Sweden emails

We are sitting by Lake Vatten in Sweden's south. Today the weather is not so good but up until now we have been very very lucky. I don't think there is any doubt that the winter is coming. Trees are already losing their leaves and it is not so easy to sit outside after 8pm any more - even with a jumper on. It won't take long before it will be just too cold to sit out at all. We are, however, heading south, hopefully to a bit more sunshine.

We spent four days in Stockholm, Sweden's capital city. It is a gracious old (about 700 years) city set on 14 islands and has a blue green haze because of all the trees and water around it. We found a caravan park that was for "husbils" only (house cars) and although it was under a bridge and the facilities left a bit to be desired, it was within walking distance of the metro and only 4 stops to Gamla Stan (the oldest part of the city). The attached picture is of the narrowest street in Stockholm - 90cm wide.

You think that is small. At the town hall where the Nobel Prize dinner is held each year on 10 December, each guest has 60cm of room in which to sit and eat. The Royal Family has 70cm (because they are special) as do the recipients of the awards. The hall is only just able to take the 1300 who attend the banquet. There is a room in the town hall that has almost 19,000,000 goldleaf mosaic tiles on the walls and depicts much of Sweden's history. Stunning! We also ate moose for the first (and last) time. Maybe it was the fault of the restaurant (Sweden's oldest, established in 1421) but it was very dry and over-cooked. We made the best of it though and imagined it cooked just like a good piece of kangaroo because it was certainly not unlike kangaroo in appearance but somewhat different in taste. Great city Stockholm, could easily go back there, except that it is "bloody expensive".

To finish the tale of Moscow: we go back to St Petersburg. Our last day in St Petersburg and still no visas - off to a nearby town of Peterhof, still not knowing if we would be able to continue to Moscow that night. Peterhof is the Summer Palace of Catherine the Great and once again is stuffed full of treasures. We spent a wonderful day there and finally got back (with 5 minutes before the office closed) to find that (having handed over an extra US$95 each) that our visas had miraculously been altered to the correct day. Okay, lets kill an hour or two before getting the train - let's not. There is no one to get us to the railway station. Our Finnish guide tried to find our bus driver. Our bus driver had had a few drinks. Let's find the driver of the opposition tour company, they have people to go to the station - no they leave on another train. US$15 we get a cab to the railway station. Which train, which platform, when (ah, we know that one). Lets have a beer and wait to see what happens on the announcement board. Four people, four beers - very bloody cheap. Let's have another one. Find the train, get on the train, get the right carriage, let's go!

Have already told you about our days in Moscow. On the last day there got back to the hotel with about 5 hours before the train was due to leave for Helsinki - NO TRAIN TICKETS. Many phone calls, a couple of beers, Mo got stuck into the travel agency, rushed trip to the railway station to pay (out of our own pockets) for tickets (first class) back to Helsinki. The only good thing was that Arnold and Ken got to see some of the Moscow underground which is, by all accounts, magnificently decorated with mosaics and works of sculpture etc. Svetlana had run around like mad to get us our tickets and we got to dinner to find that she was not allowed to eat with us - we soon changed that (again out of our pockets). She escorted us to the train station where we gave her the equivalent of a month's rent as a tip and she was very happy (believe me it did not break the bank). Sit down, sigh of relief, have a beer, have two beers, buy some more beer for the train. All four of us in one train cabin laughing at the relief of finally being on the train and staging war plans for fighting Finnsov Tours when we got back.

Adventure over - not quite. Border guards. Our train guard woke us at about 7am. By 7.30am the train was swarming with guards. Passports that had been taken from us the night before left the train in great bundles. Would we ever see them again? How many times have they been copied?? Sitting minding our own business in the cabin. Deb decides to go to clean her teeth. Open the cabin door - two great burly guards standing there - Deb didn't clean her teeth. It was indicated that we should step out of our cabin. An armed guard climbed all over it, including looking in ceiling spaces etc. Grunts and nods to each other, we can finally go back in. Train moves on a bit. Stops. Not quite so officious man demands our customs forms. Deb qets questioned why there is such a large discrepancy in the amount of money taken in and taken out of Russia. What did I buy in Russia that cost so much. Show the guard what I bought!! Fortunately, reasonable English. Explained that things had gone wrong and we had to buy more train tickets. Looked at Deb, looked at customs forms, took all the forms and disappeared. What next!? Train moved on.

