Update!

First off, I apologize for not keeping this up to date. The last month has been extremely busy with an insane amount of tests, projects and papers. Man, the semester system is stupid. Mostly I've just been hanging out in Copenhagen and trying to soak it up as much as I can before heading home.

After staying up all night and watching the election (OBAMA) I picked up my mom from the airport and we had an amazing time hanging out in the city and then going to Hamburg on the weekend.

Went to a Dark Tranquillity show which was one of the best of my life, you can actually get to the stage at shows here! I then had my first free weekend since September, where I went to another beer tasting, out for sushi and then found a bar with 5DKK beer! Let's just say I spent the whole next day in bed watching Prison Break.

I've been spending most of my Sundays at a Spanish cafe I found in Norrebro. I was sick of sitting at home doing work so I now come here as often as I can (I'm there as I type this).

For 10 days there was an international food market in the square right outside of DIS. I tried to have lunch there as often as I could. Had some paella, wild boar, and a kangaroo burger. Delicious. I finally bought myself a Finnish souvenir from a shop they had there, Kiitos!

Oh, and I finally got a haircut. From a guy who didn't speak english. It actually turned out really well and only cost me $20, which is absurdly cheap for Copenhagen.

And I started attempting to write music. That's really fun and keeps my creative juices flowing.

10/30-11/01 - Bergen

So I'm gonna put these 3 days into one post. Not because we weren't busy, but a lot of our time in Bergen was hanging out so obviously I'm not going to write about that.

Hallvard has a full time job and and Helge is a student. Ben is in between jobs right now so he offered to show us around the city, very cool. But first he insisted on cooking us breakfast, I hadn't eaten an actual breakfast like that since I started traveling. Bacon, eggs, toast. Amazing.

We saw Bryggen, the big touristy colorful houses on the water just like Nyhavn in Copenhagen.

Then we decided to climb one of the peaks that surrounds the city. There are trams that go up but Ben said those were too touristy so we just went by foot. He said it would only take half an hour....3 hours later we were still walking. Not a bad thing though, it was a beautiful hike and the view was fantastic. It was crazy being on sea level and then just an hour later we were above the snow line.

Relaxed a bit before our big traditional dinner that they promised us. It was whale and blood sausage. The whale was really surprising, it just tasted like a fatty steak, not like fish at all. And the blood sausage tasted just like gingerbread, yum.

Went out for drinks afterward and Hallvard paid for everyone. What awesome hosts, they treated us so well.

Woke up late Friday, Halloween. Went out for lunch at a cool studenty cafe, and then walked around the more hip area of the city. Went to some record stores and then back to the apartment.

One thing both Mike and I were really excited to see was the Fantoft Stave church. Stave Churches were the first churches erected in Norway, 1000 years ago. They are completely wooden and there are only about a dozen left in the country. In the early 1990s when Black Metal starting to getbig, a lot of these churches were burned down by band members who took the music a bit too seriously. The most famous one of these is the Fantoft Church, right outside of Bergen. So on Halloween night we walked through the woods and found it lit up in a copse. It was awe-inspiring and creepy at the same time. Unfortunately those who rebuilt it made it look too new so it's really not the same as seeing an original.

After a pint of Guinness we went to a metal show. Unfortunately the band sounded generic and American, not what we were hoping for. At least we met the guitarist from Enslaved outside. Got home late and watched The Thing, which I fell asleep to even after a cup of coffee.

Really nothing special the next day. We just hung out with the guys until it was ready to go to the airport. Missed the first bus by 30 seconds and got to the airport 20 minutes before our flight. Since it's international we thought we wouldn't make it on. No one even said anything and we made it on no problem.

So ends my Scandinavian adventure. Probably the coolest thing I've ever done in my life. Met some amazing people, saw incredible places and made memories that I will never forget. I'm already missing it like crazy.

10/29 - Voss-Bergen

Woke up in the hostel to a beautiful view right outside our window. The hostel is right on the lake with mountains all around, very beautiful.

Had a crappy breakfast and then started to explore the town. Not too much to do but we had to be out because check out time was 10.

