LIFE THERE

TO TRAVEL IS TO LIVE

To travel is to live.
H. C. Andersen

The summer holidays! Those magic words! The mere mention of them used to send shivers of joy rippling over my skin. This time my travels took me to Scandinavia, espessialy to Norway, and here, for you, are my travel notes…

Day 1, Helsinki, Finland

Everywhere you turn in Helsinki there is water and, in turn, everywhere you turn on the sea there is an island. Helsinki is a city of 315 islands.
And God blessed us with glorious weather. I could not see where the water ended and the deep blue sky began. The silver shining of the Jan Sibelius monument, the countless seagulls, the bright sun – all completed one luminous picture. Walking around the green parks, noisy markets, and strict squares I tried to capture the sense of this city in my soul.
In Helsinki I went to the Aquarium Museum. Here, sea life was open to me. I saw a variety of amazing salt and freshwater creatures, including sharks, seahorses, octopuses, jellyfish, starfish, reptiles and frogs. I was like a child finding myself in an underwater Wonderland.
We left Helsinki in the afternoon for Turku.
The scenery beyond the window of our bus changed all the time. Finland is an unusual country of lakes, valleys, and bogs. Finland is called “the country of thousand lakes”, but, in reality, there are more than 187,000 lakes there. The other name for Finland is “Suomi”, that means the country of marshes and bogs. The Finns like to say that bogs are the mysterious spaces between the water and earth. The fairy-like nature of Finland, the huge stones appear (as if growing from the earth), the dark woods and the deep lakes, are all like the Finns themselves. For ages European people felt a superstitious fear of the Finns. And we can’t understand up to this time the Song of songs of Finland – Kalevala.
Late in the evening we arrived at Turku, the ancient capital of the country. It is the oldest city in Finland (777 years old). It was born on the banks of the river Aura. I saw such unique national treasures as the Turku Castle and the stately Cathedral near the Old Great Square. From this place we made our way to Sweden by the ship.

Day 2, Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm – it could well be the world’s most beautiful city. Situated on 14 islands linked by 57 bridges. This unique combination has earned Stockholm many affectionate nicknames, including “The Venice of the North”, and “The City between the Bridges”.
I began my stroll through the town near the Royal Palace, the official residence of His Majesty the King. Being a tourist for a day I was trying to do my best to see as much as possible. So, at first I walked around the Old Town (Gamla Stan). Gamla Stan and Riddarholmen are two islands that together make up northern Europe’s largest and best-preserved medieval city, with a history dating back to the 13th century. Gamla Stan is home to old churches, narrow, picturesque streets, various shops, cafes and restaurants.
Near the Finnish Church, in its inner yard, I found the smallest statue in Stockholm. Only 14 cm (5.5 inches) tall, it is known as the “Iron Boy”; in the summer he wears a sun hat and in winter a warm cap and scarf. Although these items are often stolen, they’re always lovingly replaced! Sometimes, people leave coins at the feet of this little boy.
While wandering along Vasterlanggatan, I wanted to do a little shopping, which fitted in nicely since there was a summer shopping campaign on. Many of the shops were in cosy, small stone buildings, and lots of exciting goods were on sale from pavement stalls. So, I bought a ring of the purest silver at Handcraft Swea and a grey linen dress at K.U.S. boutique.
Next, I visited the National Museum of Fine Arts, Sweden’s largest art museum, with numerous treasures from the history of art housed in a beautiful building that stands opposite the Royal Palace. The history of the collections stretches back to the 16th century. The Foundations were laid by King Gustav Vasa at Gripsholm Castle. The museum’s collections consist of early paintings and sculpture, decorative arts, drawings and prints. The collections of paintings and sculpture alone have about 16,000 works. Artists such as Rembrandt, Rubens, Goya, Renoir, Degas are represented. It made a great impression on me.
Then I came to Skansen, the world’s oldest open-air museum. Skansen is like a miniature Sweden. The old farmsteads and houses have been brought here from all over the country. They are surrounded by gardens and cultivated patches that are typical of the past. I also saw there different wild animals, mainly from Scandinavia, and rare breeds of farm animals. There are trees and plants from all parts of Sweden in Skansen, too. It’s hard for me to find words to describe that little fairy-country. It was marvelloues!
The day was so long and exciting, I was almost exausted at the end, but happy, and again in the bus, and far away, now on to Oslo, the capital of Norway!

