Sunday, May 10, 2009
aerial shots of stockholm
Saturday, May 9, 2009
lapland (inari & rovaniemi)
reijo talked to the engineer, asking him if i could ride up w/ him (i'm assuming), but he declined....i did not get any pictures of reijo; in case you haven't noticed, i am not so good @ taking pictures of people....
after saying goodbye to everyone, i boarded the train & waited for the conductor to come by so i could purchase my ticket. i bought one to rovaniemi even though i only had to get one to kemi (since i already one from kemi to rovaniemi), but i wasn't thinking about it at the time. shortly after leaving the station, we experienced some technical difficulties. after attempting to continue on a couple of times, we had to reverse back to the station....ssslllooowwwlllyyyy...i didn't think we had gotten that far. when we got back to the station, they swapped out engines & we went on our way about 2 hrs. late. they were announcing everything over the intercom, but it was all in finnish, so i didn't grasp very much of it (i think they skipped a couple of stops & were giving discounts & refunds to some passengers). i was slightly worried about missing my bus to inari, but since there was nothing i could do about it, i just kept reading. as it turns out, i could have taken the earlier train to kemi, visited the snow castle & still take this train to rovaniemi. but that would have taken some clairvoyance.
the bus to inari waited to leave until after this train came in, so i didn't miss it. yay! i wasn't sure which bus i needed, so i asked the driver of the bus sitting next to the sign that included "ivalo" as a destination (ivalo is near inari). that was the bus, so i boarded. after about 20min. or so, we left the railway station & went to the bus station...then, we headed on north. not long into the trip, we passed santa's village & crossed the border to the arctic circle. again, we were in reindeer country & i, again, began telepathically calling out to them: "here reindeer, reindeer, reindeer! here reindeer, reindeer, reindeer!" but still, nothing. :( ....until.....shortly before we arrived in inari, we past a small herd of reindeer. there were about 5 of them including a white reindeer! white reindeer are rare (well, rarer) & are thought to bring good luck (traditionally anyways). sorry, i wasn't able to get pictures, we were going too fast & if i tried to get my camera, i would have missed them entirely.
it was late by the time we reached hotelli inari (the bus stop in inari as well as where i was staying) - around 10pm & dark (sundown was just before 9pm). after checking in & going up to my room, i had planned on wandering outside for a while to see if i might be able to see the northern lights (it was cloudy, so i wasn't optimistic). but i was a bit tired & decided to take a little nap...really, i should know better than that by now; taking a nap that late really just means going to bed w/ the lights on, in my clothes & w/o taking out my contacts....which is what happened - i didn't want to get up when i woke up. after a few sleepy-eyed wakes, i got up, took out my contacts & turned out the lights....oh, on the table in my room was a tourist notebook & i read through that before i checked out for the night. it listed arctic excursions that could be purchased @ the excursion agent next door to the hotel: husky driving, reindeer driving, snow mobile, & northern lights "chases" (which are visible an average of 200 nights/year) - around 100€ each - as well as the museums & craft shops in the area.
the complimentary breakfast was served until around 11am & i got down there around 10 (about an hour later than i "planned"). i decided i would go to the tourist info "station" first, then do some shopping, eat lunch, & finally, go to the sami museum; after that, i'd wander around taking pictures. on the way to the "info booth", i passed the excursion agent, which was closed, so it was a good thing i didn't want to go on one; "info" was closed as well. next, i headed to the first store i saw, which was a small handicraft shop next to a bed & breakfast. there were a lot of nice little things in this shop even though the shop itself was very tiny. i found a pretty bracelet & bag, but they only accepted cash, which i did not have on me. there was also a traditional-looking dress on display & i asked the girl tending the shop if it was for sale, but since it didn't have a price tag, we both assumed not. :( she told me where the "hole in the wall" (atm) was & i headed in that direction. before i got to the atm, i passed the big tourist shop & went inside. there, i found lots of great souvenirs for many a person back home. in the back, they had a sauna & beauty supply section where there was tar soap & gel for sale. when i finished shopping, i went up to the counter & asked the cashier about the tar products. she didn't speak much english, so i went back to the area to get the products about which i was curious & turned around to see that she had followed me - i didn't think she'd do that. i picked up the tar salt soap & asked "onko hyvä?" (is it good?); she said it was very good. so, i picked up the gel & asked what it was for, the face? she indicated no, not the face, but started kinda picking at the skin on her hand. basically getting the gist of what she was miming, i showed her the rash on my stomach & she started nodding. cool, now i had something to treat my rash until i got back to eno's. i still don't know exactly what the tar does for the skin, but i've seen it in a few other stores after this - i need to look it up.
