Rowan Tree and Red Thread

In Saariselkä at last. We were up at 7.30 this morning, Rowan and Sam greeting me with equally zombified expressions of horror and disbelief. Another fun Finnish breakfast of healthy Nordic cheese and salami were met with green looks from Sam, who takes longer than I do feel equal to food in the mornings. After that it was all in the taxi to the airport for more waiting around.

The internal flight from Helsinki to Ivalo far in the north of Finland went well, with a nice colouring book and pencils for Rowan, as well as an inflatable Finnair aeroplane that was probably for Rowan but rather appealed to me. Rowan cooperated well for the most part except for tossing bits of a Playmobil toy around. My mother had bought this new toy in the airport and I think it was probably ill-advised, given the number of small pieces it contained. Nonetheless we managed to disembark with all the bits, much to my amazement. Once in Ivalo we were on the bus and on our way to Saariselkä in short order, and arrived at the rendezvous by the Hotelli Riekonlinna less than an hour after we landed in Ivalo. On the way I watched the armies of firs and snow parade past the windows but missed the reindeer that Sam and Sally spotted out of the other side of the bus. Even this far north the terrain was flat so as we climbed to one of the few high points on the road we broke out of the conifer forest into a broad snow field, peppered here and there with brave, stunted trees. So. much. white.

Rowan managed to sleep on the bus. Or rather, she slept on me, on the bus. She was a bit disorientated when we got to Saariselkä but perked up when we met Eoin and Noora the happy couple soon to be married. We chatted and got lunch in the hotel buffet, stuffing our faces as we talked. After that we headed up to the apartment by taxi. Saariselkä is clearly a resort town, with lots of hotels, apartments and ski-equipment shops providing for the visitors. I was again amazed by the amount of snow and the ease with which the driver negotiated the icy roads. I'm sure that if the North Atlantic conveyor breaks down and the Gulf Stream shifts, Ireland will not be able to adapt to the wintry conditions with anything like that skill.

The apartment lived up to our expectations and more. It was toasty warm, all exposed pine and equipped with a sauna that even an Irish idiot could operate without burning down the whole building. Eoin and Noora had thoughtfully provided some lunchables too, so we were sorted for a light dinner after the face-stuffing incident of lunch time.

After much unpacking from the the awfully well-organised Sam, we donned our outdoor gear and threw ourselves in the snow. Rowan took her first snowball fight in her stride with a ready grin and laughed and laughed and laughed. Much rolling in the snow, desultory snowman building, and snowsliding later we staggered inside to discover all the nooks snow can get into once it begins to melt. Chilly, but broad grins all round.

Later we had our first sauna of many. Yummy! All the sweat washed off under a powerful shower and sipping a Finnish bear (Lapin Kulta I think) proves to be perfection of a sort. From that first bead of sweat spring forth and rolling down ticklishly over my skin to that last blast of heat to the head as I stood up into the roasting upper regions of the sauna, it was all good.