Escaping Summer

With our time in Norway over too quickly (we were already planning our next trip there) we headed back across the border to Suomi (Finland), back past Kilpisjärvi which was so beautiful we had to stop to take more photos

Something really novel when the country you live in is a giant island, is the ability to drive to another country. It took us about two hours to drive from Kilpisjärvi to Tromsø, and we didn’t have to stop at a border. It was incredible how quickly the terrain changed after we crossed the border.

Kilpisjärvi is basically a road with some houses coming off it. But it’s nestled between Saana Fell on one side, and the lake Kilpisjärvi on the other so the views are amazing. The last time I was here it was covered in snow. This time around the terrain looked a lot more rugged and harsh, but still beautiful.

I’m proud to say I only nearly turned onto the wrong side of the road once. But sadly I’m still occasionally flicking the wipers on instead of the indicators. And walking to the wrong side of the car to drive. And reaching to the left to put the car in drive.

Since it was cold and snowy in Ylöjärvi we decided to head further north, to get more cold and snow. Our trip was a mostly relaxing train journey past Oulu and towards the Arctic Circle. Cassie got to see her first reindeer (poro) courtesy of our train plowing thru one. Reindeer appear to be analogous to kangaroos: cute but stupid.

Ensilumi literally means “first snow”. And for us, these photos were the first snow we experienced in Finland so far.

Today we visited the second oldest town in Finland, Porvoo. The old town (Vanha Porvoo) has the cutest vintage houses and shops.

Helsinki Day Two started off with a visit to the Natural History Museum, which shows that not all Taxidermists are serial killers, just the Norman Bates’.

We've never been so happy to only sleep to 7am, after barely staying awake to 8pm local time, it means our body clocks are somewhat adjusting to being 9 hours back in time.

After getting over the anxiety of “did I forget anything” we're able to sit and relax a bit.