even though i did get quite a few things at this store, i could have gotten so much more. but, i had to take into consideration that i was still traveling & had limited baggage in which to contain all the stuff i bought & i still had to carry it through sweden/stockholm & turku before i could "put it down". i passed another handicraft store on my way to the atm, but it was closed. the atm, however, was right next to the sami handicraft shop & it was open. :D inside, i found many products that i had seen in the souvenir shops in helsinki (now, they finally made sense to me). they also had a decent selection of books & some music (i got a couple cds along w/ a cd/music book combo of children's songs) as well as reindeer skin boots (i was tempted to get a pair, but they were a bit big, cumbersome & expensive). in the back room, there was some garments for sale (mainly men's clothes), fabric, & handmade beaded belts (all very expensive - 50€ to 200€ - for just the belt!). my mastercard didn't work again (it didn't work in the souvenir shop, but they also accepted amex). this place didn't accept amex, so i had to go out to the atm & withdraw cash....i figured the bank put a hold on the card due to suspected fraudulent activity. since it was the weekend, i didn't think i'd be able to take care of it until mon.
cash in hand, i went back to the first shop. the owner was also in the shop now & they were rearranging the merchandise to make room for some new items (clothes for little dogs & mice - the owner hopes no one dresses up their pet mice, but she'll have them for sale just in case....). i confirmed w/ her that the dress on display wasn't for sale & it wasn't. it belongs to her & it was just used to keep the stand from looking bare. she was also in the middle of making a dress like it, buuut it still needed the hand-woven edges, which take a while to do. i told her my mom wants a traditional dress & she told me that the next time i came up there, i'd have to stay at her place (the bed & breakfast next door) so i could learn how to make traditional clothing. we also got into a nice conversation about the aurora borealis. she was doubtful i'd get to see them while i was there even though the clouds had cleared - due to the full moon, there would probably be too much light in the sky. then she went on to tell me about a tourist who had come up to inari & stayed for a week in feb. year after year & never saw them & had begun to claim that it was all a tourist scam; the aurora borealis wasn't real. it was highly unusual since it is rare to not see them in feb. finally, on his last night, they were visible & he got to see them. i bought my bracelet, bag, & another beaded strand & was able to pick out 5 original art postcards on the house.
i headed back to my hotel room to drop off everything & get something to eat. since i decided i needed to eat some soluble fiber, i went down to the hotel restaurant to get a salad. the server went over the salad menu w/ me & there was a reindeer salad, salmon salad, chicken salad, etc.; i asked her about a "kasvissyöjä" (vegetarian) salad, she paused & said she'd put something together for me. it was a huge salad. while i was eating, i watched a few dog sleds pass by on the lake below. when i finished, i asked how to get to the sami museum & off i went. on my way, i saw the dog sleds stopped & veered toward them to get pictures & see if, maybe, i could pet some of the dogs. one of the drivers ended up coming my way (at the back end of the train) to quiet down his team - most of the dogs were very restless & very noisy. i asked him if i could pet the dogs & he directed me to a couple dogs he said were friendly. he explained that some dogs are fearful of humans because they don't have a whole lot of interaction w/ them. these dogs, for example, came from a farm where there are a couple hundred dogs (they had "rented" the dogs & sleds for a 5-day excursion; there were 2 canadians w/ them for a couple days); i think this is rather sad. one of the dogs had extensive scarring on his nose, so i asked the guy if they were from fights & he said that, yeah, there are rivalries between different teams & sometimes, they will get in fights.
i tore myself away from the dogs so i could get to the museum before it closed. the sami museum is a mix between an art gallery & cultural/historical museum. all the paintings, pictures, etc. in the different exhibits are by sami artists (i assume). the historical exhibit consisted of a time line that at first, i started reading backwards. until i crossed the room & began to read it in order. since some of the information was at knee level & lower, i had to squat down in order to read it & after a while got tired of the up & down motion & stopped reading everything. the cultural exhibit is setup w/ a raised section in the center of the room & the circumference of the room consisted of describing different flora & fauna found in the finnish artic during the different months of the year. the raised area described sami life including reindeer herding & husbandry. branding reindeer consists of cutting the ear of a calf in a specific pattern of deep & shallow cuts (including whole chunks removed) that can be arranged in 1000s of different ways. there was even a picture of a calf just after the cutting w/ its ear bleeding all over the place; the poor thing looked like it was in quite a bit of pain. in the spring & summer seasons, reindeer are allowed to roam free. when autumn comes, they are rounded up & divvied out to their owners indicated by the ear cuttings. their clothing, traditional homes (i forget what it's called, but it looks very similar to a tepee), modern aspects to their life (a snowmobile pulling a sled carrying computer & other electronic equipment) compared w/ the former ways (a reindeer pulled sled), & their pagan traditions & beliefs were also described. there is also an open air exhibit, but it must have been closed, 'cause the door leading out to it was locked.
next, i headed to the silversmith shop across the street. there, i got to talk to the artist herself (it's her & her husband), which was pretty cool. she explained that only a few pieces of their work is cast, the rest is all done by hand. mostly, they work w/ silver, but they also work w/ gold, which is all panned from lemmenjoki. nuggets weighing 200-300 grams are still found in the river! & the source of the gold is still unknown. i commented that hopefully it stays that way 'cause otherwise, it'll be all gone; she nodded in agreement. i also mentioned that my dad is a gold panning enthusiast & she was surprised that you could still pan in the states. yep, but the large "nuggets" are the size of the small ones she's just using as ornamentation in some of her pieces (i explained). afterwards, i took a walk on the lake.
