Well I truly thought the travelogue for this journey was complete and we were merely on the way home…. But it didn’t turn out to be uneventful. So here goes.
We left the lovely Hotel Kamp and wonderful Helsinki on an absolutely perfect sunny day with temperatures about 70 degrees. It was going to be a great midsummer eve for the Finns and while we had been invited to a Midsummer Eve Party, we had to decline since we were set to fly to Frankfurt at the end of today (June 21) to avoid having to take a very very early morning flight tomorrow and change planes in Frankfurt and then have a 6-hour layover. We opted to leave Helsinki this afternoon (5:45 pm flight) and spend the night at a hotel at the Frankfurt Airport and then leave tomorrow for SFO at a civil time in the afternoon. It does make for a more relaxing journey. All was good until we hit security at Helsinki. We went through the priority lane so it was a snap, but they pulled out the Marimekko shopping bag that we were carrying —requesting further inspection.
I laughed. The bag was taped with all the “tax-free” information which you are not allowed to remove until after you get the customs stamp, That’s why it was in a shopping bag and not in our luggage. I’ve done the tax free bit literally hundreds of times and I’m a pro at it. The glitch here was that we couldn’t do the tax free/customs actions at the Helsinki Airport since we were only going to Germany and since both countries are in the EU, it is not considered valid for tax-free; thus we had to keep it all wrapped until we leave Germany for the US where we would then be considered “leaving” EU. I knew all of this and had everything prepared. It’s gotten more complicated since EU, but I’ve done it many times. Had we done a connecting flight from Helsinki to US through Germany we could have done this all in Helsinki.
Anyway, when they pulled out the Marimekko bag, they said there was something suspicious in the bag. I said it was all purchased at Marimekko and was all for export tax free, and assured them there was no metal in there. I offered to show the receipt with all the items noted, but they refused to look at it. The manager came by and she was like a TSA Nazi!—so un-Finn-like. Just kept saying there was something wrong inside the bag and they would need to open it. I said if they opened it I could not go through with the customs office and the tax refund. This went back and forth and she finally just took the bag and tore the tax free tape that sealed the bag and cut it… What they were seeing was a ceramic plate that we purchased as a gift for someone. They said it did not x-ray; I told them I had already been through two other FinnAir flights with the same bag and no problems. They said that’s because the other Finnish Airports don’t have as sophisticated machines as they have in Helsinki. Anyway, I now have no idea what will happen when I go to the customs office tomorrow in Frankfurt.
Spent a bit of time in the FinnAir Lounge and then trekked to the very last gate to board our plane to Frankfurt. Flight was fine and even a good meal. Then the real fun began.
We deplaned and saw the sign for baggage— and followed the signs. Normally we do all carry-on, but sometimes at the end of the trip when heading home.. we just say “screw it, let’s check the bags and just carry on our computers and small carry on bag.” You need to know that Mike absolutely hates the Frankfurt airport. We have probably been through this airport changing planes about 50-75 times, and we truly do hate it. It’s huge; there are no moving walkways, and you seem to always have to walk miles to your gate. But somehow because it is so large, it seems like all planes (especially United) go through it. Last January we literally complicated our trip to go through Munich, just to avoid Frankfurt. Munich is a nice airport that works well.
So, we followed the signs to baggage claim and when we got there, there was no Helsinki flight listed on any of the carousels. Went to the info desk and we were told that we were in the wrong baggage area. We were in D and we needed to be in E… We had to go out the exit and I feared we could not get back into the baggage area because those doors lock behind you. Anyway, we walked about ¾ mile to the E section in the lobby area and found E, but we couldn’t get back inside to the baggage area. Went to another information desk and were told to walk all the way down to a “green wall” and then there would be a door; we needed to ring a bell at that door. More walking and we did as told. (It is Germany!) and we got into the E section luggage area. By now they were clearing out all the luggage that had not been claimed. The attendant was just lifting our bags onto a cart. We stopped her and took our bags. OK.. Success.
Then we needed to find the Airport Marriott which we knew was located in Terminal 1; we were now in Terminal 2. More walking and then one stop on the train, and we were in Terminal 1. But while you would normally just walk out and enter the Marriott there was construction, so you needed to walk more and then take an elevator up and walk over a bridge and then walk back into the hotel.
By the time we reached check in we were not only exhausted, but there was a long line to check in to the hotel because they had just one person working the check-in desk! Someone must have complained because they then announced that Bonvoy Members could check in on another floor, which we did.
Hopefully all goes well tomorrow and whatever happened today will be forgotten. We depart from Terminal 1, and the hotel is in Terminal 1 so it should be a piece of cake. Except for the questions I will need to answer at Customs to explain why the special export tape has been cut.
All told, 9,000 steps and 3.8 miles—all in airports.
Ain’t travel great.
See you stateside.
Fern
Greetings from Helsinki: June 20, 2024
It was a positively beautiful sunny day in Helsinki… high 60s, blue sky, simply perfect.
We started out walking down the Esplanade to the “kauppatori” (market hall and outdoor marketplace) which is always delightful—filled with fruits and vegetables, and flower vendors, some crafts, and little places to eat. Inside the actual brick market hall (Vanha Kauppatori — old market hall) which opened in 1889, there are wonderful little places to eat and additional shops for some pretty high-end food.
From there we strolled to revisit the National Memorial to the Winter War, a sculpture that was the result of an international competition that had 258 entries. The winner was Pekka Kauhanen who designed a spherical reflective base on top of which stands a human figure—also in reflective steel. The figure is punctured with numerous ‘’bullet holes” and the base has a series of circular “windows.” Inside the base you can see more than one hundred photographs that highlight the events of the “Winter War” between Finland and the Soviet Union in the 1930s. The photos inside are difficult to see because the sculpture has developed moisture inside that sphere. It’s located in front of the army headquarters in downtown Helsinki and is a memorial to that Winter War.
The Winter War is a major historic event in Finnish history: In 1939 the Soviet Union attacked Finland and believed the invasion would be as easy as their invasions of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. This was the start of what was called the Winter War. Although the Soviet forces vastly outnumbered the Finns, the Finns managed to stop the attack and wound up retaining most of its territory when the Moscow Peace Treaty was signed a year later. When we lived here we heard many stories about the Finnish Army’s skills on skis and the fact that the Finnish soldiers wore white uniforms, so they blended into the snowy countryside and forest where the war was fought. But probably most important was the morale and united purpose of the Finns who understood they were fighting for their national society against a common enemy.
