Scandinavia 2008 - Day 5
It was a very long walk in the rain to Wilhelm’s apartment, about 2 miles. When I got to his apartment I was tired, sore, and soaked to my shorts, but he wasn’t home. That really sucked. I walked back out to the main road headed back into town and waited under the awning of a closed gas station until a city bus came by. The bus took me downtown where I walked some more to go back to the terminal. It was about 7am and Ro-No rental would be opening soon. In the restroom of the ferry terminal I changed out of everything I was wearing into a clean set of dry clothes. I put some dry socks and my camera gear in my day bag and put everything else in a locker in the terminal. The café across the street was finally open and I went in.
The café was an old cottage that had been turned into a small eating-place. When I walked in the lady who owned the place was in the kitchen fixing food, she smiled and waved me in. her you daughter was sitting at one of the kitchen tables playing with a cell phone. I poured a cup of coffee and the owner came out and I bought a small cake that she covered with fresh yogurt cream. The cake was fantastic and the hot coffee washed down the fresh cold cream perfectly. I bought a small sandwich for the road, and walked back downtown to the tourist office.
At the tourist office I was able to get on the Internet and I received an email from Wilhelm apologizing about forgetting I was coming that morning. He left his number so I called him at work and told him that it was all good and that I would meet him that evening at the rental shop after I take back my moped.
At Ro-No rental I filled out the forms and took a quick lesson on the speedy little moped. After taking a final look at my homemade map, I took off headed northeast for the coastal town of Eckero. It was still raining but I had on a quality raincoat and rain pants. It was full daylight now, but it was cloudy cold day (about 53-55 deg. Fahrenheit), and riding in the rain I quickly got cold. I had all the rain gear I needed but gloves. But for the first hour of riding I didn’t really notice anything because I was having such a great time.
On my way to Eckero I stopped several times to see some beautiful rural churches, my favorite was the church in the 4-horse town of Kattby. The church set at the end of a beautiful shady lane, nestled amongst meadows of sheep and a small cemetery yard. Past Kattby I saw another nice church and many beautiful seaside meadows. I expected Eckero to be a big town because my map listed food and gas and lodging there, but I didn’t even know I was there until the road ended at a small car ferry that took you over to the islands. It was near lunchtime and I was hungry, and frozen clean through. I remembered passing a small resort 10 miles back that had a sign out for lunch.
At Russel’s resort I pulled into the parking lot and parked in front of a outbuilding full of golf carts. Apparently Russel’s Resort incorporates a golf course, hotel, restaurant, pub, and horse stables. It was a beautiful old farm that had been converted into a resort. In the fine dining restaurant upstairs I ordered some hot chocolate and sat by an old decorative fireplace that was nestled in a corner by two big walls of thick green glazed tiles. It was a bright cheery room. The hot chocolate and soup quickly warmed me up, and before long I could feel my hands again. I ordered some sparkling pear cider and chicken stuffed with mushrooms and just sat back and relaxed. When the food came out it was almost too beautiful to eat, but I did so hungrily; the meal was amazing and filling.
After lunch I warmed up the moped and headed northeast on a little used road towards the towns of Godby and Golby. The highway passed through a few lovely meadows with lakes and stream side cottages, but was mostly in the midst of a thick pine forest. I passed several groups of cyclists who had full bags of camping gear. Running short on gas I came to the junction of two big highways and spent some time trying to figure out what gas to use, and where it went. I managed to spray everything with a quick dousing of gas, but later figured out how to fill the tank up, though I am not completely sure I used the right fuel.
I was making good time so it was fortunate that I had picked now to get a little bit lost. There were less people but more roads; unfortunately each road was to a out of the way village. On one road in particular it changed from blacktop to gravel to sand before reaching a small group of about 8 houses in a valley (I think the town was Tarnebolstad). A lady out walking her dog didn’t smile or wave, she just looked suspiciously at me, I could tell her town didn’t get many visitors. The sun was peaking through now and I could put my visor up and feel the wind in my face. I checked my map and began driving southwest towards the main highway; I was driving through wheat fields now. After a quick stop to see the church in Kvarnbo I finally got back on the main highway (#2) and turned east towards Kastelholm.
Kastelholm is just a short jaunt south of the highway, but it is truly a beautiful place. Crossing a wooden bridge I parked and walked up to the museum entry. Kastelholm is an old castle that sites on a hill with a large crescent shaped lake around it. The castle is about 100ft. high at its tallest, and the lower walls are 3 to 4 feet thick. All but two section of the castle have lost their roof, but those that still are covered are in beautiful shape. Kastelholm is a magnificent museum and the designer lovingly crafted its displays. Small plaques talk about the various construction phases of the building, the way of life for those who occupied it, and presented interesting periods of history and occurrences that happened there. Today there are lots of tights stairs, high catwalks, and dark passageways for one to walk in and amongst the ruins of stone and timber. I would have loved to have spent more time in Kastelholm, but I still had a long drive to the Russian stronghold ruins of Bomarsund before and even longer drive back to Mariehamn to return my moped before Ro-No rental closed.
