Frankfurt

What a lovely city this is – it has been 5 years since I was last here. That was when I was with my mother on a river cruise. This morning I had to go down to the Mein River and just reminisce about the incredible trip I did with her. I went down rather early and found somewhere right on the river bank to have breakfast. It was a beautiful morning, with quite a lot of traffic on the river and a couple of the river ships were berthed here.

When I arrived yesterday there had been an ‘Iron Man Event’ in the city. After making some inquiries it was actually what we would call a ‘super triathlon’. This is a huge event for the city with thousands of spectators. And, they are still cleaning up today.

After settling into my hotel I took a walk and the first thing I saw about 50 metres down the street on a city square was what appeared to be a festival or a carnival. It was part of the Iron Man Event – lots of food and drink stalls. I decided to eat there and the choices were exactly what you would expect to find in Germany. Stalls selling many varieties of beer, sausages, potatoes, pancakes, local cakes and biscuits plus things like popcorn and ice-cream. I ended up spending some time there. I got talking to a couple from a nearby suburb. The lady could speak four languages and I think she enjoyed chatting in English to me. She told me she gets few opportunities to speak English.

This morning I did do the usual hop-on-hop-off bus as my time here is limited. Again it was a good tour and very informative. Frankfurt employs many people in the finance and banking sector, but the other huge employer is Frankfurt Airport. This airport is just smaller in size and volume to Heathrow.

The main square in the city is Romberg Square and that is simply delightful with many older style buildings. Because of the event yesterday there were dozens of workers taking down the temporary grandstands as this is where the event finished.

From Romberg Square it is a short walk to the Cathedral, St Paul’s Church, City Hall and the Mein River. This is a very modern city too, with many huge skyscrapers. There is a twin-towers bank building. The locals have a name for each tower - ‘debit’ and ‘credit’.

My short stay in Frankfurt has been really enjoyable.

Well now it is homeward bound!

The Frankfurt Railway Station.

The fabulous "Romberg Square".

River Ships berthed on the Mein River.

Luxembourg City

I have just spent a few days in Luxembourg.

Luxembourg is known as a “Grand Duchy”.

The Grand Duke and his family do have a palace in the old part of the city. Next door to the palace is the parliament. This is something the locals talk about – royalty and democracy being so close together.

It is a very cosmopolitan city and I was a bit confused about what the official language was. Many of the signs are in French and people did seem to speak French. However they do have their own language which is a mix of French & German. Children are taught their own language, plus French, German and English. This is the one country I have visited that people only had very basic English, even in hotels and cafes. So sometimes communication as a bit of a challenge!

The architecture of many buildings did remind me a lot of Paris in style and colour.

Luxembourg City is one of the EU Capital Cities along with Brussels & Strasbourg. There are many EU buildings here such as courts, other legal buildings and of course banking & finance.

The city is situated on a huge ravine that has several bridges crossing it. The photos I have taken do not reflect the actual depth of the ravine. In the ravine you find many homes and other buildings, lots of paths and walking tracks as well as a huge park. I did expect to see a river as well – but, no river!

On one side of the ravine sits the old part of the city with its many old buildings, public squares, churches and the cathedral. The other side is newer and where you find places like the railway station, stadiums and sporting venues and a huge shopping area. In the old city, on Saturday mornings there is always a food market in the square near the Palace. And in the next square near the town hall you find what we would all a ‘trash’n’treasure’ market.  However, there did not appear to be too much trash. Many of the stalls sold glassware, crockery and books mostly 2^nd hand.

While I was here I did do a sightseeing tour (hop-on-hop-off bus). These bus tours are really good as they always give you an overview of places and you can then hop-off and explore further. There is a new part of the city where most of the EU and banking buildings are and these are all very modern. The whole place seems to blend very well.

In the banking section there is an odd-mix of modern sculptures including one of what a ‘typical banker’ should look like. The actual statue is 8 metres tall!

Sadly in the short time I spent here I did not have the chance to explore areas outside the city. This is a lovely place to visit – and different to other places I have been.

The "Typical Banker" sculpture (8 metres tall).

"Constitution Square" on the edge of the ravine.

The Railway Station - a beatiful old building.

Flanders Fields

While I was in Brugge I realised just how close I was to the Flanders Fields area of WW1. I decided to take a tour of the area. The tour company I went with was a good company to use. It is called ‘Quasimodo’ and is run by a Belgium man and his Australian wife.

