Baby, we were born to ride!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Pori, Finland




Most of our time in Finland centered around Kiira and Darryl's wedding (Darryl is a good friend of Jodie's). We quickly made our way up to the town of Pori, a very pretty town on the west side of Finland. We planned to stay with Kiira's family while in Pori before moving on to see other parts of Finland(Check out this map to see all of our travels in Finland).

We encountered our first surprise immediately after getting off of the train - Finland has no pay phones whatsoever! Cell phone usage is so high in the home of Nokia that pay phones have been entirely removed. This caused us a few problems because we had planned to phone Kiira's family to get some directions. We managed to find our way over to their house nonetheless - actually, her sister found us a little way from their house and we followed her.
After meeting Kiira's family and having some supper, we made our way to what would be our home for the next few days - a Finnish kindergarten. Actually, it was a duplex that was acting as an overflow kindergarten, which Kiira's mother administered. After a few months of setting up and pulling down our tent every day, it felt downright luxurious to have a space to call our own - even if everything around us was sized for 6 year olds!




















































We spent one day at the nearby seaside town of YYteri, famous for its sandy beach. The water was very cool and nearly fresh because of the limited mixing with the rest of the ocean.
That evening, we met up with Jordan Bober, a close friend of Darryl's that Jodie had met previously in Europe. He was also staying at the kindergarten, so we his luggarge off and went out to explore the town a bit.


Jordan speaks quite a few languages, including Finnish and Swedish, so he was able to act as a guide as we tried to experience the local sights.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Arrival in Helsinki

Our Ferry pulled into Helsinki at about 8:00 AM local time, under drizzly and gray skies. We had decided to take the train to Kiira's family's house in Pori (check out this map to see the locations of all of our stops in Finland). We wandered around Helsinki for a few hours, having only enough time to see the major sights such as the Helsinki Cathedral and the Dormition Cathedral. After a few hours we got on a train to Pori, which had some of the neatest bike racks we encountered. The rack extended down from the roof, hooked onto the handlebars, and was spring-loaded to automatically lift the bike vertically against the wall. Then, a key on the lock could be turned and kept until the end of the train ride to ensure no one walked off with our bikes. The train also had special enclosures for cell phone use, which are ubiquitous in the country that is home to Nokia (much more prevalent than here - there are many more cell phones in use than there are people. In fact, the public payphone is essentially non-existent in Finland because of this.) Otherwise, the trip was unremarkable and we watched the countryside slide by on our way to Pori...

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Ferry to Helsinki


Our next destination after Berlin was Finland, where we were going to attend the wedding between Darryl (one of Jodie's closest childhood friends) and his fiance Kiira. It was an easy goodbye to Moritz and Elizabeth, because they also were going to the wedding so we knew we would see them within a few weeks. Kiira's family live in Pori, (see here) and we decided the best plan was to take trains to the northern coast of Germany, a thirty-hour ferry to Helsinki, and then trains to Pori. We weren't looking forward to this much travel to begin with... then we called to inquire about ferry prices. A private, double room on the ferry (for the two nights we would be in transit) was about $500 Canadian each, and two bunks in a four person room would have been $300 Canadian each. Given that this was more than we paid for our plan tickets across the Atlantic, it seemed rather pricey. We settled for the only remaining option, which was to sleep in the 'air-cushioned deck chairs' for about $150 each. These chairs are essentially airplane chairs that don't recline, don't come with free coffee and peanuts and certainly don't have seat-back televisions. What most people do is make a mad-scramble to claim floor space in the room with the chairs, lay down sleeping bags, and sleep on the floor. We were able to get some decent space near the front of the room, and managed to get a few hours of decent sleep both nights. Those that didn't have sleeping bags spent the entire night trying to sleep for more than 60 seconds before slipping sideways and waking up... By the second morning, they couldn't do much more than wander around like zombies.

The ferry was one of the most modern either of us has ever been on. It included a health club that gave us our first taste of the traditional Finnish sauna, along with a nice jacuzzi. (Unknown if BC Ferries is going to be adding this any time soon). One thing that we realized is how far north Finland is. Take a look at this map. We left from Rostock, one of the most northern cities of Germany, and we still had a long way to go. More on this later in the posts about Finland.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Berlin

With the rain in Interlaken (and throughout Switzerland in general) showing no sign of letting up, we decided to cut our losses and head to Berlin a bit early, where we planned to meet up with Moritz, a friend that Jodie had met when he was an exchange student in High Prairie.

