Roving in Finland

By Elizabeth Johnstone

In January 2016, I made my fourth attempt to see the northern lights in Rovaniemi, in Arctic Finland.  I would have fun meeting up with Finnish Mensan friends and could easily amuse myself in the shops, museums and cafés.  However I really, really wanted to see the “foxfires”! (This is the translation of the Finnish word for the northern lights - they are caused by a fox swishing its tail across the sky.)

I could not get a seat on the eight-carriage 06.52 to Kings Cross.  The joys of commuting to London.  My BA flight to Helsinki was uneventful but I had a four-hour wait there for my connection to Rovaniemi.  Booking in the previous August, I could not obtain my usual flight with its speedy turnaround.  Helsinki Airport is not the worst place to kill time.  A cosy lounge overlooking the runway has an ample supply of paperbacks. Charging points for devices are everywhere, so you will not deplete your battery when on the free wi-fi (not forgetting your VPN, of course!) A plate of salmon soup kept me going.  Never order this iconic Nordic dish as a starter.  It is a meal in itself, with huge chunks of moist salmon, potatoes and vegetables bobbing about in a creamy broth.  Eventually Finnair deposited me at Rovaniemi Airport. Only -9°C! I would be going home with a suntan.  The “Airport Taxi” is a convenient mini-bus service calling at the main hotels.  My room at the Santa Claus Hotel was clean and cosy (quadruple glazing!) and I was glad to get to bed after a full day.


Suitably fortified by the usual substantial buffet breakfast (porridge for the Finns, it is a condition of citizenship), I set out for the Santa Claus Village, less than half an hour by hourly bus service.  The great man himself lives there – his elves will charge you handsomely for a photo – and there are surprisingly tasteful gift and craft shops, restaurants, huskies and reindeer. An avid Postcrosser, I sent cards from Santa’s Main Post Office, complete with unique postmark.  I returned to town and, after lunch, visited the Arktikum, one of a trio of iconic city museums.  The building is spectacular, especially after nightfall (mid-afternoon), extending towards the river like a great illuminated icicle. I saw an excellent presentation about northern lights.  Would this be my only opportunity to see them?
My friend’s parents kindly invited me to a family dinner at their house.  I had entertained them in my home near London the previous summer.  It was a wonderful evening. The lady of the house must have spent days creating the hearty feast, including the fabulously named (and tasty) “herring in a fur coat”, with all the best glass and china. 

Next day saw the long-awaited rendezvous in the Coffee House to catch up on a year’s worth of gossip.  With Facebook, email and the rest of it, we can communicate easily with people all over the world, but it is still a rare pleasure to meet in person. Then, it was off to the Korundi Modern Art Museum for a little light culture. I watched some winter sports on television, including an hour-long documentary on the recent success of the national ice hockey youth team. Many of our dramas and lifestyle programmes are shown with Finnish subtitles.  In some cases, the format is adapted.  I am a fan of The Voice of Finland where the judges are a veteran rock star, a female heavy metal vocalist, a young male rapper and a sterner older guy. Sound familiar?  Dinner was a salad, pizza and glass of wine at the very reasonable Restaurant Martina - salmon pizza, laid on with a lavish hand.

Sunday was a lazy day of morning coffee at my friend’s house, while a pot of barley porridge (made from grains, none of this instant rubbish) bubbled away on the stove.  A walk by the mighty Ounas river, more television – ski jumping is now ski flying – then it was time to be collected by another friend to go to dinner at her home.  Delicious food, a glass of red wine, wood burning in the stove – had it really been a whole year since I’d been there?  It felt like a few weeks.

The Finns are famously taciturn.  A Finn will dig you out of a snowdrift, but do not expect conversation from him.  I conducted a small experiment.  One evening, I walked along the river bank.  I saw a nice-looking lady out walking her dogs (each had a light on its collar).  I smiled and nodded as I went past.  She gave a half smile.  My friend told me later that my flamboyant behaviour would have been excused as I was obviously a foreigner who knew no better.

