Lapland, bits and bobs

vf en bas

We were in Finland for exactly 5 days, so how is it that I have a month’s worth of blog posts I share on the subject? I am thinking maybe I need to learn to edit a bit, so here is a collection of oh-so-amazing moments I had to share, but since they don’t involve the excitement and literary thrill that accompanies the potential loss of life in a renegade dog sled, I’m tossing them into a melt pot of moments.

Back to the dog sledding – Mr French LOVED it. But really, really got a thrill James Bond-ing it through extreme conditions. He loved it so much that we all went back and did it again, this time under even more extreme conditions as the snow blew in horizontally, creating a feel of total adventure.

And more snow mobiles – This had been my favorite activity of the trip so I was very luck that after our night chasing the Aura Borealis we had an afternoon trip that had been booked by our travel agent before our arrival. Only 8 hours separated the night ride from our day trip, so we felt kind of silly heading back up to the ski station and even considered canceling. That would have been a mistake, a very big mistake, as this was the most beautiful excursion of our entire trip. The clouds had cleared, and although the sun never rises, there is light. The trees were coated in powder sugar snow, particles of it blowing through the air sparkling like diamond dust against a pink tinted sky. Despite the cumbersome snow suits and roaring engines, I felt like a princess in a fairy tale.

Our ride followed the same trail as the night before, but this time, instead of amazing us with the Aura Borealis, Sami stunned us by pointing out the sunset and the sunrise. The sky was pink in and rosy to the east and orange and burning to the west, we were seeing both at the same time and it was quite literally breath taking.

Because the snow mobiling takes off from the ski station, this is also the day we got to explore Saari the grocery store, exercise out souvenir shopping demons and discover a gastro-pub.

The igloos – We were at this particularly hotel in this particular part of the of world because they had igloos where guests could stay the night. Unfortunately 2012 has been a particularly warm winter in Lapland, keeping temperatures well about the -15 mark and they need -20, or lower to build the advertised igloos, ice chapel and ice bar. Alot of people had booked these lodgings and had had to be housed else where throughout their stay. As fate would have it, I had balked at the idea of spending the night in my ski gear and gorging myself on chocolate as the hotel recommends to keep warm (weird but, true, I willing deprived myself of the perfect excuse

Checking out

to stuff my face with chocolate) and instead I had reserved a night in the fog-free glass igloos, hoping to increase our chances of seeing the Aura Borealis. It was a snow night, but sleeping under the winter sky in a comfortably heated room was a magical experience that we all adored, even with the Northern Lights out.

We adored everything about this trip; from the stoïc Laplanders to the extreme beauty of this remote outpost at the end of the world.

On était en Laponie pour cinq jours, mais je pourrais en parler tout le mois ! Je pense qu’il est temps de retourner à Paris, alors voici les restes qui sont trop importantes de laisser en Finland pour la prochaine bloggeuse de vous en parler.

Aux traîneaux de chiens : M. French a adoooooré. Il avait la sensation d’être James Bond à la chasse de M. Snow, alors on était obligé d’y retourner, mais cette fois-ci la neige soufflait à l’horizontal et c’était un autre style d’aventure. Moins vite et plus dans les elements. On a adoré quand même, mais franchement, je préfère le motoneige…

Motoneiges II : Comme j’ai adoré cette activité, j’étais contente que notre agent de voyage nous avait réservé un après midi en motoneige avant notre arrivée. Il n’y avait qu’un écart de 8 heures entre notre aventure Aurore Boréale et notre visite en “jour” alors on se sentait un peu ridicule et on avait joué avec l’idée d’annuler. Ç’aura été une grosse bêtise. C’était la plus belle journée de notre séjour. Les nuages étaient partis et si le soleil ne se lève jamais, il a quand même de la lumière. Les arbres étaient couverts de sucre poudré, des particules de neige flottaient dans l’air une vraie fantasie ; les paillettes dans l’air sur un fond de ciel rose. Malgré mon combi de ski à la bibendum, j’avais la sensation d’être une princesse dans un conte de fées.

Notre balade suivaient le même chemin que la veille, mais sur la colline, les Aurore Boréales étant un effet de nuit, ils n’étaient pas en éventualité, mais chose complètement inattendu, on témoignait le lever et le coucher du soleil simultané. Vers l’est, un ciel rosé et à l’ouest un ciel barbe à papa rose. Une vision époustouflante.

