Well, I made it back from the Arctic Circle with all ten fingers and toes!! It was a fantastic trip. I went with a friend from work, and we left on Saturday. We flew Finnair from Amsterdam to Helsinki and then on to Ivalo-the Northernmost airport in Europe. For some reason I thought we would fly a puddle jumper with about 5 passengers (3 of them Reindeer) into Ivalo. I was amazed that we were in a plane with 6 seats across and it was 90% full! When we arrived in Ivalo we were met at the airport (with its one gate) by a bus from our resort. We arrived at the resort and loaded our own sled with our luggage and drug it through the snow to our log cabin. We had our own sauna-talk about the height of luxury!! After a good nights sleep we were up and at them before the sun was up (which is about 9:15!). We were off to the husky farm to try our hand at "mushing" after bulking up in our thermal gear we were given a quick lesson in how to mush. There were 142 huskies at the farm and EVERY one of them wanted to be on my team! We final got going and I was a passenger for the first portion of the trip. It was an amazing trip-we went through the Finnish countryside. It was too hot for the dogs (about 3 degrees) so they had to stop every 30 minutes. After lunch in a wooden teepee we were off again. I gathered my wits about me and jumped on the sled with a loud and confident HOOVAH (Finnish for good job) we were off!! It was fantastic! An amazing experience-sadly we only had about 45 minutes until we were home, but what a fantastic trip! After returning back to our log cabin-just in time for "sunset" at about 3:30 it was time for sauna, cribbage, a nap and dinner! Talk about the life-I think the Finns are onto something with the whole sauna thing. I read that in Finland there is one sauna for every three Finnish citizens. The next day we got up and rented cross country skis. After a few false starts, I think I could be a gold medalist in the newest event: sliding backwards down the hill that you really wanted to go up" I finally got a good pace going and was enjoying the fantastic scenery when we turned a corner and up ahead was a herd of Reindeer! They were right in our path, I remember thinking "these are Santa's friends surely they won't charge us!" After a few minutes of mutual admiration (I think) they moved on and we went skiing past. After a few more kilometers I headed back towards the hotel. Sure enough around another bend were 3 Reindeer calves. They were amazing! Very clumsy on land and very graceful in the snow (polar upset of yours truly!). So after some more skiing it was back to the cabin for sauna time, nap time, cribbage and dinner! I could have gotten used to that! All in all a fantastic trip and something I would recommend to anyone! Sadly it was too cloudy for any northern lights.
Next trip is to Germany-Baden Baden for some more resorts!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Christmas in the Netherlands
Can you believe it two posts in one week!!! At least one resolution I have kept! The countdown to Finland continues, I was questioning my sanity in choosing such a trip in the middle of winter until I heard the following story. In Finland they have a wife carrying race-in which.......(this is the good part) the winner gets his wife's weight in beer!! After hearing such a snippet I wondered how I could get Finland on my next bid list. I digress...back to Christmas in the Netherlands. On December 16th it is Sinter Klaus day-this is the day Sinter Klaus (a distance cousin of our own Santa Claus) arrives at the beach, of course Sinter Klaus does not arrive alone. He arrives with his friend from the Moors known as Scharte Pete. There are two tales of how Scharte Pete became Scharte (Black) Pete. First is he comes from the Moors, second is that he is black faced because he slid down the chimney. In anticipation of Scharte Pete's arrival all of the Dutch folks line the streets and wear black face. As Pete and Sinter Klaus (who arrives on a white horse) parade down the street Pete throws candy to the good children (one of which would be me). But on the other hand he collects all of the bad children in his giant bag and takes them back to the Moors with him! Unfortunately I was in Portugal (close to the Moors) on December 16th so I didn't get to partake in the festivities. I will be ready to collect my candy next year. I had a great time in Portugal, the sky was blue and the sun actually shone. I went with one of my neighbors from the building and we did quite a bit of shopping, eating and sight seeing. Well that is enough for today. I promise more to come.......
Saturday, January 3, 2009
New Years Resolution-more blogging
Sorry it has been so long since I have updated. So many trips so little time! Since I last blogged I have: jumped into the North Sea with 6,500 of my closest Dutch friends, gone to London and worked in the Embassy for a couple of days, headed to Portugal for some sun and fun, and increased the coffers of every Christmas Market throughout Germany!