There was actually a page in our tour book about this small town so we decided to check some things out. It's a surprisingly old place for being in the middle of nowhere. When Scandinavia first became Christian in the 11th century, King Olaf rode around and erected a cross wherever the people had converted. Pretty cool to see the 1000 year old cross and the 800 year old church.

 

Walked through the cemetery and found the nature reserve. Gorgeous. Little frozen lakes and amazing views of the town and mountains. This was still early in the morning and we were freezing. Went to a cafe and had hot chocolate and soup, perfect. There really wasn't much more to do in the town so we just went to the library and read some Newsweek.

 

Hiked halfway up one of the mountains on the side of the town. We were watching the sun set at 2:30. And this is Southern Norway in October; with 6 hours of daylight. Crazy, I can't imagine how people live further up north this time of the year.

Caught a train to Bergen! Bergen is gorgeous, built right on a fjord and surrounded by 7 tall peaks. We explored for a few hours and then went back to the train station to meet our hosts.

Mike is really active-10,000 posts in 4 years-in a forum for a metal band. Everyone there is really close and knows each other pretty well. He told these guys we were going to be in Bergen and they immediately invited us to stay with them. Met up with them and they took us back to their surprisingly nice apartment. They're some of the coolest and nicest people I've ever met. Talked to them all night and then they took us out to a metal bar. Awesome. More about them tomorrow!

10/28 Norway in a Nutshell

When I first decided to travel through Scandinavia I posted on some message boards online for advice. Almost everyone agreed that you simply cannot go to Scandinavia without doing the Norway in a Nutshell tour. I originally hadn't planned on coming here but when I found at that Mike wanted to and our schedules worked out perfectly then I pretty much had to.

The train starts off from Oslo at 8am. It climbs through the mountains and then stops at a small town called Myrdal. From there you change trains and head to Flåm. Flåm is at the tip of the biggest Fjord in the country and a ferry goes part of the way through it. After the ferry is a bus ride to Voss and from Voss is another train to Bergen.

The tickets are good for up to 3 days and both of us agreed its crazy to spend $200 on a one day ticket so we looked at the route and found out that Voss is the only stop on the way with a hostel. So we did 85% of the trip on the 28th and the train Bergen the next day.

There really isn't too much to describe since we were sitting most of the time. The contrast of the mountains and the fjords was incredible and I immediately decided that Norway is the most beautiful country in the world.

To The Mountains

Finse, the highest train station in Europe

To Flåm

In Flåm

Sognefjord

 

Got off the bus in Voss and walked a cold half mile to our hostel. We were both dead tired and just hung out there the rest of the night.

10/27 - Oslo

Don't really count today as a Gothenburg day. Had to wake up at 5am and walk in the pouring rain to my train. Nice train ride, I could tell the second we were in Norway because the terrain wasn't just flat. There were hills, valleys and rivers; something I am yet to see in Southern Sweden or Denmark.

Arrived in Oslo at 11am and was set to meet Mike at 1:30, plenty of time to walk around and see a little bit of the city. Immediately found the main walking street and hung out there for a bit. I had a map but really had nothing in mind so I pretty much just wandered.

Eventually made my way to the main waterfront and discovered the old fortress. Not as cool as the one in Finland but still a nice find.

Went back along the waterfront to the Bryggen, the main part of the harbour that has been turned into a giant shopping mall. Wasn't very interesting so I just walked through it pretty quickly. Found the royal palace and then kept walking back into the main part of the city. The one thing I noticed about Oslo was the amount of beggars. There were beggars on every corner, something very strange for a Scandinavian city. And they were all playing accordions. It was kind of funny at first but then it just got annoying.

Found the 'hip' district of the city that had a lot of cool buildings with bright colors and graffiti everywhere. Turned south again and actually found our hostel even though I wasn't looking for it.

It was just about time to meet him so I went to the tourist office and waited. Worked out perfectly, he arrived 5 minutes after me.

After being alone for a week it was nice to finally have a travel buddy to share the experience with. We checked into our hostel and then went in search of metal history.

