Scandinavia 2014 – Part 6: Finland

Booooooooring!

Saturday, 06.09.2014

There it was, the furthermost away game of any sports team I’ve ever travelled to. Nearly 2,000 kilometers north of Hamburg, although the team slogan reads “Der Norden sind wir! – The North Is Us!”

After a very short night (both of us men went to party with some of the local fans after yesterday’s game) we have to get up very early today. We have to cover a distance of 800 kilometers until tomorrow at 3pm when the second CHL game is going to start in Rauma.

At eight o’clock we are already on the motorway travelling towards Finland, two hours later we are already crossing the remarkably unspectacular border between EU and non-EU. But although the border itself only consists of a simple information sign and does not feature any kind of border controls it takes us a whole hour to cross it.

The reason for this is that Finland lies within Eastern European Time zone while Sweden and Germany as well as the majority of Europe lies within Central European Time zone. Thus Finland is one hour ahead of us and we have to turn the clock an hour forth.

Not only concerning their time is Finland quite an oddity within European Union, but also due to its language. While hardly anyone from its people seems to speak any second language (at least in the north), the Finnish langage itself is only slightly related to the Hungarian language, so even ordering a pizza becomes quite a challenge.

By the way: While we are already carrying three different kinds of Kronas (Norwegian, Swedish and Danish currencies are all called Krona) in our pockets it feels quite comfortable being able to pay with our local currency again, even at the remotest point of our roadtrip.

Finnish roads seem somehow familiar to us since we have been driving in Sweden. They are at least as monotonous as the Swedish ones, but even a bit straighter. Ten kilometers on average until a smooth left or right curve appears, being followed again by an endless straight stretch of the road. A car museum along the road offers some variety to the uniformity of the Finnish countryside.

It does not look as if it has already been completed – or in September season has already ended and they are preparing for the winter.

At about 8pm we arrive in Vaasa where we find the local campground being abandoned. Season is over, but a notice allows its usage until the end of the month, asking for a small contribution from their guests. In return they left a single sanitary building open for the campers.

The campsite lies directly at the Baltic Sea and might be as booming in summer as the site in Lulea for sure. Unfortunately, the midges have not realized yet that the site has officially shut down, so we are forced to change our plans of having an outdoor barbeque and have dinner inside the open kitchen building instead.

Maalaisranskalaiset in Rauma

Sunday, 07.09.2014

The alarm-clock goes of at 8am, we still have to do 250 kilometers until Rauma and the game starts at 16:00. It is cold and humid outside, so saying goodbye is not really hard.

Occasionally thick sea fog comes some kilometers up inland from the Baltic Sea, inevitably reminding us of the 70s movie “The Fog“.

Without the fog the whole horror reveals itself: Once again endless straight roads through the woods. Especially when you are not yet completely awake, driving a car is not completely riskless under these conditions.

The only interesting things along the road are the road signs. In this region of Finland the amount of Swedish speaking people is quite high, so all village names are printed not only in Finnish, but also in Swedish. Sometimes there are severe differences in their spelling.

Halfway to Rauma the Didimobile has to be filled up once again. In the middle of nowhere we find a petrol station where we refill the Didimobile and its passengers grab some foods and drinks.

Unspectacular like the scenery around us the ongoing journey to Rauma commences. The weather has become better, the sun is shining and the skies are blue.

At half past twelve we arrive at the beautiful campsite in Rauma and immediately find a nice spot directly on the shore. Some minutes later we have to give it up again in favour of one near the reception – and in reach of the WiF hotspot. Since we have to start early even before dawn tomorrow morning the other campers will surely be happy about it.

Around 13:00 we head for Kivikylän arena where we meet up with the four other Hamburg fans who had also been to Luleå. Those four, by the way, are on the road with a Volkswagen Golf, are staying in hotels and found the road from Sweden to Rauma at least as boring as we did.

The Hamburg Freezers lose the game with a clear 5-0, but we had been aware before our tour that we wouldn’t have had any chance against any Scandinavian team. Nevertheless we eight crazy German fans would have been pleased with a single consolation goal.

Next to the arena there is the local football stadium with a stylish stand etc. When we leave the arena a match is taking place there, and we stay to watch it from a rock opposite the stand, asking ourselves if you had to pay for watching the game from one of the official stands?

Together we finish the evening off with some “Maalaisranskalaiset” (Finish for “chips”) in downtown Rauma and go to bed early, because the alarm clock will ring at five o’clock in the morning so we can be on time for the day ferry back to Sweden and towards home.