haha, of course there is music: The Cat Empire - Lullaby
mood: sleepy (it is 9:40 in the morning but I somehow woke up at 5:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. So it is my right to be tired!)
Hyvää Huomenta!
As you probably already saw from the videos, we spend the last week in Lapland.
We left on sunday morning at 3.45h. To face that inhuman time, we decided to have a stay-awake party on saturday evening. We made muffins for the bus ride and watched lots of movies. Still, some people fell asleep. I was also really sleepy and grumpy.
The bus was o.k. but the legspace was quite small. I didn't really sleep during the trip but rather dozed. I noticed that farther north, the sun rises earlier. The first light appeared at 5.20h.
We had a stop in Rovaniemi to see the Santa Claus Village. First, everybody wanted to write postcards. It was nice to see Santa Claus Post Office where they show all the letters Santa gets every year. I overheard a conversation of some German tourists who told that you can take some of these letters from all over the world and answer them yourself. Some nice idea!
Otherwise, Santa Village was rather disappointing. You can go and take a picture with Santa for 30€. Then you can buy lots of souvenirs. That's pretty much it. Of course, it is cool to see where the polar circle is indicated but still... It was sad and it really gave the idea that Santa was invented by Coca Cola as a symbol for Christmas commercialism (even though I don't recall seeing a coke sign).
In the late afternoon, we arrived in Levi. This is a skiing area in Lapland around a hill with about 500 m height (not a mountain for sure!), which is pretty much the highest the area has to offer.
We stayed in cottages with either 6 or 7 people. I was with Kirsten, two Italian and two Dutch guys. The cottage had a lot to offer: LCD TV, DVD player, sauna, dishwasher, laundry machine, big pots in the kitchen, wine glasses, even shot glasses,... except for sufficient bed space. The guys had to share a room in 4 with a high bed, a double bed and a matress on the floor so one of them decided to stay on the sofa in the living room. In the girl's bedroom, there was only one small bed and a floor matress. I chose the matress and it was actually more comfortable than the Kuopas matress here. We took turns going to the sauna (too small for all of us), went shopping for dinner, met with the Belgian people for cooking pasta and went to bed at 9.30. I slept 11 hours straight and was still tired when I got up the next morning.
The next day, we went snowshoe walking. That was really fun but not so easy. The guide was some funny local guy who had the funniest accent ever ("isne wolf, isne guys withne snowmobiles, isne wolf gone"). He was quite enthusiastic but we did not always understand him.
First, we went up to the top of the hill with a gondola and tried out the snowshoes a little, Then we walked to a restaurant and had some hot chocolate and doughnuts and some après- ski music (including annoying German songs). After that, we made our way down the hill which was more difficult, also because of the more than 80 cm of snow, and resulted in some falling and a lot of laughing.
Back home, we went to the sauna again and then spend the afternoon enjoying the comfort of the TV. We were quite amazed by the MTV soaps and already miss them back in Kuopio! We had dinner on our own and later, the Belgian girls came over. When they entered, Lisbet screamed "There are the Northern Lights!" and I went out immediately and saw the Northern Lights! At first, it looked only like a cloud, but then it turned green and started moving...
Later, we went with the bus to the top of the hill to look for more of that, but we didn't see anything. It was an annoying event. I wanted to watch at least the stars which are amazingly bright in Lapland, but people were quite drunk and all the time taking pictures with a flash so that I felt like going blind. Also, a lot of drunk people act really stupid including running around and bumping into each other (and me) in the slippery snow, falling, starting to cry and to fight. Stupid and pointless! I was rather pissed when we went back.
The next day was nicer, we went snowmobile driving. First, we were stuffed into huge overalls, boots and helmets, then we went off. I cannot really describe it but it is fun! We shared the scooters in two and switched for the way back. We stopped at a reindeer farm (chocolate and pulla!) and saw some reindeer and traditional houses. On the farm, there was also a car stuck in the snow that our guys helped to get out again, so they were the heroes of the day.