Black metal, the most extreme and satanic form of metal, had its second coming in Oslo in the early 1990s. Neither Mike nor I really listen to this music but we both think it's really interesting, and it's hilarious to see how these bands try to 'out-evil' each other. We went to the old record store of Euronymous, member of one of the most extreme bands, Mayhem. He was murdered by a fellow member of his band for basically unknown reasons. The record store is now a cafe called Our Daily Bread and we actually had some really nice food there. We asked the employees if we could see the basement where the black metallers held their meetings and they let us take pictures and hang out there for a bit.

We then went in search of the sculpture park, the biggest tourist attraction in Oslo. It's a huge park with giant granite statues, most of which contain weird babies. I don't really understand it but it was still incredible and unique to.

That night we checked out the two big metal bars in town. The first, Unholy, was really cool. It's basically a dive with black walls and candles everywhere. They only played really extreme metal and we had a long conversation with the bartender about Norway and its history with metal.

The next one was called Rock In, which is probably the most famous metal bar in Norway. A bit of a more upscale atmosphere but they only played metal so it was still fun. Mike couldn't believe bars like this existed in the world.

Oslo was a cool city, but we both felt that one day there was enough; all of our other possibilities of activities were really touristy. Tomorrow: Fjords and mountains!

10/26 - Gothenburg

Woke up to find that it was raining pretty hard! Lame. Oh well, it's laundry day anyway so it shouldn't be too bad. I walked to the southeast of the city, basically the museum district. Was thinking about seeing the Universeum, the tour guide said it was a 'family friendly museum for nature lovers' Not too sure about the whole family friendly thing but I do love me some nature. It looked pretty cool from the outside, like a big greenhouse with an indoor mountain. I walked in and immediately walked out. Strollers, everywhere. Little kids, everywhere. I was probably the only person between the ages of 13 and 30. Nope, sorry. That's a bit too family friendly for me.

Went down the street where there was a modern museum. Not a modern art museum, but a museum that deals with events in current history, basically the last 50 years. It didn't open for half an hour so I figured I would explore a little bit more. Walked along one of the rivers running through town. Really relaxing even though it was pouring with rain. Saw the local soccer stadium and circled back.

The museum was really unique. It has exhibitions on deforestation, revolution, the emergence of hip-hop and even a small section about heavy metal in the middle east. I was wearing my At The Gates shirt, and immediately two people ask me if I worked there...middle aged people can't know the band is from here, right?

The rain hadn't let up by this point so I figured it would best just to go back and start my laundry. Huh, just realized that was the last time I washed my clothes....should probably do that soon. Anyway, wandered back slowly and saw this cool tower on top of a big hill. Climbed to the top and saw an amazing view of the city.

Spent the rest of the day inside unfortunately. Laundry took a lot longer than expected and I also had free internet so I caught up on news (daily show). At night the rain finally stopped so I went on a photo walk and took some pretty cool night pictures.

Disappointing that my only full day here was marred by rain but I realized if there was one day it had to rain during my trip today would be the best. Lazy sunday, laundry day. And it didn't rain any other day on my whole trip so it really worked out amazingly well.

10/25 - Stockholm/Gothenburg

I had a morning train so didn't have much time left in Stockholm. Basically I just walked around one last time then sat at a traditional bakery with some pastries. Swedish pastries are awesome, lots of chocolate and marzipan. Yum.

The train took five hours, going from one coast to the other. It was a little bit frustrating, I was sitting next to a mother with her two young children who were loud the whole time. Arrived in Gothenburg around 4pm.

As I waited in line to get my ticket to Oslo, a girl started smiling and waving at me. Okay, there is no way I know anyone in Gothenburg, Sweden so I just ignored her, she was probably just waving at someone behind me. But she kept doing it and I eventually walked over to her. It was the Austrian girl from last night! She was trying to get back to Copenhagen but all the trains from Stockholm were full so she came to Gothenburg first. We were even on the same train. Crazy how small Europe is. We had a coffee and after promising to try and meet up again somewhere down the road went our separate ways.

Gothenburg is my kind of city. Big, but still feels small, really laid back and easy to walk around. It was gray and cloudy when I arrived and I started to notice how similar to Seattle it is: West Coast. Relatively new. Important port city. Lots of rain. Happy, relaxed people. Big counter-cultural scene. Developed its own genre of music in the early 1990s. Trees and parks everywhere. Awesome.

