One last post.....

i know i said it was over...but i forgot to mention something i meant to....in sweden, people just LOVE their cars....:) its pretty awesome - as you go to stockholm from denmark/norway, suddenly the road is full of big, nasty cars...and quite a few sports cars...in that one day i saw 2 ferraris and a lotus elise...not to mention quite a few porsches, an old, restored, 70s mustang, and a few others....and every once in a while u'll hear some big brute revving up his engine and slamming on the gas as he races away, the sound resounding through the streets....all music to the ears, of course....:) i believe its very expensive to own cars in denmark because they tax you, but cheaper to own cars in sweden - so people splurge.....

anyway, also managed to upload some photos...so enjoy...and i'll leave you with one lasting image of the norwegian fjords....

Day 3 in Sweden - 11th September

for some reason i am unable to upload photos....so you'll have to bear with just text....

Phew, I cant believe this trip is now pretty much over! Back in Copenhagen right now, in the same hotel I was earlier – figured it was just easier and more convenient, even if a little expensive – but whatever, it’s the last day, might as well relax a bit!

I got into Lund early today morning, about 6.30am. Didn’t sleep all that well in the train – sitting and sleeping just doesn’t work for me, I guess! But its ok, at least you get from point A to point B, and get some sleep, however meager….

At Lund, I had a couple of hours to kill, but luckily managed to hook onto some wireless network at the station, so just sat around for a while checking mail etc. Then I went to roam around the town a little before my meeting with Prof. Per Tunestal at the university, which was at 9am. Lund is a really nice town – quite small, is basically a university town. Its very quaint, mostly cobbled stone streets, lots of bikers, with all the students….Had a nice time walking around in the morning light.

I took the long way round to Prof. Tunestal’s office, seeing most of campus along the way. It’s a really old university – been around since the 1600s or something – so you seem some fairly old buildings! Of course it has its fair share of modern buildings as well….

I finally got into Prof. Tunestal’s office at about 9, and met him. Really nice chap, actually knows my advisor Chris from grad school – they were both at Berkeley, and had the same advisor there in fact! Their time there overlapped a little bit, I think, with my advisor graduating 3 years or so before he did.

My time at Lund was really nice. He took me around, introduced me to a couple of the students. Then gave me a tour of their engine lab which is quite impressive – more elaborate than what we have at Stanford, definitely more engines, they have more students and more technicians working on engine stuff there, I believe. I wont bore you guys with the details – suffice it to say that I was pretty impressed.

Then I met another professor, Prof. Rolf Johansson, whom I’d actually met once before when he visited Stanford last year. There was a seminar happening shortly after that, with some guy from Toyota, Japan, giving a presentation – so I was invited to attend that. Was on some traffic simulation software, and a proposal for a collaboration with Lund – reasonably interesting.

They then took me and the Jap dude out to lunch at what I think might have been some sort of faculty club – food was pretty good, and they actually had some number of vegetarian items – mostly along the line of salad, baked potatoes and lasagna, but was quite good. We chatted more over lunch, I updated them on the work I’ve been doing and all. So it was pretty good on the whole – this sort of interaction always helps, keeping in touch with what the other people are doing in your field, and also building up your contact base……


After lunch I met a couple of other students working on HCCI controls, and chatted with them a little bit on work they were doing. Then finally I took off around 2.30, and walked around a lil bit more. Went to the nearby botanical gardens and took a short walk there – was quite pretty. There was nothing much else to see after that, so went back to the station and took the train to Copenhagen, and now here I am! Arriving in Copenhagen actually felt like coming back home – I guess considering I’ve spent like 5-6 days here, this is home away from home (actually, home away from home away from home!). Just mostly going to relax today evening I think, then pack everything and fly back tomorrow.

This is probably the last of my posts here for a while – unless something extraordinary happens tonight…..:)

Take care, all!

Day 2 in Sweden - 10th September

Well today’s been a great day. Totally makes all the trouble yesterday worth it! Man, Stockholm is such an amazing city – I just wish I had more time to see it all!!

I left at about 9.15am after checking out of the hotel. I took a subway train to the station, and walked around there for a bit. Went to a nearby church as well which was quite nice. Then I caught the bus to go to Skansen, which was to be one of my main stops for the day. Skansen is the world’s biggest open air museum. Its sort of along the vein of Den Gamle By which I’d visited in Arhus – it was originally meant to recreate life as it was a couple of hundred years ago in Sweden. But its grown to be much bigger than that. Now just a part of it is “Old Sweden”. Apart from that there’s an aquarium – more about that shortly – then sort of a zoo with lots of Scandinavian animals, some places for kids, and next door is a theme park as well. So its one of the most popular places in Stockholm to visit, and tourists flock there in huge numbers.

I got there around 10.20 or so, and walked around for a bit. Lot of greenery, with all these places sort of interspersed in the forest. I first ended up actually going to the aquarium, which is more than an aquarium, really. They have the usual fish and all, but also have displays with monkeys, lemurs, baboons, and so on – and the cool thing about these is that some of these displays are actually not with the animals caged, but pretty much in the open. So they’ll have this huge enclosure, with trees and all, and the lemurs would be running around there – and you pretty much walk through it. So at one point, for example, there was this lemur sitting right in front of me, on my path. And not at all scared, he just sat there and stared! Was too cute. I quite liked this way of organizing things – makes for a much more involved experience. Of course the more dangerous animals were caged – like the baboons – and u had to view them beyond enclosures. They even had a couple of koalas, which are just the most adorable beings on this planet, I think – though pandas could give them serious competition. Unfortunately these too were beyond enclosures – for obvious reasons!

In the main aquarium part – which was not all that huge – they had some interesting stuff – sharks, some weird looking turtle kinda thing, crocodiles – which were THAT close to you, you could touch them through the glass.

They also had varieties of snakes – an anaconda, a green boa which looked very cool, cobras, rattlers, a cool looking chameleon….And a section where there was a python which was kept out there for one to touch! Felt kinda weird….slimy, smooth, wobbly…..:) ok, I wont gross out all the people reading this…..


Then I walked thru some of the old sections of Skansen – the ones really representing old Sweden. This was similar to den gamle by, but I didn’t see too much of it, as I wanted to leave soon – and go other places too! But they have some interesting craftsmen doing demonstrations – the most interesting one was a glassblower, who went thru the entire process of making a glass vase! Very interesting!!


After walking thru some of these places, I hit the zoo area where one could see a lot of typical Scandinavian animals…mountain goats, moose – which is REALLY huge; I never thought they were that huge – brown bears, wolves, wolverines…..they also ahd peacocks randomly walking around…..

Apart from that they have some daily special shows…like today there was a pony show – so I went there for a bit! Quite interesting, and a lot of people had shown up to display their ponies!!!

I also saw an old church from 1600 or so, which was reconstructed there. Very interesting – even the pews were kind of different!

Anyway, I left soon after that, even though there was so much more to see and I would have loved to stay longer…But I wanted to get back into Gamla Stan, to the royal palace, where at 1.15 they had the changing of the guard. This happens every day! And its quite a sight. So I took the bus back into town, then walked to the palace. On the way I stopped at one of the big churches in town, which is actually the only remaining abbey in Stockholm. This church has a lot of the kings and queens of Sweden buried here. Also, the royal house of Sweden has something known as the Order of the Seraphim, which it bestows on heads of state and leaders of other countries, as well as sweden – its like the highest honor bestowed by the nation. And for everyone person honored with one, they’ve put up a panel with a crest representing that person. Some familiar names amongst those – napoleon, Mountbatten, Chiang-Kai Shek, Charles deGaulle……

I also went to the largest cathedral in the city, right next to the palace, which is absolutely magnificent. Huge, amazing carvings, high ceilings with paintings along it….very impressive….

By then it was time for the change of the guard, so I went to the palace courtyard to join the hundreds of other tourists there – it was quite a gathering! After a while we could hear the band playing as the young guys came marching. On this particular day the soldiers coming in were from the Swedish marines, who were undergoing training. This is a pretty big occasion for even these kids, as they get a chance to march down the capital city, show off, and participate in this ceremony – so everyone has a good time! So they came marching down, and then there was the ceremony. The band kept breaking into song, and they were pretty good! So that was fun.


The ceremony actually goes on for a while, so after a bit I decided to head off. I went into the royal palace, and saw quite a bit there. There are only 3 words to describe it – magnificent beyond belief! It was easily the most impressive, elegant and exquisite palace I’ve ever seen. First I went to the treasury, where they actually have crowns and swords belonging to kings and queens in sweden’s history. They were all pretty extravagant – lots of engravings, bejeweled with many stunning stones…..very impressive. And the lighting there was very dim – and most of the light in fact came from reflections off the gems! Really added to the effect.

After that I walked through a multitude of chambers, each very different, each very elaborate and yet very elegant, not gaudy. The king and queen currently don’t reside here – they stay in Drottingholm palace outside the city – but use this palace for work, official engagements and so on. Everything is beautifully furnished, lots of antiquities, ceiling to floor tapestries, beautifully woven carpets, impressive paintings…..There was also one room where some of the gowns worn by the queen, and her jewelry were showcased – amazing to say the least…..each one of those gowns was quite exquisite!