The snowscooter is quite o.k. to drive but it is difficult to keep the direction. I messed up a little once but I didn't crash.
In the evening, we watched Champion's League. Then we wanted to go out for Northern Lights again, but there weren't any. The rest stayed at the Czech people's place but I wasn't in the mood for company so I went to bed.
On wednesday, we went to a husky farm. We got to see the dogs and ride in a husky sledge. It is really amazing, the sledge has to be tied to a tree, otherwise they would just run off!
On that farm, they also trained dogs, wolves and foxes for movies. We got a tour and lots of explanations about all the animals they had there. Awesome fact: If they go on a several day long safari, they run 30 to 50 km without a break!
It was really cool and we all wanted to take a puppy home but we couldn't (too expensive!).
Wednesday evening was St. Patrick's day. We went for dinner in a restaurant (I ate reindeer, tastes really nice) and got to finally talk a lot with our Dutch cottage mates. After that, we went to the Irish Pub in town to celebrate. It was quite crowded and they were out of the Guiness St Paddy's Day hats. First, we aquired two chairs at a table with an elderly couple, then we gradually moved until we got a big table next to the billard table. Lots of people from our group joined us, some played pool and it turned out to be a really nice evening. Lisbet even got the guy from the band to lend her his guitar and she sang for us in private. Only Gio was quite dissapointed that he didn't get a hat.
When we were already in bed, Dämien called me and asked if we were already sleeping, because he had a surprise. So we got up again and he brought a hat for Gio. He was really really happy about it!
The next morning, we left at 10h. On the way back, we visited a snow village where you can sleep in beds made of ice. The art and the sculptures were really amazing, but I would not want to spend the night there!
On our big afternoon break, some of our dear Spanish friends had some communication problems in a supermarket as to whether to pay for chocolate or not, so they needed some translation assistance by the police. This delayed us for more than an hour and we only got back at 23.30h. In Kuopio, there were more than 10 cm of new snow. Welcome back! But we were happy again when Gema welcomed us with a big hug and her proud exclamation that she made muffins!
As you probably already saw from the videos, we spend the last week in Lapland.
We left on sunday morning at 3.45h. To face that inhuman time, we decided to have a stay-awake party on saturday evening. We made muffins for the bus ride and watched lots of movies. Still, some people fell asleep. I was also really sleepy and grumpy.
The bus was o.k. but the legspace was quite small. I didn't really sleep during the trip but rather dozed. I noticed that farther north, the sun rises earlier. The first light appeared at 5.20h.
We had a stop in Rovaniemi to see the Santa Claus Village. First, everybody wanted to write postcards. It was nice to see Santa Claus Post Office where they show all the letters Santa gets every year. I overheard a conversation of some German tourists who told that you can take some of these letters from all over the world and answer them yourself. Some nice idea!
Otherwise, Santa Village was rather disappointing. You can go and take a picture with Santa for 30€. Then you can buy lots of souvenirs. That's pretty much it. Of course, it is cool to see where the polar circle is indicated but still... It was sad and it really gave the idea that Santa was invented by Coca Cola as a symbol for Christmas commercialism (even though I don't recall seeing a coke sign).
In the late afternoon, we arrived in Levi. This is a skiing area in Lapland around a hill with about 500 m height (not a mountain for sure!), which is pretty much the highest the area has to offer.
We stayed in cottages with either 6 or 7 people. I was with Kirsten, two Italian and two Dutch guys. The cottage had a lot to offer: LCD TV, DVD player, sauna, dishwasher, laundry machine, big pots in the kitchen, wine glasses, even shot glasses,... except for sufficient bed space. The guys had to share a room in 4 with a high bed, a double bed and a matress on the floor so one of them decided to stay on the sofa in the living room. In the girl's bedroom, there was only one small bed and a floor matress. I chose the matress and it was actually more comfortable than the Kuopas matress here. We took turns going to the sauna (too small for all of us), went shopping for dinner, met with the Belgian people for cooking pasta and went to bed at 9.30. I slept 11 hours straight and was still tired when I got up the next morning.