i started to walk across the lake to what i hoped was an island (maybe thor's island), but it was just a jutted piece of land. there are a lot of islands in the lake & inarinjärvi is actually quite large. still, it was quite a long walk & difficult in the snow (oh, interesting side note: there were directional signs in the lake that won't be there once the ice melts). there were quite a few snow mobile tracks & several passed me. once i reached my destination, i sat down & looked across what i had just walked. it would have been a great place to watch the sunset, but it was just about 6pm & sunset was 9pm.....i'm not patient enough to wait that long. i went up into the woods for a little ways, found myself a clear spot of snow, made a snow angel, & then went back to shore (the snow was too deep for me to really get anywhere). at first, i started out w/ the most direct path back to the hotel, but saw the church steeple & went that way instead. after wandering around the church, i went back to the hotel & took a "nap". i was going to bed, but left the lights on so i would wake up every now & then. i wanted to see the northern lights & in order to do that, i needed to go wandering around during the darkest part of the night. don't know when that is, so i guessed around 1am. when it came close to 1am, i dragged myself out of bed, got dressed & went back out on the lake.
there were so many stars!!! i don't remember the last time i've seen so many stars. this is also the first time, i really felt the curve of the earth & could actually see it. the sky seemed to curve along w/ it as well & i felt like i was in a snow globe - kinda trippy! unfortunately, i didn't get to see any dancing lights. i did see one strand of light across the sky that didn't seem to have a source. i kept looking away & looking back to make sure i wasn't just seeing things. it was just a pale white light, though. even though i didn't see the moon either, there was quite a bit of light on the northern horizon. originally, i had it in my mind that i would stay out until around 3am, but i knew i didn't really have the patience for that. so, after about a half hour or so (& a few attempts to take a picture of the stars - my camera doesn't have a long enough shutter speed setting), i went back to bed.
the next morning was easter. in the tourist book i have, it states that on easter, the sami people gather in inari & celebrate easter wearing traditional clothing. that was one of the reasons why i decided to go to inari even though i wasn't sure the statement was still applicable. inari was dead, absolutely dead. even at the church. there was no one at the church (it was around 11am when i passed it). although, the souvenir shop was open. after wandering around more of the town, i went back to my room, packed, & checked out. i double checked that my bus was still running (leaving @ noon) & it was - i should have checked the bus schedule for the following day, but didn't think to. i still had about an hour to wait, so i bought a sandwich & played a couple games of pool. then, i went outside & waited.
the bus ride back to rovaniemi was uneventful. just outside of rovaniemi (near santa's village), we passed a reindeer farm & i saw a couple reindeer grazing amongst the trees. they were rather difficult to see & actually looked tethered to the trees. a little while later, we passed the "lordi rocktaurant" (lordi is a monster metal band & mr. lordi is my cousin). my last stop was the railway station where i was to meet anni, my cs host. she was already there w/ another cs-er she was hosting that night.
we went back to her place (they helped me carry my bags), which was only a few blocks away. anni made dinner (bruschetta on panfried bread & lingon berry porridge) while i played her piano. she played jazz piano professionally for a while, but recently has been focusing on her studies & she has "stupid neighbors" who have complained about the "noise", so she hadn't played in a while. fabio, the other cs-er, was surprised at how much sugar anni put in the porridge; apparently not aware of how tart lingon berries are. i think "fabio" is his name, but don't remember perfectly; he's either from switzerland or germany 'cause they kept talking about the differences between german & swiss-german (anni is moving to switzerland, where her fiance lives, after she graduates). while we were eating, anni & i attempted to explain the idea of "personal space" to fabio & how women tend to be more sensitive to that than men; i'm not sure he really got it. also, while we were talking, fabio was telling a story about a female friend of his & wanted to know why we don't have masculine & femine nouns. whatever, use our masculine & femine pronouns, finnish doesn't even have those.
after saying goodbye to everyone, i boarded the train & waited for the conductor to come by so i could purchase my ticket. i bought one to rovaniemi even though i only had to get one to kemi (since i already one from kemi to rovaniemi), but i wasn't thinking about it at the time. shortly after leaving the station, we experienced some technical difficulties. after attempting to continue on a couple of times, we had to reverse back to the station....ssslllooowwwlllyyyy...i didn't think we had gotten that far. when we got back to the station, they swapped out engines & we went on our way about 2 hrs. late. they were announcing everything over the intercom, but it was all in finnish, so i didn't grasp very much of it (i think they skipped a couple of stops & were giving discounts & refunds to some passengers). i was slightly worried about missing my bus to inari, but since there was nothing i could do about it, i just kept reading. as it turns out, i could have taken the earlier train to kemi, visited the snow castle & still take this train to rovaniemi. but that would have taken some clairvoyance.