Anyway, I spent a fair amount of time there, after which I walked around a bit more, and then went to the city hall. The city hall is pretty impressive, and the main central courtyard, unlike the ones I’ve seen so far, is actually open – so it appears even huger. The other side of the courtyard opens out onto the water, and you get a great view of the island on the other side. It was a pretty warm day, and there were quite a few people out there sunbathing…

After that I decided to take the canal tour, but unfortunately the tour at 3.30 was fully booked – so got a ticket on the 4.30 on. So I had an hour to kill – so went into the national museum of fine art which is right across the street from the harbor. Its an ok museum – nothing spectacular, mostly Scandinavian artists, though they do have some works by more famous painters such as monet, Gauguin, Rembrandt, Renoir….. I continue to be totally taken in by Impressionism – I just find it so amazing, the way seemingly random brush strokes at the micro level can make so much sense, and fit so cohesively together when viewed as a whole from afar. It’s a source of singular amazement to me, as to how artists can visualize all this so well when working at the canvas.

Anyway, I was mostly killing time, so walked all over fairly quickly. Then I went on the 4.30 canal tour, which was great. They had recorded commentaries in some 8 languages, and u could just plug into the one u wanted. This tour mostly took one around Djurgarden, the greenest island of the ones making up Stockholm, and the island where Skansen is. It was pretty beautiful, and got to learn some interesting facts about the city. Stockholm city is basically made up of some 14 islands, which are all well connected – there are some 53 bridges! But the Stockholm archipelago is actually composed of about 24000 islands, varying in size, vegetation, and habitation. Many are now used as picnic spots and all….

By the end of the tour it was about 5.45, and couldn’t really visit much else as all museums etc were closed by then. So I went back to Gamla Stan, the old town, and just walked around there. I also found this vegetarian restaurant there – completely veg, would u believe it! – and had my full, proper, non-breakfast, veg meal in days!! Otherwise mostly been surviving on bakery products, sandwiches, pizza and the like…but this place was good….

While I was eating, this girl walked in, who was actually one of the people from SF that i’d met in Bergen in Norway, Catherine!! She had come to Stockholm too, but it was still quite a coincidence that we ran into each other again…anyway, we chatted over dinner and then walked around gamla stan for a bit. We also went and checked out the statue of the Iron Boy – which is the smallest of over 600 statues scattered around Stockholm – but somehow one of the most famous! Its really small – about slightly larger than your hand, maybe, and shows this faceless boy sitting on a small bench. Supposedly it’s a tribute to orphans who used to work at the shipyard years ago…..Apparently old ladies knit caps for his head in the winter so he wont get cold! Very cute indeed…kinda sad too


Anyway, after a while Catherine went back to her hotel, while I continued roaming around, and then finally went back to the station to catch my train…now waiting for the train which will take me to lund by tomorrow morning….

Day 1 in Sweden - 9th September

Well today has definitely been quite a day. Very unhappening at the beginning – and then very taxing indeed in the evening…

It started out with me taking the 9.30am train to Stockholm from Oslo. All that was quite uneventful. Train journey itself was non-happening. Scenery was pleasant without being extraordinary. Bear in mind that this scenery was as good – if not better than – what I saw on my very first day traveling through denmark. You can go back and check the adjectives I used then to describe what I saw. But I guess once you go on the Bergen railway, rail travel can never be the same again….. So ya, I checked out the scene outside occasionally, but that was about it….Slept for a bit, otherwise just read or something….

Sweden in general though seems more like denmark – in terms of terrain – than Norway. Much flatter definitely that Norway. As usual, lots of forested and green areas. As I said, quite pleasant.

I got into Stockholm at 3.30, and that’s when the drama began. I’d tried to get a hostel reservation last couple of days, but somehow the 2-3 places I called were all booked. Usually however these things haven’t been a problem, so I wasn’t unduly worried. Before leaving oslo, I’d emailed a couple of hostels, expecting that one of them at least would have a space.

I got into Stockholm, and checked my email – and believe it or not, those 2 places were full as well! That was tiresome – so I got out my guide books, picked a couple of more places, and called them too – and they had no space either! This was starting to get worrying…..i went to the tourist info office – which seemed to be like a mile away from the station, pushing my way through thronging crowds out Saturday shopping, and got there 5 min before it closed at 5pm. They gave me a list of hostels in the area, but as they were closing, they said they couldn’t do any bookings – they usually do, otherwise.

Anyway, I got the list, but then couldn’t find a payphone there, so had to walk back to the station again to call these places (all this, remember, with a 20 kilo backpack on my back!). Anyway, got back, and started calling all the places on the list – and every single one of them was full!! This was unbelievable…

Anyway, I then decided it was time to get serious, and upgrade my options – so I started calling some of the hotels listed in the guide book, which are of course pricier than hostels. But the ones I called had no space either. Then instead of blowing up all my money on phone calls – these phone calls here from payphones are pretty expensive, comes to about a dollar per call – I walked around and went to a couple of nearby hotels. None of them had space, but I finally found a place where the guy knew of a hotel which had rooms – and he called them and made a reservation for me. Phew! I heaved a big sigh of relief! Of course, that hotel was another 20min walk from where I was, so had to trudge there – but finally got a room! This is a single room, and of course that comes at a price – about 3 times what I’ve been paying so far. But I guess by this time, all I cared about was getting a place! And thankfully I found one – albeit after 3 hours of random tension….

Anyway, I guess these things are all part of the experience – so its fine. Turns out there’s some big medical conference in town – along with some bicycle fair. And it’s the weekend. So I guess things are really busy!

Anyway, I got into the room, dumped I stuff and just relaxed for a while. Luckily managed to connect to some stray wireless nearby – so that’s good. Then around 7.40 or so, I set out to see some of the town – not much could be done as it was just about starting to get dark, but still…

I went to the central station, and bought a Stockholm card – this gives unlimited access to all public transport, as well as pretty much all the sights in town for 24 hours. I plan to visit couple of museums etc, so on the whole this should work out pretty cheap. Then I took the subway to Gamla Stan, which is the old town – that’s on another island. Stockholm is basically composed of several islands, all very close to each other, and closely connected by road and subway. So its pretty much like walking from one colony to another. But some of the distances can get kinda long – like walking from my hotel to Gamla Stan would take about 30-40min.


Gamla stan (remember Den Gamle By that I visited in Arhus? Gamla/Gamle seems to mean “old” in all Scandinavian languages) is the old part of Stockholm, and is very much the way you’d imagine that – all cobbled stone streets, old buildings, narrow paths. Totally delightful. It was just awesome walking around there. The place now seems to also house a lot of pubs and restaurants – so its all lit up in yellow/orange light, and looks totally awesome by night. Did some long exposure photography. Unfortunately I hadn’t taken my tripod along, so had to find suitable places to put the camera on. But some photos came out reasonably nice.

There are some pretty nice looking churches in that area as well. Will probably go there during the day sometime and see them too.



Then at one point I came to this large square in the town where there’s the Nobel Museum, which is all about the Nobel prize, of course. There are some restaurants as well in the square.

From there I walked along and came to the royal palace. This looks totally awesome, I definitely want to come and see it during the day. There were some guards around still, and they seemed a bit nervous about me standing there taking photos – cant imagine why! – so I didn’t hang around too long.


From there I walked across the bridge back to the main island, and straight into the downtown area. This is pretty amazing, and one of the best downtown areas I’ve seen. Nicely lit up, still very old townish, lots of shops and all, and quite a few people still around…..Very old feel, and at the same time kinda hip and trendy. There are also all these flags hung out above you, representing different countries...dunno why

I then slowly figured my way back to the train station. Asked a group of kids on the way back, and they tried to behave very funny or something – looked kinda drunk, and typical teenage brat kinda material…..whatever….

This is definitely the first time, though – esp on the subway ride back – that I’m seeing a lot of the punk kind of crowd. This possibly is because in the other 2 big cities I’ve been to – oslo and Copenhagen – I wasn’t really out at night in the main city areas ever. But definitely saw quite a few people with weird hairstyles, wearing weird clothes, lots of piercings, tattoos, the works…..So that was definitely a different taste.

In general, though, Stockholm seems to be the most happening of the 3 Scandinavian capitals. Lots more variety in the kind of people – one still sees fair number of Asians around – a much hipper crowd, more trendy…..It’ll be interesting to see whether that opinion changes once I spend the day out in town tomorrow….

Anyway, time to sleep now – quite tired after the long day! Hopefully tomorrow will be a much better day!

Day 4 in Norway - 8th September - 10pm

What an evening I’ve had! First, after posting the last post, I took off for the hostel I was supposed to stay this night in – it was a lil away from the town center, had to take a tram to get there. But man, I wish I’d stayed here last night as well! Its really well located, on top of a small hill, giving a great view around. Quite picturesque, and nice and cozy. Checked in, got into my room and dumped my stuff there. Then I took off to go to the Vigeland garden.

That was actually on the other end of town, so had to change trams getting there. The weather was looking splendid – and it seemed like we’d have an awesome sunset. So I took my tripod with me – just to make sure…

Am I glad I did that! By the time I got to the garden, it was about 7, and sun was just in the process of setting. The entire sky was awash in brilliant colors – golden, white, blue….Absolutely beautiful….