Whilst I hate all forms of war, WW1 was absolute madness as our tour guide explained. I did know some details about WW1 but I certainly learnt a lot from this tour. The tour is a very sobering experience and at the same time it really does make you wonder and get quite angry about just why mankind has not learnt a lesson.

A couple of things that did surprise me were just how flat the whole are is. While they do talk about hills, they are just that, and not very big hills at all. The other being just how close each side were to each other. In some cases a couple of hundred metres!

We covered the area of the Ypres Salient. Our first stop was at a German War Cemetery and as we soon discovered very different to others we visited. In the German War Cemetery all the headstones are laid flat on the ground and they were only allowed to have a few groups of wooden crosses in the whole area. Oak trees were planted and these are now very large.

Probably the place that has left an indelible mark with me is the ‘Tyne Cot Cemetery’. It is now the largest Commonwealth War Cemetery in the world in terms of burials.  There are 11,956 ‘Commonwealth’ servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in Tyne Cot Cemetery. I believe there about 3600 Australians at Tyne Cot. 8,369 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to more than 80 casualties known or believed to be buried among them.

The number of Australians that were sent to the Western Front is enormous, in a 2½ year period 295,000 were on the Western Front, 60% were casualties and 46,000 lost their lives. We certainly lost a generation of young men during WW1.

We did stop at a local farm; even today it is not unusual for farmers to find live ammunition and live gas shells on their farms. When these are found, they leave them, usually by a light post and someone from the bomb squad collects them. Where we stopped, the tour guide commented that when he had been there 2 days ago there were 2 ammunition shells but that day a 3^rd shell had been added and that was a gas shell. At another farm, the farmer had quite a collection of items he has found on his land. Fortunately these are all safe, and quite interesting to see. This farmer was a strawberry farmer and we did see something very unusual outside his farm on the roadside. It was a refrigerated, self-serve strawberry machine! Several people stopped while we were there to purchase strawberries.

The tour took us to many well know WW1 sites including: Hellfire Corner, Polygon Wood where the Australian Memorial is, Hill 60 – where a very large man-made explosion was heard in London & in Ireland. At Hill 60, there is a special memorial to the 1^st Australian Tunnelling Division – these soldiers all had mining experience and helped create the tunnels that were eventually used for that massive explosion.

Towards the end of the tour we went to the Menin Gate in the town of Ypres. Listed on this memorial are 1000’s of names of soldiers that are missing, that is, not known to be buried in a marked grave. Every night of the year at 8pm without exception, the Police close the roads around the Menin Gate and members from the Fire Brigade play “The Last Post”.

Our last stop was at Essex Farm Cemetery. This was a smaller cemetery but did include some interesting things. One being some bunkers that were dug into the sides of a canal. These were used by the medical people to help wounded soldiers. It is also the resting place for the youngest known soldier of WW1. He was a young man from the UK who ran away to join up when he was 14 years old. He lost his life at the age of 15, just so sad.

Essex Farm is where the Canadian Army Doctor and artillery brigade commander Major John McCrae composed his now famous poem “In Flanders Fields”.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

RIP

In a way, it has been rather poignant for me and my family that I did a trip to a WW1 area this week.

The reason being that after 70 years of not knowing, my family finally has confirmation that our uncle – Pte Leslie James Pattle from the 2/22^nd Battalion was on board the Japanese ship the ‘Montevideo Maru’ during WW2. The ship was torpedoed by an American submarine as it was not marked as carrying POW’s. The official list was lost and only recently found and translated into English.

RIP Uncle Les.

Tyne Cot Cemetery - a Commonwealth War Graves Commision Cemetery.

The Australian Memorial at Polygon Wood.

'Hill 60' as you see it today (see below for WW1 photo)

'Hill 60' during WW1 - the whole area looked like this!

Brugge

I have worked my way south to Brugge in Belgium.

What a magnificent place to visit! And here’s me thinking Europe cannot get much better than places I have seen – how wrong can you be.

The day I arrived I just walked and walked, and yes, I did get lost. It is one of those places where you are never too sure when to start and then stop taking photos. Everywhere you turn you just want to get the camera out. I soon discovered the canals and they are just lovely.

As in a lot of European cities most shops are closed on a Sunday. The only ones open here were cafes and tourist shops. The tourist shops are interesting and different to other places I have been. This is mainly due to the famous Belgium Chocolate being available everywhere. There are also several shops selling wonderful locally made biscuits (and yes, I did sample a few!).

Brugge has always been known as a lace town. Several shops only sell genuine hand-made lace. Others sell a range of lace products, some have been produced using computer technology. All the products are lovely and there is a huge range available. I did see a hand-made wedding veil in a shop for more that €1000.