We arrived via overnight train to the very new Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Central Train Station) early in the morning. This station, which you can read about here) is one of Europe's largest train station and is representative of the renewal that is going on through much of central Berlin.


From here, we loaded up our bikes and made our way over to Moritz's apartment, where he lives with his girlfriend Elizabeth. We had a leisurely breakfast and then enjoyed the chance to use the laundry and dry out our tent and sleeping bags, which had been damp for the past few days.

Over the next few days, we had a great time exploring Berlin with Moritz and Elizabeth. With their guidance, we got to see most of the main attractions in Berlin as well as many eclectic neighbourhoods we wouldn't otherwise have seen. One interesting sight was the Russian war memorial, built in East Germany to commemorate the Russian victory over Germany Nazi forces during the Second World War. The monument was very militaristic, and featured huge statues of soldiers crushing enemies while cradling children, as well as panels describing the Russian army in very heroic ways. It was an interesting insight into the propaganda that was so common behind the Berlin wall.













































Another very moving sight was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, located near the Brandenburg Gate. This new memorial (completed in 2004), is a very unusual monument in many ways. It has no writings or inscriptions - in fact, it does not say what it memorializes.
Instead, as viewers approach they are faced with the discomforting sight of thousands of granite pillars that look like coffins stacked along an undulating landscape. At a closer viewpoint, it is evident that the pillars are actually very tall and spaced apart, allowing people to walk among them. The pillars are large enough, and numerous enough, to lead to a frightening sensation of being lost or closed in as one walks through them.




Jodie and I both thought that it was a very good memorial, in that it provoked many emotions (such as unease, fear and disorientation) that memorials aren't usually able to evoke. However, the memorial has provoked a lot of controversy in Germany because of its unusual design. Some problems are that the secluded areas make graffiti less easy to detect, and that some people use the granite pillars for suntanning or playing games. Another controversial issue is the the memorial was specifically designed with only Jewish victims of the Nazis in mind, and it does not memorialize the many other groups (the elderly, the Roma people, homosexuals, the mentally ill) that were targeted for murder. Some German politicians expressed fear that such a large memorial in central Berlin would forever overshadow any other aspects of German history or culture. If you are interested, you can read more about some of these controversies here.




Another aspect of Berlin that we found interesting was the renewal that has been ongoing in the years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. I have already mentioned the Berlin Central train station, a huge, impressive, structure that is only a few years old. Another example is Potsdamer Platz, a retail and transportation hub in central Berlin. It is located on an area that was divided by the Wall during the Cold War, and so was empty until the early 90's. When the Wall fell, there was much attention focused on the site because it was a large, undeveloped chunk of land in the center of a major European city - something which is of course mostly unheard of. The area now features an interesting mix of apartments and condos, business headquarters, theaters and restaurants, all built in an impressive style that feels both massive and airy at the same time. Finally, the Reichstag, the seat of the German government, is itself the product of a major renewal. Completed in 1999, the original building (damaged during the war) was almost completed gutted, rebuilt, and fitted with an impressive glass dome that emulates the original stone structure. The huge line-up of people waiting outside for the chance to enter and climb into the dome is a testament to its success in merging the modern and the historic.

The museums of Berlin are also very deserving of mention. There is an area of Berlin called Museum Island which houses a number of internationally renowned museums, all within a few hundred meters of each other. We enjoyed the Pergamon Museum in particular. It houses original, reconstructed monuments transported from all over the world, such as the Pergamon Altar, the Ishtar Gate, and the Mshatta facade. All of these are very big, very impressive structures that have been restored to their original size and shape (as much as possible), meaning that in many cases an entire wing of the museum is devoted to one piece.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Interlaken

Arriving in Interlaken (visible here) we realized that we were only barely ahead of the rain, as we could see ominous storm clouds on the horizon. We found a campsite very close-by (in fact, a very scenic campsite right on the river connecting the two lakes from which Intelaken gets its name), set-up our still damp tent and settled in. Thankfully, the campsite was connected to a hostel where we could use the kitchen and cook indoors. Sure enough, the skies opened soon after (as you can see from the series of photos below).













The rain continued pretty solidly throughout our stay in Interlaken, which put a damper on most of our plans for the area. We had one day of decent weather, during which Jodie decided to go for a hike and I decided to tackle a nearby pass. The ride was pretty flat for the first section, while I rode along a beautiful blue lake.