On entering the garden, I was spellbound – hadn’t expected it to be so beautiful. The sculptor Vigeland basically made A LOT of sculptures to decorate this garden – some history behind why which I’ve forgotten. But basically, as you walk down the central path, its lined with his sculptures. They all depict the human form – men, women, or children – all in various poses depicting various aspects of life. The figures are typical – all nudes, men and children bald, depicting the human form in its absolute totality, completely exposed. They show various moods and emotions in human life. Apparently the sculptor was anyway a sort of depressed person in life – so there is a certain element of tiredness, anger or despair in many of them.


Took tons of photos on the way down the path, setting the tripod down and getting some great shots of the statues against the speckled sky.

As one walks down, in the center there’s this HUGE fountain, one of the most magnificent I’ve ever seen. 6 strong male statues hold up this great big bowl out of which the fountain pours. You can see in the pose of these men that its taking them a great amount of effort to hold it up. Its absolutely perfect, the way its done. The effect couldn’t have been more marked.

Further down comes the main piece in the garden – Vigeland’s giant monolith. This is a huge sculpture in the form of an obelisk composed of crawling human forms. They’re all clearly earthbound, and again Vigeland draws on his main theme, pulling the humans down and at the same time making them all reach upwards for the sky. It’s a very telling sculpture, and quite powerful.

Surrounding it are many more sculptures again. One amazing element of this park, which makes it so beautiful, is its symmetry. I’ve come to realize how much of a difference perfect symmetry makes in our perception of beauty. An example that immediately springs to mind is the main quad in Stanford – that always struck me as so beautiful just because its so absolutely symmetric – right down to the line of palm drive bisecting the oval and quad. Another such building is the Taj mahal. With all of these the beauty is so enhanced by symmetry. And so it was with this garden too. All sculptures was symmetrically placed, the patches of grass on either side were symmetric, the flower beds were too, and so on.


The park itself is actually quite huge – about 75 acres – but I didn’t get to see much of it. Walked around a little, then left. All of the 75 acres are scattered with his statues here and there. But the main area is the stunning part.

I’m glad I went – I almost didn’t, as it was pretty far from the hostel. But was totally worth it..

Traveling by tram is also fun. One gets to see a lot of the city…And the people…Oslo seems quite cosmopolitan – definitely much more so than Copenhagen. One sees a lot of Asians around – both south Asians and south east Asians. Also a fair number of blacks, which surprised me as I saw pretty much none in Copenhagen. Definitely lots of Indians – even at the vigeland garden there was this big Indian family – seemed tamilian, actually…Wonder why oslo particularly has so many – lets see how it is in Stockholm.

Anyway, just got back, and will probably sleep in a while…Gotta leave for the station earlyish tomorrow to make sure I get there in time to catch my train to Stockholm.

Day 4 in Norway - 8th September

Well today was not AS happening as the last couple of days have been. Its about 4 in the afternoon, thought I’d just take a break and write for a bit. Woke up around 7.30, had breakfast and all. Turned out this hostel was all booked up for tonight – so couldn’t extend my reservation to tonight, and had to find another hostel. That took a lil bit of time – had to call a couple of places, go to the tourist info center to get numbers for a couple of hostels and all…anyway, got it all sorted out by 9.30-10, and then set out for the day.

I bought a 24 hour transit pass which gives one free use of all public transport – tram, bus, subway etc. That worked well because some of the places I wanted to see where a bit spread out. I walked around a bit, saw the main church in the city – only from the outside though, as it was closed for renovations. Then walked down to the National Theatre, which looks pretty imposing, and past that to the National Gallery. All along there are cool buildings, nice fountains, interesting sculptures….very cultural, very historical….

The national gallery is where a number of works of art – largely Norwegian artists – are housed. Its pretty good, actually – and free entry. They have quite a decent collection – and of course a lot of norway’s most famous painter, Edvard Munch. Their collection includes his most famous painting, The Scream, as well – the textbook example on Expressionism. A lot of norway’s painters were landscape painters, for obvious reasons – but he was one of the first who moved away from that style. His classical depiction of the horror stricken scream of agony, apparently representative of his own feelings on viewing the world in the 20th century, definitely leaves one full of varied thoughts. And unlike many famous paintings, which people say don’t seem as spectacular when you actually see them, this one had a lasting impression on me. The fluid brush strokes, wavy lines, the blending in the background, all combine to give us the picture he intends. Very powerful…

The gallery also houses other stuff, including some of picasso’s, renoir’s, gauguin’s, and monet’s works…and some sculptures as well, by rodin, and norway’s most famous sculptor, vigeland. All in all, quite an interesting couple of hours there.


From there I walked to the royal palace to check that out from the outside – aren’t allowed to go in. Its pretty magnificent, and surrounded by a very nice garden – so walked around for a bit.

Then went to the nearby City Hall, which is pretty imposing – huge hall in side, massive paintings on the walls, and long, sculpted halls on the 2nd floor. Very impressive…..

From there I took the subway, to a place called Holmen Kollen where there’s a pretty well known ski museum, and famous (or should I say infamous?) ski jump, which has been the bane of many. The museum is pretty interesting – has details, and items from the journey of Amundsen to the south pole, and other interesting expeditions – including this one Norwegian dude who went across the Antarctic – 3000kms of it – on his own – just one man, no animals, nothing! Crazy…..

There’s also quite a bit on the history of skiing, and though I myself never got into the sport, it was pretty interesting – must be a haven for skiers….

Then one can journey by elevator and then stairs to the very top of the ski jump. From there you get possibly the best view of all of Oslo, and Oslo fjord. Its pretty magnificent. And with the weather being the way its been, one could just see for miles and miles…totally awesome…


The ski jump itself looks quite scary from the top – quite vertical! Dunno what would prompt people to actually go and do it!! Nuts…..

Anyway, took the subway back from there, and then here I am now, sitting and typing all this out….after this, might go to a pretty big park in the city which is supposed to be really nice, and which also has tons of sculptures by the sculptor Vigeland. So lets see how that is….Tomorrow then I take the train to Stockholm, which a lot of people have told me, is the most awesome city in Scandinavia. So lets see how that is!

Day 3 in Norway - 7th September

Hmm what do I say…another pretty awesome day……Am starting to get quite repetitive now, I think…

Anyway, woke up around 7am and quickly showered etc. Now Bergen, as I said, is a city which receives A LOT of rainfall. So I was expecting pretty much the same kind of weather today as well. But surprise, surprise – as I woke up, it actually seemed like the sun might be coming out!! And in a little bit, the weather actually cleared completely, and it was bright and sunny!! Some clouds in the sky, but otherwise it could have been California! That was pretty awesome – quite nice to see the sun!

So I left the hostel pretty early, about 8.30ish, and then first went to take the funicular train up Mt.Floyen. This is pretty much like a cable car that goes up one of the mountains surrounding Bergen – I think there are 6-7 of them. It’s a pretty short ride up to the top – about 10min or so. The ride was fun – it was filled with a bunch of school-kids making quite a racket – I guess they don’t get good weather here often, and when they do, people party…..

From the top, you get some absolutely spectacular views of the city and the sea. And with such a clear day, it was perfect. I took my tripod with me – yes, I’ve been traveling with it, and have already used it a few times :) – and with that got some pretty cool photos which I put together later to get a panoramic view of the city and surrounding areas. Its really beautiful – in the distance you can see more mountains shrouded in clouds, then below you is the city, with some of the highways leading up to it. On your right there’s the harbor, and then the sea. The sea coming in here is basically a fjord – so there are mountains stretching out there as well. Absolutely splendid.

From this point on Mt. Floyen, there are a bunch of hiking trails that take off, which are all pretty popular. Unfortunately I didn’t have too much time as I had to take the train that afternoon – but I walked around a little bit. Some pretty nicely forested areas – wooded trails. After walking around for about half an hour, I decided to get back down. Instead of taking the cable car down, however, I just hiked down. There’s a pretty well defined path – its actually more of a gravel road – and lots of people do that. Takes about 45min – 1 hour. That was pretty cool, as at varying points you get nice views of the city. The sun was still out as well, and the sunlight streaming through the trees made the scenery picture perfect at times.

The last section of the hike down is actually a lot of steps through the upper reaches of the town. The town actually stretches part of the way up Mt. Floyen, and from the bottom looks very nice, as you see the hillside jotted with houses. As you come down, you kinda walk around all these houses.

Finally after I got back down into the city center, I went to the hostel and checked out. Left my bag there, though, and then set out to explore more of the town. First went to this church near the hostel – was quite nice. Kind of sparse, but had some nice stained glass stuff. Anyway, churches are always nice, I guess – I always enjoy visiting them in all these towns.

Bergen is a real tourist’s town – I don’t know what else happens there. Its not too big, but is quite packed with tourists. It also has a fair amount of history – it was originally the medieval capital of the Norwegian kingdom, and a major port of trade. Today there are a couple of things that draw people to it. The first is a famous fish market – supposedly one gets really good fish here for good prices, and you also get to sample a lot of interesting stuff for free, such as caviar and all. I walked through it for a little bit – pretty smelly, but I guess that works for some people!!

