Wow, it took 25 days after our return from the Easter trip to create the gallery! Altogether, we three “digital” photographers shot more than 666 pictures. An adequate selection had to be made, while obtaining the chronological order and adding comments. Lofoten Islands have definitely been the most impressive place during my stay in Scandinavia. The resulting gallery with 150 photos is absolutely worth a visit!

Thanks to Laure and Julien for shooting so wonderful pics!

Actually I should have done other things, but I wanted to record my impressions about our trip to Lofoten Islands and Abisko. The travelogue got a little bit long, but maybe you feel motivated enough to work through… I still need some days to before I can publish the gallery. Var god vänta!

Thursday
We started at 5 in the morning in order to catch the ferry in Bodø. We followed the E4 up to Skellefteå, before we travelled inland, passing Arvidsjaur and Arjeplog. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see anything of the car testing tracks I was writing about 2 months ago. After Arjeplog, the scenery became more and more mountainous. On a stop at a petrol station I counted more snow mobiles than cars refilling their tanks.
Finally, we crossed the Norwegian border and covered the distance to Bodø. We arrived so early they we could have taken the famous Hurtigruten (the Norwegian mail boat cruising along the coastline), but unfortunately they had no more capacity for cars. So we waited another hour and took the regular ferry to Moskenes. The crossing lasted 4 hours and we used the time to get some sleep.
We arrived at Lofoten Islands in the dark and collected the first impressions: striking mountains, scattered dwelling with thousands of lights mirroring in the sea, and stockfish all over. We were supposed to go another hour before we get to see our accommodation, but then we underwent our first surprise: Due to heavy rainfall during the last days, an avalanche had blocked the one and only road. We had no chance to get at Stamsund! After calling the Youth Hostel we decided to go back to Å in the very south of Moskenesøya. There, we found a really homey accommodation.
On a short walk we examined the bizarre stock fish frames in the rainy night.

Friday
After breakfast we started with a short look around our accommodation. Later on, we drove though the final tunnel to end up on a parking site, the most southern point of Moskenesøya accessible by car (ergo the end of the E4). There, we followed the little footpath and climbed the neighbouring hills. We noticed a gigantic field of stock fish frames and a frozen inlet which created beautiful reflections of the snow-covered rocks. Both observations were made repeatedly in the following days.
The road was re-opened today and we started our journey up north to Stamsund. We stopped at a nice and sandy beach (of course it was too cold to take a bath), had lunch in the tiny Nusfjord and discovered the secret of Unstad: this spot with its maybe 20 houses lies in a flat and almost quadratic plane which is framed by the mountains on three sides and the open see on the forth. Very nice!
Finally, it was time to go to our Youth Hostel in Stamsund. It’s constructed as a pile dwelling and has a very ancient interior. When we arrived, the warden was cool as a cucumber and started smoking and talking to his fishing friends before he finally showed us the place: Groaning stairs, the worn mattresses in the dorm, an oven heated by fire – the place turned out to be really cosy when you can resign comfort and privacy. The ambience is young and international, and we had some nice hours in this place.
After dinner, we went out for a walk in order to see the fantastic northern lights. The night was perfectly clear and the sky was illuminated in changing colours. It was really fantastic to experience that remarkable spectacle.

Saturday
Today, we wanted to discover Austvagøy. We started driving on the beautiful road 815 along the coastline of Vestvagøy. At first, we visited Henningsvær, a romantic fisher village on a little island. At this spot, the fishing industry is still intact: Vessels are seaming the port, and you can walk along the small establishments where the cod is processed. The pleasant weather and the idyllic atmosphere made this place the most memorable of our tour.
Subsequently, we made a short visit to Svolvær, the biggest “city” of Lofoten Islands (4.500 inhabitants). The port esplanade is very touristy – the little island Lamholmen is a commercial built-up area of the famous Rorbuer (red-painted fisher huts). We had our lunch break at this place (it’s still off-season) before we continued our trip to the landing stage of the car ferry in Fiskebøl. After checking the timetable, we had a look into tight Raftsundet, which is a passage for Hurtigruten.
On your way back, we followed another, unfortified road. I think it took maybe one hour for the first 15 kilometres. Laure felt really sorry for her car. But she also managed that task and we went successfully home to Stamsund.
Once again, we checked the sky for Aurora Borealis, and this time I succeeded in shooting a nice picture.