Brugge is a medieval city that has UNESCO listing and so it should. The city has a mixture of architectural styles and many of the public building are just magnificent. The main square is called ‘Market Square’ and the most prominent building there is the Belfry Tower. Around 2 sides of the square there are a lot of cafes. This time of the year, most people sit outside and soak up the summer sunshine. However, the taxi driver who drove me to my B&B told me not to eat in the market square and go somewhere off the square! Then, the lady at the B&B told me the same thing – I asked why and she said the food was more expensive and the quality was not always good. I have taken their advice and found some delightful eateries away from the square. I was surprised by the prices, very reasonable, in fact cheaper than I pay at home and the food has been excellent.

On my first full day here I played tourist. I did a canal tour and that was just lovely. The tours only last 30 minutes but they give you an excellent overview of the city. There are so many old stone bridges, lovely old homes and public buildings. There are usually 20 boats on the canals at a time during the summer months. During any given year more that 1 million people take a canal boat ride in Brugge! After that I did do a mini-bus tour – again excellent and gives you a different perspective of the city. It also gave me my bearings more so than the canal tour as the canals wind around a lot and you are never quite sure just where you are. The other tourist ride that is very popular is the horse drawn carriage rides – people queue up for these.

On my 2^nd day in Brugge I did take a full day tour to “Flanders’s Fields” and I will post a separate blog about this tour. I decided, because I was so close to Ypres it was something I felt I should do and so I am glad I did that tour.

Brugge is an amazing city and I still have some time here and I plan on wandering around to discover some more beautiful spots.

The wonderful canals in Brugge - just stunning!

The Belfry Tower, Market Square in Brugge - you can climb to the top!

Market Square in Brugge. Lovely old buildings and where you get the mini-bus tours.

The last few days in Scandinavia

After leaving the wonderful city of Oslo I travelled by train to Sweden’s 2^nd largest city Gotenberg.

Situated on the west coast of Sweden there are many lovely canals and of course lots of cobblestone paths and roadways here. Being on the coast it is well known for it fresh seafood. There is a ‘Fish-Church’ here. It is actually the fish market, and called the ‘fish-church’ because the building does resemble a church. The market only opens on days when fresh fish is available. The fishermen traditionally do not fish on a Sunday, so the market is always closed on Mondays. They have an amazing range of seafood available. You can buy take-away packs or there are a couple of cafes where you can enjoy a really great meal.

I did take a hop-on-hop-off bus tour here as I was only here for a short time. It is a beautiful city to visit with its many canals and waterways and many beautiful parks and gardens. The hotel I stayed in had a great view over the city. I took a couple of photos at 10pm & 11pm – and yes it was still daylight! It is rather bizarre going to sleep each night when it is fully daylight.

After leaving Gotenberg I travelled for about an hour to a smaller town called Falkenberg. I had met a Soroptimist member from Falkenberg earlier this year when she visited Melbourne. I was really happy to have the time and see some of ‘her patch’.

Falkenberg is a lovely coastal town in southern Sweden. Being shown around by a local is special. We did a lot of walking as there are several walking paths along a river, through the old parts of town and of course along the beach. One walk we did was called “Doctor’s Walk” because many years ago the land was donated to the community by a local doctor who thought if the locals had somewhere nice to walk it would be good for their health. It is a delightful walk along the river and there are many beautiful old trees along the banks. We saw several people fishing in the river, many others walking and enjoying the fresh air. There is also an outdoor theatre area that is used during the summer months for outdoor theatre and music - judging by the number of seats being set up it appears to be well supported. We went inside an old church called St. Laurentii Church, it was built in 1787. The interior was beautiful, quite different to other churches I have been in. The colour of all the church furniture was all a lovely blue in colour. There is some interesting art work on the ceiling, and as is often the story, the art work was not discovered until some restoration work was being done on the building. I enjoyed walking through the old parts of town seeing some very old traditional homes – many are still lived in today. Thanks to M, I had a lovely stay and enjoyed seeing her part of the world.

My last destination in Scandinavia was back to Copenhagen. I only stayed one night but as it was a beautiful balmy summer evening I took a short walk from my hotel and revisited the Tivoli. What a difference four weeks makes weatherwise! Summer had arrived and there were people everywhere. There were people enjoying a meal in some of the many restaurants. People sitting out on the grass enjoying music and other entertainment and of course lots for the children to do. Tivoli is a great place for adults and children alike.