the bus to inari waited to leave until after this train came in, so i didn't miss it. yay! i wasn't sure which bus i needed, so i asked the driver of the bus sitting next to the sign that included "ivalo" as a destination (ivalo is near inari). that was the bus, so i boarded. after about 20min. or so, we left the railway station & went to the bus station...then, we headed on north. not long into the trip, we passed santa's village & crossed the border to the arctic circle. again, we were in reindeer country & i, again, began telepathically calling out to them: "here reindeer, reindeer, reindeer! here reindeer, reindeer, reindeer!" but still, nothing. :( ....until.....shortly before we arrived in inari, we past a small herd of reindeer. there were about 5 of them including a white reindeer! white reindeer are rare (well, rarer) & are thought to bring good luck (traditionally anyways). sorry, i wasn't able to get pictures, we were going too fast & if i tried to get my camera, i would have missed them entirely.
it was late by the time we reached hotelli inari (the bus stop in inari as well as where i was staying) - around 10pm & dark (sundown was just before 9pm). after checking in & going up to my room, i had planned on wandering outside for a while to see if i might be able to see the northern lights (it was cloudy, so i wasn't optimistic). but i was a bit tired & decided to take a little nap...really, i should know better than that by now; taking a nap that late really just means going to bed w/ the lights on, in my clothes & w/o taking out my contacts....which is what happened - i didn't want to get up when i woke up. after a few sleepy-eyed wakes, i got up, took out my contacts & turned out the lights....oh, on the table in my room was a tourist notebook & i read through that before i checked out for the night. it listed arctic excursions that could be purchased @ the excursion agent next door to the hotel: husky driving, reindeer driving, snow mobile, & northern lights "chases" (which are visible an average of 200 nights/year) - around 100€ each - as well as the museums & craft shops in the area.
the complimentary breakfast was served until around 11am & i got down there around 10 (about an hour later than i "planned"). i decided i would go to the tourist info "station" first, then do some shopping, eat lunch, & finally, go to the sami museum; after that, i'd wander around taking pictures. on the way to the "info booth", i passed the excursion agent, which was closed, so it was a good thing i didn't want to go on one; "info" was closed as well. next, i headed to the first store i saw, which was a small handicraft shop next to a bed & breakfast. there were a lot of nice little things in this shop even though the shop itself was very tiny. i found a pretty bracelet & bag, but they only accepted cash, which i did not have on me. there was also a traditional-looking dress on display & i asked the girl tending the shop if it was for sale, but since it didn't have a price tag, we both assumed not. :( she told me where the "hole in the wall" (atm) was & i headed in that direction. before i got to the atm, i passed the big tourist shop & went inside. there, i found lots of great souvenirs for many a person back home. in the back, they had a sauna & beauty supply section where there was tar soap & gel for sale. when i finished shopping, i went up to the counter & asked the cashier about the tar products. she didn't speak much english, so i went back to the area to get the products about which i was curious & turned around to see that she had followed me - i didn't think she'd do that. i picked up the tar salt soap & asked "onko hyvä?" (is it good?); she said it was very good. so, i picked up the gel & asked what it was for, the face? she indicated no, not the face, but started kinda picking at the skin on her hand. basically getting the gist of what she was miming, i showed her the rash on my stomach & she started nodding. cool, now i had something to treat my rash until i got back to eno's. i still don't know exactly what the tar does for the skin, but i've seen it in a few other stores after this - i need to look it up.
even though i did get quite a few things at this store, i could have gotten so much more. but, i had to take into consideration that i was still traveling & had limited baggage in which to contain all the stuff i bought & i still had to carry it through sweden/stockholm & turku before i could "put it down". i passed another handicraft store on my way to the atm, but it was closed. the atm, however, was right next to the sami handicraft shop & it was open. :D inside, i found many products that i had seen in the souvenir shops in helsinki (now, they finally made sense to me). they also had a decent selection of books & some music (i got a couple cds along w/ a cd/music book combo of children's songs) as well as reindeer skin boots (i was tempted to get a pair, but they were a bit big, cumbersome & expensive). in the back room, there was some garments for sale (mainly men's clothes), fabric, & handmade beaded belts (all very expensive - 50€ to 200€ - for just the belt!). my mastercard didn't work again (it didn't work in the souvenir shop, but they also accepted amex). this place didn't accept amex, so i had to go out to the atm & withdraw cash....i figured the bank put a hold on the card due to suspected fraudulent activity. since it was the weekend, i didn't think i'd be able to take care of it until mon.
cash in hand, i went back to the first shop. the owner was also in the shop now & they were rearranging the merchandise to make room for some new items (clothes for little dogs & mice - the owner hopes no one dresses up their pet mice, but she'll have them for sale just in case....). i confirmed w/ her that the dress on display wasn't for sale & it wasn't. it belongs to her & it was just used to keep the stand from looking bare. she was also in the middle of making a dress like it, buuut it still needed the hand-woven edges, which take a while to do. i told her my mom wants a traditional dress & she told me that the next time i came up there, i'd have to stay at her place (the bed & breakfast next door) so i could learn how to make traditional clothing. we also got into a nice conversation about the aurora borealis. she was doubtful i'd get to see them while i was there even though the clouds had cleared - due to the full moon, there would probably be too much light in the sky. then she went on to tell me about a tourist who had come up to inari & stayed for a week in feb. year after year & never saw them & had begun to claim that it was all a tourist scam; the aurora borealis wasn't real. it was highly unusual since it is rare to not see them in feb. finally, on his last night, they were visible & he got to see them. i bought my bracelet, bag, & another beaded strand & was able to pick out 5 original art postcards on the house.
