As many of you may be aware, I have only 14 days of break time in the 2 year period that I'm on the Logos Hope so I decided that I had to use my time wisely. A dream I've had since 1999 was to go to Finland since I missed out on visiting there at that time and so when I decided to have a break, Finland was the unrivalled destination, especially since I am living in the Scandanavian/Nordic region right now and I could be blessed to visit friends all along the way!
On Friday, 4 Jul 08 at 12:45 I left Copenhagen and flew up to Tampere, Finland.
Flying in over Tampere ...
After making my way into the city centre, I met up with Glenn, Sirje and Pilvi Cook who most of you know from our Sydney days! We took a long walk up a big hill to a great viewing look out and I got to see Tampere from a bird's eye view! It is a beautiful city with, as is common throughout most of Finland, lakes and water everywhere! That evening, we had a cosy meal at home and caught up on old times.
Birds eye view of Tampere and surrounding areas ...
The next day, we spent time exploring the city and Glenn and I were real tourists on a bus tour which took us to a massive 50 metre high church built in the shape of a fish and various other interesting spots.
Glenn, Sirje and Pilvi ... showing me around Tampere
Fish Shaped Church ... I forget the name right now?
The organ and Altar of the church were amazing ... there are no pictures or ornate things to see because, apparently the Lutherans believe that the inside of the church must not distract the believer from focussing on God so they are generally quite plain in appearance ... but quite striking at the same time.
Tampere is made up of a lot of old industrial factories ... the most famous is Finlayson which is responsible for much of the world's textiles and bathtowels I believe. Some of the old factories are in good condition and have been renovated internally to become fancy office spaces!
We stopped for tea at the Amuri Museum which is a square of old Finnish houses that were originally built a few hundred years ago now and are maintained to reflect a slice of history of the good old days!
Pilvi ... is adorable at 18 months ... too cute for words!
An old church in the city centre ... very beautiful!
We also had some fun in the Moomin museum which was fascinating! We had dinner at a little pizza place and then headed home for a well deserved rest! I was so blessed by some neighbours in their apartment block who were away for the summer and offered for me to stay in their place so I had my own little pad for a few days which was just wonderful!
On Sunday morning, we attended a confirmation service at the local Lutheran church up the road and then we had a late lunch together ...
Such a happy and wonderful family ...
I packed my bags and headed off to a little place called Orivesi, about 30 mins by train to the north east of Tampere. Can you believe that I nearly ended up on the west coast, however, when I sat myself comfortably down on the wrong train! There were 2 trains on the same platform going in opposite directions ... however, I managed to climb off as the train was pulling away from the platform having realised my error just at the last minute!
I finally made it to Orivesi where I met up with Aino, a Finnish friend from the ship who left in Jan 08. It was such a relief to see her considering that I arrived nearly 45 mins later than I had told her! I stayed with her at her parent's place and they were just delightful! Her mum went out of her way to make sure that I experienced a number of very traditional Finnish family events!! It started with coffee and cake in the afternoon ... 5 different sorts of cake are provided every tea/coffee time and I was thankful that my coffee cup was small because every time I saw the bottom of it, it was filled up again?! Tee hee ... I couldn't complain ... it was good coffee!!
Finnish Coffee Time ...
Aino's family could not speak much English, however, her mum was so sweet and we often chatted with the help of Aino's translating and a few charades too! After coffee time, we drove down to Aino's grandparents farm property which, to my absolute amazement and wildest excitement, had the most quaint, most serene and most beautiful lake house/cottage with an authentic smoke sauna and boathouse right on the edge of the lake! I felt like I had stepped into the movie "On Golden Pond ..." ... it was the most tranquil place I could have asked to have visited and I was beyond myself with excitement and peaceful happiness!!
I can hardly believe I'm in such a beautiful place ... I didn't want to spoil the surroundings ... oh ... just seeing this takes me back to the very spot!
Views from the Lake House
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would get to experience this truly Finnish lifestyle and I've been told that smoke saunas are particularly rare these days! Aino's mum insisted that we row out onto the lake in an old wooden row boat (about 100 yrs old or more) with creaky paddles!! She rowed us around and we popped into the neigbours place to check out their old house and sauna and then headed back to our little slice of heaven!
The Lake Cottage ...
My sweet Finnish friend, Aino
Views from the Sauna ... a slice of paradise ... with not a soul around and utter, utter peacefulness other than the sounds of nature ...
Aino and her mum rowing us around the lake in the oldest wooden boat I've ever seen ... with wonky, creaky oars ... but what a treat and what fun!
Isn't this just picturesque ... words are not enough to describe it ... make sure you click on the photos for a bigger version!!
The neighbour's traditional living room ... over 100 years old ...
We had smoked sausages over an open fire in the little cottage and Aino's grandmother had made a pile of yummy pancakes!! By 11:30pm the sun was still shining ... and it was really casting a beautiful light through the forest trees ... a beautiful evening!
Sausages and pancakes with Aino's family ...
The following day, after a nice sleep in, Aino took me to explore Orivesi which didn't take long as there are only 2 shops, 1 church and 1 museum in the main street! After lunch, we went bush walking in the forests along a different lake and enjoyed the fresh Finnish air.
Aino and I on our bushwalk around a lake ...