My visit to Scandinavia has been a real highlight. It is somewhere I had always wanted to go. It is a stunning art of the world.

I will have just so many memories – some being:

·        All the lakes in Finland.

·        Learning about the 'Saami' people and their amazing survival skills over many, many years – they are an incredible group of people.

·        All the stunning fiords and the 'millions' of waterfalls.

·        The many snow capped, black coloured mountains.

·        The frozen lakes.

·        All that snow and in summer!

·        The beautiful wildflowers. You see them everywhere and the colours are just lovely.

·        The drive to the “Trolls Road” in Norway.

·        And of course – seeing the ‘Midnight Sun’

I am looking forward to travelling to some new destinations in Europe.

The old toll bridge in Falkenberg called the "Tullbron"

The "Fish Church" in Gotenberg, Sweden

Gotenberg - a beatiful city.



Oslo - Norway

Oslo is a very ancient city dating back to the 11^th century and is situated on the Oslo Fiord. Today it is still growing – there is a lot of redevelopment happening plus they are building several thousand new apartments. Oslo is surrounded by 40 islands.

I did play tourist here as there is a lot to see and do. A visit to Holmenkollen National Ski Arena was very interesting – the actual ski jump is enormous and they do train all year round. It is also a training centre for cross country skiing and the biathlon. The facilities are first-class and it is a well used facility.

The Nobel awards are presented in the Oslo City Hall. The City Hall looks quite modern but in fact the building commenced in the 1930’s and was delayed during WW2 and was finally opened in the early 1950’s. I had not planned on going inside, but it did start to rain so I did go in. What a surprise!  There is more than 20,000 square feet of murals on the walls. The murals celebrate Norwegian society – and they are so beautiful. So glad the rain came down!

There are at least 2 museums in Oslo that are a must see.

·        The first is the ‘Kon-Tiki Museum’. The museum houses the original ‘Kon-Tiki’ raft and the reed boat ‘Ra 11’. When you see these crafts it is just so amazing that they sailed to the destinations they were. The museum is basically about the recreation of pre-historic voyages – well worth a visit.

·        The second museum is ‘The Viking Ship Museum’ – this was an incredible place to visit as the Vikings were only around for a short period in history, but we do hear a lot about them. The museum has two 9^th century Viking Ships. They are amazing to see and have been well preserved. One ship belonged to a Viking Queen and was found in a burial mound in 1904. They also uncovered a carriage and several sleds, plus many other items such as shoes, pieces of cloth, buckets, household items etc. The ships were all built of Oak.

I had heard about ‘The Vigeland Sculpture Park’ and was not really sure what to expect as I was told it was a place you either love or hate. I really enjoyed the visit – we had a good tour guide who explained very well the message the Sculpture Artist telling. The Park is one of the world's largest sculpture parks made by a single artist. The artist is Gustav Vigeland and this was his lifelong work. There are more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite and wrought iron. Work on the park and the sculptures started in the late 1920’s and took over 40 years to complete with the assistance of other artists. Basically the artist tells the story of the ‘Circle of Life’.

Oslo has a new Opera House and the locals are comparing to the Sydney Opera House as both are built by the water. They are very different and the one in Oslo is meant to resemble an iceberg melting into the water – and yes, you can see what the architects are trying to achieve. I went back on my own after the tour and walked up the sloping walls to the roof area and the view was amazing. The inside is stunning with a lot of wood on the inside. They have used a lot of Italian marble both indoors and outdoors – makes me wonder how much marble if left in Italy?

The Oslo Folk Museum was also a good place to visit. It is huge and you could easily spend a whole day here. I went there with the tour group and we only saw a very small portion of the centre. We did see the section about how the Norwegian National Costumes have developed over the years and why they are all different. Each region has its own version of a national costume and the Norwegian Saami’s have a similar national costume to the Sammi’s in Finland and Sweden. We did manage to visit some of the old buildings that have been relocated here. These did include a very old Stave Church.

This article does sound a bit like a travelogue – but Oslo is a wonderful place to visit.

I did mention that during the past 3 weeks I have been with a tour group. During those 3 weeks we travelled from Copenhagen to Stockholm. We then went onto Helsinki and then North Cape in Norway and finally to Oslo. All up we travelled 5993 km’s – not a bad trip!!

A carriage found in a Viking Queen's burial ship.

The new Oslo Opera House - meant to resemble an iceberg melting into the sea.

The Kon-Tiki raft - the original.