My last day involved last-minute shopping.  Rye bread rolls (tosi tumma = “so dark”), lingonberry preserve, xylitol chewing gum (the nation is obsessed with xylitol for tooth protection) and Fazer chocolate. I plucked up my courage and took the local bus to the airport – a request stop and all of €3.90.  Unsurprisingly, the weather was cold.  Friday and Saturday got no lower than about -15°C but Sunday’s temperature plummeted and the lowest value I saw was -27°C. This year, I added a white fur hat to my fashion ensemble.  In my bright red coat, I looked like Mrs Claus. On Sunday, I went out with every part of my body and face covered except my eyes.  Ice crystals formed in my eyelashes.  The flight from Rovaniemi to Helsinki was delayed nearly an hour, so an easy connection became a nightmare dash. I just got on the last bus to the plane from the gate.  We stood while they de-iced the wings and fuselage, then blew hot air through the engine to defrost that, too. (The plane was late because the baggage containers had frozen in the hold and had to be prised out). As we took off into the falling snow, I watched a line of twelve snowploughs clearing the other runway.  In the end, we arrived at Heathrow only about half an hour late.

Did I see the northern lights?  No, I did not.  Needless to say, they appeared two nights after I got home. You can download various aurora apps which will alert you via text message if there is heightened aurora activity.  The Rovaniemi tourist office sells one specifically for the city.  If I go back, I will have to seriously consider getting one of these apps, although the best app cannot notify you of something that is not there.

First published in VISA 126 (April 2016)

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)

Two Play in the Snow in Finland

by Jerry McCarthy

It was a cloudy Saturday in mid-February when we set out for our brief drive to Heathrow Airport for the start of a week-and-a-bit of playing in the snow in Saariselkä in Finnish Lapland. This would be our third visit to this part of Finland, and it was going to be interesting to see if much had changed. As we were taking an early flight, we decided to stay in Heathrow’s Hilton airport for a cheap one-night-at-the-weekend deal, and leave the car in a pre-booked, pre-paid BAA long-stay parking lot. The hotel itself is quite interesting, being built around a large atrium containing the reception area and various restaurants, onto which faced some of the rooms; I glad to say that we had an outwards facing room, with even a bit of view of the runways.

Up early next morning to go the terminal, and take our "short flight" to Helsinki. We planned to spend a few days and nights in Helsinki itself, taking in some of the department stores, riding the trams around the city, and having a few decent meals before setting out to Finnish Lapland where the food is perhaps a little more basic. On this visit we were staying in the Hotel Palace Kämp, which is right next to the main harbour to and from which travel the huge ferries to Stockholm. At this time of the year, the harbour is quite frozen, so the ferries are built to have some ice-breaking power.

After a couple of days we headed off to the kotimaan (domestic) terminaali at Helsinki. The taxi driver was perhaps a little surprised that we were heading anywhere but back to England, as it would seem that not many independently-travelling foreign tourists are yet brave enough to head for “The North”. The internal flights to our destination, Saariselkä, (and as we have discovered, to other internal destinations such as Rovaniemi) have “free” (that is, unassigned) seating, so there is often a bit of a scrum to get on to the flight, and to sit with the person or persons with whom one is travelling, but, as on previous trips, we succeeded.

Our brief flight northwards was through clear skies and we could see the countryside below getting whiter and whiter, broken only by the dark-green of the pine and birch trees below. Finnair flights, I might add, have the nice feature of a downward-pointing camera with the picture showing on the overhead screens, which makes it easier for everybody on board to see the view.

Eventually we landed at Ivalo airport, collected our baggage, and then took our first steps outside. It is always a bit of a shock, those first few steps. There is typically a strong cold wind blowing, snow and ice everywhere, and oversized, padded people, heavily dressed against the weather, waiting to meet and greet friends and relatives. In our case, we take a bus; there is a handy shuttle bus which goes from the airport to Saariselkä, and which visits each of the three or four hotels in turn. It was interesting to note a difference from our previous visits, during which there was just one quite small bus shuttling back and forth; there are now two larger buses which travel in convoy; we felt that this was not such a good thing, as it meant that Saariselkä, previously little known, was becoming more and more popular with tourists.

