Come with us as we travel the world! See where you can go!

Posts tagged ‘travel’

Northern Lights Tour Day 06

Day 06, Feb 02, 2025, Rovaniemi to NL Village

Leaving Rovaniemi, Viktor drives the bus further north. At 11:00 AM, the sun is barely above the horizon. It won’t go very high in the sky today. The scenery driving along the roads today through the snow covered trees is beautiful. But it is cold, very cold! Brrrrrr!

We stop at an old church to please our cameras. They shiver with us but they function which is a bit surprising!

We arrive at a dogsled camp around 2 PM and gear up (again) in snowmobile suits. It has warmed up to only minus 25C! It’s a heat wave! We are given a briefing as to how to drive a dogsled (and how to ride in one!). Each couple is assigned to a dog team. First, Elee drives and I ride. Elee falls off immediately! Not a good start! But the Guides get her back up and she gets the hang of it quickly. I refrain from even chuckling as I know my time is coming and who knows how well I’ll do! Half way through, we switch and I drive back. This next set of photos was taken by Mikael, our Guide!

Driving a dogsled team is quite the exhilarating experience! There is no steering controls on a dogsled. The dogs want to run and they want to run where ever they wish! Luckily for us, they decide to follow the other sled teams, for the most part! There is a rubber pad between the rails that you can step on to slow the dogs down. There is also a hard brake bar that you can step on to finally stop them! The first time I lift a leg to put my foot on the brake pad, I fear I will suffer the same fate as Elee! But I manage to hold on and slow the team down. On uphill runs, it is sometimes necessary to push off with a foot to give the dogs to impetus they need to run.

Once the dogs return us to camp, my fingers and especially my thumbs, are numb to the bone! We all huddle inside the Guides hut around a fire where I manage to painfully warm them up! Then it is off to our lodge, Northern Lights Village. Tonight we eat Moose for dinner and sleep in a glass roof cabin.

The cabin is fun for the most part. It is very warm inside and it turns out that even the floors are heated! The bed is positioned directly under the glass roof. There is a digital fireplace at the foot of the bed for ambiance. We fall asleep looking up at a partly cloudy sky, some stars and tall pine trees! In the middle of the night the sky has cleared and I get some fun photos. It is very comfortable to sit on the heated floor with the camera on a tripod! But alas, the Northern Lights do not come out. A shooting star does show in one photo though!

Northern Lights Tour Day 05

Day 05, Feb 01, 2025, Rovaniemi, Finland

It is not an early day and we get to sleep in a little. Viktor drives us to Santa’s Village. This is, supposedly, the official home of Santa Claus! It is very commercialized. But it is fun walking around and seeing reindeer and other attractions. We first go into a gift shop and are told to walk a circular hallway and get into a queue. We follow instructions and Mikael is there lining us up for a photo with Santa! We then get in line for a private photo with the jolly old elf by ourselves! Then we venture back outside to see the rest of the village. It is here we find the Arctic Circle and officially cross it! When we get cold we just go inside any given restaurant (and there are many) and have some hot cocoa.

Back on the bus, our next stop is Kemi Jarvi (Kemi Lake) where we have hot drinks and walk around the town. There are churches here that glisten in the sunrise light. Any time the sun is out in February, it is either sunrise or sunset. The sun never gets very high off the horizon!

Then it’s time to get back on the bus. We go back to the hotel and have about an hour to relax. Then Mikael takes us down the hill to the river. We go into a store and suit up in one piece insulated suits. Once we’re all dressed, we have a short briefing and climb onto snowmobiles (2 per machine) for the next couple hours. Elee drives first but has never driven one before! But it’s not difficult and we find ourselves enjoying a snowmobile ride. It is a fun afternoon and it brings back memories.