On to Oslo

The final few days of the tour were spectacular to say the least.

As we travelled towards Geiranger we passed through many mountains, crossed several fiords by ferries, saw many more frozen lakes and lots more snow. And among all this the wildflowers were simply stunning.

Norway has more than 1100 fiords. The meaning of fiord is ‘a valley filled with water’. And there must be millions of waterfalls. Everywhere you look there is a waterfall. Some are huge others much smaller. Two-thirds of Norway is covered by mountains.

We had a lunch stop at Lom which is a UNESCO town in a UNESCO National Park area. The town was delightful and there is a Stave Wooden Church here. The Stave Churches are very old and this one dates back to the 1100’s. Most are built from oak and are quite dark inside with some simple decoration. There are still a few of these scattered around Norway. Some are still used for weddings especially when people dress wearing their National Costume.

On arrival in Geiranger we took a cruise on the fabulous Geiranger Fiord (also listed as a UNESCO area). This was a lovely cruise despite the weather being a bit overcast. As you would expect lots of huge waterfalls, huge mountains, many covered in snow and several farms where people used to live and farm.

When you look at where people used to live and raise families in these old farmhouses you do wonder how they ever got there. The cruise director did tell a couple of stories: one family used to tie their young children to a rope to prevent them from falling down into the fiord! Another was about a tax-collector who simply gave up as he could not manage to reach the farms to collect the tax that was owing!

After such a wonderful cruise I did not expect the drive on the “Trolls Road” to equal the cruise – how wrong I was! 

To give the road its correct name it is called - Trollstigen Mountain Road. The road has 11 hairpin bends up a very steep mountainside. Encircling the road are huge snow capped mountains. Many huge waterfalls gush down the mountainside towards a beautiful green valley called ‘Isterdalen Valley’. The Trollstigen Mountain Road winds its way up to 858 metres above sea level. Thank goodness we had a great bus driver who had driven this road many times before. Sometimes even taking photos in this area has been challenging due to the very black coloured mountains and all the white snow. Some photos look quite eerie! This trip has certainly been a highlight of the tour.

After spending 2 nights in Geiranger we travelled towards Oslo via Lillehammer – site of 1994 Winter Olympics. We did visit the ski-jump at the original Olympic site. These days the ski-jumpers can train all year round as they have a special surface they put on the jumps.

The next part of the tour was sightseeing in Oslo and I will report on that in my next blog.

The tour I have just completed was called “The Grand Tour of Scandinavia” and it was exactly that a ‘grand tour’. Many thanks to Insight Vacations – this was the first bus tour I have done and would certainly consider another bus tour. We had a great Tour Director and a fabulous Bus Driver.

A typical scene of the black mountains, a frozen lake and snow.

The cruise on the Geiranger Fiord - just beautiful.

The Trolls Road Norway - so many hairpin bends! A wonderful experience.

 

On to Trondheim

I am not sure just how you describe several days travelling along the Norwegian fiords between snow capped mountains, waterfalls, picturesque farms, beautiful forests and several frozen lakes, I guess magnificent plus.

Our stay in Alta was a memorable one. We had an option to take a ‘Wilderness River Trip’ and most of the group decided to take the tour. What we did not realise was that the river trip was in open wooden canoes with outboard motors! Yes, they did move rather fast, but the scenery was again incredible and we saw a reindeer herd grazing in the forest. After the river trip we had afternoon tea by the river and that was lovely, tea or coffee and some home-cooked waffles, homemade strawberry jam and sour-cream, just delicious.

On the way back to the hotel we called into a husky dog place as two members of our group asked if they could do a husky-dog ride. The dogs were all very friendly and used to people coming to see them. In the winter they take people for sled rides and in the summer they have a buggy where you can ride through the forest.

We then travelled onto Narvik – again wonderful scenery. That night was a clear blue sky (almost) and this was out last chance to see the midnight sun. So we all went up to the top floor of the hotel and we did finally see the midnight sun! This is an incredible site, but in some ways rather bizarre as it is fully daylight. So glad I have seen it, as I may never travel to this area again.

The journey from Narvic to Mosjoen included a ferry trip. Again the scenery was wonderful – lots of snow capped mountains, homes and farms where people live all year round.

To get to Mosjoen we had to cross the Arctic Circle again. Where the Arctic Circle is, there is a roadside stop and there was a lot of snow on the ground. There is also a monument to the soldiers who passed away building this highway during WW2. Like most stories during WW2 this one is especially tragic and partly due to the horrific weather conditions.

