After our earliest start yet we touched down in Helsinki mid morning. A train ride into the city, more cobblestone streets to be navigated with suitcases and we arrived at our hotel. Much to our delight we were able to check in immediately. A short rest and we headed out on an exploratory tour. Like most Scandinavian countries, and due to the abundance of water, boating is very popular. Marinas dot the coast and there is no shortage of boats. Day 2 and we m...

Another hassle free train ride from Karlstad to Stockholm, although this time the train was almost of the "red rattler" variety. We managed to navigate our way through the Stockholm metro system and had soon arrived at our very charming hotel in the old part of Stockholm, known as Gamla Stan. Think narrow, cobbled streets, restaurants, bars and as many souvenir shops as you can imagine. Too early to check in we decided to have a walk and get our bearings. Sto...

We left Oslo by train this morning, bound for Karlstad in Sweden. A very relaxing 3 hour journey on a sparsely populated train. Karlstad was much bigger than we has expected. Built where a river enters a lake it was quite pretty, well maintained parklands and 18th century architecture. Tomorrow its another 3 hour train trip to Stockholm

Today was our final day on the road. We headed for Oslo, having had an amazing time seeing and experiencing some of what Norway has to offer. A few more stave churches, some more very autumnal scenery and it was time to return the rental car and get ready for Sweden.

Today was time to leave the west coast and head inland, bound for Oslo. But leaving the coast doesn't, but mean leaving the fjords behind. They penetrate so far inland. We've been through many tunnels so far, literally hundreds, but today we came across a first. Almost at the end of an 8km tunnel we came to a roundabout, inside the tunnel. We had to turn right and quickly exited the tunnel onto a very impressive suspension bridge. As we left the bridge we e...