I walked down the main street and then started wandering towards my hostel. Magnus in Stockholm warned me that the streets are very confusing and he was right. After running into a few dead ends I finally found my hostel right before check in time ended.

Went out for dinner at a vegetarian buffet which was surprisingly good and then started looking for bars. First checked out a local beer bar that has their own microbrews. Good beer, but it was a bit crowded and there was nowhere to sit so I looked for the heavy metal bar. I was a bit worried when I first walked in. They were playing AC/DC and it was mostly 30somethings. Generic Swedish beer, nothing special. But then, they played both Dark Tranquillity and At the Gates, the bands who invented the 'Gothenbyurg sound' of melodic death metal! That was incredible. Not only hearing those bands in a bar, but hearing them in the city from where they came. So much fun.

After going back to the hostel I found out that I did have a roommate. A Norwegian guy who told me that Oslo is only okay and Bergen is great. Sounds good! Sunday tomorrow...

10/24 - Stockholm

Decided to sleep in a little bit today because of the really long and tiring previous day.

The biggest tourist attraction in Stockholm is Skansen. It's the world's biggest and oldest open air museum. It opened in the 1800s and the point of it is to keep parts of Swedish history in tact. Most of the museum consist of old homes, shops, and villages that had been either recreated or moved. I saw traditional glass blowing, an old blacksmith, a village from the 1300s and a traditional 18th century farmhouse. It was really interesting but unfortunately this is one of the touristy sites that I wish had more people.

I actually really enjoyed the zoo it had, mostly because I didn't know there was one. The animals were pretty active and I got to take some cool picture of them.

Walked around a bit more and decided to once again explore Sodermalm. I went to a place called the Black Hole Cafe. It must be the world's only black metal cafe. They only play black metal, have upside down crosses hanging on the wall and sell CDs from only underground extreme metal bands. Oh yeah, and they serve coffee. Really a cool environment and definitely unique. But for the first time in my life I felt like an outsider in a heavy metal environment. Every other person in there had really long hear and was wearing leather. And after reading a black metal fanzine I got kind of creeped out and decided an hour is more than enough time to spend there alone.

Again, went to Gamla Stan. Wanted to see it one last time and pick up some souvenirs. I bought some postcards and checked out Handfaste, the Viking shop. Bought myself a mjollnir pendant, I really couldn't resist.

Went with my host to a local couchsurfers meeting. It was really fun and I met a lot of people from all over the place. A couple locals, a few Americans, a girl from Austria. After hanging out at a coffee shop for a few hours two of the locals wanted to walk around with me and another American girl. They showed us some things we hadn't seen and we ended up in Sodermalm. It was really cool meeting and hanging out with such friendly people.

So ends my last full day in Stockholm. It's a really vibrant city, much more than any in Scandinavia and the people are incredibly nice.

10/23 - Stockholm

After a surprisingly good sleep on the boat I awoke after we had already arrived, and realized I was one of the last passengers left on the ship. It was 6:30 in the morning and it was still pitch black outside. I had a basic idea of where I was and started making my way to the city center. I walked along the waterfront and it started getting lighter. I decided to sit down and watch the sunrise. Well, turns out the sunrise takes a long time so I sat there until about 7:30 until I got bored.

Headed into Gamla Stan, the old town. This is a small island where Stockholm started around 800 years ago. It has kept all its historical charm with crooked streets and narrow alleys. Unfortunately nothing was open yet so I just wandered and soaked it up as much as I could.

Walked north to the main part of the city and found the walking street. I love this idea of the walking street with tons of shops and restaurants and people. It seems like every European city has at least one. Had a breakfast of coffee and a pastry and just kept walking. I had pretty much all day so I decided to try and see as much of the city as I could. The weather was once again perfect with no clouds in the sky. I can't believe how lucky I have been.

Eventually ended up at Central Station where I bought my ticket to Gothenburg and a 48 hour metro pass. Back south to the island of Sodermalm, which would quickly become my favorite area of the city. Just like Kallio in Helsinki, trendy with lots of young people and cool stores.