Mosjoen is a very attractive small town. We had a couple of long travel days so we did get the opportunity to have a wander around the town. Because of the long hours of daylight, this is the time of the year when the locals have lots of music concerts out of doors and you see many families taking their children to playgrounds or walking in parks.

On our drive to Trondheim we stopped at Laksfoss Falls. These were huge falls and you can sometimes see Salmon jumping up the falls to breed. This was the wrong time of the year, but the falls were beautiful anyway.

On arrival in Trondheim we visited the Lutheran Cathedral – again a very old cathedral. Part of the cathedral was built in the 1200’s and finished in the 1700’s. It was a lovely cathedral, similar in architecture to St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne. The interior was very dull and quite dark. I would imagine in the winter months it could be very dark and cold.

When you travel through Norway you do see piles of stones near the side of the road or at roadside stops and camping areas. These are ‘trolls’ that people build, there are several versions of exactly why people make these. But, in general terms they are to bring people luck in their travels and to keep bad things from happening to them. You do see them everywhere. There is one basic rule – if you see a troll, you must leave it, and if you want to build a troll you must find your own stones.

Another custom is, that very often in homes you see lights hanging in windows or, people have a lamps in their windows – this again is to keep bad sprits away from their homes.

I am looking forward to more magnificent scenery in coming days.

Midnight Sun at Narvik, Norway.

Roadside 'trolls' in Norway.

The Arctic Circle roadside stop in Norway.

The North Cape & Honingsvag

As we were leaving the beautiful country of Finland, the tour leader said “folks, you will see some more big lakes today” – and he was right. I cannot believe how many lakes, streams & rivers there are in Finland. It is a magnificent country, so different to Australia and it has a really interesting history.

When you want a glass of water you turn on the tap and the water is ice cold, like you have just taken it out of the fridge. The water is also very pure and clear.

We did learn some interesting facts relating to the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster that happened in 1986. The accident was not originally acknowledged by the USSR. The Saami reindeer herders noticed that many reindeer were ill. They could not work out what was wrong with them. After many reindeer dying and with tests being done it was discovered they had radiation poisoning.  The rest is now, sadly history.

We had a stop at Karasjok which is the seat of the Saami Parliament. The “Samediggi” is an elected body for the Norwegian Sami, with representatives chosen by direct elections in constituencies all over Norway. Only registered Saami’s can vote.

The Sammi people have an excellent museum here as well. It is very informative and they have an wondeful display of traditional buildings. The temperatures in Lapland & this area of Norway are very severe – quite frankly I have no idea how people have survived over the many years and still survive today.

The annual temperatures vary from +20°C in the summer to -20°C in the winter. There are not many very hot days in the summertime. In the wintertime the temperatures may fall to minus thirty degrees a number of times, and the wind chill factor makes it feel even colder.

Usually about the 21^st December the daylight hours are only 2¼ hours per day!

You see many people travelling to this area at present in campervans, cycling holidays and many people go hiking. The weather is quite cold and there is a lot of fog around.

As we drove into Norway the geography and vegetation changed a lot. We crossed the border it seemed like only minutes and we saw our first fiord. Around the fiord and everywhere we have been since there are many smaller mountains that have huge drifts of snow still. The snow should melt in the next couple of weeks. The drive along this huge fiord was stunning – we think our Great Ocean Road drive is fabulous (and it is) but this is equally as good.

We did drive up to the North Cape which is an excellent viewing area for the midnight sun. However as we were driving up the fog came in and it was like ‘pea-soup’. Needless to say we had no hope of seeing the midnight sun at North Cape. There is however, an excellent information centre there and they show a film all about the area and the people and how they live and survive in the harsh climate.

We will have a couple of other nights when we may see the midnight sun!

As you drive to the North Cape the scenery is a bit ‘moon-like’ a lot of rocks and slate everywhere with some patches of the tundra grasses and many large snow drifts. You do see reindeer grazing along the roadside.

Before leaving the North Cape we were asked if we would like to do an optional tour – to take a boat ride from a small fishing village near the North Cape and see some bird nesting areas. This was a great tour and everyone who went said it was one of the best we had done. Even if we had not seen a bird, the scenery alone was magnificent. The birds we saw included Puffins – these were lovely, they have a white belly and black backs – other that a large beak you could be excused for thinking they were small flying penguins! We saw a huge variety of birds including the rare white-tailed eagle.

All through this area you see many racks where the locals dry fish. The dried fish is eaten as is and not cooked – presume it is a bit like jerky.