Once I had passed through the town of Meiringen, the road began to climb steeply. You can see some of the incredible switchbacks on this road here. I was riding at this point without any bags or panniers, so the ride felt comparatively pretty easy. Nonetheless, I couldn't make it up to the top. I made it about three-quarters of the way before approaching darkness and more rain clouds persuaded me to turn around and fly down (in about a tenth of the time it took me to make it up).




Florence Take 2




Passing through Florence on our way to Switzerland, we had a few hours to kill, so we climbed the tower in the cathedral to get some amazing views from the top.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Switzerland

We arrived in Switzerland via overnight train from Florence. Along the way, we met a couple that we just finishing a long bike tour through Tuscany with two kids! Not only did they have to pull the kids in trailers, but also they carried all of the additional supplies (sleeping bags, larger tents, food) that kids would need. We had thought we were doing pretty well until that point...

Anyway, we immediately struck by how friendly people were in Switzerland. Within a few hours of arriving, three people had spontaneously stopped to ask questions about our trip and offer us help. Fortunately, the Swiss cycling infrastructure is superb and we once again had the luxury of multiple bike paths stretching across the country, all well signed and marked.

We began in Basel, in northern Switzerland, and headed south for a few days. This area was very pretty with some steep hilly sections, but mostly rolling agricultural lands.



Many times we rode right next to grazing dairy cows with bells around their necks clanking away as they stared curiously at us. One interesting feature of this area were road-side stands selling fresh cherries every few kilometers. I wouldn't have expected cherries to be a major crop in Switzerland, but they certainly rivaled anything produced in the Okanagan.







We continued along this path for a few days until we approached a small city called Yverdon-les-Bains. At this point, the weather was beginning to worsen (the sky was clouding over) and our destination was still a few hours away, on the other side of a fairly long climb along a highway (not a bike path). We decided to err on the side of caution and stop at the Yverdon campsite for the night. We had just taken our bags off our bikes and unpacked our tent when the skies opened, dousing us with rain. Neither of us had seen such heavy rain in our memories. We rushed to get the tent set up and throw a tarp over our bags - but this hardly helped because the ground was flooding and our bags were sitting in a few centimeters of water! The wind also began to blow strongly enough that we had to grab our tent and peg it down very firmly to prevent it from blowing away. A very kind gentleman in a neighboring trailer offered to shelter our bags (or ourselves) inside, but we declined, thinking the damage had already been done and rain that heavy couldn't last and . And it didn't - after about five minutes, it tapered off. We were very proud that our trusty little tent stayed almost perfectly dry inside, despite being set-up in the rain and sitting in a pretty deep pool of water for a few minutes. Our sleeping bags, in water-proof stuff sacs, were fine. Everything else varied from damp to soaked. We spent most of the night drying off in the campsite pub as a steady drizzle set in.




The next morning, we took advantage of a break in the weather to take down our tent and pack up. We had decided to catch another train to Interlaken to try to get ahead of the rain. We had just set out for the 5 minute ride to the station when it began to pour again, though, soaking us thoroughly. We dried out as much as we could on the train and enjoyed some beautiful rainbows during our train-ride to Interlaken.


Sienna, Italy



From the comfort of our Tuscan villa, we set off onto roads on a cloudy and misty morning. We weren't sure of our eventual destination, because we didn't know how the weather or the roads would be. Our problems turned out to be the opposite of the preceding few days - the hills were manageable, but the weather was getting progressively grayer and rainier. We decided to stop at a campsite about 10 km outside of the city of Sienna, a city fairly popular with tourists and famous for the annual horse races that happen in the middle of the town square. This campsite was completely closed for unknown reasons, and with no other nearby campgrounds, we were forced to head into Sienna to look for a place to stay.



We quickly realized that we had been spoiled rotten the previous night, as the most basic rooms in Sienna cost 70-80 Euro (for a very small room in a run-down, one-star hotel with shared bathroom). We eventually settled on a 70 Euro room and set out to explore Sienna.




The next morning, with our budget showing the strain of Tuscan prices, our legs feeling the strain of the Tuscan hills, and Jodie beginning to show the beginnings of bed-bug bites from our one-star hotel, we decided to hop on a train and head for Switzerland. Heading to Switzerland to escape high-prices and hills is roughly the same as saying, "These Edmonton winters are really getting me down... lets spend January in Winnipeg this year!" but what can you expect from a lawyer and a doctor/scientist? We're just not trained to think logically.