After that I got a sandwich and coffee for lunch at this nice bakery, and then walked around the harbor. Went into the premises of what was originally some royal hall or something, and is now maintained by the military. The main royal hall was unfortunately closed – opens only at 3pm or something. But the premises themselves are beautiful – a really nice garden, lush green grass….On one side is the harbor, so you can just look out to sea from there. So just walked around there for a bit. I also ran into this girl who recognized me from the Norway in a nutshell route yesterday – she’d also been on it, and overheard me saying I was from Stanford – and surprise, she was from SF….its strange, I’m suddenly running into a whole lot of people from the bay area……chatted with her briefly…

From there I went into the Bryggen museum. Now Bryggen (which literally means “Wharf”), was the main wharf in the original town of Bergen in the 11th century, and has been the site of supposedly highly informative archaeological discoveries. The museum is basically dedicated to displaying those discoveries. A couple of the exhibits are actually archaeological sites as they were discovered – so you see the wooden remains of houses and all in the sand itself. There’s also a partly reconstructed ship. In some of the other sections, there’re other things they excavated, common household items and so on. Basically a lot of information about the day to day life in those times. Was reasonably interesting, if not mind blowing.

From there I walked around the Bryggen area, which is one of the most popular things to do in Bergen. The main houses look out over the harbor, but behind them, there’s a whole small reconstructed “city”. Its pretty amazing – like being transported back into the ages. Except of course now the whole area is filled with souvenir shops and all! But the architecture is quite medieval. The paths are all very narrow, and the houses form a natural cover over them. A lot of these paths are actually made of wood – apparently all construction was out of wood in those days, except in the royal part of town where things are made of stone. Wood was the commoner’s material….

The entire area is constructed in a similar vein. Tourists flock to see this part of town, and there’re quite a few people around. Of course the souvenir shops have a heyday. Strangely though, I found that everything here was actually more expensive than a souvenir shop I checked out on top of Mt. Floyen. Everything was consistently at least 10-20% more expensive – I really wonder why! One would think the extra cost of getting it up onto the mountain would make that more expensive! But apparently not….

Oh, another thing I’ve realized about Norway that I didn’t know before – they have a thing about trolls! Apparently trolls are a pretty popular element in Norwegian folk tales – or so a shop-girl told me. The whole thing about trolls living in woods, being sort of mean but essentially stupid creatures, that turn into stone when they get in the sun seems to be a key element in Norwegian folklore. And so all souvenir shops are INUNDATED with troll figures, troll magnets, troll pictures, troll t-shirts and so on. Its pretty amazing – I never had any clue about this. Norway’s always been famous for the Vikings of course, and there are enough Viking souvenirs around. But I’m almost sure they’re outnumbered by troll souvenirs. I guess for tourists too they form a sort of cute element of Norwegian memories, and are thus probably pretty popular. So outside many of these shops you’ll see these little troll figures in various poses, looking quite ridiculously funny.

Anyway, wandering around town was great – its so bustling, and with the weather I think everyone just wanted to be out. Walked around some more, and then it was pretty much time to get to the station. So went to the hostel, got my backpack, and headed to the train station. From there I caught the train to oslo, and am currently sitting on it. There was one part of this train ride which I didn’t see yesterday – from Voss to Myrdal – as that was the section where, as part of the Norway in a nutshell route, I was doing fjord cruise and all. That part is just as beautiful as the rest. See a few more rocky, snowy mountains, and some more eye-catching views. There was also a mountain river flowing by us for quite a while – we were going upstream – and at times one got some cool views of the river, its rapids, small waterfalls and so on.

On the train I met this American dude who, by the strangest coincidence, is ALSO from SF. Its like I cant walk 2 steps without running into a Californian now. Very very strange indeed…..

Anyway, there’s another 3 hours or so to go before we get into oslo. Maybe I’ll sleep for a bit. Am staying tonight – and tomorrow night – in the same hostel I stayed in when I first got into oslo. So should be pretty convenient. Tomorrow will basically walk all over the city.

Day 2 in Norway - 6th September

I must make an admission right at the beginning here – the following writeup might seem quite bland and insipid, for I have no words at all to express the kinds of things I’ve seen and experienced today. I think I need a whole new level of adjectives and metaphors to be able to even slightly recreate the magic I’ve witnessed today. Words and photographs both fail to capture this - so I’m not even going to try very hard.

The day began very early as I was doing a pretty long journey today. Woke up around 6 and checked out of the hotel by 7, as I had to catch a train at 8. I was doing the long haul to Bergen, on the west coast of Norway. Normally this about a 7 hour train ride from oslo. However, what I was doing was something which is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Norway – the Norway in a Nutshell ride. Designed to give tourists a delectable taste of Norway, this is the perfect one day trip. You start from Oslo and take the Bergen train, but get down in the mountains at Myrdal. From there, you take a smaller cogwheel train down into the Flam valley – this train goes through some of the steepest railroad sections in the world. From Flam, one takes a ferry to Gudvangen, a 2 hour journey through a part of the Sognefjord, Norway’s longest and deepest fjord. The from Gudvangen you take a scenic bus ride back up into the hills, riding upto Voss, from where its about an hour’s long train ride to Bergen. Starting the day at 8, you reach Bergen by about 8.30 in the evening.

This trip is quite a mouthful for even the most enthusiastic tourist. Lets take it steps – slow and steady. The train ride to Myrdal from oslo was great. The Oslo-Bergen railway is considered one of the most scenic rail journeys in the world, as it weaves through the mountains of Norway – and its considered that for a very good reason. You’ll find out more soon. There was an old lady sitting next to me, really nice, we spoke quite a bit. She seemed pretty intelligent, and very very well traveled – in fact, she seems to have been to every single continent! And traveled to multiple places on each one, in fact. Even traveled in India – she mentioned, Calcutta, Madras, Bombay….. She was really sweet, telling me about her grandchildren and all…Apparently she was going to meet her sister someplace between Oslo and Bergen up in the mountains (forgot the name of the town), and spend 3-4 days with her up there.

The train journey itself was quite scenic. Starts out pretty mild (in retrospect, that is, considering all that came after that – at that time however it seemed pretty awesome). Soon on getting out of oslo, one gets into mountainous countryside. Its really beautiful, and very very different from Denmark, which, as I mentioned earlier, is almost completely flat. The mountains here are thickly populated by conifers, which completely blanket them. However, the most spectacular part is this – all along these mountains, you have breaks in the forest where people have built farms, or have houses – and around these you see the most amazing stretches of pristine green grass…So it makes for a wonderful sight as you gaze on these mountains – carpets of trees interspersed with expanses of soft downy grass.

As if that weren’t enough, you have quite a few lakes as well as you go past these mountains. Typical mountain lakes. Fresh, clear, and quite breathtaking. All combined to give a completely Alpine feel to the first part of the train ride. Weather was pretty cloudy, but that kind of lends its own touch to the beauty.

The last couple of hours, the train starts climbing up, and then things start getting out of hand. For one, you get these amazing views of the valley below. Quite stunning. Initially, though, it was highly frustrating as all the views were on the side opposite to where I was sitting in the train!:) I’ve decided there’s nothing more depressing/irritating than being on the wrong side of a breathtaking view with a camera. However things soon got better, and there were some pretty amazing views on my side as well.

Soon we reached a point where in the distance one could actually see snow on some parts of the mountains. Pretty amazing – especially considering that Norway supposedly recently had its hottest summer since 1900, or something…..

At a point the scenery suddenly changed – it was almost a quantum jump. Suddenly, as we rounded a bend, the conifers disappeared. The mountains were a lot barer, and the rocks quite exposed. The vegetation had changed to a more shrubs and bushes. I think by then we were above 1000m or so, which might not seem too high, but at that latitude, its over the tree line.


Around this station called Finse, we reached the highest point on the railway. From here, you get a spectacular view of the Finse glacier. Its absolutely spellbinding. The train actually stops for a couple of extra minutes there, just so everyone can take photos.:) As I said, this trip is totally geared for tourists, and the train is actually filled with them – you should seen them flock out of the train the moment it stopped at the station there!!

From there the train descends just a little, and we finally got to Myrdal around 12.55pm. Just before you get there, you get some awesome views into the valley below, where you can see the fjord. Again, don’t expect any of the photos to do any justice whatsoever – taking photos from a train on a cloudy day sucks, and there’s just no way to bring out the kind of things we could see with my very basic camera.

A large part of the train gets off at Myrdal, and hangs around for the next train which takes us into the Flam valley. Now this is a very interesting train – it goes down about 900m over a distance of 20km, and is one of the steepest railroads in the world. It was apparently quite an engineering challenge, and took many years to complete. Also along the way are more than 20 tunnels covering a distance of about 6 km! The way down is just amazing. You can get some absolutely brilliant views, and basically people spend time running around from window to window, trying to get a good photo before the next tunnel! Its quite a party on the train – the driver’s constantly announcing just before you get to a good section, and he even stops the train for 5 minutes at the biggest waterfall on the way, so people can get down and take photos.

On the way I ended up having some conversation with this chap from Britain, David, who’d taken some days off from work to sightsee – he was also doing the same Norway in a nutshell trip. So chatted with him for a while.

As one finally descends into the valley, you get some cool views of the town. A small mountain river flows through it as well, accentuating the effect. Quite idyllic.