Sunday
It was already time to leave the Lofoten. We started quite early in the morning and caught the ferry to Melbu. We enjoyed the last views of Lofoten Islands and were happy to realise that the adjoining Västerålen Islands are also a pleasant place to be. The mountains are not as rocky and everything is a little bit more moderate, but it’s still a fascinating interaction of land and sea. We followed the E10 up to Sortland and made a trip to Myre and Nyksund, where we had lunch at the untouched shore. This place was – when I can trust the map – the most northern point I’ve ever been.
We went back to Sortland and continued our travel on the European road. Finally, we reached the Norwegian mainland again. We decided to visit Narvik, which is an important harbour for the iron ore from Malmberget/Kiruna. On my journey to Kiruna two months before, I visited the mine and gathered a lot of information about the powerful railroad which is transporting the ore to Narvik. The city is obviously affected by the industry (as many cities so far north) and has a year-round ice free harbour.
In the end, we coped with the last stage for the day and covered the distance to Swedish Abisko. (It really started snowing again!) The road ran parallel to the railway, and also our youth hostel was only some meters away from the rails.
Our accommodation is actually a “Dog Camp” and is a common starting point for dog sledging tours through Abisko National Park. They had at least a dozen of huskies on the courtyard and everywhere we could see sledges, scooters, snow shoes and other winter equipment. We had a good sauna in the evening.

Monday
Today, we wanted to do a hike in the national park. The popular Kungsleden (“the King’s Trail”) is crossing the park and we planned to follow this route for some kilometres. But during the wintertime, the footpath is almost invisible (and covered with tons of snow). In exchange, a wide network of cross-country ski tracks and scooter ways is established. We followed these routes three hours long (without finding a particular place to visit), before we turned around. Once again, the weather was friendly with us and we eventually had a warm and sunny day. The scenery was beautiful, but after almost 6 hours of walking we were a little bit fed up with all that snow. On the way, we met a couple of skiers who looked at us as we were aliens. They stated, that it was 3 years ago that they saw (some Japanese) hikers in the wintertime. It was hard for them to understand that we didn’t lose our skis on the way and that we actually wanted to hike.
We used the rest of the day for recreation, took another sauna and let Easter die away.

Tuesday
The last day of our journey consisted basically of sitting in the car. We left Abisko in the morning and went to the famous Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi. The others went inside, but I had been there two months ago. So I walked a little bit around and had a look at the ice production scene. Big cubes were cut out of the frozen lake and transported with fork lifts. Later on, I walked to that little parish church and observed some German tourists starting for a reindeer trip.
We made lunch break in Gällivare (another typical characterless northern city) and followed E10 and E4 home to Umeå. Album of the trip was Moby’s “Hotel”, but my supplied “Sportfreunde Stiller – Die gute Seite” was also able to score, especially the fantastic song “International”. Altogether, we drove about 2.600 kilometres in 6 days. The trip cost about 1.600 SEK (175 Euro) for each person.

After all my wonderful trips during the last few months, I have to find new superlatives to describe the latest one. We used the Easter weekend to discover Lofoten Islands in Norway and the Abisko National Park in the very north of Sweden. I was traveling together with my French fellows Laure + Julien and Georgiana, a girl from Romania. We covered a total distance of 2600 kilometers within 6 days.

The Lofoten Islands are an archipelago of cliffy and rocky mountains (800 – 1000 m), off the Norwegian coast. They form a magnificent scenery, connecting the snow-covered rocks with the deep blue sea of the Atlantic ocean. The islands are famous for stockfish production (air-dried cod). Everywhere in and around the little fisher villages you can see extensive frames with tons of fish hanging around (literally *g*). The islands are connected by rolling bridges or even tunnels. They still have no direct connection to the mainland. There are several ferries from both the Norwegian coast and the adjoining Vesterålen Islands.

Abisko is a small city close to the Norwegian border, directly at the railway line Kiruna – Narvik (transporting the iron ore from Malmberget to the port of Narvik). Abisko is the initial point of Kungsleden (the King’s Way), a popular hiking trail through Lapland. The Abisko National Park was founded 100 years ago in order to protect the mountainous landscape with its sparse fauna.

Both Lofoten and Abisko National Park are north of the Arctic Circle, north of every single place I’ve ever been before. Nevertheless, we could enjoy some sunny spring days which gave us the possibility to shoot hundreds of pictures. Of course I will publish a gallery with a representative selection. A travelogue is also on the way.

It is already almost 3 weeks ago that we returned from St. Petersburg. Now I can finally present the according gallery. Watch out!