i headed back to my hotel room to drop off everything & get something to eat. since i decided i needed to eat some soluble fiber, i went down to the hotel restaurant to get a salad. the server went over the salad menu w/ me & there was a reindeer salad, salmon salad, chicken salad, etc.; i asked her about a "kasvissyöjä" (vegetarian) salad, she paused & said she'd put something together for me. it was a huge salad. while i was eating, i watched a few dog sleds pass by on the lake below. when i finished, i asked how to get to the sami museum & off i went. on my way, i saw the dog sleds stopped & veered toward them to get pictures & see if, maybe, i could pet some of the dogs. one of the drivers ended up coming my way (at the back end of the train) to quiet down his team - most of the dogs were very restless & very noisy. i asked him if i could pet the dogs & he directed me to a couple dogs he said were friendly. he explained that some dogs are fearful of humans because they don't have a whole lot of interaction w/ them. these dogs, for example, came from a farm where there are a couple hundred dogs (they had "rented" the dogs & sleds for a 5-day excursion; there were 2 canadians w/ them for a couple days); i think this is rather sad. one of the dogs had extensive scarring on his nose, so i asked the guy if they were from fights & he said that, yeah, there are rivalries between different teams & sometimes, they will get in fights.
i tore myself away from the dogs so i could get to the museum before it closed. the sami museum is a mix between an art gallery & cultural/historical museum. all the paintings, pictures, etc. in the different exhibits are by sami artists (i assume). the historical exhibit consisted of a time line that at first, i started reading backwards. until i crossed the room & began to read it in order. since some of the information was at knee level & lower, i had to squat down in order to read it & after a while got tired of the up & down motion & stopped reading everything. the cultural exhibit is setup w/ a raised section in the center of the room & the circumference of the room consisted of describing different flora & fauna found in the finnish artic during the different months of the year. the raised area described sami life including reindeer herding & husbandry. branding reindeer consists of cutting the ear of a calf in a specific pattern of deep & shallow cuts (including whole chunks removed) that can be arranged in 1000s of different ways. there was even a picture of a calf just after the cutting w/ its ear bleeding all over the place; the poor thing looked like it was in quite a bit of pain. in the spring & summer seasons, reindeer are allowed to roam free. when autumn comes, they are rounded up & divvied out to their owners indicated by the ear cuttings. their clothing, traditional homes (i forget what it's called, but it looks very similar to a tepee), modern aspects to their life (a snowmobile pulling a sled carrying computer & other electronic equipment) compared w/ the former ways (a reindeer pulled sled), & their pagan traditions & beliefs were also described. there is also an open air exhibit, but it must have been closed, 'cause the door leading out to it was locked.
next, i headed to the silversmith shop across the street. there, i got to talk to the artist herself (it's her & her husband), which was pretty cool. she explained that only a few pieces of their work is cast, the rest is all done by hand. mostly, they work w/ silver, but they also work w/ gold, which is all panned from lemmenjoki. nuggets weighing 200-300 grams are still found in the river! & the source of the gold is still unknown. i commented that hopefully it stays that way 'cause otherwise, it'll be all gone; she nodded in agreement. i also mentioned that my dad is a gold panning enthusiast & she was surprised that you could still pan in the states. yep, but the large "nuggets" are the size of the small ones she's just using as ornamentation in some of her pieces (i explained). afterwards, i took a walk on the lake.
i started to walk across the lake to what i hoped was an island (maybe thor's island), but it was just a jutted piece of land. there are a lot of islands in the lake & inarinjärvi is actually quite large. still, it was quite a long walk & difficult in the snow (oh, interesting side note: there were directional signs in the lake that won't be there once the ice melts). there were quite a few snow mobile tracks & several passed me. once i reached my destination, i sat down & looked across what i had just walked. it would have been a great place to watch the sunset, but it was just about 6pm & sunset was 9pm.....i'm not patient enough to wait that long. i went up into the woods for a little ways, found myself a clear spot of snow, made a snow angel, & then went back to shore (the snow was too deep for me to really get anywhere). at first, i started out w/ the most direct path back to the hotel, but saw the church steeple & went that way instead. after wandering around the church, i went back to the hotel & took a "nap". i was going to bed, but left the lights on so i would wake up every now & then. i wanted to see the northern lights & in order to do that, i needed to go wandering around during the darkest part of the night. don't know when that is, so i guessed around 1am. when it came close to 1am, i dragged myself out of bed, got dressed & went back out on the lake.
