Third Time Lucky?

By Elizabeth Johnstone

I have been to Rovaniemi, Finland, twice already in pursuit of the elusive ‘foxfires’ or northern lights – and, of course, to catch up with Arctic Mensan friends.  Despite optimal conditions in January 2014, that fox stubbornly refused to swish its tail across the sky and I never saw the sparks. So I had an excuse, as if I needed one, to return in January 2015.
It was difficult to create an ATOL-bonded weekend trip through a normal travel company, so I booked flights through BA and accommodation direct with the Rantasipi Pohjanhovi Hotel. Through code-sharing, three out of my four flights were with Finnair. Things got off to a bad start with lengthy delays on the Piccadilly Line en route to Heathrow. I dropped my bag off on time but the flight to Helsinki was delayed. We made up time thanks to a fearsome tailwind that buffeted us all the way. Next came a nerve-shredding half hour transfer window. I tip my hat to the baggage handlers at Helsinki Airport who got my bag to its final destination.

The Pohjanhovi (‘Northern Court’) Hotel is a venerable institution, constructed in 1936. It has been updated over the years, and I had no complaints about my clean and cosy room. I did, however, overhear another guest asking to be moved out of the annexe into the main building with its superb view over the Ounas River. Breakfast was perhaps not quite as lavish as some of the other local hotels, but suitably fortifying for the rapidly decreasing temperatures.

I sent postcards as soon as I arrived, joking that I would return with a suntan because it was ‘only’ -5C. Over the weekend, the temperature plummeted to -30C. Almost all of me was covered but ice crystals formed on my eyelashes and in my nostrils. I have pretty much mastered the art of cold-weather dressing. Last year’s vintage fur gloves with silk liners were replaced with reindeer mitts over merino wool gloves (fewer seams to let in the cold). Disposable surgical masks raised no eyebrows in a town full of Japanese tourists. Next time, though, I might add a hat to my earwarmers. 

Rovaniemi is not a huge place and I had seen most of the sights before, so I concentrated on meeting friends and setting the world to rights over excellent coffee. I was invited to friends’ houses. One created a lavish three-course feast with local produce. Typically Finns grow, trap, fish or otherwise source their food for themselves when possible: useful people with whom to be stranded in the wilderness. Another friend apologised for whipping up something at short notice, having been out of town all day. She proceeded to bake a couple of trays of bread rolls from scratch. Not what I could have done ‘at short notice’!
My hotel had a prime location beside the river. I never tired of walking along the path, admiring the brief periods of light and the magnificent sunrises/sunsets which occurred within a few hours of each other. I had been lightheartedly warned, however, not to greet any other walkers (as I might have done at home) as this would be perceived as an invasion of the other person’s privacy!

I should have brought a Russian phrasebook. Numerous Russian families took advantage of the school holiday period to drive to Finland (possibly to enjoy non-potholed roads, as one Finnish friend suggested). Any comments about a ‘Russian invasion’ are a bit two-edged in this part of the world. Russian ladies are not keen on the baggy cold-weather suits hired out by the safari companies. With a glamour bordering on flamboyance, they either wore fur coats or their own designer ski-suits.

My main outing was to the Santa Village a few miles out of town on the line of the Arctic Circle. At this visitor attraction, Santa is to be found deep in his underground lair. You can visit him and chat with him for free (as we have done in the past), but the elves charge you handsomely for any photos. The souvenir shops are relatively tasteful, featuring real arts and crafts, and there are outlet shops for famous Finnish lifestyle brands like Marimekko and Iittala. I was thrilled to buy the latest Iittala mug from the new range Tanssi by Klaus Haapaniemi, based on the opera The Cunning Little Vixen. 

Wildly out of character, I visited Huskypark, signing up impulsively for a sledge ride pulled by huskies. Absolutely thrilling! The husky is the nearest thing to a wolf. Before the park came into view, I could hear the huskies not just barking but howling. It was their first run of the day, and they set off as though fired from a gun. I was instructed to keep everything firmly attached to myself, and to hold on tightly. Wise advice. I am not particularly an animal lover, but these handsome animals were most impressive – and cute.