The memorial was designed to commemorate the more than 25,000 Finns who died during that war.
After a brief stop in the park, we hopped on a tram and headed to Hakeniemi to see the renovated Hakaniemi Market Hall. It’s 110 years old and I had visited it many times prior to this renovation. It’s one of three major market halls in Helsinki. But seeing it this time was an eye opener as it is now a very contemporary market inside that 110-year old building.
After having a wonderful smoothie, we hopped back on the tram and headed to the Arabia headquarters where we saw an interesting photography show and also stopped into the Iitala museum which houses a nice history of Iitala’s glass and porcelain products over the past 150 years.
And then we met up with Antti and Heidi again, for our last dinner in Helsinki. We started at a local bar for a bottle of champagne during which time we gave them funny gifts: pins that show Putin holding a miniature Trump in his hand and Trump is pictured as a baby and also a roll of Trump toilet paper. We had a good laugh.
We then walked to Natura, very small family-run restaurant that specializes in “modern, innovative food with a focus on Finnish game, vegetables, and sustainable seafood.” We started with venison tartare that was sitting on a wonderful wedge of bread that had been soaked in something and on top of the tartare there was finely shredded white cheese and some seaweed and herbs. Then we shared a beetroot risotto, and then very delicate fish with sauce and baby vegetables. Finally (again sharing) we had some kind of beef that just melted in your mouth. The portions were small so didn’t feel stuffed. We ended it all with a frozen yogurt dessert that sat on a bed of rhubarb and was topped with something that looked like snow, but was actually shavings of frozen yogurt. After taking a few group photos, we bid farewell to our dear friends and walked to our hotel at about midnight while it was still light out.. passing by that Runeberg statue with.. yes.. a seagull sitting on his head.
A few comments about statues and Finnish interest and respect for the arts. Many statues throughout Helsinki and the rest of Finland are of artists, poets, musicians. There really aren’t any statues of military people other than Mannerheim (who successfully defended Finland against those Soviet forces during World War II and afterward served as president.) Finland celebrates the arts in interesting ways, including through food. On the anniversary of their national poet’s (Runeberg) birthday, many restaurants and bakeries serve Runeberg-tart, supposedly a dessert that his mother made for him. The largest park in downtown Helsinki (actually in the neighborhood of Töölö) is named after Sibelius and has a huge sculpture honoring him.
Our dinner conversation focused on a lot of political issues—mostly in the US. And we also asked a lot of questions that had lingered from previous conversations—about healthcare and taxes and education and demographics and the rise (by Finnish standards) in the number of immigrants and treatment of the Sami people (Laps) and more.. And of course we also needed to get recent information on their two grown children and four grandchildren. The dinner needed to be a lot longer for us to finish all of these conversations. But there’s always next time (2029 if we keep to our 5-year schedule).
Tomorrow night we head to Frankfurt where we will spend one night and then head home on Saturday.
A good trip that is coming to a close.
Take care-
Fern
10. June 19, 2024: Helsinki Day One
Wednesday, June 19, 2024.
Terve from Helsinki
Walking distance today: 8.2 miles; 23,000 steps !!!
A truly packed day.
Following a wonderful breakfast at Hotel Kämp (we’ve stayed here twice before and really like it; however, they are undergoing a renovation (along with half of Helsinki) so they have blocked off half of the building. It’s a bit strange since when you get off the elevator at each floor you can only go to the right since all the rooms on the left side are in the midst of the renovation. But they have created a wall there, so it looks like the floor ends at the elevator, which it doesn’t.
We began our walk (not thinking it would end up being 8 miles) by going to the apartment building where we lived when we spent a year here in Helsinki No changes to the exterior; we took our ritual photos standing in front of the building (we lived on the 5th floor). I think we probably have about 10 of these photos by now. Finally did the count: Mike and I have been here together 10 times; I have been here 2 additional times on my own (once to give a lecture on the “state of art in the U.S.” and once to see a good friend before she passed away. About a block from where we lived there is a statue of Arvo Kustaa Parkkila (1905-1978). The statue wasn’t there when we lived here, as it was unveiled in 2001. The title of the statue is “Man Rises from the Rubbish Bin,” although I think that translation is probably not totally correct. Anyway, Arvo founded a support group for homeless alcoholics in the 1960s. He himself had been an ex-alcoholic. Mike and Arvo seem to be wearing the same hat style. It’s appropriate that the statue is in that little park down the street from where we lived, as —at that time—the neighborhood was not considered a very good place to live (although we liked it a lot) as it was known as the location where many drunkards (“Juovuksissa”) hung out. Usually, they would congregate on our street on Friday nights. They were very harmless, peaceful, and often made “complimentary?” comments to women walking home. I imagine what they were saying was a lot like what construction workers in Brooklyn said to women passerby in those days. Sometimes I’d find a guy passed out at the entry of our building. Once a guy was blocking the entrance and I went to tell the “talonmies” (sort of the janitor) who spoke no English. She took out a broom and sort of “swept” him away.
But today, our neighborhood (Kamppi) is quite the ‘in” location. I counted at least 15 restaurants within a block of our apartment: Spanish, Argentinian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Kebabs, Mexican, Finnish, and assorted others. And there is now a Pilates studio just next door, and at least five hair salons. And it is within the new “Design District.” So, we were just ahead of our time.
From there we meandered through the Ruoholahti neighborhood and Jätkäsaari which used to be the main container harbor until it was relocated around 2008. The area is undergoing a lot of development, and it is home to the Bad Bad Boy statue—a pink concrete sculpture created by Tommi Toija. It is a naked urinating boy that is about 30 ft tall. The sculpture is heated so that the boy can urinate all year, even in the dead of winter. It was apparently part of a public art festival in Sweden where the statue urinated into a river in a park; later it was installed at the Market Square (Kauppatori) in Helsinki and it urinated into the ocean (not far from the President’s Palace). It became one of the most photographed objects in Helsinki. In 2005 it was moved to Jätkäsaari in front of an electronics store. We also walked to see another public art piece called “The Exception” which blends into the wall of an apartment building. Initially if you even notice it, it looks as if there is a hole in the brick wall. But on closer look, you can see an oval interior through a plexiglass sheet framing the hole; and inside there are some brick reliefs.
