Burning with Optimism Pipe Fire

At 8:00, Friday, our daily meeting about upcoming days begins over a table full of breakfast served to us at the guest house in Inari, Villa Lanca. Since only real schedule we have is to be in Helsinki by Wednesday to pick up our passports with Russian visas, we decided to take time traveling southward, choosing stops as we pleased. We are also fortunate we have so many days on Eurail-pass left, as some days we had used were not stamped. Our first destination is Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland. The town of less than 50,000 people, is located on the line of arctic circle and is known for tourism attractions including Santa Village and glass egloos for spending romantic winter nights under aurora borealis. None of these guidebook suggestions turned us on, but the midsummer-night festival with folk music appeared attractive enough.

We arrived the center of the city, and there was nothing about it that resembled happy elves. We were surprised how run-down it was, with most of buildings closed, and torn down. We waited for the midnight madness with anticipation, but the event was not as big as it was said to be; a bonfire on a riverside, and a dozen elder couples dancing in a large tent near by to Finnish country music. It was certainly not worth the admission of €17 per person, and so it ended up being a bit of a disappointing weekend.

During our 2-week stay in Finland, it was such a coincidence that one of our friends was in a remote Lapland town, shooting a documentary. We met Jessica, a young, talented film director from New York, in 2008 in Japan while shooting her first documentary film, "Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo (2009)" through Sahe's brother who was involved in the production. She is now shooting for her new film (for detail please visit her website), which focuses on lives and culture of reindeer herders, and she has been filming on and off since a year ago, in climate conditions unimaginable. Although we were hoping to visit her,  we were not sure how acceptable it is to intrude her working site, especially with unpredictable shooting schedule and a remote location only reachable by car. On the day we were planning to leave southbound, she told us that she can meet up with us in Rovaniemi. Finally, a small ray of sun has beamed us at the end of the dark weekend on arctic circle.


To be continued...

Midnight Sun on the longest day (well...more or less)

June 24th, 2011

00:00

Inari, Finland　

68°40'North 

Photos also available on FACEBOOK: 

search > Yoshito Yoshioka

To Milla, my dearest daughter

Thank you for your telehone call yesterday. It it always nice to hear from you. I know you must be exhausted working night shifts at the hospital, but please know that I am very proud of you for helping many people's lives daily.

I just spent three weeks holiday at Inari, and am on my way home to Helsinki. I think I brought you to one of these annual fishing vacation when you were a little girl, didn't I? Well, this year was something. Last week, I was on the boat as usual in the middle of lake with my rods, and one was being tugged like never before. While telling myself to cool, I spent a long time reeling in the monster, and 15 minutes later, I pulled in a 78cm, 7.25kg trout. I have a feeling that I may take a trophy at the end of this season. I will show you photos when I return.

On another subject, I met these people yesterday; a Japanese and an American couple, and after talking with them I decided to spend a day with them, showing what I know of  the real Lapland. Milla, I can picture you thinking, that I may be out of my mind, but it was nice to show them the lake on my boat, taking a drive up to the border of Norway, and encountering a herd of reindeer. They also tried reindeer stew for lunch, which they said they enjoyed very much, as I hope they did about the beautiful scenery of our loving country. Included are some photos they sent me.

I am looking forward to the day of seeing you. Please take care of your physical, and look forward to my souvenir for you.

With love, papa

*Although names of people and events in this letter is based on truth, personal impression and thoughts are fictional.

Big City Night

First night in Helsinki, we decided to do our own things.

I hope Saje's night was as memorable as mine.

...well, the definition of memorable certainly is debatable.

Beer in Sweden

Falcon Bayerskt, Mörk Lager, 5.2%, Falkenberg, Sweden

Eriksberg, 5.3%, Eriksberg, Sweden

Beauty is Expensive

From København the border to Sweden is only about 30 minutes by train. We stopped at an old historical town just on the east side of division, spent a cozy village day, and then on towards the big city, Stockholm by night train. It was in our rough plan to visit much of Norway, but decided at the last minute to put it off until the next trip. Without any reservation we step off the train and tried to find an accommodation, but nothing was available within our budget, possibly because of the weekend, so again, we changed our plan to spend a day here and leave on a night ferry for Turku, Finland the same day.

