I ended up with quite a compilation of Finnish sketches from our three weeks there. I tried hard to capture the landscapes around our cabin at Nallikari, because they were inspiring.
I had also compiled a collection of sketches from England.
But my best painting was one I did when I got home, of that snowy day at Chatsworth.
Finally, we have come to the northern-most point of our trip, the Lapland town of Rovaniemi. On the way, we saw a herd of reindeer…
But we saw no snow at all, just spring green.
And strangely enough, it was quite warm that day, too.
But we weren’t there to see the town centre, no, we had another place in mind. Can you guess where?
Once we crossed the Arctic Circle…
We knew we were in the realm of the man in the red suit.
As you can see, Santa’s village was shockingly touristy, but wonderful nevertheless if you were visiting as a child in winter. As an adult in summer-like temperatures, the Santa village was quite underwhelming. Despite that, we had a try at spreading some Christmas cheer to some of the little people in our lives.
Inside the post office, there were some busy elves about, although they had time to pose for a photo.
We were able to send some Christmas cards, stamped from the North Pole, that arrived just in time for Christmas. And if you do send a letter to Santa to the North Pole, the letter apparently does physically arrive here! We didn’t go any further north, but we didn’t mind, since we had already visited the ‘North Pole’.
So from London to the Santa’s place, it certainly has been a monumental journey around Europe from south to north. We really enjoyed it, and it’s been nice to share and relive it bit by bit. Now, for the journey home…
That evening, W took us to his mother’s farmstead in the village of Loue. The farm has been in the family since her parents’ marriage in the 1935s. The house was built by hand by her father (W’s grandfather), who used to run a small herd of cows and did a bit of woodcutting in between. W remembered spending some summers there with his cousins, playing in the woods and in the nearby river, but since he died, and his children moved away, the farm has been empty.
Looking inside, it was as if time had stood still.
You can see how simply they lived, with only a two-up, two-down house, a barn, a long-drop toilet, and a sauna (which every Finn house has, by the way). Their story probably is similar to all the small farmsteads all over Finland – too small to do anything constructive with, too far away from the waterways to be attractive to holidaymakers.
W’s elderly mother comes back every year to do a bit of maintainence, but since she was getting on, W decided to help out by clearing the scrub behind the house a little bit, with Hubby’s assistance. No fire bans here – the ground was still much too damp from the long winter.
While they did the heavy work, I took a little walk in the birch copse behind the house. Like foreigners are fascinated with gum trees, I was fascinated by the elegance of the birch trees.
They were particularly beautiful close-up, their white trunks reflecting the golden light of sunset. Afterwards, we used the coals of the dying bonfire to cook our sausages and drink a bit of beer. It was a satisfying end to the day.
We’re on the final leg of our journey northbound through Europe. We’ve left coastal Oulu with Hubby’s friend W, and made our way north through more woodland, to Lapland.
On the way, we crossed many rivers. Not many signs of human habitation here, just the odd farmstead or country home like this one.
We visited a historical cabin deep in the woods. It was the hideout for the Finnish resistance fighters during World War I. There were eight men living rough in all weathers, trapping their food, while fighting against the Russians. The men must have been super tough to get through it all.
We visited a little country Lutheran church, where W’s parents got married in the 50’s.
This WWII memorial was very touching. Goes to show that people everywhere were touched by that conflict.
Let us catch the sights of Oulu once more, by bicycle. We hired a bike on a few days, and took advantage of the wonderful cycling network.
By the end of May, the sun truly came out, and the temperature rose over 20C. That meant that the locals were out in force. On a wedding shoot on the beach.
Fishing on the estuary (yes, that is that guy’s real skin colour).
Having a beer in the sun.
Wearing short shorts.
All in the name of catching as much sun as possible. It made me realise that we do take sunlight and heat for granted in Australia. Next, we travel even further north, to Lapland.
A merry Christmas and a happy new year to everyone! I hope that you all enjoyed your merry season with your loved ones and weren’t too silly in the process.