We duly arrived at our hotel, the Hotelli Kieppi, where we waited to check in. Another change, not necessarily for the better. On our previous visits, our fellow guests were always Finnish, but now, to my surprise, there were large numbers of French folk milling around in the Reception area. Not only that, but the all-Finnish staff had been augmented by somebody who clearly wasn’t Finnish, although we didn’t yet know where she was from. Our secret hidey-hole had become known outside Finland!

No matter; check-in completed we went to our room, which at least was unchanged. The rooms at this hotel are in log-cabins, separated from the reception / restaurant / ski-storage block by a few metres, and are simply furnished with a lot of wood, and a good, hot shower.
It was time for dinner! Our favourite restaurant has always been in another hotel, the Tunturihotelli, which is about ten minutes walk along ice-bound footpaths, and features, again, a lot of wood, and comfortable booths with, yes, wooden benches and a wooden table. The menu is simple, but filling. Without remembering the exact details, we probably had a couple of Hampurilaiset (burgers - one with cheese, and one without), “Ranskalainen perunat” (= french Fries), a couple of glasses of white wine and some ice-cream to follow. Not only is it simple to prepare, and they do it well, but it is also simple to order in our pidgin Finnish, which we like to try to use, and which the help, not all of whom seem to speak much English, kindly encourage us to use. Or, perhaps they are just humouring us!

The next day dawned cold and bright (as it usually does in those parts in February!) and we went off to rent our skis for the week for later use on the cross-country trails which criss-cross the area. I say “we” and “our”, but in fact I, a long time ago, determined somewhat painfully that skiing is not “for me” so I clump around on some snow-shoes which I bought on eBay while my wife cheerfully skis around me.

Basically, our days out follow much the same pattern; we either go snow-shoe walking or skiing in the nearby nature park (“Urho Kekkosen kansallispuisto” – named after former Prime Minister and President (not simultaneously) Urho Kekkonen(1)) for a few hours, break for a warming lunch, and then do more of the same for a few more hours and stop for a somewhat larger dinner. Lunch is always easy to find in this area; most restaurants and hotels run a fixed price good-value soup-lunch (keittiö lounas), although a dictionary is always useful as the soup changes daily and is named only in Finnish.

One fine day we decided to snow-shoe our way up a nearby hill, “Kaunispää*” (literally, “beautiful head”, also the name of a ladies’ hair-dresser’s in town.). This has a fine café, with everything a hungry, well-exercised person can need on a cold Finnish day. I always think that places such as these have a special attraction. They generally tend to be full of healthy, cheerful people with their outer clothing in a steaming heap, and their skis, snow-shoes and snow-mobiles parked outside. Warming food and a nearby open fire complete the sensation of gemütlichkeit(2) as it’s called in German. I’m sure that the Finns have a word for it, but I am not sure what it is!

Now, our own hotel’s restaurant (“Riekonlaula” – song of the grouse or ptarmigan) has something of a reputation as a singing restaurant; in other words, it’s a place where after dinner, folk-singing is laid on and you can join in (or not). Our first dinner on our first visit to this place a number of years ago happened to be such an evening; we were having a quiet dinner in the middle of the restaurant when I noticed large numbers of people coming in – they didn’t seem to be eating, although a few of them bought drinks from the bar. They all sat down, a little expectantly, all facing the same way – clearly something was going to happen but what? After a while, it became clear as a couple of men with guitars came in, song sheets were passed around and some rollicking folk-singing commenced, involving everybody (maybe 40-50 people) except for us. We could only catch one word in several; much of the time words like “tunturi”, “lumi” and “poro” (mountains, snow and reindeer) seemed to predominate, but after a while I managed to get a spare song-sheet and we joined in as best we could, knowing neither the songs, much of the language nor the tunes! Some of the songs were in Saami, and so we had even less of an idea how to sing them! This activity continued for some two hours and was a wonderful introduction to that aspect of Finnish culture.

