ARRIVED IN LAPLAND, SIRKKA, FINLAND

THEIR NATIVE BUSH, PINES.

HELENA'S ROAD, A DIRT ROAD.

HELENA'S DRIVEWAY

HER NEIGHBOUR'S HOUSE.

HELENA BOUGHT ME A MOSQUITO PROTECTION HAT/NET

SIMILAR TO A BEEKEEPERS HAT.

HELENA WATERING HER PLANTS

ON THE DECK

VIEW FROM THE PADDOCK BEHIND HER HOUSE

THE BIG RIVER NEAR HELENA'S PLACE
WILD REIN DEER ON THE ROAD
SAME REINDEER AND CALF.
NEAR HELENA'S
HELENA'S HOUSE.

THE SLEEPER CABINS
TAKEN FROM OUR TRAIN WINDOW, YOU CAN SEE THE FRONT OF THE SAME TRAIN
SCENERY ON THE WAY, A TYPE OF CANOLA OIL THESE YELLOW FLOWERS
TAKEN AT 12.30 AM

THE NORDIC LINE WE TOOK THIS TIME
I ALWAYS TRAVEL ON MY DUTCH PASSPORT IN EUROPE, VERY HANDY.
BACK TO HELSINKI BY THE MARINA.
THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
hey hey dear readers.

Helena and I have arrived at her home and it was a very long trip.
From Helsinki to Rovanieme was 12 hours, and then we had to take a bus trip which was an other 2 1/2 hours. There we were picked up by Helena's friend who took her to her car( at the friend's place) and from there it was an other 15 km's.
Helena's actual village consist of 40 people, a few houses in a forest near a lake and one general store.
The name of this village is Rauduskyla. Sirkka is 15 km away has 1400 people and is also the main centre for the ski resort of Levi.
I have internet at her place through satelite modem connection. I just had to put in her special program for it to work.( Helena put it in my computer)
I am now 185 km above the artic circle and the weather is cool, only 17 C.
A bit thundery even at times.
The mosquito's are really bad. They zoom around your face and everywhere and today isn't so bad Helena said. On a bad day there can be 10.000 mosquito's around your head.( just your head so the chances of swallowing one or two is high)
Hmmmmmmm. I am not looking forward to that day with the mozzies but she said it is inevetiable.
In the bus, on the way, we drove through long 2 lane higways with pines on either side with the odd reindeer walking on the road. I have already seen them.
In the train I saw one moose, standing alone somewhere in a field.
We didn't get the sleeper cabins for the night as they train was fully booked and we tried to ring the finland railways from Estonia but couldn't get through, so we just has the recliner seats. We slept a little bit but I feel asif I have just come off a long flight.
Helena too, but anyway, it is the highseason. There were 3 trains leaving last night and all were booked out( the sleeper cabins)So we had to take the normal seats.
Most of the scenery from he train was pineforest and fairly flat country.Rivers and lakes here abnd there. The paddocks had mist in it.A bit like the waikato in winter. But the mist was very low, ground level. As it became dawn at about 11.30 ; you know that twilight, where the sky is light on one side and darker on the other side. Well, it stayed that way for ages. It never became totally dark. After about 2 hours of this twilight, it became light again..
Now that I am here, at Rauduskyla, it won't even get twilight or dark.
If it is a sunny day, in the middle of the night, the sun just shines into your living room.
Today its a cloudy day, so I wonder what tonight will look like.
I will have a good sleep though as I need it.
Helena lives close to the lake, and I feel very, very far away from home. Maybe I am actually getting closer to home if you look on a globe.
Helena lives in the outback, in the sticks as you could say, yet, by plane from Kittila to Helsinki is only 1 1/2 hours. Kittila is not far from here, about 20 min drive.
http://www.levi.fi/
So I am going to stop now and put a few pictures of today, thanks for all your reactions and comments. Much appreciated. Kytos=( thanks) Moi Moi=( bye bye)
Love from Marianna.

PS My dinner tonight, cooked by Helena, consisted of Moose stew and mashed spuds.
Moose shot by her dad as there are thousands here that cause car accidents as they stand on the road, they are huge and weigh at least 1000 kg.
It was delicious and not strong flavoured as you might expect.