Bomarsund is different from the rest of the islands I had seen so far, there were large expanses of bare red rock that sloped gently down into the sea. Its easy to tell why the Russians build a fort here, it is wide open and easily defensible, and it protects a bottle neck opening from the open sea into the interior of the island mass. But there was little to see in way of ruins, in fact I never left my moped and just circled the foundation stones a few times, crossed the one lane bridge over the inlet and then began my drive back to Mariehamn; the rental place closed in about 45 minutes and I estimated that at top speed nonstop that that’s about how long it would take me to get there.
It was raining lightly again and after work traffic had picked up as I rolled into Mariehamn, and out front of Ro-No rental I saw the proprietor and someone who I assumed to be Wilhelm waiting out of the rain for me. Wilhelm was much taller and thicker built than I expected, and he his thick dread locks that were several feet long added to his imposing stature. After introductions I told him I needed to get my back from the harbor terminal but when we got there it was locked closed and a security guy told us we would have to come back later when one of the evening boats arrived to get in. So Wilhelm and I stopped at a grocery store for some locally brewed beer and went back to his apartment to meet some friends and drink.
His place was comfy but it was obviously the home of a single guy who likes to party. He had a broken TV stand, but no television. We chilled the beers we had bought and finished off an old bottle of wine while we waited. His friend Tomas arrived and we got to talking about TV shows and before we knew it we were slightly smashed and watching youtube videos. Outside the sun dipped below the clouds as it began to set, so we grabbed some more beers and went downstairs to the seaside patio, cleaned off some old rickety chairs, and had a seat in the setting sun. Some more friends arrived and the conversation turned to American and Finnish politics, Finnish Metal culture, Religion and beer.
Heavy metal is very popular in Finland, which traditionally has a kind of dark heritage. When I had first arrived to Finland I thought the young people I saw dressed in leather and metal shirts were an exception, just like they are here in the states. But now I realized that in Finland they were most definitly the majority, which is so wierd because instead of attracting a certain rebel trouble making crowd like it does here, in Finland metal culture encompasses many different personalities, beliefs and ideas. I got in a fairly heated discussion with Wilhelm’s two friends Sannto and Elin; but I came away impressed with their passion, openness, and well thought out beliefs.
Right at sundown the beer ran out and Sannto had to go, but she offered to give me a ride to the terminal so I could get my bag. Back at Wilhelm’s apartment I quickly changed and Sannto gave us all I ride downtown to the bars. I assume there is more than one bar in Mariehamn but the only one that matters is Dino’s, a first rate metal bar that was packed, and amazingly had live music on a Tuesday night. Of course it is summer and I am sure the Finn’s take advantage of the nice weather to do as much as possible.
Inside Dino’s Wilhelm ordered a round of his favorite drink, a concoction only he knows about full of all kinds of rums. It was tasty and slightly tropical, but I am sure it was loaded with booze. We were able to get a table and we all set down to talk and listen to the band that was just beginning to thrash about on their guitars and drums. I don’t remember how but I began talking about dancing with Elin. I mentioned that I liked salsa and she told me that she wanted to learn how to tango. Her father was going to teach her how but he died in a car accident in Vietnam before he could.
I am not sure why, maybe it was the complete and total lack of sleep in going on four days, maybe it was because I had spent an entire day riding a moped in weather so wet and cold that my fingernails had cracked and bleed, maybe it was the affect of several hours worth of alcohol consumption, and maybe it was because I had just heard a sad story from a sweet girl who didn’t deserve such pain, but either way I lost it. Right then and there in Dino’s Metal bar, while the band recreated the sounds of dying pigs amidst a full crowd of black leather and silver chains, I began to cry. Between sobs I mentioned that Elin could still learn to tango, and this it could be a way for her to remember and honor her father. The tears were really starting to flow and I could feel a drunken moment of beauty and realization when Wilhelm cooled everything off.
Coming back from talking somewhere else, Wile had spotted my empty drink so he brought me a cold beer, but dropped it on the table and spilled its icy cold contents in my lap. The shot of cold to the crotch woke me from my tears and I realized in a moment of sheer happiness that I was feeling an intense emotion of vitality and sense of arrival. Here I was in a real Finnish metal bar on a gray rainy night on the other side of the planet; closer to the North Pole than I had ever been. I was talking, debating, and learning from new friends from another culture, and I not only listened to them, but I could understand what they were saying about their beliefs; I really felt like I knew these people and connected with them. This was one of the true happy and memorable moments of my trip, and I will remember that moment and feeling until I pass on.
The band was deafeningly loud so we all went outside to meet some more friends and talk. Elin pointed out to me that I should go tell Wilhelm that everything was ok, because he was feeling bad about knocking over the beer. I was sad to think that Wilhelm would be feeling bad while I was having such an amazing time so I waited until he was talking to a gorgeous blond then I came over and jumped on his back and gave him a big hug.
It was now several hours into the new day, and Wile and I decided that in order to make our boat to Sweden the next morning that we should go get some sleep. In front of the bar we got in a taxi, but had to share it with two other guys who were on a level of drunk that I have only witnessed a few times in my life (I remember a party in college at Tina’s where a guy passed out in the doorway while we were playing poker, and his friends started hitting and smacking him as hard as they could for fun. That guy woke up the next morning black and blue and never knew what happened). In Wilhelm’s apartment I set out some clothes for the morning and ate some food for the first time since lunch day before. It was now pushing 4am and we had to be up at 6:45.
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