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Ed: "Norden" is an obscure but more accurate term for what is commonly but incorrectly called Scandinavia.  Scandinavia proper includes only Sweden, Norway and Denmark, whereas Norden adds Finland and Iceland.  Germany is not a part of Norden, but it was included here anyway.  Deal with it.

Clang-clang.  Clang-clang.  Rumble.  Hiss...

After checking everything for the millionth time (but still not well enough - I managed to forget my Finland souvenirs!) I hoisted my backpack, locked the door of my apartment and grinned.  Outside the sun was already up and nature was shimmering in the light of dawn.  And now here I am, watching still familiar territory scroll past in the train window.

Boom!  On the road again!
 

Dateline:	Monday 14.6.1999 12:33
Location:	m/s Viking Amorella, Turku to Stockholm

I took the day boat to Sweden to avoid crossing the endless flat cow pastures of Skåne by day or, worse yet, having to twiddle my thumbs in Stockholm all day.  Still, the ferry crossing takes 11 hours and without company it's a bit of long stretch, especially when you can't/won't spend money the way the ferry company wants you to.  And my brain pains.  Caffeine withdrawal?  Hung over?  Lack of  Net access...?

Mariehamn (the capital of the Åland Islands, an autonomous Swedish-speaking province of Finland) is cute, pastel-colored wooden houses scattered among trees.  It's a shame the boat only stops for 15 minutes...  Thanks to the EU and the abolition of tax-free inter-EU commerce, all Finland-Sweden ferries now stop at Åland (which is outside the EU!).  At the moment our ferry arrived, there was quite a ballet performance going on as four giant cruise ships (Viking Isabella, Viking Amorella, Silja Europa & Silja Festival) jockeyed for position.  Despite countless trips on them, the sheer audacity of building these 10-story floating castles continues to astonish me...

---

I've always thought that frozen shelled shrimp bear a disquieting resemblance to maggots.  This evidently didn't stop a fellow passanger from chowing down on mayo-drenched shrimp salad...  with his fingers.  Yecch!
 

Dateline:	Monday 14.6.1999 21:07
Location:	T-Centralen, Stockholm, Sweden

You know you've started Interrailing when...

...you end up eating a kebab sandwich for dinner.  It wasn't even bad, although there were at least 3 tablespoons of grease floating on the bottom of the wax-paper pocket...

Ed: The fact that my visit to Stockholm was summarized with these words speaks volumes about my interest in and respect for the city.
 

Wonderful Copenhagen -- Danish Ministry of Tourism
Dateline:	Thursday 15.6.1999 13:28
Location:	Amaliehaven, København, Denmark

The tourist office's slogan isn't exactly subtle, but why should it be?  I love this place.  I'd be hard put to specify why, but Copenhagen is colorful, pretty, green, humane, modern and...and... vibrant in a way that no other Nordic city is.  I've yet to visit a single Official indoor attraction in my 3 visits to date, I just always end up walking around from quarter to quarter, park to park.  The one minus of this place is that Denmark is horribly expensive, but the ubiquitous cheap lunch deals (like the huge all-you-can-eat Turkish buffet for 39 DKK at Ankara) take care of filling the calorie quota and the Interrail Center and "Use It!" office combine provide free Net access, free bookings, free condoms and even cheap showers.  What else does an Interrailer need?
 

Dateline:	Tuesday 15.6.1999 19:39
Location:	EN483 "H.C.Andersen", København to Stuttgart

A minute after I locate and inhabit my compartment, a drop-dead gorgeous Asian-hybrid girl pops in: "Sorry! I think we're here..." but before she finished her sentence, never mind gives me time to protest, her clone appears and, frowning, they consult the couchette number table and disappear.  My last glimpse of the girls is them hurrying outside, one minute before the train is scheduled to leave.  In trundles their replacement, a corpulent half-Swede/half-German guy with a few day's stubble, clutching a greasy hamburger and 2 bottles of beer to his ketchup-stained shirt.  WHY???
 

Redefining blitzkrieg tourism
Dateline:	Wednesday 16.6.1999 10:06
Location:	Cisalpino 155, Stuttgart to Zürich

I ended up in Stuttgart for a rather perverse reason: it was the farthest from Copenhagen I could get by couchette.  To bed around 20 and wake-up around 9 wouldn't be possible in most hostels, and of course I covered some 900 km (14 hrs!) while dozing away.  Definitely the way to travel long-distance.

I booked my next seat in a futuristic Italian-designed tilting-Pendolino not-high-speed-but-looks-like-it  "Cisalpino" express, leaving me with less than an hour to potter around Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof.  Not that there was much to see, as the city and the station had been taken over by a congress of German ecumenical churches.  Amidst the "Jesus loves you!"-propaganda was an ad for a Buddhist sculpture exhibition at a museum, but with the train reservation already paid for...  I devoured a 1 DEM Äpfeltorte and climbed aboard.
 

Dateline:	Wednesday 16.6.1999 14:47
Location:	IC ???, Zürich to Genève

This is getting ridiculous.  I've been sitting in a train for close to 20 hours now, and my "visit" to Zürich lasted all of 10 minutes.  As the Swiss train crew on the Cisalpino stated: "The train was delayed 27 minutes in Germany, but the Swiss crew apologizes for the inconvinience..."  So I arrive half an hour late, only to find out that a direct IC to Geneva leaves in 10 minutes and it'll be hours 'till the next one.  What to do?  I quickly convert 10 DEM to Swiss francs in a machine, buy a postcard and hop on.  Again.  At least the Swiss trains are nice...
 

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