Reflecting on the Holiday

So we come to the last blog post of the holiday. I wonder what image best sums up an amazing three weeks away. 

I think it is the awe of seeing the West Wall of Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim.

Even now the details of the various images on the West Wall surprise and thrill me.

Highlights

 

As I look back there are a few things which stand out, but in mentioning them I realise there are loads that I could include which space would not allow. 

After the impressiveness of Trondheim, the one that comes first to mind is arriving in Olden and seeing Drew in his 'home' element

with the rushing water at the centre of the valley

and getting that sense that in this town everything is very Drewish, even down to the sparkling water.

Then there was walking on the top of the Opera House in Oslo, which even know seems like a crazy idea, but was great fun.

Also Drew meeting a friendly troll (and a whole woodland of them) in Bergen.

In terms of achieving a long term aim, crossing into the Artic Circle for the first time in our lives has to be at the top of them.

Seeing a Church rolling from one place to another in Kiruna is also a memory you couldn't plan for, but thoroughly enjoyed at the time. It still seems unbelievable that you can load a church onto a trailer and move it, ever so slowly for two miles.

Finally, the pleasure of feeling we were coming 'home' as we arrived at the Thon Partner Hotel Kungsborn hotel right next to Central Station in Stockholm.

To Note

It was also impressive to note Drew's courage in overcoming his fear of heights (or as says: of drops) in the funicular in Bergan, in the cable car in Loen, 

on the bridge and the cable car in Tromsø 

Unexpected delights

There were also the unexpected delights which brought brightness to the whole holiday. One that comes to mind is the two ferry journeys that the bus took between Bergen and Olden - who knew a standard service bus would use a small ferry boat to cross the Fjords and what a delight each of those little unexpected journeys would be for us.

The delight of seeing a Cruise Ship leaving Olden as we arrived. It turns out, I found out later, that a former student of mine, Stephanie Richards, who studied with Linda (one of our regular blog commenters) on the Moodle in Schools project, taught by Professor Norah Jones, Catherine Naamani and I, was on that ship; with them being forced to make an unplanned stop in Olden due to the Storm Floris which was battering the UK and Norway at the time. That was a relief for Drew too, as he now knows why this, unscheduled ship was in the Fjord on that day. 

The comfort of the trains both the Oslo to Bergen and the Trondheim to Bodø ones was another real pleasure of the trip.

A special mention also has to go to Thon Hotels, who in no small part made the holiday, by providing great quality accommodation, in excellent locations with brilliant breakfasts. The hotels became a key part of our successful enjoyment of the trip and getting to sit next to the founder (at least of his statue) was also great fun.

Though the window in Room 502 of the Radisson Blu in Tromsø has to win the prize of the best view from an hotel in the holiday, by day

or by twilight

though the balcony of the Olden Fjord Hotel gave it a good run for its money. 

Memorable Meal

While all four of the Michelin starred restaurants were excellent, for me it is Fagn, in Trondheim, that stands out as the most memorable as the Head Chef took the effort to engage with us and explain what had inspired him in his cooking, that with the quality of the whole service, makes it the great foody find of the holiday for me.

That being said only one of the meals we had disappointed, the lack of heat in the Vietnamese meal at Lille Saigon was a disappointment, 

but one out of twenty two is a remarkable record. [Co-pilot's note: I must, dear readers, give an honourable mention to the delights of Bastard Burger - I know some people don't like burgers on principle, but it was a damn good tasty bit of dinner.]

Travel 

In the 22 days of the holiday we travelled a total of 2,500 miles (excluding flights). It was 1,354 miles by train, 867 miles by coach/bus, 188 miles by ferry and 20 miles on the underground.

In addition we walked 144 miles, an average of 5.75 miles a day which is equivalent to 12,450 steps per day, well above the somewhat random target of 10k a day.  Our longest walk day was 13 miles or 28,000 steps on the Sunday in Oslo. Our shortest walk day was .83 of a mile i.e. 1,800 steps, this was the day we travelled from Olden to Trondheim and, after two long bus rides, walked one block to the amazing meal at Fagn. 

Thankfully, our walking helped balance with our food consumption. I left Wales at 12 stone 10 lbs (80.74 kg) and returned at 13 stone 6 lbs (85.28 kg) - I reckon it would have been a lot more than that without the walking. 

Issues

We had a remarkably easy holiday in terms of what went wrong. Most years there have been somethings which have not worked - this year was so much easier than some of the past ones. Everything seemed to work as well, indeed better, than we might have expected in advance. 

The only challenges: 

(a) the inability to get photos off the camara 

(b) the absence of a functioning launderette in Trondheim.

were both annoyances rather than major problems and were solved in one day in Trondheim. Though I suspect I'd have finished the blog a day or two earlier if I hadn't had that big catch-up with photos, it didn't spoil any aspect of the holiday.

Overall it has been fabulous.

Thanks

Thanks to all of you who have made this journey with us, with comments on the blog, on Flickr and on Facebook/BlueSky - they have been a great help and encouragement both for informing the journey and for correcting my mistyping/misspelling. I suspect there are many more spelling errors to catch, so if you see any please let me know.