I'll start with the craziness that was New Years day. Every year at the beach (which is only about 15 minutes from my house) they have a New Years day dunk where as many as 10,000 crazy people run into the North Sea for a refreshing start to the New Year. There had been talk of some of us joining in and I wasn't interested but then....I found out you get a free hat if you dunk and to sweeten the deal the free hat is ORANGE! I needed no other incentive (but when I found out you also got free pea soup there was no stopping me!) Of course this year happens to be one of the coldest years in recent memory, but orange hats and pea soup prevailed. At about 11:45 we made our way onto the beach and picked up our bag of goodies. To prove that I had made the right decision there were ORANGE gloves in our goody bag as well. Does life get any better than orange gloves, orange hat and pea soup as you dive into the frigid North Sea with 6,500 of your closest friends? As we gathered Dutch Techno music was blaring over the loud speakers and the beach was packed with both people watching and the dunkers. Everyone was wearing the orange stocking caps and jumping up and down to keep as warm as possible. At about 11:55 the stripping down commenced (just to swim suits I promise, this IS a family event!), at 11:59 we got into our ready to run stances and at 12:00 we all started towards the beach. The tide was out so we had to run further than I thought we would and I just kept laughing at the whole crazy situation. By the time I got to the water people had already been in and were heading back out to the warmth and free pea soup. After a waist high dunk I ran back and starting layering back up as quickly as I could, there was no frolicking and splasing around for me! On the way home that afternoon we all wore our new hats and gloves as a badge of honor (as if the blue lips weren't sign enough).
I had a great Christmas, a friend came to visit in December and we went on a Christmas Market cruise through Germany. It was a fantastic time, we were worried there we were going to be the youngest on the cruise but it was not to be the case! We met up with some other women traveling on their own and we became fast friends. There was much frivolity surronding table number 14 in the dining room (I'm afraid we may have even gotten a reputation as being a touch rowdy!). This was a great way to travel, we only had to unpack once, all the food you could eat (and great food at that) and we docked blocks away from the Christmas Markets. Luckily on the first day we discovered the charms of chocolate covered strawberries on a stick! That was our first goal each new market we found, the chocolate covered strawberry stand. On the trip back we resembled pack mules as we made our way back across Germany and home to the Netherlands. Luckily I still have about 3,000 lbs I didn't use in my household effects, but it is filling up quickly.
My next trip is Finland in a couple of weeks. We are flying into the Northern most airport in Europe and have already signed up for a dog sled adventure. From what I understand it is dark for 24 hours a day so it is going to be a very interesting trip. I have my Stillwater Newspress front pages so I can get my picture taken and hopefully be famous.
All is well here, I can't believe how fast time seems to fly. I promise to be better at blogging in the New Year.
I'll start with the craziness that was New Years day. Every year at the beach (which is only about 15 minutes from my house) they have a New Years day dunk where as many as 10,000 crazy people run into the North Sea for a refreshing start to the New Year. There had been talk of some of us joining in and I wasn't interested but then....I found out you get a free hat if you dunk and to sweeten the deal the free hat is ORANGE! I needed no other incentive (but when I found out you also got free pea soup there was no stopping me!) Of course this year happens to be one of the coldest years in recent memory, but orange hats and pea soup prevailed. At about 11:45 we made our way onto the beach and picked up our bag of goodies. To prove that I had made the right decision there were ORANGE gloves in our goody bag as well. Does life get any better than orange gloves, orange hat and pea soup as you dive into the frigid North Sea with 6,500 of your closest friends? As we gathered Dutch Techno music was blaring over the loud speakers and the beach was packed with both people watching and the dunkers. Everyone was wearing the orange stocking caps and jumping up and down to keep as warm as possible. At about 11:55 the stripping down commenced (just to swim suits I promise, this IS a family event!), at 11:59 we got into our ready to run stances and at 12:00 we all started towards the beach. The tide was out so we had to run further than I thought we would and I just kept laughing at the whole crazy situation. By the time I got to the water people had already been in and were heading back out to the warmth and free pea soup. After a waist high dunk I ran back and starting layering back up as quickly as I could, there was no frolicking and splasing around for me! On the way home that afternoon we all wore our new hats and gloves as a badge of honor (as if the blue lips weren't sign enough).
I had a great Christmas, a friend came to visit in December and we went on a Christmas Market cruise through Germany. It was a fantastic time, we were worried there we were going to be the youngest on the cruise but it was not to be the case! We met up with some other women traveling on their own and we became fast friends. There was much frivolity surronding table number 14 in the dining room (I'm afraid we may have even gotten a reputation as being a touch rowdy!). This was a great way to travel, we only had to unpack once, all the food you could eat (and great food at that) and we docked blocks away from the Christmas Markets. Luckily on the first day we discovered the charms of chocolate covered strawberries on a stick! That was our first goal each new market we found, the chocolate covered strawberry stand. On the trip back we resembled pack mules as we made our way back across Germany and home to the Netherlands. Luckily I still have about 3,000 lbs I didn't use in my household effects, but it is filling up quickly.
My next trip is Finland in a couple of weeks. We are flying into the Northern most airport in Europe and have already signed up for a dog sled adventure. From what I understand it is dark for 24 hours a day so it is going to be a very interesting trip. I have my Stillwater Newspress front pages so I can get my picture taken and hopefully be famous.
All is well here, I can't believe how fast time seems to fly. I promise to be better at blogging in the New Year.
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