Beautifully structured cities, and warm suburbs with history. Kind, reserved people, and...well, it can sometimes be too buttery but very flavorful meal. Last but not least, fine start-of-a-summer weather, and good old rock 'n roll playing everywhere. Traveling Scandinavia in early summer is full of fun for all, but is costly, even for a couple who earned fairly in the most expensive city in the world. It appears expensive to us especially because our trip will need to exceed beyond fjörds and meatballs, but are planning things on daily basis. Everything needs Kroners, from a floor to sleep on, bread to make sandwiches, surfing on Internet, even to use toilet, but is a dilemma as I know this is how they keep things in order, clean, and on time.

Upon arriving Turku, the south west port of Finland, at 7:00AM, we stumble our way to catch the train to Helsinki; the first destination where I have previously been. Hoping to sleep for most of 3.5 hour-ride, we each take empty row of seats, but people without a proper reservation of seats have no rights over those who do, and we were soon asked to kindly change seats.

Freetown of Christiania

After a few meters of going through unpaved path, herd of bicycles not visible, and sound vehicles rolling down streets not heard. People walked by with a smile, and cats stretched and slept carelessly next to a wooden swing set.

The utopia in the center of København, known as Freetown of Christiania, is a commune built on a former army ground by people sought for freedom in late 1960's. The government, which abandoned the historical ground due to chemical contamination, allowed young people to take over to build a community of peace as an experiment. The historical site, originally used as a base for army since the 17th century, became a place for the generation of hippies to build houses, family, laws, and a self-sufficient society. The name Christiania was the original name of the base, named after Christian IV, and three yellow circles on their red flag represent each dot of the letter "i".

In this community, no one owns anything, and no one is a ruler. Things such as welcoming of new comers are decided in the perfect democracy, but there are three rules that exist; no hard-drugs, no violence, and no cars. Of 500 residents there are artists, inventors, as well as people with jobs in the outside society. Although the crack-down has made soft drugs less common, there still remains the remains of time when it was commonly sold and used, and many young people and tourists gather to hang out at bars and cafe to inhale the atmosphere of good old days.

Although Christiania is enlisted on guidebooks and so is well known among travelers, the most common area is in the center where the bars are, but the actual soul of this area seem to lay along the lake-surrounding path where people have built houses with colorful exterior and grow vegetables in the yard. We were certainly fortunate to have a local guide to take us on a hike-tour of it to see it in a full scale.

We have also learned about how the government has just won the trial against Freetown of Christiania, on either getting this prime real estate back or to have the community pay for what was given to them 40 years ago. The commune well accepted by the people of Denmark, some even considers it to be a pride of the country is now on a verge to be stripped away from people who has protected it. I sincerely hope that they can find a way to save this community,  so it can be passed on to generations to come.

A danish is not called danish here.

Over thirty hours of involuntarily rocking and swaying on a 36,000 ton ferry, we arrive Hirshals port located at the northern tip of Denmark. Awkwardly with our backpack strapped to our bodies we reach for the passpot in the pocket hoping to get it stamped for once, but following the sign "nothing to declare" lead us to an immediate exit. Again, trying to get a proof of  visiting a new country was not successful, and will likely to remain that way until we leave Europe.

The first impression of the country, viewed from the train window, is that the land is very flat with what appears to be farm fields, compared to previously visited countries. With a few train transfers we arrive Århus, the second largest city after København. The claimed center of the Danish culture, Århus is located in the middle of Jutland, the peninsula connected to Germany. After spending the afternoon walking around and visiting a museum, we got back on the train and headed to the capital city three hours away. The image I have of Danish people, hard-working and being precise can be seen in places such as how streets are kept clean, trains run on time, bricks on buildings stacked up to perfection, and color of the cityscape well-schemed. As all education and public welfare are paid for by the government, it seem to me that the country appears to be very supportive of it's people, however, a local resident told us that people who does not take advantage of these possibilities are often viewed as failures of the society. I can certainly see similarities in between Danmark and Japan with such behavior of intolerance to those that are considered below average.

