Scandinavia: 19-24th June 2009

19th June: London > Stansted

Following the success of the Dutch trip in 2007, we headed out again to watch the England U-21's, this time for the Euro 2009 tournament in Sweden. Over five days, we would watch four games and visit three different countries.

After work, I met up with Olly, John, Tom & his brother at Golders Green Bus Station. After a quick bus journey, which went almost past Olly's house some two hours after he had left it, we arrived at Stansted airport.

Due to our Ryanair flight being at silly o'clock the next morning (are any Ryanair flights not at silly o'clock?) we decided to stay the night at the Days Inn. Ominously we were allocated to room 101, though it was superior.

Like Britain, Norway, Sweden and Denmark have all held onto their own currencies - three different brands of Krone all with slightly different exchange rates. This trip to be like a journey back in time to life before the Euro.

With no restaurants in sight, we ended up at Burger King in the motorway service station next door. Not the best way to start a holiday, but as time was to tell, Norway had something much, much worse.

June 20th: Stansted>Sandefjord>Oslo

In theory, staying at a hotel near the airport would give us all a proper nights sleep. However, with rumours circulating about the cost of beer in Scandinavia, we knew we had to get a pint in early, so this European Football Weekend began as they all seem to do, with a early alarm call.



John Hunt had booked himself a prioirty boarding ticket, and so got to sit at the front. I found a good spot by the window. There were some nice views of the clouds and the Danish coast.

In true Ryanair style, our destination was described Oslo (Torp). Being 140km south from Oslo, this seemed to be stetching things just a little. Torp's location, however, close to the Oslofjord, gave us a very picturesque descent into Norway.

Whilst arriving so far from Oslo would have been inconvienient for most, for us it was perfect. We had planned to watch a Norwegian league game today although this was a bit hit and mis with most of the games being played on Sunday. But as luck would have it, the game between Sandefjord and Valerenga had been moved to the Saturday, and Sandefjord was just a short bus ride from the airport. Perfect. At least it would have been had the bus turned up. It didn't, so we took a taxi instead.

In Sandefjord, we dropped the bags and then headed off into town.

And one of the first things we saw was a sticker from German Regionaliga side SG Wattenscheid - which is where Bochum's second team plays its games. Small world.

Sandefjord was a lovely town.

It even had a football pitch made of sand.

Norway is the land of fjords and here they were so proud of it they named it twice. So here is the Sandefjordsfjord, with a variety of boats...

and even a jellyfish...

Norway was living up to its reputation as an expensive country. A sandwich and coke came to some £8, although the prawns were lovely.

Our trip to Scandinavia had coincided with mid-summers day. This is a big event in Norway and there was big celebration parade in the streets.

With time pressing on, we headed upto the stadium. This was a very scenic walk.

Eventually, we arrived at the Komplett Arena, the new home of Sandefjord Fotbal:

The visitors arrived by bus.

And so our first game of the trip was Sandefjord against Valerenga, in the Norwegian Tippaliga.

There were identical stands on each side:

The visitors had the grounds only terrace

Meanwhile we sat in the open ait stand behind the goal.

Now open air stands work quite well in Spain or Italy where the climate is very hot. Norway, on the other hand, is not immune to a little rain, so we were given these stylish rain macs:

Home supporters:

Away supporters:

It was the blues against the blues:

Stephen found it particularly exciting

Half time keep fit class

In the end, Valerenga showed their experience and ran out 2-0 winners.

After the game, we headed back to the station, and caught the train up to Oslo.

Halfway up, engineering works stopped our train so we had to transfer to the bus. The scenery, however, was spectacular, as we headed past cliffs and along the side of the fjord.

While prices in Sandefjord were high, in Oslo they were horrific. £25 for a pizza anyone? We ended up in Smak, the local fast food joint, that made Burger King look like gourmet cuisine. After a quick bite, we headed back to the hotel for a well earned rest.