We got down there at about 2.25pm or so. The pier is right next to the station – in such a small town, hardly any reason to have it otherwise. We hung around there for a little bit, and then the boat departed from there at about 3pm. The fjord cruise takes about 2 hours as the ship slowly weaves its way through offshoots of the famous Sognefjord, and makes its way to Gudvangen. This cruise is amongst the most magnificent ever. This is really the point at which words fail me. These 2 hours confirmed in my mind at least that Norway has to be, without doubt, one of the most beautiful places on earth. The fjords are just out of this world – one could not hope for a more scenic afternoon. With mighty cliffs towering on both sides, you are given some of the best views ever. The mountains are pretty awesome – and the scenery constantly varies – from sheer rock faces to gently sloping meadows to steep, forested slopes. This is classical Norway – the way you see it on National Geographic.

It was lightly drizzling most of the way, and was pretty cloudy, but not foggy – so quite clear all along. That was a saving grace. Somehow, though, I think the cloudy weather really added to the majesty of the fjord. I know all picture postcards show these fjords bathed in sunlight – but their essence, I think, lies in the mist and the clouds – the grey havens, as it were….

Oh, I forgot to mention – suddenly on the boat we seemed to be inundated with hordes of Chinese tourists – I was surprised when, at one point, as the ship was get filled up, I looked around me, and couldn’t see one European face – I was in a sea of hated Chinese tourists with cameras hanging down their necks!!! They all came on a tour bus, I think! Anyway, even on the train earlier there had been some Jap tourists – so seems like the Asians come in hordes to visit Norway.

When the cruise began, one Chinese lady decided she wanted to feed the sea gulls around (remember, fjords are extensions of the sea into land – therefore, sea gulls). So she started throwing pieces of food to them. Immediately, two things happened – one, we were besieged by seagulls; two, every other Chinese tourist on board decided they wanted a piece of this too, and started throwing their food around as well. It was quite hilarious, really – these gulls must be getting quite fat on tourist food daily! I was amazed by the persistence of these guys – for one, they seemed to have an infinite supply of food to throw around, and secondly they seemed quite jobless – it actually went on for quite a while. Provided some decent photo ops – but otherwise was kinda irritating!!

I struck up conversation with this Indian chap who seemed to be traveling with his dad. The guy had an American accent, so I guessed he was from the states – and turned out he was. I asked him where in the US, and he says, California. Oh wow, I said, me too. Where in California? They bay area. Wow, me too! Where in the bay area? Thankfully he didn’t say Stanford – that would have been quite ridiculous. Apparently he’s a pediatrician working up in the city in SF. We chatted for a while – he was traveling quite a bit, Sweden, Norway, and later spain.

Anyway, the cruise went on, and we all enjoyed the scenery. Rick Steves’ guide to Scandinavia, which I’ve been following, states that the fjord cruise is basically 2 hours of nervous tourists flitting from side to side on the boat trying to get the perfect picture. And it was precisely that. You just didn’t know which way to turn! One moment there’d be this lovely waterfall on your right; a moment later a small town on the left; then a new branch of the fjord opening out ahead. We went quite crazy!


There were at least 4-5 little towns that we saw along the route. These are pretty amazing – hardly even qualify as towns, some as small as maybe a community of 50-80 people! Quite isolated from the world, a couple didn’t have any road access till as late as 1970-75. Was trying to imagine wht life must be like in such a place – and couldn’t even begin to understand that……

The cruise finally ended at about 5pm – was quite mentally drained by then. We then had to wait for about 45 min at gudvangen for the bus that would take us to Voss. It was raining quite a bit by then, and also around the fjord, it was getting pretty foggy. And up in the hills you could really see the clouds rolling in.

The bus finally came and we all got on. The bus ride to Voss is again extremely scenic, and would have been even more so on a clear day. The road winds its way up the mountains, giving some great views of the valley below. This road in fact is the steepest in Norway – and by golly, it is! Definitely one of the steepest I’ve ever been on. And I cant imagine wht it must be like driving a bus on it. Winds a hell of a lot as well – you’ve hardly completed one turn before the next is on to u. this road must be pretty close to rivaling Lombard street as one of the steepest and most crooked – and this is along a cliff face!!!

We stopped at the top of the hill at Stalheim motel to get some last scenic views down into the valley. After that the bus sped on to Voss. These parts are less spectacular in terms of height variations, but equally lovely. Grassy meadows, serene lakes, cosy looking towns dot the road on both sides. Didn’t really take any photos as it was raining a lot, as well as pretty foggy, so no point, really.

Got to the voss station, and then took the train to Bergen. The train ride was very much in the same vein as the second leg of the bus ride – similar landscape. Quite extraordinarily beautiful – but there’s only so much one can take in in 1 day!

Finally reached Bergen around 8.40, and got checked into the hostel. Its raining here as it usually is – rains about 300 days a year here!!! But seems a beautiful town – is on a hill, so lots of steep roads and all. Should be fun exploring it tomorrow….but too expensive, man! Tried to find dinner somewhere, but for one, no vegetarian food in these restaurants, and two, no main course less than like 150NOK – about 25$! Ridiculous….ended up getting some groceries, and sort of picnicking….best thing to do….even got some stuff I can use for breakfast tomorrow….

Am physically and mentally exhausted now….so time to sleep…

Finally, wireless!!

ok, finally got some wireless access...so here's the last 3 days...fewer photos as it takes too long to upload.....but anyway, been totally awesome....check out the posts

Day 1 in Norway - 5th September

1:00pm

Its currently about 1pm, and I’m sitting aboard the ferry liner, somewhere in the vast expanse of sea between Denmark and Norway. The ship left Frederikshavn at about 10.30am, and gets into Oslo port at approximately 7pm. So a while to go yet….

I woke up around 6am today, but lay in bed for a while, not wanting to get up, really…:) I’ve realized how exhausted one gets with all the traveling – sleeping well becomes quite important…Last couple of nights I’ve actually slept 8 hours or so – more than I ever did in a long time at Stanford!

Anyway, woke up lazily, and then took my time getting ready. Breakfast was at 8am, and that’s when the reception counter also opened. Breakfast was pretty similar to the one in the hostel in Arhus – basically just loaded up on bread and cereal…. Then checked out, and took off on the long walk to the harbor. The city seemed a little more alive now in the morning – some number of cyclists on the road, and pedestrians too…But still, nothing like what I’ve seen most towns bustling like at 9 in the morning….Seriously seems like one of the sleepiest towns in Denmark.

At the harbor, went to the Color Line office next to the ship which would take us to Oslo, and got my ticket. With a Scanrail pass, it ends up being really cheap, as you get a 50% discount or something – 135 Danish Kroner, or about 24$. Its rather unbelievable to me that traveling from country to country within Europe is so cheap – imagine traveling between states in the US being even half as cheap!! And even the Scanrail pass isn’t all that expensive – it was about 270$, which is basically about the cheapest air ticket you’ll get within the US to fly a decent distance. While with this pass I can essentially travel infinitely many times on 10 days. Not to mention discounts like this on the ferries.

We boarded the ship at about 10am. The way it works is that with the ticket you basically don’t get a seat, but can sit anywhere on the ship. Some people choose to get cabins, but that of course is pretty expensive. Anyway there’s a variety of seating on the ship – it’s a veritable palace. Of course it looked huge from outside, but from inside it seems like feels like some huge 5 star hotel. There are 9 decks, of which 2 are used for storing vehicles that people are taking over into Oslo – the others one is free to roam around in.


I initially went and sat down in deck 9, at the top, in what is called the Panorama bar. Very comfortable seating, and only thing one might complain about, of course, was the smoke….:) There was this old couple sitting near me, who looked like they were old enough to be great-grandparents, but were at it like chimneys…..nuts, this continent is….

The ship left right on time. Soon after it left port, there was a musical performance in the bar where there was a pretty big stage in the center. There was this dude playing the keyboard and singing, and this woman who was also singing. They also seemed to have some kind of karaoke system which filled in for all the other instruments – drums, bass etc. Pretty good, they were. Singing mostly Danish songs, of course – or maybe other languages too, but they all seem the same to me…..:) They sang just one English song somewhere in the middle – but that was about it! But pretty entertaining…..Spent a relaxing hour and a half or so there, dozing off intermittently….

Finally at about 12 I decided to get up and explore the ship a little. Went and checked out all the other decks. Also found a way to get out onto the deck in the open – some of the levels had exits to get there. Really windy, of course. And spray from the sea hits you quite a bit. So didn’t stay out very long.

Some of the decks had quite a few slot machines – and tons of people were at it! And all, pretty much, the oldy-goldies…..A lot of women too – seems like all these old aunties in Scandinavia are quite into this stuff!

Strangely there also seemed to be quite a few Indians on board – I saw at least 3 separate Indian families while roaming around…


One of the levels has a bunch of restaurants, including a huge buffet section. All very tastefully decorated. That’s where I’m sitting currently outside the café. Might go and get some lunch in a little while….One of the places that seems to have veggie food opens at 2 only. There are quite a few choices of cuisines – Mexican, Italian, the buffet section, burgers and stuff…..There’s also a dance floor, a reasonably big one, which was set up with some band’s instruments, but which noone was playing when I saw it. They just had some recorded music playing. There’s even a nightclub down below on level 1 – I suppose all these are much more popular on the overnight ferries.

Apart from all that, there’s a small sauna and swimming pool, and I also saw 2 small movie halls, one of which was open and one closed – maybe later I’ll go and see whats playing there….

