Monday, June 19, 2023. We were one day late getting to Finland and missed our first night there. We had booked the first night in Tampere which was an easy 2 hour drive from the Helsinki airport. Since we didn't get there for night one I had to drive all the way to our second booked night.
After getting the rental car the girls and I started on a road trip to the coastal town of Kalajoki. It was a 7 hour drive that actually took us 9 hours. How I managed to drive that far, I don't know. I didn't sleep at all on the flight to Finland and very little the night before in Dallas. Caffeine, good Finnish chocolate and the excitement of being in Finland?
What an amazing drive through the Finnish countryside. The scenery was absolutely stunning. Red or yellow houses against a green field and blue sky. Lots of farm land and many many lakes.
We made it to Kalajoki around 9 pm to the seaside house we had rented. It was giant for the 3 of us. The girls got immediately into their swimsuits to go down to the sea. It was not warm enough to swim, at least for them, but we had a nice quiet walk by the sea.
After a bedtime snack with their new Moomins
we all went to sleep. Normally it would would have been difficult to do with the midnight sun but we were all so exhausted that we fell asleep fast. I calculated that we traveled for 50 hours from drop off in Denver to getting to Kalajoki.
Sunset that night was at 12:05 am and sunrise around 2 am. I took this picture at 12:03 am.
Tuesday, June 20, 2023 -We started on our next journey from Kalajoki to Rovaniemi which was supposed to be a 4 hour drive but was not really because we like to stop a lot for things like:
- the lunch buffet at the ABC gas station. Every single gas station has a buffet and it is GOOD and cheap.
-pulla
-random churches
Saloisten Kirkko
Keminmaa "Old Church"- also known as St. Michael's Church, the oldest medieval church in Finland built in 1520
Keminmaa "New Church" - built in 1827
-And for dinner I introduced them to ice-cream-on-the-road-as-a-substitute-for-a-real-meal. My first Magnum of the trip. It's so much better in Europe then America...I swear it is different ice cream and chocolate.
Finally, we made it to Rovaniemi
picked up groceries, and found our Airbnb apartment.
It took me 3 tries and 2 text messages to our hosts to find the parking space that came with the rental. There are not many street signs in Rovaniemi and no cell coverage when not on wifi so I would have to come back to the apartment to text, then go back out and try to find the parking garage. It was quite a process, but I finally figured it out. It turned out to be across the street in an underground parking area.
Snack and bed at 1 am...which became our normal. It is too hard to sleep when the sun is up. My girls had endless energy every night. This is a picture on our apartment patio at 12:09 am.
Wednesday, June 21, 2023 - Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. Juhannus in Finland. Where we were, in the arctic circle, the sun had not set in over a week and wouldn't set for at least another month. We choose to visit Santa Clause Village that day...
and had a quick visit with Joulupukki (Santa).
We went to the post office to send post cards to a few people (and to ourselves) because it has a special stamp on it.
We crossed the Arctic Circle
We did some shopping at the Moomin Store
and had a picnic lunch.
This is how I make my sandwich in Finland.
We even got to feed real reindeer.
We found beautiful Lapland strawberries - best strawberries I think I have ever had.
and made a Juhannus dinner at our apartment.
We walked to the Angry Birds park
and the Rovaniemi church
then had a Juhannus sauna (we had a little one in our apartment), snack time and bed after a quick picture at midnight.
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| midnight/summer solstice |
Thursday, June 22, 2023 - Back on the road. This time just a few hour drive to Oulu where we visited with my Uncle Veijo and cousin Marko. Veijo will be 90 this August and I have not seen him in at least 25 years. When I came to Finland with my mother, his house was always one of my favorites. It was nice to see him and my cousin again.
We stayed in downtown Oulu at the Scancic. Our first of 9 nights in Scandic hotels on our trip.
We walked around Oulu, had dinner and ice cream.
Then went down to a park on the water where lots of people were celebrating Juhannus. We stayed at the park until about midnight.
Friday, June 23, 2023. We stopped by the market (tori) in Oulu but there were not many vendors that day so we quickly moved on.
On the road again....this time to the center of Finland for a 3 night stay at a Finnish mokki (summer house) on the lake. A beautiful drive again, this time with so many lakes and I love all the wildflowers.
The house we rented was exactly how I wanted my family to experience a Finnish summer cottage. It was on the edge of a beautiful lake down a small lane
with a Finnish double swing.
The quietness there was like a breath of fresh air. So peaceful.
I made us a simple dinner that night and introduced my girls to the BEST ice cream in the world. It comes in a box. You slice it like cake and the texture is like frozen whipped cream.
