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Scandinavia

May - June 2025
  • Wayne Stollery
A 37-day adventure by Wayne Read more
  • Wayne Stollery

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  • Wayne StolleryTravelerScandinavia

    Auckland to Dubai

    May 8 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 19 °C

    We headed off about 11.30 from home and met up with Mum, Wendy and Jeff for lunch at Summerset. We left the car at Wendy's and she took us to the airport in the rain. We were checked in, through immigration and in the Strata Lounge in 20 minutes flat. Spent a very pleasant two or three hours there relaxing in anticipation of an epic 33 hours of travel to Helsinki. The plane was about 45 minutes late taking off but we caught that up and arrived in Dubai on time at 5.30 am. We both slept pretty well and arrived in pretty good shape.Read more

  • Wayne StolleryTravelerScandinavia

    Dubai to Helsinki

    May 9 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    We only had a couple of hours in transit in Dubai so by the time we got through immigration and found the gate for our next flight to Heathrow it was nearly boarding time. It was nice to have a daytime flight to see the different terrain from the dessert of Africa to the lush pastures of Europe. The flight was 7 hours long and we arrived at Heathrow about 30 minutes late but not concerned as we had about 4 hours in transit ahead of us. After all the immigration stuff we grabbed a beer and settled down to wait for our Finnair flight to Helsinki.
    The flight to Helsinki was a probably nearly a step too far. We were in economy in very small and uncomfortable seats and both pretty tired. However on arrival at the beautiful new airport we zipped through immigration and picked up our bags which had somehow arrived without us having seen them since Auckland and were out to be met by our transfer guy in his nice new Mercedes EV. Half an hour later we were in the hotel and ready for a shower and a good night's sleep. It was still light at 10 pm and I did wonder briefly whether there might be some Aurora action as the sky was clear but parked that thought pretty quickly in favour of sleep.    Read more

  • Wayne StolleryTravelerScandinavia

    Helsinki

    May 10 in Finland ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    I woke about 6 am. It looked to be getting light about 3 am. We had breakfast in the hotel and then headed out walking. The temperature was about 8 degrees but a beautiful blue sky morning. After exploring the beautiful park over the road from the hotel we carried on down to the local port area passing the university, the cathedral and checking out the market area. After an outstanding coffee from a guy operating from a rickshaw type set up we walked around the marina area and up to the cathedral which is an unusual red brick construction with Russian style domes. Helsinki has an interesting mix of old character heritage buildings mixed with some really interesting modern architecture.
    We then summoned up the courage to take a ride on the Helsinki Skywheel. We have talked about doing this since we saw the London Eye last year and as it was such a nice day we took the plunge. The view from the top was amazing. There was a public sauna next door and we could see the people coming out to plunge into the sea after their sauna. Bugger that!
    We then had a beer/wine to steady our nerves and wandered back to the hotel for a bit of a rest in anticipation of meeting up with our tour party for dinner    Read more

  • Wayne StolleryTravelerScandinavia

    Helsinki

    May 11 in Finland ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Another beautiful crisp morning. I managed a quick run before breakfast and then we all met up at 11 am for a tour of Helsinki. The tour included the Senate Square, the Russian Orthodox Church, the Helsinki Cathedral, the church in the rock, the Olympic stadium and the sculpture in honour of the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Helsinki is the northern most city to have hosted the summer Olympics in 1952.
    We had lunch at the library which is a stunning modern 3 storey building. Dinner was at a lovely restaurant close to the hotel.    Read more

  • Wayne StolleryTravelerScandinavia

    Helsinki

    May 12 in Finland ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Yet another beautiful morning and another leisurely start. We all met up at 11 am to transfer to the port for our ferry ride to Suomenlinna Island which is fortress built by Sweden at the entrance to Helsinki Harbour to protect Sweden fron an attack by Russia. St Petersburg is only 300 kilometres from Helsinki and at the time was the capital of Russia. The fort was built in the 18th century. As recently as the 1980s you catch a bus to the island in winter as the sea was frozen solid. Global warming has apparently put paid to that. We had a beautiful lunch at a restaurant on the island and then had a guided walk of the island to try and correct the excesses of lunch.
    We caught the ferry back to Helsinki late afternoon and walked around the oldest market in the city before enjoying a drink outside a beautiful old restaurant. It was then back to the hotel where Gaye and I joined Brian and Russell for a beer and chips to finish the day    Read more

