Back to Finland

We got on a ferry to cross the Baltic Sea to Helsinki, the capital of Finland. This was no small ferry boat. In fact, it had a 5-story atrium with restaurants, shops, bars, a casino and all kinds of adult entertainment! We enjoyed the trip, but didn’t really take advantage of the entertainment aspects.

In Helsinki, we visited the Temppeliaukio Church in the Rock. Built directly into rock in 1969, it is a result of plans that began as early as the 1930’s. Construction began in 1939, but the war and other economic issues derailed its construction. Final work began in again in earnest in 1968 and this grand vision was completed the nest year.

We found Finland fascinating. Finland is not part of Scandinavia, although it is considered Nordic. Finland actually borders Russia on the West rather than being on the Scandinavian peninsula. Because of this, it was devastated in all the Russian war efforts. In Finland, the Scorch and Burn tactics were exercised, meaning in occupied territory, all buildings were burned before the Nazi’s left. Because of this, there are very few buildings in Finland dating before 1945. The only buildings that remained are those that Nazi generals felt like keeping around, like the church that had the organ where a Nazi general went to play for his own relief.

We learned that there are no wild reindeer in Finland. The primary farm raised meat in Finland is reindeer. There are more reindeer in Finland than people, but while they roam the land, they are all accounted for. All are tagged by their owner. If a reindeer has a baby, whoever owns the mom that the calf hangs around at birth gets to tag that new baby reindeer as its own.

We visited a reindeer farm in Lapland and took in a nice dinner of reindeer stew. The owner of the farm might have been the funniest guy we have ever met. He took his raising of reindeer seriously, but not the visits of his guests. There were many selfie opportunities this evening!

When we got to the arctic circle, we ventured on the Santa Claus Village. Near Rovaniemi, we saw the summer version of what is really meant to be a winter experience. Be that as it may, we did get to sit on Santa’s lap, and tell him all about our dreams and aspirations. We even sent some post cards from the North Pole.

While here, we could understand the attraction to Minnesota for the Scandinavians. As we drove through most of Finland, we totally felt like we were in northern Minnesota. When they came to America, we have no doubt that the northern Minnesota pine trees were a compelling attraction – who could resist!

The Finns simply adore their saunas. Everywhere we went there were saunas available and we were strongly encouraged to partake. But it was always so cold that the motivation was very hard to muster. Finally, in Ivalo in Lapland I mustered up the courage and headed to the sauna. I was glad I did – it was wonderful!

Talk to you soon.