One night on this current trip, we learned that “tonight was a singing night”, so we decided to have dinner there, and then join in the singing. The atmosphere was very different this time. Firstly, we found that the restaurant had been divided into a large area for a buffet (for tour groups) and a much smaller area for people such as us, not there on a package. So, there were two or three Finnish couples in the small area, forty or fifty on-a-package folks in the buffet area and us. At some point the buffet ran out of food, but not out of people to eat it, which was the cause of great and noisy consternation from the buffet area. We joined the Finns in looking somewhat haughtily at the package folks as they discussed, at high volume, the lack of food. It has to be appreciated that Finns are a somewhat quiet, reserved people, and there is often an immense contrast between them and visitors from other countries, such as the French folks on the package who were somewhat more outgoing!

Unfortunately, worse was to come. After we finished dinner, the guys with the guitars came in, and started to play; however, the package folks continued talking throughout the performance, basically treating the show as “background music”. After perhaps four or five songs the guitarists gave up, packed away their equipment and left. A shame, we felt.
As a complete contrast, we went one night to the local church where I had seen advertised on a poster “an evening of Saami songs”. As this poster was written only in Finnish, I thought we had a good chance of being the only non-Finnish visitors there – and I was right; a roomful of quiet, respectful Finns and us (also on our best behaviour, of course).

And so our week progressed, until, finally, we reached the day of our return journey to Helsinki and London. As we had a few hours at Helsinki Airport before our London-bound flight, we decided to go to a science museum a short taxi ride away, where we spent a couple of interesting hours, and then we returned home tired but happy.

1. the astute might notice a difference in spelling between the two words “Kekkosen” and “Kekkonen”; this is not a typo – “Kekkosen” is the regular genitive form of the noun “Kekkonen”)

2. Anybody with a knowledge of the vowel harmony rules of Finnish might take exception to the apparent breaking of the rules with this word “Kaunispää”; however, it’s not a typo – although written as a single word, “kaunis” and “pää” are in fact separate words with an independent existence and the vowels don’t need to match through the combined word
First published in VISA issue 80 (August 2008)

At Home with Santa

by Elizabeth Johnstone

Trees and water, water and trees. As the Finnair flight dipped towards Rovaniemi in the late autumn sunshine, all you could see was swathes of forest punctuated by mighty rivers and wide lakes. Most visitors come to Finnish Lapland in the winter, but our citybreak was in October, the off-season, when the famous autumn colours were to be seen. Our plan was to do some sightseeing and get together with local Mensans. Without snow, tourist activities were limited, but socialising fitted the gaps perfectly.

Post-ash, I wanted ATOL protection, so I booked hotel and flights as a package through Guild Travel, the travel agency of the Finn-Guild in London, itself an offshoot of the Finnish church. We had scheduled Finnair flights (Assigned seats, snacks and drinks. Luxury for this easyJet flyer!) Off-season, there were no direct flights from London. The one-hour layover in Helsinki in each direction was simultaneously convenient and nerve-wracking, as we wondered if we would see our luggage at our final destination. Of course, the Helsinki baggage handlers did us proud and we were reunited with our suitcases without incident. Rovaniemi Airport is about the size of a sports hall. The single baggage conveyor belt boasts a selection of cuddly-toy Arctic animals. A selection of stylised reindeer leaps off the roof. After all, it is the ‘official airport of Santa Claus’.

We took the Airport Taxi (minibus) to the Sokos Vaakuna. I chose this hotel as I had stayed in its sister establishment of the same name in Helsinki the previous year. The Vaakuna was well up to the expected standard. I tried out the (single-sex) sauna this time. The etiquette was to use one of the paper seats provided when sitting on the wooden benches. I had a go at ladling water on to the hot coals to provide a burst of löyly or intense heat. The hotel was so quiet that I had no-one to talk to in the sauna, otherwise I would have stayed a lot longer in this most civilised setting. The hotel’s buffet breakfast offered a splendid selection of Nordic delicacies as well as more international fare. An easy way to spot the native Finns was to look for the plate of porridge. On our first evening, we dined at Nili: a little pricey, but with charming service and bags of atmosphere – or there would have been, if it had been fuller. Our freebie starters of reindeer broth came in the typical kuksa, or hand carved birch cup.

