October 2002 in Finland and Sweden
October in Scandanavia? Why on earth? Well, because it's off-peak, because I could get a Business Class ticket using frequent flyer miles, and because it was Drachenwald Crown Tourney.
Actually, I had been trying to go in September but that plan fell through.
So, what's October like in Finland? Well, it's cold. Although even the Finns agreed: it was a little colder than normal (isn't that just what you want to hear?). The temps in fact hovered around 0 degrees Celsius and a snowfall from a few days earlier persistently stuck to the ground in shady areas.
All in all, it would have been a much better trip if I hadn't been sick the whole time. I also
found that my tolerance for sleeping on floors is much less than it used to be (guess I'm becoming
an old man!).
Not sure that I needed four star hotels, but I'm sure that it wouldn't have hurt.
I arrived on Wednesday afternoon after a fairly uneventful (albeit long) trip via Detroit and
Amsterdam to Helsinki. The highlight of the trip, I suppose, was discovering the joys of World
Business Class flying. I had foolishly assumed that it would be like First Class in domestic. Thus,
it was a pleasant surprise to find that I could recline my seat nearly horizontally and get some
sleep. Not that I slept that well, but it was certainly better than being in Coach had been in the
Spring. The in-flight movies did not seem to be working properly anyways, so it was better that I
just tried to sleep.
In Helsinki, I stayed with my peer and long-time friend Jaelle (Judy) and her
Finnish husband Tero (we'll see their picture later on). But here (on the right) is their house on
Tammisalo (see map below and the red line indicating where we are talking about).
Tero picked me up at the airport and thoroughly lost me driving back to their place. Despite the gas gauge on the car reading below "E" we got to the house OK). Once there, Jae and I chatted until dinner, when we were joined by Mary (Aarnimetsa's token US military representative, as Jaelle kept referred to her) and Torvald (husband of Tufa, with whom I will have more adventures below). Between being sick and jet lagged, I was thrilling conversation and snoozed on the couch for a good part of the evening before just going to bed early.
My first full day was spent mostly recovering in the morning. Then, I experienced Finnish mass transit, as I managed (successfully) to get a bus to the Metro and the Metro to downtown, in order to meet up with Johanna (Jaelle's other apprentice) for some shopping in Helsinki's antique shops.
We didn't find very much (a few photos from a nice -- and slightly eccentric -- old lady) but
we did make it to the boat to Stockholm on time. And I saw a bunch of the city, so I fulfilled my
tourist duties.
So, by far, the true highlight of the trip was the cruise. As you can see on the right, this wasn't an
ordinary boat. It was a twelve-story boat, complete with a five story high atrium
looking over the promenade (see lower right).
Not that it was all smooth sailing. We had a minor scare when boarding because the man at the gate told us that our party did not have adjoining rooms (Tero, Jaelle, Tufa, and myself in one room; Johanna, Antti, Lea., and little Katju in the second room). However, the man turned out to be wrong (as well as terribly rude). All's well that ends well!
Both coming and
going, we enjoyed the buffet for
dinner and breakfast. The buffet consisted of just about every conceivable thing you could do
with fish (baked, raw, poached, etc.), even some of the worst sushi you could possibly imagine.
However, if fish wasn't your thing, you would have been generally out of luck.
The cruise itself took about 15 hours in all. We left Helsinki around 5pm and arrived in Stockholm the following morning around 9am (with a one hour time difference). In order for the ship to qualify for Duty-Free status (the cruise line apparently makes a bulk of their money off of Duty-Free sales, we had to take a detour and land in the Aland Islands. This happened around 4am and the only reason I knew about it was that something (probably the engines) woke me up.
Like all crusies, there was some spectacular scenery to enjoy, if you were willing to endure
the cold weather and the blistering winds. Below are a few pictures I took during the cruise.
We arrived in
Stockholm on time and picked up two Estonians. Then we headed straight up to Uppsala on the
E4 for the afternoon. We were in Sweden to go to Drachenwald Crown Tourney on Saturday,
but the site did not open until the evening, so we had Friday to kill. Luckily, it was a lovely sunny
day so we enjoyed the sights of Uppsala. Our plan was simple: take in a few museums and go
book shopping (Jaelle, after all, has to supplement her "meagre" collection of books somehow).
We started off with a visit to the Uppsala Cathedral. While smaller than the York Minster that I visited in April, the place reminded me a great deal of York. There were a large number of memorials inside to various patrons over the centuries and gorgeous shrines throughout. Lots of beautiful details to take in. Like York, it is a functioning church -- a fact that has always made me wonder what it would be like to worship in a museum.
But the true highlight of the Cathedral is the Treasury housed on the upper levels. Here (in very low lighting), you find a fantastic collection of crowns, robes, and regalia from hundreds of years of Swedish history. I have included a few of the images below.
Before moving on, I really should note how terribly helpful and friendly the staff at the
Cathedral was. Both in English and Swedish, we fould them to be quite exceptional and a visit is
highly recommended.
After leaving the Cathedral, we went searching for lunch
and, on the recommendation of the staff at the Cathedral, ended up at the student cafeteria at the
University of Uppsala. The University is one of those typically grandiose northern European
universities (a lot like Saint Petersburg University, in my mind) and had some gorgeous
architecture of its own (see left). We, however, ate in the less picturesque setting of the
basement. The food, however, was good and fairly inexpensive (by Swedish standards, of
course!).
After lunch, we went out book shopping and passing the
street sign (pictured on the right), I couldn't resist snapping a picture. How often do you see a
Cat Crossing sign?