We have moved further into Norway to Alta – we have a couple of days here so we can catch our breath and have a sleep-in!

The racks used for drying fish. Nearby mountains still have drifts of snow.

A Puffin - could be a flying penguin!!??

At the Saami Museum, Karasjok.

Into the Arctic Circle

We have arrived in Lapland, northern Finland. The vegetation is starting to change a little. But, we are still driving through all the beautiful Silver Birch and Pine Forests. The trees are a bit smaller and there is more open land and you do see reindeer grazing on the new grass or looking for moss and lichen in the forests.

I cannot believe how many lakes and rivers there are here. Because the weather is good the reflections on the lakes are just beautiful.

We had a lunch stop at a lovely small market town called Oulu. I enjoyed wandering around and looking at the many stalls. Many of them sold food, traditional clothing & handcrafts and Reindeer skins.

Later that afternoon we arrived in Rovaniemi which is located on the Arctic Circle. We have had some really good tour guides on the trip, but the one here was exceptional.

*   We visited the Lutheran Cathedral that had the most beautiful fresco painting behind the Alter. It told the story of the people from this region. Next door to the Cathedral is a War Cemetery and we learnt about the role of Finland and the Finnish people during WW2. I did not know very much at all about this and I did find it very interesting.

*   Next stop was the City Hall and again it was very interesting to learn about the National & Local Government systems here. We had seen many people walking around dressed in their National Costumes – apparently there had been a large political conference in town and they were having a parade to celebrate the election of a new Party Leader.

*   A visit to a Pioneer Museum was really interesting and I do wonder how people survived here in past years.

*   Next on the agenda was a visit to the ‘Arctic Museum’ – a great place to visit and learn about the local Lapland people who are called Lappi’s and the Saami people. We saw a really good film that was all photographs of Lapland in all seasons. There were also a number of photos of the ‘Northern Lights’ (aurora borealis). You can only see the Northern Lights during the winter months. The colours were amazing. Our guide did tell us that even the locals, if they are out driving often stop and look at this amazing spectacle. We will not see these sadly, but we are hoping for a good clear weather night so we can see the ‘midnight sun’.

*   Later in the day we went to a Reindeer Farm. Reindeer farming is all done by the Saami people. They are the native people of Lapland. Lapland is a wide geographical area that covers Norway, Sweden & Finland and there have been Saami people in Russia too. We were met and greeted by a Saami family who took us to see some reindeer. These ones were very friendly as they are used to people coming to see them and during the winter they also pull sleighs for people to ride in. Their fur is very soft and their antlers were covered in velvet like skin. We were given some moss to hand feed them and they were all very friendly even the 2 reindeers who each had a baby. The reindeer are let loose in the forests this time of the year and they do fatten up. During harsh the winter months the Saami people handfeed them if food is scarce. The reindeer are used for meet and their skins are used for a number of products including shoes, clothing, handbags etc. We then had dinner at the Reindeer centre, and yes we did eat reindeer meat and it is very nice.

*   We are staying at the most wonderful hotel here. It is located about 28km out of Rovaniemi but in the most beautiful location. In front of the hotel there is a large lake that you can walk around and there are several chalets that families stay in during the winter. It is called Bears Lodge. Our cameras got a good workout here as the reflections in the lake were incredible.

Before leaving Rovaniemi we visited the Santa Village. This is a fabulous place for everyone but especially for children. It is Christmas all year round. Santa is of course there, as are his helpers. You can have your photo taken with Santa, and you can arrange for Santa to send special letters to children at Christmas. And, of course a great place to shop for anything Christmassy. The village is located exactly on the line of the Arctic Circle.

We have just arrived in Saariselka which is a few kilometres from the Russian border.

There are not that many large mountains in either Sweden or Finland and most of the skiing here is either cross-country or ski-jumping. However in Saariselka there is a smallish mountain that does have a ski lift and people do, do some downhill skiing. At the top there is a cafe and information centre and a lookout tower and you can see snow on the mountains in Russia from the lookout. You can drive into Russia from here there is a border crossing not far away. This is the region in Lapland where it is not unusual to have temperatures in winter anywhere between -20 to -40 degrees! Thank goodness it has been about +14 degrees today.

We are all hoping for a clear night tomorrow (with a blue sky) so we can see the ‘midnight sun’.

Oh - by the way, there is a pile of snow outside by room!

Beautiful reflections in Lapland.

Bear Lodge Hotel - a wonderful place to stay - great location.

Fresco in the Lutheran Cathedral in Rovaniemi.

