Khrys weblog

We took a couple of weeks of holidays in July, of which about 10 days for our honeymoon. We had been to Norway already 3 times: twice to the north and once to Oslo (see the second trip here and there and the one to Oslo there). But this time, we wanted to visit Geiranger area, and its famous fjords.

We started from Savonlinna on Saturday the 12th, since we were there few days to visit relatives and, of course, the mökki. Since we didn’t start very early, we drove about 650 km, through Rantasalmi, Varkaus, Kuopio, Iisalmi, Piippola and Oulu. Here’s Piippola:

We reached Tornio, in the north, just next to the Swedish border. The camping there was nice, but taking a walk around it doesn’t exactly show the best part of the area, plus mosquitoes are really hungry …

On the Sunday, we passed the frontier, and from Luleå we passed Skellefteå, Lycksele, Åsele, Dorotea, Östersund and reached Åre. Travelling through Swedish Lapland we realised how similar it was to Finnish Lapland, with all these typical forests and lakes and swamps and mosquitoes :) Enough to remind us how nature doesn’t care much about frontiers. On the road to Åsele we met with a cute and not too shy local:

Plan was to stop in Östersund. Nice view over the lake, but the camping site was too crowdy to our taste, and belung to some chain, for which one needs to buy a camping card for 120 SEK first and then still pay a not that good price for the tent (170 SEK for 2). Since it wasn’t that late yet, we decided to go a bit further. We found a cottage to rent for the night for 500 SEK at the doors of Åre. The owner was really kind, and the cottage included a kitchenette with fridge, cooker, oven and even a microwave oven, a clothe dryer (perfect in the winter, if you come to ski), 4 single beds, a big TV and … a sauna ! I’ll give the phone number in the comments. It was quite time to rest, we had been driving for 800km !

Monday the 14th, we headed to Trondheim, our first stop in Norway. It’s a beautiful city to visit, with gorgeous cathedral and university:
      
      
   

We have to drive a bit more today if we want to enjoy tomorrow a bit more, and it’s not too late yet. The sky looks better as we approach Geiringer, let’s hope it will continue tomorrow. Lanscape reminds us a bit that part of Ireland between Connemara and Donegal, for the small lakes and the stony plains, the rivers and the colourful flowers. But behind these, green hills covered with pine trees, and behind them, higher dark mountains with still a bit of snow play with rain clouds and the occasional sun appearances. Houses either look like Alpe’s chalets, or follow Norway red-roof wooden cottage tradition. Some cottages even still bear the good old “stuff” on the roof :)
After we had passed Oppdal, Dombås, Otta, we stopped between Lalm and Vågåmo because the river looked wonderful and had this green colour. Distance driven that day: 450km.
   

Apart from that, this place was a big disappointment as the camping place was surrounded with dump places and abandoned construction material, showers are to be paid separately, toilets don’t have soap nor hand drying solution (does it cost so much to put some paper ?), cottages are dirty and smell tobacco, etc. Too bad we realised it too late …

We finished the first part of our travel the following day, the 15th. That part is only 150 km, but it is soooo beautiful landscape !
      
      
      

We didn’t drive that many kilometres, but it was mountain roads, so it took some time. Anyway, since we had reach our destination area, plan was to take our time, and nice pictures along the road :) We also booked a cottage for the night as soon as we got there, and that seemed to have been a good idea: an hour later, no rooms were to be found anywhere … The cottage place, called Dalen Gaard, is surrounded with high mountains, is well maintained, and the people working here are much more welcoming than those in the camping the previous day.
      
Cottage had 5 single beds and a sofa, a kitchenette with fridge, cooker and a microwave, toilet and shower. Very confortable but too big for us; unfortunately, that was the only one left (810 NOK). Good part in this camping: they seem to have wireless internet connection for free !

After a warm shower, we went around to visit Geiranger city and ask for informations about hikes and cruises. Looks promising !
   
   

Since some people asked for it :)

Tradition requires a speech from the groom
Well, I’ll try to say something to everyone in this room

***

Aujourd’hui 21 juin, “je me suis marié,
Date qui marquera dans mon calendrier.”
Vous me pardonnerez j’espère,
L’emprunt de quelques vers,
L’auteur avait tache plus aisée,
Dans une seule langue, il devait s’exprimer.

C’est d’abord à Maman que je lève mon verre,
De ma copine d’antan, tu deviens belle-mère,
Tes enfants deviennent grands, ta famille s’agrandit,
Attends encore un peu pour les petits bandits.

A mon frangin, venu nous voir et visiter
En Irlande ou Finlande, notre nouvelle cité.
Je te préviens Rémy, même sous la torture,
Je n’te donnerai pas les clefs de ma voiture.

A ma sœurette aussi et son gentil mari,
Avec qui, de Bretagne aux châteaux de Touraine,
De celui de Versailles aux confins de Lorraine,
Nous avons beaucoup vu, nous avons beaucoup ri.

A mon père et sa voix, pour son aide et soutien,
Ma famille, votre accueil pour celle à qui je tiens.

Un jour chez les Anglais, ou une éternité
J’ai reçu le coup d’fil d’une Belge exilée
Un boulot chaud et propre, et l’amour de ma vie
Longue histoire que depuis, je raconte a l’envie.

