We're back!

Okay, so this is just a short post.

We're back in Australia - we got back in early March in fact. We're planning to put up a whole host of posts about our adventures since we left Sweden but we were so busy travelling that we never got round to doing it!

Something will be up in the next few weeks though just to make the blog complete!

:) Nat and Candice

Exploring the Arctic Circle

It was getting towards the end of November and the days were getting shorter. If we wanted to see Lappland, it would have to be soon or else it'd be too dark to do much up North.

We decided it was now or never and so together with Thomas, Ryan and Casen we booked our 16-hour train trip up north past the Arctic circle to see what lay in store. The plan was to go all the way to Abisko (Sweden's northernmost settlement of any significance) and if we were lucky, see the northern lights!


Casen, Ryan, Thomas and Candice on the nattåg (night train) from Uppsala to Abisko


The trip in "cattle class" took its toll on us


Towns were blanketed in snow as we whizzed by

The train ride was very long and we were inexplicably delayed at various stations through the night. Finally as day broke, we saw the stunning view of the sub-Arctic tundras. We passed Kiruna, Sweden's northernmost city and prepared to get off at Abisko.

Unfortunately for us, Abisko has two train stations. Originally, we got off at the right stop (in town) but due to a communication error, we thought we had disembarked too early and so we hurriedly got back onto the train only to find we had been right all along!

This meant we had to get off at the secluded Abisko Turist-station stop, which though stunningly beautiful, was a 30-40 minute walk back to where we were supposed to be - and was closed anyway. It was around midday and the sun was in the sky, so we decided a little walk through the snow couldn't hurt us!


The train as it drops us off at the wrong station

This was our view as we got off

We were suprised to find that Connex had its fingers in this pie too! All the way up here in the Arctic Circle!

Candice all rugged up like a pig

View of the mountains and the lake

The boys taking it all in

The light was getting low and Casen's feet were beginning to freeze so we had to make tracks and find our way back to Abisko village.

Trekking back to Abisko village.

Abisko

Abisko has a population of about 170, one supermarket, one restaurant, a bunch of houses, and a whole lot of amazing scenery. Situated as far north as you can possibly go and still be within the borders of Sweden, it was the perfect place to experience life in the world's northernmost extremes.

East Abisko station

At this time of the year, the sun rises at about 10am and sets about 1.30pm. With barely enough daylight to work up a sweat, the days were precious. The darkest day of the year is usually the 21st of December where the sun doesn't even rise!

View from our hostel room

We stayed at the Abisko Fjällturer hostel, owned by an eccentric old Swede and his two sons. It was more like a house than a hostel - everything was done ad hoc. The people we met were all really fun and the fact that we didn't have a television, mobile phone reception or the internet added to the isolation and need to socialise.

The sauna is very popular in Nordic countries - and as it is customary to take a sauna naked, usually males and females are seperated in public or communal saunas. Not here! The old Swedish owner (dubbed "Naked Man" by us) was adament that everyone should be in the sauna together naked! We weren't so keen and so only Candice ended up trying it out (with other girls of course) after they begged Naked Man to let them go in alone.

Having a sauna involves, running out naked into the snow and rolling around before coming back in for more sauna action. It's apparently very healthy.

Glögg, traditional Swedish Christmas wine

Julmust, Swedish Christmas softdrink - it tastes like spicy coke

Thomas in the kitchen where he belongs

One of the most amazing things about being north of the Arctic Circle is experiencing the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis). These are naturally occuring lights in the sky (usually at night) which can be observed in the polar regions of the world (the Southern Lights of Antarctica are called Aurora Australis).

The first night was clear and we were lucky enough to actually see the Northern Lights in action! Unfortunately it was too dark (and our cameras too crappy) to get a decent picture to show you what we saw, but it was beautiful.

Warming ourselves by a fire while we wait for the lights to appear

The next day we decided to go cross-country skiing around the area. In heavy snow, skiing is the best way to get around fast and explore.