Continuing on our journey, we went through many, many new housing developments—all of which are far superior, design-wise, to what we see in the states. Nearly every unit of every building has a terrace (deck) that is generally glazed in, but the glass is usually operable. The Finns are very big on having access to, and views of, the outside. They often keep infants in carriages outside (maybe to acclimate them to the winter that will come). So families would keep the carriage with the baby on that terrace. Several of the housing developments were on or very close to water and so we walked over several pedestrian bridges. We then trekked back to our hotel in order to meet our very good friends at the local Metro stop. By then we had walked about 7 miles, but more walking was in store.
We took the Metro to Tapiola to visit EMMA (the Espoo Museum of Modern Art) which had an exhibit of Finnish concretism and which was organized to celebrate Lars-Gunnar ‘Nubben’ Nordstrom’s work and life (1924-2014). He was considered a pioneer of Finnish “concretism.” The exhibit included the works of more than 50 Finnish artists who are considered to be part of the movement. The works were pretty multidisciplinary and used a lot of different materials. Concretism in Finland is considered to be a movement that is totally abstract/geometric without any representational form.
The show presented works from different eras—from the 1950s to the present. The museum building itself was the former home to a printing company and is probably a good example of 1960s concrete brutalism. Outside there are lawns and woods. Tapiola, where it is located is one of the early “garden cities” built around 1960. When we lived in Helsinki, Tapiola was considered a suburb, and it was much smaller than what it is today.
So, as we approached our 8+ miles of walking we hopped on the tram and headed back to the hotel and then to dinner. We chose Ragu which is about a 10-minute walk (adding a few more steps to the day). Ragu (never been there before) turned out to be a really good restaurant. I’ll spare you the details of our meal; just know we liked everything on the menu… and strolled back to the hotel… stopping briefly on the Esplanade to see a famous statue of Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finland’s national poet, whose head is a regular resting place for sea gulls (one at a time).
Terve Terve –
Until tomorrow – day before the midnight sun.
Fern
9. June 18, 2024: From Rovaniemi to Helsinki
Tuesday, June 18, 2024.
June 18, 2024
Following breakfast in Rovaniemi, we headed to explore the city before going to the airport to fly to Helsinki. As we got into our car we heard loud aircrafts –low flying jets—above. The bellman who was helping us with our luggage saw our curiosity and said, “Those are American aircraft.” We looked at him quizzically and he continued: “They are here to train Finnish pilots, now that we are in NATO.”
We decided to drive rather than walk around Rovaniemi so that we could avoid the rain and also leave from wherever we might be to get to the airport directly rather than having to stop back at the hotel. First, we headed to the public library and city hall which were both designed by Alvar Aalto (who also came up with the master plan for the city—the one that is based on reindeer antlers, so there are many dead-end streets and no grid to follow) in the 1960s. Given our disdain for “starchitects,” we never went to see these buildings on prior visits to Rovaniemi. Well now, they are under pretty major renovations and reconstruction, so we were unable to get inside, and the exteriors were blocked with mesh fencing.
We then meandered around town looking at various housing projects and then went to the Arktikum—a truly amazing science center and museum that focuses on northern nature, culture, and history. Normally there is a trail that goes along the shore outside the museum, but it is currently closed due to some flooding, but will reopen next week. The center is a linear skylit structure stretching the full 300 ft length. It is on two levels with a soaring atrium. There are exhibits on both sides of the walkways (on both floors) and then there are doors interspersed which lead you to large spaces with three dimensional exhibits of history and nature of the region. Currently there was also an exhibit of old maps which showed the evolution of the northern countries and land above the Arctic Circle. It was obvious from the text complementing the maps that the curator (and the museum) took great pride in the explorers, mapmakers, artists, and others from the north. Several text passages talk about the efforts and defeat of British explorers and the successes of the Norse explorers. Beautifully detailed exhibit design set inside an elegant, simple space that goes out of its way to be the backdrop rather than the focus of the experience. The architect for the building was selected through a competition. Oh… one thing I forgot to mention is that within the exhibits one can hear the chirping sounds of birds. These sounds are also often piped into public restrooms. Speaking of restrooms, the images pointing to different restrooms (gender, handicap, etc.) include one for the baby changing room and the picture is of a male with the baby.
We had a simple lunch at the museum (mostly vegetarian options) and by then it was time to head to the airport (lentoasema). We returned the Sixt car (totally caked with mud from yesterday’s drive) and then went through security which turned out to be a bit of a fiasco (for me). First, after I scanned my boarding pass on my phone, I walked through and pulled my rolling computer bag, but it got caught on the door and next thing I knew I was on one side of the security door and my computer bag was on the other side; the handle of my bag was still in my hand and attached to the bag. There was no way for me to go back and start again as the doors were now closed and an alarm was ringing and a red light was flashing. After what seemed like an eternity (but was probably about 4 minutes) security came to open the door so that I could get my bag. But she couldn’t get the door to open either; then she talked to a passenger who was going through the adjacent security door, and she had him get my bag and pull it through. All was good after that.. except I was pulled out to have my bags inspected. Given the U.S. policy with TSA, if you are PreCheck, I am no longer accustomed to taking off shoes, removing computer, and removing liquids. So, I needed to redo their security process.
The flight from Rovaniemi to Helsinki is short, like Oakland to LA. We landed at the Helsinki airport at about7:30 pm and taxied to our hotel (a hotel we had stayed at twice before), Hotelli Kamp, a former bank that has been a hotel for about 15 years. Continuing the theme about immigrants in Finland—the taxi driver was from Afghanistan. The Kamp is one of those hotels with impeccable service and has an air of elegance (just like us!!). At 9 pm we met up with good friends from the days we lived here and had dinner at Café Savoy. Lots of conversation about what has transpired personally, politically, professionally in the last 5 years. Much discussion about Finland joining NATO, Europe’s move to the right politically, and a lot of laughter about Finland continuously being named “the happiest country in the world.” And of course, much discussion on the political situation in the US, the religious right, Trump’s prospect, Biden’s situation, etc.
It is truly nice to have friendships where the relationship just picks up after each five-year period as if no time has lapsed. We closed out the restaurant and strolled to the hotel. We will meet up again tomorrow.
Happy Juneteenth.
Fern
8A. June 17, 2024: Inari to Rovaniemi
Monday, June 17 2024.
