So I have been eluding to this great trip I had been planning and in a more recent post I shared the path I took during my 10 day tour of Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. The main bookends (Finland and Switzerland) were where I spent the most amount of time and were truly the point of the whole trip. So I’d like to share with you what I did on this trip!
If you want to hear more about the beginning of my trip, check out the video recap of my time in Helsinki (find it here) the only item I don’t really cover in the last few posts regarding this leg of the trip is how I attempted and utterly failed to check out the botanical gardens in Helsinki. One site was closed for the season and the other was undergoing renovations.
Translation: We are constructing a rock garden here.
Well, yes, I see that. Thanks. But I really think this will be an amazing spot to visit - after the renovations.
Adding fake-pig-greenhouse to the wish list, that’s for sure.
And now, for the real reason why I decided to pop over to Finland. I want to see this winter city which is apparently beating the pants off other winter biking cities. I was initially a little bummed out that since I was going during the easter holidays and so, wouldn’t see any snow.
And wildly underdressed for the weather. However, the silver lining was I was not going to be denied seeing the winter cyclists in their natural environment! This was a new snow, it started as I was coming up on the train overnight. So, the streets had been clear before. This didn’t stop anyone from jumping on their bikes though. In fact, the first three people I say were on bikes. At 6am. While it was still snowing. I’m curious as to what the city attributes their success as a winter cycling city. Perhaps it’s the small population, or the flat terrain, or the university students. Either way, in their tourist pamphlets they boast their status as the best city for winter cycling. It’s something Oulu is well aware of - and very proud of.
I’m excited to keep up with Oulu in the future.
The next few days were especially hectic as I travelled south. I took a train down to Turku where I spent the night at a wonderfully cheap but absolutely cute airbnb and went out to the swing dance weekly dance. In the morning I woke up and took the ferry over to Stockholm. The ferry was quite an experience. I was definitely lightheaded after the firs 4-6 hours. But sticking by the window and watching the scenery pass by helped with that a lot.
But just look at the reward! Isn’t Stockholm just the prettiest. I was only there for a few hours, and I’ll be back in about a week or so, so I didn’t spend too much time wandering around and instead holed up in a coffee shop and finalized my plans for the second half of my trip before catch the overnight train to Malmö. By noon the next day I was in Copenhagen and ready to start the second half of my trip, which was done primarily on a eurorail pass.
I left Denmark on a ferry well, technically on a bus which was transported by a ferry, and travelled through Germany. My next long stop wasn’t until Frankfurt. Which I enjoyed. I was bone tired from not sleeping on the train but I wandered around checking out some parks and the flowers while waiting for the art galleries to open up. I enjoyed myself. Maybe after the snow and bare branches of Finland, the sight of plane trees and blossoms reminded me of Malmö!
My apologies for the shakiness of this photo! This was the day that it came to my attention that vertigo is a somewhat common side effect of lack of sleep! Which definitely contributed to my ability to hold a camera still.
After Frankfurt I went on to Bern. Bern was a special destination since my best friend from elementary school now lives there. We hadn’t seen each other, or really talked at all, for at least ten years! So I stayed in Bern and we met up for lunch and caught up. Since she doesn’t live in Bern the city but rather, the region, she took me on a tour of the countryside of Bern. This was a welcome change from the cities and train stations that I had been in and out of all week.
But, I mean, look at this city.
Does it not look like a fairy tale?
You know what makes terrifying heights less terrifying? Paneless windows. It took my 6.5 minutes to descend from this tower my legs were shaking so bad.
After that - experience - I spent part of my last day in Basel (the German side) before going for a straight shot back to Copenhagen.
It rained. This is my unimpressed face.
The entire trip took me ten days. I saw 5 countries and spent a significant amount of time in 8 cities by my count. I saw sun, snow, and rain in that time. I went from three shirts to t-shirt weather as I travelled north to south.
Feels good to be back in Skåne though! And back on my bike again! Until the next trip!
