5 minutes. And we had to change tracks. So it wasn’t too bad. We got on the train and watched as all the beautiful forests and yellow fields pass by us. We arrived in Orebro around 11:30 where we walked around a bit until we met John and Okia. They are Mike’s relatives from way, way back.
They took us by car to a water tower restaurant. It was really great because you could see over Orebro. Okia, Mike’s relative (of some kind, I never figured out the exact lineage) told us his father helped design or make the water tower. On top of the tower, Okia treated us to a Swedish buffet, which was a shame because we had just eaten our turkey sandwiches on the train. There was still room for more. (Mom and Dad, imagine your child, now add about 30 pounds. That is what your son is going to look like when he comes home- be ready).
Again, by car, we left Orebro and took a drive out in the country. That was really great because the Swedish countryside is definitely worth seeing. Very beautiful. Everything reminded me of the North Carolina forests up in the mountains around mid-fall. The air was so fresh. It’s amazing how you can tell when you are breathing in fresh air.
Mike’s story:
Apparently in the late 1800’s, Mike’s great, great grandfather left Sweden and came over to the US and settled. There was some kind of drift in the family. Okia was interested in finding out what happened to the family and in 1983 started looking. After many attempts he was unsuccessful and gave up for many years. He posted articles in US newspapers, and did other kinds of gumshoe work to find out what happened to his distant relatives. Something happened (I forgot what) but he decided to try again, one more time). He did and ended up getting a phone call in 2005. The year after, the Swedish family, who are now the Eriksson’s, went over to the US to visit. Now there is some kind of constant line of communication between the two families. Really cool how that worked out for them.
We went to the house where that great great grandfather lived and the joke was, if you can picture all the men standing around, “and that is where it all started,” which is true.
We spent the next hour or two driving around the area looking at churches and getting some more history. We stopped at a monastery and then made our way to Okia’s brother’s house. There we met many more of Mike’s extended family and sat down to have a nice Swedish meal of amazing Chedder and Brie cheese, crackers, spread, ham, assortment of breads and pasta. Topped off with pear juice.
We had dessert and coffee and then went over to Ander’s house (Ander is Okia’s brother’s son-in-law) and watched a movie. We got back to the house at 11:30pm, exhausted and ready to go to bed.
Day 5
Again, we woke up early, took showers and ate breakfast together with the family. Not all of the family. It was just Okia’s brother, his wife, daughter, Mike, and myself. We then packed our things and said our goodbyes. The wife gave me a huge hug. One of those really nice ones that just made my day.
They dropped us off at the train station and made sure everything was alright and left after the train started moving. Really a great family and super nice. The train ride was an hour long before we switched over to a bus taking us the remaining hour to Uppsala. We arrived at the train/bus station several minutes early so we went to find lockers for our bags. Soon thereafter, John, from the day before, met with us and took us around.
He took us to the Uppsala Cathedral, showed us his University, and described to us the details of “Nations” which is similar to frats in America but not really. Nations are basically small clubs based on what region of Sweden you are from. They have “functions” as well and sell cheap food. Too bad they didn’t take credit cards.
We went to another place and got kababs. We got the food to go and went to the river and ate it there. We walked around the city some more, but there really isn’t that much to see because it’s a university town. Interesting though and we had a great time.
Four o’clock came and it was time to leave. We said our goodbyes and headed to the airport. There we checked in and took a nice flight to London where I am currently finishing up this ultra long entry.
Overall thoughts of Sweden: Amazing. It is a country and seems to make sense. The people have a nice level of privacy and look out for each other. It is safe. People smile at each other and stop and have conversation if you have dogs (even if you don’t). Everyone speaks English and to me, seemed very eager to help in case we had some problems. The bus drivers seemed as though they loved their job and they were happy to be there. It is an amazing country. It is beautiful too. Not only Stockholm with its beautiful architecture and bridges connecting all the little islands, but also Orebro and Uppsala. It is so clean here. Very expensive. Beautiful ladies… everywhere. I would come back in a heartbeat… after I got a solid job.
In less than 24 hours, I will see my buddy Graham who I haven’t seen in about three years. Really excited about it. More to come. Thanks for reading those who managed to get through it.