I used to ride and race these machines back 50 or so years ago! This afternoon’s ride is a bit different though as we are instructed to stay in line and follow one another. No deviating from the path is allowed! We ride for most of an hour where we get off the machines and have hot berry juice and cookies. The juice is very good! Then we switch drivers and Elee rides behind me. I break the rules a little and steer out into fresh untracked snow. It is much more fun and I am not yelled at or corrected. These machines have governors built into the keys. Ours is the ‘Green’ key and has a maximum RPM of 5000, which is low for this type of motor. I eek out 41 KPH and have to settle for that. Back when I raced these machines, that would have been a very slow corner! LOL

The one advanced addition to snowmobiles that I wished I had back in the day is Heated Hand Grips! That kept my hands nice and toasty! We go back to the store and change out of the snowmobile suits into our other clothing. After the ride, we stop at the earlier agreed upon pub and everyone joins us for some drinks. I find some IPA. My stomach is feeling good after 2-3 days of BRAT diet and I take a chance. We have some fun chats among the group as we are feeling like we know each other much better!

It is uphill all the way to the hotel and it’s dinnertime. So we walk to Gustav’s for dinner and have some local fare. Back into the cold and back to the hotel. I sleep well.

Northern Lights Tour Day 04

Day 04, Jan 31, 2025, Kemi to Rovaniemi, Finland

We wake up on the train at 5 AM. Neither of us chooses to brave the shower cubicle that is barely large enough to stand a body in. The train stops at 5:58 AM precisely and we have only 3 minutes to leave the train. So we are in the narrow passageway in advance and we leave the train at 6 am. We board a bus, that will now be our bus for the next 10 or so days. The driver, who will stay with us for that time, Viktor, is a very pleasant man. As it turns out, he is a very competent driver!

We go to breakfast at the Snow Castle. The Snow Castle is fun. After breakfast, we go into the Ice Room, where many ice sculptures are on display. I climb an ice staircase to find an ice slide on the other side! So my inner child comes out to play! I manage to sit down on the ice and let go! Someone in our group has spotted me and films the ride!

We then board the bus and drive on. Two hours later, we arrive at a port on a river where we board an Ice Breaker before 9 am. The Ice Breaker leaves at sunrise at 9:15. Days in this part of the world are less than 6 hours. Sunset will be shortly before 3 PM. The interesting thing is that days get longer this time of year by about 15 minutes each day! But we are also heading further north and the days will also get shorter as we do!

The Ice Breaker leaves the dock and makes its way into a channel. The ice has already been broken and the ship plows through ice flows on its way up the river. The bridge of the ship looks like a log cabin! After a while, the ship turns against the ice and makes its own path through the ice. It is interesting to see and feel the ship crush the ice! Our fingers and noses feeling the chill, we go inside. We find our way to the galley of the ship and steaming cups of hot chocolate and tea warm us back up. There are 180 passengers on the ship, of which we are only 25 with our Guide.

The ship comes to a stop and backs up and forward a few times. We will find out why soon. The crew lays a gangplank out onto the ice and most of the passengers debark. It is fun to walk out onto the frozen river and take photos of the ship from the ice. Our Guide even takes a photo of me as I pull on a lead line, towing the ship!

I meet a crew member, Jussi, with a Pro Nikon camera with all the lenses. I check out his rig and compliment him on his gear. Walking towards the back of the ship, I get too close to swim area and get yelled at. So I make my way back to the people in the front of the ship. This is why the ship backed up several times, to create a swim area behind the ship.

Our group is called to swim and we head for the changing room. Strip down to single layer, we are told. Brrr. We are assisted in putting on the float suit. I feel like the kid in A Christmas Story in his winter clothes. Now it’s time to go in. Climb down the ladder backwards. Enter the water. Wow, it’s not bad. Sit back they say. Hmmm, this is fun! Float away from the ship. A very different feeling! I make it to the ice floes, bumping into other floaters on the way. I see cameras on the ship. Pose for the camera! Pick up a piece of ice. Heavy! I am told later that I was yelled at again for picking up the piece of ice! I’m such a bad boy!

It’s time to get back on the ship. Climb up the steps. Back inside and assisted with removing the suit. Brrr! Get dressed into clothes again. We are the next to last group to float. After donning our clothes again, we have a little time for another hot chocolate before the ship returns to port. Then it’s back on the bus.