  • Wayne StolleryTravelerScandinavia

    Helsinki to Stockholm

    May 13 in Sweden ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    We had another relaxed start to the day so I headed out for a couple of laps of Central Park over the road from the hotel. After breakfast we packed our bags and headed down to meet up with the rest of the group before heading out for a wander to a local market for lunch which consisted of the local delicacy salmon soup. Very nice. Gaye and I then wandered into the main city area and I bought a pair of jeans for 36 euros. It was then back to the hotel where we were transferred to the Viking line ship Cinderella for our overnight cruise to Stockholm.
    Our cabin was so small we had to leave the cat outside as there was no room for swinging it. The best solution was to put my suitcase in the shower.
    We had dinner as a group which was fun and included wine on tap.
    It was then back to the cabin and off to bed.    Read more

  • Wayne StolleryTravelerScandinavia

    Stockholm

    May 14 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    We woke at 4 am when the ship docked at an island briefly. We were then up early and down to breakfast. I then spent an hour up on deck taking photos as we made our way through the thousands of islands making up the Swedish Archipelago. Stunning scenery. We arrived in Stockholm and disembarked about 10 am where we then boarded our bus.
    Our sightseeing tour featured City Hall, where the Nobel Prize Banquets are held, the Royal Palace including the changing of the guards and a visit to the Vasa Galleon Warship, the most expensive and ornamented ship built in 1628. The ship was designed with an extra storey of cannons making it top heavy. It's maiden voyage lasted a total of 1,300 metres before it capsized and sank into the mud in the harbour where it remained until being refloated in the 1960s. It is preserved in amazing condition and is a spectacular sight.
    We finally checked into our hotel about 5 pm where there was time for a quick shower before heading out for a very nice dinner. A big day.    Read more

  • Wayne StolleryTravelerScandinavia

    Stockholm

    May 15 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    After a great night's sleep and breakfast we headed off about 11am and walked to the docks for a cruise around the harbor and the city taking in the fifteen bridges and the 14 islands on which Stockholm is located. We also saw the locks connecting the Baltic Sea and Lake Malaren.
    We then walked to a local market for a late lunch before our guide Tilo took us for a walk through the old town which was lovely. It was then back to the hotel for beer and chips with Brian which is fast becoming a popular informal gathering for the group before we joined several of the group at a loval jazz club which was great although we left at the interval as we had an early start the next day.    Read more

  • Wayne StolleryTravelerScandinavia

    Stockholm to Copenhagen

    May 16 in Denmark ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    We were up at 6 am this morning and down for an early breakfast before meeting at 8.15 to walk around the corner to the Stockholm central train station. We boarded our train to Copenhagen about 9.30 am and settled in for the ride down Sweden and across the Oresund bridge to Denmark. The bridge is an 8km suspension bridge whch then descends to an artificial island and under the sea for a further 4 kilometres. The toll to drive over the bridge is $115 so you probably wouldn't pop over for dinner.
    Copenhagen sits on the coastal islands of Zealand & Amager and is consistently ranked as one of the happiest cities in the world. It would appear that there is a direct correlation between happiness and the number of bars.
    On arriving in Copenhagen we were met and taken to a restaurant for a late lunch which was an entree of Herring and a huge main course of pork that we all struggled to finish.
    After checking in to our hotel we walked up to the centre of the city passing all of the bars with people being happy in the sunshine. It has got considerably warmer as we have traveled further south.
    We finished the evening with a drink in the hotel bar and called it a day.    Read more

  • Wayne StolleryTravelerScandinavia

    Copenhagen

    May 17 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Up early and out for a short run to help move yesterday's pork along. After breakfast we boarded our bus
    to travel to the island of Fyn, and the city of Odense which was the childhood home of Hans Christian Anderson, the world-famous Danish author, novelist and poet most known for many fairy tales such as The Ugly Duckling, The Princess & The Pea, The Little Mermaid, plus many more. I didn't have high expectations for today but the museum for Hans Christian Andersen was excellent with a story of his life and extracts from his books included in the interactive exhibits. The bus ride was 2 hours each way and crossed the bridge which is a 13 kilometre long suspension bridge.
    We got back to the hotel about 4.30 pm and headed off to a local laundromat with Heather to catch up on the laundry before a very nice dinner with the team in the hotel.    Read more

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