After a busy morning of hurtling round on a sledge followed by souvenir shopping, it was time for refreshment. It is fatally easy to ingest too much caffeine in the Nordic countries, so I made for a tepee offering various hot drinks and salmon grilled over an open fire. It was too early for lunch (although I was sorely tempted), but the hot berry juice and gingerbread biscuits went down a treat. I got into conversation with the Belarusian proprietor and he enthused about how safe it was to live in Lapland. Suitably revitalised, I went back out into the village. There was at least one new attraction since my last visit. Snowman World offers an ice bar, hotel and restaurant plus fun activities. I was charmed by the snowman out at the front who was a Finnish ice hockey player. From his jovial expression, the Finnish snowmen’s team had just beaten the Swedish snowmen’s team.

Russian families queued up to see multilingual Santa, go on reindeer sleigh trips and toboggan down the purpose-built slopes. I spoke my first word of Russian, thanking the nice lady who took my photo for me. 

Back in town, I trawled through the supermarket, admiring the local products. I do not share my countrymen’s aversion to eating ‘Rudolph’. An all-round useful animal, the reindeer. I stocked up on lingonberry preserve, xylitol chewing gum (xylitol being one of the many by-products of the mighty forest) and the darkest rye bread known to man.

All too soon, it was time to head back. And no, I did not see the northern lights. Three out of the four nights were cloudy and snowy, fair enough, but the last night was clear and bitterly cold. There is no accounting for a natural phenomenon, although I must confess that I was disappointed. I’ll just have to go back. That fox will swish its tail across the sky for me, I know it!•

First published in VISA 120 (April 2015)

Rovaniemi Revisited

By Elizabeth Johnstone

“Next time with northern lights!” 

Those were the last words of my previous article on the capital of Finnish Lapland.  My failure to see the “foxfires” in January 2013 was an excuse to replicate the trip in January 2014.  I flew with Finnair from London via Helsinki. As the City Hotel was unavailable, I booked four nights in the Sokos Vaakuna where I had stayed before.

The weather was cold, even by arctic standards.  On the first evening, the temperature was -20 C, dipping to -25 C and below for the rest of the weekend.

Dressing for the cold is an art and a science. Thick socks and stout footwear are essential and I personally find Wintertrax grippers absolutely indispensable.  I wore long underwear, regular trousers and ski trousers (who knew that Lidl sold such things?) Moving upwards, more thermal underwear, regular clothes and a top-of-the-range Land’s End jacket.  I am not a fan of hats, but suffer agonisingly from cold ears in all weathers, so I used “round-the-head” Land’s End ear protectors.  Some passers-by looked aghast, thinking I was suicidally bare-headed, when the ear protectors were just hidden by my hair.  My expensive John Lewis microfibre and fleece gloves were not really up to the job, even with silk liners, so I treated myself to a pair of reindeer skin mittens, much more appropriate. One unattractive feature of the extreme cold is that it freezes the breath entering your nose.  Many people wrap a scarf around the lower part of the face but I found that a disposable surgical face mask was more hygienic.  Next time, though, I will take a bigger supply, as a mask got sodden in an hour or so outside.

It was so cold that I prioritised indoor activities. On the Friday, I mooched around the shops in the morning then visited the home of a Mensan friend for lunch.  These enjoyable occasions always throw up some cultural observations.  The lady of the house prepared a tasty “makaronilaatikko” which I would describe as a “pasta bake”.  This is a national institution, served with tomato ketchup.  “Laatikko” means “box”, as in “postilaatikko”. Macaroni box?  An analogy might be “casserole”, which can be both the dish and its contents.

I bought a combi-ticket for the three major museums.  First was the Pilke forestry centre where they say “See the wood for the trees”.  Everything you ever needed to know about timber, trees and forestry, in an elegant building designed to showcase wood.  Lots of hands-on activities.  Every young child in Rovaniemi has been here with a clipboard and a worksheet.

Northern Lights projection in the Arktikum

On the same site is the Arktikum, the jewel in the ice queen’s crown.  Fascinating information about the current status of the Arctic with a northern lights display which you view from a lying position.  The Arktikum also contains the Provincial Museum of Lapland with its stunning examples of Sámi workmanship. Films and other materials show the tumultuous history of the Second World War in Finland and its aftermath.

