«Trip to Scandinavia»

Hardanger is said to be 'a land of waterfalls'. Thousands of waterfalls, both large and small, are cascading from mountains and accumulate in powerful water streams that take their waters towards fjords. Lotofossen is one of these fantastic waterfalls from which you cannot tear your eyes.

Quite often, highways and roads go along these shallow water streams with sparkling water running at the bottom of canyons and gorges. These creeks are ideal for salmon and trout fishers. Spectacular scenery!

We stopped for a lunch in the countryside in a place constructed by the side of a mountain lake at an altitude of about 900 meters. The poor vegetation there resembled the terrain of a tundra. I saw a few families swimming in the lake! The air was transparent and fresh.

We followed the E134 to Oslo. We were past the high mountains, and drivers were finally able to speed up the bus. In Telemark we stopped to see a magnificent Heddal Stave Church built in the 13 century.

We stayed overnight at Bogstad campsite in Oslo. At nine o'clock in the morning Petter, my Norwegian friend, came to take me to the city. We had arranged our meeting a few moths ago. We began our tour in Holmenkollen - the world's most famous ski-jumping hill. Then he took me to the well-known museums of Oslo that are located in the Bygdøy peninsula. This peninsula has some of Oslo's most outstanding attractions including Norway's largest open-air folk museum and maritime museums that house excavated Viking ships and Thor Heyerdahl's balsa raft Kon-Tiki and other ships, as well as the legendary Fram of the great Norwegian explorers Fridtjof Nancen and Roald Amundsen. I was anxious to see them all, and my dream finally came true. I liked the openair folk museum, which is considered one of Europe's largest museums of this type. Its very rich collection displays the evolution of Norwegian architecture from ancient times up to the present day.

In the afternoon, we picked Maria, a friend of Petter, and went to the center to see the Royal Palace. From there, we walked down the main street named Karl Johan with fashionable shops and boutiques and crowds of people. Petter's parents invited us to their house for dinner. After that, on the way to the campsite, Petter showed me Oslo at night.

From Oslo we took the E 6 highway to Göteborg and then a road to Jönköping and further to Kalmar. We crossed the border between Norway and Sweden on the Friendship Bridge. The predominant scenery of southern Sweden consists of woodlands and rolling farmlands with stone fences dividing fields of grain. In Jönköping we stopped on the shore of the lake Vettern, the second largest in the country.

After traveling 650 km we arrived in a campsite on the Oland Island at night. In order to get to the island we had cross a 6 km long bridge.

In the morning we took a local bus to Kalmar - a small, beautiful town located on the coast of the Baltic Sea.

I visited a castle and strolled some streets, which were empty because it was Sunday. On the main square, Stortorget, I entered the cathedral where parishioners were celebrating a mass; I saw a few babies and thought that they might have been baptized. Then I strolled along some narrow streets, stopped by several shops, saw small lively houses surrounded by abundant flowers. What beauty! I enjoyed very much the time I had spent in Kalmar. In the afternoon I came back to the campsite and spent much time on the seashore. The camp was crowded, and also I was surprised by the numbe of dogs the Swedes brought with them.

At seven o'clock in the morning we're again on the road, this time to the northward to Stockholm. There was a dense fog that disappeared in an hour.

Sweden seems to be a kingdom for wild animals and birds. I saw several pairs of cranes grazing in grain fields, a swan, and an elk that was browsing by the highway. Yesterday, I saw a large herd of geese.

We arrived in Stockholm in the afternoon. Unfortunately, we had only four hours to walk through the city's center. Alexander, two students, and I walked through Gamla Stan, Old Town, and then along the pedestrian street Drottningsatan, "Queen's street." The street was crowded, and I heard people speaking several languages. When I passed by the Royal Palace, looking at the harbor I had the impression that this part of the city is similar to St. Petersburg's center.

In the evening we embarked on a large Viking Line's cruiser ship named Amorella. This giant was also full of passengers. The ship went through skärgård - small rocky isles in the Baltic. We decided to treat ourselves to a delicious buffet dinner.

In the morning we arrived in the Finnish city of Turku. After visiting the cathedral we proceed on our way to Helsinki where we had only four hours to see its center. In Helsinki we made our first stop near the monument dedicated to the famous Finnish composer, Jan Sibelius.

Alexander, who had been in Helsinki a few times, offered me his help and showed me the central part of the city. We visited the market place in the harbor - a vivid place with lots of people from many countries. I heard many people speaking Russian.

Although all three capitals that I saw during the trip are beautiful, Stockholm, and particularly its Old Town, is undoubtedly most impressive: a majestic metropolis.

At six o'clock in the evening we left Helsinki for the Russian border making only one stop for dinner. We passed the border at night and from there, without stopping, went to Vyborg and further to St. Petersburg. Everybody was asleep. I woke up only in St. Petersburg, and then again fell asleep and woke up in the morning when we made last stop for a breakfast. We traveled over 900 km and came back home about three o'clock in the afternoon.

The unforgettable trip to three Nordic countries where people live at one with nature is over. I'mthankful to Alexander for inviting me on this journey. Indeed, he is a pleasant man. Travel is said to broaden the mind. Curiosity and a thirst for knowledge, I believe, make us travel to other lands. As a Zen Master said, "a certain sense of loneliness engendered by traveling leads one to reflect upon the meaning of life, for life is, after all, a traveling from one unknown to another unknown."