Grand Tour 4: racing across the north
We had a deadline to get to Russia and we had no idea how long it would take, so we basically raced across from Oostende to Denmark. What I remember of Belgium, the Netherlands and north Germany is virtually nothing, apart from some canals and overpasses. We were camping in our green tent by now, saving on B&Bs, but I have no idea where we stayed on that part of the trip. We must have stopped briefly in Lübeck because I remember thinking it was rather lovely and I'd like to have time to go back there. Around that time I was also struck by the German allotments. City people often have garden allotments in the UK (or did back then), but in Germany they were particularly elaborate, with little cottages on them, as distinct from mere sheds. It looked as if Germans used them as weekenders, although they must scarcely have been more than a few minutes drive from home and they weren't exactly a place to get away from the neighbours.
We had to get a ferry from Puttgarden to Rødbyhaven in Denmark (passport stamp at the latter on 27 August - I really don't know what we did in the 4 days it took to get there from Oostende). We did stay for a few days in Copenhagen. I remember being disappointed by the Tivoli gardens, going to see a Rodin exhibition at the Glyptotek and an open air folk museum with houses that had turf roofs, also the mermaid and various palaces and churches with interesting spires in the city and drinking plenty of beer in the Strøget (the first pedestrian-only street I'd ever seen - how wonderful!). I also liked the run down, working-port feel of the Nyhaven docks (which wasn't then full of bars and restaurants like it is now). The bicycle traffic in the city was also very impressive. Also in Copenhagen we almost had a head-on smash because C took a right turn into the left side of the road. Fortunately it was the only incident of its kind on the whole trip.
To get to Sweden we had to take another ferry at Helsingør (supposed to be Elsinore). We spent all of five minutes looking at the castle because it obviously wasn't Hamlet's castle at all. Besides we'd had our fill of Danish palaces and we didn't want to miss the next ferry. On the Swedish side we spent hours and hours motoring through forest. Sweden was totally unexpected in this respect. I hadn't known what to expect and had really never been much interested in visiting Scandinavia, but we were both stunned by the beauty of the Swedish landscape. So much forest, with green fields dotted about and rust-red timber farmhouses in them. The only problem was the food. Halfway to Stockholm we camped in the middle of a gorgeous forest and dined on hot dogs - there was just no other food available within miles. The Swedish beer wasn't great either.
Stockholm was another great surprise. Its location is absolutely stunning, along a harbour lined with lovely old buildings. C was very interested in town planning - he's a social democrat and this was the social democratic paradise - so we went in search of suburban developments. They were certainly more pleasant than the tower blocks of Glasgow and East London, but mainly because they had park-like settings, and I gather they have similar social problems. They reminded us of more crowded versions of Canberra. The places we visited were essentially dormitories in a park, with a couple of shops and a tube station to get you into the city for work.
In search of something more appetising than hot dogs, we visited the central market square where there was a rather sparse collection of vegetables at incredibly high prices, but where we also discovered that salmon was the cheapest source of protein available. In Australia at the time it was probably the most expensive, outside of your actual sturgeon caviar. So we practically lived on salmon, smoked and unsmoked, while waiting for various East European visas to be issued. Then we took the ferry to Turku in Finland, through a sea dotted with uncountable islands and islets.
At Turku, where we arrived when it was beginning to get dark, we couldn't find any camping ground, so we ended up parking the car by the side of the road and sleeping in it. Or trying to. We had no idea where we were. Next morning, feeling rotten, we drove to Helsinki. Looking back on it I think there's a lot about Helsinki that reminds one of Russia - maybe it's in the 19th century architecture and the wide streets. Anyway they only became independent at the end of 1917, so I guess that's why. The modern architecture is definitely influenced by western Europe. We did a tour of the imposing functionalist parliament house and on a much later visit (1987) I also went to look at some of the many beautiful art deco houses in the city. Down by the harbour there was a big square in front of a classical-style palace where the cold wind really whipped at you. I wondered why they hadn't tried to build a cosier city. While in Helsinki we also visited more urban social engineering locations that were just like the ones around Stockholm (but without the metro line if I remember correctly).
