NORTHERN FINLAND!, Reindeer Stew! June 2008

We headed from Kirkenes, Norway south to Northern Finland to meet and learn about the Sami.

The Sami are the indigenous people of the northern Scandinavian countries, including the Lapland Province in Northern Finland. For a long time the Sami were treated as second-class citizens, but in the 1980’s they gained autonomy and respect. One famous Sami is Renee Zellweger who is of Sami descent through her Norwegian mother.

Reindeer herding is a traditional Sami source of income, but only 10% of the Sami now earn their livelihoods this way with many having modern jobs in the cities. In additon to a wonderfully presented Sami museum, we went to a reindeer farm where we fed the reindeer and enjoyed a most delicious dinner of reindeer stew along with the original music and singing of our hostess. It was quite a treat.

We slept in Ivalo and flew the next day to Helsinki.

Flickr Tag Error: Bad call to display set '72157607239753726'

August 10th,2008 Uncategorized | 6 Comments

HELSINKI, FINLAND!!, June 2008

Ah, spring again! From the frozen tundra of the north to blooming, colorful southern Finland! And blue skies!

There is a lot of Russian influence in Helsinki, as the Russians took over from 1809-1917 and brought in an architect who designed buildings in the Russian style. In fact, Hollywood used Helsinki for Dr. Zhivago and Gorky Park.

We greatly enjoyed the outdoor markets on the waterfront, the Church in the Rock, the Lutheran Cathedral, all of Senate Square, Uspenski (Russian Orthodox) Cathedral, Suomenlinna Fortress, Siebelius Monument and Park, walking the Esplanade with the designer stores and Marimekko and Stockmann’s (Finland’s Harrod’s), just wandering, and, always, people watching.

June 3 was our last night with our wonderful group. We had an extra day and so we decided to cross the Gulf of Finland and go to Tallinn, Estonia for the day…

Flickr Tag Error: Bad call to display set '72157607256262577'

August 9th,2008 Uncategorized | 55 Comments