Web album of my journey from Helsinki to Munich via sea and land

This web album comprises of the photos I took during my 53-hour journey from Helsinki to Munich via sea and land. I took the Viking Line ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm, the X2000 high-speed train from Stockholm to Copenhagen and the ICE high-speed train from Copenhagen to Hamburg and on to Munich. I spent a night in the ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm and another in a hotel in Copenhagen. I was forced to take this route due to the volcano eruption in Iceland that basically grounded all flights in Europe.



joel@shutteria.com

Day #110 @ Photography Project 365

I arrived in Copenhagen Central Train Station at about 6 pm yesterday. I took the high-speed train from Stockholm, known as the X2000, which made it to Copenhagen in just over five hours. The train ride was pleasant and comfortable, and I even had a Internet access on board - I only had to pay 10 EUR for Internet access throughout the trip.

Having been to Copenhagen twice before, I am pretty familiar with the place. From the Central Train Station, I walked to the Scandic Hotel where I had a room reserved for the night. After checking in and freshening up a bit, I went out for dinner. I decided to call it a night pretty early because I still had the final leg of my journey home ahead of me.

This morning I went back to the Central Train Station to catch my train back to Munich via Hamburg. I made my ticket reservation while I was still in Helsinki and didn't have to worry about getting a ticket anymore. However, there was a long queue of people trying to get tickets - as shown in the first photo here. Many of them were probably in the same situation as I was - stuck in Scandinavia and making their way back home.

I soon made my way to the platform where the train was scheduled to depart from - shown in the second photo. There weren't that many people waiting at first but the number kept growing. The train, which was a German Inter-City Express (ICE), arrived punctually. Boarding was pretty easy and organized in spite of the large number of passengers.

There were many passengers without seat reservations and who were not able to get seats. They actually had to rough it out for about four hours until we reached Hamburg. Fortunately, I was still able to make a seat reservation when I purchased my ticket.

joel@shutteria.com

Day #109 @ Photography Project 365

As soon as I boarded yesterday, I began exploring the ferry. First, I had to look for a place to store my suitcase. Fortunately, they have storage boxes where guests can put their belongings in for 2 EUR. Since I didn't have too many things with me, I was able to make do with a single box.

By the way, I got a ticket for the ferry but wasn't able to get a cabin when I made my reservation - everything was sold out. So, I was planning to either stay awake or loaf around the ferry all night along. However, I decided to try my luck and approached the information counter to inquire if they still had any cabin free. They put my name on the waiting list and in about 15 minutes I actually got a single cabin! The cabin I have is really comfortable, fits two persons and has an attached bathroom. I couldn't have asked for more. I slept very well last night.

The view from the ferry is fabulous! It's not everyday that I travel be sea and I've been using my time on board to improve my photography (although I only have my little IXUS with me). There's no shortage of opportunities for a picture of the day here. When I got up this morning, I decided to take some photos. While I wasn't up early enough to catch sunrise, the first photo here was caught about an hour or so after sunrise. It wasn't exactly the golden hour of the day but I think it turned out pretty OK.

We reached the Stockholm harbor at about 9:40 am. There was a bus from Viking Line waiting to take us to the city center. I had gotten my ticket from the ferry and was able to immediately board to bus. The drive took about 15 minutes.

The second photo here was taken right outside the Stockholm Central Train Station. I had to take the train to Copenhagen from here. As I had about two hours to kill, I decided to scout around Stockholm a bit and take some photos.

joel@shutteria.com

Day #108 @ Photography Project 365

It was announced this morning that the planned schedule for the reopening of the Helsinki airport had been shifted forward again. I decided I'm not going to wait anymore. As soon as I read the announcement, I planned my evacuation via sea and land.

I plan to take the overnight ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm, which leaves this afternoon, the train from Stockholm to Copenhagen, spend the night in Copenhagen and finally take the train from Copenhagen back to Munich (via Hamburg). If all goes as planned,my trip home will take just over 48 hours. This whole debacle made me realize two things: 1. how isolated and far away Finland is from the rest of Europe 2. how dependent we are on air travel these days.

At about 3pm, I made my way to the harbor, where the ferry was. The first photo was taken from the departure hall - we were waiting to board the ferry at that time.

While we were waiting, the ferry service operator provided us with some entertainment. I think that the theme of the ferry service and correspondingly, the entertainment, changes every now and then. This time the theme was South Africa. So, they invited a group of drummers to play us a beat!


joel@shutteria.com