Until next time…
After getting off of the boat, it still felt like we were still on the boat. We met Rasmus and he took us to his car and drove us to his house. It wasn’t too far from the harbor and he gave us a nice tour of Stockholm as we were driving. Rasmus parked the car and took us to his home. It was a really nice house and from the beginning gave us the keys and told us we had full range of his kitchen which was really nice.
I should explain that Rasmus and Marie are relatives of Fred and Susan. Fred and Susan are Peace Corps Volunteers in Armenia who came in the year after us. I had mentioned on day at the office that we were going to Sweden and Finland and before we knew it, we had a nice place to stay there which really helped us out.
We ate lunch at McDonald’s…again.
After that, Mike and I walked around trying to find a print shop so that I could print stuff for my application to a certain school. We couldn’t find the one print shop that was in all of Stockholm, at least it felt like it was the only one in all of Stockholm. Later on, after we found the tourist information center, Mike said just to go to the Sheraton. That is what I did.
I went up to the Concierge and told her that I had been spending hours looking around the city for a printing place to send very important papers, by post, to the US. I tried to make it sound very important and very official. (In actuality, they were very important papers and I had a deadline). The lady said no problem, recommended some places, but said that I was more than welcome to use the hotel’s computers to print my papers out. That is what I did. I printed out all 17 sheets of paper, for free. As I was leaving I thanked her. (In Finland, it would have cost 50 euro cents per page at this particular place I was trying to get them printed).
Then we passed by a shipping store and I asked how much an envelope would be. The man asked if I just needed one. I said yes. He just handed it over for free. It was that easy. Sweden is fantastic.
I went to a post office and bought stamps and sent off my papers.
On the boat, we bought these cards called the “Stockholm card.” This card was 57 euros and turned out to be the best investment I had made in a long time. It got us into all the museums in Stockholm for free and gave us access to ride public transportation for free, including boats. This basically turned out to be a steal. The card can be bought in increments of 24,48,72, and 5 day passes. We got the 48 hour pass and it starts the second you use it for the first time. We went to the following museums:
Vasa Museum – Museum of a boat that sand during her maiden voyage because it was much too heavy and the hull was not wide enough. Really a museum worth going to.
Nobel Prize museum – We then took the subway to the nobel prize museum. Not that interesting. We learned more about Alfred Nobel. They had some notable facts here and there, but overall not worth the money they wanted people to pay.
Modern Museum of Art- I am not artsy. I see something that I like that looks like it took lots of talent to create and marvel at that. I don’t see piles of trash, in piles as art. It’s not. Neither is paint thrown onto a canvas. Not a huge fan of “modern art either” unless its of Picasso or Dali. You look at these and see something that was created. Something that takes talent. We saw advertisements that this museum had Dali and Picasso. It did. The brochure mentioned only of those two artists and one other. In the whole museum, there was only one Dali painting and three of Picasso. Although those paintings were really interesting to see, I feel like I was fooled into going there. If I didn’t have the Stockholm card, I would have been irritated that I paid that much to go to this museum.
To give you an idea of how much these museums are, each one is about 14 dollars to enter, some more, some less. Factor in transportation and it comes out to a huge bargain.
We became hungry so we found the next best thing to Taco Bell which was, I don’t know because I forgot the name, but it was decent. Lots of food, but expensive. Much like everything else in this town. So we took the Subway back to Rasmus and Marie’s but forgot which exit to take. We just got out and walked around. We found a supermarket and bought turkey, bread, cheese, mayo, pistachio nuts (at 2 dollars for a half kilo-which is a steal), and some other things. We were going to make our own lunch from then on.
We got back and met Marie. Wonderfully kind lady. They were both incredibly nice. We tried our best to stay out of their way. We did have tea and coffee with them the first night and talked until maybe midnight. It was a lot of fun. We talked about Swedish history, food, culture, things we had to see. They were both very insightful about Sweden. Their English was amazing. There were several times I forgot they were Swedish. They spoke in a very upper class British accent. When they spoke Swedish, every time it threw me off.
