Le Mans or Bust

I have just returned from my first visit to the Le Mans 24hr race with a good mate of mine, plus a few of his. I must confess I am not a petrolhead in any shape or form, but the opportunity to spend a week camping with a group of blokes getting merry on beer sounded like too good an opportunity when I agreed to go last June. At the time, the sun was shining as Europe baked itself through one of the hottest summers on records. "Great" I thought, more of that this year...

As the date came closer and closer and the weather got progressively worse; I was seriously contemplating pulling out due to "illness". Nevertheless, on the day we were due to set off, I got in the car. The journey down was uneventful and the weather looked as if it was going to clear up... Fat chance, within 24 hours it was pouring down; by the end of the week our campsite was a swamp (not helped by a farmer pulling out stuck cars with his tractor and chewing up the ground in the process). The rain by itself wasn't too bad, but it was also windy with it - I thought I was going to develop trench foot at one point and I ended up chucking a load of clothing that was damaged by the rain.

Still there was the beer to keep me sane...

The end of the holidays (for now)

Well, our 6 months of travels are officially over. Soon it will be back to job-hunting, finding a new place to live and a return to the normality of a five day working week. However, in the past 6 months Heather and I have been lucky enough to:

see waterfalls cascading off Ayers Rock, dived with turtles on the Great Barrier Reef, mingled with other backpackers in Bangkok, relax on the beaches of Phuket, risk life and limb on the streets of Saigon, drink snake wine on the Mekong, experience May Day in Shanghai, cruise along the Yangtze as the world sailed by, gaze at the beauty of Rome, wander the streets of ancient Pompeii, meet up with good friends in Slovenia, see the Communist relic of Petrajelka juxtaposed with the beauty of Bratislava, be enchanted by the beauty of Prague, been welcomed by the city of Cologne during the World Cup, spend a fortune in Paris (and nothing to show for it), enjoy the Roskilde Rock Festival, sauna naked at 3am in Finland, pub crawl around Turku, find an English pub in Sweden(!), cruise the fjords of Norway and drink cold beer in the warm Arctic Circle.

We have seen a lot, we have lived a lot and we have loved a lot. We have also spent a lot, but life is there to be lived, isn’t it?

 

You cannot be serious!

During our stay in Fjærland, I got it into my head that we needed to visit the Arctic Circle. After a fair amount of research, we figured out a route that would get us there (taking about a day and a half) by a combination of bus and train. We looked in to the idea of flying, but unfortunately the cost was too prohibitive – a great pity because the last part of the flight would have been in a small plane flying at low altitude (also known as a bug blaster).

We caught the bus from Fjærland to Otta (taking around 5 hours) and then a train to Trondheim, before catching an overnight sleeper train to Bødo, one of the main towns in Norway’s part of the Arctic Circle.

On arrival at Bødo, we wandered around checking out the fishing village, the beach and other local facilities (including posting our last set of postcards). However, we still had a few hours to kill before we caught a ferry to the Lofoten Islands, which were our ultimate destination. As such, we decided that an ice cold beer (or a few) was in order. Now, one would normally think that drinking cold beer in a cold environment would not be a good idea (lowering body temperature and all that) and vodka or something similar would be better. However, the temperature must have been around 30 degrees C or so, which wasn’t helped by both of us dressing for arctic weather (heavy trousers & jackets, etc). As such, several beers were more than truly welcome (even at Norway prices, which aren’t quite as bad as Paris but close).
Eventually our ferry turned up and we stumbled on board for the trip to Svolvær, slightly the worse for wear.

On arrival, it was around 9pm so we quickly checked into our cabin (oops, a 6 person rather than 2 person) and wandered into to the centre of town for dinner. Throughout our stay thus far in Norway, we had not really eaten any local cuisine so we decided that we better remedy it; Norway however has whale meat as one of its delicacies. I am quite happy to eat just about anything served up in front of me and will always try new things, however I draw the line at creatures more intelligent than the average human (although given the intelligence of some people, an amoeba could outsmart them) – I was not going to eat whale (by all accounts, it’s a bit like salty beef). Heather plumped for a veal rack (baby cows are so much easier to eat) and I went for duck (Hah! Not even mammalian!). They were both served in Norwegian sauces; we could at least say that we tried.

