Finland part 1 - the happiest place on earth!

After multiple canceled trips in 2020 and a tedious 2021, we were lucky enough to be able to travel somewhere where we thought we could stay safe and remote - with the bonus of being really, really interesting. We decided to go to Finnish Lapland - the far northern part of the country, where we could have a white Christmas and (hopefully) see the Aurora Borealis. Additionally, for the 4th time in a row, Finland was ranked as the happiest county in the world - this time in large part because of the trust the people had in how the country handled the COVID crisis. Since Anil decided to book a large cabin (with an attached glass igloo!!), we had room for more people so we invited Ev and Mark to come along.

Flying business class meant I could stay isolated in my little pod, so I felt fairly safe on the flight over. Upon arriving in Helsinki, we checked into our hotel late at night and immediately went to sleep. The next morning, we met up with Evelyn and Mark for a tour around the city. At the airport the day before, I had looked on Facebook and seen that an old Finnish friend from Space Camp, Heikki, had posted that he just got his master's degree in music. I had commented on his post and told him I was on the way to Helsinki, and he immediately wrote back hoping to meet up. So we arranged to see him at the Christmas Market later in the afternoon. 

Because Helsinki is so far north, it gets just a few hours of sunlight every day. When we set off around 10AM, there were very few people on the streets and the sun had not yet risen. We walked first down Aleksanterinkatu, the main shopping promenade, down to the harbor. 

Shopping along Aleksanterinkatu

The famed Christmas Window at Stockmann's Department Store

Senate Square, and the leaning Christmas tree

Uspenski Cathedral

The Christmas Market was just getting started, so we walked to Senate Square (where the Christmas Market used to be held, but according to Heikki, they found some archaeological artifacts so they moved it to Market Square). We then walked down to Uspenski Cathedral (but didn't go in because - since it was Sunday, it was closed for services. 

There's always time for a hot glögi!

We walked back to Market Square in time for a quick glögi (the traditional Finnish Christmas drink of hot spiced fruit juice - usually wine, but not always alcoholic). It's actually delicious, as is all the hot juice (usually blueberry, sometimes mixed berry), that is popular all over Finland.

Along Helsinki Harbor - parts were iced over, but there were still hardy Finns swimming!

Along the battlements

We then caught the ferry for the quick 15 minute ride across to Suomenlinna, the island fortress just south of the city. It was actually built by the Swedish (back when Sweden held Finland) in 1748 across six different islands. Originally, it was built to help defend Helsinki from the Russian Empire. We walked around a small part of the inhabited part of one island, and saw the old military installations along the coast.

Reuniting with Heikki, my
Space Camp Destiny teammate

It got a bit cold (and most of us had been to Suomenlinna before), so we decided to go back across the ferry to Helsinki and meet Heikki. We wandered the Christmas Markets and got some roasted chestnuts and another glögi, then met Heikki and his two young daughters, Alba and Saga. 

Heikki took us to see the new Helsinki main library, which was amazing. It is more of a maker space/public area than it is a library - there are work stations, sewing machines, and even a cafe inside. The space is gorgeous and modern, so it was a nice place to stop and relax for a while. After saying goodbye to Heikki, we made our way to Ev's colleague and friend, Saila, who invited us to dinner at her house. It was a nice peek into a Finnish apartment, with what I thought of as very typical scandanavian/nordic design. We had a lovely salmon dinner and conversation - a nice sendoff before leaving for Lapland.

LAPLAND 

The next morning, we left for the flight to Ivalo. Everyone on board the plane was wearing huge coats and heavy duty winter wear - definitely a sign that we were going into the great white north. During the flight over, all you could see was a vast horizon of snow-covered forest and frozen lakes and streams. When we landed in Ivalo at around 1:30 pm, it was already getting dark. There was only a portable staircase down onto the tarmac to disembark, and we had to walk into the terminal - it was -11c (which we later realized wasn't that bad!!) 

After retrieving the rental car (a very easy process, as the airport is tiny and the car was right outside), we dropped Ev and Mark off at their hotel in Saariskelä (they wanted to go snowboarding and Anil and I wanted to see an ice hotel), and we continued down to Sodankylä. We walked out about 10 minutes to the local pizza restaurant for some surprisingly good pizza (with reindeer topping). The next morning, we set off for the amethyst mine. 

Along the way we saw our first reindeer, grazing on the side of the road! They dig through the snow to search for lichen - their main food source. The reindeer here belong to the Sami, but are free-roaming. They are an important part of the culture, not just for food, but for labor and their hide for clothing, tents, rugs, and other uses. In Finnish Lapland, there are around 200,000 reindeer - that's more reindeer than people! 

We arrived about a half hour early, so we stopped at Cafe Uksakka, a cute little cafe for a quick hot chocolate and Finnish donut - it was so good! and we loved the cafe, even though strangely it opened at 11AM and the sign said it closed at 2PM (which was odd, since the amethyst tours started at either 11 or 11:30 and ended at 1:30, so it would be hard to go to the cafe!) 

