Pori-Turku-Ferry Craziness-Stockholm-Again Ferry Craziness-Turku-Pori

One trip almost every Erasmus student is doing during his time here in Pori, is going to neighboring country Sweden to see the capital Stockholm. I am not an exchange student, but nevertheless, I did the same :-D In the last weekend of October, 9 Erasmus students and I decided to go to Stockholm by ferry, because normally it is the most popular and cheapest way to get there. The journey started on Thursday afternoon with the bus to Turku harbour - nice ride, nothing special. At the harbour, first I was very impressed about the size of our ferry. It was a very big ship, the Europa of Silja Line, here is a picture of it:

Then on the ferry, crowds of people, not always 'standard', means: dressed crazy (or maybe it has been costumes, I do not know), kind of tipsy movements, loud and sometimes scaring ;-) Yeah, the ferry was a adventure for itself! Happily we had our cabines right above engine room, so we REALLY had the 'seaman-feeling', the whole night it was vibrating and loud. And for the loud atmosphere we also got some help from our drunken Russion neighbours on our corridor. What a feeling! Okay, I guess, everybody can realize than I am ironic now... But well, we survived! :-D

After arriving in Stockholm in the early morning (it was around 6 o'clock), we made our way to the city center to store our bags in the trainstation. First, we had a nice breakfast with super-big muffins. Then the sightseeing started: Royal Palace - Old Town - Cathedrals/Churches - Museums and so on. Stockholm is really a ferrytale city: a lot of water, green area, old buildings, narrow alleys, a lot of café and restaurants - NICE! In addition we had sunny weather and mild temperature, what more could we ask for? Another thing which being quite impressive was the unbelievable cleanliness of the city - even the area near the trainstation was shining! Less enjoyable were the prizes: Finland seems after Stockholm quite affordable. But hey, it was a vacation, so of course, we allowed ourselves some nice things! :-D Delicious food - funny souveniers and some drinks.

 

Maybe the most impressive attraction we saw, has been the Vasa Museum. Here a short extract from the Wikipedia quote: 'The Vasa Museum (Swedish: Vasamuseet) is a maritime museum in Stockholm, Sweden. Located on the island of Djurgården, the museum displays the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged, the 64-gun warship Vasa that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. The Vasa Museum opened in 1990 and, according to the official web site, is the most visited museum in Scandinavia.' First I thought: 'What a strange building. Is that a museum?' Inside it is really overwhelming! The ship is so big and normally you are not used to have a big ship inside a building. The restauration of the ship, obviously, went out great, like it has never been on the sea bottom for so many years. The light is dimmed and in that way, it emphazises the magical atmosphere! In the entrance ticket included was a short, guided tour: our guide was funny in a way that he seems very serious and pationate about really everything and you could realize that he told some of the story like 1.000-times.

After another day of excessive sightseeing, the ferry was waiting for us around 19.00 at Stockholm harbour. This cruise was even weirder than the first one, because it was time for Halloween! Some men dressed up as 'professional' women, some girls as bunnies and a couple (my favorite!) dresses as Beetlejuice and his wife - very nice!! :-D Unfortunately we had our cabin right above the concerthall of the ferry. So, imagine: staying or lying in the cabin was like sleeping (or try at least) in the middle of the concert stage! What a feeling! Therefore some of us decided to go to the concerthall until the early morning to see the rock band playing, because it would have made no difference - staying in front of the stage or in the room --> same volume! ;-) To sum up the time on the ferry: weird, but funny, a lot of drunken people, loud --> different, but interesting! When we arrived in Turku on Sunday morning, we immidiately took the first bus available to get to Pori. Then sleeeeeeeeep! But in a nutshell: a unforgettable trip!