Norway Trip: Day Three Sweden to Norway

3rd July 2013

This morning we woke up to the most beautiful apartment bnb ever! The bed was magnificent, like sleeping on a cloud. I needed a good sleep, and that is what I got! Harri and I shared a room. It was the largest room, incuding a sofa and a coffee table. There was a lounge area, where there was a huge sofa and a plasma tv, btw we did not have time to enjoy this area
:( There was also a kitchen, and a bathroom. THE BATHROOM! No words to describe the amazingness, except to say that it was probably the size of theplace we stayed in Umea... Hehe.

The outside of the bnb, getting ready to leave.

The breakfast! We were served like royalty by the manager of the bnb. He had placed fruit cut up in the bowls, and this amazing version of a breakfast from Texas. It had bacon, tomato, scrambled eggs and some other amazing stuff:) It was soo delish we stored the left overs for the trip.

Against our wishes, we had to force our selves to leave this delicacy! However, we were so looking forward to our journey to Norway, so we gave the key to the manager and said our farewells.

Next we drove to Ostersund, where we went for a walk. There was a lake there, which was the five largest in Sweden, and on a huge hill next to the lake there were spots of houses all the way through.

Next we stopped in Åre, a place closer to Norway. I had initially thought to stop here because there are lovely walking trails, according to a brochure I had found. We stoped firstly at a petrol station. Luckily there was free wifi there, since Harri found that close to this area was the widest water fallin Sweden! We had to then go and see that:)

The water was really rough, so we could hardly hear eachother talking! S glad we went there! One of THE highlights of the trip:)

Still 98 km to the Norway border...huh. The rode we took was extra scenic, and the mountains became even larger as we neared the border. Extremely different to Finland, and on some mountains we even saw snow.

We had to stop at a shop just before the border, because Norway is meant to be really expensive. The most expensive place in Scandinavia actually. While there we filled up on fruit and yogurt. While walking back to the car we saw that most of the other cars were from Norway! Hahaha... Just goes to show!

Crossed the border!

First glimpse of Norway. Little huts with grass on the rooves. We noticed that further along the road most of the cottages did have grass growing on their rooves! Well, I guess they needed something to fully indentify the change from Sweden to Norway:) Cute.

We drove through numerous tunnels, and some of them were 5 minutes long! We started to fell very clostrofobic, I was wondering how people would survive in the tunnel from england to france!! Ahh.

Now you ar uptodate!

Till tomorrow,

Laura

xoxo

P.S Sorry that I am a tad behind. My internet access has not been going so well, and I have been sleeping at eleven each night finishing the post for each day!

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Norway Trip: Day Two Sweden

2nd July 2013

Previously: Last night the town was so swedish that I thought I would see Pippi Longstockings jump out and flag us down. Picturesque. We then found the cute BnB, and followed the instructions to find the key and the room. We had to make the bunks, since it was not *****. As mummu said, "You get what you pay for." I think everyone one of us slept smoothly right till morning:)

This morning we had an awesome breakfast! The guy who owned the BnB had set out muesli and a variety of cheeses, jams, fruit, bread and good old orange juice on a bench for us. He even helped us find accomodation for tonight. Yes... We hadn't got that far yet...

We then went for a tour of the town. We parked in the center of Umea, and walked down through this glorious mall outside full of bikes;)

Mall.

Stieg Larsson, a famous swedish author, writes novels based around Umea. This is the iconic area, and this is some kind of marking of his... I am not completely sure. Anywayz, it looked so cute, being in the middle of the town, and so Harri just had to rest in there.

The red hall. I am note sure about that though. Harri was the tour guide:)

Left Umea for Bjurholm, where there was an Elk farm. However, the weather was not permitting. Rainy, and wet... Yet, we still saw the elk through a fence:) the scenery was amazing! So, it was not a trip uncalledfor:) The people from Bjurholm believe that it is the most scenic place in Norway, and it was true for me at the time... But now I know better:) Mwhaha.