The next day, we went snowshoe walking. That was really fun but not so easy. The guide was some funny local guy who had the funniest accent ever ("isne wolf, isne guys withne snowmobiles, isne wolf gone"). He was quite enthusiastic but we did not always understand him.
First, we went up to the top of the hill with a gondola and tried out the snowshoes a little, Then we walked to a restaurant and had some hot chocolate and doughnuts and some après- ski music (including annoying German songs). After that, we made our way down the hill which was more difficult, also because of the more than 80 cm of snow, and resulted in some falling and a lot of laughing.
Back home, we went to the sauna again and then spend the afternoon enjoying the comfort of the TV. We were quite amazed by the MTV soaps and already miss them back in Kuopio! We had dinner on our own and later, the Belgian girls came over. When they entered, Lisbet screamed "There are the Northern Lights!" and I went out immediately and saw the Northern Lights! At first, it looked only like a cloud, but then it turned green and started moving...
Later, we went with the bus to the top of the hill to look for more of that, but we didn't see anything. It was an annoying event. I wanted to watch at least the stars which are amazingly bright in Lapland, but people were quite drunk and all the time taking pictures with a flash so that I felt like going blind. Also, a lot of drunk people act really stupid including running around and bumping into each other (and me) in the slippery snow, falling, starting to cry and to fight. Stupid and pointless! I was rather pissed when we went back.
The next day was nicer, we went snowmobile driving. First, we were stuffed into huge overalls, boots and helmets, then we went off. I cannot really describe it but it is fun! We shared the scooters in two and switched for the way back. We stopped at a reindeer farm (chocolate and pulla!) and saw some reindeer and traditional houses. On the farm, there was also a car stuck in the snow that our guys helped to get out again, so they were the heroes of the day.
The snowscooter is quite o.k. to drive but it is difficult to keep the direction. I messed up a little once but I didn't crash.
In the evening, we watched Champion's League. Then we wanted to go out for Northern Lights again, but there weren't any. The rest stayed at the Czech people's place but I wasn't in the mood for company so I went to bed.
On wednesday, we went to a husky farm. We got to see the dogs and ride in a husky sledge. It is really amazing, the sledge has to be tied to a tree, otherwise they would just run off!
On that farm, they also trained dogs, wolves and foxes for movies. We got a tour and lots of explanations about all the animals they had there. Awesome fact: If they go on a several day long safari, they run 30 to 50 km without a break!
It was really cool and we all wanted to take a puppy home but we couldn't (too expensive!).
Wednesday evening was St. Patrick's day. We went for dinner in a restaurant (I ate reindeer, tastes really nice) and got to finally talk a lot with our Dutch cottage mates. After that, we went to the Irish Pub in town to celebrate. It was quite crowded and they were out of the Guiness St Paddy's Day hats. First, we aquired two chairs at a table with an elderly couple, then we gradually moved until we got a big table next to the billard table. Lots of people from our group joined us, some played pool and it turned out to be a really nice evening. Lisbet even got the guy from the band to lend her his guitar and she sang for us in private. Only Gio was quite dissapointed that he didn't get a hat.
When we were already in bed, Dämien called me and asked if we were already sleeping, because he had a surprise. So we got up again and he brought a hat for Gio. He was really really happy about it!
The next morning, we left at 10h. On the way back, we visited a snow village where you can sleep in beds made of ice. The art and the sculptures were really amazing, but I would not want to spend the night there!
On our big afternoon break, some of our dear Spanish friends had some communication problems in a supermarket as to whether to pay for chocolate or not, so they needed some translation assistance by the police. This delayed us for more than an hour and we only got back at 23.30h. In Kuopio, there were more than 10 cm of new snow. Welcome back! But we were happy again when Gema welcomed us with a big hug and her proud exclamation that she made muffins!
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