Les igloos – J’ai choisi notre hôtel parce qu’ils ont des igloos pour ceux qui voulaient une expérience originale. Malheureusement il a fait trop beau en 2012 et avec des températures au-dessus de -15 et plusieurs jours de -20 pour construire les igloos, chapelle de glace et bar de glace. Il y avait beaucoup de gens qui avaient réservé ces igloos et ils devaient être logé dans d’autre hôtels de la région. Heureusement pour nous, j’avais trop peur du froid et j’avais réservé une nuit dans les igloos chauffé avec des vitres antibrouillard dans l’espoir de voir des Aurore Boréale. Il neigeait, mais dormir sur la belle étoile en hiver dans une pièce bien au chaud est un moment magique qu’on a adoré.

En fait, on a tout adoré, de la disposition particulière des finlandais à la beauté extrème de cette endroit féerique au but du monde.

HOTEL / Kakslauttanen / Saariselka, FInland / +3358166671000 / http://www.kakslauttanen.fi/fr/

Thrilled to see the sun, at last. Enfin, le soleil !!!!

Lapland

Last September I mentioned that I would love to see the Aura Borealis and Mlle French mentioned that going to Lapland was a lifelong dream and one thing led to another and before you knew it I was booking a 5 day trip to Lapland for the winter break. Which is how I ended up spending this holiday season in a crazy country where the SUN NEVER RISES for nearly 8 weeks.

When we’d announce our plans to friends or family, they’d ask us if we weren’t afraid of freezing to death in the extreme -25 temperatures that are common this time of year. We shrugged our shoulders stoically. The Frenches are big skiers, I lived in Montréal; the cold did not frighten us. No one mentioned the total LACK OF SUNLIGHT.

After a 2 hour flight from Copenhagen our plane taxied on to the Ivalo runway at 17h10. It could have been midnight, it was so dark out. I joked that we’d probably have to walk the tarmac to the terminal, like we often do in Africa.

“Oh, come on, this is a modern country. We’re in Europe. Don’t be ridicu….”

Mr French was interrupted by the captain’s voice telling the crew to prepare for a stand parking. I was right. We’d be getting off the plane and ice skating our way precariously to baggage claim. The adventure had begun.

A silent man with a sign reading KAKSLAUTTANEN waited for us at the luggage carrousel. There was absolutely no greeting; he didn’t smile, but he didn’t look grumpy, either. He just was. I thought the K… was the name of our hotel, yet with all the extra letters, I was easily confused with Finnish. We soon discovered that seeming disinterest and a minimum of words was something of a local trait, I suspect that living 250km from the Arctic Circle could do that to someone.

30 minutes later our bus pulled into the hotel parking lot, and a receptionist hopped aboard. She called off a few names and told the people to get off. They were handed their luggage and a wooden sled to transport said luggage along a snowy path. We continued another 500 meters down a quiet road.

The receptionist called our names, handed us a map and told us to be back up at the dining hall sometime around 20h. We got off the bus and the Silent Finn handed us our bags, grunting 18 and pointing to the right of the road. Grunting and pointing. It took 5 grunts before we realized he was pointing toward an unlit cabin and that was most likely our destination.

The cabin was perfect; homey and cosy and smelling of wood burning fire. 90 minutes later we followed the simply illustrated map, crossed a frozen lake and set to exploring the glass igloos we’d be enjoying later in our stay, before making our way to the lodge and a Finnish feast. This was not going to be your average holiday!!!

 

Pendant un weekend à Deauville en septembre j’ai commencé à parler de l’Aurora Boreal et Mlle French s’était éxcitée en expliquant q’une semaine en Laponie sera LE rêêêVeeee, totle, mais vriement trop bien. Dix heures plus tard j’avais réservé un voyage de cinq jours pour la famille : le grand nord nous attendait entre Noël et le jour de l’an. Ce qui explique comment je me suis retrouvée dans un pays étonnant ou le SOLEIL NE SE LEVE JAMAIS pour une période de 8 semaines.

Avant notre départ tout le monde nous demandait si on n’avait pas peur d’un froid qui dépasse le -25° pour la majorité de l’hiver. Ça ne nous gênait pas. La famille French adore les Alpes et j’ai passé 5 hivers à Montréal. Mais personne ne nous a parlé du MANQUE DE SOLEIL TOTAL !!!

Notre avion a atterri à Ivalo vers 17h10, dehors, on dirait que c’était déjà minuit. J’ai fait une blague qu’ils allaient nous faire descendre à pied, comme on fait souvent en Afrique.

