Helsinki, Finland
Downtown Helsinki
A day and a half in a city is no where enough time to form judgement on anything. So, I'm going to base it on first impressions. The first interactions were friendly. On the whole, they were all friendly - chatty almost. From our two taxi drivers to the fur seller at the markets, we actually had conversations in the time we were there.
There's a shabby feel about Helsinki though. It feels a little 'middle aged'.
Copenhagen, Denmark
Little chairs in the old town of Helsingør
People seem to own very, very big dogs.
There's a definite Danish 'look' - lots of loose clothing, simple, stylish cuts in natural fabrics and muted palettes, which I find very appealing. Men wear tapered, tight pants or jeans, no ties with unbuttoned shirts (still looking neat) or very casual attire. A lot of blondes here too with blue eyes and brown skin (so jealous of that brown skin).
The trains, while easy enough to navigate and mostly on time, are run down. Noisy and very smelly with fumes from diesel engines coming up from the subway.
Everyone waits for the 'green man' at traffic lights before crossing the road. God forbid you jaywalk and interfere with bike traffic (which almost always has its own dedicated lanes), because you'll be yelled at! There appears to be little road rage, but bikes seem to be another thing, particularly in the tourist areas.
The Fakta supermarkets are on just about every corner but a bit spare on offerings. It was very hard to buy plain, black tea or green tea. Danes seem to like flavoured teas of all kinds, as we discovered when we suffered through a forest berry flavoured black tea one morning. The supermarkets we shopped in around Nørreport were also fairly untidy rabbit warrens and they don't like handling cash - the start of our introduction to card only transactions.
There's a lot of smoking in Copenhagen...on the streets, outside bars and the railway station.
Copenhagen Central Station tickeing floor, no sign of the chaos beneath.
The dogs seem to be smaller here than in Copenhagen.
There's no defined 'look' in Stockholm, at least. Maybe it's because there's been more immigration here but Swedes seem to come in more shapes, shades and styles than the Danes we encountered...and they seem to sport more tattooes (men and women) here even though we saw a lot of tattoo parlours around Nørreport, Copenhagen.
However, at the Artipelago (art gallery) ticket counter I was mistaken as Swedish by the ticket seller. I'd said "Haj haj"in greeting, as they do here. She started speaking in Swedish until I said I didn't speak Swedish. She apologised and said in English she had automatically thought I was Swedish. Maybe I got the accent on my "haj"' just right that day.
There seems to be slightly more chaos on the streets here too, with the right side of the road, footpath, escalator, stairs being the direction of the traffic. But unlike Copenhagen, where everyone seems to follow the stay to the right rule (except for Cam), here, it's a general rule but rules seem to be made for breaking. I've concluded, I like a bit of order to my traffic. And they don't mind jaywalking here.
Peak hour here is crazy in the city and around the waterfront (particularly with roads closed for the Culture Festival). It made our hop on/hop off bus trips take forever at the end of the day, with it often being quicker to walk. With major renovations underway at the Central Railway Station, it's chaos underground too, but the trains themselves seem cleaner and more modern than Copenhagen.
Fika cost less here with our first one costing A$21.30 (for two coffees, two cinnamon rolls). Cashless reigns here too, with some places having signs up saying card only payments.
The one supermarket we've been using, Coop, is quite extensive for a small subway supermarket. It's where we've been getting our fresh salad dinners every second night at the pay by weight buffet, and stocking up on fruit, teabags, chocolate, and low or no alcohol drinks. Alcohol is definitely harder to buy in Stockholm than Copenhagen (where every supermarket has a wide selection) thanks to State controlled licensing.
Oslo is Tesla capital. I've never seen so many in one place, including Tesla taxis. I don't doubt Norway has the highest market penetration per capita in the world, and the world's largest plug-in segment market share of new car sales, 49.1% in 2018. If it's not a Tesla it's another brand of EV or hybrid in every mid-range and luxury brand imaginable. One night walking back to our apartment we found several Porsches parked in a row.