there were so many stars!!! i don't remember the last time i've seen so many stars. this is also the first time, i really felt the curve of the earth & could actually see it. the sky seemed to curve along w/ it as well & i felt like i was in a snow globe - kinda trippy! unfortunately, i didn't get to see any dancing lights. i did see one strand of light across the sky that didn't seem to have a source. i kept looking away & looking back to make sure i wasn't just seeing things. it was just a pale white light, though. even though i didn't see the moon either, there was quite a bit of light on the northern horizon. originally, i had it in my mind that i would stay out until around 3am, but i knew i didn't really have the patience for that. so, after about a half hour or so (& a few attempts to take a picture of the stars - my camera doesn't have a long enough shutter speed setting), i went back to bed.
the next morning was easter. in the tourist book i have, it states that on easter, the sami people gather in inari & celebrate easter wearing traditional clothing. that was one of the reasons why i decided to go to inari even though i wasn't sure the statement was still applicable. inari was dead, absolutely dead. even at the church. there was no one at the church (it was around 11am when i passed it). although, the souvenir shop was open. after wandering around more of the town, i went back to my room, packed, & checked out. i double checked that my bus was still running (leaving @ noon) & it was - i should have checked the bus schedule for the following day, but didn't think to. i still had about an hour to wait, so i bought a sandwich & played a couple games of pool. then, i went outside & waited.
the bus ride back to rovaniemi was uneventful. just outside of rovaniemi (near santa's village), we passed a reindeer farm & i saw a couple reindeer grazing amongst the trees. they were rather difficult to see & actually looked tethered to the trees. a little while later, we passed the "lordi rocktaurant" (lordi is a monster metal band & mr. lordi is my cousin). my last stop was the railway station where i was to meet anni, my cs host. she was already there w/ another cs-er she was hosting that night.
we went back to her place (they helped me carry my bags), which was only a few blocks away. anni made dinner (bruschetta on panfried bread & lingon berry porridge) while i played her piano. she played jazz piano professionally for a while, but recently has been focusing on her studies & she has "stupid neighbors" who have complained about the "noise", so she hadn't played in a while. fabio, the other cs-er, was surprised at how much sugar anni put in the porridge; apparently not aware of how tart lingon berries are. i think "fabio" is his name, but don't remember perfectly; he's either from switzerland or germany 'cause they kept talking about the differences between german & swiss-german (anni is moving to switzerland, where her fiance lives, after she graduates). while we were eating, anni & i attempted to explain the idea of "personal space" to fabio & how women tend to be more sensitive to that than men; i'm not sure he really got it. also, while we were talking, fabio was telling a story about a female friend of his & wanted to know why we don't have masculine & femine nouns. whatever, use our masculine & femine pronouns, finnish doesn't even have those.
after dinner, while fabio was in the shower, i looked through anni's books & found a kama sutra in finnish. curious, i took it out & looked through it....it is quite funny. it isn't as sex-oriented like most people say (those who obviously haven't seen one). it is actually a book of advice that includes "how to get a husband", "dealing w/ other men's wives" & other relationship issues for both men & women, not just sexual positions....the positions themselves are comical (& there aren't thousands of them; not even hundreds - maybe 20) & some aren't anatomically correct or require a kind of flexibility that only a contortionist could muster (knees bending the wrong way, penises coming out of the stomach, etc.). there are even a few showing how a man can "satisfy" several of the wives in his harem simultaneously (the other women looked quite bored). i commented about the anatomically incorrectness of some of the positions to anni who was in the kitchen. she said the book was a gift & she had actually never looked through it. we looked through it & had our laughs at its expense together; she translated some of it (how i know the different topics above). we were still looking through it when fabio came out & finished while he did the dishes. after fabio was done w/ the dishes, we pulled out anni's spare mattresses, got our "sleeping spaces" & went to bed.
the next morning, i was the only one who ate breakfast. anni only has a cup of coffee for "breakfast"; but she doesn't drink finnish coffee 'cause it is terrible (she also doesn't really like finland - well, she likes the nature & said she'd have to come back to lapland for winter vacations). since i don't drink coffee, fabio asked me if i had any vices (since i don't drink & am also a vegetarian - anni commented that i'm very healthy). sugar, that's my poison; i'm a sugar fiend (anni approved)....she took us into downtown rovaniemi. specifically, to lordi square (they are from rovaniemi). all the architecture is only about 50 years old because the germans burnt all of lapland while they were "retreating" (the treaty between finland & russia at the end of the continuation war required that the germans leave & they burnt everything they passed on their way to sweden) & was designed by alvar aalto. anni explained that alvar also designed the town itself & decided it should be shaped like a reindeer head ("don't go into the antlers, you'll get lost. i still get lost when i go into the antlers." she warned). after we got to lordi square, she wanted to take us to her favorite cafe for breakfast/lunch....however....it was still "easter". technically, the day after easter, but it is still a national holiday in scandenavia (that's right, easter is a 4-day weekend here) & the whole place basically shuts down. so, anni & i went back to her place to eat lunch (penne pasta w/ tomatos & garlic) & fabio took the next bus to santa claus village. after we finished eating, anni went to her studying & i caught the next bus to santa claus village (there's one every hour).