Additionally, I have created a little map to illustrate the itinerary and distance of our trip.
Mario has finally published his really nice + extensive review about St. Petersburg. It’s in German, but it includes a number of descriptive pictures. Le “professional D-SLR” Nils has also uploaded his beautiful + artistic pictures into his gallery. (Sorry Nils for destroying your frame set, but I like deep links…) Once again, he has produced a huge panorama (compare to the one from Tallinn). Thanks for these specials! So, Rolf, now it’s time for your report… And finally we can also admire Rolf’s report.

BTW: Wow, my last posting is already 10 days ago! Actually I didn’t want to neglect my blog, but I was somehow lazy during the last days. I returned from my incredible trip to Lofoten Islands and Abisko on Tuesday. I hope I can write some facts about that trip later on. And I have still some other topics in mind. All I need is time and motivation…

Wow, three Baltic metropolises within 24 hours, that’s really awesome! Stockholm – Helsinki – St. Petersburg and vice versa was our itinerary which included a lot of premiers: My first stay on Finnish soil, my first travel to St. Petersburg and three different time zones on one single trip.

The geographical proximity between Umea and St. Petersburg (compared to the distance from Central Europe) has both advantages and drawbacks: It offers the possibility to travel quite cheap, without using a plane. On the other hand, it is still an immense distance for bus travels. A total of about 30 hours coach tour (excluding breaks) causes some aches and exhaustion, especially when you are as tall as me (yeah, feel free to feel sorry).

Unfortunately, the journey itself was longer than our actual stay in Petersburg. But of course you can also experience a lot of things on the way, especially on the ferry. After publishing my first review last week I can now proudly present the travelogue:

Wednesday
We started at about 6am in order to reach the ferry in Stockholm at 5pm. This time, nobody had to be awoke or picked up individually, everybody was more or less in time. After the familiar stops at the High Coast Bridge and the overpriced roadhouse we could enter gigantic Silja Symphony. This ship is much bigger then the one we took to Tallinn. First highlight was the encounter with a baby which was really interested in our inventory of Norrlands Guld. The pictures taken throw a completely new light on Swedish alhohol policy… Another feature was of course the frozen Baltic Sea: The cruiser really had to “work through” the top ice layer. Spectacular views and alarming sounds were generated.

Thursday
Clock change and local times appear to be really complicated for some participants. Of course we didn’t manage to leave Helsinki port in time; we had to wait more than one hour for the last passengers. My first impressions of Helsinki + Finland were pretty good, but on the road it actually looked like Sweden.
The procedure at the Russian border was not as breath-taking as some would have expected. I think it’s more complicated to enter the States than Russia. After the border, the state of the roads decreased visibly. It was really interesting to pass through Vyborg. I guess that there hasn’t changed a lot in this small city in the last 20 years apart from some displayed commercials.
Finally we arrived at St. Petersburg. Wow! It’s so huge and it took maybe one hour before we reached the hotel. After dinner we strayed around for a first Russian beer. It’s a little bit odd that it’s complicated to place an order in English, especially when you are used to English-loving Sweden. But finally everything worked out and no one had to go to bed thirstily.

Friday
After breakfast we started the extensive sight seeing tour by bus: Nevsky Prospekt, Art Square, Palace Square, Rostrul Columns, Peter and Paul Fortress, Battleship Aurora, Resurrection Cathedral, St. Isaacs Cathedral. We were dropped off in the city center and lurched our way through the endless streets. Together with Mathias I climbed on St. Isaacs Cathedral. Despite the bad weather it was absolutely worth it: Have you ever had the chance to listen to powerful classical music while discovering a city with a bird’s eye? That’s awesome!
After our first experience with the metro system (Don’t get lost!) and dinner at the hotel we prepared for another cultural highlight: The Barber of Venice in Russian. We visited that charming baroque opera house and I was really pleased to see a nice and classical production. Another beer afterwards.

Saturday
Before the official group meeting at Palace Square we used the time to have a closer look into Peter and Paul Fortress and the Resurrection Cathedral. While we observed a cat hanging around just inside kitschy Peter and Paul Cathedral, we were not even allowed to enter Resurrection Cathedral without covering our wet and dirty shoes in a kind of oversized condom. The latter church is completely covered with mosaics. It’s just unbelievable how much effort was put into producing these masterpieces.
But today’s highlight was definitely the visit of the world-famous Hermitage. The amount and variety of collected works of art and the beauty of the magnificent rooms of Winter Palace build up a unique place in the world. While the others returned to the hotel soon after the guided tour in order to prepare for the Russian Evening, I stayed 5 hours to explore the exhibition. It was really interesting to observe the difference between the crowded showcases and the almost empty parts about prehistoric arts and craft.
Subsequently I crossed the city and did some shopping, before I went back to the hotel. I expected to dine alone, but our Italian friends missed the bus to the Russian Evening and therefore kept company with me. We had another nice evening (including a visit in a somehow strange and expensive club), spend the last roubles and had some serious discussion.