Later, we went home for our Finnish tea party and then back to the Lake House and the sauna wich her grandmother had prepared for us ... well what a treat - we sauned together in our costumes in case you might be wondering ... I don't think I was quite ready for the true Finnish tradition of baring all in the sauna! It was Aino, her mum, her sister Annie and me! We got so hot that getting into the freezing cold lake afterwards was actually a pleasure ... although I still had to take it slowly as it was absolutely freezing - but what an experience!!
Smoky sauna ... here I come!
Aino cooling off ... literally in the freezing lake!
Later that evening, Aino and I took the train back to Tampere and then boarded an overnight train which took us due north to Rovaniemi ... deep into the heart of Lapland, the home of Father Christmas, reindeers and Moose and the land of the midnight sun! After a very uncomfortable 9 hours trying to sleep across 2 train seats, we arrived in Rovaniemi at about 8.00am ... and to our disappointment, the weather was awful - rainy and overcast! We decided to be sensible and took a trip down to a place called Ranua Wildlife Park which is about 80kms south of Rovaniemi and there we got up close and not to personal with many arctic creatures including some playful Polar bears, some baby wolves, a few beautiful Reindeer and some Moose which really made my day! I don't quite know why I'm so fascinated by the Moose and Reindeer but seeing them made me feel like I was really somewhere exotic! I really reflected on how far I had come from the bottom of the world to the top of the world!
Playful Polar with his big blue friend who he tried desperately to drown!!
Polar Bear Fun ...
Siberian Wolf ...
Wild Reindeer ...
A young male Moose ... isn't he a beauty!
Brown Bears ...
A Lynx ...
Reindeer ...
A size comparison ... amazing huh?
After we got back into Rovaniemi, we hopped on a local bus which dropped us at Santa's Village and there, I was able to jump across the Arctic Circle in Lapland!! It was a great moment ... and then we went and met Santa and asked him to be kind to all our friends who have been good this year!! Santa promised to visit you all on 24 December 2008 so that you can have a wonderful Christmas ... and for those of you that haven't been so good ... well I'm sure that Santa might find a soft spot to bring a little something for you too!
After a nice meal out, we crashed into our beds at a very cheap yet respectable youth hostel and although, sadly we didn't get to experience the midnight sun, we did see the midnight clouds and it actually never got dark at all which was quite bizarre!
The following morning, we walked around the city and took some photos, had a quick bite and then jumped on the train at 12:50pm heading back to Tampere. Thankfully, this train was more comfortable and at one point, we clocked speeds of 180km/hour so we were back in 7 hours and arrived around 8.30pm that night. Aino and I said a few sad goodbyes yet again and then I spent a final evening with Glenn and Sirje which was lovely.
At 10.00am on Thursday, 10 Jul 08, I took the train to Helsinki and met up with a great guy called Sami at about midday. He is a friend of a friend from the ship and so he showed me some of the sites of Helsinki and thankfully, the weather was beautifully hot with blue skies and sunshine. I hopped on a little ferry to an island fortress called Saumelinna and spent the day walking around on my own, reflecting on God's goodness in his blessings to me! I was amazed how at each step of the way, he provided blessings and suprises which were unexpected and thrilling and best of all ... at little financial cost which, in my position, was a real bonus! For example, I had booked the hostel for 1 person and when Aino agreed to join me, the price literally halfed so the money I saved went towards a meal out that night?! God is good and His name is glorified in all things!
Famous Lutheran Church in Helsinki
Taking a ferry ride out to the fortress island ... looking back at the city ...
When Sami finished work, he took me on a tour of the city and we spent some time getting to know each other which was fun! We went to this unbelievable rock church called "Temple Church" which is carved into this huge rock ... I can't explain, you have to just check out the photos. We also jumped on and off some trams as I had a very cheap 24 hour ticket which gave me access to all trams, buses and ferries in the city centre. We explored the markets and just enjoyed the city buzz! But I was quite happy to grab a McD's takeaway and head to a lake for a picnic dinner at the end of the day and by 9.00pm, I was completely exhausted! The next day, I spent the day using up my 24 ticket by riding the trams on a loop across the entire city which was great fun ... I then rubbed shoulders with some stardom ... Bruce Springsteen was in town and I got some fun photos of him leaving his hotel which made me feel like I had joined the Papparazzi or something to that effect - tee hee!
Temple Church in the Rock
Sami and an old jammy ...
McD's picnic by the lake ...
Bruce Springsteen ... the Boss ... live and in the flesh!
Later that afternoon, Sami was kind enough to drive me to the airport and by 6:00pm I was back in Copenhagen ... fighting a Metro train breakdown and eventually crawling back onto the Logos Hope at around 9:00pm that night ... it was good to be back but WOW ... what an awesome holiday break! I felt like I'd been away for a month, I appreciated every blessing and savoured every moment and in all honesty, I didn't miss the ship one bit which means I was having so much fun and enjoying myself so much that I didn't have time to miss the ship! I praise God for his glorious creation in the land of Finland with thousands of beautiful lakes and everything so green and lush ... a truly blessed country! I would love to visit again in the winter and experience the transformation of the country into a white and wintry wonderland and if you want a great holiday - take my advice ... visit Finland!!