i needed to be back by 4pm to catch my bus to tornio, so i could only spend a couple hours in the village. after wandering around for a bit looking at the shops & buildings, i went into santa's workshop to meet santa - the real santa. before getting to santa's office, you walk through a dark hallway that's very haunted house-ish - odd - & then you enter the main room of the building that houses the "earth's rotational speed regulator" (basically, a large pendulum & two large clock wheels). while meeting santa, he asks you about where you're from & a little bit about you (very congenial) & then the helper elf takes your picture. you can buy the picture as 5 postcard photos for 30€, 1 med. sized picture (i forget the dimensions) for 25€ (15€ for each additional), & even poster size for 49€. i didn't feel like spending that much money on one picture & declined. when i left santa's office, i went upstairs to the swarovski shop to look at all the pretty crystal figurines & jewelry (i didn't buy anything). then, i found my way to the reindeer coral where there were two handlers dressed in traditional sami costumes (one man, one woman) & two reindeer. these reindeer not only had their ears cut, but also had long gashes on their right shoulders; one had two & the other had three. these were also i.d. marks indicating they had the same owner, so i'm not sure why they're different (neither handler spoke much english - the man spoke less). i tried to pet them, but they didn't like me very much & pulled away. :( he asked me if i wanted to drive one of them (the only thing he said in english), but my friend heydi told me it wasn't worth the money (she's from rovaniemi & worked in the village when she was younger). i declined & then walked through the village again to the other side & the only other things in the village were cafes, restaurants, & souvenir shops. there's also a post office here & every letter addressed to santa ends up there (they get millions every year). the next bus was leaving in about 20min., so i spent that time wandering through the shops. there was a chocolate factory upstairs as well, but i didn't have time to go (i really didn't want to spend another hour there).
i got back to the railway station w/ an hour to spare...or so i thought...i walked into the station & into the vr area & asked the customer service rep when the next bus to tornio was (i would have checked @ anni's, but she didn't currently have internet access). the next bus was leaving from the bus station in 20 min. what!!! not an hour & 20 min.? i hurriedly walked to the bus station to make sure, but there was no one there (national holiday). i looked @ the schedule & the time i was assuming the bus would leave was posted (there was an easter notice in finnish posted). however, the vr rep looked online, so i figured i should believe that time & i left & went to anni's as fast as i could. after gathering up all my bags & saying "goodbye" to anni, i walked back to the bus station as fast as my weighted-down legs would let me. i was just one street crossing away from stepping onto the parking lot when i watched my bus leave......(i could tell from where it was parked - i had noted which "terminal" i needed).....i tried to wave down the driver, but he turned out of the parking lot in the opposite direction from where i was. he/she didn't see me & there was no way i would have been able to "chase" it down. still "hopeful" that that wasn't really the bus i wanted, i continued on to the station, set my stuff down & took a break (i was hot, tired, & sweaty - i was wearing my big coat). after a while, an older couple came in & looked @ the bus schedule. they seemed to be expecting the same schedule i was & were very upset it was different (i'm guessing that was the reason). another girl went up to the schedule & i also went to go look at it again to see if i could make sense of what my options were. i asked the other girl to translate the announcement for me & she explained that the buses were running on sunday's schedule since it was "easter". crap!!...the next bus to tornio was around 9pm; i needed to get to the haparanda bus station to catch my bus there by 7pm. that would not do; so, i went back to the railway station to see if there was any possible way i could get to tornio (tornio & haparanda are right next to each other like vancouver & portland; tornio is in finland, haparanda is in sweden) in time by public transportation. unfortunately, the best time got me there an hour late. if i wanted to catch my next bus, i would need to rent a car & i asked the rep if europcar was open. he said they're open every day. i went back to anni's to leave my bags while i went in search of europcar in downtown rovaniemi.
since i had seen europcar earlier when anni was taking us through rovaniemi, i figured it would be rather simple. i found it on my gps & attempted to follow its directions. however, the directions for driving, not walking & it was directing me to the highway. so, i attempted to take a round about way, but following as closely to the gps directions as possible. i passed a few places i remembered from earlier that morning & .... the gps batteries died....shit. so, i followed the "keskustaan / till centrum" signs to find an r-kioski to buy more batteries. but, one of the first places i saw entering downtown was hertz. oh, cool! there was someone inside, but the door was locked. so, i walked around to what seemed like another entrance, but it was also locked. the guy finally saw me & i asked - mouthed - "are you open?" he told me to go back around to the first door & that's when he realized it was locked. he opened the door & i asked again if "he" was open & said "no, it's a national holiday. do you need a car?..." he said he could get me a car if i needed one, but it would cost a lot more.... "well, i gotta do what i gotta do..." i responded. he told me it would take a bout a half hour & i asked if i could wait in the store & he said "no". well, it's not like i had anywhere else to go.... hertz happened to be across the street from lordi's rocktaurant, so i got to "visit" it anyways (i was planning on doing that before catching my bus before i found out my bus was leaving an hour earlier than i thought). i decided to take this time to call b of a about my mastercard, which only took a couple minutes since it was an automated message & i only needed to confirm purchases. so...i now had about 20 min. to kill & i wandered around. found lordi square again, went into r-kioski & bought an icecream treat & pringles, & saw another rental car company (i forget which one, but not europcar); i was tempted to go in & see if they would charge me less, but decided i didn't want to play that game. it wasn't quite a half hour, but i decided to head back to hertz anyways. he was ready for me, so i went in. this cost me a buttload. not only does renting a car cost a lot, but i was charged more for one-way drop-off, more for the transaction done on a national holiday, etc. although, he did give me a sedan & only charged me for a compact.
