Anyway i'll start now.. maybe will split it into 2 posts... see how it goes ba...
Photos for the overall trip will usu be posted at the end of the section... and usually i will only display paranormic pictures... :D
11th Oct 2007, Thursday, Copenhagen -> Stockholm
Start of my 10 days journey... 1st stop... Stockholm... since i have gotten my Scanrail pass... took a supposedly 5 hours train up to Stockholm from Copenhagen... this train ride was quite a tiring one... heard alot of Danish(or sweddish) announcements along the way... and the train stopped and slowed down on many occasions... in the end... we only reached Stockholm after a 7+ hours ride... the train was delayed for a whole 2+ hours... crap... so was kinda late when we finally reach Willy's place..(in KTH) and we haven't had our dinner... and the supermarkets are closed... :(
But well.. at least we are staying with friend... so.... he offered us food he had in the fridge for us to cook... hehe... not bad! :)
Ended the night after talking a bit.. bathing, unpacking and checking mails.... long day tomorrow!!! exploring Stockholm~ :)
12th Oct 2007, Friday, Stockholm
Started this supposedly long day with a supposedly leisurely walk to the metro station... well after walking for some distance, we realise that it wasn't such a leisure walk due to the pretty overwhelming wind... wind in Stockholm is quite strong i must say... -_-
1st thing that caught my eye at the train station..(ignore yesterday night.. i was sleepy.. hehe)
What are you hissing about?? wanna Hiss together?? =X
ok.. lame one... but well, starting lame makes my day easier ok?? lol
The train system is pretty much the same as Denmark... except that Denmark is more 'open'.. u have to do the 'clipping' of the card yourself.. but in Stockholm you have to go through a station officer... bought this 8 trips card at 160 Kr...(cheaper than Cph...:() looks more.. erm.. outdated than Denmark.. hehe...
Started with a rainy day... went to the tourist info(standard procedure) to get some maps and info 1st... then decided to head for The Royal Palace, Kungliga Slottet, 1st... Quite a grand palace, coversquite a big land area... but didn't go into the museum...(it cost money.. and i'm pro free tours.. hehe) we are trying to catch the change of guards.. which is at 12 pm... so since we are there earlier... so we decided to walk around 1st...
1st stop within the area of The Royal Palace.. the Storkyrkan... Stockholm Cathedral... Most famous thing within this is the statue of Saint George and the Dragon... this statue dates back to the 15th century... and it depicts Sweden's struggle against evil..(Denmark) For the full story of St George and the Dragon click here... For info on this statue, click here...
St George and the Dragon
Explanation
This Church is quite a grand one(not the most grand though) with quite a bit of mural paintings here and there... a few interesting statues(like St George and the Dragon) and also a painting called "The Parhelion Painting"(original is lost.. but the the one showing is also painted in the 1600s)
The Parhelion Painting
Since i don't usually visit Church in Singapore... it's quite an eye opener for me.. Afterall, Churches are an important part of life in Europe and many part of the culture can be found there...
After the visit, we realise it's time... and we headed off for the change of guards(COG)...
i think this is asking dog owners to take care that dogs don't shit inside the Church.. =X
Change of guards was... ok... haha.. didn't really felt that is was very magnificent... maybe cos it's just a normal day...(not weekend even) Not really alot of people there... but i saw rainbow there~ haha...
Don't the lady seem to enjoying the rainbow? =X
tried my 1st paranomic shot here.. hehe...
Looks ok la... got rainbow leh~~ haha =X
After the COG, we continued on to Gamla Stan, the Old street of Stockholm... supposedly a good place to do some shopping(for souvenirs..) the street do look like those olden days kind of street... with quite some gradient at certain points... and not to mention.. lots of shops selling souvenirs around.. but... sorry guys.. really to ex to buys things back... =X(Warning: Scandinavia is expensive!!!)
Had Lunch at this place called Cafe Art... quite good.. think we spent 69 SEK and had a very nice meal... Curry Chicken Potato~~~ it was nice... and considerably cheap!! 10+ SGD... good bargain i felt...
After Gamla Stan... we decided to go towards the Stadshuset, Stockholm City Hall.. saw from Lonely planet that there's a tower we can go up to view the Stockholm Scenery... but unfortunately.. we are pretty late.. so it was closed.. :(
The City Hall itself was ok i felt..(since i never got to go in.. think must pay... lol..) but the scenery outside was quite nice.. we reach near sunset... and yes.. it was a good timing i must say... Happy trigger time!~~~ :D
And here's a few paranomic shots i took... :)
i really dunno where this place is......... =X
Left view from city hall...
