Category — Finland

August 1

The 1000 lakes are actually more than 180000 (one hundred and eighty thousand!), and this morning i didnt know what to do with them. There i was in the middle of Karelia, the Lake District, and i wndt have liked to leave without checking them out, at least a little. One option was a cruise to Heinävesi - about half way up towards Kuopio, and back by bus to Savonlinna (i like this name so much!). The second option was a small cruise around Savonlinna, about 2 hours. The third option was just leaving to Helsinki.
Another question - what to do with the luggage? Stay one more night here? Leave luggage here, but check out? Leave it at the railway station? Take it on the boat?

Eventually I decide to take it “downtown”, and see from there. So I walked down to town (no hurry this time), trying to find my way on the map. At first I ignored a car which seemed to want to stop next to me, but then I heard the honk. I look up from the map - the lady in the car was waving.

“You seem to need help”

“Er… yyeaa, I’m trying to find the way to the tourist office, for a cruise.” (in my mind i was doubting that she can help me with a cruise from behind the steering wheel).

“Well, i’m driving to the office anyway, and it’s nearby, hopp in.”

Wow. Ok. I jump in, she takes me there (while I realize that the shortcut i thought i took was a longcut), telling me that she used to be a tour guide and when seeing people in touristic need she feels the urge to help.

God bless.

“Are you traveling wiht interrail? Noo, you are too old”.

“Thanks :), but I am actually traveling with interrail”.

From the short conversation I find out that apparently “men are driving the good cars in Finland, women - what they get.” I think - this old car is perfect, my increasingly heavy backpack makes no discriminations at all.

She recommends to take a cruise even if it’s clouded like it is. We arrive at the touristic office, which is closed. It opens at 9am, it is 17 before 9. My patience is up at a quarter to 9, so I say - anyway the Heinavesi boat leaves at 9, so no point waiting here - better go down to the harbor and see what’s shippin.

I reach the harbor at 7min before 9. The small cruises leave at 10 or 11, cost between 13 and 20 euros. Well, one of these it is then, i say. Let’s just quickly check further down, maybe I can find MS Puijo, which is leaving for the longer cruise, see whats up with that, if i can find it. If not, fine.

After the first corner, i notice MS Puijo. I check it out, look around - there were two men outside, talking. The alledged captain comes out, looks around, goes back in - one of the two men outside calls him back, to see what’s with me. I ask out of the blue if they give discount for interrail travelers. no expectations at all in my mind, but doesnt hurt. The trip was ~60EUR, a bit on the expensive side. He says no, but we have student discounts. How much? 54 EUR till Kuopio. But i want only to Kerma and back. Aha. Let me look. He goes back in, but the same guy calls him back and tells him something. So the captain says - look, this man is the owner of the boat, he says you can come for 30 EUR, as an “interrailer” alright. Last offer.

…mmmmmmok. let’s go.

So off we go, immediately. Along the Savonlinna castle,

entering the Lake World.

I’m on board now, writing. Deck is full.

Cold.
It starts to rain.
Everything is blue-grey-ish. The lake, the forest, everything. It’s raining in the distance. The lady from the hostel was right, it’s not much fun when it’s raining. I imagine that on sunny weather, it must me much more colorful.

But the other lady was right to. I’m glad i took the trip. God knows when i’ll be back to Lakeland - at least i get a glimpse at what the 180000 lakes are about.

Rain has reached us. I’d better close the laptop.

(…)

Rain didn’t last long. And, miracle, a patch of clear sky!

I then had a chromatic revelation - probably one of the main reasons for the “clear sky and blue ocean” is the reflection of the sky in the water! It’s a logic thing, but for one who has rarely seen the sea, I never spent much time thinking about it. I just knew that the Black Sea was called that way because the first Greek colonists who entered it found it stormy. And if it was at night too… pretty clear, huh.

On the lake, you could clearly see how the water was blue under the clear sky patch, and grey elsewhere.

Causing general enthusiasm on deck (inhabited only by me at the time), the sun came up in the distance too! Which again changed chromatics

and finally reached us.