Day 3, Oslo, Norway

In early morning, the waters of Oslofjord are glimmering in the bright sun, there are roses, birds are singing, fat pigeons are walking near the docks, sea-gulls are crying, ancient towers and cathedrals are listening to the sea-wind… And I’m here…
Oslo is Norway’s largest city. It has also been the country’s capital city since 1299, when King Hakon V Magnusson decided to move his residence across the mountains from Bergen. In Oslo I visited the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design. There you can see Norwegian and International art, with an emphasis on the principal Norwegian works, from the 19th and 20th century, including Edward Munch. In Edward Munch’s works I felt a strange force of wild nature, and the frozen passion and fire of souls. This force, it seems to me, also lives in Edward Grieg’s music, and Gustav Vigeland’s sculpture. It’s something that we mustn’t even speak about…

Day 4, Bergen, Norway

Our buffet breakfast was the best meal of the day in the little hotels on our way. It was all laid out on a huge table in the middle of the dining-room from which you helped yourself. There were maybe thirty different dishes to choose from on that table. There were large jars with milk and orange juice, the favourite Norwegian drink. There were cornflakes, nuts, honey and blueberry jam. There were plates of cold beef, ham and pork. There was spiced and pickled herring, but we hadn’t expensive sorts of fish such as salmon, sardines and mackerel. There was a large bowl piled high with hot eggs with notes stating “5 minute boiled eggs” and “8 minute eggs”. There were cold omelettes with chopped ham in them. Hot coffee and hot crisp rolls baked from the hotel kitchen, which I ate with butter and cranberry jam. There were five or six different cheeses including, of course, the ever-present gjetost, that long brown rather sweet Norwegian goat cheese which you find on just about every table in the land.
That day when the morning feast was over we sat on the bus and travelled to Bergen.
What has made Bergen famous around the world is its charm and atmosphere. Bergen is surrounded by seven mountains and seven fjords. It’s a real pearl of nature. I can even say that Bergen is the ideal stepping stone to the Kingdom of the Fjords.
This city became the capital of Norway in the 13th century and was the largest city in the country for the next 600 years. Because of its harbour setting and commercial importance, in the Middle Ages Bergen become a vital link in the Hanseatic League (a chain of European and Baltic cities with shared trading agreements).
The Floibanen funicular took me to a fantastic area of beautiful natural surroundings. I gazed out over Bergen, the fjords and the mountains from high up on Mount Floyen (320m asl). This funicular railway is one of Norway’s most famous attractions and the only one of its kind in Scandinavia.
I walked along the wharf called Bryggen where the very first buildings in Bergen were built. Strolling through Bryggen’s narrow alleyways, dark and mysterious, the overhanging balconies made me feel like I was stepping back in time to a bygone era. I dropped in at Haakon’s Hall, the largest and the most imposing building of the royal residency in the 13th century when Bergen was the political center of Norway. Also I visited Rosenkrantz Tower which was built in the 1560’s by the governor of Bergen Castle (Bergenhus) Erik Rosenkrantz and served as a combined residence and fortified tower. Stepping through the doors of the Hanseatic Museum gave me an intimate picture of the life of a Hanseatic merchant. This museum is located in one of the oldest wooden buildings in Bergen, furnished in the style of the 1700s.
And of course I was at the famous Bergen fish market. Crabs, herrings, salmon, shrimps, whale meat, mussels, lobsters and other sea-creatures – all these treasures are for you! It was extremely interesting to look at and sometimes to taste all those delicious things.
Bergen really has to be experienced. Now I’ve experienced this city and I have to agree, “It’s beautiful!”

Our plan for the day was to visit the and the Flam railway. The scenery was quite different from what we had just left behind. By the way, Sognefjord is Norway’s longest (204km) and deepest (1,309km) fjord. We started our trip at Gudvangen and a little vessel took us on a fjord cruise through the wild and beautiful landscape to Aurland (it is famous for its 13th century church) and further to Flom. The nature is particularly dramatic at Beitelen, where the and the Aurlandsfjord meet, two of the most famous arms of the Sognefjord. The is Europe’s narrowest fjord, measuring just 250m at its narrowest point.
Like the other fjords, the Sognefjord was carved by glaciers during the many ice ages in the last 2–3 million years. Originally, the fjords were only small cracks in the mountain massif, which ice and water have gradually gouged out, making them deep enough to come into contact with the sea outside.
I enjoyed the whole of the majestic , from the beauty of the skerries out at the coast to the towering mountains, idyllic fruit-growing villages and small mountain farms clinging to steep mountainsides further inland.
We reached Flom in the evening. The name “Flom” means grassy plain surrounded by mountains, and it certainly lives up to its name. This village innermost in the Aurlandsfjord is one of the terminal stations of the Flam railway. The Flam railway is the branch line of the Bergen railway that runs from Myrdal, at an altitude 867 meter to Flom, which is just 2 meters above sea level. This means that the line has a gradient of 1 in 18 (5.6%), making it the steepest normal gauge railway line in Northern Europe. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions. The origins of the flourishing tourist trade in Flom go as far back as the end of the 19th century, when large numbers of British tourists, also called “salmon lords”, came to fish in the Flamselva River.
A majestic Kjosfossen waterfall with a fall of 94 metres, the Flamselva River, foaming in a wild dance straight to the sea, beautiful Flom Valley, all those wonders of nature I saw along our way. The fantastic journey took only two hours, but it is an unforgettable experience for your whole life!