Back in the hotel, I watched some winter sports (or rather “sports”) on television until dinner time.  I had the pleasure of meeting another Mensan friend in the Fransmanni Restaurant in my hotel.  For my starter, they put together a platter of “reindeer treats” including melt-in–the mouth fillet and various accompaniments. 

Next day, I completed my museum tour at Korundi, the modern art museum and cultural complex.  My favourite exhibit was “Lemminkäinen's Mother”, an 1897 Romantic nationalist painting by Finnish painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela.  It depicts a scene from the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic.  Our hero has been killed, his body chopped up and thrown in the river.  His mother has sewn the pieces back together again.  She is waiting for a bee, the messenger of the gods, bearing honey which will bring her son back to life.  Music lovers will recognise this event from Sibelius’s Lemminkäinen Suite.

Quite enough culture for one day. Lunch was a savoury waffle with the (other) beautiful people at Café & Bar 21, followed by a white tea and macaron at Choco Deli.  After the obligatory break for winter sports on television, we met up again at my friend’s house for a “raclette” supper party. This involves individual grill pans filled with various savoury bits and pieces over which cheese is melted.  Delicious, and great fun.  Another wonderful evening.

A fine, clear Sunday morning (-27 C) was a good opportunity for a scenic walk beside the mighty Ounas river, frozen over except for a patch of open water under the bridge.  A pleasant man of about my own age asked me if I was Finnish and said he wanted to show me something.  Let me re-phrase that.  He had spotted something of interest on the frozen river and lent me his binoculars.  I couldn’t make it out, but he insisted that it was an animal and traced out the word “saukko” in the snow for me.  I pantomimed my thanks (although I did manage to say “the country is beautiful” = “maa on kaunis”) and walked up onto the bridge.  There I saw a group of photographers with long lens cameras. They knew there was something worth snapping.  We could see an animal diving into the water and rolling on its back in the snow.  “Ah, saukko!” I said knowledgeably, and the photographers beamed and nodded.  I can barely tell a dog from a cat, so I wasn’t sure what cute mammal this was.  Back at the hotel, the receptionist looked up the word and explained it was an otter.  These popular visitors to Rovaniemi had even featured on the evening news.

We spent a pleasant afternoon gossiping in the Coffee House then I had the pleasure of being invited to my friend’s parents’ house.  It is always fascinating to see inside a home in another country.  After a light supper and cup of tea there was much mutual demonstrating of knitting projects and I left with two beautifully handmade pairs of socks for indoor wear.  I had spent some time earlier in the knitting wool department of the local department store. The Finns are resourceful and capable.  It is entirely in character for the ladies to create practical and decorative knitwear out of the substantial yarn which is needed in the cold weather.  There is even a specific Rovaniemi technique for knitting multi-coloured mittens, where the main colour is worked in the round and the pattern colours are arranged on a single long needle.  Well beyond my area of expertise!

Rye bread

Next morning, I shopped for fresh rye bread and had a last look at the “saukko” on the river before heading for the airport.  It was snowing lightly, and for the first time in my life I saw a snowplough clearing the runway from which my plane was due to take off. The return flights went smoothly – including the nerve-shredding 35 minute transfer in Helsinki – and I arrived home some seven and a half hours after taking off in Rovaniemi.

Once again, I enjoyed the legendary hospitality of arctic Mensans, several of whom I now count as personal friends. Indeed, it felt as though we had just run into each other after a week or so, not a whole year.

What about the northern lights?  I had always understood that they were caused by a fox brushing his tail as he ran through the sky.  I now know that they could also be caused by ancestral spirits kicking a walrus skull around the firmament.  On the first evening, I saw some orange and green plumes which changed shape and faded as I watched, possibly the remnants of earlier activity It certainly wasn’t the magnificent display which I had hoped for.  In fact, I read a news story on the BBC website explaining that the sun had been uncharacteristically quiet recently.  Just my luck!  However, this is not entirely a bad thing.  I will simply have to go back and hope for a better performance.

Next time, with more northern lights!

First published in VISA 114 (April 2014)

Return to Rovaniemi

By Elizabeth Johnstone

 “Next time with snow!”