We then stopped at a little road house to get these ginger bread cookies that the person at the info place in Bjurholm recommended. They were pretty good:)

These mountains were called skull mountains, according to Mummu anyway... I was too busy being the paparatzi of this mountain to notice:) Oh, and the silly window got in the way of all of shots! Grr.

After 2 and a half hours of driving we found the cosiest bnb just off the highway. It is amazing! Looking forward to an early night:)

The manager of the bnb suggested that we take a scenic route to the coast of Sweden, which we did do. I am so glad I did not give into my draining self and lie in front of the tv while drinking tea, calming tea!

Pappa, Harri and I decided to go, because we wanted to make the most of being here. The BEST idea! It was super awesomely fantabulous! Wow!

Drive.

We then found the place the guy suggested.

We took a billion pictures!

This area is called the highlands, and this is apparently because the land goes upwards towards the sea. According to the manager of the bnb, the two tectonic plates of Finland and Sweden grind together and push both upwards. That is why there are pieces of rock piled on top of eachother.

After we had amazed ourselves from this amazement, we ventured back to our bnb. Harri and I were quite hungry, and so we had some Thai food at this scrumdidliumptious Thai restaurant a bunny hop away from the place we are staying.

Now you are up to date!

Hopefully tomorrow will be a sunny, hot day. I am sure Mummu would love that! Hehe.

Laura

xoxo

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Norway Trip: Day 1 Finland to Sweden

1st July 2013.

This morning we left from Lempaala to Vaasa by car. We stopped along the way at many places, and fell more and more in annoyance with Finn's lack of signage. I was reading the last book in a series, and therefore could not stop reading most of the way, so I, unlike some of my fellow bunkers, was not bored. It was a 4 hour trip, excluding stop-overs and lunch. We followed the sininen tie, or blue road, for the last couple of k's. This road is known in Finland for being very scenic, and it sure was. This photo below is taken on the sininen tie.

As we neared Vaasa we felt a huge sigh of relief. We had finally reached our destination! Do you know that Vaasa is the sunniest place in Finland? Well, it's true. Today it was meant to be raining all day, and all the trip the sun was pouring into the car creating a heater everytime we came back into the car, no... A sauna:) We saw the Trinity Church, Tower of Liberty and the town square. As the Ever Finn, we ate ice cream.

Mummu near the Trinity Church.

Harri memory-keeping the wonderful blue-roofed Trinity Church interior. That is a great idea for our lounge room, mum!!

The Trinity Church. The trees were always in the way! Grr.

Gorgeous flower arrangement.

We then saw the sign for a Vanha Vaasa, or old Vaasa, which Mummu said "would be very interesting". Actually, this is the point where signage became a problem. We started heading towards the Vanhavaasatie, or oldvaasaroad. And you would think that this road would lead to the Old Vaasa, but nooo.

Anywayz, when we did finally find it, it was pretty cool. There was this whole town of ruins apparently, but we only saw the old church and train station. We were looking forward to seing the castle... This is another area where signage would have helped:)

Ruins of the St Mary Church. A sign out the front said you should not stand on the ruins. How was I meant to know that out the back?

The old Railway House. At least I am pretty sure it is, since it is next to a railway and half of the roof fell in:)

The path we took! It was absolutely spectacular.

We then left for the boat! We had to be there two hours early, so that we could get the car on the boat. After that, the time went by so slowly that I am ashamed to say that we were almost yelling at the poor boat usher... We got on board finally, and realised that a four hour boat ride is too long to not have a cabin, and so we were lucky to find one last minute!

The cabin! I was soo tired that I slept two hours;) We used up time playing Happy Families, and eating chocolate.

Late sunset.

Now, you are up-to-date. Hopefully, the apartment and eveything will be fine tonight, since we are only arriving at eleven pm swedish time. In for a late night tonight!

Till tomorrow,

Laura xoxo

Ps. I have taken some pictures on my camera, so check back again in a few days and hopefully I will have uploaded my camera to mummu's laptop by then:) Have an awesome evening guys!

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