The next day, we set off on the most important part of our sightseeing, visiting Santa Claus. We took the number 8 bus to the Santa Village, a collection of outlet and souvenir shops, cafés and the official Arctic Circle Post Office. I sent off postcards to friends and family from there to get the special postmark. The Arctic Circle is painted on the ground, a classic photo opportunity. In case you are wondering, the Arctic Circle is defined as the parallel of latitude that runs 66° 33° 44° (or 66.5622°) north of the Equator, or a line that marks the latitude above which the sun does not set on the day of the summer solstice (usually 21 June) and does not rise on the day of the winter solstice (usually 21 December). Off-season, the complex was very quiet, and only one café was open. The shops were not at all tacky, with souvenirs generally of high quality.

Visiting Santa is impressive. It is free of charge. You are led deep into a labyrinth, passing the massive pendulum which allows Santa to stop time and visit all the world’s children in one night. We got straight in, but I imagine that you generally have to queue. The great man thanked me for the sherry and mince pies we had left for him in the past, and indicated that the reindeer had appreciated the carrots. He also shared a few remarks about Glasgow Rangers FC with my husband. Santa is nothing if not cosmopolitan. We declined the photo taken by an tech-savvy elf. These come in various formats, starting at an eye-watering 25 Euros for one snap, but I bet a fair few are impulse-bought by moist-eyed parents.

Back in town, we obtained passes for the main city museums. We started at Korundi, the ultra-modern art and concert venue. Modern art always provides a talking point. After that, it was time to rendezvous with Arctic Mensans in the restaurant attached to our hotel. They had thoughtfully chosen a restaurant with Lappish specialities. I am no stranger to reindeer meat on my plate, but other tastes were new: I had reindeer tongue, whitefish roe and rillettes of moose in a selection of starters. It was a most convivial evening. Our hosts courteously spoke perfect English, even amongst themselves, which is always faintly shaming for this languages teacher.

The other two museums were the Arktikum and the Pilke centre. The former, jutting out magnificently towards the river, is full of informative, if worrying, information about the current state of the Arctic and its inhabitants. The latter is full of hands-on activities for children related to trees and forestry. Trees and water, as I mentioned earlier, form the fabric of national life.

That afternoon, we were taken out and about to see local residential areas and leisure facilities. Very scenic on a fine autumn afternoon, but we were told that a Finnish driving test is in three parts: “normal” driving, driving in darkness, and driving in slippery conditions. We dined at a moderately-priced-and-cheerful pizza place that evening.

Our hosts arranged a wonderful outing for us on the Sunday. They took us hiking in the forest at Vikaköngäs. Scratch a Finn, and you will find a forest dweller with a deep connection to nature. Access to the forests is regarded as a birthright and schoolchildren are taught forest skills from an early age. ‘Hiking’ sounds laborious, but we proceeded along well-constructed, if slippery, duckboards past tumbling rivers and russet trees to our destination. We reached a superbly appointed barbecue area, complete with fireplace, logs, twigs (with which to spear the sausages) and an earth toilet. Not one scrap of litter to be seen, either before we arrived or after we left. Our hosts had brought huge amounts of food and drink. This townie had never grilled a sausage over an open fire before! There were other hikers, Finns and foreigners, and everyone quickly got talking. We decided that the national characteristics of sausages formed too controversial a topic and moved back to the safer areas of politics and religion.

Our last meal out was a good value set meal at the Monte Rosa. Our flight home did not leave until lunchtime, which left plenty of time for my last session of supermarket shopping. I stocked up on rye bread, lingonberry preserve, reindeer and similar goodies, not forgetting another Littala mug for my collection.

Getting to the airport presented a dilemma. Flying from any of the London airports, you are recommended to be at check-in two hours before your flight. In Rovaniemi, the airport taxi called at our hotel in the town centre one hour before the flight. My husband and I struggled with this concept and debated it at length. Finally, our inner Londoner won and we (almost certainly unnecessarily) got a regular taxi somewhat earlier.