One of many Teslas on the streets of Oslo
Food in Denmark seemed to be quite expensive with the Aussie dollar. It wasn't uncommon for fika (two coffees, two pastries) to be between A$25-$30.
Stockholm, Sweden
Copenhagen Central Station tickeing floor, no sign of the chaos beneath.
The dogs seem to be smaller here than in Copenhagen.
There's no defined 'look' in Stockholm, at least. Maybe it's because there's been more immigration here but Swedes seem to come in more shapes, shades and styles than the Danes we encountered...and they seem to sport more tattooes (men and women) here even though we saw a lot of tattoo parlours around Nørreport, Copenhagen.
However, at the Artipelago (art gallery) ticket counter I was mistaken as Swedish by the ticket seller. I'd said "Haj haj"in greeting, as they do here. She started speaking in Swedish until I said I didn't speak Swedish. She apologised and said in English she had automatically thought I was Swedish. Maybe I got the accent on my "haj"' just right that day.
There seems to be slightly more chaos on the streets here too, with the right side of the road, footpath, escalator, stairs being the direction of the traffic. But unlike Copenhagen, where everyone seems to follow the stay to the right rule (except for Cam), here, it's a general rule but rules seem to be made for breaking. I've concluded, I like a bit of order to my traffic. And they don't mind jaywalking here.
Peak hour here is crazy in the city and around the waterfront (particularly with roads closed for the Culture Festival). It made our hop on/hop off bus trips take forever at the end of the day, with it often being quicker to walk. With major renovations underway at the Central Railway Station, it's chaos underground too, but the trains themselves seem cleaner and more modern than Copenhagen.
Fika cost less here with our first one costing A$21.30 (for two coffees, two cinnamon rolls). Cashless reigns here too, with some places having signs up saying card only payments.
The one supermarket we've been using, Coop, is quite extensive for a small subway supermarket. It's where we've been getting our fresh salad dinners every second night at the pay by weight buffet, and stocking up on fruit, teabags, chocolate, and low or no alcohol drinks. Alcohol is definitely harder to buy in Stockholm than Copenhagen (where every supermarket has a wide selection) thanks to State controlled licensing.
Oslo, Norway
Norway is pricey. A friend at home who knows the country well said: Norway doesn't do cheap. A public transport ticket for a one-way journey within the city is A$9.20 if you pay cash as you board. There's a A$3.30 surcharge just for using cash in the hope of streamlining operations. You can buy your tickets from 7-Elevens if there isn't a ticketing machine nearby, or use the public transport app and buy your tickets online...if you don't have an Australian credit card. They accept only European credit cards. For us the 72 hour Stockholm Pass has almost paid for itself in public transport alone. For two people, using the one bus line to the city and back would work out at A$23.70/day if we made the effort to buy our tickets in advance. A 24 hour ticket is A$17.77/person, which would be your cheaper option if you didn't want to cover attraction costs as well.Oslo is Tesla capital. I've never seen so many in one place, including Tesla taxis. I don't doubt Norway has the highest market penetration per capita in the world, and the world's largest plug-in segment market share of new car sales, 49.1% in 2018. If it's not a Tesla it's another brand of EV or hybrid in every mid-range and luxury brand imaginable. One night walking back to our apartment we found several Porsches parked in a row.
One of many Teslas on the streets of Oslo
Bergen, Norway
What is it with tea in these countries? I'm a green tea drinker. I've had a thing for chai flavoured green tea in the past, but these days it's just straight green tea. No such thing here. It's largely flavoured with lemon, or mint, jasmine or early grey...You can't buy it as straight green tea in the supermarket either.
It's a bit like liquorice. Liquorice comes in every shape, style and degree of saltiness imaginable. In Stockholm, I found a shop (a large shop), dedicated to the confectionary. Beware the liquorice buyer who can't understand the label...those salty ones will suck your cheeks together quicker than you can blink.
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