Thursday, June 10, 2010

HELSINKI TO JOENSUU BY TRAIN

Thursday 10th June 2010

I had planned to make an early start today. The alarm was set for 6:30am. I had
not planned on being woken by a truck unloading outside my window around 5am.
It was a process that went on for the best part of 45 minutes.
So I showered early and had breakfast soon after 7am. I was surprised at how
busy the breakfast service was. Perhaps they had all been similarly woken up by
the truck?

I just missed a tram but being the commuter time the next one was along within
five minutes. I had worked out that I had to get on at the middle door. This is
a specially low doorway mainly for mothers (and dads) with prams but equally
useful for heavy roller bags. The tram stop platform lines up exactly with the
tram floor at this entrance. At the other doors the tram is higher and a couple
of narrow steps have to be managed.

It was an uneventful ride of about 12 to 15 minutes to reach the stop closest to
the railway station. Then a five minute walk and I was there with plenty of time
to spare to check which platform the train would leave from. Ah; here they refer
to tracks and my train would be on track 10. That was easy as it was right in
front of me at the departure notice board. So a time for a quiet espresso. This
time I went to Robert's Coffee and I can tell you that Robert is infinitely
better than Wayne at making coffee.

I went to the station platform to wait and to try and work out were van
(carriage) #2 would be. Would it be at the front or the end. Eventually tan 1
with business class was the last carriage of the train.

Getting on I had expected to find baggage shelving but instead there were
security lockers but my bag was too large to fit in. So I left it in front of
the lockers for the whole trip. I did check it from time to time as I was only
three seats away from it.

For the whole trip sitting in seat 43, a window seat and I had the adjoining
seat empty. So room to spread out. The train could move at a good fast speed
which was rather impressive. We stopped at a steady sequence of stations with
names I had never heard of and could most likely never pronounce correctly
either. Some were reasonable sized towns but others seemed quite small from
what I could see. One station looked like a bus shelter stuck on a platform in
the middle of forest. I smiled a bit at that. A few stations had an historic
old steam locomotive on display.

Coming into one of the earlier stations I was taken by a strange constrution on
the hill top. Suddenly I realised what it was – a large ski jump with two
jump tracks. Quite strange seeing it there without any snow around.

The guard checked my Eurorail pass and clicked on the first date. You have to
write in in little boxes the date of each travel day. Also there is a schedule
or journal of trains used which you have to also make entries in. Then this is
sent off to the office so that the cost of the pass can be allocated around the
various carriers I have used.

I did not go to the restaurant car although plenty of people seemed to head off
that way. I was content with my bottle of water and a food bar.

When I planned this trip I had looked at the map of Finland and realised just
how many lakes there were in this area. So I did expect to see lots of lakes.
The reality was that I did not see all that many. Towards the end there were
several fairly large lakes which did look like they could be interesting to
look at in more detail. There were also several small lakes or ponds which we
rushed past before you knew they were there. A few times I could spot the
blueness of water through the trees but not really see the lake in any detail.

We did go over two or three rivers which looked deep and wide. They may have
been dammed down stream for power.
What I did see a lot of were trees. Large forests of trees. Some were forests of
silver birch and others seemed to be conifers. None were towering forest giants.
No; I would think that the tallest were up to say 8 to 10 metres. They also had
thin trunks. Perhaps original forests had been felled and these were all the
regrowth. However, more likely I think is that this is a climatic feature.
Because of the long cold winters and relatively short growing season, they just
do not grow to any great height.

Every now and they the forest would open up and there would be ploughed land or
gree pastures of farming. The farm buildings all looked neat and tidy and well
maintained. Several had silos and barns so I suspect that they were used for
feeding housed stock.

The nearly five hour trip went quite quickly. I did try reading a book on the
English language but kept wanting to look at the scenery, so my several
attempts were usually short lived. But I did put on my MP3 player and traveled
along listening to: Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Vivaldi Flute music and one or two
other bits and pieces.

Coming into each station the name would be announced giving passengers the time
to collect their belongings ready to get off if this were their station. It was
just as well that the train was only going to Joensuu as I could not understand
any of the announcements or really, any of the station names either. However, I
did know to get ready to get out as I knew the arrival time and other folk
started to collect their belongs as well.

We I was leaving the station others were arriving with bags, so the train was
going to go somewhere,perhaps back to Helsinki?

There are two bridges to cross to get from the station into Joensuu. One is a
river flowing into the lake – yes Joensuu is a lake town – and the other
crossed the canal lock to by pass rapids in the river. That was a surprise as I
didn't know there was shipping here. In fact I have since read that shipping can
travel from here and connect to the Volga River and travel into the Caspian and
Black Seas. Now that is interesting.

Tomorrow I will head back that way and take photos. Perhaps even a boat in the
lock?

As the hostel would not open for check in until 4pm I had time for coffee in the
market square before making quite a long walk along a couple of roads to reach
the Scout Hostel. This seems to be on the edge of town and it and other houses
in the street are surrounded by forest.

The hostel is 'old style' and certainly looks like a Boy Scout establishment as
I remember them. I have booked a single room but I still have five bunks in it
along with a table and a couple of chairs. All pine style. The common room also
has the dining table – big long heavy wooden planks and bench seating. But it
also has ten bunks – four double height and two single beds. It reminded my
of a mountain hut set up. A small kitchen is off to one side.

I didn't feel like walking back into town for supplies, so I was very pleased to
sport a store near by. It turned out to be a small supermarket, perhaps a mini
market would be the best description. I was able to get a few things to
microwave and some crackers and cheese and yogurt and bananas for breakfast.

Now it is is 11pm and it is still light outside. I could easily take photographs
without any problem.
There is a quiet stillness outside, a few rattles and voices inside the hostel
though. My window looks directly out onto the footpath and road. But there is
really no traffic of any sort now. I can see that I will have to pull the
blinds tonight, not so much for the evening but so that I do not get woken by
the light at some time like 4am or so.

The hostel is full tonight as lots of would be students have arrived to sit
entrance exams and have interviews for courses at the university. I talked to a
girl from Helsinki who wants to study special education and she explained that
so many apply for Helsinki that only around 6% get chosen. Here the success
rate is closer to 25%. If she doesn't get into this course then she will apply
for the careers guidance teachers training course. She sat an exam based on the
contents of two books which got her short listed for an interview to see how she
related to social groups and could work with others. She hopes to know the
answer in a week. So she is quite nervous about what will happen as her planned
career rests on getting an entry place.

Photos above:
The ski jump
The train with my window being the lower right one
View from my window about 8:30pm

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