Scandinavia (2021): From Thuringia to the North Cape and back
Inhalt/Content
Östersund
Finally the day of our Sweden highlight, the moose walk, had come. However, since we were way too early, we stopped a town early to stretch our legs. That’s how we ended up in Östersund, which seemed like a little gem. A relaxing park ran along the water, there were sculptures and statues here and there and as soon as we passed a major bridge we even saw an area with lots of fitness equipment, which of course personally impressed me. We actually wanted to continue to the next town after the moose walk, but we liked Östersund so much that we decided to come back here to spend the night.
Moose Garden
We reached Moose Garden about half an hour before the start of the walk. There wasn’t much to see of the moose yet, but we found ourselves on the ground floor of a larger house with lots of moose souvenirs and a small counter. Here we could also pay the entrance fee. We were suggested to go up one floor, where there were several seating areas in the form of sofas and armchairs, as well as a book corner. There was even a book there for learning Polish, which I gave Kevin directly 😉
We were among the first to arrive, but the area quickly filled with more and more people. Then it was finally time and the walk should start. We all gathered in front of said cottage where the owner introduced himself and gave us a little introduction. He explained that he is the second generation to run this place. So people thought his father was crazy when he started Moose Garden, but now it’s a huge success. The owner was particularly proud of a television team from Galileo from Germany, which once visited him here. Like his father, he claimed to be a bit crazy when it came to moose. He not only takes the moose for walks, but also makes products such as paper from moose droppings or soap from the fat in the animals’ fur. After this introduction, the actual walk began, although walking was a bit of an exaggeration. We walked about 150-200m to a shed with feeding troughs. The owner lured the moose with whistles and threw food into the troughs. Now you could pet the moose through the fence and take pictures. After the initial enthusiasm along the lines of “Oh look, there are mooses and you can pet them”, there was some disappointment. So I imagined a walk as something different than standing in a shed and squeezing through people to get the best photo or to be able to pet a moose. The joy was somewhat dampened, especially given the rather high price. Nevertheless, it was of course interesting to see moose up close, especially since we had already met many reindeer in the wild on the way, but not a single moose. After a while we went back to the cottage on our own, where we made ourselves comfortable in one of the seating areas and I drank a coffee before it, admittedly slightly disappointed that Sweden’s biggest highlight wasn’t such a big highlight , went back to Östersund.
Back in Ostersund
In Östersund we checked into a huge campsite where we again treated ourselves to the luxury of a room, although the room wasn’t quite as luxurious as the apartment in Dorotea. It was still low season so we had the entire complex of rooms to ourselves and didn’t have to share the two bathrooms and kitchen with anyone. We took a little walk across the large area of the campsite and wondered what it would be like here when it’s high season and everything is full of people. We borrowed clubs and balls from reception and played a round of mini golf. At this point I would like to explicitly emphasize that I won this round. That’s so important to me because all the previous times I’ve played minigolf with Kevin, he’s always hit him, and sometimes even by a huge margin. Finally I went running again. I actually wanted to walk back to the park from the morning, but then I decided to go in the opposite direction to see something new. I found a picturesque path along the shore. Apparently Östersund has more than one pretty corner, which surprised us in a positive way.