Pretty crazy huh? This place is so elaborate that I’m surprised they make any money at all….There seem to be a fair number of people on board, but I think most of the cabins are empty. And earlier this week when I’d called to see if I needed to buy a ticket in advance, the guy said there was always plenty of space, and there would be no problem. For all the facilities available, this seems a really good deal. Of course one has to pay for the food and all, but it doesn’t seem TOO expensive – not significantly more than what I saw in denmark, at least. Maybe in peak season they run pretty full and make loads of money……

Anyway, I’m quite looking forward to seeing Norway. Supposed to be very different from denmark – for one, Denmark is just so flat. It’ll be a welcome change to see some mountains….And I’m totally excited about seeing the fjords – even sailing into Oslo fjord at the end of this cruise I’m on, according to Mille, is supposed to be pristinely beautiful….

For now, I guess its Goodbye Denmark, and Hello Norway!

9:30pm

Ok, sitting in the hostel room in Oslo right now. The ferry ride was awesome…I finally found a place in there in the afternoon which was non-smoking – should have been easy, actually, considering it was the emptiest part of the ship…:) Shortly after I found it, a huge bunch of Indians came and sat down there as well. Seemed like couple of the families I’d seen around had decided to get together and party or something. And like typical Indian groups, they were making quite a bit of a racket….3-4 guys sitting and playing cards, 2-3 kids howling away, couple of auntyjis talking loudly in what appeared to be Punjabi……Nuts….Anyway, after a while a band started playing/singing there…Played some pretty nice songs…And they in fact performed 2-3 songs done by us in Artistes Unlimited – and songs I haven’t heard much in other places….Shed a lil light, We are the world, One note samba…..Hmmm brought back memories, it did….

The last hour and a half or so I spent outside on the deck in front of the ship. Was pretty windy, but what the hell, the view made it completely worth it….The last 3 or 4 hours of the ride you can actually see land on both sides – for a while its actually Norway on your left and Sweden on your right, and towards the end it becomes Norway on both sides. With time, the two sides of land come closer and closer together, and it becomes quite gorgeous. Took tons of photos of course. It was a lovely day as well, sun was out, few clouds in the sky, absolutely gorgeous. The land on both sides was awesome….You could kind of see some of the narrower fjords a few times branching into the land. And then all sorts of interesting houses/buildings on both sides. In general the land looked very different from Denmark – all hilly and rocky, with lots of coniferous trees….Totally different landscape from the flat expanses in denmark.


That last hour was absolutely awesome. Just stayed stuck to the deck there, watching the scenery flash by, the sailing boats becoming increasingly common, the fishing trawlers, the occasional speedboat, watching the long wake our ship left behind it, taking the occasional photo....Just took it all in by the mouthfuls…..

Finally got into the harbor around 6.45pm. Turned out the harbor was pretty far from center of town – so had to take a bus. The bus fare was a whopping 30NOK – 5$. Whoever heard of city buses charging 5$!!! Crazy….This place is too expensive!!

I first went to the train station to make reservations for my train journey tomorrow to Bergen – it’s a long way, and I wanted to make sure I got a seat…..Also made one for the way back the day after tomorrow, when I come back to oslo – those 2 reservations cost me another 100NOK…..

From there I walked to the hostel where I had a bed reserved….The short walk didn’t give me much chance to see anything, but city seems quite different from Copenhagen…for one there’s a tram system apart from buses, which makes everything look different… In addition roads just seem to be narrower – or maybe that’s just this part of town…..But look forward to exploring it more later….

Chap at the counter in the hostel seemed British…Anyway, got my room keys and all, and came up to the room….Met one of the other guys staying in the room – he turned out to be this Pakistani dude called Khalid, and he seemed thrilled to meet an Indian. Apparently he’d grown up in Norway, but then lived in UK for some number of years – then was back in Norway working, but staying here intermittently while he was looking for a flat….Guy seemed so happy to meet me that he pretty much told me his entire life story, including the fact that he was divorced, and it was an arranged marriage that didn’t work out, a story which ended in his advising me to get into a love marriage….:)

Anyway, should get to bed soon today as I need to take an early train tomorrow – am doing the Norway in a Nutshell route, which is a standard route people take to Bergen from Oslo – part train, part boat ride in the fjord, part bus – which takes the entire day. So need to catch the 8am train tomorrow. Will then be back in oslo on the day after, and spend a day or two here, when I should get a chance to see this city better.

Day 7 in Denmark - 4th September

5:00 pm

I’m writing this sitting on the train to Frederikshavn from Aarhus. It’s a pretty long train ride – about 2.5 hours, so figured I might as well write about the day on the way. Been quite a busy day! I woke up fairly early about 6.30 or so. Took a quick shower, and then just went walking a lil bit around town. Weather was awesome, sun was out, and streets were fairly empty. Walked around the Latin Quarter, where all the streets are cobbled stone, and its quite nice, with lots of stores – all closed at that time, of course. Walking around in the morning was good – one really got to see a different side of the city from what one would see later in the day, with all the people around. Also found a delightful little park with a small pond and all – so sat there for a bit, just relaxing….


I got back to the hostel around 9, and had breakfast there which I’d ordered. Was of course several levels below the breakfast we used to get in the hotel in Copenhagen (obviously!), but was filling enough – bread, cheese, jam, cereal, juice, tea… So ate a lot – the ideal thing to do, I figured, was get a good, substantial breakfast, a light lunch while on the road, and then a good dinner. Breakfasts at hotels are fairly cheap, so makes sense to fill up on that.

After that, I checked out, and left by backpack in the luggage room there to pick up later. Then got out to see some of the city. Was of course much more crowded now. The first stop I made was at the cathedral very close to the hostel which, in fact, is Denmark’s largest cathedral! It was started in the 12th century or something. Really huge, and really nice too. Was totally empty too, as I got in just as it was opening for the day.

From there I walked across town to this place called Den Gamle By which I’ll talk more about shortly. On the way there, I was suddenly stopped by this woman on the road next to her car trying to get something out, who said something to me in Danish. Obviously I couldn’t understand, but figured she wanted help getting it out – so I helped her with that. When she found out I didn’t know Danish, she spoke to me in English. Turned out she was from Norway, and had just come that day to Aarhus to set up her daughter who was joining the university there. She asked immediately if I was from India, and said she’d been to delhi quite a few times as she’d earlier worked for Scandinavian airlines. We talked a bit more, and I told her I was roaming around Scandinavia, and she said I’d really enjoy Norway. Anyway, I helped her unload the rest of her stuff from the car, for which she was quite grateful. She was quite a nice lady, and felt good to do one’s good deed for the day…:)


I continued walking down to Den Gamle By. So Den Gamle By (meaning “The old town”) is a big open air museum in Aarhus, which showcases Denmark as it once was. It’s literally a fully rebuilt and reconstructed Danish village/town. Each house is unique in itself, and is built and completely furnished just the way it was earlier – sometime between the 16th and 19th century! What’s more, there are even a lot of people there who are dressed up as people from those times, and go about their work as if they were back there!! Very very interesting indeed! All different occupations are represented, and there’s everyone right from the shoemaker, to the tailor, carpenter, blacksmith, mayor, painter, glazier, brewer and so on!! I must admit that I’ve completely fallen in love with the place. It was just the most delightful and cute little place ever. Horse drawn carriages amble across town, a waterwheel turns over in the small canal, a carousel gives lil kids some time to enjoy, a greenhouse provides varieties of plants a space to grow in….Just so much history there!! Took tons and tons of photos, of course….Strangely, the average age of visitors there seemed to be something like 70! Weird that none of the young tourists seemed to make it there – or maybe this was just an atypical day! However, every visitor to Denmark should definitely go here – its worth coming to Aarhus just to see this.


It was also interesting to see the contrast between different kinds of houses – how classy and stylish the mayor’s house was as compared, maybe to a weaver’s house! There were also houses where there’d be some woman in typical clothes cooking in the kitchen over a wood stove – and they’d even offer some of the food to u! There was also the clockmaker’s hut which was awesome – had an entire display of old clocks – small, big, grandfather clocks, all kinds on display – that was very cool. They even had a few sundials!

They also had a couple of special displays, which I suppose they keep changing. There was one titled “Entering the 20th century”, which displayed some typical things changing from the early to late 20th century – chairs, household items, and suchlike. Then another section had Christening dresses. A third section had travel posters of Denmark – these were cool, and it was nice seeing posters of places I’d already visited, and remembering things!! Some of the posters were pretty innovative!! And all very colorful!

I bought some postcards at the store in town and mailed them out later. Got into a conversation with the girl at the counter about Den Gamle By – and then it turned out she had traveled a fair amount in India – had been there for 3 months, so traveled a lot in the south – Chennai, madurai etc – and then Bombay, delhi, agra….. Quite a coincidence, meeting so many people who had visited India within one day!!


I finally left there around 1.30 or so, after spending more than 3 hours there! One just didn’t feel like leaving! Walked around a little bit more, found the park I’d seen in the morning again, and realized that on another side it also had a huge windmill – so went and saw that! Was pretty cool…..

Walked back to the hostel through some of the pedestrian streets. The main center of the city was packed again – all the shops were open, so people were totally out on the roads! Got back to the hostel, picked up my backpack, and then went to a café to have a light lunch. Walked around a bit more, and then finally went to the train station to catch my train to Frederikshavn. Turned out the train was about half an hour late – wonder why they’re all running late suddenly!! I wonder if Danish trains typically get delayed….Quite a few of them listed on the departure screen seemed to be delayed….