The following day, we wandered around the beach and the town centre, where the main port is. Another Norwegian delicacy is freeze dried fish, which is made outside during the winter months on wooden A-frames. We saw a number of these, but due to the lack of snow, no freeze drying fish. Also in Svolvær, they have a permanent ice & light show gallery, which we decided to check out. I am sure that the artist tried his best, and he no doubt did a better job than I could have done, but I think his report card at Art School probably said “Could try harder”. Still, it was the only damn way we were going to get cold in the Arctic Circle… Bloody global warming.

Fjærland

After Oslo, we boarded yet another train and headed north. The first stop was the town of Flåm, on the coast of Songefjord fjord (sort of an appropriate name really). On arrival there, we spent a few hours lazing in the sun admiring the beautiful scenery that one expects amongst the fjords. Eventually, our ferry turned up and we crossed the fjord to Ballestrand, a small village where my father and his partner met us, for the drive to their home village of Fjærland.

Fjærland is a tiny village, consisting of no more than about 300 residents and sits at the end of the fjord of the same name. It was to be our temporary home for a couple of weeks (with a slight break in the middle for a trip to the Arctic Circle), and is a beautifully, relaxing location to hang out in. One of the main features of Fjærland is that there are a couple of glaciers located at the top of the mountains surrounding it, which many people visiting the area go climb up. For the more sloth-full, there is also the Glacier Museum that is essentially a cut-down version of the Science Museum, covering glaciers only. The highlight of the museum when we were there was the wide-angle cinema display (about 140 degrees all around) that runs a 15 minute movie flying over the glaciers.

Other activities that we engaged in were cycling (albeit not very far), berry-picking (Fjærland is teeming with wild raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, etc) and going on hikes around the surrounding valleys (to the extent that our bodies or more really our laziness would allow us). Our other major activity was to go fishing on the fjord itself. The water was freezing cold (although a beautiful green/blue colour) and the day we went promised rain, however Heather and I borrowed the small boat from my dad and his partner and putt-putted across the 1km or so wide gap. On my second cast, I land a herring that I duly let go (it was too small to keep I thought, although for a herring it was actually quite big). However later, Heather landed a reasonable sized cod and I landed one of similar size followed by a huge one (ok, it was about 12 inches or 30cm long). These we did keep, and they tasted very nice when cooked that night.

Tomorrow is our last day in Fjærland as we catch a ferry to Bergen at around 2pm. Before that, we may try getting to one of the glaciers and touching it just to say we have done…

Where was A-Ha????

After our couple of weeks in Sweden, we caught a day-train from Jönkoping to Oslo, arriving at around 7 in the evening (another day of travelling!). We checked in to our hostel, and wandered off to eat a traditional Norwegian meal of pizza.

The following day, Heather’s mum was off on her own tour of the Norwegian fjords, however Heather and I decided to spend a bit longer in Oslo to check it out. After all, one night was not really enough.

The first place we visited was Oslo castle, which is actively used by departments of the Norwegian defence service. For example, there is the defence logistics service located in a very grand building. Also within the castle grounds, there are a number of museums – one of which is the Resistance Museum that I was particularly keen to visit. At the start of World War 2, Norway (like Sweden) declared its neutrality, however Nazi Germany needed a direct outlet to the North Sea to harass the Royal Navy. As such, Norway’s declaration fell on deaf ears and in a rapid assault by mainly airborne forces, Norway was invaded, surrendering only after France had fallen. The Norwegian Royal Family went in to exile in the United Kingdom (just escaping in time from the SS units that were in pursuit) and the Nazis installed a puppet government to oversee the running of the country.