Back at Gamla Stan I watched the changing of the guard at the royal palace. Really touristy, I know, but it's one of those things that you have to do.

Found a free museum listed in the guide book so I decided to check that out. Had all the historical stuff about Sweden, including a massive exhibition on Vikings. Towards the end of the museum, it got kind of existential. There were exhibits talking about what 'truth' really is and we should question facts, even at this very museum....okay?

I lost track of time and had a ticket for a canal tour so I had to hurry to get there. It was nice to see Stockholm by water, and actually learned quite a bit about the city. My favorite fact was about a Swedish warship that was the pride of the navy when it was built in 1628. To celebrate its launch the whole city got school and work off to watch. Less than a mile after it left the dock it capsized and sank. Awesome.

By now it was 4pm and I decided that I should try and get in contact with my Couchsurfing host. I asked him 3 times for his address but he only gave me his phone number. I tried calling him 5 times on a public phone and on my cell phone...every time it said the number was disconnected. Great. Now I have no place to stay tonight. I was definitely getting worried so I went online and frantically posted on the Couchsurfing message board that I needed a place in Stockholm. Within 10 minutes I had a response and within 30 minutes I met the guy and we were on our way to his apartment! I love the internet.

His name is Magnus and he works for the Swedish Ministry of Finance. He lived a good 20 minutes north of the city by train but his apartment was really nice. When I arrived there was another couchsurfer staying there. I asked him if he was traveling and he said 'no, I'm studying in Stockholm.' 'Oh, well then how long have you been couchsurfing here?' 'About 8 week' 8 weeks! I can't believe how nice these people are! Magnus is letting this Belgian guy practically live with him for free, crazy.

Hung out with the guys and planned my day for tomorrow!

Helsinki/Turku - 10/22

Last day here. Well, half day. My train to Turku left at noon so I still had half a day to explore the city. After saying goodbye to Anna I headed to the city center. I realized I hadn't seen the southern part of the city and there is supposed to be a cool park there so I walked around a bit. Once again beautiful weather.

 
There was a recommended cafe on the edge of the water but there was no outside seating! Screw that, I want to spend my last hour in Helsinki enjoying the sunshine. After wandering around the park some more I went back to the fish market. There's a really cool tent set up that sells coffee. Sitting in the sun drinking really strong Finnish coffee and eating a traditional donut was a really good way to end my time there. The city is a lot busier when it's really nice out. Duh.

Crumb Thieves

Time to do some souvenir shopping. I really wanted to buy a corny 'traditional' Finnish hat from a vendor but they were actually really ugly, not cool for $30. Oh well, I have my postcards, memories and photos.

The train to Turku wasn't as spectacular as I had hoped for. Sure, the Finnish countryside is nice but it's not too different than Denmark; mostly farmland and fields. The most exciting part was listening to Finnish radio. I didn't feel like using the battery on my MP3 player so I plugged into the train. The first thing I hear: Nightwish! So cool being in a country that not only has no problem with metal but plays my favorite bands on the radio. Really exciting to hear it like that.

I didn't know what to expect from Turku. It's the second biggest city in Finland, but that really doesn't mean much. I had 6 hours there and I thought that would be perfect. Arrived at 3pm and the big castle closed at 4 so I ran to the bus and made it just in time. Castle was pretty cool, nothing too special but it's the biggest tourist attraction so I had to see it.

Made it back into the city to start exploring and look for dinner. Saw the Cathedral and the main square with the walking streets, and riverfront etc.Couldn't find the place I wanted to eat at and the recommended bar didn't serve food. Hadn't eaten in about 6 hours but still wasn't ready to go down the kebab path. Saw a Viking themed restaurant, really couldn't say no even though it was kinda pricey. For some stupid reason they didn't serve mead but the food was actually incredible. Goat cheese salad and game stew with rabbit, deer and bacon.

