FUN IN FINLAND

The ship dropped us at the port of Kirkines. We had a 2 hour wait for our bus, so again we stretched our legs into town and found yet another church. It was now minus 11 degrees, our coldest temperature yet. The snow underfoot was particularly soft and we were told it was Christmas snow because when it fell the snowflakes were the size of your hand. This was our last taste of Norway. As we crossed the border, our driver slowed in case immigration wanted to check us, sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. There is an agreement named Schengen which allows free inter border travel.

As soon as we crossed the border into Finland, green pine trees appeared. Weird. We hadn’t seen many trees recently and then only ones that had lost their foliage.

Our shuttle bus dropped us off at our log chalet at Kakslauttanen in Finland. After a delicious meal, we fired up our personal sauna and thawed out nicely. It was nice not having to hold onto the bed for fear of rolling out (the ship experience) and we slept like logs in our log chalet. We walked to breakfast thinking if felt a bit colder than what we had experienced. The Receptionist said it was currently minus 24! A shuttle bus took us over to the West Village where Ruthie had her “culcha” fix in the art gallery. If any of you have a spare 12,000 euro, an up and coming artist we’ve been told will be way more valuable in the future is Simafra. Very impressive. Next we ventured to Santa’s reindeer and for your information you should be putting out moss on Christmas Eve as this is what they eat.

Onto Santa’s house and the elf huts and we were like 2 excited little children on Christmas Eve. The cold was starting to win. I had frozen icicles on my nose and Ruthie had a frozen tear. I thought it was a good idea to wash my cold hands under warm water. Ouch! The callouses on the tips of my fingers from guitar playing caned. Nurse Ruthie of course knew not to use artificial heat but I wish she had told me that beforehand. Time to head back to the warmth of our chalet in preparation for husky sledding tonight as we’ve had our 2 hours of daylight!

So after dinner it was over to the West village. We added thermal suits, extra gloves and boots to what we were already wearing. Ruthie said she felt like a sumo wrestler. The sled man said we would be very cold so rug up. There were 6 people from the UK to make up our group. Four were there to celebrate a 40th birthday, the other two were young girls. We were given our dog sledding driving instructions before meeting our dogs. There would be a snow mobile at the front and one at the back. As the activity was in search of the Northern Lights, it was pitch black and the drivers were given head torches. The huskies and malamutes had sledded during the day and we were given the euro hounds. The dogs were keen and howling. I was driving first with Ruthie in the comfort of the sled being the photographer and as it turned out we were at the back with the snow mobile behind. Woooooosh!!!!! We were off. A track had been worn in the snow which the dogs knew to follow. The dogs were very strong. I didn’t tell Ruthie that I nearly flipped the sled on the first turn. I had approached the corner too fast and the sled had left the track and had jumped the track onto the snow embankment. After a brilliant correction move and with my heart back in place, we were back on track. I learnt how to use the brake very quickly. Two of the overweight poms were in front of us and the driver had to help the dogs and sled up the hills by using one foot like a scooter motion. No such problems for us, we were scooting up and down the hilly parts and I was leaning into the cambers. Lots of squeals from Ruthie, so I assumed she was enjoying it. We weren’t allowed to overtake and had to keep our distance from the sled in front. The bloody poms were slowing us down!The halfway stop had arrived. We had a warm drink around a fire in a wig wam like tent. While some of the other teams swapped driver and passenger, we decided to stay the same.

So off we go again to complete the 10 k circuit! Wooosh! The dogs still keen and howling. As we got around the bend, I couldn’t make out whether it was a Yeti or the Michelin man ahead. Turns out one of the young pommy girls had fallen off her sled which was now a runaway and she was chasing after it. Luckily her sled stopped when it encountered two of the other poms who had come to a stop by flipping their sled! Everyone was ok. Us oldies caused the guides far less stress! As the ride arrived back, we realised we weren’t cold at all even though it was minus 18. It had been an exciting, exhilarating, worthwhile adventure as well as a good workout (for me anyway.) We were shown where the approx 180 dogs lived and Ruthie soon was cuddling an Alaskan malamute puppy which she fell in love with. Back to the log Chalet for a cup of tea and an 11pm sauna as you do in these parts.

A quick breakfast before catching the public bus to the next stop. Even though it was 8am, it was pitch black and minus 16 degrees. We had to sled our luggage to the bus stop and then wait. The bus stop was filled with snow but the excitement of our next adventure kept us warm.

The public bus dropped us in the city of Rovaniemi where we briefly stopped at Maccie Dee’s for a fake coffee. Our shuttle bus was picking us up at the Santa Claus Hotel and again we made all our travel connections. Santa is very big in Finland and I think it might confuse a few kids as to why he has so many houses. Even the public buses have “Santa’s Express” on the side of them. In all our snow covered road travelling I had thought to myself if you spun me around twice, I’d be lost as all the roads and embankments just melt into one big snowfield. The signs are iced over and hard to read. Even this shuttle bus driver missed our turn off and he travels this route many times a day.