Seriously folks, despite the hassles, we wish we had have been able to stay longer and get to talk to the "real" people of Russia. We felt that we were cosseted (which we were) and, apart from Svetlana's obvious desire for change in her country and hatred of all of the old ways, we really have no idea what the man in the street feels. Maybe some other time we will go again but certainly not in the forseeable future. Don't let it deter anyone who wants to go though because the trip was worth all of the hassles (she says now that she is safely back).

This coming week we will be heading further south towards the crystal factories in Sweden - Orrefors, Kosta Boda etc. It is said that "seconds" are "cheap". Same old story - where do we put crystal glasses? We may just have to make some space methinks.

We have had a great week. We have spent time in South/East Sweden visiting Lake Vattern, the Isle of Oland and the crystal kingdom of Sweden. The area around Lake Vatten is lovely and the local castle and cathedral held as much interest as they always do. St Birgitta had a big influence around here between 1303-1373. She was quite a lady, setting up the church, school, convent etc. She also made many pilgrimages to various parts of the world - quite brave for a woman 600 years ago.

Of more interest, however, was the area called The Krystal Kingdom (for those of you who know about my former dog obedience school, no I didn't get the "K" wrong). There appears to be no C in the Scandinavian languages. Most people have heard of Kosta and Orrefors. What we in Australia probably don't know, is that now Kosta (the oldest glashuset, established in 1742) has now amalgamated with Boda, Orrefors and several other smaller glass houses. They have all managed to maintain some of their own identity, fortunately and it has made for an interesting time visiting about 20 of them. We had planned on spending 1-2 days in this area. Three days later we were reluctant to leave. The skill and artistry of the glassblowers is unbelievable and the first picture shows one of them at work. However, the other picture is one of the glass etchings done at the Maleras Glasshouse. The work is by Matts Jonasson who is a third generation glass worker and the beauty of his work brought me to tears right there in the showroom. some pictures of glass from various factories is attached.

On Friday night we went to Kosta (which is the name of the area, the town and the glass factory) for a "Hyttsill" which is a meal of herring, ham, sausage and potatoes washed down by beer and schnapps. The food is cooked in the glass blast furnace and about 100 of us sat in the area that is the school for budding glass artists with two glass furnaces roaring around us. The temperature reaches 2000 degrees centigrade in some of these furnaces and, in talking to one of the craftsmen, he says that they rarely burn themselves, although he actually cut himself on a fine sliver of glass that was on the pole he was using to blow some glass.

The meal was very salty but the company was great. (Including the personnel officer from several glass factories around the place who were out to have a very good time.) We also met a gentleman from Kuwait and his Korean wife. They live some time in Kuwait, some time in Korea and some time in Spain or else they are travelling as much as they can. A very interesting couple. The beer went down well (but it is very light beer - blood alcohol level in Sweden is 0.02). We walked back to the van. The schnapps was consumed in vast quantities by the personnel officers to the sound of "Schol" at the end of every song played by the piano accordion players. It was fun. It also included traditional cheesecake. This is nothing like what Sara Lee makes in Australia. It was baked cheesecake that was not at all sweet and tasted as if it had ricotta cheese as the main ingredient. It was served with a large portion of berry jam that was very sweet and had lots of cream. We had a private glass blowing demonstration and several people were able to try their hand at glass blowing. This chance was won in a lottery. We didn't get to blow glass but we did win two glasses made by students and so inscribed. A fun night was had by all.

Fellow campers - campsites in Sweden are very expensive, very ordinary and you have to pay 5 kroner for a 3-4 minute shower almost everywhere.

The Isle of Oland is an interesting place. During the 19th C there were approximately 2,000 windmills on this island that is about 140 km long and 14km wide. Today only 400 remain. The island itself is a geographical mixture of limestone deserts, rich wheat growing ground and every 50km or so there is either an excavated or still to be excavated iron age fort. These forts were constructed during the Iron Age (from around 300 AD). One has been completely excavated (EKETORP and reconstructed). The museum within the fort is brim full of simple everyday objects as well as skilfully worked jewellery, weapons and intricate bone combs.

We leave for Germany on Tuesday (24th) and hence a new adventure begins. Where we will be this time next week is still a mystery - even to us. We sail from Trelleborg on the far south coast of Sweden to Sassnitz on the north coast of Germany and head south from there.

Thanks to those who have been keeping in tough it is great to hear the news from home.