Helsinki and Stockholm

(I apologise to everybody for taking so long to write this)

I arrived in Helsinki in the early afternoon and had two days to explore the town before flying to Stockholm. Having been an outpost of the Russian empire for more than a century, I had read that the city exhibited Soviet influences. This was not apparent when I arrived, but it became clear in retrospect as I visited the other Scandinavian capitals. In comparison to Moscow and St Petersburg, Helsinki feels like a much smaller, more intimate town. There are few tall buildings, many wide boulevards divided by parkland, and the inner city is essentially surrounded by water — it occupies a peninsula that projects out into the Baltic Sea, resulting in some beautiful harbours.

I did not explore the city thoroughly during my two-day stay. To my regret, I also failed to visit the fortress island Suomenlinna (Castle of Finland), due to poor weather and a limited ferry schedule. Instead, I spent the majority of my stay in the company of three Latvians with whom I shared a hostel dorm — Eduards, Gints and Juris — and who were in town to watch the Latvian team Dinamo Riga play two KHL games against Russian teams! As a result, I spent both evenings in Helsinki at the ice rink cheering on Dinamo Riga, and drank Latvian beer (very generously provided by the aforementioned trio) into the early hours of the morning. I also learnt a tiny amount of Latvian (my most-used word was “paldies”, which means thankyou) and discovered that Midnight Oil is quite popular in Latvia! After two fantastic (and very late) nights, it was time to part ways and fly to Stockholm.

Stockholm is my favourite of all the Scandinavian capitals, and many of the travellers I met in Scandinavia shared this opinion. The city is spread across a myriad of islands (the smallest of which only holds a single building!) and contains a ridiculous number of museums and galleries — at least 80, I believe. Across these islands the city exhibits a range of styles: modern bustling streets lined with fashion stores; small and quirky stores accompanied by tiny cafes; uninhabited islands that only admit walking tracks; densely populated residential areas that feel spacious and friendly; and the old town (Gamla Stan) which is the most beautiful and charming example of an old town that I have seen yet.

So, where to start? The modern art museum (Moderna Museet) had an interesting and diverse range of modern art, and an exhibition of Max Ernst’s work that ranged from the bizarre (Surrealist and Dadaist paintings) to the hilarious (the Virgin Mary administering a firm spanking to the baby Jesus). The accompanying architectural museum gave an overview of the architectural history of Stockholm and included an exhibit of a diverse range of building projects in Spain, which was a refreshing change. Any random walk along the streets was sure to lead to the discovery of yet another museum or gallery, but with the exception of the Nobel Museum (which was interesting, but slightly disappointing) and a very informative guided tour of the Swedish Parliament, I avoided further museum and gallery visits in favour of other cultural avenues.

I knew very little about Swedish cuisine when I arrived in Stockholm (there’s only so much you can learn from the Swedish Chef on the Muppet Show), and I was excited to learn that reindeer and moose were on the menu. I had no qualms about trying reindeer and moose jerky (as opposed to when I ate mink whale in Iceland) and I also enjoyed a fantastic dish of roast moose, which had a distinctive and delicious flavour. Further culinary highlights included a range of great soups (especially goulash soup and mushroom soup) and excellent dark breads. At one cafe I asked the waiter to recommend some good Swedish beers, only to be told that they stocked over 200 boutique Swedish beers! When I made it clear I could not drink (nor afford!) 200 beers during my week in Stockholm, I was given a short list of beers to try, all of which were extremely good. For the beer enthusiasts reading this: I will try to document the beers that I taste on this trip.

I did not venture into Swedish cinema, but I did see the latest Woody Allen film (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) in English with Swedish subtitles. Unfortunately, parts of the film lapsed into Spanish dialogue whilst the subtitles remained firmly Swedish (cue the “A møøse once bit my sister…” jokes), leaving me to plead along with one of the characters “in English, please!”. (Many thanks are in order for Tatianna, who provided excellent company and a first-rate translation service!) Nonetheless, it was an interesting and enjoyable film, and also a novel way for me to spend an evening — I rarely go to cinemas back home.

I also managed to partake in Sweden’s sporting culture, by which I mean more ice hockey. Sweden is the last hockey country that I will visit, with the exception of the Czech Republic (should I get there), and so I was determined to see a game. Along with four other Australians, I headed out on a Friday night to see a second-division game where the small crowd proved to be extremely vocal and emotional. As luck would have it, I returned to the hostel only to meet Maximin and Felix (from Germany) and Martin (the first person I’ve ever met from Lichtenstein!), who were all interested in seeing a hockey game. And so the very next night, we had a great time watching an exciting and undisciplined top-division (Elitserien) game.

Having thoroughly enjoyed my week in Stockholm, it was time to climb aboard an overnight train to Oslo and awake to a very early morning in yet another city.

All the best!