Rovaniemi Scandic

... pijaczkow niz w Polsce. Spacer nasz wiec nie trwal dlugo - zachaczylismy o wszsystkie mozliwe sklepy z pamiatkami i sklep-muzeum z nozami (nikt jednak finki nie kupil).
a potem podekscytowani udalismy sie do maista Swietego Mikolaja. Miasteczko to jedno wielkie centrum handlowe ...

After breakfast we headed off from our last night in Norway, with our destination being Rovaniemi in Finland.

We saw a lot more Reindeer today, and Stu the vet made a good attempt to catch one but had no luck.

We drove past more coastal scenery today, then crossed the border into Finland. As this was the first time I had driven from one country to another, I was surprised that we simply drove across a small ...

... euro;) from Kazan to Irkutsk (second class, kupe, about 4300km). Some of you are probably unaware of the conditions in different classes of Russian trains, but basically in one platskarta carriage there are 52 beds as in kupe there are 36. In platskarta the privacy is also restricted due to the lack of doors within the carriage. Found a couple of years old picture of platskarta. Should start packing soon, so this is probably enough so far, next update probably from Kazan.

... tourists that you can do when you are there. Perhaps next time we will go even further north and get away from Santa and his sting of gift shops. We also did see 'Santa's technology Center' on the bus ride back to town. Who knows what kind of crazy santa related technology they are working on there. Anyways, It is back to boarding another train for another town. Stupid Santa's Grotto, I want a lump of coal for Christmas...

... that the path here was slushy but not icy - with a burst of pent up energy, i ran across. it felt so good, just simple happiness. on the other side of the river, the town was still and at peace. i passed the beach that had been alight with crowds and fire sculpting just a week before, but now just trees breathed in the night air with me. rounding the bend, the old railway bridge came into view, a bridge that looks so ...

mmm just got back from haruno's, our favourite pizza place in rovaniemi. it is really expensive to eat out here (except for the super cheap cafeteria lunches at school), and not many options anyway (two Chinese restaurants but no sushi or Indian). but at about $7 Canadian for a big thin crust pizza with 4 toppings (blue cheese and capers are surpisingly yummy) pizza is a nice treat. of course, if you are hungry late ...

... first step forward, I picked it up off the shelf, curled up on my single bed that is also my couch, and started to read. Procrastinating? Maybe... maybe not. A few times in this blog I have alluded to the calm state that I find myself in here. I think I can start to explain better what I mean. It is not just the reality of living in a smaller city, where forested hills are visible on the horizon at the end of every street. It is not the fact that I have time to do dishes ...

August 7 Leaving from Kuusamo driving with Laura and her father to Rovaniemi where I will start my HH journey to the north. I woke up pretty well in the morning in Kuusamo and prepared do some more stuff on the net and then with Laura I went to the Lidl to get some more grocery for the journey either for camping and for expensive Norway where I will try to spend as least possible. Laura's father had also ...

... is it the other way around... but overall, i can feel that i am building a very tangible and solid foundation of happiness within myself, that is not based on future plans or other people, that is something lasting that will continue to hold me and flow with me no matter what else may come go or change around or within me. being here is helping that process, and i am so thankful for that. so i will come home for the summer and return ...

... i have discov**ed that th**e IS a good music scene (thank god, i won't be able to handle the lame student night club for too much long** oth**wise!) and i am going to a show tonight with some house, breakbeats and techno. i have made some really cool friends already, had 3 of them ov** for dinn** last night - made a "canadian" dish... a cass**ole! next week we are going to learn some traditional finnish cooking at sanna's place. well, i'm off to begin my friday night!