Greetings from Rovaniemi—
Today was truly a car day. We drove about 240 miles from Inari (left after breakfast) using a route that took us a bit further west than the way we came to Inari on Saturday. This route was longer (about 40 miles more and about 90 minutes more). Figured it would be boring to see the exact same lakes and trees as we had seen going north. Definitely a good idea !!?? Over the first two hours we counted just 20 cars in either direction. But we saw lots and lots of reindeer. They are not very smart and do not really move off the road, or at least not very quickly. Or perhaps they are very smart and realize that they were here before us and also that we will stop for them. They sort of linger a while and then dash off. We saw whole families of reindeer as well as a few very independent ones (or maybe some lost ones). This route was really slow since huge parts of it were unpaved and later in the journey we came upon large swaths of road that were being re-paved so we were driving over gravel for long stretches. I guess they do all road repairs in the summer months so as to have good roads by wintertime. As I’ve mentioned numerous times, the roads are excellent and this is why. They invest in infrastructure!
Given the infrequency of seeing another person or another vehicle, we were extremely glad that we didn’t get a flat tire or need assistance. Not sure how we’d describe to any service people where we were. Maybe “98th tree to the left?”
We had intermittent drizzle and bursts of strong sunshine, but the drive was fine. We drove past Pokka, a town of just 90 residents—with its reputation as being one of the coldest villages in Finland: the place where the lowest temperature ever in Finland (and in Europe, they claim) has been measured: “MINUS 51 degrees in January 1999.” Today it was about 60 degrees. And we stopped for lunch in Kittila, which has an interesting history.
In 1991 a group of French and Belgians formed a community (some say a cult) in Kittila. They were called “the Iriadamant” The residents dressed in Native American clothing. They arrived in Finland with help from a professor at the University of Oulu, to “study living in nature” and to learn about self-sufficiency. They founded a camp near Kittilä. Even though they were Europeans, they were referred to as “Kittilä’s Indians” or “lifestyle Indians,” Initially they were seen as a positive element. But within a year or so, that changed. The professor called off the relationship when it was obvious that no research was being done at the camp. Supposedly, the conditions were miserable; the camp was cold and dirty, and residents lacked food and healthcare. It was revealed that the group was dependent on food from outsiders, and it turned out that the founder of the Iriadamant, Pierre Maltais, did not actually live in the camp; rather he lived in a hotel in Helsinki. Then the movement began to be seen as a negative force and an eco-cult. It was thought that the leadership deceived the outside world and its members. By 1993, the Iriadamant were deported, and the community disbanded soon after. All of this in little Kittilä a town with 6,000 residents.
The Iriadamant camp was actually founded by Pierre Doris Maltais, a French Canadian who also used the names Norman William and Alpjoine, and who claimed he was of Métis ancestry (mixed European and Indigenous background). In 1973, Maltais founded an ecological group and moved to Paris to sell natural products. A few years later, the group went on a worldwide tour to plant trees and spread their philosophy. Basically, the members lived a simple and somewhat primitive lifestyle. They rejected modern diets, medical care, and even the use of tools. The name Iriadamant is some kind of derivation of “lifestyle painters.” Anyway, we didn’t run into any descendants of the group in Kittila.
We were hungry by the time we got to Kittilä. It was about 2:30 and we were starving. We drove up and down the main street and could only find one place to eat—a pizza place. They had 38 different kinds of pizza, but we had a hard time finding a simple one (without lamb or pineapple). Finally, the guy behind the counter, who had been hearing us discuss ingredients, suggested a simple tomato, pepper, mushroom, onion pizza and we said fine. He asked us whether we wanted small, medium, or large.. He recommended medium for two people. About 10 minutes later, our pie arrived and it was literally 24” in diameter. We could have fed 10 people. We did what we could but basically could only eat about half of the pie.
Turns out that the guy behind the counter, who was fluent in Finnish and English, is from Kurdistan! We asked why he came to Finland (meaning why Finland? Not too many Kurds here), but he took the question to mean “Why did he leave Kurdistan?” Anyway, he said “My family had an argument with a neighboring family, so we had to leave.” Mmmm I think the disagreement was a little bigger than that. In any case, here he is—a Kurdish immigrant in Finland and in this tiny 6,000-person town in the middle of nowhere, serving gigantic pizzas.
We then headed to Rovaniemi and here we are. Just finished dinner at the hotel. We hadn’t planned on that and strolled to check out two restaurants, but many restaurants are closed on Mondays, so the hotel turned out to be the best bet. Tomorrow we will explore Rovaniemi. Last time we were here–about 15 years ago– we had come from the far north—having crossed into Finland from Norway at the most northern part and drove down to Rovaniemi.
Fly to Helsinki tomorrow late afternoon.
Best
Fern
PS – The photo of the car shows just how dirty our rental car got on today’s drive. Thanks for all the supportive comments on the travel notes. Some of you asked questions which I promise to answer as soon as I can pull them all together.
8. June 16, 2024: Inari to Rovaniemi
Sunday, June 16 2024.
GREETINGS from Inari/ Day 2
We set off today to see the small wilderness church called Pielpajarvitie. We drove to the parking area (which was sparsely filled) and then set out to walk into the forest to find the church. However, we did not really ever look at precisely where the church is located. We began to hike in on the muddy, meandering path which required great navigation skills and balance since the tree roots had spread out radially such that they were above ground making the hike a bit treacherous. And there were lots of rocks and boulders to navigate as well. At one point we ran up against a fence and we thought the path was closed. But a sign explained that the fence was to prevent reindeer from taking that path, and it was OK to go through the “gate,” which turned out to be a purple sheet that you could duck under. After about 30 minutes we saw a map—and learned that the hike to the church (which is one of the oldest structures in all of northern Finland) was another three miles in and then 4 miles back. We decided to turn around for fear we’d get to the church and be too tired to walk back to the car (4 miles more). So, we headed back, trying to carefully avoid the mosquitoes. Then we headed for SIIDA, the Sami Museum.
Sami Museum (SIIDA) here in Inari is incredible. Exceptional exhibit design and concepts that truly take you through the history of Sami people as well as the ecology of northern Finland. While it is clear the Sami are a strong, independent, and engaged population, they have gone through difficult times which some would describe as colonialism, much the same way Native Americans and other groups have been marginalized and had aspects of their culture removed. Many Sami were sent to boarding schools to get “educated” but where they also lost aspects of the culture and their language. Its one of those museum exhibits where you feel like you will never have enough time to get through with the information—which is all presented very visually through digital means and also with great text.