Next day we were fortunate to borrow over-sized bikes from a local guy we met (well, it's like a couple of hobbits borrowing swords from men), and wandered around. It is amazing how, we are from two of the busiest, stressful cities in the world; Tokyo and New York, and yet feel overwhelmed by people, bikers, and cars all moving rapidly in all directions because we have been away from it for four weeks. We were amazed about how the city is built around bicycles, with not only special bike lanes and stop lights, but also with passing lanes and rules. Paying attention to traffic and pedaling giant bikes we were exhausted by the time we got to the center, but certainly was a nice way to experience and view the city.

Beer in Denmark

Carlsberg, ##%, Copenhagen, Denmark

Ægte Fynsk Ale No. 16, 5.7%, Fyn, Denmark
Kærlifhed, 5.0%, Fyn, Denmark

Tuborg  Grøn, pilsner, 4.6%, Copenhagen, Denmark

Økologisk Christiania, Thy pilsner, 4.6%, Jutland, Denmark

Beer in Faroe Islands

Föroya Bjór Gull, 5.3%, Faroe Islands

Föroya Bjór Pilsner, 4.6%, Faroe Islands
Föroya Bjór Classic Dark Lager (not pictured)

Tarvur Restorffs,  4.6%, Faroe Islands

Okkara Pilsner, 4.6%, Faroe Islands
Okkara Klassik, 4.6%, Faroe Islands
Okkara Gull, 5.8%, Faroe Islands

Trip Tip: Hostel and guest house

As we did in Iceland, we decided to stay at a hostel/guest house on the island. When looking for them, I started to question the difference in between them, and so I decided to look into what they are and on what occasion we should use them over one another. 

A dormitory room at a hostel in Torshavn, Faroe Island

The idea and the network of hostel was founded by a German elementary teacher, Richard Schirrmann (1874-1961). While on his outdoor expedition with children, a storm put them in a danger and had to find a shelter. After being denied by farms, they were fortunate enough to be invited into a school, empty due to a summer vacation. Through this experience, he has decided, for the safety for children traveling, he would gather a network to prepare inexpensive accommodations throughout the country.

Although the definition of hostel is: a budget-oriented, sociable, shared accommodation for travelers, it is sometimes referred to the mentality of hospitality, and inter-cultural community of people who uses/owns this type of accommodation, rather than the physical structure and certain features. Facility usually is a dormitory type, both coed and separated in between 4 - 8 people, and sometimes has community space such as kitchen and living room.    

A guest house in Westfjords, Iceland

Guest house, sometimes considered similar to a hostel, B&B, or inn, is an inexpensive lodging for travelers. Some guest houses has smaller rooms for a couple/few guests, as well as more common dormitory type rooms, and community space is also available.

After reading them, it was still difficult to differentiate these two types of accommodations, other than hostel encourages to have a membership for discounts, and each has their own network community. In my opinion, guest houses tends to have cozy atmosphere of a home, however, this could completely be wrong as I have only seen a few.

Communal space at a hostel in Isafjordur, Iceland

One thing they have in common, is that these are such great place to meet and exchange. Whether culture, food, information, laughter, or Facebook info for further friendship, these exchange can enrich the traveling experience, which cannot be achieved by following the guidebook/internet information. From a young solo traveler with no money, to a retired couple on their annual honeymoon, every type of people from all over the world come, stay, and share stories and info on his/her own must-sees, and you will likely not have an access to such an experience if stayed at a clean, private hotel room.

"Faroe" means sheeps in Færøerne

Leaving the port of Seyðisfjörður, located on 64 degrees north, the ferry travels south east for eighteen hours to reach Streymoy Island, where the capital of Faroe Islands, Tórshavn, is. Located in north to British islands and half way in between Iceland and Norway, 18 small islands, each like mountains rising out of the sea surface, form a shape of arrow head. In the valley of these mountains are where people settles, with colorful houses like Lego blocks piled on top of each other.  