Candice ready to go

We had to make the most of the weak daylight

We decided to take a route suggested by Naked Man which loosely followed the railway line back to the tourist station at which we had been marooned the day before and then cut off towards the water.

Snow coming off the mountains


The road

I got so hot skiing that I had to take off my headgear

Pigs at the Arctic Circle

A frozen river gorge

When we arrived at the water's edge, we "made camp" and drank some hot tea from our thermos. The tea was cold within about a minute and would freeze in about five.

On the expanse of frozen nothingness

Candice

The lake was full of floating ice

As it would soon be dark, we decided to make our way back.

Abisko

Hanging out at night with the hostel crew

Early the next morning (well, 9am but it was dark and it seemed like 5am) we set about preparing for our dog-sled trip.

Thomas and Ryan get close and personal with their vehicles

We were taught how to "saddle" the dogs and fasten them to our sleds. After a crash-course in braking and steering, we were off!

Candice's view from her sled

To be honest, if you had asked me a year ago if I ever thought I would go dog-sledding I would have said "probably not". I guess it's one of those cool things that you'd do if you got the chance but that you probably wouldn't go out of your way to make happen. It was very surreal to be actually flying through the air on a wooden contraption pulled by huskies!

My team and I

Candice during one of our breaks

The dogs would howl alot and were dear things

Whenever we left tree cover, the icy wind would whip our faces so much that one of my cheeks was numb.

View of Casen as he struggles in the snow storm

This is how beautiful Lappland is:-

We left Abisko with a heavy heart, knowing we would probably never be back. Our original plan was to go to Narvik in Norway to see the fjörds, but due to train delays, we decided to go a little south to Kiruna.

Kiruna

Kiruna is Sweden's northernmost city and is the capital of the district of Kiruna, in which Abisko is situated. A mining town of 25,000 people, over the next 10 years it is actually going to be moved about 20km to counter mining-related subsidence.

Kiruna is world famous for the Ice Hotel. Unfortunately, we were a bit early and they had just begun buidling it.

The mines of Kiruna

The hazard of snow on public benches

Walking around Kiruna reminded us of a ski-resort town.

The streets of Kiruna were completely snowed-over

The wooden Kiruna Church, built in 1912 was voted Sweden's most beautiful building

The interior of the church and the organ - simple yet beautiful

It was only 2pm but it seemed like late night. We made our way back to Uppsala, catching the night train at 6.30pm - we were so tired that we slept almost all the way!

Helsinki

On the 30th of October, we made our way across the Baltic sea to Finland. This was our final international trip while we live in Sweden and our first one by sea.

A cheap alternative to short-haul plane travel is to go by sea. Catching the cruise ship (or ferry) from Stockholm to Helsinki is an experience in itself. Several ferry lines operate across the Baltic sea. We caught the Mariella, which is a ship in the Viking Line.

Scandinavian ferry cruises across the Baltic are renowned for their "booze cruises". It seems that Swedes and Finns come out of their shells when they get onboard and literally drink themselves to death on these cruises. This is because alcohol is duty-free onboard due to the fact that it's an international cruise. Although our trip had its fair share of drunk Finnish medical students on our level, it was otherwise not that bad. The real drinking cruises happen on actual overnight "booze cruises" from Stockholm to Åland and back.



My cabin: the fake window rubbed in the fact we were in the lowest class.


I was sharing a room with Maxim, the quirky Ukranian. Here he is with Candice at the bar.

After a long journey, we finally arrived in foggy, wet, cold Helsinki.



We were met by Richard Brewis, an old family friend who I (Nat) had known back in Sabah. The Brewises were linguists who were responsible for the world's first complete Murut-language dictionary.



Candice and Richard


We were blessed enough to stay in a hotel this trip. Candice was so excited she had to be in the picture.

Upon arrival we embarked on the "Richard Tour of Helsinki". Richard took us round to see many of the city's landmarks on the reliable tram-network around central Helsinki.

