Svolvar

After going thru Trollfjord, we docked in Svolvar for about an hour. We took a walk to a "one of a kind World War II" museum. It's owned by the man who has collected all sorts of "stuff" for 45 years. He has everything from uniforms and weapons, to an enigma machine and paintings by Hitler. Below are are few of the items he has collected. 

 

A Nazi Christmas tree with official ornaments. 

Hitler painted this...he should have stuck with painting IMHO.

From the Battle of Narvyk. 

From the museum we took a walk by the wharf where a few good sized boats are moored next to a mountain. 

We can only imagine how it looks on a clear day. 

A pretty home, 

The church, and 

A suites hotel. An interesting place for a short walk. 

Sami People

We learned about the Sami people, the indigenous folks of the North. Originally called Laps, hence this  area is still called Lapland. There are about 100,000 Sami people inhabiting the area above the Arctic Circle in Norway, Finland, Sweden and Russia. 

Traditional Sami home. 

This is an traditional  cooking shed..very similar to a Plains Indian tepee without the hide covering. We had dinner in a modern cooking/meeting facility that is large enough to hold 130+ people and while the traditions are the same, the Sami folk have embraced some modern "culture" too. 

I like the woodwork on the ceiling. 

Sami folk are reindeer herders. They still wear their traditional dress which tells other Sami exactly where they are from, whether they are single or married, and how wealthy they are. Women wear hats, that tell if they are single or married or widowed. 

The reindeer is their means of earning a living. To survive a Sami family needs to have about 5000 reindeer...some families supplement their income by opening their homes to tourists. 

We saw two reindeer "up close and personal." I l petted one as he ate moss from my hand. Look at the feet of this critter...see how wide they are..that's for walking on snow.

We had an interesting day amongst the Sami. There's more to learn, as the museum online"scratched" the surface. 

Arctic Circle and Ivalo Finland (aka Lapland)

We are north of the Arctic Circle which is a first for us. 

We went to Santa's Village where there is a line depicting where the Arctic Circle really is...those are the coordinates. For the number challenged people out there, there is an alternative and it's written in several languages. It's a kick!

Santa's Main Post Office is here too! As well as a bunch of shops but Santa is on a well earned 

Summer vacation right now as were the elves. I guess thy deserve a couple of weeks off! Parked by the village was a nest of small motorhomes. You have to be hearty to camp up here...the mosquitoes 

Are the size of small birds and it's cold! It was 7° Celsius this afternoon. 

later

We are at our hotel in Ivalo. Here's the view from our window at 10:10 PM

The sun is still shining!

Sibelius and Chico State

I wanted to find out more about the Chico State connection to Sibelius, and I discovered this from the CSUC website: 

"In response to a decree made in 1934 by music department head Ruth Rowland Taylor, two student poets, Darlys Partridge and Frances Shier, began work on what would become the University Hymn. They wrote a one-verse song to the music of Finlandia by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Sibelius granted his permission to use the music in exchange for a box of cigars. The song was adopted as the official University Hymn one year later, but the cigars took another 13 years to reach Finland! In 1998, English Professor Emeritus Ernst Schoen-Rene penned the additional two verses in order to “make the [song] more strongly tied to this (and only this) university.”

Sibelius, Olympics and ...

Helsinki is the birthplace of the composer Sibelius, This year we are celebrating his 150th anniversary. 

After looking at the stern mask of Sibelius, the monument gets better.

It's an interactive set of pipes making a free form tree. People walk among the pipes. You can tap on the pipes and make your own kind of music. BTW the mask is an after thought...the locals decided they did not know what the whimsical tree represented, so the designer added the mask to give them a clue. 

Each of the pipes is different with designs and cut-outs. As with the church, the locals did not like it at first, but now they do. On the other hand, I liked it the moment I saw it. There's something about Finnish design that is intriguing.

Not too far from the Sibelius Monument is the 1952 Summer Olympic Stadium. The Stadium was 

built in the 30's but World War II got in the way and the Finns had to wait until 52 to use it. The stadium holds 40,000 people and is used all the time. 

Running away from the stadium we went thru the "Design District" along the tree lined Esplanade ending up the at Giant Ferris Wheel.

No one has told us anything about the ferris wheel. We were not tempted to ride it, but I guess a city needs a ferris wheel....London has one as does Singapore...there's even a ferris wheel in Tagoshima, Japan...so why not Helsinki.

Rock Church

Several years ago we visited Helsinki. At that time we visted the Church in the Rock and we were deeply impressed. 

The church was designed by two Finnish architects who were brothers. They won a design contest to create the National Church. After winning the contest in 1962, the people thought the design was too avant garde and definitely cost too much money to build. In addition, the basis of the design was to blow up a granite outcropping in the city and the environmentalists were not happy about that. Helsinki has many rock outcroppings, and this one of a kind church, used a local feature. The destruction of the granite outcropping started about 5 years later and the church was completed in 1969. 

By that time, the locals became used to the idea. Nowadays, everyone seems to like the church. It draws people from all over the world. The church is amazing. Carved out of living rock, domed with a woven copper ceiling and glass windows, it has a very spiritual feeling.

The irregularly shaped windows play with light and shadow. The church changes mood and color depending on the time of day or the weather.

The acoustics are amazing too. 