i headed back to anni's. time was running out & anni wasn't answering her door or her phone. ahh! i rang the door again & she answered, whoo! i finished eating my icecream & grabbed my bags & left. i didn't want to linger in case it took me longer to get to tornio than i figured i missed my next bus...the last thing i wanted to do was miss another transport. the drive was longer than i was expecting & the gps directions took me on some back roads that weren't exactly clear. it was a more direct way to go than staying on the main highways, so i don't know which would actually have been better. my drop-off point was a hotel & i found it, but there wasn't any hertz logo anywhere, so i went around back, parked, & went inside to ask where i was to leave the car. the teller told me to just leave him the keys. i went back to the car to get my stuff & went back inside to give him the keys & ask how to get to the haparanda bus station. he told me i either had to walk the 1km or take a cab. he gave me a map of tornio/haparanda & i decided to walk since i wasn't in the mood to spend more money. it took me about 45min. to walk & i got the bus station w/ about 10min. to spare. again, there wasn't anyone in the station other than other travelers. nor were there any ticket machines, so i couldn't print out my tickets that i had already bought online. all i could do was hope that the bus drivers would believe my story & not require to buy another ticket.....i waited outside since i was, again, all hot & sweaty.
since i had seen europcar earlier when anni was taking us through rovaniemi, i figured it would be rather simple. i found it on my gps & attempted to follow its directions. however, the directions for driving, not walking & it was directing me to the highway. so, i attempted to take a round about way, but following as closely to the gps directions as possible. i passed a few places i remembered from earlier that morning & .... the gps batteries died....shit. so, i followed the "keskustaan / till centrum" signs to find an r-kioski to buy more batteries. but, one of the first places i saw entering downtown was hertz. oh, cool! there was someone inside, but the door was locked. so, i walked around to what seemed like another entrance, but it was also locked. the guy finally saw me & i asked - mouthed - "are you open?" he told me to go back around to the first door & that's when he realized it was locked. he opened the door & i asked again if "he" was open & said "no, it's a national holiday. do you need a car?..." he said he could get me a car if i needed one, but it would cost a lot more.... "well, i gotta do what i gotta do..." i responded. he told me it would take a bout a half hour & i asked if i could wait in the store & he said "no". well, it's not like i had anywhere else to go.... hertz happened to be across the street from lordi's rocktaurant, so i got to "visit" it anyways (i was planning on doing that before catching my bus before i found out my bus was leaving an hour earlier than i thought). i decided to take this time to call b of a about my mastercard, which only took a couple minutes since it was an automated message & i only needed to confirm purchases. so...i now had about 20 min. to kill & i wandered around. found lordi square again, went into r-kioski & bought an icecream treat & pringles, & saw another rental car company (i forget which one, but not europcar); i was tempted to go in & see if they would charge me less, but decided i didn't want to play that game. it wasn't quite a half hour, but i decided to head back to hertz anyways. he was ready for me, so i went in. this cost me a buttload. not only does renting a car cost a lot, but i was charged more for one-way drop-off, more for the transaction done on a national holiday, etc. although, he did give me a sedan & only charged me for a compact.
i headed back to anni's. time was running out & anni wasn't answering her door or her phone. ahh! i rang the door again & she answered, whoo! i finished eating my icecream & grabbed my bags & left. i didn't want to linger in case it took me longer to get to tornio than i figured i missed my next bus...the last thing i wanted to do was miss another transport. the drive was longer than i was expecting & the gps directions took me on some back roads that weren't exactly clear. it was a more direct way to go than staying on the main highways, so i don't know which would actually have been better. my drop-off point was a hotel & i found it, but there wasn't any hertz logo anywhere, so i went around back, parked, & went inside to ask where i was to leave the car. the teller told me to just leave him the keys. i went back to the car to get my stuff & went back inside to give him the keys & ask how to get to the haparanda bus station. he told me i either had to walk the 1km or take a cab. he gave me a map of tornio/haparanda & i decided to walk since i wasn't in the mood to spend more money. it took me about 45min. to walk & i got the bus station w/ about 10min. to spare. again, there wasn't anyone in the station other than other travelers. nor were there any ticket machines, so i couldn't print out my tickets that i had already bought online. all i could do was hope that the bus drivers would believe my story & not require to buy another ticket.....i waited outside since i was, again, all hot & sweaty.
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