Anyway, finally got on the train, but had to stand for about half an hour as all seats were occupied – here on the trains, one can make reservations to ensure a seat, or just get on – and making a reservation costs extra. So generally I haven’t been doing that, but last 2 times got a seat easily. This time train was just crowded – so had to wait till the first station – however after that a few people got down, and got a seat. And since then been writing!

I think Frederikshavn is another hour or so away. Probably wont end up doing much there – there isn’t supposed to be very much to see. It just serves as a port of connection to other places in Norway and Sweden. Anyway, lets see how that turns out to be….

Btw, I just checked, and it turns out I already have about 1050 photos! Is this crazy or what?!! In one week, basically….and still another week to go!

9:30 pm

Well, what a strange last 4 hours I’ve had!! Man, every day on this continent brings new surprises….. I reached Frederikshavn at about 7.15pm. Firstly, I tried to find the hostel where I’d booked a room on the map outside the train station. There were 2 maps outside, one seemingly zoomed in more – but on looking closer, both seemed completely different! Both said Frederikshavn, followed by some other words on them, but there seemed no correlation between the 2! And on neither could I find the address where I had to go…. So I went back into the station – a pretty small one, btw – and went into the kiosk there, and asked the dude there for a map. He promptly furnished one, which, of course, was completely different from the other 2 I’d seen outside. Maybe there’s something wrong with me, and not understanding the language….Anyway, he marked out the way to me on the map, and I walked the 1.5 or so km to the place. The unnerving thing though, as I walked, was that the place was pretty much completely empty! It was like a ghost town – hardly any people on the roads! Fair number of cars passing by – this was on the outskirts, a highwayish road along the sea – but even in the interiors of the town, there seemed to be no people! Lots of houses, but on the roads, I must have seen maybe 2 people on the way to hostel! Really weird!!!

Anyway, more comes…I get to the hostel, and it seems to be a really nice place – much better than yesterday in Arhus. So I go to the reception, and its closed! Noone there! And a sign saying reception closes at 6pm! I was like, what the hell! What do I do now! Then some dude materialized, and asked me what I wanted – so I explained that I’d reserved a room yesterday, but the reception was closed. I dunno if he was some kind of helper or something, but turned out he had a key to the reception, and we went in. He checked, but there wasn’t anything there. Then we found a packet taped to the door with a key – and we surmised it must be for me. On the cover was something written in very bad handwriting which looking like “Erkhel Ervie” – I suppose somehow the guy, on the phone, must have thought that’s what my name was or something!!! So anyway, I got the key, and went into the room. Turns out the dorm room I have is totally empty, so essentially I get a single! Plus there’s an attached bath – something usually not there in dorm rooms, as there’s usually a shared bath…And everything was really neat and clean, and seemed good! So that was great…

Then I asked the guy if there was some place to eat nearby, and he directed me to this cafeteria maybe a km away. I went there, and again, on the way, hardly any people on the roads! Did see some kids playing on a field, though….

Anyway, at the cafeteria, tried to somehow get the waitress to understand that I wanted something vegetarian – for the first time in denmark, I was coming up with people who couldn’t speak English at all!! This sure seems a complete hole in the wall city!!! So somehow I managed to convey to her that I wanted something with “No meat” and “no fish”, and she pointed to this picture on the overhead menu which seemed to be mostly eggs and bread, but with shrimp too, and I said “no shrimp”, so she said ok, and put salad on instead and gave it to me…Phew!!! One really realizes the importance of language in such situations!!

The other thing I’ve realized in denmark is that pretty much everyone in this country is non-vegetarian. Its like vegetarianism as a concept is still unheard of here…..Even when in copenhagen, all through Niras’s festivities, I always had to make special requests for veg food, and at many hotels there might be maybe 1 veggie choice – and couple fo times, nothing, and one would have to specially request them to make something veg! Mille had to keep telling the waiters everywhere, including at that last big dinner dance party! I guess being in California for 2 years, I’m totally spoilt – with Stanford pretty much bursting at the seams with vegetarians, this is a totally new experience – trying to survive in a meat eating country!

Anyway, from there, I figured I’d go to the harbor and find out about my ferry to oslo tomorrow. I’d earlier called up the ferry line and they’d told me they had plenty of seats, and I could just book a ticket on the day of the ferry, at the dock itself – but I thought I might as well see if their office was open. And of course – it wasn’t. Only, I realized that at the end of what must have been at least a 5km walk from the place I had dinner… It was probably about 2-3km from the station itself – in the opposite direction from the hostel, of course! Nuts…..and of course, all through this, again no people on the roads!! This place was starting to drive me crazy – very freaky indeed! I checked some of the streets within the town, even those with hotels in them – but still one hardly saw anyone around…maybe the odd person here or there…but that was it!

Anyway, I then trudged back to the hostel, and finally got back a few minutes ago, and can now rest my feet…I must have walked god knows how much today – overall at least 25-30km, I’m sure……..Time to just sleep now…

Day 6 in Denmark - 3rd September

Hmmm, today’s been quite a different day! Finally on my own! Feels a little strange…especially after being so well taken care of this entire last week. Then suddenly one is totally on one’s own, in a country where people speak a language you don’t understand, and where you cant read any of the signs on the road :) Very interesting indeed….

Jacob and I left together at about 11 – we checked out, and left for the train station, from where he took a train to the airport and me to this place called Odense. I took only a backpack with me, leaving my other stuff at the hotel to be able to pick up later when I get back. Odense is about an hour and a half from Copenhagen, and I wanted to make a quick stop there for a couple of hours – primarily to check out the Hans Christian Andersen museum there. Odense is the hometown of the writer – and quite proud they are, about it too!

The train ride was very nice. Trains in Europe are awesome – they’re just so fast – and yet so quiet and smooth. Totally put our beloved bay area Caltrain to shame…:) Let alone Indian trains…..americans and Indians have something to learn from the Europeans….

The ride was also quite beautiful – saw a lot of the Danish countryside, and again fell in love with it – it’s a beauty that neither photos (esp those taken from the train) nor words can really capture. The green – oh the green…..i know I keep talking about it, but it just never fails to have an impact on the me…the kind of shades of green one sees, the sort of intensity of the color is just something I’ve never seen….just way too ethereal…

Odense is on another island, and so we actually crossed over the sea to get there from Copenhagen. Part of that is underground, and then the rest is over the sea. Again, totally stunning of course…..


On reaching odense, I checked my backpack into a locker at the train station, as suggested by the guide book, and then hit the streets. The town is of course much much smaller than Copenhagen, so much quieter. The museum was pretty close to the station, so just walked there. The museum was quite enjoyable – not too big or elaborate, but very nice. A lot about Hans Christian Andersen’s life, how he grew up, his writings, poetry, etc. Apart from his famous fairy tales, he wrote a lot of poetry, some novels, and even drew quite a bit. All that stuff was on display. There was this whole room with a library full of books by him and on him. And then of course the usual sort of curios – his hat, and his shirt and so on…:) Typical museum stuff…..they also had a place where you could listen to recordings of his fairy tales being read out by different people. That was really nice. I listened to a couple – the princess and the pea, and the emperor’s new clothes….Really brought back memories!!

There was a movie made on his life also which was being screened, which I saw – that was pretty good as well. All in all, I guess it wasn’t anything spectacular as a museum, but somehow just struck a chord somewhere – sort of brought back childhood images, and just a tinge of nostalgia, I guess…..so totally worth it….


After leaving the museum, I went to a nearby church which was quite nice too – and seemed pretty old as well……well, most things here seem to be quite old anyway….

Then I walked through some of the side streets, some that just went through some residential areas and were very quiet and quaint…the usual narrow cobbled stone paths……and as usual giving it the complete old town feel….


After that I decided to move on, so went back to the station, picked up my bag, and caught the 3.30 train to Aarhus. But the damn train got quite delayed – what was supposed to be a 1.5 hour journey ended up being 2.5 hours! So trains in Europe get delayed too!!! And its quite like India – once it was delayed, it kept stopping outside every station waiting to get in. So that was kinda irritating….As for the scenery, more of the usual stuff – I should just stop talking about it…….weather was pretty beautiful along the way, raining at times, a mix of cloud and sunshine at others……Oh what a beautiful world we live in……..

Reached Arhus at around 6.30, and spent some time looking for the hostel at which I’d reserved a dorm bed the previous night. Finally found it close to the harbor, and got checked in. Very different from our 800 kroner (about 150$) room in Copenhagen!! At about 1/5th the price, this was of course pretty down the ladder…:) Have a bed in a room with 5 beds, 3 of which were already occupied. Pretty interesting guys – 2 of them vacationing from Switzerland, and one guy from Spain.

I spent some time trying to figure out things like internet – obviously they don’t have free wireless here, and provide wireless at some randomly high rate – about 50kr/hour. They have one computer downstairs with internet for 20kr/hour – so used that to check email quickly. So unfortunately as I cant use my comp to get online, doesn’t seem like I’ll be able to blog all this today – and no way I’m going to sit and type this out sitting online wasting money!!!


I wandered around for a while…turns out this is the time when the famous Arhus festival is happening – and so there’s a lot of music and all going on all voer the place. Outside the cathedral – which is actually the largest in Denmark – there’s a huge tent set up, with all sorts of musical and theatrical performances happening…I briefly checked it all out.