From Helsinki we continued further east along the coast road. The last town we passed through was Hamina, where the architecture looked even more Russian, with timber mansions that must've been hard to heat in winter. We didn't find a camping ground there either, but instead we set up our tent a bit out of town on a grassy patch, among trees by a tiny beach. There was absolutely nobody around. The memory of that peaceful and warm, late afternoon sitting by the sea is really stuck in my memory. Next day we were going to enter the Soviet Union.
We had to get a ferry from Puttgarden to Rødbyhaven in Denmark (passport stamp at the latter on 27 August - I really don't know what we did in the 4 days it took to get there from Oostende). We did stay for a few days in Copenhagen. I remember being disappointed by the Tivoli gardens, going to see a Rodin exhibition at the Glyptotek and an open air folk museum with houses that had turf roofs, also the mermaid and various palaces and churches with interesting spires in the city and drinking plenty of beer in the Strøget (the first pedestrian-only street I'd ever seen - how wonderful!). I also liked the run down, working-port feel of the Nyhaven docks (which wasn't then full of bars and restaurants like it is now). The bicycle traffic in the city was also very impressive. Also in Copenhagen we almost had a head-on smash because C took a right turn into the left side of the road. Fortunately it was the only incident of its kind on the whole trip.
To get to Sweden we had to take another ferry at Helsingør (supposed to be Elsinore). We spent all of five minutes looking at the castle because it obviously wasn't Hamlet's castle at all. Besides we'd had our fill of Danish palaces and we didn't want to miss the next ferry. On the Swedish side we spent hours and hours motoring through forest. Sweden was totally unexpected in this respect. I hadn't known what to expect and had really never been much interested in visiting Scandinavia, but we were both stunned by the beauty of the Swedish landscape. So much forest, with green fields dotted about and rust-red timber farmhouses in them. The only problem was the food. Halfway to Stockholm we camped in the middle of a gorgeous forest and dined on hot dogs - there was just no other food available within miles. The Swedish beer wasn't great either.
Stockholm was another great surprise. Its location is absolutely stunning, along a harbour lined with lovely old buildings. C was very interested in town planning - he's a social democrat and this was the social democratic paradise - so we went in search of suburban developments. They were certainly more pleasant than the tower blocks of Glasgow and East London, but mainly because they had park-like settings, and I gather they have similar social problems. They reminded us of more crowded versions of Canberra. The places we visited were essentially dormitories in a park, with a couple of shops and a tube station to get you into the city for work.
In search of something more appetising than hot dogs, we visited the central market square where there was a rather sparse collection of vegetables at incredibly high prices, but where we also discovered that salmon was the cheapest source of protein available. In Australia at the time it was probably the most expensive, outside of your actual sturgeon caviar. So we practically lived on salmon, smoked and unsmoked, while waiting for various East European visas to be issued. Then we took the ferry to Turku in Finland, through a sea dotted with uncountable islands and islets.
At Turku, where we arrived when it was beginning to get dark, we couldn't find any camping ground, so we ended up parking the car by the side of the road and sleeping in it. Or trying to. We had no idea where we were. Next morning, feeling rotten, we drove to Helsinki. Looking back on it I think there's a lot about Helsinki that reminds one of Russia - maybe it's in the 19th century architecture and the wide streets. Anyway they only became independent at the end of 1917, so I guess that's why. The modern architecture is definitely influenced by western Europe. We did a tour of the imposing functionalist parliament house and on a much later visit (1987) I also went to look at some of the many beautiful art deco houses in the city. Down by the harbour there was a big square in front of a classical-style palace where the cold wind really whipped at you. I wondered why they hadn't tried to build a cosier city. While in Helsinki we also visited more urban social engineering locations that were just like the ones around Stockholm (but without the metro line if I remember correctly).
From Helsinki we continued further east along the coast road. The last town we passed through was Hamina, where the architecture looked even more Russian, with timber mansions that must've been hard to heat in winter. We didn't find a camping ground there either, but instead we set up our tent a bit out of town on a grassy patch, among trees by a tiny beach. There was absolutely nobody around. The memory of that peaceful and warm, late afternoon sitting by the sea is really stuck in my memory. Next day we were going to enter the Soviet Union.