Last time we were here, we heard the organ...this time we heard the piano play. All visitors are asked to remain quiet (and they are quiet) as we all listen to a musician play. 

The minimalist altar fits with the design.

It's an amazing church.

The Rock Church is a far cry from the more traditional State Lutheran Church.

Unusual Things in Helsinki

I am fascinated with things that are unusual or odd...to that end, here are a few from Helsinki. 

This is an American Motorhome circa 1980. 

It has a German license plate, so it's a visitor. What is unusual...it's a Jimmy or GMC Motorhome, (which was top of the line 30 years ago). This model was made for about 3 years for the American market. What is it doing in Finland? 

The American Embassy is alive and well in Helsinki. There are several McDonalds thruout the city. 

There are 2 official languages in Finland, so signs are written in both Finnish and Swedish. Do you know why Swedish is an official language? Because Sweden ruled the area that is now Finland for about 400 years. Finnish is not an Indo-European language and I've yet to figure out its phonics. 

Briefing

We had our initial briefing of what to expect on the trip. We board a coastal steamer at Kirkenes, Norway, which is very far north Norway. The boat will make 33 stops down the coast so we should see list of picturesque fjords. We will disembark the boat at Bergen and wend our way to Oslo. Along the way we will see some pretty stuff. It all sounds good! 

Our fellow pax sound like a good group too. There are 38 Grand Circle pax now, but when we get on the boat, we will be part of larger group of 400+ pax on the boat as it makes stops down the Norway coast delivering mail and supplies. 

Sky View

I love looking out the window of a plane. That's "supposed" to be the sign of a novice traveler, as us "experienced" travelers are too nonchalant to do anything as ridiculous as look out the window. Bosh! It's fun to see what's down there.

That's our approach to Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. Lots of differently shaped fields getting ready for to be planted or just planted. 

As we were leaving Schipol heading to Finland, this is the view. A huge "freeway" that snakes thru the fields, whisking people to the "city" in the background.

This is the first clear view I had of Finland. For over an hour we were above the clouds, flying in a sea of bright blue with a fluffy white "floor." Then we dipped below the clouds as were we approaching Vantaa Airport outside of Helsinki. Again there were fields ready to be planted with forested areas in between. I tried to take more "overhead" pictures, but the cloud cover came down. However, by the time we landed, the sky was a bright blue.

PS. We are in the far north...it's 9 PM and the sun is still shining brightly. I wonder when it will set?

Flying With Room

That title does not seem to make sense. Since when do airplanes have room? They seem to have a lot of people and no room. BUT, if you fly BizFirst on Delta on an international flight, you actually have some room.

I was sitting in 2B looking at 1A...look at that nice self-contained seat which at the push of a button becomes a flat (albeit narrow) bed. There's even a back massager in the seat! With a multi-channel monitor you can access movies, TV, HBO, Showtime, music, games, kids programming, and more. I saw Cinderella (again) and The Second Best Marigold Hotel and several episodes of Big Bang Theory. I also looked at the map showing our progress, and I fell asleep to some cool music. (Remember we were on a 10+ hour flight from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam.) There's a nice area to place tablets or laptops in case you need to work or play. There was supposed to be wifi, but it was down today. There's even full a contingent of USB and "regular" plugs both European and American do you can charge your batteries. In addition to all of that, the food was pretty good too and the service was excellent. 

First Leg

We just finished the first leg of our 23 hour journey to Helsinki. We are in Salt Lake City's airport which is a fair sized operation. Before the Olympics were held here, it was a sleepy airport--gone are those days. 

I took this picture as we were making the approach to the runway. The Great Salt Lake is in the background looking like we are right next to the ocean. The city sprawls in every direction up to the mountains. As I looked down at the tiny houses I noticed something was missing. If we were landing in CA, most every house would have a blue puddle in the back--here, I saw a handful of small blue swimming pools. It's just too cold in the winter I guess. Private pools are not a big deal in the cold Rocky Mountain west.  

Next stop is Amsterdam.

Red, White and Blue...Patriotic Too

I just finished the 15th blanket of the year! It's red, white and dark navy blue. As you can see, I couldn't resist using my favorite pattern. i like the way the variegated colors weave their way thru the white row. 

I wanted to get it finished before we left on our vacation. I'm not bringing any crocheting with me just my cameras, lots of books and a sense of adventure. More later my friends. 

Travel Alert

Guess what? We're going away again. This time to see the fjords in Norway! Today is packing day

We are looking at cool weather with chances of thunderstorms in the far north! Watch this space for more information on the trip!

Mini-Horses

Today I visited a friend who has 2 miniature horses. They are cute...but I have no idea what one does with a minature horse. I asked...they will be trained to entertain at birthday parties. In the meantime, they are considered "yard art." 

The dark horse is 18 months old and the pinto is 12 months old. They are considered full sized and ready to be trained. They did like to be petted and did not mind a stranger. Given that, they might be good with children.

Tumbling Down

Sometime last night, 2 of our aspen trees fell down. One was a giant, the other was a "youngster" standing in the shadow of the giant. We never heard a thing...but this morning when we went for our walk, the front porch was obscured with green leaves.

          

The aspen, about 50 feet tall, fell between the house and another aspen, missing both. We were lucky to miss the tree attack.