So, until next year, when we seem to be heading towards Portugal following Richard Sharpe in Wellington's Peninsular Campaign, farewell and see you soon. 

Kiruna and the Sleeper

Our second day in Kiruna sees us back in the town centre as the church reaches its new home. 

More to come about that, but first back to the start of the day.

Early Morning

I wake at 3.00am this morning and begin the blog post about the day we arrived at Tromsø. 

Drew woke at 4.45pm and I made us each a cup of Lady Gray tea - a tea he'd not tasted before our visit to Prague, earlier this year and which has become a favourite of his with its light citrus flavour. 

I do my ablutions beginning at 6am Drew does the same at 6.25am. 

Breakfast

Breakfast is much quieter at 7am today than it was yesterday. Drew opts for a salad start this morning with a bread roll on the side.

Having enjoyed my breakfast yesterday I had another chia pudding this morning, followed by yogurt and nuts, seeds, raisins and oat pieces.

Drew had two boiled eggs and bacon

Where as I am back with my favourites - mustard and pickled herring, two types of cheese and smoked salmon.

It is interesting to note that in Sweden it is pickled and mustard herring that are the dominant form, in Norway it is pickled, tomato and sour cream that are the main flavour. I don't know why this is, but it seems fairly consistent from my recent experience.

Post- Breakfast 

At 7.45pm we go back to the cabin where I pick up my laptop and go back to reception to get the faster wifi that will allow me to edit photos. All yesterdays and this morning's breakfast photos edited, titled and loaded to Flickr before 9am when I stroll back to the cabin, do our final checks and go to reception to leave our bags in the the Luggage Room for later. My sister will appreciate the warning notice!

Into the City

We leave Camp Ripan at 9.15am to chase down the moving church. 

We arrive at OK Parken bus stop for the free city bus to the centre at 9.35am. It arrives at 9.50am, they are running every twenty minutes.

City Centre

We see the church on the route and decide not to head away from the 'New' City Centre but to wait for it to come to us. It is even cooler and windier today than yesterday. So, we walk to the main square and see the again see the guy who is hosting the live stream from here who looks like he is freezing on stage. 

We then go into the Civic Centre Library and see the exhibition associated with the church move. Some of the images, including a children's school competition, are in this montage of photos.

From the library we visit a book shop called Ugglan Bookshop, where Drew, who is learning Swedish wanted to buy some young people's books to improve his mastery of the language.

Lunch

As it is now Midday we decide to stop at lunch. The new City Centre had eight or nine eating places, many of them fast food, but a few full service restaurants. We spotted one called La Guna and decided to stop there. 

We were thinking to have something substantial, but not to heavy, given we would be on a train at dinner time this evening.

Drew opted for Mozarellasticks and what arrived was just as billed.

Four sticks of mozzarella cooked in breadcrumbs, they were a perfect starter.

I ordered Räksallad, that is shrimp salad

 

Wow, I was expecting a small side salad, not one with pineapple and cheese as well as tomato, lettuce, olives and onion with a ranch dressing and a huge eadge of delicious lightly cooked shrimps. A real delightful mix of flavours, but much larger than I had expected - but I managed.

For his mains Drew had ordered Lax på planka which translates as Salmon on a plank

the salmon was served with piped potato, tomatoes and a remoulade. This suited Drew very well. The salmon had a hint of smokiness about him, the potato was smooth and had been cooked on the plank, so it acted like a moat to the rest of the dinner. 

I had also chosen food on a plank Suovas på planka, that is Sliced Reindeer on a plank

This was absolutly delciious. the reindeer meat (and there was plenty was served with the same type of piped potato as Drew had had, but tis was served with Crème fraîche and a tangy lingonberry sauce. Probably more than I'd intended to eat but great all the same.

The other, mainly elderdly dinners, were all watching the church on the TV in the corener of the restaurant.

It seemed a bit surreal to be watching a TV programme of an event we could hear happening outside about 50 meters away. But it was much more comfortable than standing in the biting breeze.

Back to Camp Ripan

We saw the church arrive at its new home, a few hours early, as we were eating our lunch. We had wondered if we would talk around to see it settled, but with King Carl XVI Gustaf and a range of celebrities all on site, the crowds had created a long queue, as seen here.

We decided that joining the lengthy queue made no sense so we headed back to the Free Bus stop and were the only ones on the bus. It was like having a taxi service!

We drove past the newly situated church on our way out of the City.

The bus departed at 12.55pm and we arrived at OK Parken at 1.07pm and at Camp Ripan at 1.17pm.

Afternoon at Camp Ripan

Having arrived back at Camp Ripan we collect our luggage and I sit in the lounge at reception editing and loading up all our photos from this morning, so we are right up to date. Drew read his noval on his kindle.

Departure from Camp Ripan

To give ourselves plenty of time for the train we leave Camp Ripan at 4.30pm to catch the free bus at 4.40pm. 