 

So, I've explored the vast majority of the city, seen the two biggest sites and eaten dinner....in 3 hours. Still 3 hours to go, great. It was getting pretty cold and dark so I just needed to find someplace to sit. Found the local mall and just sat on a bench and read for about an hour. Decided to walk along the river to the ferry terminal and still got there an hour before check in.

I had to make my reservation for the ferry by calling some office in Copenhagen because for whatever reason the ferry line doesn't do online booking, even though they are the biggest ferry line in the Baltic. The phone reservation gave me a bad feeling but I figured people are more trustworthy than the internet. Right? Nope.

The lady at check in told me the reservation was for the night before. Great. She had to ask her manager just if I could get on the boat...this doesn't sound good for getting a bed. She let me on and then I had to put my name on a waiting list for a bed in case someone didn't show up. Got a room! 'That will be six Euro' 'I'm sorry did you say six or sixty?' 'Six' For a 11 hour cruise with a room it cost me $30 total! That's cheaper than any of the hostels I stayed at. Nice surprise. I was imagining watching the islands go by while standing on the deck. Duh, it was night, couldn't really do that. Time for bed before Sweden!

Helsinki - 10/21

Had a full day of touristy stuff lined up and I was pretty excited for it. The first stop is the biggest tourist attraction in the city, the fortress of Suomenlinna. It's an old fortress built on an island just south of the city by the Swedes and taken over by the Russians. It was called Sveaborg (sea castle in Swedish) but the Finns changed its name when they had their revolution in 1918. Suomenlinna means the Fortress of Finland (Suomi is Finland) which is a cool name, but kind of ironic when you realize that the Finns had nothing to do with its construction. I had to take a ferry to get there, and it seemed that apart from about 5 Japanese people I was the only tourist.

People thought I was crazy to coming to Finland this time of year, but it was amazing being at such a big tourist site and being practically the only one there. I spent a few hours just wandering around the ramparts and hanging out by the water. I made a playlist of all my Finnish music and listened to it the whole day. Turns out 25% of my music collection comes from here! Pretty cool. I think that's some of the most fun I've ever had by myself. Exploring beautiful ruins in Helsinki while listening to my favorite music. I'm pretty sure I had a smile on my face the whole time.

 

Now that it was no longer Monday I could actually go to some of the museums. My goal was to limit myself to 1 museum per city unless it was free. I chose the Kiasma museum of modern art. I don't really get modern art, but it looks cool so why not?

Translated: Black on Black, a picture of you.

My favorite piece. After seeing DO NOT TOUCH all over the place, there was a sign that read: Please, take a piece and half the room was filled with licorice. Now that is good art.

The next biggest tourist attraction is the Sibelius monument. Not a lot of famous people come from Finland but when they do, they make sure you know about them. Sibelius is a composer from the early 1900s. The monument is a kind of organ type thing. Again, I was the only person there! I heard that this place is crawling with tourists in the summer so I felt pretty special being there all alone.

Next up is the Olympic stadium. Wasn't really that interested in seeing it but the top of the tower is supposed to have the best view of the city. It was great, but a little too cloudy to be anything amazing.

Walked through an old neighborhood with traditional Finnish houses on my way to the Kallio district.

Kallio is the 'hip' area that every city has. Seattle has Capital Hill, NYC has the east village, Copenhagen has Norrebro and Helsinki has Kallio. My main reason for going there was to partake in a traditional Finnish sauna. Saunas are immensely popular in the country and just about every hotel and apartment has one. The tour book recommended the oldest one in the city and the only one to still use traditional wood fire instead of electric heat.

It was definitely an experience. Coming from the states I'm not that used to nudity, especially when it's all middle aged guys. Man, it was hot. I've been in saunas before but this was ridiculous. I couldn't even breathe through my nose because the steam would burn my nostrils.

What you're supposed to do is go in and come out a few times. Obviously it's bad to spend more than a few minutes in 180 degree heat. After my second time I was cooling down in the locker room and a local started a conversation with me. Kind of interesting talking to a naked stranger but he was nice and had been to Seattle before.

