Inari, Finland

The road from Jokkmokk, Sweden to Inari, Finland was long, beautiful, and partly gravel. We started off driving over the Lule river and past a dam, heading up to Gallïvare and then East to the Muonio river. The vast part of the border between Sweden and Finland is the river Tornio, but we were north of that, I guess. On the way to the border we encountered our first construction which slowed us down quite a bit.  When we got through it, we made a wrong turn which detoured us for about 2 hours/200km. Well, we got to see more of Sweden!

We also got to see more reindeer up close and personal.  Aunt Cari (and everyone else) had warned of reindeer -- LOTS of reindeer on the road.  They weren't joking. 

a little reindeer calf

mama 

mama and a one year old

I learned a lot about reindeer, too, from my three weeks, besides they are delicious.  All reindeer get fuzz on their horns, but the female keeps it on far longer, while the male rubs his off.  In the summer reindeer herders take the reindeer to summer grazing pastures, usually by the coast, and in the winter they come back inland.  Reindeer eat lichen in the winter and paw through the snow to get to it.  Having seen this land, it is such a marvelous providential match, as the land is very sandy or rocky, there is lichen everywhere, and the land is not well suited to cultivation, especially with the short growing season.

These reindeer are in their summer grazing area.  I did not see many reindeer in Norway, as their summer grazing area was not near where I was. 

When we approached the border, Eeva took my picture and drove across the bridge.  I chose to walk. All the way. To Finland.

Still on Swedish soil

mid-way on the bridge

may have been a little windy...

Made it!

We had coffee in Kolari and filled up with diesel in cheaper Finnish fuel, and headed out toward Inari again.  Before long, the road, the only road, became dirt.  Reindeers abounded. 

It turns out, Finland is named for its fens.  Fens are marshes or bogs.  Northern Finland is full of lakes, bogs, marshes, fir trees, and birches.  It's beautiful.  Not the high mountains or fjords of Norway, but beautiful nonetheless.

Once we got to Inari, we headed north to the hostel and settled in for the night. Another full day was ahead of us.

Jokkmokk and away!

*this blog post is about a trip I did last month.* 

On Wednesday morning, Eeva and I got up early, took the train to Arlanda, and flew to Luleå, Sweden in the northmost county of Norrbotten.   

catching the train to Arlanda

Luleå is a beautiful city.  The main part of the city is on an island situated in the mouth of the Lule river on the topmost corner of the Bay of Bothnia. It was the traditional home of the Lule Sámi. This visit, I got a rental car and quickly drove up to Jokkmokk, but, I will write more about Luleå upon my return. 

Rural Sweden is beautiful with rolling hills, red houses and many rivers and lakes. 

About halfway to Jokkmokk, we passed the Arctic Circle. 

As you can see, my feet are just beyond the signpost, so I am in the Arctic circle!

On the sign, the blue map is Norrbotten County, and the yellow dash line indicates the Arctic Circle.  The Arctic circle is imaginary line of latitude above which the midnight sun can be seen during summer solstice.  Alternatively, above this line the sun never rises in mid-winter, but one could see the Northern Lights. 

Before too long we were in Jokkmokk and at the Ajtte Sami museum. 

a bad picture of a good museum

Jokkmokk is well known for its (outdoor) Winter Market, the second weekend of February.  It has been an institution for 400 years.  Seriously.  Many people come from all around to sell handcrafts.

As for the museum, I highly recommend it.  Very well laid out.  Wonderful information.  Beautiful, huge pictures by Laila Duran in the lobby...  There is a lovely area displaying all the regional Sámi costumes, including reconstructed mittens.

I quickly hustled to a conference room, where I met with the curator Sunna Kuoljok and an expert mitten knitter, teacher and collector, Erika Nordvall Falck. We looked and looked at mittens, talked a mile a minute and, of course, I took many photos. 

Erika is teaching this week about Swedish Sámi mittens at a mitten symposium in Tromsø, Norway. Go if you can! 

the walkway on the mainstreet of Jokkmokk

After my meeting at the museum, Eeva and I walked up and down the main street, visiting the hemslöjd, stopping to buy walking shoes, since my checked bag never arrived, eating reindeer pizza with lingonberry sauce, and trying to find a legendary mitten display.  Never found that one.  Sigh. 

We slept that night in my first of many hostels/stues.  The next morning we went for a long walk around a beautiful lake just to the Northwest.  Then, it was off for a day's drive to Inari, Finland.

me and my reindeer pizza leftovers, and its cousin, Blitzen

Stockholm: The Venice of the North

We interrupt this trip rambling to inform you that... this all took place last month, and I'm home and blogging now. 

Proceed. 

I arrived in Stockholm on Monday, September 2.  The land in Sweden is far different from Iceland: green, rolling farmland, rivers and lakes in the place of volcanic fields.

On the plane, I met my uncle from Minnesota. In the airport, I met my best expatriate friend during my year in Mongolia. She is Finnish and lives in Sweden. What a wonderful thing to see her again!  

I visited with her family, and the next day, visited the holdings of the Folk Museum of Stockholm. So wonderful to see some of the Sámi items there.  Later, Eeva took me around old Stockholm.

The square in front of the Royal Palace and the Nobel Museum.

The next day, the two of us were back at Arlanda airport.  This time to fly to Luleå, Norbotten, Sweden. 

Iceland cometh

The plane landed in Iceland very early. 6am? But, my bag was lost from my very first flight.  By the time I had found the correct people and reported it for the second time (first time was in Toronto, just hours after not receiving it), and bought my round trip ticket for the flybys, and then driven the 50 minutes to downtown Reykjavik, it was eight in the morning.   

I checked in, then started walking around the city. 

Dora and I had exploring in common.  I guess she's been here, too.

Hallgrímskirkja - the National Lutheran church.

Hallgrímskirkja is the largest church in Iceland, and one of the tallest buildings in Reykjavik.  For about $8, one can take an elevator to the top and look around through the no-glass windows. Word to the wise: wind was from the west and rather cool. 

view to the North/Northwest

Aren't the colored roofs charming? 

I stayed for the Sunday service and chatted with some kind people who shared the history of some nearby army bases and their connections with Indiana.  I had my first Lutheran church coffee, nearly a sacrament, and then walked out into the chilly rain.  I visited the Handknit Guild store in the capitol, purchased a hat and some Einband yarn, since my knitting needles and project were in my bag that didn't arrive.  Then, I went for quite a tramp through the city.   

I ended up at the National Museum.  What a lovely display of many objects both new and hundreds of years old.  They included a beautiful carved horn from the 1500s, a Bible in Icelandic from a similar time period, woven rugs and carved furniture, a bronze molded object that could be 1000 years old, and a beautiful display of Icelandic knit shawls. 

Icelandic knitting is traditionally in varying shades of natural wool, like these shawls.  Aren't they etherial and beautiful?