Here's Drew approaching the bus stop

the bus arrives at 4.50pm. As mentioned earlier these free buses have been arranged to try and reduce car movement in the city for these two days of church moving, Not for freeloaders like us, though the driver welcomes and tells us where to put our luggage. 

Here's Drew on the bus

with the luggage safe behind him. 

By this time the bus was quite full, unlike earlier, but we still arrived at the Railway Station at 5.02pm. Over an hour before the train is due, but we like it that way.

From the station you get good views of Mount Luossavaarabacken a ski-resort that overlooks Kiruna. We could see it from the side when eating at Camp Ripan.

The station also has a memorial to those who built the line

and there are many lines, though only one platform. 

Drew takes a photo of me at the station - we were alone apart from one Chinese gentleman.

We are still alone twenty minutes later when the bus drives past again - the driver waves, and the second time 20 minutes later. By the third time, when there were a few more people around us, he even stops opens the door and laughing offers us one last free ride to the city or back, as he could make it before the train arrives!! I'm used to being mocked by family and friends for being really early for things - but this is the first time a bus driver has taken up the amusement! Though in a very friendly way.

It is a surprise to find it is the platform called platform 11 - but that appears to be a translation issue as Spor (the Norwegian word, means line, not platform, it is only that we talk about platforms in English, so it might seem to be the correct - if not direct translation. There really are abnother 10 lines here but no others with platforms, the other lines are the ones for the ore carrying trains, the main activity at this station.

Kiruna is now all blue sky and sun, though still a bit nippy. Such a lovely way to end an enjoyable day in this amusing place. 

On the 99 Train to Boden

Normally a sleeper train leaves Kiruna every day and ends up in Stockholm the next day. But, as I menitoned in an earlier post, there are major repair works going on the line between here and Luleå - this being the reason bookings for this part of the journey took place so late. So instead we are on a train to Boden, where we will meet the Luleå to Stockholm sleeper, avoiding the bit of track that is being repaired.

The train is twenty minutes late when it arrives. And we head for it as everyone on the platform is piling on.

A French lady, already on the train, decides to take the air with her child and blocks access to our carriage door, Drew speaks to her in Swedish and she moves. [Co-pilot's note: I must, dear readers, insist that we did not know that she was French at the time when I started speaking Swedish to her.]

We arrive at our seats, it is the French lady and her husband who have left signs of occupation. I suspect hoping the train wouldn't be full and we would take other seats - it was full. So, when they return from their breather they remove there items and go back to their children!! As the journey progresses we begin to understand why they want to get away from them!! Exemplary children travellers, they were not!! [Co-pilot's note: I, dear readers, felt sooooooo sorry for the poor little French man, who was the father - he was in a right state - he was a ruin.]

The train leaves at 6.27pm. The train is exceptionally full with no spare seats anywhere. This is the route:

Even though the station is six miles from the New City Centre, the train goes no nearer to Kiruna, in fact it leaves Kiruna by reversing out of the station and then going forward around the mine which dominates the city skyline. 

Supper

At 7.14pm we have the snack we bought yesterday. A bag of salted crisps for me and a bar of chocolate for Drew. This is chocolate we bought in Olden based on the brand comment of my sister when we were in Oslo, that one of the signs we had taken was an advert for Norwegian chocolate. Drew has been very abstemious on the chocolate front wiring until this evening to consume it. 

We proceed along the line heading for Gällivar, 8.25pm instead of 7.55pm. We are held outside Fjällåsen for a goods train to pass. This now means we will be 30 minutes late at Gällivar. 

The current position is that we will arrive in Boden (our transfer point to the Sleeper train at 10.05pm, but there is space for that to slip yet!!). The sleeper train is due to leave at 10.18pm

As the train gets slower and stops to allow other traffic past (apart from at stations there is only single track on this line) more often, thankfully we have the first announcement from the guard that the 93 train to Stockholm won't leave Boden before we arrive. A great relief for all I'm sure. 

We skipped the station at Nattavaaara and arrived at Murjek 44 minutes late at 9.34pm. [Co-pilot's note: It was here, dear readers, that I noticed that the French fella had resorted to putting up his hoody and gently rocking back and for as his children ran around him screaming!!]

Finally we arrived at Boden at 10.30pm 45 minutes late so we had to speed across the platform to get to the sleeper in time. 

The Boden train is now confirmed for 10.50pm departure, 4 minutes after we arrive. It will be on the platform opposite ours when we arrive. so we will need to walk across the platform to find our carriage and apartment 

Sleeper apartment

With everyone rushing on board the train actully leaves the station at 10.40pm on our way. We had booked a private sleeper cabin.

Which has the advantage of a private toilet,

 

which is also fitted with a sink 

and shower

We then have the challenge of making the beds - I love the look of wonder on Drew's face as he tries to compare reality with the guide on the cabin wall!

Though he mastered it all, so that he had the downstairs bunk

and I the upstairs bunk

At 11.06pm I climb up into bed, after the three hours on a train already it is certainly time to sleep.

See you in the morning all.