Viktor drives the bus across the Border into Sweden and we stop at IKEA for lunch! There are some small flowers in full bloom covered in snow! The menu and all the signs are in Swedish so we have to order by sight! Then the drive to Rovaniemi is beautiful with all the snowy trees. We check into our Scandic Rovaniemi Hotel and haul our luggage to our room. We find dinner and turn in for the night.

Northern Lights Tour Day 03

Day 03 Jan 30, 2025, Helsinki, Finland

We get up and pack up. A leisurely breakfast consists of more bananas and toast. My stomach is better, but not good enough yet.

We check out of the hotel and join the tour bus at 10 AM. Fun sights and monuments entertain our cameras as we travel through the Finnish countryside.

We visit the “Rock Church”, dug into the rock. The acoustics are amazing! With a pipe organ and a choir section also. After that, we visit the Sibelius Monument, made from 600 stainless steel pipes, representing the music of Helsinki.

Today’s bus tour finishes at the Oodi Library. It is a very modern museum with book robots, 3D printing, free Meeting rooms and gaming rooms. They even make some windows look as if it is raining! I snack on more bananas and tea. We find a supermarket and get bananas, rice cakes and applesauce, etc.

We walk back to the hotel and nap and relax for 2 hours. Then we walk our luggage to the train station. We will ride a sleeper train tonight. It is probably our best sleeper train yet. We have a bathroom and shower in the room! Albeit an airline size bathroom, it has a panel that folds over the toilet to reveal a shower! We even get some sleep. Elee lets me have the lower bunk to placate my upset stomach. A photo of some of our fellow travelers shows how narrow the aisle in the train is!

We walk through several train cars and find the bar car. Yes, it seems that every train in the world with sleeper cars has a bar car! I smuggle a banana and a bottle of water in as I am keeping to my strict BRAT diet. Elee and others in our group order food and drinks from the bar. The conductor walks through and I hide my banana and water under the table. The conductor inquires about our tickets. Luckily, he accepts our story of being in a group and seems to recognize the validity of the group.

We continue to get to know the members of our group and all chat amicably together. The Aussies are a very friendly group! I take my leave and make it back to our car and sleeper unit for the night.

Northern Lights Tour Day 02

Day 02, Jan 29, 2025 Tallinn, Estonia

This morning it’s on the bus at 6:15 AM. Everyone is on time! We drive to the port where a Ferry is docked. We board the ferry that is larger than CMV Columbus or Ambassador Ambiance that took us around the world in 2020 and 2024!

The Ferry is a 2 hour ride to Tallinn in the dark. Breakfast on the ferry is really good. I blame my upset stomach on food poisoning from a burger I got in LAX. But I feel good now. So I enjoy a hearty breakfast. Once docked in Tallinn, we board a bus in the sunrise light around 9:30 AM.

The bus tour of Tallinn is interesting. There are some really interesting old Russian buildings. An interesting term is used several times. Russification. Russification is a policy of cultural assimilation that promotes Russian culture and language over other ethnicities.  It can be imposed by a state or adopted voluntarily. It seems in Estonia, it happens voluntarily. During the walking tour, it starts raining. We stop in a colonial restaurant and order soup to warm up. The rain stops at about 1:30 PM. We resume walking around the old city. We spot a small cafe and have glass of wine.

Here, as in many parts of the world, graffiti is no stranger. In the cities, it is just there. Like a plague. There are people in the world that do not know respect for people or property. It is sad.

We meet up with group at 3 PM and get back on the bus. The tour continues at an old park. We board the Ferry at 4:00 PM. It seems my stomach is doing flip flops again. Maybe I shouldn’t have had that big breakfast. The Ferry leaves at 4:30 and I’m feeling sick again. I find some airline type seats that recline and I try to relax and sleep. The Ferry ride lasts 2 hours.

We board a bus and travel back to the hotel. My dinner consists of bananas and crackers. I will put myself on the BRAT (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast) diet for a couple days. This is not a good start to vacation! I turn in early, vowing to beat this stomach bug, whatever it is.