Right view from city hall....After visiting the Old City Hall.. we went to have dinner... saw this entry about a Food Court called Kungshallen... FOOD COURT IN SWEDEN!?!? haha... decided to check it out... and we are pleasantly surprised... it's really like food court in Singapore.. haha.. think along the line of China Square Food Court... haha... it sells a variety of food... different kind of cuisines... and i had pizza... with Drinks..(drinks are expensive in Europe) for just 70SEK!! haha... and when i saw pizza.. i dun mean those kind of personal pan... it's like those family size pizza we have in SG... OMG... so happy... and so full!! =X
After dinner... since it's late.. and we don't club... we decided to rest early tonight... so we headed back home~ hehe... after washing up... wanted to write a postcard home... but i was too tired... lie down on bed and fell asleep almost immediately... LOL =X
13th Oct 2007, Saturday, Stockholm
Since we only have half a day in Stockholmn today...(leaving Stockholm on a train at 16.58) Initially wanted to visit Skansen and Vasamuseet... but as we spent quite sometime in Vasamuseet... and also, i realise i left my long sleeve tee at Willy's place.. i have to go back and get it!! crap! :(
Vasamuseet is a maritime museum dedicated to the Vasa ship which sunk on it's maiden voyage in the 17th century... the ship was almost fully intact when salvaged... It was quite magnificent.. seeing a 17th century ship right before your eyes... reading about Sweddish way of life during the 17th century... and going through some of the methods they used to preserve the ship and also not forgetting... archaeological methods to identify the skeleton found on board... they actually manage to create a face out of the skeleton.. lol... well to a certain extent.. that part looks pretty eerie... =X
Since we are kept a distance from the Vasa, it's hard to take photo of it, unless with longer exposure time... so.. some photos might seem a bit blur.. cos my hand is not like a tripod u know.. LOL...
Well this is the 1st Attraction that we paid to go... had student price!! haha.. so nice... and well.. it's quite an eye opener...
After the museum.. we went to have lunch again at Kungshallen.. haha.. one last time at food court ma.. =X then i raced back to KTH to get my long sleeve tee... after i reach Willy's place, i realise to my horror that the main door is locked... OMG... and i can't call thru to Anthony(my Danish line cannot call out to SG line) and i don't have willy's Number... LOL.. but luckily i saw someone walked pass and he let me in after knowing i'm Willy's friend.. :)
After a mad rush to and fro..(i bought a single ticket and it covers transport within Stockholm for 1 hr.. so i have to rush to and fro in that hr........) everything's set.. and we bid Stockholm one last goodbye... and headed off for the 17+ hours train towards Kiruna.. within the Arctic circle...(how cool is that?!?!)
14th Oct 2007, Sunday, Stockholm->Kiruna
17 hours train ride is nothing fun... haha.. couple the ride with a crying baby..... it's called unearthly torture... sigh... but thanx to my ipod.. i'm able to not go through the torture!! yay~ =X
before we went to sleep... i was a little hungry so asked Anthony to go to the cafeteria for some food... wanted to eat a baguette for 40SEK... but we saw this Reindeer with bread which cost 10 SEK... wanted to try that.. but apparently the waitress thought we wanted the Reindeer meal..(with mash potato and some berry jam) and it cost us a bomb!! :(
After the extravagant dinner... we went back to sleep.. couldn't really get to sleep.. so was just watching out the train window...(might just catch aurora u know.. whahahah)
Finally after a grueling 17 hours ride..(ok it wasn't that bad... since we get to lie down and sleep.. lol) we finally reach our destination.. Kiruna.. an old mining town in the arctic circle...
1st impression when we stepped out of the train is that... everywhere is snow.. haha... really snowy... and i couldn't resist it but scope a handful of snow to feel it... haha... 1st time touching snow ok...?? well... it's a little like crushed ice.. very very fine though... maybe a bit like the snow ice desserts u can find in SG.. lol... well that's the initial excitement... after walking a bit.. we realise... walking on pure snow is hard... due to the layer.. u have to use quite a bit of strength to pull yourself out of it..(think mud.. just cleaner)
Wanted to buy the train tickets for our train tomorrow to Narvik... but the station looks closed.. As it is a Sunday(Practically everything is closed on Sundays in Europe..) so we thought that we will just come by tomorrow to buy the tics before we go... and so we started to try to navigate to the hostel... seriously.. it's quite confusing at the start... esp everywhere is white and u hardly know where u are facing etc... haha.. but we made it in the end..(or i wouldn't be typing this... lol)
Yellow House~
However, checking in only starts at 2pm... and we are like... 3 hours early?? luckily.. we saw 3 other Asians there too.. apparently they are gonna check in to this Hostel too... They are from Thailand and will be staying for 2 days... so after some chatting and putting down of our things etc... we decided to go and find some lunch together...
sadly... as i've said.. Europe practically shuts down on Sunday... so yeah, we can't find anything to eat..so we settled with buying bread with ham and potato salad(it was nice!) form the ICA Supermart... After buying the food and having our lunch(on the bench outside the hostel), the Thais started to roll balls of snow.. and it kinda struck us to build snowman.. haha... and yeah so we started... with one.. then 2... then one last small one.. happy family! hahaha... Well since it's the 1st time i've ever tried building snowman... it's quite an interesting experience... lol
Time flies.. especially when you are enjoying it.. haha.. soon it's 2pm.. and all of us checked in... and well, we are neighbours.. haha.. the hostel isn't running at full capacity(since it's off-peak) so it's nothing surprising... The hostel was quite nice.. very well equipped.. and it even have a bath tub!!! haha...