Sunday
After two days it was already time to leave Petersburg again. We took the same route via Vyborg up to the border, again passing an uncomplicated procedure. Sometimes you have to go out of the bus in order to show your visa, sometimes the officers come into the bus, count the people and want to see a smile. Nothing dramatic.
We picked the ferry in Helsinki and had a beautiful sunset. This night’s highlight was definitely the unscripted concert of a Scotsman, who played the guitar for us internationals. We all tried to recall the lyrics to enhance the “celebration”. Of course we were stopped by an officer (disturbances), who finally recommended an alternative place. But somehow the party fizzled out and everything became a bit strange. Hmm.

Monday
The night was one hour longer this time and I was facing a relaxed journey back to Umea. Relaxed? Well, as long as you can denote a bus to be comfortable. And unfortunately we had to watch two parts of The Lord of the Rings. Extended versions, as a matter of course. At least the bus driver brought us directly to Mariehem…

Wow, already nine days passed by after our arrival back in Umea, and I’m still the first one publishing a longer report. Mario explains the delay with his role as a Russian crime victim, and also Rolf is still collecting pictures. Hope to see your stuff soon!

Well, what a remarkable trip! As I announced in my previous post, I had the chance to visit St. Petersburg in Russia. Last night we finally returned to Umea and now it’s time for a first review:

While it was the first trip to Russia for most of the international students, I can already look back on an impressive week in Moscow in 2001. My family has a kind of connection to the country. First of all, my father studied in Petersburg (former Leningrad) and my parents both worked a couple of years in Moscow. Even my sister stayed her first months in the Russian capital, before my family moved back to Germany in 1980.

I have never learned Russian in school, and I felt like a first grader trying to learn to read the Cyrillic letters in Moscow. My parents and my sister (who read 8 years Russian in school) were good teachers and I was always glad when I figured out the meaning of a word. Anyway, I forgot most of the stuff in the last 3 years and this time it was Mathias who played the teacher. At least I managed to read words like beer, vodka, chocolate and theatre.

While I was traveling to Moscow by plane, we went by bus this time, which gives much more impressions about the countryside beyond the big cities. St. Petersburg and Moscow are definitely the cities which obtain most of the Russian subsidies. Their very centers are to a certain extent in a good shape, although they suffer from huge pollution problems (due to the vast number of ancient cars without catalytic converters). But on the whole they are fascinating cities comparable to any other western metropolis. On the other hand, we could observe shabby and dull neighborhoods and miserable streets between “Northern Venice” and the Finnish border. Especially in Vyborg I was wondering if my beloved home town Weimar in Eastern Germany was really as grey as this place 15 years ago.

I was overwhelmed by the size of St. Petersburg. With its about 5 million inhabitants it’s definitely impossible to discover the “Russian gate to Europe” within just a little bit more than 2 days. It was enough to get a first impression and the strong wish to come back – the next time probably in the summer (to experience the white nights and more convenient temperatures) and with a longer stay. It is incredible to see the amount of historical buildings and sights, even though not all of them are in perfect shape. Many places have been neglected in Soviet times; churches were used as storages or even skating rinks! Of course it’s impossible to renovate these enormous built volumes with very limited national funds. But private investments show that it’s worth putting money into the city. Petersburg will definitely look brighter and even more extraordinary when we come back in maybe 10 years.

We stayed at Hotel Moskva at the very end of famous Nevsky Prospekt. The buffet was both excellent and extensive. The rooms were satisfactory, even though the color and taste of the water is not really according to Central European standards… Right next to the hotel we had a metro station. Metro in St. Petersburg is pretty exiting. The system is so far underneath the ground that you sometimes spend more time on the escalator than in the train itself. BTW: A metro coin costs 10 roubles, which is about 27 cents…

Not only public transport is cheap for western standards, also shopping in general. As long as you buy domestic products, you feel like being in cockaigne (never heard that word before, not even Word’s spell check knows it), especially compared to expensive Sweden. Consequently, we used the chance to refill our booze stocks, primarily with vodka. Many people also bought (also non-domestic) cigarettes, which are really cheap as well.

