Brainstorming
Is it fair to say I booked a birthday trip to Sweden on a whim? Not really; I've been thinking about it for a while. I would prefer to spend most of the time in Sweden (Stockholm to be specific) and Finland, with half the time in Lapland's nature and the other half in the southern cities. These are the settings of fairy tales I read as a child: Pippi Longstocking and Karlson on the Roof in the case of Stockholm, with its curved roof apartment buildings and tall spires, Snow Queen set in Lapland, complete with the Snow Queen's reindeer-drawn sleigh. Not sure of any fairy tales set in Helsinki but it always was in my childhood fantasies to visit there, and I was not disappointed when I first stepped foot in that quirky city of design and sunflowers.
A search of the most beautiful places in Scandinavia weighs heavily on Norway, which threatens to take over the whole trip, being so long and narrow with all those fjords, but this is not the point of the trip. Rather, Finland is where I want to spend the most time, as well as Stockholm and maybe some nature places in northern Sweden like national parks or castles or something. Norway it more of a side trip, if I go there at all. It seems kind of out of the way so maybe I don't go there. For my 12-day trip, I am currently thinking 4 days in Sweden and 8 in Finland. Norway really deserves its own trip in and of itself, but I don't feel drawn there. It has its trolls and Akershus, which may be the only place in Norway I visit on this trip, but other than that I really prefer to spend more time in designer Finland.
Places Scratchpad:
Stockholm
Stockholm Archipelago
Kalmar Castle
Skåne County - Southern Sweden
Gothenburg
Preikestolen - Southern Norway
Bergen - Southern Norway
Flåmsbana - Southern Norway
Nordfjord - Southern Norway
Geiranger Fjord - Southern Norway
Ålesund - Southern Norway
Lofoten - Northern Norway
Lyngsalpan - Northern Norway
Oulanka National Park - Lapland
Olavinlinna Castle - Southern Finland
Tampere - Southern Finland
Helsinki
A search of the most beautiful places in Scandinavia weighs heavily on Norway, which threatens to take over the whole trip, being so long and narrow with all those fjords, but this is not the point of the trip. Rather, Finland is where I want to spend the most time, as well as Stockholm and maybe some nature places in northern Sweden like national parks or castles or something. Norway it more of a side trip, if I go there at all. It seems kind of out of the way so maybe I don't go there. For my 12-day trip, I am currently thinking 4 days in Sweden and 8 in Finland. Norway really deserves its own trip in and of itself, but I don't feel drawn there. It has its trolls and Akershus, which may be the only place in Norway I visit on this trip, but other than that I really prefer to spend more time in designer Finland.
Places Scratchpad:
Stockholm
Stockholm Archipelago
Kalmar Castle
Skåne County - Southern Sweden
Gothenburg
Preikestolen - Southern Norway
Bergen - Southern Norway
Flåmsbana - Southern Norway
Nordfjord - Southern Norway
Geiranger Fjord - Southern Norway
Ålesund - Southern Norway
Lofoten - Northern Norway
Lyngsalpan - Northern Norway
Oulanka National Park - Lapland
Olavinlinna Castle - Southern Finland
Tampere - Southern Finland
Helsinki