Day 2
They have a dog and the next morning, we got up and took Liza out for a walk. That was great because that was the first time I had interacted with a domesticated dog other than Jason and Elvira’s long ago. Liza (like Liza Minnelli) is a Portuguese Waterdog. Rasmus told us that it was the same dog that Obama has and apparently is called so because way back in the day, the dogs were used to catch the fish that fell out of the fisherman’s nets. They were trimmed in such a way that you could grab their hair to pull them back out of the water. Anyway, it was nice walking her around. She is 4 months old. They live right next to the river so we walked on the bike bath down to a good spot and sat down, looking at the ducks.
I took her back and Mike and I made turkey sandwiches to take with us on our walk around Stockholm. That day we went out to the Palace. Mike thought all the parts were in different locations in the city and planned the whole day around the Palace. It took us 2 hours to do what he had planned a day for…
Again with the Stockholm card, we were granted entrance to the treasury, which was small but interesting. It had all the emerald and ruby encased swords and crowns locked in a really thick safe. The safe door was what really intrigued me because it was about 18 inches thick.
We continued onward to the Palace Apartments. I feel like they should have a better name for guests to stay than “apartment.” It doesn’t sound all that regal. I think by now Mike and I were tired of seeing Palaces…
The King’s collection of Greek statues was pretty cool to walk around. Not exactly his collection but it was interesting to read about the different goddesses and gods and what they did. Some of the heads are not the originals for the body. Don’t know why though.
We also went to see the basement structure of the palace. Not that interesting either.
At 12:15 or so, we saw the changing of the guard which was nothing like the one in England or the one in Greece or the one in DC. Those were pretty subdued and simple. This one had a band, horses, about fifty soldiers and was about 30-40 minutes long. I got tired of watching, but was pretty cool nonetheless. It was a lot of commotion just for the actual changing of the guard, which was less than 90 seconds long.
We ate our sandwiches and walked to the Stockholm Cathedral which was really nice. This is where the Crown Princess and her husband got married.
Then we headed over to the other side of the island and went to the photo gallery which was interesting(?). Better than the art museum, I thought. If I had my pamphlets, I would tell you who the photographers were (I am currently writing this on the flight from Stockholm to London before we switch over and fly to Tel Aviv). One particular exhibit was really nice to see.
It was titled “The Invisible Man.” A 37 year old Chinese artist was speaking out against the Chinese government shutting down an art school where he and several other colleagues of his worked. The Chinese government, for one reason or another, didn’t like modern art. The “invisible man” wanted to do something about it, so her would go to several well known areas in China, like the Forbidden city and paint himself into the landscape. It was amazing because the works look like a water droplet in the shape of a person standing in front of an object. Clear, but a bit distorted. There were quite a few photos of this. My favorite was a picture of a soldier or policeman holding onto the invisible man. I would have paid to see that.
After this, we grabbed some Chinese food for dinner and went back home. We were really tired but Rasmus wanted to take us to some vantage points overlooking the city. It was totally worth it. We went to two spots looking over different parts of the city and came home. Mike and I were really tired and soon thereafter, we went to bed.
The entry for Sweden is really long, so I am going to break it up a little bit...
Until next time...
We arrived in Helsinki at the Port of Helsinki at 11:30 at night. I am really glad that we had Cormac there with us. We got off the boat and headed to the only bus that was lined up and hoped it would take us in somewhat of the direction we needed to go. It sort of did.
When I got off the bus and saw the people walking around at 12:30 at night. I didn’t really know what to think. People there had piercings in places I didn’t think you could get pierced. However, those Scandinavian girls pulled through as stereotype would say.
We got on another bus and twenty minutes later we were outside of the main city and in the area where Cormac lives. It was too dark to tell if it was nice or not. We just carried our bags in, made our cots, and made some pasta before going to bed. I was pretty hungry. After eating, lights out.
