Sunday, April 23, 2006

Scandanavia

Välkommen/tervetuloa (welcome) and moi (hello) from Stockholm and Helsinki!

It has been a pretty crazy week so far. I can't believe I've only been here for 7 days! So much has happened and I'll try to recap the highlights as best as I can. I'm going to try to write one long blog entry for each of the countries I visit (so one for Scandanavia, one for London, one for France, and one for Italy).

Where do I even begin?

1. Took an overnight flight to London on April 17-18 on British Airways who served us dinner (Toronto time) and breakfast (London time) so that was the beginnings of my jet laggedness that is still present at this very moment, a week later. I landed at 630am London time and proceeded to take the bus to the tube (subway) and the tube to Scarlett's house. Some observations at this point: London is not wheelchair accessible (aka I was lifting and pulling my 25 kg suitcase plus my backpack), Brits don't like our "American" accent like we like theirs, and there are a lot of people in a rush on the tube. Also - no one talks much on the tube and they are all busy texting on their cell phones. Every single person reads the free newspaper (similar to the Metro in Toronto) in the morning and all the men wear a pinstripe suit! They are quite fashion forward and no one wears sweatpants or vests or anything like in Kingston (although I think Kingston is a different civilization all in its own). Oh, I also met this really Jewish guy at the gate in Toronto. He was so odd. I just wanted to listen to iPod and read my book but he wanted to chat about everything. Well, more like he wanted to talk about himself and wanted someone to listen. So he is a math grad from Waterloo and he's on a summer backpacking adventure to Asia and India. I'm so glad I didn't have to sit beside him or I might have gone nuts. Anyway, so London was pretty cool and Scarlett and I went to the shopping district (Bond Street I think) to look for a cell phone for me (e-mail me if you're going to be in Europe the next few weeks) and some stuff for Sweden and Finland because we were leaving the next day. We went out for dinner at Brick Lane where they apparently have really good Indian curry (it was the sketchiest subway station ever - we were waiting for other people for about half an hour and in that time we saw a guy get arrested for jumping the gate at the station and not paying and we also saw this woman pushing a stroller without a baby inside and talking to all the other sketched out people walking by). We went with a bunch of Scarlett's GapKids friends and her Asian friends from Vancouver and their friends. The co-workers were SO DRUNK. They said "I feel so old - I'm 19!". Sigh humdinger. So it was quite a random bunch of people. Curry was good but by the end of the night (about 11pm) I was ready to keel over as I left Toronto the previous day at 6:15pm and slept about 3 hours since. We talked, showered, and wasted time until about 3am when we got home and then woke up at 530am to catch the tube and train to Stansted airport for our 8:35am flight to Stockholm...

2. So due to a number of unlucky circumstances, we missed the flight. The tube was late and then just sitting at the station while the minutes ticked by, the train was late and then it was going very slow too (it said 45 minutes but it took 1.5 hours). We were flying Ryanair which is the ghettoest cheap airline in Europe so if you don't check in 40 minutes prior to departure you have to pay 40 GBP for another flight. So we got to the airport 10 minutes late and of course, the people wouldn't let us on the plane. We were willing to pay the 40 GBP but the next flight wasn't until 1:35pm. As if that wasn't bad enough, it was full so we had to be on standby (there was only one person on the list at this time). We couldn't decide what to do because we could have flown to Gothemburg, which is also in Sweden, and take the train to Stockholm from there but we couldn't find the internet cafe for a really long time. Once we finally decided to just go on standby, there were 4 other people on it already (two of them were the people in line in front of us...) and we were numbers 5 and 6 on the list. Didn't sound like good chances, so we asked when the next flight was after the 1:35pm flight if we didn't make it on standby. They said 6:10pm. And there were only 8 seats left...

Good news - we all got onto the 1:35pm flight and I don't think we could have been happier. We were so scared we wouldn't get onto the flight and then we'd have to be on standby for the 6:10pm flight too and if we didn't get on that one we'd have to wait until THE NEXT DAY...brutal. I hate Ryanair. I don't care if it is cheap. They make you pay so much extra money. Like when we arrived at Skavsta airport in "Stockholm", we had to take a 1.5 hour bus to the real Stockholm. It was like flying to Ottawa thinking you're flying to Montreal and then landing and realizing you're in the countryside. Anyway, a cute doggy greeted us and sniffed us for cocaine at the airport and then finally we got to the Skavsta airport. Afterwards, we took the bus to Stockholm and then a city bus to our hostel.

Cost of trip to hostel in Stockholm from London:
2.20 GBP for the tube to the Stansted "Express" train
19.80 GBP for the return ticket for the train
30 GBP for the original 8:35pm flight
40 GBP for the missed flight
130 SEK (7.5 SEK = 1 USD) for the 1.5 hour bus ride to the real Stockholm
30 SEK for the citybus to our hostel
___________________

A lot of money for a supposed "cheap flight". Sigh.