That didnt last for long either, we turned towards more clouds

but still. I had prayed for a little sun, just to see how it is, and i got it. Thank you!

In the meantime we entered more narrow channels, also seeing first traces of “civilization”,

finally coming close to the image i previously had about the “land of the 1000 lakes”.

The trip went on amidst this kind of landscapes,

cold, but not too cold,

clouded, but with some sunny intermezzos, received enthusiastically.

And with other things learned, for example about the Saimaa seal species, endangered, but with protection they managed to grow the population till about 300. 300, like the last Spartans of Leonidas. I’m afraid they will have the same fate…

Meanwhile, we reached the locks.

making the transition between lakes where you have level differences.

Most of them apparently made by russians, when Karelia was under their rule. Boats were the main means of transport then (even now, not many roads or railroads).

First lock was ~20cm level difference, the second one ~1m, the third one, where I got off, almost 2 metres (!).

Here in Kerma i got off the Puijo

and took a minibus back to Savonlinna. Where it was raining. I realized that I had taken this trip to Northern Europe unprepared for the most likely meteorological phenomenon I was going to meet: rain. I had taken no umbrella. I figured, my rain coat should protect me + camera alright if it rains. What i didnt think of is how it could protect me + camera + 2 backpacks, one of them huge. Luckily, rain was rare during the trip, and even now in Savonlinna it didn’t last for long.

So after a delicious salmon soup at the “Red Salmon” restaurant on the lake, on to Parikkala and finally Helsinki, for the last night in Scandinavia. Time flies.

July 31

I dont know exactly why i expected this trip with so much excitement. Maybe because it’s “off the beaten path”, maybe because everything is “on the edge” and has to work perfectly within narrow margins for it to happen, donno, but i was bursting with excitement.

Train was at 7:15am. Well, yeah, had to cross half of Finland. Half awake, managed to catch it. Plan was to see Lapland from the train, so naturally I fell asleep instantly and woke up in Oulu, where Lapland…ends.

From Oulu to Pieksämäki I was at least planning to see lakeland Finland. So I slept 4 hours out of 5 like a log, managing to catch very few glimpses at some lakeish landscapes.

At 15:10, 3 minutes before the expected descent in Pieksämäki, ticket control passes. I ask the guy, just to be safe – Pieksämäki? Joo, joo. I take my backpack, prepare to descende - somebody taps me on the shoulder - the controller. Tells me something I don’t understand, seems stressed. Asks around if anyone speaks english. A nice lady offers to translate, says - “we are late, this is Suonenjoki, not Pieksämäki.” My jaw drops. I have a connection at 15:20. “You won’t catch it”, she says. Damn. “But the company helps you with a taxi to Savonlinna.” Oh. Another young fella was listening with interest - was going in the same direction. So he helped me once we arrived in Pieksämäki half an hour late, where after a few kiitos-es (thank you) to the lady, i went with the curly guy and found the bus, which was waiting for us. Had to pay the ticket though - 25 euros. Oh well.

The driver managed to cut some of the slack, so we entered Savonlinna at 17:45. My hostel was far away from the centre, I was worried I don’t have enough time. So I asked the driver if he knows the place, and - leaves me 20m away from the hostel! Kiitos!

I quickly check in, change into the best clothes i have with me (i.e. the old jeans unused yet, so at least clean, and the only shirt with a collar i have, bought from Greenland because it was the only model available). No other shoes available but the dusty sneakers - oh well. Small backpack ready, asked at the reception how I can get to the centre FAST. By cab. How much? 10 EUR. That’s all I have left cash… Ok, call one.

Where should I leave you? asks the cabby. At the castle gate, or, maybe no, at the tourist office. It’s closer, 8 EUR. Where do you get tickets from? i ask. No idea. It’s late anyway, he says, you have to get in at quarter to 7. It’s 25 past 6 when I get to the tourist office.

“Do you still have tickets?”

“Yees, plenty.”

YES!! so it worked out!!

Please give me the cheapest one.

Sure. 78 EUR.