From the outset, Norwegians in all walks of life resisted the occupying forces by various means. In addition to the attention-getting sabotage, more passive means were also used. For example, the teachers’ union boycotted all lessons when they were told that they had to use German as the primary language, causing mass arrests, deportations, etc. I think the modern British teacher barely has the spine to stand up in a force 3 gale, let alone stand up to a Nazi regime! The museum covers all this in great detail, and (for a pleasant change) actually acknowledged that Britain stood alone for 2-3 years against the Nazi war machine. It was quite surprising to hear an American tourist (on reading the text of one Churchill’s speeches) say "Thank God for Winston Churchill".

The rest of our time in Norway, was spent visiting the Royal Palace, the beach and wandering through the old town. A very pleasant start to Norway.

Jönkoping

Our final week in Sweden was spent at a campsite in the town of Jönkoping. Although a reasonable-sized town, it does not normally attract much in the way of overseas tourism and as such doesn't even rate a mention in the Lonely Planet Scandinavia guide. As such, I will try to write this in the style of a Lonely Planet entry.

About Jönkoping
Jönkoping is a small town located almost equidistant from Stockholm and Gothenburg. Its main feature is the large lake, giving it an almost coastal feel. At the centre of the lake, there is a small island with a castle located on it.

Getting there and away
Jönkoping is served by a railway line, with trains running from both Stockholm and Gothenburg. Buses are the primary means of transportation around town, although a limited taxi service is available.

Where to stay
Hotels abound in Jönkoping as it is a mecca for business conferences. Camping is also available with pitches for caravans and tents, and log cabins for those that need something more substantial over their heads (no guesses needed as to what we stayed in).

Where to eat & drink
For those on a budget or camping, there are a number of supermarkets where produce can be brought. Additionally, the campsite also has a store that can be for the emergency stocking up of provisions (e.g. when the beer supply runs dry).
For those not interested in hard labour, there are a number of eating options available. Particularly recommended, is the English theme pub where a selection of quality beers and “English pub grub” can be bought. It should be noted that opening time is 16:30 and desperate Englishmen with a wild look in their eyes have been known to hang around by the door until it opens, muttering “I need an Old Speckled Hen”.

What to do
Walking around the lake could be considered an activity, but you would want to set aside at least a day to do it (it's a big lake). Other activities include a Troll museum, the world's only safety match museum (a riveting display no doubt) and swimming in the lake.
Due to the long hours of daylight, plenty of reading matter is recommended and a personal stereo if you want to filter out unwelcome noise. TV stations tend to transmit in English with Swedish subtitles; unfortunately they also tend to transmit drivel like Dirty Dancing and When Harry Met Sally. Obviously the stereotype about the Swedes isn't true…

Örebro

After arriving by train Örebro, we checked in to our new hostel. It appeared that it was miles from the centre of town on the map, so we ordered a taxi but it only took about 5 minutes. Hmmm, next time we will look at the scale.

For our first full day in Örebro, we decided to do a walking tour of the town. The Lonely Planet has about a 3 line entry for the town, so it was left to us to figure out what to do. First stop was the castle and a quick walk through that. Unfortunately, we arrived just after the English language tour had finished so we had to guide ourselves. By all accounts, the tour includes a number of actors re-enacting pivotal moments in Öorebro history, scenes of torture, etc. Could have been fun to watch.

We then explored the old town of Wadköping. Whenever a city is being "modernised", the existing buildings are demolished - usually while the town planner has a manical gleam in his eye which would put the average psychotic to shame. However, Örebro decided to uproot the old buildings and move them to an area just outside the main city and opened it up as a museum. It is something that a lot more towns should consider to preserve their heritage. Cement monoliths may be efficient but they are ugly.

While on our walking tour, we managed to find an English theme pub where I was able to work my way through their English beer collection (and we were meant to be drying out in Scandanavia).