An uneventful trip home, and we found ourselves at Heathrow in time to struggle back through the rush hour. I still can hardly believe I was at the Arctic Circle, although I can always keep an eye on what’s happening in Lordi Square with the city webcams. The square is named after the city’s most famous sons, a heavy metal band who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006. The sightseeing was wonderful, but was easily matched by the warm welcome we received from fellow Mensans. Next time – with snow!

First published in VISA issue 100 (Dec 2011)

Autumn in Helsinki

by Elizabeth Johnstone

My husband Gavin and I like to get away in the autumn/winter and we have had many excellent city breaks in European cities. In October we went to Helsinki, a slightly unusual destination, perhaps, but less than three hours flying time from London and in the Euro zone. We live in Hertfordshire, so took the train into Kings Cross and then to St Pancras. There we picked up the Brighton train which deposited us at Gatwick relatively painlessly. I had booked the EasyJet flights back in April, before I joined the Finn-Guild, the Finnish language and cultural organisation. I booked the hotel through their offshoot, Guild Travel, and got an excellent deal at the Soskos Hotel Vaakuna. Had I known, I could have booked the whole package through them which might have been preferable in the post-ash environment.

I did my homework via the Rough Guide to Helsinki and Lonely Planet Guide to Helsinki, so plenty of activities were planned. The first evening, we went to a restaurant (www.ravintolakaarna.fi) where we had a light meal of Nordic tapas. I enjoyed venison and smoked reindeer, and my husband’s plate featured smoked salmon and the popular local fish vendace. It was the first, but not the last, time we were to meet Finland’s draconian alcohol pricing. Every drink is measured scrupulously and priced eye-wateringly. 5 or 6 euros for 400cl of beer and 7, 8, 9 or more euros for 12 cl of wine was about standard. Alcohol other than the weakest beer can only be bought in the attractively named Alko, which makes you feel like one. We saw plenty of youngsters on Saturday night ‘pre-loading’ with off-licence cans before having to pay even higher prices in clubs etc. Behaviour a little boisterous, nothing terrible, but police well in evidence.

Our hotel was built for the 1952 Olympics and retained that look, but had all the usual mod cons. It was just across the square from the spectacular main railway station (which we did not hear) and could not have been more central. The buffet breakfast, where the Finns filled up on porridge before tackling the rest of the spread, was excellent though at times the tables needed to be cleared more quickly.

Our first full day was Sunday which meant that there was a dearth of places to visit, but we struck lucky with Kiasma where the building is as much a work of art as the contents. Ironically, the top floor contained an exhibition by Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin which quite frankly brought to mind the phrase ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’. I tried out my limited Finnish buying stamps and postcards at the GPO then we made our way to Stockmann, the John Lewis of Finland, whose Helsinki branch is the biggest department store in the Nordic countries. After a delicious lunch, we bought tickets for an orchestral concert that afternoon at the Finlandia-talo Hall, one of many architectural masterpieces by Alvar Aalto. This was a great idea for a dark rainy Sunday afternoon. It was fascinating to see how seriously the Finnish audience took the concert (well, it was the Sibelius Violin Concerto, in his native land). Banks and banks of cloakrooms catered for every member of the audience who were all in Sunday best.

That evening, we ate at a superb restaurant where my husband had a mixed seafood fry-up and I had calf’s liver, bacon etc. By mistake we ordered starters, ‘small’ portions of salmon soup. Gavin commented that he had had less salmon in a main course. The soup would have been sufficient as a meal in itself. Of course, I am so greedy that I ate most of my main course as well.

Monday was fine enough for some serious sightseeing. We headed for the Senate Square, the classical heart of the city, with its harmonious ensemble of historic buildings. The elegant Lutheran Cathedral dominates the square. I very much liked its severe interior, although some might find it bare. By chance, there was an exhibition of life-size bears (the Buddy Bear project) designed to portray the national characteristics of the different countries. I was very taken by the cigar-chomping Cuban bear! As this was a great exhibition for children, there were various groups of pre-schoolers in evidence. Every child wore a high-visibility vest, making them look like groups of miniature council workers. Full marks for child safety!