After traveling for two weeks and staying here and there, the weather being rainey and gloomy, and having piles of laundry to be done, we didn’t do anything. We had grand plans of going out and seeing Helsinki, but we didn’t. We woke up early, went across the street to the grocery store, bought food there, came back and just hung out. We did heaps of laundry and by that time, it was already 4 or so. It was a very welcomed break from our traveling. Just a full day to relax. Interestingly enough, Cormac’s roommates never left their rooms. It was an interesting set-up. You had to get into the main room where there are eight people sharing that, then unlock another small room with two bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom and then unlock another room which is one of the two bedrooms in there. From the outside, you need to use your key four times to get to your bedroom. Anyway, I never really saw them.
It seemed like everyone sharing his flat, or anyone from overseas was from Michigan. However, Michigan does have some strong environmental programs. That is what Cormac is studying, eventually getting a dual masters degree from NC State and a University in Sweden.
So, like I said, we just hung out and made food. Tacos… Then, before we knew it, it was already after midnight.
The next morning we woke up early and got ready. We were determined to at least see some of Helsinki. We took the bus in and got some really expensive coffee (3.50 to me is now expensive) and then went to the tourist information booth. That place was really funny because we kept asking one girl questions. Another lady kept coming up and saying “Sorry, she doesn’t know, its her first day.” We asked several questions and I am not lying when I say that she said this statement to every question we had as though we had left for three days to come back and ask different questions. It was borderline comical. Eventually I told the lady that I wanted the rookie girl to answer my question because that was the only way she was going to learn, and sure enough, with some browsing on the internet, she was able to help me.
Cormac was pretty impressive with the amount of knowledge he knew about Helsinki after having lived there for only a week. We saw three churches and that was about it. That was enough. We ate by the pier. There, Mike looked up and said “that ship has the same name as the one we are taking.” My reaction: that is the ship we are taking but its not in the port we thought it was going to be in. We walked over to the port and found out that the ship was indeed the ship we would be taking. So, it was very fortunate that Mike was looking around.
We didn’t have too much time after that, so we went back to Cormac’s and grabbed our bags. We also went to the Grocery store and bought food for the 16 hour ship ride. Mike and I waited at the port for about an hour before boarding.
Finland was nice, but to me 36 hours there was enough. Granted, I probably didn’t see that much but it was a nice stopover, resting place. Glad I went and maybe will go back again. I didn’t spend enough time there to really recommend it or not. Lots of Russians though…
On the boat…
The boat to take us from Finland to Sweden was one a bit smaller than a standard cruise boat. We saw our ticket, we then saw the map of the boat. Traveling around for five weeks after you have been volunteering is no money making endeavor. We had to save some money but decided that it would be nice to take a 16 hour boat ride between the two cities. Our room was under the cars. Probably under the water as well. We had no windows. However, it was nice. It would have been twice the size of first class on an airplane. We had our own toilet, shower, and sink. The bunked bed appeared out of thin air (or from the wall).
We walked around the boat from one end to the other end. We did this several times not knowing exactly what we were expecting would change. Regardless, you are on a boat, where else are you going to go. The water was a bit choppy but I think two years riding in a marshutni really prepared my stomach. Everything was fine. We ate our turkey sandwiches and decided we would treat ourselves to a beer in the bar, listening to a Scandinavian lady belt out some tunes. A very operatic voice for songs that should not be sung in that manner. Entertaining nonetheless.
We went to bed early by the rocking of the sea waves.
Since the room was pitch black, we had no way of telling what time it was, so Mike kept getting up every two hours because he didn’t think that anyone would let us know if we docked. (It turns out that they didn’t give any kind of announcement, but only played some screeching noises around 7:50pm (or what was about 6:50 because Mike didn’t know there was a one hour time difference.
Walking around outside was one of the more beautiful things I have ever done. Islands everywhere with these nice little red painted homes and clear water lapping up on the shores. The sky was clear and trees as far as the eye could see. Really an amazing sight. It was a bit chilly and now, being in Stockholm, I wish I didn’t send all my fleeces back to the US. Oh well. We got some coffee on the boat and kept staring outside. A couple hours later, we were already getting ready to disembark. We got our things and got off the boat. Definitely a memorable experience.
As we got off, we got to the arrivals area and met Rasmus. He was standing there with a sign which had our names written on it.
Now we were in Stockholm Sweden.
Until next time…
