| DIARIES |
| December 2000 Part II My first destination was Tampere where I visited a friend before heading on to my final destination in the middle of nowhere. Tampere is the second biggest town in Finland and if you know it has only 200.000 people, it tells you how thinly populated this country is. There are no big historical buildings but mainly pre-war architecture with a few old houses outside the city. Close to Christmas everyone goes to the cemetery and burns candles on the graves of the deceased friends or family. So on Christmas evening the big cemetery on the outskirts of town is like one big sea of burning candles in the snow which makes that time of the year seem to be 'awful' beautiful. I spent my evening looking at Finnish television, which I hardly understand and a box of real Finnish chocolate. (Frazer indeed) Those who claim this country is expensive are not correctly informed. I took a bus to the countryside for only 47 FIM (Euro 8.33) to a small village called Lulalahti. Since my Finnish is not that updated and the English available at the bus station not that good, the lady I asked scared the hell out of me telling me that my bus had just left. There are cities like Lulalahti and Lahti, the only difference being 500 km. My bus went through small villages, woods, one kilometer of highway and then woods again. I was left on my own when the last passenger left the bus at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere. The only thing I could see was a small light of a small house in the woods. It could have been a part of a Stephen King book. My bus struggled forward over snowd over land roads and dark countryside. Finally we reached a bus stop at an old petrol station where my host was waiting completely bundled up(-10), and I had reached my Christmas destination. Picture yourself in a village with more cows then people; a farm on a piece of land, which would make you millionaire in the eyes of Dutch people. Christmas in Finland is mainly a lot of eating and taking saunas late in the evening. Saw some nice things besides snow, Disney Film "Dumbo" in Finnish for one thing.. My host cooked real Finnish food, so I was glad that BSE had not reached Finland at that time. After my three day break in the country I headed for Helsinki. Stayed at the local Euro Hostel, which is in the port district of Helsinki. The temperature was at that time -5 and on my second day in Helsinki we had areal snowstorm which turned the city into total chaos within 1 hour. For clearing up snow they use bulldozers and you could practically glide home. Nightlife in Helsinki is far more fun then you might think. Most bars have their own disco/ dance floor which allows them to be open daily until 4.00 in the morning. When your (future) parents-in-law also have childern who are the same sex as you are (10 sec to think) or you like quiet mixed public then "Hercules" is the place to be. Finland always surprises me as they did this time with public bars and discos with 90 % no smoking areas. I first thought it was to allow the bar people clean air but even in chill-out corners and dance floors smoking was not allowed. But they know how to drink in this country. Three and a half liter beer in one evening and they are still sort of sober. You could carry me away but no my 'admirer' was still at it since the alcohol has definitely affected his thinking level. I liked his friend and he was still sober so we have a very enchanting evening. After four days of nightlife and waking up late in the morning, I leave the capital and travel to the east to a small city in the middle of a fairytale snow world, Mikkeli. (like you pronounce it) It will be my peaceful stop in the middle of snow and woods where I celebrate new years eve together with friends. We spend one afternoon in a "kotka" which is best translated as a small wooden house with a big fire in the middle which you sit around. The "kotka" was at a summer house where your neighbours are miles away and we walked through woods and then tried to walk over the lake which was frozen until the ice started to creak and we hurried back to the side. Real excitement when we saw tracks of a moose and my guide claims the other track might be a wolf which might mean that the moose is now only a memory ... Our first minute of 2001 we spend standing outside our cottage and listening to silent puffs at the horizon. The firework was too far away and could not be seen by us, we stood outside with our glasses of champagne in the silence of mother nature. I left Finland the next day. A travel of one day from the east to the west side, only 500 km back, to Turku. Finland doesn't have real highways, so most roads are narrow roads where the max speed is just about 80 km/hr. We spend much more time in the car then we had expected and we had a marvelous time trying to pass a car of gypsies whose car went slower every time they went up a hill and we were not allowed to pass. When we finally passed we saw two women sitting behind the wheel with their noses stuck to the window and their max. speed was not more than 40 km/hr. Finland is a very nice country despite what some Finnish people might think but then most people think that their own country is boring. Like they say in Finland, moi moi.. |
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| PART IV |
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