Just look for the Lake….
Ok- which part of white shall I look for??
Oh, I can hear you laughing at my opening comments…but it was so true.
The beautiful white scenery of snow covered Northern Finland meant that it was really one colour- white! Of course, there were the trees. Yes, there are the constant trees. There’s Pine trees and Poplars and when you get tired of those, there are Poplars and Pine trees…. but they were now constantly covered in white as well, their snowflakes glistening on the once green branches covered now with white icing! Back home….in winter our lakes are blue! Lakes are not white! So, when Marc says to me when trying to follow map instructions …. “You just have to look for the lake”.
I simply laughed.
Where?
And into the woods we went. Just for something different!
Visions of Red Riding Hood crept to mind, with her red cape and hood flowing around her…. (in these woods, it must have been fur lined believe me). Granny baking her pies…. waiting for her granddaughter…. (Sofia where are you..).. not knowing what was around the corner. Walking through this silent wooden landscape, following Marc through the long tall trees on an unknown deep snow track, I contemplated -where was the wolf skulking around the corner watching his meal come closer?
Yes, into the woods we went.
Looking for a German Graveyard that was supposed to be here in the forest about 18kms north of where we were staying. The significance of the graveyard was a memorial to the Germans who had lost their lives fighting on the Finnish eastern front against Russia in world war 2. A bit like the war memorials in France for the allies. Another reminder that both sides of war lose….so we wanted to see it too.
Walking through the woods on this track- where you really did not know where you were going (…. says me who was not feeling very confident as the 500 metres track seemed to stretch to a lot more,) the weather getting increasingly icier- (remember we are now in the Arctic circle….and the same temperature of before felt so much colder). The snow is now lightly falling – probably from the trees who were spreading their branches towards what we thought was the sun – (have quite forgotten what the yellow ball of sun looks like!) We are in the middle of nowhere…not any other human being around….and we walked into the woods.
And, there is silence. Unadorned tranquil silence.
Ahead was a camp, complete with a volley ball court……a snow-covered volleyball court that is. This seemed out of place with what we were looking for. An open aired pine shelter stood in front of us, however, someone had used it recently as there was a a cup half filled with frozen red wine, the remnants of a campfire….so human existence was still around somewhere! And yes, you guessed right, obviously, I thought we had taken a wrong turn!
Walking further around this so called deserted snow laden campsite, we were surprised to see a large rectangular building! Of course- there it was. The memorial had been there all the time, (you just had to turn to face a different part of white).
Now remember those horror movies on television where you push the door and it seems to open by itself. That dark door in a dimly lit catacomb, and it slowly creaks open, beckoning you to enter its shadowy existence. Well I came to this solid door and saw the bolt and thought, oh its locked. To my horror, the door fell open in front of me all on its own. What a shock! Marc said the look on my face was priceless as fear and astonishment was expressed on my face. Pushing open the door slightly, I felt like I was in those horror movies! what was i going to find as i inched my way in cautiously through the huge iron door.
But here it was. Sadly ,no lights and once your eyes became accustomed to the dark…..you could see rows of concrete slabs with the approximately 2,500 names and ranks of those Germans who had died etched into the memorial concrete in this silent world of white. Sad. Outside was a tall iron cross silhouette against the silent white scenery- another poignant reminder of war.
And out of the woods with its quiet blanket of snow we went.
A contrast to this poignant silent world was the commercialism Santa Claus world 8 kms from town. Beautifully presented of sparkling lights, red buildings contrasted against the backdrop of snow and you could imagine that Santa lived here. (of course, he does…he just was not there at that particular point of time he was busy!) But as we had been warned, full of gift shops and souvenirs.
We obtained the required photos of Santa and his post office (where they were working for real posting the letters placed there-, Margaret your new posting??) Seeing Santa’s mail box where we discovered that the most number of letters posted to Santa came from China; walked around the Giant snowman, Santa’s house and his reindeer’s and other Santa village regalia. Our grandchildren will really love these photos
And we crossed the Arctic circle.
For me that was most exciting. You know, like the photo I had taken as a child of one foot in NSW and the other in Victoria – well I did the same here. I was actually standing inside the arctic circle in Finland….66°32’35”latitude north on this earth. so far north!. Dumb I know, but it was a great feeling as I know I will never be this far north again!
And I got the photo to prove it…. been there!
In this winter wonderland, we have found so many unusual things. Like numerous camping grounds, icy snow covered roads that stretch for miles and miles travelling through a continuous loop of white road bordered by snow coloured trees followed by the same , lakes that have completely frozen, and huge ocean areas entirely frozen enough to walk and glide on .
Today we discovered a frozen water hole – where they keep the water agitated to stop it from freezing. This one was not far from our hotel. It even had a sign that says “Winter swimming”, complete with instructions in English! Who in their right mind would venture into this swirling water of death!
Not me!
Oh and by the way- we found the Lake!
Yep- you guessed it.
It was white!