As I settled us all into bed the first night, I realized that the reason I felt so at home in that little house was because that it felt like my Mother's house. Very Finnish with all the rugs, the wall hanging, the drying cupboard for dishes (as Ani calls it). It felt like HOME to me.
Saturday, June 24, 2023. I declared this day to be a "do nothing" day. So, we stayed at the lake house all day. We went out on the paddle boards, had a picnic lunch and relaxed. I think I took at least one hundred pictures of the lake itself. It looked different every hour.
We drove to Suonenjoki for pizza and another box of "penguin" ice cream. Chocolate this time, which was just as delicious,
then back on the water until the sauna was ready.
The sauna here is my favorite kind...wood fired on a lake. The heat is different in a wood sauna. Somehow it feels hotter.
Or maybe it is the lake view and quietness that make it special? or jumping into a really cold lake after? It is my favorite way to sauna.
The girls joined me for a little while but were more interested in the hot tub, which also had a nice view. I was very very sad that James was missing this part.
Before bed, more pictures of the lake.
Sunday, June 25, 2023. I wanted the girls to experience church in Finland so we drove to the ward in Kuopio (about 45 minutes) to go to Sacrament meeting.
Then we drove to Leppavirta to go to the Moomin Ice Cave.
When we got back, the lake was like glass so we hurried out to paddle board.
The girls were caught in a rain storm, which they loved.
Then we had dinner and relaxed for a little bit until the sauna was ready.
After the sauna, snack and Uno before bed.
Monday, June 26, 2023. We loved out little mokki so much, we were a little sad to leave and to have to drive again. But, this was our last drive to Turku which was a 6 hour drive.
We stopped at Prisma one last time. This became my kids favorite store. It is kind of like Super Target and has everything. We went at least 6 times in the week we had a car.
We checked into the hotel in Turku, Scandic Julia, then returned the car. We had the car for a full week and in that time I drove around 1300 miles, all by myself.
After we returned the car we walked to the Turku Castle. It is the one of the oldest medieval castles still in use. It was built in the 1300s. The kids were completely fascinated by it.
Because we no longer had a car, I did a crash course on-the-fly learning of the bus system. Like, get on the bus in front of the castle and hope it goes where you need it to. Thanks to Apple maps, I was able to figure out where to go. We took the bus to Naantali to have dinner with my cousin Auni and her husband Abbas. It was so lovely to be in their home and to finally meet Auni in person. They fed us the most delicious meal of salmon and rice that my kids still say was the best meal we had in Finland.
Tuesday, June 27, 2023. THE DAY my kids had been waiting for. When I asked what they wanted to do in Finland, Moominworld was the only thing they requested. For those that are not Finnish, Moomin is a character in a Finnish children's book. They look somewhat like a hippo and they go on all kinds of adventures. My kids have had Moomin things their whole lives.
We had breakfast and checked out of the hotel, Scandic Julia, which my girls especially enjoyed because they had an ice machine. One of only a few times we had ice the whole trip. Funny story: as we were in the hall there Anikka said “why do all the people staying in these hotels speak Finnish” . I told her it was because we were practically the only Americans staying in a Scandinavia hotel. I preferred it that way.
We took the bus to Naantali. We looked around the old town and the harbor
then straight to Moonimworld as soon as it opened. Everything there looks exactly like in the books.
The girls went to the salon for makeup and ears
We took pictures with characters
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| Moomintroll |
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| Snorkmaiden |
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| Moominmama |
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| Little My |
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| Stinky |
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| Moomin |
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| Moominpapa |
We shopped at the Moomin shop
and watched a few shows (all in Finnish). We had a fantastic day.
We walked back to the bus after stopping by the Naantali kirkko.
We had a few hours before boarding our boat to Sweden so we walked around Turku and had "ice-cream-o-clock" as Elin started calling 3 pm.
We also stopped in to look at the Turku Cathedral
and sat for a while in a park by the river before collecting our bags from the hotel and taking a taxi to the ferry terminal for our overnight cruise to Stockholm.
Finland, part 1, was so much fun. We were able to do so many fun things because we had a car. Here is a map of where we went in a week.
I loved seeing my family and showing my girls the Finnish countryside. Finland is such a special place for me. And...one week of a girls only trip....we accomplished a lot, the 3 of us. Finland is such a safe place that I let the girls do things on their own without me. They learned a lot of new things and were extremely helpful to me in navigating, packing and moving from place to place....with no complaints.
And I have to comment on the regular tap water in Finland. It is so delicious and in Rovaniemi it was really cold straight from the sink. Anikka declared it the best water she has ever had….
At this point in our trip, James was only 2 weeks post surgery and we were still unsure if he would be able to join us. But, he was working hard everyday on his exercises and walking, hoping that it would work out for him to join us in Norway.
Maija
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