Then had a quick dinner at a local pizza place (was quite bad actually – cant remember when I had such terrible pizza. You’d think being on the same continent they’d at least learn to make it properly!!) and got back to the hostel room. There spent some time chatting with these guys, and it was actually pretty interesting. The Spanish dude, Hector, had a guitar and we sang some songs, and he sang a couple of songs he’d composed and all….Thats the cool thing about these hostels, I guess – you get to meet so many different kinds of people from all over. So that was really nice….

Anyway, that’s mostly it for the day. Its been a strange day – and do feel a lil strange. Traveling all alone is a lil boring at times – and ever so slightly depressing. But then I guess over the next couple of days I’ll get adjusted to it. And then with so much to do and see, should be quite fine!!!

Over and out for now!!

Day 6-7 in Denmark - still alive!

Just a quick post to let you all know i'm still alive - might not be able to update the blog for a while as it seems too expensive to get wireless access for my own laptop - while much cheaper to just work at a computer in a cyber cafe. However not so cheap that i can sit writing for hours on the blog :) So am continuing to write on my own, and shall post as soon as i get a chance!

For now, having a great time in the scenic harbor town of Århus. Will take the ferry to Oslo tomorrow from Frederikshavn.

More later!

Day 5 in Denmark - 2nd September

I cant believe that our last official day in Denmark is over! Man, its been quite a whirlwind trip. So much happening – and so much fun. Way too awesome, really….

Today began pretty early – I’d slept very early last night – around 9 – so woke up by 5 today, which was good. I wanted to go for a long run today anyway, so left around 5.45-6, and ran for about 2.5 hours. I stopped a few times to take photos and all, so all in all was probably only around 12-13 miles or so. I ran mostly along the trail I’d ran partly on the other day – but this continued right along till the very end. It was pretty awesome, got really interesting after about halfway down it – quite thickly forested in parts, and almost like running on some out of the way hiking trail. I knew all along that just to my left, maybe 50m away, there was the main town with buildings and all – but there might well have not been, for all that one could see! After a while, though, there were quite a few interesting looking shacks by the trail, right at the water – find it hard to believe that people actually live there, but seems like they do!!!


I caught a pretty gorgeous sunrise, as it slowly got light and dawn crept in. Saw the clouds get progressively more and more golden and radiant, and finally the sun came out for a very very short time – and then disappeared back into the clouds again! But even that briefest of appearances was worth it!


Once I got off the trail, I was in a part of the city I wasn’t familiar with, somewhere which seemed to be near the harbor. I ran along for a bit, trying to find a way to continue through, but didn’t seem like there was one. I kept ending up at dead ends with water all around me.  But I did manage to see some very interesting stuff – an old Viking ship, what looked like a military ship, and even this old submarine that seemed to have been just left there on the dock!!! Was quite surprised to see that, I can tell you!

Anyway, at a point I figured I might as well turn back, so ran all the way back, this time not really stopping to take photos. Got back to the hotel by something like 8.30 or so. Then I showered, and went down to have a HUGE breakfast – was starving by then after the run! So that felt good.

After that I actually came back to the room and just slept for another hour and a half or so….that felt good!! Very relaxing – and very needed!


Jacob meanwhile had actually decided to take the train across to Sweden, just to see it for a little bit! He got back around 1, and after that we decided to go take the canal tour in Copenhagen, which was supposed to be quite good! One of the former kings of Denmark decided he quite loved the canals in Amsterdam, and so Copenhagen should have one too – so he made a bunch of them. Gives the city a completely different feel!


We wandered around for a while, and then got to the place where the 1 hour tour began. It was really good value for money – very pleasant, and one actually got to see quite a lot. I actually saw the submarine again from a distance, and found out that it was now actually converted into a naval museum, and was in fact the last submarine in the Danish navy! The Danes, btw, seem to convert every building into a museum – cant even begin to remember how many of them the guide on the boat mentioned!!


The boat also went to the Little Mermaid, Copenhagen’s most famous landmark – the statue of Hans Christian Andersen’s little mermaid, seated on a rock on a rocky beach. Its actually a pretty small statue – but for some reason has become really famous and everyone who comes to Copenhagen comes to see it!


The canal tour took us through quite a few parts of the city, and we even got to see some of the really modern buildings, such as the city opera house, and this huge building that had been converted into the world’s largest indoor golf course! And then of course there was the usual share of palaces and old buildings, and churches and museums….


After the tour we walked around for a bit around the city center, and boy, was it busy! In fact I’ve never seen such crowds outside India! It was just crazy! Seems like Saturday is the day to go shopping – there were literally THRONGS around the shopping area. Huge crowds of people – quite amazing to see!


After that we got back to the hotel and changed into suits for the evening’s dinner-dance party. Mille and Mads picked us up around 4.45, and then we went to the party, which was being held at the Radisson. This party was huge, and was in fact the main celebration of the 50th anniversary. It was only for niras employees and spouses – so overall there were some 700 people there!! It was quite packed when we got there, and for some time we just hung around, talking to the occasional person who’d come by to talk to us! After that everyone was escorted into this huge concert hall – I don’t know what that was doing in a hotel! – about a size of a large movie theater in the US. There on stage they had some sort of skit about Niras, with songs and dances and all, all done by a few of the employees. Seemed like it was pretty entertaining, judging by the reactions of the crowd. Of course, as it was all in Danish, we had no clue what it was about! There was this one section though, where they were making fun of English, which we kind of got – recently apparently there’s been a move in niras to introduce English as the official language of communication, and most people seem to have opposed that! So they had to make fun of it in the skit, of course….

After that we went down to dinner, where everyone had been placed at particular tables. Very formal affair indeed! Thankfully we were placed at a table where we knew quite a few people – mille, mads, henrik…. Henrik’s girlfriend , Mette (I don’t think she was his wife – they were both pretty old, but someone mentioned how they’d gotten together about 3 years ago – so I don’t think she was his wife. This whole non-marrying thing seems to be quite common in denmark, btw) was seated next to me, and we ended up having quite an interesting conversation on my essay – she had the broad idea about it though she hadn’t read it yet – and we talked a lot about the concept, and philosophy behind it. She seemed to be a slightly religious woman as well (unlike most Danes!), and actually had a lot to say herself to add to what I said. So that was pretty interesting.


The dinner itself was really interesting – very formal, and very European! Starting with the appetizer (accompanied by white wine), and then the main course (accompanied by red wine), then the dessert (accompanied by a dessert wine), and ending with coffee and a liquer/cognac. Different sets of forks/knives used for everything, and each course pretty much beginning with some kind of toast – and lots of others in the middle too! I don’t think I’ve ever sat through such a long dinner – it lasted some 2.5 hours!!! But one didn’t really feel the passage of time!!

After dinner and short speech by the MD, there was some entertainment with this stand up comedian who’s apparently one of the most famous in denmark. Of course, again, we understood nothing, but he must have been REALLY funny, for he had the entire crowd in splits all through. Wish there were a way to have subtitles or something for these things….:)


After that there was live music, and the dancing began. We of course mostly just sat around, talking to people occasionally, and taking regular breaks to go out and breathe the fresh air. I think by the end of this trip I’m going to become a cigarette addict – just with breathing in all the smoke around the place! With people in the US so strict about not smoking in public – and the number of smokers being less in general – this is quite a new experience, where people just smoke wherever and whenever they want to. Noxious fumes all around……

There was a lot of dancing happening, and it seemed like it wasn’t stopping anytime soon! At one point, one of the ladies somehow convinced me and Jacob to actually join her on the dance floor – separately of course. So we both took our turns at making fools of ourselves dancing. She said we were ok, but of course she was just polite. After that she talked to us for a while, telling us about how she’d visited India many years ago with her husband, and seen quite a few places…..

Also had an interesting conversation with Rikke, a very nice woman from niras whom we’d met before at the company, about life in denmark – particularly married life. Seems like the divorce rate in denmark is really high – she didn’t know figures, but she said it was quite high! So we talked a while about why that was the case, the sort of desire of the modern generation to shy away from getting bored, and using divorce as an escape route. Her husband too is apparently the child of a divorce, and she mentioned how much it could affect the children. So that was a pretty interesting conversation. I guess kind of proves the point of some of the things I wrote in the essay – when the fundamental objectives of our actions, really are skewed, then this is kind of what results. And so in a society like denmark’s, where everyone is supposed to be so happy, and standards of living are supposedly so high, you still have a huge section of the population that’s going through these things every day, and ending up single and lonely….. Pretty thought provoking, huh? I wonder how much of an indicator of social standards, values etc divorce rates are…. I suspect a fairly good one – there’s a lot that can be said about people just based on that, I think, the sort of attitude they have, the thinking with which they get into relationships, etc.

At about 1.45 or so, Jacob and I decided to take a taxi back to the hotel – the party was still going quite strong, so we figured we wouldn’t wait to the end. So we said our goodbyes to everyone – I might meet mille when I get back from my travels to Copenhagen, but she said she might be really busy that day – so said goodbye anyway. That was quite sad – this has just been an awesome week, and full credit to her for having put together such a great program for us, and organizing everything so well. It was just phenomenal…

So that ends our official stay in denmark…tomorrow we both leave on our own ways – jacob back to the US, and me on to, hopefully, many more exciting and amazing things in Scandinavia….