Stockholm

Stockholm was significantly warmer than Helsinki, surprising as it would appear to be the same distance from the North Pole... Temperatures were a very comfortable 12-15 degrees, and with the sun out it felt like the beginning of summer.

 Finding my way to the Central Station, I managed to secure accommodation in a quaint hostel in Gamla-Stan (the Old Town).  The hostel felt like a maze, with rooms and corridors haphazardly added obviously over many years.

Matthew's Road Trip - the Final Leg

Driving only got easier as I continued to head south.  One last mountain pass in Norway was once again great to behold, driving alongside sheer cliffs on either side with snow covering most of the ground and people ice fishing or snowmobiling on frozen mountain lakes.

The crossing into Finland was also just as unspectacular as the border crossing the day before into Norway.  I didn't even need to stop the car, just to slow down temporarily as I pass a small roadside building.  Despite their proximity, Norway and Finland are vastly different from a geographical perspective.  I felt like I had re-entered spring from the depths of a Finnish winter.  As I continued south, progressively less and less snow could be seen.  In the week I had been driving, significant amounts of snow melt had taken place.

My Route through Finland and Norway with circles for each night

Matthew's Finnish Roadtrip of Madness - Part 3

The most efficient route from North Cape back to Helsinki was a route 1,519km long.  The first 33km scared me senseless.  The following 200km weren't much better either.  

The convoy once again left North Cape for Honningsvag.  The first 12km of the journey were led by the snowplow, and turned out to be relatively straightforward.  There was only one lane, but I didn't need to worry about traffic coming the other way - the road was closed.  Accompanied by buses in front and cars behind, I felt relatively safe and comfortable following the crash course in snow driving I had had on the way to North Cape.

Matthew's Crazy Finnish Road Trip - Part 2

Heading inland from the coast towards Lapland proper, the scenery changed subtly.  This part of the world was more remote, evidenced by less agriculture, less signs of human habitation and a subtle change in the roadside scenery - the trees were shorter, the forests less dense.  Mossy rocks were added to the ground cover and rolling hills appeared in the background.

Day 3 was a 350km journey to a town on the Finnish / Norwegian border - well more of a small village - called Karigasniemi.  On the way there I passed through the Sami Museum in Inari.  The calibre of the museum well surpassed what I would have expected in a town of about 1000 people - it outlined the culture of the Sami, the polar culture that lives in Scandinavian Lapland and also how the harsh environment affects the plant and wildlife of the area.  A great way to lose myself for 2 hours or so.

Matt's great Finnish Road Trip - Part 1

Although Jen's plane wasn't until mid-afternoon on Wednesday 13 April, it was hard to do too much beforehand as there was a lot of repacking and reorganisation required.  I picked up the car at about 1pm with the idea of driving Jen to the airport and then working it out from there.

To make life more interesting, I've decided to go the manual gearbox route (actually, trying to get an automatic wasn't that easy).  As such, my every instinct for driving is now totally invalid or wrong.  I'm driving on the wrong side of the road, obeying give way rules which are the opposite of back home, in a manual, with the gearstick on the wrong side of the car and the indicator where the window wipers should be!!  So it goes without saying that I've stalled the car multiple times, seldom indicate (but clean my windows a lot) and have no idea of whether or not I'm supposed to give way...

Helsinki

We arrived in Helsinki at a little after 9am courtesy of the new high speed rail link between St Petersburg and Helsinki.  The train was certainly a lot more modern than the russian trains we had been travelling on.  The customs and immigration process has also been streamlined for the train.  Rather than hours of waiting around and drawn out customs / immigration processes, it is all done while the train is moving between the first few stops.  Both the Russian and Finnish officials spoke good English making it an almost pleasant experience!

Courtesy of Jen's organisation and research, we jumped on the No.4 tram, waited 7 stops and got off for our hostel.  Easy.

St Petersburg (Санкт-Петербург)

We would regard St Petersburg as essential for any Russian travel itinerary.  The city is almost venetian with its canals, bridges and cathedrals, but differentiates itself with spectacularly colourful architecture.

Church of Savior on the Blood

Москва́

Moscow is vibrant, colourful and positively European in look and feel (well, except for the distinctive Russian churches).  The Moscowites dress very smartly and frequently speak English (once again, especially with younger people who are required to pass English exams for entrance to University).  Although many Northern Hemisphere cities can feel drab at this time of year, Moscow's gold-tipped churches and pastel coloured buildings make it colourful throughout the year.

Inside the Kremlin

The city feels very wealthy, in contrast to the villages and cities passed along the train line.  The streets are adorned with luxury European cars (more so than any other city we can recall) and luxury branded shops.

4,500 kilometres to Moscow

We boarded the No.81 train from Irkutsk to Moscow at about 10pm in the evening of the 2nd for a 4,500 kilometre journey across Siberia spanning 4 nights and 3 days.

The journey was great.  Travelling 2nd class was cosy, but meant that we had an opportunity to meet ordinary Russians commuting between cities.  The Russians are all train veterans who travel extremely light (putting us quite to shame) and come fully prepared with train clothes and shoes.  Despite icicles forming on the train outside, the cabins are often overheated, and we were comfortable walking around in shorts, t-shirts and jandals.

To Russia with Love

We left Ulaanbaatar at 9.10pm on Wednesday night and arrived in Irkutsk (Russia) at 7.40am on Friday morning.  The train ride to Irkutsk in Russia was largely unspectacular.  Unfortunately, due to the timing of our train, most of the train’s movement was done during the evening.  The one full day we had (Thursday) was largely spent at border crossings and general hanging around (we aren’t too sure why - but this hanging around is planned as the train arrived on schedule). 

What was distinctly noticeable was the greenery of Russia compared to the harsh desert-like landscape of Mongolia.  Russia felt positively green, and rather than the odd smattering of trees, there were entire forests.  

Mongolia - home of Chinngis (Genghis) Khan

Mongolia presents a striking contrast between the current movement towards urban life in Ulaanbaatar and its traditional nomadic roots.  

The landscape is harsh, and not much grows - the large proportion of the Mongolian landscape that we saw (with the exception of our time at the ger camp) had almost no trees and very little vegetation.  It gets incredibly cold in winter (a week before we got to Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar (UB) was recording as little as -24 degrees centigrade overnight, and highs that didn’t breach freezing point (note that our time in Mongolia was much more comfortable than that, with quite pleasant temperatures in the 5-10 degree range)), and very hot in summer (+30 degrees or hotter).  Traditionally, farmers had to continually move their herds, as frequently as once a month (which involved taking down all of the gers and moving via cart to another temporary location).  During very cold winters, many animals would die leaving the families they supported in desperation.  Our guide told us that the cold winter in 2009/2010 forced a number of people to the city.