Anna wanted to meet me for coffee so went back to the city center to explore a bit more before meeting her. Found a Hesburger, a Finnish hamburger chain and decided to try it. I'm not going to count it as fast food because it's a 100% Finnish chain. Wasn't very good and gave me a stomach ache. That's what I get. Met with Anna at the cafe and she wouldn't let me pay for coffee, what a nice girl. And so begins my addiction to coffee. I used to hate it but when you're cold and tired, it's pretty good.

Headed home and relaxed a bit before going out that night. It was raining a bit, but just Seattle rain so I could handle it. Went back to Kallio and had a metal bar in mind. Found the place called Tauku and it was by far the coolest bar I have ever been to. Metal posters all over the walls and a jukebox with an amazing selection. They had my favorite Czech beer too! Awesome. Sitting in a Helsinki bar, listening to Finnish metal and drinking my favorite beer. Does life get any better? I planned on staying only an hour but I couldn't tear myself away until the very last tram home.

Got to the tram station and the last 2 were canceled! Great. Luckily there was a girl about my age waiting for the same tram going to the same stop. Funny how these things always work out for me. When you're traveling alone, you are never really alone. She just moved to the city from Turku and helped me find the right bus to get on. Man, Finnish people are nice. After another great day I was already missing this city.

Helsinki - 10/20

An 8am flight meant that I woke up at around 5. Quadruple checked my bag and I was good to go! I have never been so excited for anything so the hour and a half flight seemed to take an age. Finland was beautiful from the air, totally flat like Denmark but lakes EVERYWHERE, and this wasn't even the lake district. Arrived at the airport at just before 11-Finland is an hour ahead-and caught the bus into town. I was really lucky with the weather, sunny and as warm as it could possibly be for this time of the year this far north. I had my tour book so I kind of followed a walking tour it recommended. Started off at the fish market and explored a good section of the city from there. Most of the sights were churches but apparently everything is closed on Mondays in Finland so I couldn't really go inside.

The Presidential Palace

The coolest church was this half underground one built basically like a cave. Helsinki has all these rocky outcrops all over the place and an architect decided to turn one into a church. At this point I was starving but all the places recommended in my book were closed! Stupid Mondays. Eventually I made my way back to the city center and found Cafe Zetor, a tractor-themed restaurant that serves only Finnish food.

Helsinki is pretty cool, similar to Copenhagen with more interesting architecture. The city has fantastic transportation even though it's relatively small. I had heard that the nordic cities aren't very happening this time of year so it was weird seeing a capital city with so few people around.

Part of the reason I embarked upon this journey across Scandinavia is because of my love for metal. All of the biggest and best metal bands in the world come from these countries so obviously there is a lot more culture surrounding it. It seems a very large amount of Finnish males are metalheads. Just about every other guy I saw had either long hair, a band tee or camo pants (considered very metal in Finland).

I found a website called the Heavy Metal Travel Guide which lists pubs, shops and clubs where they are at the least sympathetic to metal. My first stop was Hellsinki, a metal clothing store. Pretty cool, but $40 for a t-shirt is a bit over the top.

I had plans to couchsurf with a girl named Anna who lived just north of the city. I had a few hours left before our agreed meeting time so I decided to walk the rest of the way to her place. It was about 3 miles but I enjoy walking and exploring so I figured why not. I would really regret this later. It was a bit hard finding her place. I had a basic idea of where she lived but her street didn't exist according to Google Maps so I had to use a Finnish trip planner site so figure out about where it is. I actually found it after walking in circles for a bit. Basically a log cabin surrounded by some apartments.

She wasn't home and I wasn't 100% sure if it was the right place but her really nice neighbor let me use her phone and assured me that this was in fact where Anna lives. She showed up 10 minutes later and greeted me with a hug, I could already tell that this would be a great experience. She took me upstairs and showed me her place. She gave me my own bed, cooked me dinner and even let me take a shower! Beyond any of my expectations. Anna is a 23 year old school teacher who works only so she can afford to travel. She's been basically everywhere and is working right now so she can spend a few months in India. She's a vegan and a really sweet person. I couldn't have asked for a nicer host.

Now the full day of walking with a huge backpack had finally caught up with me; I was ready for bed at 9pm. Hung out with Anna a bit and went to bed early. So far so good, I survived my first day of lone travel.