Anyway, there were books to buy. With a party of eight people, we were a pretty
conspicuous lot and some store owners were happier to see us than others. After a few hours,
most of us were pretty pooped out, but Mary, Johanna, and I went to the Uppsala County
Museum and learned a little about local history. Mary and I were introduced to Pelle Sonso, the
feline hero of a series of extraordinarily popular (in Scandanavia) children's books. Pelle's author
is a native to the region and many of the stories take place in nearby locales. I was reminded of
Stuart Little and Make Way for Ducklings. The museum also featured
sections on the found of biological classification Linne, who is also a local notable.
Danmarks is a quaint
little village about five kilometers outside of Uppsala. No industries (beyond some farming) and
no shops or stores to speak of. They do have a nice little church (pictured on the left) and a fairly
large elementary school. The map on the right shows the school and the church. The building
that is circled is the local community center, which is where Crown Tournament was held. For
crash space, we slept on the floor at the school (a fact that caused some minor consternation from
the local fire safety authorities).
One of the things I was most interested in figuring out on this trip was how SCA events differ in Europe from those held here. We hear all sorts of fantastic stories about events in castles and imagine that everything must simply look better than it does here. In truth, I found that I felt pretty much at home and that the event was pretty much like any other small event I had been to.
It was definitely a small. Given that a Crown
list in the Middle Kingdom can have 40-50 participants, and take all day simply to fight a double-
elimination tournament, it was rather quaint to see a list with only eight fighters, fighting round
robin. There were probably only a little over 100 people at the event overall.
It was also quite cold, as the temps floated around freezing
all day. The fighters didn't mind that very much, but it was hard on the spectators and we
huddled inside the rather small hall all day to keep warm, venturing outside for only limited
periods to see how the fighting was going.
Other highlights (of sorts): the world's longest feast (or so it seemed). We started eating around 6pm and I am told that the fourth remove finished up around 1:30am. I never found out for myself, as I turned in early after spending an hour or two washing dishes back at the school.
While I didn't expect to know anyone there, I happened to become acquainted with Sven, modernly from London, but previously an inhabitant of the Shire of Eisenthal (Allentown PA) who knew all sorts of folks that I knew from back home. That turned out to be the exception more than the rule and overall I wouldn't be able to tell you who won or who was who. However, here are some more snapshots....
In this first set, we have Johanna heralding in Jaelle and Tero onto the list. Johanna made
quite an impression, announcing them in English, Swedish, and Finnish! And then a picture of
Tero fighting. As Jae noted, he fought very chivalrously and lost everytime. He's not going to
make Jaelle queen anytime soon, but he enjoys himself!
Here we have the future Crown Prince and Princess kneeling before the King and Queen.
The second picture shows how they became that way, as he delivers the killing blow to his
opponent (not visible because he has fallen off the frame) -- note the little boy watching in the
background (he was a neighbor kid who came out to watch with his toy sword and shield).
Finally, on the far right, we have a girl dressed in very authentic looking landskenecht
finery.
Here are some pictures of friends. We have Tufa in her excellent Viking garb, Pietari (Antti)
with Katju in his arms, and Mary (sort of falling out of her high tudor!).
Two more shots: the feast hall and Katju waiting patiently for the feast to begin by trying to see all the wonderful ways she can ignite herself with the candles.
On Sunday, after Curia
and cleaning up the site, we headed down to Stockholm, where we had only a few hours before
the boat left. We spent it in the Old City (pictured on the right), which had a lot of nice antique
stores (all of which were closed because it was a Sunday). Johanna and I had drinks at a coffee
shop across the street from the Science Fiction Bookstore, which for some inexplicable reason
allowed us to run into all of the SCA folks again, as just about everyone seemed to drop by the
bookstore on their way out of town (go figure: fantasy books and SCA, who would've thought?).
It was more too short of a stay in Stockholm. Just enough to get a feeling for public transport and for how lovely the Old City can be. I can see that Stockholm will need to play a more prominent place in my next itinerary.
The trip home was
basically old hat. We ate at the buffet again and went shopping at the Duty Free afterwards, at
which I picked up the requisite candy and beer to take home. We also picked up a few things for
that night and had a small party in one of our cabins. In these pictures, we have Johanna and
Katju on the left and Jae and Tero on the right.
It was the only night I was actually well (having managed at last to kick the cold I had been
fighting for the previous two weeks). The next day I would get sick again (this time with the
nasty weezing cold that Katju had picked up at Daycare the week before). I did make the most of
having a healthy night. That meant most of all allowing myself to be subjected to Finnish licorice-
flavored vodka. Since I happen to like the taste of black licorice, I could see how it would be a
pretty specialized taste, but I enjoyed it in moderation.
I had one final day in Helsinki before my return home.
Feeling pretty beat from the traveling and my poor health throughout, I took it fairly easy. I did
some shopping on my own (with mixed success), as I discovered that my rusty Finnish wasn't
even sufficient to be able to explain to a shop clerk that I was "just looking." I did think about
trying to buy an icon, but noticed that they must be terribly expensive because no one put price
tags on them (I decided that that was a bad sign!). Back at the house, I caught up on email and
then took a lovely quiet stroll around the neighborhood (which is where I took these final
pictures) and took in as much culture as I could manage.
Later in the day, Jaelle and Tero took me to a few more
antique stores, where I discovered that the really good place to buy antique photos is in antique
book stores and not in regular antique shops -- a useful piece of information I am
filing away for later use. After shopping, they took me to a Bothnian restaurant where I enjoyed
Salmon soup and Reindeer stew.