After grabbing a simple lunch at the Museum, we headed to the Sami Cultural Center but it was closed so we moved on to drive to Nellim, a small fishing village about an hour from the site of the museum. In Nelim we saw a wonderful wood Eastern Orthodox church built in 1987 out of Lappish logs. Nellim is only 6 kilometers from the Russian border so now that Finland is in NATO we looked for signs of military tanks—didn’t see any. Along the way to Nellim we stopped at another church in Ivalo that we saw from the road and which looked interesting.
It was our day of religious structures; On our way to dinner later that night we stopped at a very sweet roadside church (there are 400 roadside churches—kirkotie) in Finland. We didn’t go into any of these churches as they were all closed so we only saw them from the outside.
Dinner at Ukko about 3 miles from our hotel was quite lovely in a great space with soaring ceilings and panoramic views of Lake Inari. Drove back to the hotel at about 11:00 and the sun was still above the horizon. Sunset was probably around midnight and sunrise at 2 am… but it’s never dark. Makes for wonderfully long days.
All is good here, except for the mosquitoes. The Finns are complaining too. They say it is the worst year for mosquitoes (well maybe a good year for mosquitoes and a bad year for people trying to enjoy the outdoors). Our waitress at dinner was born, schooled and lives in Inari. She spent two years in Malta where she learned English and then spent some time in Helsinki and Tampere, but returned to live in Inari. We chatted about changes due to increased tourism and global warming. Years ago the entire lake would freeze in the winter (and yes cars drive across it in winter), but now there are spots that do not freeze so one needs to be more careful driving. (We did drive on the ice on a lake in northern Finland when we lived here; it’s a very eerie experience with no sense of scale or direction… Like driving in the desert without any roads, except the tracks of other vehicles.) By the way, the most popular tourist time here is in the winter. Most tourists coming up north are from Germany and Austria and some from the Netherlands. And the area gets a lot of Finnish tourists coming from the south.
We head back to Rovaniemi in the morning and onward to Helsinki the next day (flying to Helsinki from Rovaniemi.)
All the best –
Fern
Saturday, June 15 2024. : Greetings from Inari (above the Arctic Circle)
Terveisiä pohjois-sumesta (Greetings from Northern Finland)
We left Rovaniemi at about noon. It was drizzling and about 58 degrees. My quick comments on Rovaniemi… much like I felt on the two or three other times we were there: sort of chintzy and touristy. Its proximity to the Arctic Circle (about 6 kilometers) and a decision made decades ago to become known as the year-round location for Santa Claus, and I suppose all the elves too (and the reindeer). So there is a whole village about 5 or 6 kilometers from the city totally devoted to Santa. You can have Santa’s salmon and take pictures with Santa and god knows what else. The city itself has grown but of all the Finnish cities I’ve been to over the years it’s the least attractive (and ofcourse being there when it was overcast and drizzling didn’t help). Still if you are going north it’s hard to avoid Rovaniemi. The airport is there, and although we were driving, we will be dropping off our rental car and flying from Rovaniemi on the 18th. So we will actually be back there again on the night of the 17th. There are a few things we actually want to see when we get back— most especially the new science museum.
When we lived in Finland, we had a Finnish friend named Seppo who was a traffic planner. He told us that the plan (layout) for Rovaniemi is so chaotic because Alvar Aalto did the master plan. His concept for the layout of the city was tied to reindeer horns. So no streets go straight or through and it is impossible to get from one place to another. Every time I’ve been here I laugh because it’s true. No grid! Aalto also designed many of the important civic buildings in town. Another thing to note is that northern Finland seems to have attracted many foreigners as workers. One salesperson I chatted with in a shop was from China; two workers in our hotel were Black; in tonight’s hotel the reception clerk is from Spain and our waiter is half-Greek/half-Finnish.
We headed north and drove about 200 miles. Once again, a wonderfully paved, pothole-free, billboard-free drive alongside and over untold numbers of crystal-clear lakes and rivers, always with forested woodlands on either side of the road. Green, lush, and fairly low. Finland’s trees never grow very tall because of the climate and up north trees are even shorter. We only ran into one lone reindeer (strolling along the road and minding his/her own business. The road is one lane in each direction with speed limits set at 100 kmh (60 mph). We shared the driving and stopped a few times to either admire the view or to get a snack or to take a 15-minute power nap or to stroll in one of the small towns along the way. We stopped for a simple lunch at some café where we had salmon soup that was fresh and quite good. It also came with what was described as a “pancake” but we would call it a crepe.. with cloudberries (lakkoja). Turns out the woman working at the café grew up very close to the café (which was 75 miles north of Rovaniemi) but had left and lived/worked in London for 35 years -– in banking!; she returned just 5 years ago to take care of her ailing father. She talked about the difficulty of adjusting back to Finnish life.. and especially the challenges of adjusting to life in very very rural northern Finland.
We stopped in a small town (Sodenkyla) that was having some kind of street fair— there was a big tent serving different Finnish dishes; high school kids were performing; and there were booths with different foods and stuff to buy (lots of candy). Interesting, this very small town of about 8,000 people has a bookstore! Actually, three are bookstores all over Finland. What is wrong with the US when we can barely keep independent bookstores alive? (Yes, I know, Americans don’t read!)
Then we continued our journey past scores more lakes. Indeed, there are 188,000 lakes in Finland that are at least 5 acres large; they don’t even count smaller lakes. And 10% of Finland is comprised of lakes, many with very small “islands” popping up all over the lakes. We finally arrived at Wilderness Hotel Juutua in Inari. It is quite lovely. Our room faces the river (Juutuajoki) which runs extremely fast although we can’t figure out why since there aren’t any real mountains in Finland. We think the water is coming from a very large lake (Paatera) and perhaps that lake is at a high elevation ?? We have our own in-room sauna, which is very nice, and the room and the hotel are both very tasteful and well appointed. Simple, lots of wood. And totally opposite our hotel in Rovaniemi which was filled with so many mirrors in the lobby I was getting dizzy and also got lost finding the elevator. The room was similarly decked out. Tonight’s hotel is like its setting… simple, tasteful, woodsy.