3. Anyway, once we got to Stockholm it was really cold but a nice day. We washed up and went out for dinner and drinks. We ate kebab to be cheap and went to this bar for drinks that ended up to be quite expensive. The kebab made us feel sick. We got home around 1am and slept until 1030am and woke up for the best breakfast ever! Herring, salami, yogurt, juice, cheese, breads...it was a smorgasbord of food! By the way, Sweden was another hour ahead. I'm exhausted.

4. The next day we went to Gamla Stan (Old Town) and walked around and ended up at this really cute cafe. Of course, we missed the beautiful day before and ended up with a rainy and cold day in Stockholm. I was SO COLD because I didn't bring a winter jacket or anything. So Scarlett and I went to a cheap store and I bought a really warm coat for 25 USD. It's great. We went to the Vasamuseet where they have this viking ship that sunk after 25 minutes of sailing and was almost perfectly preserved 333 years after it sunk. Then we went back to Gamla Stan to this traditional Swedish restaurant and we ate salmon and herring and swedish meatballs for dinner!! It was totally like Ikea. :)

5. We had the most amazing walk back to the hostel (we could actually see stars and we were walking along the bridge by the water). How romance! By the way, Stockholm is surrounded by water patches all around. It's quite interesting actually. Anyway, the hostel was superb and if anyone decides to visit, let me know. It is very Ikea! It was very clean and the breakfast was awesome. Except - the showers were very cold. The next day we had to catch our 9:05m flight from Stockholm to Helsinki. We didn't want to miss this one too so we woke up at 530am to catch the 6:12am citybus to the Central Station to catch the Arlanda Airport Train (deja vu?). Good thing the bus and train actually came on time. Hence, we were 2 hours early for the flight. Scarlett ate a bit and we went to the duty free to look around. We waited forever at the gate (but I suppose - better early than late...). I wished the flight was longer than 45 minutes because I was SO exhausted at this point.

Thoughts about Sweden: IT IS SOOO IKEA, the meatballs and salmon are very good, the people totally ignored us (maybe because we're Asian...or they thought we were American...or both?), the city is BEAUTIFUL and clean, and the McDonald's are like 4-star eateries.

6. BlueOne was a much better flight than stupid Ryanair. Stephen, Scarlett's friend, came to meet us at the Helsinki airport and we went back to his apartment and rested for a bit before we headed out to the sauna and ice swimming, two traditions of the Finns. It was a smoke sauna, which was the hottest sauna of them all, exceeding 100 degrees Celcius (literally). If you leaned against the walls, your back will turn black from the heat and smoke and we were told that your friend will have to scrub you. Imagine a wooden hut, dark and filled with fat red-faced Finnish men in Speedos. Help. The idea of this excursion was to stay in the sauna for 20 minutes and then going into the lake covered with ice. They usually crack a hole in the ice but we were in luck that day - the ice had melted a bit and the water was a scorching 4 degrees Celcius. You are expected to go from the sauna to bobbing in the water (some intense people even swim laps). I was able to go about half way into the water but it was friggin' cold. It was quite odd, hanging out in our bathing suits on the dock next to the ice lake in Helsinki, Finland in 5 degree weather. That night we had dinner at this film-themed restaurant and ate good pizza and chicken, Finnish-style (with berries and goat cheese). We went to a very chic lounge called Ahjo where one of the guys we met called it "a lounge for corporate suits". We bought a house wine and sat down on one of the sofas. The design was soooo cool and everyone was dressed so nicely. The three of us definitely looked as young as we were. :-(

All they play here is house music. It all sounds the same. Just when we thought we were getting bored, we had some lively entertainment by a bunch of investment bankers and CEOs who probably don't get out too much. I can't even explain it in words, but the dancing was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. It's not European, it's not Westernized...it's like Elaine from Seinfeld times 39493493498324. People were jumping up and down with their legs wide open, one girl was dancing by herself looking the mirror and smiling at herself, and one special man ran like long jump onto the dance floor and landed in the middle, jumping with his legs in a squat position. There was also the star of the show, who we refer to as the white shirt bald man who looks like an uglier version of Moby. It is important to note that these people looked normal sitting down, however, once they got onto the abandoned dance floor (which did not help their crazy dancing) they looked like fools who didn't get out enough.

While Scarlett and Stephen were dancing to Madonna, I was sitting, enjoying my drink. Finnish Fabio, who sat next to me, asked me where I was from. He was with another dude, who we call figure-skating yellow fever Antie (Anthony in Finnish). He asked if I knew Elvis Stojko and Conan O'Brien (if you saw the episode of the Finnish President who looked exactly like Conan, but is a woman...). He also asked Scarley and I to speak Chinese to each other. Sketchbombs. We ended up leaving the lounge at 4am, half an hour after the lights turned on. They told us that there is nowhere fun to go in Helsinki. I asked them where they go to party at night. They said Spain. HD 2006.