To continue on my series of Scandi foods, we’ll have a look at what the Finns eat. Their snack foods were rather standard (and perhaps not as highly spiced as ours), but they certainly had interesting names.
But more seriously, the Finns like their baked goods, especially their sweet buns. And they also seem to like their pancakes too. We went to a traditional pancake house in the middle of Oulu, and sampled some of their savoury pancakes – Hubby had the salami and cheese.
While I tried the salmon and dill. They were a bit too salty for me, but Hubby enjoyed his.
We also ate some distinctly Finnish cuisine. A summer crayfish salad – refreshing as the spring weather peaked over 20C.
Grilled reindeer steaks with lingonberry sauce – gamey and hearty.
And shortcake tart with cloudberry sauce. I hadn’t seen cloudberries before but it’s the summer berry from Sweden and Finland. They grow on the edges of swamps and also makes a good local liqueur.
So the Finns eat pretty well when the weather is warm, but like a lot of cold climate cultures, preserved foods (jams, pickled vegetables, meat and fish) played, and still plays, a big part of their diet. So different to Australia where the climate is so mild to have fresh food available all year round.
As I mentioned, we arrived in Oulu to cooler weather, but it didn’t stop us from having a barbecue! We were invited by Hubby’s friends, who lived in the nearby town of Kiiminki, to a barbecue by the river. The Finns love doing anything outdoors, so eating outside fits the bill. But instead of electric barbecues that are so common in public parks in Australia, the council here provided firepits and free wood.
Once the coals are glowing, you can skewer and grill your sausages as you like it. The Finns seem to have a thing for kransky (full-flavoured, smoked pork sausages) filled with cheese! Delicious, but oh so naughty.
And while we ate, we watched the river, full to the brim with snow-melt, rush by.
Two weeks later we were back grilling, and this time in t-shirts! By then the river had also receded. Spring has finally arrived.
Let’s have another good look around Oulu, shall we? It’s a modern city, with great recreational facilities…
With great off-road walking and cycling paths that run in all directions.
But it hasn’t forgotten its past.
Nevertheless, nature is never far away.
And it was good to see over the weeks we were there to see that landscape come alive with spring.
We didn’t have a car while in Oulu, and so spent a lot of time on the buses and walking. One day after dinner at a friend’s place, we walked in the twilight back to our cabin. On the way, we passed a lot of birch trees, the predominant species in Finland. They were still rather bare in early May, but their pale trucks reflected the wonderful golden light.
We walked by a lot of water along the way. Oulu has been built on the inlet of a river, and the city has really embraced the water. Again, it’s a place that has been built into the landscape.
The locals also love the outdoors, and take to it whenever possible, whether on land (nordic walking, cycling and rollerblading being favourite summer pasttimes) or on water.
Oulu is also a growing city. It has a top-class university, forestry (still mainly traditional woodchipping – the chimney is for the pulp mill), and technology – Nokia has its research and development base there. It all requires new accommodation, hence the presence of these cranes.
As we got closer to the coast, the sky became more spectacular.
Until it gave a fitting finale.
Our cabin was by the sea – well, by the Gulf of Bothnia, which flows into the Baltic Sea. We explored the area by bike and foot as there were excellent paths along this stretch. As with much of Finland, the area was flat, characterised by reed marshes.
Being so flat, it could also get very windy – a great place to put a wind turbine.
But it wasn’t all wild marshes. As I mentioned, there were also beaches – two that I found. One of them wasn’t all that developed, just a place to kick back and enjoy the sea.
The other was the main beach of Oulu. It had showers, toilets, decking, a cafe and lookout, even an American-style lifeguard tower.
But look carefully at the photo, what is that on the water? Could it be ice? You bet ya. It was the last remains of the winter pack ice. It made a spectacular scene at sunset, but it certainly didn’t look like somewhere to take a dip, at that time of the year, at least.
Static and Silence 