We finally arrived at the Arctic Snow Hotel to stay in our glass igloo for the night which is right on the Arctic Circle so we are slowly making our way back South. Our Igloo wasn’t ready so we killed some time checking out the Ice Bar, Ice Restaurant and Snow Hotel made entirely from ice and snow and rebuilt every year. We were so cold none of it appealed to us and we booked into dinner in the Restaurant with the open fire!

Dinner was amazing. The Salmon was cooked over an open fire pit in front of us and a couple of red wines made it very cosy.

Back to our glass igloo and even though we could see the stars, there was no appearance of the Northern Lights. Even so, it was a tranquil and peaceful experience lying in your bed stargazing. It is said that seeing the Northern Lights is a once in a lifetime experience and we may have had our moment.

The next morning we had 9 hours of train travel ahead of us to reach Helsinki. The trains are very comfortable and have restaurant cars as well as toilets and wifi.

We swapped trains at Oulu for the Helsinki express. You certainly couldn’t describe the view as “ever changing” as I swear 8 hours of it was spindly pine trees and snow. We did pass some schools and it was nice to see the children playing in their snow covered schoolyards. Ruthie remarked that the Aussie kids would probably be on their wet weather timetable. I loaded our luggage into one of the automatic locking storage lockers. The problem was you needed 50 Euro cents to get it out. Up to now our Visa Global currency card had been fabulous. I thought, how good is it not having to carry cash. Well now I was in a pickle. How do I get our luggage out. We were straight on the google but all I found there is that they can sell your luggage if unclaimed. I felt like a homeless man and I must have looked like one too. A fellow passenger gave me a 50 cent Euro. They got off at the next station. I couldn’t find any bloody slot for a coin and couldn’t re-open the locker! Back to square one. Panicked I asked the conductor. He took me and showed me how it operated. It turns out someone prior had left their coin in the slot which luckily the conductor thought was mine. When I returned to my seat, I said to Ruthie, well this homeless man now has 2 50 cent Euro coins. She erupted into unconstrained laughter with tears running down her cheeks. (You know the one Katie and Sarah). We do look like homeless people wearing the same things everyday carrying all our worldly possessions with us.

Finally we arrived at Helsinki station and trudged our 1.2 km’s to the GLO Hotel. It was nice to stretch the legs. The footpaths were a mixture of salt and sand to stop you from slipping on the icy snow. It reminded us of lugging our luggage over the sand at some Asian beach resorts we’ve been too except for the bloody weather. Even though it was snowing, it doesn’t seem to make you wet like rain would.

Some food supplies from the local minimart along with a couple of beers and we were in for an early night. The next day we started to explore Helsinki. The people here seem more friendly than up in the north. I think the Laplanders have a Russian influence as they are near the Russian border and they came across as comrades and were shy to make eye contact. Our walk involved a beautiful snow covered Central Park, the harbour area and yes 2 more churches/cathedrals. It’s not on purpose we set out to find churches on our travels, but they are everywhere in Europe. They are magnificent old buildings and hard to imagine how they were constructed all those ages ago. They contain so much history. Wars have been fought over religion forever, particularly Catholicism.

I wonder in centuries to come, if Muslim mosques will be thought of in the same way. A trip to the museum had us feeling very nostalgic! Both of us remembering things from our childhood – yes we really are old relics now! When we found the shopping district, Ruthie was in her element although we all know she is mainly a window shopper. We walked about 9kms before a hot chocolate back at the hotel. The thing we noticed today is that a lot of the locals started talking to us in their native tongue before seeing our confused look and switching to English. Very impressive. When travelling in Asia, we obviously don’t look Asian so the locals just start in English unless I confuse them with some Dutch! Also, I’m loathe to admit, Ruthie has become the google maps queen, constantly getting us home. It is said that travel helps the mind keep dementia at bay and all the thinking through public transport, using foreign currency etc has got to be helping us. Even shopping takes all our deciphering skills.

Finland in a nutshell. Finnish Lapland in the north is the wild rugged, adventure area. The land seemed a lot flatter than Norway. We saw it in winter with not much daylight and plentiful snow and ice. The average temperature seemed to hang around minus 16 and the many lakes were totally frozen over. It would look completely different in the summer with views of green pine trees and blue lakes. The landscape was a hue of whites, greys and black. This was spectacularly beautiful in its own way. With the Russian border not far away, you can certainly feel the Russian influence within the Finnish Laps.

We enjoyed Helsinki and were able to see most important landmarks just walking around. It seems to be free and easy going, many western cultures and many cafe, restaurants and strip shopping areas. There are no real high rise buildings here and the different seasons may give it a different vibe.