Ouch. the ones costing 29 or 33 EUR are sold out… Dang… Well, since I got here anyway, whatta hell… I’ll sacrifice something else. E.g. the boat trip to Kuopio tomorrow, let’s see. Gimme one ticket please!

Where do you wanna sit?

No idea. wherever.

We have one spot in front, very lateral, and some very at the back.

So…? I can’t make up my mind. Where would you sit?

In front.

OK.

I take the ticket, hurry through the town centre

Towards the “objective”.

As i was getting closer I realized that there still were quite a few people on streets obviously going to the same event I was, since they looked fairly smartly dressed.

And here we are.

The Savonlinna castle is home of the biggest festival in Finland, an opera festival.

It lasts for one month and it is held here:

I had found out in Rovaniemi that the festival is not over, and tonight they play Verdi’s “Othello”, which is the closing show as well two days from now. So I thought that is a good enough reason to get down from teh Arctic Circle. Just making it in time was a problem, so I didnt’ buy tickets in advance, to leave it up to the destiny. Somebody Up There arranget things so I get in time, and therefore - Opera night tonight!

I mingled with the spiffy crowd

and joined the atmosphere.

The 2 EUR from my pocket were not enough to buy a libretto, or a bottle of water, or a minusculous cookie for that matter. You can do NOTHING with 2 EUR in Finland.

My place was in row 5, and I was seeing this

and i was NOT seeing the translation screen on top of the stage.

Music starts. And all of the sudden, a whole bunch of Chinese people invade the stage. Othello’s Chinese Army!

Because it is a production of the Shanghai Opera. Everyone is Chinese, from the Moor to Desdemona. Rodrigo looks a bit like Jackie Chan, I have this surreal expectation that would initiate some pretty cool fighting schemes in the opening scene.

But no. Everybody is serious about business. They sing in Italian, and eventually I manage to read some of the subtitles.

At the break though I went to the back looking for a place, which I found, only to observe that… some structure was obtruding the view to the subtitling board! Damn. After a while I noticed that the structure itself had a subtitle screen on it, so i watched the second part with a “big picture” view.

Waz nais. In spite of the fact that I understood almost nothing of what they were singing, I didnt get bored almost at all, except at Desdemona’s song during the 3rd act (neverending!). Music was so-so. Ok, but nothing memorable. At least, not for me. No Nabucco choir, no Aida march. Just the Moor’s drrrama and the handkerchief crisis.

And, of course, the sentimental value Othello has for me, since i had to play the bastard at the Shakespeare festival, ages ago. God was that tough.

I also remembered mom saying she saw or heard of Othello in Russian, and he was saying “davai zdreantza, Desdemona!” ”Kakaia zdreanţa, Atielo?”.
These people should have said something like “tígōng shoupà, Des De Mo Na!” “nǎxiē shoupà, O Te Lo?”
Or they could have started to sing Othello’s song:

At the end of the day, everything went according to plan. The rug was a trap, and everything fell apart. Grand applause at the end:

Spiffy people streamed out of the castle

(speaking of spiffy, during the second part I sat next to a guy in a black suit and flipflops. I felt overshoed with my sneakers.

It was not dark yet, so I quickly took some more pictures of the castle.

Looking for a good spot, asking myself if it is ok to step on the grass, i saw these young people

doin a picnic, so i relaxed and stepped on the grass.

Then I hear “hey, guy”. Hmmm… I ignore it. “Hey, guy!”. I turn around - they were talking to me. If i want to take a picture of them drinking, eating and playing poker. Seemed tipsy too. Another one says - “no worries, dont listen to him. where are you from?”
“Romania”.
“Oh, we’re almost neighbors, I’m from Ukraine”.

“We are neighbors.”

At first, I was cautious - being raised to avoid talking to strangers, especially tipsy ones seeking conversations. But he stood up, came closer and started chatting away. Told me about the castle, about the opera festival, made a download of his point of view about Finland (it’s very nice, but people are cold), about his life as a peacekeeper… At the end, he invited me to join them for the poker and drinks, but when i politely declined he just said - “well, good luck then, enjoy Finland!” and returned to his comrads.