<<Il ne faut pas déconner, on est en Europe, le Findland, c’est quand même un pays moderne, serieus….>>

La voix de M French était coupée par le commandant qui demandait son équipe à préparer les portes pour un “standing” débarquement. Alors, j’avais raison et on allait patiner de l’avion jusqu’au carrousel pour récupérer nos valises. Et l’aventure commence.

Un homme silencieux attendait avec un panneaux KAKSLAUTTANEN. Il ne nous a pas accuelli. Pas un mot. Il n’avait ni un sourire d’un américain qui attendait des hôtes, ni l’énervement d’un parisien déjà en retard pour le prochain troupeaux. Il restait là silencieux et solide. Je pensais que K… était notre hôtel, mais il y a pas mal de lettres supplémentaires dans le Finlandais et je n’étais pas tout à fait sure. On l’a suivi quand même, sans échanger un mot. Après 5 jours dans ce pays on a cultivé l’impression que cette manière d’économiser ses mots et ses gestes est l’effet cercle arctique.

30 minutes plus tard le bus arrive au parking de l’hôtel. La réceptionniste nous joint et appel des noms en demandant ces personnes à descendre. On leur donne leurs valises et un traineau pour prendre un chemin enneigé. 500 mètres plus loin c’est à nous de descendre. Elle nous a entendu parler, donc elle nous parle en français. Je réponde en anglais, parce que c’est la langue que j’utilise quand je suis à l’étranger, question de facilité la vie de tout le monde. Elle réplique en français, énervée contre moi. <<Non, mais vous êtes française, on va faire ça en français ce sera plus facile.>>  Je lui explique que je suis californienne malgré la langue de ma famille, puis je lui demande d’où elle vient. Elle est lyonnaise, d’où sa préférence pour le français.

On descend du bus et Le Silencieux nous donne nos valises en grognant <<18>> et faisant signe vers la gauche. Grogne, signe, grogne, signe. Après plusieurs moments on distingue une cabine dans la pénombre et on soupçonne que c’est probablement notre logement.

La cabine était parfaite ; chaleureuse et parfumé du feu de bois comme les bougies Diptyque. 90 minutes plus tard on sort de la cabine, notre plan du resort dans les mains. On traverse un lac, on visite des igloos et on se retrouve dans le lodge devant un festin finlandais. Que l’aventure commence !

My kind of town

Chi-town, the home of the Bears and for now, my (not so) little E. I was last in Chicago on a high school trip some time between puberty and adulthood, so all I remember of the city is how the Sears Tower sways in the wind. This is a normal occurrence and it is really not necessary to go dashing under the nearest table top performing one’s most humiliating ‘duck and cover’ shouting “earthquake”!!!

I also remember Maury Alchek’s really cute butt and a ton of fantastic monumental contemporary art sculptures throughout the city. I remembered a gi-normous Calder structure and a beautifully soft Chagall mural.

This visit, I was in town to explore the University of Chicago and E’s new life. As a Californian, from the new region of a very new country, I was really surprised by all the old, European style architecture. There is a reading room that looks like the dining hall at Hogwart’s and a chapel that is a gothic monument that would do any French city proud. The quad is intimate, surrounded by 19th century brick buildings and during our visit, golden-tinged autumn leaves from the ginko trees littered the manicured lawns. The girls rolled their eyes when I squealed in delight over the sighting of a squirrel, warning me that I’d been in France for much too long. I kept my enthusiasm at the sighting of an American yellow school bus to myself.

I hadn’t taken E to college when she first moved, so this trip was mostly about Target runs and furniture building. We met new friends, tested the cafeteria and spent hours in bookshops. Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture and the campus museums will have to wait for the next visit. But we did make time for what may be the most beautiful library on earth. The Mansueto library sits on a corner, looking like a dew drop from the land of giants. You enter through the main library into a reading room with no walls, no ceiling. Just tables, with perfectly designed chairs and the sky above you. It is inspiration.

While visiting we stayed downtown, where we did have the opportunity to see a bit of the city. We drove by the Calder and Chagall art that are is impressive as I remember, but they have lost their power to astonish ever since the city built ‘The Bean’ which is the  knickname of Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate sculpture in Millennium Park. The bean gets its name from its kidney-like shape. 13 metres high, and 20 metres long, this mirrored structure enthralls and disorients, forcing the viewer to redefine her own reality. It gets even better as you walk under the sculpture and view yourself through the naval. It is Kapoor at his best and art how I love it the most; approachable, playful and an experience that enriches you.

Almost as wonderful as watching your daughter sprout wings and come into her own.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...