Tonight we had dinner at the hotel’s restaurant Aanar which turned out to be a great choice. Floor to ceiling glass with tables along the river edge. Wonderful menu and preparation was fantastic. First a tiny plate of reindeer tartare (compliments of the chef). We chose two starters to share: pickled whitefish with roe, marinated onions and fish cream; and smoked reindeer heart with lingonberry sauce, marinated mushrooms and reindeer bone marrow. Both dishes were great and presentation of each was a visual delight. We then shared two main dishes: arctic char (caught today in the Inari River) prepared with crispy skin but totally buttery fish underneath. It was served with potato puree and dill cream and some baby root veggies—another winner; and reindeer done sous vide with pine needles, mushroom puree, reindeer black pudding, and lingonberry red wine sauce… Oh I forgot to mention that the fish came with a literally paper thin, translucent, sculpted thing on the top.. It was really that thin and covered the whole dish. It was some kind of “potato chip”.. or the chef’s interpretation of a potato chip. This guy knows how to prepare food. We shared a dessert that had chocolate sorbet and some berry concoction. A good way to end the meal and head to our river view room to try out the sauna.
Tomorrow we will explore the area in a leisurely fashion and probably try one of the other nearby restaurants, although I think we will likely compare it with tonight’s meal and that’s just not fair. The Wilderness Hotel has a “sister hotel nearby. We may try their restaurant. It is supposed to be good but doesn’t compare to Aanar. There’s also a pub with burgers and pizza “if we want to step down a notch!” the reception person told us. We just might do that and hang out with some locals.
While I cannot possibly imagine living here, I can see the beauty of it all. And it’s so quiet.
More tomorrow when we don’t plan to drive much at all. Maybe we’ll see a few more reindeer. There are 200,000 of them here in Sami (Lapland). That’s more reindeer than people in all of Sami.
Fern
Friday, June 14 (midnight—sun has not set yet)
Greetings from Rovaniemi (near the Arctic Circle)
We left Oulu which was bright and sunny at about noon and began our journey further north to Rovaniemi which is really just a stopping off point before we head further north (about 200 miles above the Arctic Circle) to Inari. We’ve been to Rovaniemi twice before (once in the fall and once in late winter, never in the summer). But of course we could not make this easy since we decided to make a pit stop in Kemi and actually drive northwest of Rovaniemi to Oranki. Thus it was a lot of driving (about 6 hours total with several stops—short and long).. finally getting to Rovaniemi at about 9:00 pm. Of course, all this needs to be punctuated with the fact that it was totally light when we arrived at 9 pm, and now at midnight it is sort of like dusk. The sun will rise at 2 am, or maybe even a bit sooner. Basically, it is never dark. Indeed, the only thing that is making it dusk-like is the fact that it’s very overcast and has rained on and off. By the way, the clouds up here and the sky are amazing—bright blue and huge cumulus clouds that look like giant cotton balls. The only other place I’ve ever seen such a big blue sky was in Colorado.
Anyway, we headed first to Kemi, a small city of about 20,000 and close to the Swedish border. Kemi is home to the world’s largest snow castle which gets rebuilt every year. And it is home to “Stone Age” or as the locals call it “Clonehenge.” Sitting in a park very close to the Finland Sweden border is a modern-day replica of Stonehenge. It’s made of very smooth granite and is about 50% the size of the real Stonehenge, and is oriented toward the same directions as the original. It marks the sunrise of the summer and winter solstices. The artist claims that the stones will remain upright for at least 2,000 years. It was paid for by the owner of a granite mine who saw this as a monument to the granite industry in Finland. After strolling through the park, we found a little lunch place near the Kemi train station and had some kind of reindeer quiche-like thing. And then we were off, supposedly for Rovaniemi, but we wanted to get to Pello and Oranki (which are totally out of the way and north of Rovaniemi). Our plan had been to go there tomorrow but the weather prediction for tomorrow was rain. So, we decided to keep going and get to Pello and Oranki before Rovaniemi.
The drive all day was actually amazing. Again, not a single pothole to be found and only one billboard in about 300 miles of driving. And very few cars on the road. It is incredible that the roads are in such good repair given the harsh winters. I’m sure the billboard was placed illegally. We drove through forests and about a million lakes and rivers and streams—all with clean, clear bright blue water. The roads are lined with wildflowers and there are fences (which are totally transparent… sort of wire grids) to keep animals safe from passing cars. I think there may be tunnels under the road to allow animals to cross safely. Lots of signs about moose (meese?). We did see a baby reindeer on the road who seemed to have lost his way. All traffic slowed to let him go wherever it was that he was headed.
Eventually, we made it to Oranki—sort of. According to the GPS, we were there.. right on the dot. It was drizzling and cold, but we knew we really weren’t there because Oranki has a lot of anonymous sculptures and environmental art scattered about in the forest and there wasn’t any trace of such structures. At one point, after driving on a dirt road back and forth in search of the “art,” we literally walked up the driveway of one of the three houses on that solitary “road” and knocked on the door. It is Finland and we feel very safe. But alas, no one was home, so we were on our own. We almost left to head straight to Rovaniemi, but we were determined. So we drove a few kilometers more on the more “major” road and turned up another dirt road and began to see evidence of the sculptures in the forest. We parked and walked in to see what we could find. By then it was raining, and we were also surrounded by mosquitoes. Either the mosquitoes really like the Oranki art or they love being in this area in the summer months. We walked (pretty covered up with rain jackets and hoods) for a while to see several of the pieces and then bolted for cover in the car to escape from those tiny flying things. But not totally successful as we both got bitten and there were a few pesky mosquitoes who dared to linger in the car—only to be slain by Fern and Mike.
About the “art:” Not too sophisticated, although a few pieces were interesting. Several (perhaps done by the same person) were very morbid with body parts emerging from the ground or maybe the other way around. From photos we have seen, there are some quite wonderful pieces, but we did not stumble on them. Perhaps had it not rained and had the mosquitoes rejected us, we would have been able to find these other pieces. From what I know, there is an annual exhibit where new pieces are installed annually. Around 150 artists from more than 40 countries have produced works over the past 20 years, that are in this forest. Some of the art pieces have already morphed back to nature, which is part of the concept. And this provides space for new art.
We arrived at our hotel in Rovaniemi close to 9 pm and headed to dinner at Gustav Kitchen. Turns out that Gustav is the brother of Alfred who owns Alfred Kitchen in Oulu where we had eaten last night. We did not know this at the outset, but a quick glance at the menu describing the bread that Gustav’s mother made we realized that Gustav and Alfred must have the same mother. Well Alfred is a better cook and the menu and dishes are a lot better than Gustav’s. I think Gustav just tries too hard. Each dish has at least 10 ingredients with lots of pickled vegetables mixed in that seem to overwhelm everything else. But it was all fine and now I am headed to bed. By the way, since Rovaniemi (at the Arctic Circle) is home to Santa Claus and where he takes off on his sled to do his job—-there are a lot of Santa Claus things here year-round… Including inside the elevator in our hotel.