I left, a bit ashamed of my early suspicions. I have not found one unfriendly person in the entire Northern trip (except Yul, but he’s not nordic). I walked along the lake shore - L.Planet was saying that the evening view of the castle is “dramatic”. Let’s see how dramatic:

I made dozens of pictures, donno which one to put here. Let’s finish with this one:

On the way home, dark clouds were gathering above the horizon. Hmmm… tomorrow, weather will be a key element. Hope no storm.

Back at the hostel, I fell asleep on a thunder-lightning-rainfalling background. Good night.

July 30

I’m at a terrace in the center of Rovaniemi, surrounded by talkative Finns. I am wearing shorts and a Tshirt. It’s 9pm, sunny and warm on the Arctic Circle.

The first impression in the Rovaniemi railway station were the probably American boy in flipflops. Dude, you’re on the Arctic Circle!!

Out in the street, though, I realized that the kid was not far from the truth: It was pleasant outside, and it was barely 8am. (excellent conditions in the 12.5 hours train from Helsinki, managed to sleep pretty well)

The most expensive overnight stay on the trip so far, the City hotel is a decent 3-star. I had found it thru booking.com; hostelworld.com didnt have anything free! Or rather a poor database - there are more hostels in Rovaniemi than you would think from their site.

After checking in, I go straight to the tourist office, to ask for help with the next accomodation, and start with the standard question: “where do i find a public phone”?

“There are no public phones in Finland.”

After a confusion pause, it rings a bell, and I unwillingly mutter “damn those mobile phone guys”. “I’m sorry?” she asks. Before I can say “nothing, nothing” with a little embarrassment, she says “yes, these Nokia people, what can you do”. So she heard. Still, she is very friendly and calls up a hostel (from her… mobile phone) to find accomodation for me. Which she finds.

Happy, I hurry to catch the bus, which I obviously miss, which gives me time to change into shorts and T-shirt. Well, it’s already 11am and it is… warm outside!

I reach Santa Claus’ Village around half past noon. S.C.V. is the main touristic attraction here. It is said that Santa lives somewhere in the North, in Lapland, on the Arctic Circle. Well, this is Lapland, and this is the Arctic Circle.

Napapiiri, în Finnish.

I took a few moments to take it in, made a few calls and sent SMSez marking the moment, got used to the idea of the 25 degrees Celsius I was feeling, and then had a look around the village. First, the building

which hosts

Santa’s Office

I could have gone in to meet him, but I heard a kid crying inside and got scared away. Looked at the countless souvenirs and jinglebells instead.

And this was just the souvenirstart. The whole village is full of them. Some are pretty cool - unfortunately (or fortunately), my luggage is not suited for much shopping on this trip, so I move on to Santa’s Post Office

which receives apparently around 500000 letters per year, and a staff (elves, of course) help him out to answer almost half. Probably, to kids who have been behaving that year.

There is only one other functional “objective” in summer, the husky camp. Around 200m from the center. So I go, nobody at the gate. I open, get in - nobody. Just a tied up tired sad sick dog. I see/hear others further on, barking. There’s a cabin, a small bench and a TV on. No human around.

I go out and in and out and in again, hesitating… about the time I’m about to leave, I hear voices and stronger barking - the guide was returning with some tourists after a small tour. For 6 EUR I also did a small tour, on my own, in a large garden with cages hosting 40 dogs, huskies and some spitz, and a REINDEER.

You can play with them, but since I have a deep respect for the canine race, I just took a few pix.

This guy apparently played a part in a Lordi clip.

Now he was all chillin - well, rock star.

The reindeer

looked sleepy and clumsy, almost drunk. Nice antlers, though. Didn’t know that they were covered in fur

and only in autumn the fur comes down to leave the empty bone. Mating is done exclusively on the “antler principle”, correlated with “size matters”. The largest antlers get the girl. Period, no discussion. They apparently grow twice this size, and after the mating season fall off again, and in spring it starts all over.

