Sailing into Stockholm

The Finnish experience ended somewhere on the Baltic sea early Friday morning, when our the Silia boat crossed some imaginary line on a map. I had a great time in Finland, but the highlight came on a visit to the west coast to see Matias, a Viking arriving this coming year. His family owns a large tract of land on the archipelago, as well as a small island there. It took nearly 2.5 hrs by bus, but once there it was all fun and relaxation. We took a pack of ATVs out on the "farm", which was some of the coolest terrain I'll ever ATV on. All rocks and thick forest, broken occasionally by some narrow prarie fields. It was a bit intense at times, when I thought my ATV might flip over on my head due to some of the angles we were driving at. But it was a great time. Later we piled on to an old wooden boat and sailed through the archipelago. After an hour on the sea, we docked at a small island, which had five cottages usually rented out by Matias' family. We took the free one, and spent the evening with a barbecue, beer, sauna, and the occasional dip in the sea to cool off.

Wednesday night, my last in Finland, we had a night out (surprise) that got a bit out of hand. There was only one bar visited, that being an Aussie Pub, but once the Snakebites were lined up on the bar, it wasn't long before trouble arrived. We slept in Thursday before one last big brunch and a good clean of Sten's empty flat, which had been home for the week. Then we boarded the ferry to Stockholm.

The ferry was interesting. There was an all-you-can-eat-and-drink buffett, which we spent the mandatory two hours at. The duty-free store was packed with Swedes and Finns looking for their tax-free alcohol. And the boat, considering how big it is, swayed in the open sea with every big wave. It was pretty stormy and a bit intense at times, and the location of our cabin didn't help. We were on the lowest level, below the car decks, and at the very front of the ship. So we felt every movement of the boat, and it moved quite a bit in the wee hours of the morning.

I woke up in time for one last sauna, from which I could see the islands of Stockholm's archipelago passing by. We arrived in Stockholm in mid-morning, and met Lisa, a Swedish Viking, who found us a hostel for the night and gave us some orientation. In two days here, I've had a chance to walk around this gorgeous city, visit the famous Vasa museum, and try the notorious northern Swedish Surströmming. I'm looking forward to a few more days here, before we board an early morning train due west for Oslo on Thursday.

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I saw a photo of Favre in a Jets jersey. I leave the country for 10 lousy weeks and look what happens.