After checking in and settling down... we decided to explore Kiruna together... haha.. See i'm so friendly! :D Anyway, since most places are closed... we went to the FREE places... lol... 1st Stop: Kiruna Church...
It's a pretty unique building... It's one of Sweden's biggest wooden buildings... not too bad from a mining town...
After going to the Church where we just explored the areas around it(since tours are mostly closed till winter..) and well... i had the honor of seeing Anthony run like no tomorrow.. LOL =X
After a little exploring.. it was getting dark so we decided to head back for dinner and rest for the day... and hopefully i'll be able to see mysterious light glimmering in the sky....
sadly... the night was very cloudy... and well, i dozed off pretty soon.. haha! woke up at 3am.. but well.. cloudy still... so went straight back to bed... sigh... 1 night down... no aurora... :(
but anyway, here's the paranormal for Kiruna...
Kiruna Church Head on
Kiruna Church Sideview
View from Kiruna Church
Kiruna Mine
15th Oct 2007, Monday, Kiruna->Narvik
Last day in Kiruna... The train that leaves to Narvik will leave at 10.44am... so we decided to visit the Tourist information 1st to ask about the train tickets, and to walk around after that... it turns out that the train tickets are to be bought on board... so well.. alot of time wasted walking here and there for the train tickets.. =/
We walked towards the town hall after that.. since we have time... haha...
Welcome to Kiruna~ Ironically we only see it on the day we are leaving.. haha!
One thing to note about snow... nice to see, fun to play... but when it starts to melt... it's a killer!!! lol.. the floor become ultra slippery... and it gets so wet and dirty... muddy.... lol... aftermath of the snow!!! ewwwwwwwww~
Soon it's time to bid Kiruna farewell.. but fret not.. i'll be back for Aurora in December..!! wahahahah... =X
Train ride to Narvik was a visually pleasing one... with snow covered mountains... Vast lakes, impressive views of valleys and experience the trains climbing up and down the mountain..(i can feel it due to the pressure difference... you know? the sensation in your ears??)
Here's a few paranormal i took while the train stopped halfway..(think waiting ot climb up the mountain..)
Narvik is a city situated in the innermost part of Oftofjord...(I'm insde a Fjord!! lol) 1st stop, checking in to our hostel... HI Hostel in Narvik~ The room wasn't ready yet when we reach so we left our bags at the counter and head off to explore Narvik..!! It would be almost mandatory to drop by the tourist office... the people there are very helpful..(love their service) so we'll just drop by the Tourist Information to ask for advise... There's supposedly quite alot of activities here but since it's off season now... most of it is closed... but one good thing about Scandinavia is that... the trails etc are free.. =X haha... and you don't need to any permit to trek it... so i suggested that maybe we will just follow a trail.. and maybe trek further and see how far we can go b4 we have to turn back...
1stly.. the lady at the tourist info suggested for us to visit the 5000 year old moose carving... so.. why not?? 5k years leh!!! haha... so we started our journey... at a few instance i was thinking if i went the right way... cos to get to the carving.. it seems that u have to pass by someone's back yard... so weird.. haha... but anyway... we got to it... after a little bashing thru some vegetation... but well... it was... ok... haha... a carving loh... =X... we then moved a it higher up to have a view of the 'lake'(it turns out to be the sea...)
Near the 5000 years old Moose area...
on the way to the 'lake'
After the carving... we decided to move towards the 'lake' to have a better view of it... after some walking.. we reach the place.. it was quite nice.. to see the very vast lake and with mountains as background... here's a paranormal on it
I also tried taking some pictures... like this one...
Trying to mimic little Mermaid... hehehe =X
Well... unfortunately there was an accident here... I was taking pictures and suddenly i heard a 'Poooom' sound and when i turn over i saw a splash of water... =X apparently Ant fell into the 'lake' and his camera got submerged in water... so..... we head back to hostel... for him to clean up and change his jeans maybe... before continuing...
After cleaning up, we decided to try to take a trail maybe up the mountain... but well, we realise we walked the wrong way... haha.. cos at the end... we reach this part where there's a gate... and u have to cross the TRAIN RAILS to continue... well.. i still wanna live... so... didn't proceed further... and even worse.. we pass by 2 cemeteries on our way there... argh! =/
The sky is getting dark... well as most of you should know.. when you are nearer to the poles... the day/night get shorter in winter/summer... it's only 6 plus pm and it's almost dark like 8 or 9pm in SG... so we decided to call it a day and drop by the Supermarket... and bought 2 pizzas..(again) to eat as dinner... things are pretty ex in Norway... a very simple meal will cost maybe.. 20+ to 30 SGD.... sigh... so eat the thrifty way loh...
Our hostel actually have a balcony... i was thinking it might be good that we can lounge there(with windbreakers..) and wait for the Aurora... but unfortunately.. the sky was still pretty cloudy till i dozed off(again!)... well.. no luck with the Aurora 2 days in a row... sigh... better luck hopefully in December...... *Prays to Guan Yin Ma* hehe...
Kelvin
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