Follow My Way: January 2013

A Northern Adventure of Helsinki, Finnish Lapland and Stockholm.

Before getting into the details, here is some local popular music, (despite Scandinavia’s love for Metal Music, I’ve chosen some easier listening), Sweedish Sami Singer, Sofia Jannok and Swedish rapper, Amok.

Helsinki

My mini holiday began in Helsinki. Helsinki was not as I expected. I think the band 'Architecture in Helsinki', just by name, painted a vibrant city and through their music conjured images of a happening place with so much visual appeal.

However, it was rather dull. It felt more like a small, sleepy town. My impression was that Helsinki didn't have as many welcoming touristy attractions or inviting nightlife as other European cities. Although I can see that during the summer it would be a delightful weekend away location.

I particularly enjoyed Soumenlinna Island, Finland's most popular tourist attraction, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The maritime fortress is a great half-day trip and just a short ferry trip from Helsinki. The Island has a fascinating history, is picturesque and has many nooks and crannies to explore.

Waiting for the fairy in downtown Helsinki

Just one of the views from Soumenlinna Island.

The tunnels in the old fortress reminded me of the Coal Loader.

View from Soumenlinna Island looking back at Helsinki

An old Cannon on Soumenlinna Island

Starring down the Canon on Soumenlinna Island

Finnish Lapland

After three nights in Helsinki I was ready for a change of scenery and once the overnight bus trip with 50 Erasmus students was complete I found myself in a winter wonderland.

Lapland was stunningly beautiful.

Our first stop was in Rovaniemi, the official hometown of Santa Claus. Here we, obviously, visited Santa Claus’ village, as well as, the architectural wonder and delightful museum, Arktikum.

Letters to Santa sorted by country

Santa's little helpers sorting all the mail.

Santa receives more than 600 000 letters every year.

Our first beautiful sunset from Santa's village

Christina and Annae at Santa Claus' village

Artikum Museum

Some facts I learned at the Artikum Museum:

The Sami are Lapland’s, and indeed the European Union’s only remaining indigenous peoples. They lived in Lapland prior to the establishme t of national borders.
There are around 8700 Sami living in Finland. They speak three languages and each have their own national costume.
Of the 4.5 million people living within the 8 artic countries, less than 20% are indigenous people.
Winter in Lapland lasts for up to 200 days. Only approximately 110 days reach above +5 degrees centigrade.
A few people per km squared live in Finnish Lapland.
There are more than 2 million saunas in Finland altogether.
Explanation of the Northern lights: The sun is the primary source of the Northern Lights. The flow of particles coming from the sun, the solar wind, carries electrons and protons towards the earth’s atmosphere. The solar wind is no gentle breeze, the particles are discharged at a velocity of as much as 1000 kilometres an hour. The earth’s magnetic field, the magnetosphere, provides protection from the majority of the particle bombardment. However, part of the particles penetrate through the magnetic shield and is directed to the poles. The particles gain added velocity at the poles of the magnetic field. When they crash into oxygen and hydrogen atoms as well as nitrogen molecules in the upper atmosphere, the ionosphere, the particles in the solar wind transfer energy to them and set off a state of excitation. Light is created when this state of excitiation is discharged- the result is the Northern Lights.

Activities:

Because I knew I would be miserable in the cold weather I signed myself up for almost every activity on offer for the tour. These included, a husky safari, a snow mobile adventure, snow shoeing, cross country skiing and an Artic Ocean tour.

Husky facts:

Dogs weigh 25kg on average and perform best at -20 to -25 degress centigrade, reaching top of around 40km/hr.
They eat snow for hydration.

Christina and I warming up post husky safari. I was SO cold :-(

Looking particularly attractive in my snowmobile get up.

Evan, ?, and I cross country skiing.

Cross Country Skiing was a lot of fun! So different to downhill.

I loved the Artic Ocean tour, in which we visited a small town called Bugoynes, however I wouldn’t choose to do it again because we spent a ridiculous number of hours on the bus. Really all we did was swim in the artic ocean and have a talk on the town, including a sneak peak at the largest live export factory of king crab.

Killing time in town waiting for lunch

Walking around town. Killing time before lunch and keeping warm after our swim in the Artic Ocean.

Me, Lorenzo and Andrea at a pitt stop to gaze on the fjords

My buss buddy Evan.

Although this wasn't at the actual moment one of two of the buses in our group did break down in similar conditions and we all ended up stopped for about 90mins. It just made a long day on the bus unbearably longer and our poor bus driver had to be out in the cold trying to get things going.

A dead king crab at the factory in Bugoynes.

Fjords

We also had a cultural evening in which we met and learnt about how a Sami family lives. It included a reindeer ride around the back yard haha

Andrea, a local in traditional dress and Lorenzo

Cooking sausages the traditional way in a Sami hut

A reindeer looking very cross at Evan

THE NORTHERN LIGHTS

Our Cabin group when the northern lights first appeared

Walking up the hill to be in the best location to view the northern lights

Pictures to give you an idea of how serene and picturesque Saariselka is...

Some cabin shots

Christina, Annae and Peter grocery shopping

Walking down to our Cabin- it is very difficult to tell what time of day this was because the sun never rose.

Daryl and Annae relaxing

Peter (and Philip) did a great job of keeping the place warm.

Amy, Daryl, Annae and I.

View from our balcony

And lastly, before we leave Finland, you couldn't go past Angry bird merchandise.

Stockholm

A local told me Stockholm is considered the capital of Scandinavia and the Vienna of the north. I’m not going to dispute or verify either statements but I definitely fell in love with the city. Stockholm was enchanting and I thought this despite the terrible snowstorm during my stay. It has many interesting winter attractions. I’ve briefly outlined my thoughts on two, the Fotografiska museum and Skansen.

Street view from my hostel- the snow storm had only just begun :-/

Fotografiska’s exhibition of David LaChapelle’s works

From the director of exhibitions

“In a career spanning 30 years, David LaChapelle has developed an imagery that blurs boundaries and created a universe of his own, which embraces people of all genders, colours, body types and ages. His photographs are influenced by everything from movies and amateur photography to art history and pornography, which he transforms into elements of his artistic vision.

His fashion images are part of our time’s obsession with luxury and consumption. At the same time, his pictures affirm the rich variation of human beauty…”

Favourite works were

- Would be martyr and 72 virgins, 2008;

- Candy Mosque, 2008; and

- Pamela Anderson: over easy, 1998.

These children were having the time of their lives getting amongst the snow.
I didn't feel quite the same at that point.

Stockholm Town hall.

Just before I escaped the snow storm to wander through the Royal Palace.

My new friend Evan who I literally ran into in the snow storm.

A random building in the middle of the city decorated for Christmas.

A view of the city

After a having delicious Swedish Meatballs at 'Tradition' some
girls and I from the hostel tackled the treacherous journey back.

The Nordic Museum- which was a stunning building but had fairly average exhibits.

Skansen

The worlds first open air museum, founded in 1891 by Arthur Hazelius, exhibits and demonstrates the different ways of life across Sweeden before the industrial era.

Although undoubtedly it would make a great attraction in the summer time, I was disappointed as it is a ghost town in the winter and it didn’t help that due to poor signage I arrived an hour before attractions opened. Nonetheless, the exhibits were very interesting and well set up.

There were a diverse range of buildings from the period and I learnt about traditional living. Some facts;

Traditionally candles were made from animal fat.
In the 18^th century travelling was easier in the winter because journeying by sleigh was faster and less cumbersome than carriage.
Flat bread was made over a period of 3 days twice a year and stored for consumption.