Helsinki, Finland

Got my Labrador fix on the deck of an overnight rust bucket across the Baltic from Stockholm to Helsinki.

Watching a game of ice hockey between Denmark and Finland on the ferry - a sport I have neither understanding of or interest in - amidst the enthusiastic alcohol fuelled cheering for Finland I shouted out “Finnish them!”

I thought it was funny! No laughs. A few strange looks.

My stop in Helsinki was somewhat curtailed due to a chest cold. Nothing could be more scandalous to Scandinavians than cold tablets of any kind. Everything is cured by walking and fresh air here. Fair enough.

Architecturally, Helsinki is a neo classical masterpiece. There are no gothic spires or rococo facades like most European towns. The preponderance of the neo classical and its trams make Helsinki similar to St Petersburg and Moscow. Hence, many a Cold War era thriller was filmed on location here when access to the USSR was out of the question. Most notably, Gorky Park and Dr Zhivago.

A very friendly international city.

Where I slept: Hotel Haven: Beautiful setting on the port.

Where I ate: Ravnintola: Classy Scandinavian and a bit easier on the pocket than in other nordic capitals.

Sweden, Stockholm and Vikings

Driving through rural Sweden, I felt I better understood the importance of romantic agrarian idealism to the Teutonic heart. It is beautiful and captivating: the low dappled light on golden crops, the rolling deep green fields cut by mountain-fed streams, the stock animals and their rich earthy smells, the hulks of farm equipment, under a bright blue sky.

At the Viking Museum in Stockholm those images returned as I learned something new - Viking helmets had neither horns nor wings.

That was an invention of Richard Wagner in his operatic portrayals of Viking sagas, a mythologising idealisation of a subject that was heavily mythologised and idealised to begin with, for a 19th century European romantic-nationalist audience.

How Wagner’s helmet imagery took root in the public mind perhaps gives us an insight into how thoroughly the vanquished of World War I were captivated by the idealisation of conquest and a pure agrarian culture.

I’m sure historians already have made these links with far greater insight. I may have even read something along those lines at some point. But here I got it, in an intellectually digestible way.

Coincidentally, it was in 1945 the first archaeological specimen of a Viking helmet was found and showed us what they really looked like.

Stockholm is more maritime than I expected. It is built on 14 islands linked by bridges. As someone who is no huge fan of the rococo, its pleasingly simplified neo-classical lines are a relief. I love the metal cage outside the National Museum. An exhortation to not be imprisoned by the past perhaps?

Stockholm brings to an end a long planned and much enjoyed tour of Scandinavian fine dining fare. It’s been epic.

Apparently, some woman who sings a bit is in town.

Which explains the hordes of underdressed giggling tottie and why hotel prices have gone from expensive to exorbitant.

Where I slept: Hotel Gamla Stan: Basic but well placed for walking around the city's many islands and taking a ferry tour.

Where I ate: Franzen: Simply one of the most spectacular meals you will ever have. 

Norway Part 2: Trondheim and the Road to Stockholm

Norway Part 2 coulda, woulda, shoulda involved a perfect location for the best Aurora in years ...

Unfortunately, it rained for 2 days in Trondheim. Not unusual for this part of the world but certainly on this occasion unfortunate.

Attention switching to indoor pursuits, one or two extravagances were indulged before leaving Norway and setting off bright and early on the drive across the border into Sweden.

Lakes, fast flowing rivers, vast forests of birch, pine and poplars, and the occasional reindeer holding up traffic.

Where I slept: Radisson Blu Royal Garden: Lovely views over the river. A very short walk to town.

Where I ate: Spielsalen: Mouth watering nordic fare in the majestic old world charm of the Britannia Hotel.

Norway Part 1: Oslo - Bergen - Sjohnfjord - Flåm

It would be fair to say that Oslo and I didn’t really hit it off. I got there on a Friday night after driving all day from Copenhagen. The old centre was filled with drunken hooligans and my dinner was slop. The next day, the odd pile of spew on the pavement from the night before’s revellers.

I was annoyed about that. I really wanted to like it. Norway has a cracking flag for starters. I was having uncharitable thoughts about the descendants of vikings when I recognised that I’d been spoiled in Copenhagen and needed to try harder.

In such situations cultural institutions are a great “go to”. And Oslo has plenty. A museum for Henrik Ibsen in the apartment where he wrote his last 2 plays. The National Museum houses the original version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream, along with an eclectic mix of craft, textiles, design and sculpture. A museum dedicated to one of the city’s most famous sons, Alfred Nobel, and the prize he created in his will.

The road from Oslo to Bergen is a stunning journey over mountain passes, past glaciers and down through fjords to the sea. 

Bergen itself is far more to my taste than Oslo. It is a lovely old port town, most of its centre UNESCO protected. My hotel is in an ancient weatherboard on an old cobblestone lane way. There are no TVs in the rooms. They have a brasserie good enough to eat at more than once, with a lobster bisque worth ordering more than once.

Can’t choose between love of mountains and love of sea? Or love of rolling green farmlands and the beach? Don’t then. Live in Norway and enjoy both in the same place. Some walking required, mind. Or a boat.

I haven’t been to Alaska but this is surely the most striking coastline on the planet.

Where I slept: Charmante Skostredet Hotel: One of the most charming hotels you will ever stay, tucked away in the weather board lined alleyways of Bergen, the entire area a UNESCO heritage site.

Where I ate: I ate at the hotel it was so good I went back the next night and ordered the same thing.

    

    

Something's rotten in the State of Denmark …my hiking boots!

My hiking boots have had a good workout over the last couple of days walking around beautiful Copenhagen.

Easy to see why it is consistently ranked most liveable city in the world. It’s clean - you can see the bottom of its canals and the air is fresh. It has lots of green and open space that are kept neat by gardeners, not scalped once a month by boneheaded jobsworths. The food scene is astonishingly good.

Clever lot, the Danes. Inventors of Skype, Google Maps, and - of course - Lego. Niels Bohr was born, and developed his theory of atomic structure, here. The Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum physics has been the way most physicists have made sense - or avoided the need to make sense - of spooky subatomic phenomena for a hundred years.

Anyhow, brevity being the soul of wit, the day approaching the witching hour, there being method in the madness (or is it the other way around), that’s all for now.

Where I slept: Villa Copenhagen: Smart, upscale, convenient, lovely pool and spa on the roof.

Where I ate: Kong Hans Kelder: I broke the bank here, but it was magnificent.