Je sais qu’inquiets, vous nous souhaitez plus sage,
Alors que nos têtes ne rêvent que de voyages,
D’ici à Vancouver ou d’Auckland à Paname,
Vous êtes dans mon cœur et celui de ma femme.

***

Haluan kovasti kiittää Ylilammin perhettä,
Suomeen tullessani en todellakaan tehnyt erhettä.

Minut vastaanotti avosylin ystävät ja suku,
kun taas huolehtivat itikat, ettei ranskan poika nuku

Kiitos teidän totuin kieleen kummaan,
aamiaiseen outoon ja talveen tummaan.

Elämyksiä antoi pilkkiminen,
kesämökki sekä hiihtäminen

Ei haittaa pakkanen kun on lämpimänä sauna,
jääkaapissa olut ja makkaroita pauna.

Suomi mahdollisuuden antoi hyvään työhön,
jossa kokislinnoja rakentelemme pitkälle yöhön.

Työkavereiltani apua ja tukea saan
ja se kruunannut on uuden asuinmaan.

***

Today shall be the best day of my life
Today is the day Netta becomes my wife
And I want to thank you all for coming
Sometimes frontiers passing, long days traveling
And at the church, our union witness
Making this day even more a success
Now, we raise our glasses, forget all worries,
Make, friends and families, for ever memories.

It’s been quite hectic, but it’s finally done … I got married on the Saturday 21st of June 2008 :)
We got quite lucky with the weather (it had been changing a lot) and the location, since we were able to rent a part of the Olavinlinna castle.

I’ll publish some of the best pictures as soon as I receive enough to make a selection.

We’d like to thank all the people who were involved and made our wedding such a great event !

I happen to visit my future in-law every now and then. Last time, since weather had improved (it wasn’t raining), we went to their mökki (summer cottage), located on an island, in a lake close to Savonlinna. You have to take a small rowing boat to get there. Temperature was around 8ºC, and rose up slowly to 15ºC in the afternoon.
We spent most of the day doing some forestry work (cleaning some wood area and chopping logs) to keep warm and be outside. At lunch, potatoes, grilled Finnish-style sausages and of course … beer :)
Back from there, we went to sauna, and in the evening, everybody was in front of the TV, to follow the most popular ice-hockey match here: Sweden - Finland (0 - 4, in case you’re interested, it was the match for the bronze during the world cup).
Everything seemed so natural to me, that I didn’t realize how typically Finnish my day had been, until someone mentioned it.
Oh my God, am I turning into a Finn ?

We went to Ruka, 2 weeks ago (yeah, I know, I should have updated earlier), since we had a long weekend thanks to 1st of May being a day off (Labor Day is called Vappu here). Ruka is located next to Kuusamo, in Lapland (north part of Finland), and even this late, you will find snow and frozen lakes. Enough snow to make Ruka a famous ski resort here, and lakes frozen enough that you can ski, walk, jump, sometimes even drive on it ! Ok, in May, it might be a bit late to drive on the ice … but in March, it’s still ok.

Anyway, I kinda hurt myself playing soccer, and wasn’t able to ski, so I decided to try ice fishing. It was just amazing ! Very relaxing, quite fun, and it gives you enough food for your dinner :) Plus, you get to see nice landscapes, what more could one ask ?

Ice was still over half a meter thick on the first day, but with the sun shining a lot, sun glasses were already a must on the second day, and you could hear the ice melting around you. On the third day, my feet would get up to 30 cm deep in the melted ice when I walked. Not surprisingly, I wasn’t feeling that safe anymore, especially when you keep hearing stories about all those people who die every year when ice breaks.

On the first day of fishing, we were almost alone on a big lake, deep in the fog, and temperature around 12ºC. My fiancée’s uncle taught us how to make a hole (there’s a special tool for that, it’s more secure than the traditional axe), gave us some small equipment (you really don’t need bigger) and we got started. By the time Netta and me got set up, he already caught 4 or 5 fishes …
Obviously, he had more practice, and although we could feel some touches, it took us some time before we caught our own. Of course, by then, he had caught 30 …
Here are some pictures of the first day:
   
      
In this lake, we only got this small fishes, but since we got a lot, we were able to make two meals out of those. Of course you need to “clean” them, meaning removing the fins, the skin and the head of each one of them. Then you can cook them in several ways: in a soup, fried (my favourite), etc. Some of these had eggs, edible too (quite good once fried also).
Note that too young fishes and wrong kind were put back to the lake. I’ll try to find what was the name of the “good” one.

On the second day, we got set much faster, and got more productive. But we still took time to enjoy the warmth (above 20ºC) and the surrounding area.
   
   

On the third day, we tried to get bigger ones on another lake, but it didn’t work out :) A lot of people were there to fish, but it seemed like only small fishes would show up, and in much smaller number.
   
   

Anyway, with the ice melting this fast, we thought it’d be enough for the weekend, and we spent the rest of the time walking/visiting around our rented mökki (sort of chalet or summer cottage). We did meet some reindeers:
   
… and even a sauna bus:

(note the chimney on the roof) !!!

That’s it for the weekend in Ruka ; there are regular flights from Helsinki airport to Ruka-Kuusamo airport, and train connections, but if you have time, and if it is your first visit in Finland, I still recommend you rent a car and drive your way up there. It takes long time, but it’s definitely worth it :)