Santa Claus Village

These were our parting words to Mensan friends after a trip to Rovaniemi in October 2011.  Being a woman of my word, I booked a long weekend in the capital of Finnish Lapland in January 2013.  I made similar arrangements to the previous trip - an ATOL-protected package booked through Guild Travel in London.  Finnair to Helsinki, then on to Rovaniemi.  The layover of one hour on the way out was worrying enough.  Thirty-five minutes in Helsinki to make the London flight on the way back was nerve-shredding! I can’t say I like the new Finnair uniform whose white bibs have a Star-Trek-goes-Nordic look. Not too flattering to the - shall we say - fuller figure.

My previous hotel, the Vaakuna, was already full when I booked in August.  The City Hotel was a more than acceptable substitute. Triple-glazed windows, ample breakfast buffet, a young and enthusiastic reception staff and a welcome sauna at the end of the day. 

After I had made my arrangements, the Mensa Northern Lights meeting in Rovaniemi was announced.  Neither the local Mensans nor I could change our timings, but it worked out well with me as guinea pig for some of the activities.  And I was just as welcome as an individual.

I went on my own this time. My husband took the view that the girls and I would be sitting around in coffeehouses chatting, Arctic or no Arctic.  Now why on earth did he think that?

I arrived on the Thursday evening to temperatures of -18°.  I had been forewarned about being properly dressed for the cold.  You can hire Arctic apparel from the many safari companies. I soon discovered I had to wear earmuffs, scarf, jacket and gloves (not forgetting long underwear) whenever I stepped outside, even to nip across the road to a shop.  It must make it hard to storm off after an argument when it takes so long to get dressed for the outdoors.  I needed ski-type overtrousers for the snowshoe activity where we were trudging knee-deep in snow and, periodically, falling over into it. Footwear was a major issue.  All pavements and roads are compacted snow, so grippers on the soles of my boots were essential.  I had Wintertrax (from QVC, not too proud to admit it) Yaktrax are a similar brand.  I had sturdy hiking boots, plus a second pair for when the first got wet in deep snow and had to dry out.  I had lovely old fur and sheepskin gloves.  The fur part was perfect, but the cold got in through a torn lining. At least there was no requirement for clothing in the sauna!

I walked down to the river to admire the iconic Lumberjack’s Lantern Bridge in the snow then turned back into town to eat.  Eating out in Finland can be prohibitively expensive, but I remembered Restaurant Martina from our previous visit. On two separate evenings I enjoyed a delicious Italian-style main course preceded by a salad from the buffet with a small glass of wine for about 20 euros. Believe me, that is a bargain.

The next day, I headed out to the Santa Claus Village, using the local bus.  Public transport in Rovaniemi is not great – most tourists are in large groups, ferried around by coach, and the locals prefer to travel by car.  However, the hourly number 8 bus is well used by visitors.  I enjoyed pottering through residential areas, noticing, for example, that a school playground was an ice rink.

The village was quiet after the seasonal wave of Russian tourists. The Russians are frequent and popular (i.e. big-spending) visitors, especially around their Christmas in the first week of January.   The municipality has produced an information brochure for them in Russian explaining, for example, that you do not need to drive in the middle of the road as you would in Russia to avoid potholes.  There is a Russian speaking customer assistant in the shopping centre.  Russia and Finland have a long history but the present "invasion" seems to benefit both nations.

I bought my eight stamps (in Finnish - love that partitive case!) at Santa’s Main Post Office and posted my cards there to get the special postmark.  I had a pleasant discussion with the elves who were busily sorting the mail to the “Christmas goat” i.e. Santa Claus.  If the letter has a recognisable address, the child receives a reply.  After browsing around the gift shops and taking plenty of photos, I treated myself to an Arabia mug as a souvenir from the iittala shop.

I was invited to lunch at the home of one of my Mensan friends.  An interesting phenomenon here and at another person’s house. The lady of the house produced a big dish of delicious food. She looked at me. I looked at her. No-one touched the food. The Finnish lady did not want to serve me and treat me like a child. I did not want to serve myself and look presumptuous and greedy. Eventually common sense prevailed - and we ate.