Saami men in their National Dress.

En-route to Kuopio

We arrived in Helsinki at 10.00am and it was a beautiful sunny day. It was 9 degrees when we arrived and by the end of the day it was 16 degrees.

Helsinki Harbour is a very busy harbour as ferries run to and from many places including the Baltic States, Sweden and Russia.

The harbour has many small islands not that far from the shore. In the winter the sea freezes. The locals often ski on the frozen sea over to the islands. They can’t skate as the surface is too rough. People also walk to over to the islands.

On arrival in Helsinki we did a half day tour of the city area:

§  First we went to Temppeliaukio Kirkko - otherwise known as the “Rock Church”. This is unlike any church I have ever been to. It is an underground Rock Church and is built inside a massive block of natural granite in the middle of a residential square. The structure is barely visible from outside. You can only the copper dome poking out of the rock. Inside, the church is circular and enclosed by walls that are all bare rock. The ceiling is a giant disc made of copper wire that does resemble a basket. It is a normal church, but because of the quality of the acoustics they do have some music recitals and concerts there – an unusual but stunning building. There is a website so if you are keen to know more, just Google ‘Rock Church Helsinki’.

§  Sibelius Monument – this monument honours a famous Finnish composer. The monument is a contemporary sculpture that did create a bit of controversy when it was completed. It does however resemble the pine forests where the composer used to walk to get inspiration for his music – I thought it was a really nice contemporary sculpture

§   We did see the magnificent Lutheran Cathedral that is located on a high point in the city. It did remind me a bit of Sacre Coeur in Paris – a very large beautiful white building. On the square below the Catedral there was a promotional market. Each region in Finland was promoting food and goods from the different regions. It was interesting to see Reindeer skins, reindeer sausages, and many different kinds of biscuits and traditional cloth to make into traditional clothing.

§  We then walked about a block towards the harbour and there was a traditional weekly market that sold a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables and other food stuff. There were many food stalls that were popular with both the locals and the many tourists. You could eat things like salmon soup, fried whitebait, reindeer sausages etc. There were also stalls that sold some traditional handcrafts. Some of these were quite different and interesting.

§  Helsinki was where the 1952 Olympic Games were held. The stadium is used now for many sports and they do have a couple of statues there, one being of the “Flying Finn” Paavo Nurmi and one of Lasse Viren – he is the athlete who at the Munich Games fell over, got up and then won a Gold Medal.

The following day we travelled to Kuopio which is located in what they call ‘The land of 1000 lakes” but in fact there are more that 1.5 million lakes in Finland. Yes, the number is correct – some large and some small. It was not until we reached Kuopio and went up into a viewing tower that we could see just how much water there is in this area. This is a lovely town and we had the opportunity to walk down by one of the lakes that is also a harbour. People to do live on some of the islands and there are regular ferries that run like taxis or buses to and from the town.

Since arriving in Sweden and Finland I have been surprised by a few things:

(1) The roads are in very good repair. Considering the amount of snow they get they must work hard to keep them like they are.

(2) Along the freeways in both countries there is a solid wire fence about 2 metres in height that runs parallel to the freeways on both sides of the road. This is to keep the deer from running onto the road. 

(3) Travelling along one of the freeways, it suddenly became much wider with large yellow lines down the middle. Several freeways in Finland double as runways for planes. They can, and are sometimes used by the Military and also by emergency planes (e.g. ambulances, police etc).

(4) Driving into Kuopio we noticed in car parks besides apartments blocks a number of ‘power poles’ similar to what we see in caravan parks. In the winter people need to plug their cars into these overnight to keep the motors warm, otherwise the motors freeze. When they do bus tours here during the winter months, they need to plug the buses into a power outlet, but they also need to keep the bus motor running all night as well!

Where I am now, it is almost light 24 hours a day. Because the sun has been shining the locals are really making the most of it.

In this area the winters are very long, very cold (sometimes up to minus 40 degrees) and very long dark days. Children do attend school on a Saturday mornings. This is to make up for the hours when they cannot attend during the long dark winters. We have been told many people suffer from depression during the winter and I am not a bit surprised.

I have woken a couple of times during the night and it is daylight, at 3.00am! You do think you won’t go back to sleep, but so far I have. The hotels here all have dark curtains, but the light does seem to come in.

Fingers crossed that the weather continues to be kind to us.....

The 'Rock Church" - Helsinki, fabulous!

The Lutheran Cathedral - Helsinki.

Entry to the Helsinki Railway Station