7. Scarlett and Stephen slept until 1pm. I slept until 3pm. By the time we finished breakfast and showered, it was 6pm. We went to see about the Estonian ferry, however, it was closed. We don't have any luck with transportation. After that, we went to the supermarket and then bought dinner home. We ate in half an hour and surprise - had to get ready to go out for the night already. We met Stephen's friend Catrin (from Germany) and his friends who go to the university, Anna and Celine, from Italy and France respectively. We went to a bar to meet some of Anna's friends - Camilla from Norway and coincidentally, some girl from Gothemburg. Anyway, the university people had to leave early to study for exams but Catrin, Stephen, Scarley, and I went to Rose Garden, a club that Stephen described as "student-friendly, casual, and a secret, but well known to the locals".

Much to our surprise, we walked in and the first thing we saw was a man with crimped hair and tape on his nipples wearing a corset and a painted face. Then we saw a gothic fashion show with a bunch of photographers and camera men. As we walked into the club, we noticed that us - dressed in jeans and tank tops were the odd ones out. Scarlett says that one of the men looked like an executioner from Braveheart, another had a metal circle on his neck, other men were dressed as women, and one guy had a green face with a clown nose. One woman stood out. She had a gown on with a sash that said it was her "hen"(bachelorette) party in Finnish. It was quite a random lot of people. Scarlett went to the washroom and to her surprise found men AND women inside. The man with the metal circle informed her that it was indeed the women's washroom and looked at her as if she was stupid. The normal people aka the bartenders and coat check people looked at us as if we were quite lost. We had some cider, which is popular in Finland and sat down on the couch. The guy next to me looked at me and looked away and then looked back, so I said hello. He turned out to be a Finnish hockey player and his friend a "Danish" (but really half Swede, half Finn) pilot. The hockey player was QUITE drunk. He told me he liked my shoes and then compared them to his own. He noted that they were "longer" than my shoes. He also said he liked my glasses. He asked if he could wear them. I let him and then he passed them to his friend next to him who didn't want to take them off until I said "I can't see without my glasses"...humdinger. Then he said he liked my watch. He asked me what kind of music I like and I said rap and r&b and he told me I was in the wrong place. (No kidding). He told me he liked Common and I spewed out some mainstream names that he would know as well such as Jay-Z and Eminem. He told me quite angrily that these people were "too much on the surface" and "why don't you know any underground people". So I asked him what he meant by underground and he named al these Finnish rappers. Oh, then he talked about how he is majoring in "sports" at university and he wanted to "play hockey". However, he was impressed when we told him lacrosse originated in Canada. He then proceeded to ask me about what I thought about all the people sitting in front of me. He looked like a Finnish version of the guys from Dumb and Dumber. Quite an interesting night...

We ate kebab (again) but this time it was better. We had a 45 minute walk home because the trains stop and we slept around 4am. We woke up earlier this time - 2pm. We left the house around 5pm and walked around to the cathedral and saw more of Helsinki. Good thing the sun sets late. We bought some more food and had a very good dinner. Tomorrow Scarlett and I are cooking traditional Finnish food and planning our trip for Tuesday to Estonia.

More crazy stories to come...

P.S. I miss Flow 93.5 music and the NBA playoffs
P.P.S. ALL THE GUYS look like underwear models. High cheekbones and perfect hair and teeth. See below for example, Swedish model Marcus Schenkenberg.
P.P.P.S. I will update with my pictures when I get back to London!



Moi from Helsinki,

j.

5 Comments:

At 7:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

mother of pearl this is a long entry!

 
At 7:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

wow...
yer trip sounds awesome. i wanna see stars too.. but NooOOoooOOo... mother nature decides to put a super down pour of rain.. yeah... and for kicks adds some wind too it. aghhhhhhhh... the weather sucks here.

hahaha... thanks for the speedy msg update.

keep 'em coming :)

miss yaaa

 
At 10:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

After I was forced to come home after the fire alarm went off @ the library (how does that happen? During exam time too?!), your entry definitely lifted my spirits! :)

I especially enjoyed the part of the questionable dancing by the i-bankers and the ugly Moby - LOL!!

Oh Jess, I'm glad you're having an awesome time! Hopefully you'll have better luck with transportation in other cities, eh? Good luck.

'Til next time! <3

 
At 7:35 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i JUST read the entry about our car ride HAHAHAHA....i such at all categories =( next time, it'll be a whole round of 'Would You Rather"s!!! (RAPIST ALL THE WAY!!!!)

i remember one night last summer I turned to my dad and asked, "so what's for dinner?" and he replies with "IKEA!". yah i must agree....their food is quite delicious!

ur trip sounds like so much fun!!! can't wait to see all ur pics...take care bigg jess!!

- jodie

 
At 9:15 AM, Blogger Felise Navidad said...

WOW JESS!! Sounds like an AMAZING experience so far!! love the parts about the weirdo dancers and that club with all the strange people!!! that's crazy!

 

Post a Comment

<< Home