Saturday 11 March 2006

This week, I'll mostly be eating Reindeer...

Well, that's a lie actually, as that was last week.
Last week I was in Finland and experiencing lots of things for the first time.
Oh boy, sub minus 10 temperatures hit you fast, so zip up your coat before going outside! It was minus 30 most mornings and got no warmer than minus 10! You could of cut glass with my nipples at times. It’s quite novel to watch the weeks’ weather forecast where all the high temperatures are negatives!
The Finns are less polite and more direct; [thanks for the warning Stu], as I may have got shirty at times, as they really can be abrupt. Very entertaining once you’ve got the hang of it though.
Did plenty of skiing (blue runs only) my friend and I aren’t too hot on the slopes and on several occasions, gave way to pigtailed 5 year olds with pink hats flying down the slopes at break neck speeds unaccompanied… LOL.
My favourite part was Husky sledding across a frozen lake. Excellent fun and it’s amazing how four dogs can pull two herberts on a sled so fast.
Also went Reindeer sledding on the same lake which was superb, but rather random, shall we say, regarding them stopping to eat snow and then sprinting as fast as they can to keep up with one another. Very good they know where to go though, completely unaided!
Went snow mobiling too, and they are noisy and fast with a stunning amount of grip. Excellent fun too!
Walked up the Levi Fell a few times too and managed to spot the Aurora Borealis one night, which was stunning and a life ambition to go and see it. It appeared as a dim arc of light at first, stretching from one side of the horizon to the other, just like low cloud and then it burst into life for five stunning minutes and went again. It then reappeared, after almost giving up, for another five minute spectacular show of enigmatic dancing green lights. Caught a few minutes of it with my digi camcorder on supernight mode, but the colour and frame rates aren’t the best in that mode.
The food was good, but odd at times whereby raw pickled Herring was out at breakfast time and being tucked into as much as the cornflakes and eggs. (Not together of course)

I’ve mostly been living off Reindeer all week, which is available in so many forms: (Vegetarians look away now)
I indulged in sauteed Reindeer, Reindeer pizza, Reindeer steak, Reindeer meatballs, Reindeer pate and Reindeer soup. (You can look again now)
I smuggled several cans of Reindeer meat back too, although it made my case slightly overweight and my friend thought this was rather funny as some of the tins where his, but he didn't want to risk the Finnish customs dept at Kittila Airport! :-)
I also indulged in a massage, executed by a lovely young Finnish woman!
I fell in love with a Husky too at the Reindeer farm, but I don’t think I would have got it through Finnish customs somehow. The Husky was also in trouble for stealing sweetbread off the table and it knew it! Hehehe…
A thoroughly enjoyable experience, with many life ambitions achieved in one trip and I wouldn’t think twice about going back. It didn’t have the atmosphere and mountain views of say the French, Swiss or Italian Alps, but it did have something unique, special and addictive about it all. I could move out there quite easily.
Ahh, Kidderminster really has no appeal after going somewhere like Levi, but it gave me chance to ponder about a thing or two and starting a Blog was one of them; so here it is folks!

3 comments:

Phil said...

Rather than the Husky. Hum, yeah, but the Husky would be far nicer in the long run... Honest!

Anonymous said...

Hey what a great site keep up the work its excellent.
»

Anonymous said...

Great site loved it alot, will come back and visit again.
»