Finland is an interesting country caught between Scandinavia and Russia. A Nordic country with a population of 5.3 million, it is not technically part of Scandinavia. Finnish is one of the most difficult languages in the world and is virtually unrelated to anything else in wide usage apart from Estonian (and more distantly, Hungarian).

Having said that, Finland's history and culture has always been linked to Scandinavia - including hundreds of years under Swedish rule. Today, evidence of this can still be seen as Swedish has been kept as the country's 2nd official language - street signs in Helsinki are in both languages and kids are taught both at school. In fact 5% of the population still speak Swedish as their mother-tongue! This means most Finns are trilingual, being able to speak Finnish, Swedish and English fluently.

Finland was conquered by Russia in the early 1800s and only gained independence in 1918 after a bloody war. Unlike it's southern Baltic cousins (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Finland stood up to the USSR and resisted expanding Soviet influence, turning towards Western Europe and its former colonial master, Sweden.

Richard and I in one of Helsinki's market squares

Walking around the streets of Helsinki, we realised that it was a much more recent city than Stockholm with an abundance of neo-classical and art-deco influence in its architecture.

Richard took us to Helskinki Olympic Stadium where we tried some traditional Finnish quisine - herring with sausage and pork soup!

At the cafeteria of Helsinki Olympic Stadium

Helsinki played host to the Summer Olympics in 1952, something which the city is still proud of today. An amazing view of the city can be seen from the stadium tower but unfortunately it was closed when we arrived.

Helsinki Olympic Stadium

The first photo above is us beside the statue of Paavo Nurmi, arguably the greatest track and field athlete of all-time (yes I looked him up). He won 12 olympic medals (second only to Michael Phelps) and broke 22 world records and probably would have won more had he been allowed to compete at the 1932 summer olympics.

Founded by the King of Sweden in 1550, today Helsinki is a bustling city of just over a million inhabitants. It seems to have a character of its own, unlike Scandinavia but also far from Russian. Perhaps it's the language, or the fact that Finnish people generally keep to themselves (hence the stereotype of the "silent Finn") and avoid small talk.

A busy Helsinki street

One of Helsinki's best attractions is the world-renowed "rock church" or Temppeliaukion Kirkko. Built in 1969 this Lutheran church is actually built into the living rock.

The Rock Church

The National Parliament Building

We were lucky enough to catch up with the Brewises who have been back in Finland for over a decade now. It had been 11 years since I had seen them. They took us out for Nepalese!

Me, Richard, Johanna and Kielo

Much like Sweden, the traditional Christian demomination of most Finns is Lutheran. Helsinki Cathedral is the largest church in the city.

Helsinki Cathedral

The reliable Helsinki trams

The Finnish Worker's Memorial is often the subject of pranks

McDonalds was not far from where we were staying so we couldn't resist!

Finding solace at Maccas

Hanging out with the Brewises in Vantaa, suburban Helsinki - everyone was changing to winter tyres

Our friends from back in Uppsala - Lauri and Vincent just happened to be in Helsinki the same weekend

Hotel Anna, where we stayed - a nice, clean hotel in the heart of town. Highly reccomended.

Helsinki Central Station

One of the locals?

The Orthodox Cathedral

View of Helsinki from the Orthodox Church

The markets

The harbour


At the docks

Candice in the park

Since we had enjoyed it in Latvia and Estonia, we felt it was necessary to taste Hesburger (Finland's own fast-food chain) one last time.

Munching down a couple of bad boys at Hesburger

This is another Viking Line ship, the Gabriella which we caught home to Sweden

Helsinki at night as we cruise away

Our trip home was uneventful except that we decided to explore more of the ship this time. We celebrated by drinking a couple of duty-free beers on the chilly deck as we watched the lights of Helsinki fade into the distance.

On the Gabriella, drinking Becks

We awoke the next morning to see ourselves calmly cruise into Stockholm.

Coming into Stockholm, we pass lovely waterside suburbs

For more pictures of our time in Helsinki, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=62335&l=9fd25&id=681501850