Tomorrow is another day with a long drive—we head to Inari, about 200 miles north of here. We will stay there for two nights and then return to Rovaniemi (need to find a restaurant here!) for one night before flying to Helsinki for three days where we will end our Finland journey. We do truly love Suomi.
Happy Saturday. Hyvää lauantaita!
Fern
5A. June 13, 2024: Oulu and Kärsämäki
Thursday, June 13, 2024
Sunset at 12:15 am (actually that would be Friday morning); Sunrise at 2:13 am (just two hours later)
In reality it is never dark; the hours between midnight and 2 a.m. are sort of like dusk. Picture that shows window frame taken from our hotel room at 12:30 am. I guess all this daylight is good for our walking steps—averaging between 10,000 and 16,000 steps a day.
Greetings from Oulu-
After breakfast, we headed to Kärsämäki, about 110 miles south of Oulu to see a very interesting church dubbed the “shingle church of Kärsämäki.” First you need to understand that although Finland is a very non-religious country, there remains a religion tax of about 1%. With this money, it appears that the government (or maybe the church itself) commissions the construction of lots of churches throughout the country. Officially, the majority of Finns are Lutheran, but churches are empty on Sunday mornings. Most Finns say they are agnostic (at least those we know). But they keep building new churches and many are exquisitely designed. So, I suppose this tax keeps many architects busy. We had read about this particular shingle church and decided to make the journey. The 90+ minute drive took us through miles and miles of forested roadways and streams, rivers, and lakes. Not a billboard in sight! No potholes. And amazingly well-maintained roads with great signage. As you drive through all of this unbuilt land, you truly get the sense of Finland’s reality: 5.5 million people living in a country whose land mass is the size of California (population about 40 million). We made a little pit stop at the Marimekko Outlet store nearby, which is in a small mall. And as elsewhere in Finland there was a well-equipped large room in the mall that was for kids to play–supervised by a qualified “teacher” so that parents could shop without distraction.
Anyway, we had considered driving to the church when we were planning the trip a few weeks ago and reached out to find out if we could get inside since we knew it was a pretty special interior. We couldn’t find a contact for the church, so we sent an email to the city clerk; we figured that in a town of 2,500 people, the city would be able to either tell us what to do or have the information. It’s pretty rural out there so I knew getting a response in English might be dicey. I did get a response saying that the person I reached out to no longer worked for the town. So, without knowing whether or not we’d get inside we decided to make the drive anyway. In the end, we could only see the church from the outside, and peek in to see the interior. But it was still worth it. Nestled in this little forested area, a stone’s throw from a stream, sat the shingle church.
The story of the church is interesting. In 1999 the local municipality, sponsored an open student competition to rebuild the original 1765 church that was demolished in 1841. There weren’t any documents showing the original appearance of the building, so the competition, which was organized by the Department of Architecture at the University of Oulu, asked for entries that would create a new, modern church using traditional 18th century methods. The final design of the church, the award- winning solution, is based on Anssi Lassila´s winning entry “Cantata.” The task was “to design a contemporary sacred space to be constructed with traditional handicraft methods.” The goal was “to achieve a sense of serenity and sacrality, an ecumenical atmosphere that would feel compelling and natural to all people.” The building style emphasizes the natural roughness of the wooden elements which were all hand crafted.
While we didn’t see the interior (if you want to see pictures of the interior, check it out on the Internet), we have read that one enters through a dimly lit space and then emerges into a lighter colored main space that is lit by natural light from a skylight. At dusk, the interior is lit by movable, candle-lit glass lanterns and tin lanterns carried by churchgoers. All seating as well as the altar are movable. It is my understanding that the labor was all local, everything is handmade, and lots of volunteers helped complete the structure.
They used traditional methods of construction requiring a good deal of research and learning about these old-fashioned building techniques that had all but disappeared. They also needed to find new solutions based on old traditions. Apparently, many hours of discussion with builders and designers in diverse fields were critical to figuring out solutions step by step. Really sorry we couldn’t get inside… perhaps next time.
One thing we discovered while walking around the outside of the church is that Karsamaki has mosquitoes in June. We headed to a small supermarket to get “hyttyskarkote” (mosquito repellent). We also stopped at a gas station that had a large shop and cafe attached. Inside was an array of cheeses that you’d be more likely to find in a really good specialty market in the states. By the way, sales tax is 24.5% and Finns are taxed on income at about 35% on average (with many paying about 50%). But the use of their taxes is visible: they get excellent healthcare, free education from preschool through university, well paved roads, and more. When we lived here their military budget was 1% of their GDP. I imagine with entry into NATO that is probably no longer the case.
We reminisced about our previous trip to Oulu when we lived in Finland— We had taken a week-long trip to Lapland with our good Finnish friends. We stayed overnight in several towns and cities along the way and in one cabin in the woods where we needed to cross-country ski to get to the cabin as it was snowed in. We skied in, carrying packs of beer and food and also a Monopoly set to teach our Finnish friends the game. It was March and the country was totally covered in snow. It was beautiful.
Anyway, Antti made all the ”hotel” reservations. As the four of us approached our ”hotel” in Oulu, we couldn’t stop laughing. The building was some kind of office building and they rented out two rooms on the first floor as hotel rooms (I think), Anyway, those two rooms each had big streetside windows and had a deep showroom type ”shelf” at the window (large enough for a person or a set of mannequins to be on display at the window). We got there pretty late and wound up staying there. We all felt like we were on display the entire night. Don’t think that ”hotel” exists any more. The purpose of that trip was to see more of Finland and to cross country ski in Lapland. Many funny stories about that, including my personal encounter with two reindeer on the trail.
At about 8 pm, Mike and I headed to dinner at Alfred Kitchen, a small upscale restaurant (ravintola in Finnish) and shared three small courses: beef tataki, asparagus risotto, and salmon. Quite good. The menu is very autobiographical with family stories (fortunately they had an English version) of Alfred’s childhood and his mother’s cooking and his desire to emulate her simple, fresh, recipes and to update them with modern cooking techniques and ingredients.
We strolled back to the hotel at about 11:00 pm in light that felt like it was about 6 pm.