The pendolino

In the forests of the Pyhä-Luosto National Park is the Lampivaara Amethyst Mine, a working mine where we could dig for amethysts. We were picked up in a pendolino, a snow train that took us through the frozen landscape up to the mine. It was so incredibly white!! All the branches were frozen over, with a layer of hoarfrost and rime covering every surface. From the top of the fell, we had a great view of the surrounding area - mostly national park. 

Descending into the mine

Digging for amethysts!

The amethysts were actually accessible on the surface of the hill - a wooden shelter was built on the side of the mountain, where we climbed down the slope into a small room and dug in the dirt. Small pieces of amethyst were everywhere, and we could all take home a piece that we found. 

The view of Pyhä-Luosto National Park from the mine entrance

After our mining adventure, we stopped back at Cafe Uksakka for a reindeer burger (which tastes a bit like lean beef), then we were off to Kittila to SnowVillage, the ice hotel where we were going to spend the night. It was about a 2 hour drive, and even though we left at around 3, it was dark the whole drive over. The SnowVillage is rebuilt every year, using ice harvested from the nearby river and created with a different theme each time. 

Some of my favorite rooms of the hotel

This year's theme, Wonders of the Future, showcased robots and sci-fi productions. There were so many cool sculptures, and even a slide. The only bad thing was that the 'warm room' for overnight guests was located around 50 yards outside the hotel, and it was a cold cold cold night!

The back of SnowVillage, from the warming hut

Drinks at the Ice Bar

A cool dinner

Because the entire complex is open to the public for tours all day, we didn't have access to our room until 10PM. Instead, we had dinner in the ice restaurant, a drink in the ice bar (where you can have a shot in an ice shot glass), and can hang out in the tepee (next to the warming hut).
 

Keeping warm in the teepee

YAAAAAAY, I got to see the Aurora!

While we were out there, one of the workers came in and told us there was a small aurora going on if we wanted to see it, so we ran out and got to see a lovely ribbon traveling across the sky. It only lasted about 2 minutes, but even though it was fleeting, it was amazing to watch. 

What is an aurora? 

The Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, is a disturbance in the magnetosphere caused by solar winds. 

The sun is constantly ejecting charged particles (protons and electrons) from its upper atmosphere (corona), creating the solar wind. At times, more particles are released than others. During a solar storm, the sun ejects electrified gas that travels through space towards the earth. Generally, the magnetic field around the earth shields us from most of these energized particles, which may travel up to 45 million mph. But during an aurora, small particles travel down the magnetic lines at the north and south poles and enter the earth's atmosphere. The particles collide with the atoms in our atmosphere, knocking off electrons and leaving excitable ions. These ions emit radiation at different wavelengths - oxygen gives off green and red, and nitrogen gives blue and purple. If it happens in the north, it's known as the Aurora Borealis; in the south it's the Aurora Australis or Southern Lights. 

Did you know?? - anywhere with an atmosphere and magnetic field may get an aurora. How cool is it to think you can see an aurora on other planets?! 

Standing outside to watch the aurora was freeeeeezing (literally! haha), so it took a bit to warm up. Then we got ready for bed. Since everything is basically open, we left most of our things in the warming hut. We were given sleeping bags with a liner, and were told to wear just long underwear. 

The room where we slept

Snug as a bug in a rug!

I had my boots and jacket to get me back and forth, and I wore a thin cashmere hat to keep my head warm, but the air is so cold that it's hard to get comfortable. Plus, my feet were freezing the entire time! Each room's sculpture is lit from within and they don't turn any lights off, so it was hard to get a good night's sleep. I got up to go to the bathroom at around 3AM and didn't get back to sleep - in the warming hut there were already 3 or 4 people who went to escape the cold. I got up for good at around 6 and went to the hut for a shower, and by then pretty much everyone had moved to the hut (about 8 or 9 people). Supposedly Anil was the only person who was still in the room sleeping when they came around to wake everyone up. 

In the morning, we drove to Rovaniemi. First we stopped at the Arktikum, their science museum. There was some interesting polar exhibits, including info on how the Sami (native peoples) live in the arctic. The building itself is pretty cool, jutting out on the bank of the Ounasjoki River. It also supposedly has a lovely Arctic garden, but it was way to cold to stay outside (and everything was covered in snow anyway!) 

Then we made our way to Santa Claus Village, where supposedly Santa lives. 

More interestingly for us, we stood on the Arctic Circle (and even saw ourselves on their live webcam). Here, the Arctic Circle is at 66° 32' 35". It is determined by the farthest point north where you can still see the sun in the middle of winter.

On the Arctic Circle

Captured on the live webcam!

The rest of Santa Claus Village was filled with shops and restaurants, so we briefly walked around until we decided to get lunch. We waited in a long line for a plank salmon lunch, grilled on the open fire in the middle of the tent, and it was totally worth the half hour standing outside in the cold - it was huge and delicious!

Finns really know how to do their salmon!

After a night in Sodankyla, we drove back up to Saariskela to pick up Ev and Mark and go to Kakslauttanen, where we were going to stay for the next week.