Crime report: At least three cameras, one wallet, one mobile and a pack of chewing gum were robbed. I don’t really know if this is an extreme rate, we have been about 100 people. Big cities attract thieves, and you are immediately recognized as a tourist. That you have to handle your valuables with adequate care should be obvious. From my point of view, this is definitely not a reason to refrain from traveling to Russia.

So, that should be enough for a first review, I think I will publish a travelogue later on. And of course you will find a gallery in some days, please give me some time to collect and manage some nice pics.

Finally I have uploaded the pictures from our trip to Lapland. Watch out the gallery!

Reisebericht auf Deutsch
Mario hat einen wunderbaren Bericht unseres Trips in seinem Blog veröffentlicht. Dort gibt es auch ein paar Fotos zu begutachten, die mal wieder irgendwie besser aussehen als meine …

I had a great trip last weekend to the very north of Sweden. For the first time I was above the Polar/Arctic Circle. I was travelling together with Marika from Finland and Richard and Mario from Germany. Since Richard is half Swedish and Marika had Swedish in school for a couple of years, we spoke (or tried to speak) Swedish as much as possible. I think I’ve learned a lot - hopefully I can keep everything in mind.

Friday
Our trip started in the early morning. I was picked up and then we drove straight to Jokkmokk. The trip took us about 5 hours, including a stop at the Arctic Circle. We almost had an accident with a reindeer, but this seems to be nothing exceptional in the wilderness of northern Sweden. In Jokkmokk we visited the famous winter market which was held for the 400th time. It is a traditional Sami market where you can buy original arts and crafts, food and of course lots of commercial crap. I bought some kind of “reindeer wrap” and a delicious moose sausage. Later on we visited the Sami Museum. In the evening we drove to our cabin in Gällivare where we had dinner and a boozy UNO night.

Saturday
Since the others did not really get up on time, I did a little walk in the morning. While you can see tons of bikes in Umea, you primarily notice snowmobiles/scooters here. After breakfast we continued our tour and drove to the famous Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi. This is definitely worth a visit! Even if you probably can’t afford to spend a night there, you can have a look at the rooms with their distinct and artistic ice décor. The hotel is supplemented by the Absolut Icebar, the Ice Church and the Ice Theatre. After checking in the Yellow House in Kiruna and a short walk (the city is not really interesting, but watch out the church), we drove back to Jukkasjärvi to see the Ice Hotel in the dark. Now you can enjoy a wonderful atmosphere with illuminated sculptures and buildings. I should buy a bigger tripod… After viewing the 400-years-old parish church we drove back to Kiruna. In the common kitchen we spend a nice evening with some people from Italy and India. Played UNO again.

Sunday
Mario and I decided to get up early in the morning to take part in the tour to InfoMine, an “amazing visit to the biggest underworld mine”. Kiruna is famous for its iron ore production (even my parents learned that in school 40 years ago) and is still one of the biggest suppliers in the world. Interestingly the mine is run buy LKAB, a company which is completely state-owned. The tour was in Swedish and the guide talked a little bit too much, so that there was not enough time to explore the extensive museum. But still it is worth a visit.
We left Kiruna after lunch and had a wonderful journey through snowy Lapland. It is really impressive and picturesque to see the white and hilly landscape and the setting sun. The streets were completely snow-covered (remember that these are European roads). After about six and a half hours we were back in Umea. Altogether I paid something around 1200 SEK for the weekend. Jättebra!

More resources:

• Spiegel Article about Jokkmokk’s Winter Market [de]
• Jokkmokk’s Winter Market press release as PDF

Pictures of the trip will be published soon!

After 4 weeks in Germany it was pretty nice to come back to Umea. I expected to meet Michael from Austria in Cologne, and he didn’t know that I take the same plane. Very funny.

I travelled to Cologne by ICE, the new high speed track between Frankfurt and Cologne is really amazing. You sit in the train and then you watch the display and realise that the current speed is 290 km/h. Unfortunately the train was more expensive than each flight, even though I got 50% off.

Back in Umeå we both got a lift, which was pretty comfortable.

After my English test on Thursday we had a small good-bye happening for Eric and yesterday we went to campus to have a look at the new international students. Strange feeling. There seems to be (too) many German students again. I’ve heard about a Würzburg-invasion.

Now I’m facing the GameCube Evening: Who loses, has to booze. Pretty simple …

I put some pictures of our traditional Pre-Christmas-Drinking and New Year’s Eve online. Just to show that you can also get drunk in Germany … Have a look!