Day 6, Stryn, Norway

Today we visited the famous Briksdalbreen Glacier. After a couple of hours, soaked from passing the Kleiwafossen waterfall, we found ourselves standing on top of blue ice. We were surrounded by green hillsides and majestic tall mountains. Beautiful scenery make this place quite out of the ordinary. Up on the glacier plateau, the landscape gives a quite peaceful impression, but down towards the lowland, glacier arms hang like frozen waterfalls, mysterious and frightening.
Then we had a boat trip through the Geirangerfjord. A comfortable sightseeing boat took us out on the fjord, brought us close to cascading waterfalls (“Seven Sisters” and “The Bridegroom”) and abandoned mountain farms.
We also passed by the famous Trollstigen (The Troll Wall) and Eagles’ Road which flew over Geiranger. The day ended.

Day 7, Lillehammer – Hamar, Norway

On the seventh day we were on our way to Denmark. We passed such towns as Lillehammer and Hamar, also our way led near the picturesque Lake Mjosa.
In Lillehammer, the town of the Winter Olympiad of 1994, we visited the Olympic sport-complex. In Hamar we were near the ruins of the 12th century cathedral, the main sacred place of medieval Norway. The magnificent lime-trees, meadows, farmsteads, peaceful cows make the atmosphere of this place special. By the way, Norwegian domestic animals such as sheep, cows, goats, and horses are so beautiful that they look like velvet toys on the green carpets of valleys. The rest of the day we spent on the bus on our way from Norway to Goteborg, Sweden. We stayed there in a little hotel for the night, it was rather far to Denmark yet…

Day 8, Copenhagen, Denmark

At last we reached Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, the city of freedom. There you can be yourself, wear what you like, say what you think, but it doesn’t mean that this is anarchy. There are strict laws of human existence that are admired in this country. But all the same, your own style of living is of the greatest value. There is no crowd, but the unity of many different people.
I walked around the city, observing adults and children, young people and aged ones. I have to say that it was an amazing occupation. I was impressed by the attitudes between parents and children. When I visited the Round Tower, the ancient observatory with a unique 687 foot spiral path I noticed that children were free as birds and parents were like their children, joyful and happy.
I dropped by Thorvaldsen Museum were I enjoyed Thorvaldsen’s works (sculptures) and his collections of paintings and Egyptian, Greek and Roman Antiquities. Bertel Thorvaldsen was not only a brilliant sculptor but he was an invetarate collector and traveller. Living and working in Rome, he visited many countries in search of inspiration and ancient masterpieces of art and culture.
Then I couldn’t fight my curiosity and visited the Museum Erotica that was etablished in 1994. It was interesting to me because “there exist two great modes of life, the religious and the sexual”, according to D.H. Lawrence.
The Danes do love sculpture and there are a lot of works of sculpture on the streets of Copenhagen. The most memorable is the Fisherwoman, the fountain with the Scandinavian Goddess “Gefion”. There is a very beautiful legend about this Goddess. Once upon a time a woman came to the King of Sweden and asked him for some land. The King told her to take as much land as she could plough in a night. The woman had six sons and she turned them into mighty oxen. They ploughed the field, and they were awarded the land and that land became Denmark.
Speaking of Dannish sculpture I can’t help but mention the Little Mermaid, the famous heroine of Andersen’s tale, a sad and lonely girl sitting on a cold stone and waiting for her Prince.
There is also a monument to H.C. Andersen on the main square of the city, and a sign saying if you want to be happy you have to sit on his knee.
In the evening we visited Kronsborg, the castle of Prince Hamlet. There we celebrated with champagne and chocolate the beginning of our return home, to Russia.
The Chinese proverb says, “Even the longest journey begins with a single step”. Visiting Scandinavia was my desire, my only longing, my sacred dream, and the first step to it was reading books by Scandinavian writers. I experienced Norway with the heroes of Sigrid Undset and Hjorbjorg Vassmy, I learnt about Sweden through the dramas of Strindberg, I looked at Finland with the eyes of Tuve Jansson, I understood more about Denmark from the fairy-tales of Andersen. And at last my dream came true.
I understood that the best thing about traveling is not to seek out new countries, but to see the world with new eyes.

By Olga Prosyuk,
Chekhov, Moscow Reg.