 

Maybe it is because we came from Iceland, but my first impression of the islands was, warm without wind even though it was about 8C (barely over 40F). The second was that the color of town is much different from our first stop. It was nearly impossible to find straight roads in Torshavn, and since town was built along the hill side, houses appear to be on top of one another, as oppose to streets of Reykjavik where the center of the city must have been drawn with rulers. Green-grass roofs, much like ones we saw in the country side of Iceland, certainly enrich the pallet of the town, along with trees and grass patches everywhere. Although the day we arrived was unfortunately cloudy, we decided to walk around aimlessly and get lost in this cozy town.    

Islands overlapping one another

  

Although being the constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark, Faroe Islands have been autonomous since 1948, the government of this country has been granted with somewhat of control. One significant examples is declining to join European Community (now EU) when Denmark decided to join in 1973. This was likely due to their concern of having to downsize the fishing industry, which still is the largest industry of this region, if became a part of the community. 

We decided to take buses to Runavik on Esturoy island, the second largest island, and walk around. We actually came to this town as we were told there would be a fastival, but when we arrived they were still setting up the tents, and it seemed more like a town fair than a festival, so we decided to pass up. This was our second time being disappointed by so called, "festival", as the Fisherman's Festival while in Isafjord was nothing but a tour of the fish processing factory. We will continue to wait for our chance of singing and dancing.

It is mid-June and is snowing now...

If you don't like the weather in Iceland, wait 5 minutes and it will get worse.
-all patriotic Icelanders

VATNAJÖKULL, 6.0%, Selfoss, Iceland

Patriotism and Pride

Earth covered in ashes from the
recent eruption

While out on a Sunday brunch with Oscar and family the day before our departure from their warm home, he turns to me with a grin on his face and said, "Yoshi, you should go tell those non-colored people that Japan has better fish, safer neighborhood, and people there live longer". 

Being here for two weeks taught me that Icelanders are very fond of their country and culture, and are not afraid to express their love openly. Above three things are just a few of the many that they are proud of, and one elder even said to me that the weather in Iceland is the best, despite unpredictable forecast, daily gusty wind, and cold, pitch black winter. It is hard to comprehend such patriotism, especially when you come from a country still debating about whether the national flag and anthem should or should not be in public schools. 

Tip of icebergs floating in a river
of 600ft in depth

This love towards their own nation, may be the reason why they take care to preserve the environment as close to its natural form. You rarely see fences or guardrails on roads, and never witness a power-shovel cutting into a mountain or filling a land. Roads are simply paved along the coast line according to the shape of nature, not according to our convenience. In parks and sightseeing spots, off-limit area is often marked with a single rope held with a foot-high wooden pegs. Even toddlers are able to jump over them, but according to local people the safety is, "up to each and everyone of us in order to preserve the natural view of how it is suppose to be". 

When Grimsvötn erupted on the day we arrived, people told us how lucky we are rather than worried about others who's planes were cancelled. This certainly was a surprise. Last year when the rest of European aviation network was in chaos Icelanders sat back and said, "it will stop some day". Icelanders live side-by-side and take care of nature, as nature takes care of them. I hope this uncorrupted atmosphere stay the same and to be passed onto the generations to come.

The first penalty in a foreign soil

Speeding violation caught on a camera.

AM00:01, been driving for 14 hours in snow.

9mph over the limit. 

Nothing to be proud of, but I thought I share.

Beer in Iceland

 Apparently it is not allowed to sell beer in supermarkets and convenience stores; only available in liquor stores. Only alcohol beverage sold in booze shop is lite-beer, which contains about 2.5% or less alcohol. I had a chance to buy a pack by accident, and they are like water.

Known makers of beer here, are VIKING and EGILS. They are on a lighter side, and not bitter. I had a chance to try regional beer such as KALDI, a dark lager beer, and FREYJA, pilsner-like beer with a bitter flavor, which I enjoyed very much.

Viking Gyllsur, Akureyri, Iceland 5.6%

Kaldi, lager, 5.0%, Arskogssandur, Iceland

Fósturlandsins Freyja, 4.5%, Selfoss, Iceland

Egils lite, Reykjavik, iceland.   4.4%