Intro:
http://bbs.qyer.com/viewthread.php?tid=25286&forum=25
Norway:
http://bbs.qyer.com/viewthread.php?tid=25287&forum=25
Denmark:
http://bbs.qyer.com/viewthread.php?tid=25288&forum=25
Sweden:
http://bbs.qyer.com/viewthread.php?tid=25289&forum=25
More photos:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/xiaodongyao/my_photos
10/22 day 8
I arrived at SL in early morning; purchased an SL card for 260 and was determined to maximize it. Got 1000 sek from ATM.
Around 8:15am, arrived at hotel, but the door was not open and no one was answering. so walked around and saw a super market, which has no English at all, bought a big and a small bottle of 'water'(at least I thought so when I bought it), some grape, banana, and a big bottle of Yogurt, cost me 100. Then went back and the hotel person came in and said he was late.
I left my bag and set off for the busy day at 9:15am. unfortunately it started raining, I got my raincoat on. Waited until 10:30am to start my canal trip, which was free with SL card(otherwise 110). Even with the rain, the scenery along the river was so awesome. So much water and green, with traditional European buildings, everything is in such a harmony. I kept taking pictures, one of the battery was used up.
After the canal tour, heading toward Skanen, the open air museum which as different styles of Sweden buildings from various ages. It was absolutely beautiful. The rain stopped after I got in. and I was so happy to find that the colors in this park were so rich during the fall season. The leaves on the ground, on the tree, the green grass, the dark red houses, it's truly a feast to my eyes.
While wandering, all of sudden I saw a peacock. it was just wandering around, just like me, so I followed it and took some pictures and then I found 4 or 5 more.
Didn't have time for lunch. The big Yogurt really helped.
Then I zipped through Nordic musuem and VASA museum just to beat the time.
I was hoping that I can catch the canal tour again because it stopped raining. but it was closed at 2:30pm, way early than I could make it.
Then I sit there and decided that I should get some decent dinner. Followed Rick's recommendation and went to the one behind royal opera house. 139 for a daily
special. The food was nice.
After dinner I went back to hotel, had a nice shower and started finding all good things about the hotel:
They provide linen, have a kitchen you can use, and the best part: I can do free laundry! 8 days on road, I definitely needed that. Too bad Marriot didn't have one(I didn't want to pay deep service for cleaning service). And until very late I found that they even
have free Internet access, never had that at any one of the previous stay, even at Marriot.
Doing laundry was full of small funny stories. The attendant left home when I tried it. First the detergent was used up, another guest who has his own provided me some and helped me get started. It's a front-open one, which I've never used before. After a while, I wanted to get into the laundry room to take a look. while trying to open the door, I shut it off and was really lost about what to do. Again, the same gentleman told me I can use my room key to open it and I was saved. Then another twist: when the washer was done, I could not open it. I've never used one before
and all instruction on the machine is Swedish. Push, pull, twist, press buttons, none of them worked. I figured out the word for open by trying the dryer but the same button didn't work either. it had been at least 10min before I happened to press two buttons including that button which I though was open. That's not the end yet, after drying my clothes for 3 times, they were still wet. I knew something must be wrong,
luckily in the kitchen there were a young man and his girl friend from Denmark. Asked for help from him. He tried to understand the Swedish using his Danish and said I chose the option of keeping clothes wet. After he set it to extra-dry, my laundry undertaking was finally on the right track.
Started talking with these two friendly Danes. They are college student. We had a nice conversation and I showed them my pictures. They showed genuine interest in learning more about the world and were saying that my pictures showed them something about Denmark which they didn't know.
While waiting for laundry, I also walked out of the hotel, just to look around. found that the hotel is in a good location. within 3 minutes of walk, I was overlooking the harbor and took some pictures.
This is the only night I had a mixed dorm, 2 American girls from Scotland and another Chinese guy from London. Just had short conversation with them.
10/23 Day 9
Got up at 8:00am, again had a very big breakfast, a great variety of food and drinks to choose. I will stay at this hotel again if I visit SL again.
At 9:00am, I left this hotel and got on a bus to central station. My SL card expired at 9:15. As planned, I really made a lot out of it.
After checking my bags, I started strolling through the SL old city according to Rick's guide. First Royal palace, didn't visit any museum, enough of it.
At 10:55, when I was passing by the cathedral, noticed that the service starts at 11:00am, no tourism today but tourists are welcome to stay during the service.
And surely I went in as the only tourist. The Cathedral is very impressive. I didn't understand what the priest was saying but truly enjoyed the choir. The hymns were just beautiful.
Then I visited a couple of other places. The last one was the national museum, just because I needed a place for a short break and it's free anyway:)
After that, I started thinking about lunch/dinner. Again following Rick's guide. Around the destination, There was a small open air market, like a flea market.
I bought 7 small finger doll for 90(almost no room for negotiation). I even found book of translation Confucism words into Swedish.
The place where I had food is like a food court. You can choose from a great variety of ethnic food. I chose one named hotwok cafe(hotwokcafe.se). Ordered a dish named fruit of the sea for 85. A lot of seafood at a bargain price. At food court, met two Chinese girls from Britain. They arrived this morning and were going to Copenhagen
this evening. Actually they were also fans of go2eu.com.
Now I still have some SEK left, decided to buy some choclate to substitute souvenir (too expensive). Found a store with reasonable price. I spent 178 and got a almost 1kg of various types of chocolate (not real chocolate, just coated).
Then I walked back to central station to consume all the coins I've saved and finish my traveling journal started with 44 SEK with 133 minutes.
Took the train at 10:20pm and arrived in OSLO at 7:00pm. Flew out at 11:25am and arrive at Newark NJ at 1:55pm. Got home by spending 3 hours on the much less convenient US public transportation system compared with that of Scandinavia.
That’s the end of the trip.
Expenses:
Excluding air ticket and one night stay at Marriot, I spent $1100 for the whole trip.
Scan Rail is a great value.
4 nights at hostel averaging around 200 kr.
4 nights on night train.
One night on plane and one at Marriot.
I will let more detailed later.
Tips
Making calls to arrange the trip.
Since it’s so cheap to make calls now, it is a good idea to call before going to the country. You can even call USE IT or TI for information. They all speak English
Hostels:
if you have limited time, don't book one far away from the center. but make sure the rating was good if you can find it on web. you can use emails or call them up to make reservations, most of them won't ask you to pay in advance. Of course if you trip is finalized, it would also be nice to book through go2eu.com.
Food:
No need to mention that food is so expensive here. since most hostels allow you to cook in their kitchen, you may bring your own food or buy it from super market and cook it.
Pros and Cons of off season:
Cons:
if you are a big museum guy, don't go off season because most of them are closed.
if you have limited time, don't go either. there is much less public transportation during off season and you cannot hit as many places within the same time. And some tour route is also closed.
The good thing obviously is that it's way less crowded.
You will spend less money in a lot of places. and it's easy to make reservation on everything.