Hope you are well and that you are enjoying your own upcoming summer solstice.
Tomorrow we head for Rovaniemi
All the best- Fern
PS – I received a note from one of the recipients of this travelogue to say that Finland’s placement as the best school system in the world has plummeted. I did a little research and it is sort of true. The explanations are also complicated and contradictory. I’m interested to hear what our Helsinki friends have to say about this… Regardless, it is amazing to be able to have such deep and thoughtful conversation with any Finn, regardless of education level, so something is working. And every Finn can have that conversation in any one of (at least) three languages, with those who are university educated being able to easily converse in at least five languages.
Hei Hei !!
Hectic morning having early breakfast, repacking, and getting off the ferry at the port in Helsinki, but we arrived exactly as promised at 10:30 a.m.; found taxi immediately to take us to the Helsinki Airport (perhaps a bit of a circuitous route we are taking in Finland, but it made sense based on when we wanted to be back in Helsinki). It’s been 5 years since our last visit, and the country remains as peaceful and beautiful as ever. The roads are perfectly paved; there’s a lot of new construction (with each building being more architecturally well designed than the next); no evidence of homelessness as housing is a major priority and the government has been successful in drastically reducing the numbers (which were extremely small to begin with); their public schools are rated among the top in the world; and health care is free for everyone.
Anyway, we flew to Oulu which is on the west coast of Finland, about one third to the north. We used Oulu as our driving starting point since we are headed north of the Arctic Circle and this eliminated a lot of driving. We had been to Oulu once before—many years ago when we lived in Finland—but that was in the winter when the city was covered in snow. Oulu is a city of about 215,000 and is often called the capital of Northern Finland. It’s also considered an innovative city where new technologies are embraced and where residents see themselves as part of a living laboratory when it comes to the environment, healthcare, and the arts. It’s compact and walking is easy and encouraged. Pedestrians reign supreme and cyclists as well as drivers stop for pedestrians and obey all traffic laws. Oulu is also home to a large university (by Finnish standards), a professional theater, and many music venues.
From what we can see, there is a thriving art scene…and of course the fact that the sun is now setting at a little before midnight and rising at 2 a.m., it’s easy to see the city at all hours of day and night. At least one of the photos in this email was taken at 11:45 pm and the sun had not yet set completely.
After picking up our rental car (we used Sixt after having a terrible argument with Hertz on our last rental in Cleveland a few weeks ago), we headed to our hotel—Lasareti Nordic Art Hotel, which turns out to be very pleasant, new, and situated at the edge of a lovely park and on the river (which we can see from our room).
Lasareti is located within an arts complex, so as we arrived to check in there was a concert right outside. It’s also very central so we can easily walk everywhere. Right after checking in, we headed out to see the town—passing the art museum and the history museum, the main church, and many pedestrian-only streets. We also traversed a wonderful park with numerous bridges that enable you to move easily over small lakes and the Oulu River which meanders through the park. Finnish cities tend to have numerous, large, very well-maintained parks so this was not unusual, but it was delightful. There is public art scattered throughout the city. Finland invests heavily in promoting the visual as well as other arts, so the products of those investments are visible. Frankly, although the design quality of products, graphics, and buildings is extremely high, the visual arts (painting, sculpture, etc. done as “art”) has never been at the standards of Finnish fabric, clothing, dinnerware, furniture, and other consumable products.
From the market area, we wandered across the bridge to Pikisaari, an island that is part of Oulu. It was historically the location of shipyards, and the only inhabitants were the workers of the companies. Today, Pikisaari is an artists colony with studios and housing for artists and craftspeople. Some time in the 1970s the city turned over the site of a former wool mill to the Arts and Crafts School and later a new school building was completed. It was fun to walk around and find sculptures and other art forms along the waters edge, in the forests, and on the walking paths.
From Pikisaari we headed back toward the center of town to have dinner at Hugo – a restaurant we had read about. While we hadn’t intended to order the full six-course meal, we got very tempted when we read the menu. And the six courses, they promised us, were each quite small. Thus, we convinced ourselves it was OK since we never had any lunch. What they didn’t tell us was just how wonderful every morsel would be. From the asparagus soup that was presented initially as a medley of trout roe, small pieces of asparagus, tiny toasted malt bread crumbs, crunch brown bread crumbs, egg whites and fresh chives—on top of which they poured this amazing asparagus puree…. To the beef tartare with marinated cucumber juice, crispy egg, horseradish, parsley and egg yolk…. To the wild garlic risotto with scallop and scallop foam… to the wagyu beef with fried cauliflower.. to the amazing dessert—–the meal was memorable, and Hugo is a sweet place with very friendly staff. We sort of rolled out of there, very happy we had to walk about a mile to get back to our hotel. Hopefully, we walked some of those calories off (??) By the way, there are a lot of stories about cauliflower in Finland; I’ll try to relay the point tomorrow. Too tired now. By the way, this gourmet Finland is also something that has emerged in the past 15 to 20 years. When we lived here, there were very few (if any) restaurants exploring creatively with food. Food was pretty basic. Of course we didn’t have any money, so maybe we just didn’t know what was out there. But I truly think these kinds of places have come into being in recent years.
One last thing about being back… some of my Finnish is returning !! I was never fluent and could barely converse, but I did know a lot of words and could string them together to (sometimes) make myself understood. Of course when we lived here only those with higher education spoke English. Many workers actually knew English but were embarrassed to speak (perhaps they way I feel about speaking Spanish). Nowadays (and for the past 20 years or so), everyone speaks English and they speak well. Of course they are also fluent in both Finnish AND Swedish since Finland is a bilingual country and speaking both languages is required. But still it is nice to begin to bring back all those words that I knew (some very essential ones like ice cream and how much does it cost, and numbers, and the niceties like hello and goodbye and thank you and how are you).. Actually, I’m pretty good at reading menus and getting directions. But people realize right away that we are foreigners, and they immediately flip to English, so I don’t get much time to practice my minimal Finnish.
I’m signing off now. More tomorrow when we explore more of Oulu and also drive south to visit a small town we want to see.
Fern
PS – As in years past, we are continually impressed with how well versed everyone is on world politics and US politics (from the guy at the rental car desk to truck drivers to people on the street). And economic concepts that baffle typical Americans are often discussed by Finns with ease. Perhaps because they are such a small country they feel it is a necessity to understand world dynamics.
Fern's Travel Notes 