We walked down to the harbour which was not at its liveliest on a dreich October morning, past the summer high season and not yet into pre-Christmas. But we admired the massive ferries, waiting to set off for Sweden and Estonia, and browsed among the market stalls. The fish was so fresh that it was virtually still flapping, lingonberries were sold by the litre, and the refreshment tent advertised that the temperature inside was a good 18C. I was drawn magnetically to the stalls selling fur items, many of which were of excellent quality – Finnish ladies as well as tourists were shopping. Of course, fur is a contentious issue. It would take a brave person to wear real fur in London, especially some of the less tasteful items featuring the deceased animal’s face. Whatever your views, it is hard to argue with the necessity of wearing the warmest possible clothing in the winter temperatures that the Nordic countries achieve.

From above, the Church in the Rock (above) looks as though a flying saucer has crash-landed and buried itself in the hillside. Inside, it is an impressive and atmospheric combination of natural and manmade materials, very conducive to spiritual thoughts apart from the coach parties who troop through regularly.

That evening, we ate at the very entertaining Zetor. I had one of the most typical Finnish dishes, sautéed reindeer with mashed potatoes and lingonberries. I could wax lyrical about these little bubbles of deliciousness, which pop in your mouth to add a fruity tang to your meal.

Then it was off to some dancing. My goodness, the Finns take their dancing (like most things) seriously. Gavin and I were a bit rusty and felt intimidated by our lack of prowess, so we practised at the side before daring to step onto the dance floor. I bet all you Strictly fans did not know that the Finnish tango is a recognised variant of the dance.

Our last full day featured a ferry trip out to Suomenlinna, the Fortress of Finland. I predicted correctly that this series of small islands guarding the sea entrance to Helsinki, with its fortifications and gun emplacements, would appeal to my husband. The ferry left from the main harbour. With serendipitous timing, the President of Finland stepped out of the presidential palace right in front of us to bid farewell to an official guest, to the accompaniment of an army band and an honour guard from the navy. I told Gavin I had arranged it all specially, but he did not believe me.

We spent a pleasant couple of hours on a bright and brisk day clambering around the islands, with spectacular views back towards Helsinki and out towards Estonia, a close neighbour and now an EU partner. On our return, we visited the Russian Orthodox Cathedral, whose gold-edged domes face the more sober cupola of its Lutheran counterpart. As you would expect from the biggest Russian Orthodox church outside Russia in Western Europe, the interior decoration was sumptuous.

Our evening’s entertainment was an ice hockey match at the Hartwall Areena. Ice hockey is massive in Finland - only Canada has a higher proportion of professional players per head of population. The biggest Helsinki team is the Jokers and we went to see their league match, having bought tickets online back in the UK. It was also their anniversary, and they lined up all the teams for a salute. What a spectacle! I don’t have a sporty bone in my body, but I couldn’t help being thrilled by the speed and excitement of the play. Dry ice, cheerleaders, pounding music, the Rocky theme every time the Jokers scored, fanatical supporters – it was a great finale to our stay.

Our flight home the next day was not until late in the evening so, after checking out at noon, we pleasantly filled in time at the Botanical Gardens and the harbour (I just had to stroke those furs one more time) with lunch at Kappeli . ‘Soup of the day’ with rye bread and butter was more of a big meat and potatoes dinner in a tasty broth. Just the ticket for a winter’s day. We admired the sailing ships in the old harbour and warmed ourselves up with coffee and buns at Cafe Esplanad (www.esplanad.fi). All too soon it was time to make our way to the airport which we did easily by local bus. Packed in our suitcases were my culinary trophies: various berry jams, smoked reindeer, smoked salmon trout and hot-smoked salmon, rye-bread rolls, xylitol chewing gum and strong Finnish coffee.

So what else caught my attention? Heavy double doors in every public building; the superb English of almost everyone; separate bills (Gavin was startled when the waiter asked if we were paying together); no-one crossing at red lights even if there was no traffic; Moomins.

So, fascinating from start to…well, you guessed it!


First published in VISA 94 (Dec 2010)