I tore myself away from a cosy setting to catch the last hour or two of light for photographs – it was all of two o’clock.  I walked through town to the church, then back along the bank of the mighty Ounas River to get different perspectives on the bridges.  I am no expert photographer, but I couldn’t walk past those majestic frozen trees without taking pictures.  A word of warning – I bought a big pack of suspiciously cheap batteries from a pound shop before I left home and had to dump the lot as completely useless. 

Next day was the snowshoe outing, a dry run for the event which my friend was hosting at the Northern Lights meeting.  I am unsporty and unco-ordinated. If it worked for me, it would work for anyone.   We started off from the Santa Sport complex at Ounasvaara.  Unsurprisingly, it has the full range of winter sports activities as well as the normal leisure ones.  I don’t know how many swimmers are brave enough for the replica “ice hole” in the pool area!

We donned our snowshoes, yes, the ones that look like high-tech tennis racquets strapped to your feet, and set off into the forest.  Plan A rapidly turned into plan B or maybe C and, to cut a long story short, we improvised our own mini-campsite in a clearing.  Like a Nordic Mary Poppins, my friend produced a stove, spirit, a pan, a container of pea and ham soup, rye bread sandwiches, teabags and a flask of boiling water from her rucksack.  She announced that we would eat like the Finnish army on winter manoeuvres, and I believed her.   There was much hilarity as members of the party fell over or struggled to regain their footing.  The forest was sparkling white in the mid-day sun but, by definition, we were off piste and this townie was secretly relieved to see civilisation in the form of ski-tracks.  “Ski-ing” to a Finn is what we would call cross-country ski-ing.  They slightly despise downhill ski-ing as being aided by chairlifts on the way up and gravity on the way down.

That evening, a different Mensan friend hosted an event where, after yet another delicious meal, the ladies made soap. This modern alchemy is a scientific process involving lye, fat, scent and colouring.  My contribution was providing moral support i.e. chatting at the table and taking the occasional photo.

Next day, in brilliant sunshine and -10°, I set off on a scenic walk across the bridge to look at the town from the other side. After Rovaniemi was razed to the ground by the Germans in 1944, it was reconstructed according to a “reindeer plan” by the famous architect Alvar Aalto.  Maybe the antlers and back are better appreciated from the air.  Certainly the buildings blend sympathetically into the snow, and provided some stunning images. 

That evening, we returned to the same friend’s house for a gourmet meal of local delights.  A savoury mushroom soup, then whitefish with a chef’s salad, wild mushroom sauce and Lappish potatoes, followed by a fruit soup (a compôte of hand-collected berries) and Chantilly cream, all washed down by a non-alcoholic beverage made from blackcurrant leaves.  By now, I knew to serve myself!

You have to plug your car in overnight to stop it freezing

I was fascinated to see how Finns drove in their winter conditions, which prevail for at least six months of the year.  The municipality sends the snow ploughs out quickly, but there is permanent compacted snow on the roads and pavements.  Finns drive with a confidence brought about by obligatory winter tyres, a three part driving test and long experience.  No wonder they are world rally champions.  In the same conditions, which we might have for a week or two in the UK, we crawl along.  Of course, you can over-do the confidence.  I was slightly nervous as the airport taxi driver chatted away on his phone and looked at paperwork while driving back to town on the frozen dual carriageway. 

All too soon, it was the last day.  My case  was full of bulky winter clothes, so I only squeezed in two tubs of lingonberry and blueberry preserves and a packet of xylitol chewing-gum. I was mildly apprehensive about the return journey.  The day after I flew out, winter struck the UK with a vengeance. Nevertheless, I surmised correctly that winter conditions were nothing new to Finnair and I returned to Heathrow without incident (and with my luggage, despite that 35 minute layover).

All in all, a fabulous weekend.  The Arctic temperatures were melted by the warmth of my welcome.  I was hypnotised by the magical landscape and I learned to respect the cold.  There was only one disappointment.  Not even those resourceful Arctic Mensans were able to conjure up the “foxfires”.  However, there is a simple solution.  I have to go back.

“Next time with Northern Lights!”

First published in VISA `109 (June 2013)