At least I learned something. And it was not the only thing. Back in Rovaniemi, I went to the LP-recommended Arktikum museum

which was interesting, informative, interactive. Sami people have fantastic traditional costumes, I had no idea, thought they wd dress all in furs. Nope, only at the beginning, after cloth came to these areas they developed a spectacular dress. I learned more stuff, and saw a simulation of the northern lights. Cool.

I walked back, along the river

and ended up enjoying this cranberry juice at this pub terrace, on the small cobbled stoned street which is the center of Rovaniemi.

The sun is about to set. It is “only” 9pm - sign that autumn is coming. It’s almost august, nights start to grow again - the “white” ones are in june.

With this, the utmost northern point of the trip has been reached. 66°32′35” northern latitude. The place starting where, at summer solstice, the sun doesn’t set. I recommend a visit in winter, it must be an eerie landscape. 1m snow, all sorts of “safari” activities with much more energetic huskies.

That being said, starting tomorrow, it’s all back South…

July 29

The first target in Helsinki was the railway station, to buy tickets for the next destination. The lady at the counter was called Ms. Ruotsalainen, which I found very cool :). That’s when I felt it - I’m in Finland!

When you leave your luggage at the railway station, you should be careful and take everything you need with you. If you forget something and have to reopen, you have to repay. Like I did.

Lonely Planet advised a breakfast at Esplanade or Sindberg, so I did

and then, on the way to the harbor, I take a random look left and see this

What’s with the crowd? I had planned the big Cathedral for later, but adjusted flexibly and checked it out to see what’s going on with the crowd.

A fanfare was playing, people applauding… I was wondering what it could be, when someone tapped me on my shoulder: “you have the American air, you should know: what’s going on here?”

I turned and said - “Ai hev nău aidia! Ai mast ask maiself.”

Confusion. She probably didn’t expect that weird accent coming out under a boston red sox hat. “Another converted russian”, she must have thought. Many people think my accent is russian, which mesmerizes me.

I finally found out it is a military fanfare festival in town, and this was a “teaser”.

3 orchestras, the Whites,

the Blues

and the Riders.

Very enjoyable performance:

It was soon over, so I went on, into the church, since I was there already. Not much decorated inside, but with nice sounding organpipes:

Returned to the harbor, just in time to catch a public transport boat to Suomenlinna. On the way I saw Marinella, the boat that brought me here:

anchored lazily

letting a sailor tickle its bell.

Suomenlinna is a fortress-island, UNESCO heritage, constructed by the Swedes, taken by the Russians, damaged in was, and finally taken by Finns.

Rocky beaches with people sunbathing,

Russian cannons shooting at 8km,

the Vesikko submarine, the only one Finland kept after the war, as a museum

which i visited

to see how submarines lived.

Tough life.

For example, they slept here. And loaded the torpedos as well.

Back to town,

to the Upensky Orthodox church, with a rich exterior

and interior architecture.

Next, after taking a picture called “blue”,

I went to follow my King Kong syndrome, to the highest panorama point in town, the Ateljee bar from hotel Tornio.

On the way back to the harbor I met these creative gentlemen at Kappeli,

on the way to see the symbol of the city, the Havis Amanda statue

playing with kids.

Birds

said goodbye, and after a last stop on the steps of the great white cathedra

I hit the road to the railway station, in anticipation of the last major Call of the North on this trip.

July 28, 23:41

Announced by a lighthouse

and overtaken by a boat,

We reached the Åland islands around 11pm, the first and last stop on the way to Helsinki.

Funnily enough (or maybe not), the red light had moved from west to north, falling behind the harbor

where another Viking Line ship was anchored, empty.

We docked next to it,

and when turning around, a Silja Line ship was coming, “competition”. They are more expensive, and it seems with newer and shinier ships.

It tuuuurned

and parked close to us

so we could exchange waves with people aboard. I don’t know where this impulse of waving to unknown people you meet like this comes from, but it’s fun.

By the time Silja was anchored, we were already on our way,

drifting apart,

faster and faster, till you could barely see the ships.

Suddenly I saw how the light had stayed only on the left side of the sky, the other was pitchdark, quite clearly delimited.

Not long after that, we were out of the islands, and immersed, a small flicker of light, deep into the night.