Finland - Land of Thousand Lakes
Finland - the land of thousand lakes, vikings, snow, reindeer and Santa Claus. Open Cafes, bicycle lanes, colourful market squares, plush lawns, yellow maple leaves all over, seagulls at the port, fat pigeons, crows and a host of myriad birds. Churches, Public sculptures, blue christmas trees at Kamppi, squirrels and cute babies in coats twice their size. Long summer days and equally long winter nights. Snow all round the year and polar nights sans sunrise for days together in Lapland.
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The peculiar weather, westerly winds, occasional fog together with the mild sun create a mystical aura about Helsinki. It probably has to do with being situated at 60 degrees N latitute. The lighting is intensive and delightful here. Whenever the Sun decides to peep out from the cloud cover, he creates wonderful patterns in the sky, drawing all attention to himself. At times as mild as the moon even at noon, yet at times dazzling even if his weak rays try in vain to pierce the freezing blanket of air. The conifer trees and the leafless temperate trees add to this aura, creating a beauty that is almost divine.
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Santa Village at Rovaniemi
Santa's Office
Lapland is even more wonerful, with wilderness every where, towards every direction. One of the last havens of untouched nature, it draws humans and wildlife alike into its magical fold. It was my first experience of sub zero temperatures - it was -12 on the morning we arrived there. Frozen dew on the tundra shrubbery, frozen lakes, frozen coke on the fence with icicles, frozen slabs of ice on the road on which I was trying to mild-skate with my new Goretex shoes. The wind is chilling yet the sun shines brightly.
Reindeer
Santa's Cabin in the fell at Rovaniemi
No wonder the official Santa Claus resides here, together with his elf helpers and Mrs. Santa Claus, who runs the ginger-bread bakery. In this land of ice and reindeer, there is real magic and it is hard not to believe in fairies and leprechauns. Why, one of them might be hiding behind this shrub, in that burrow over there........
2 comments:
That was a nice post.
good travel-writing... :)
"fat pigeons, crows and a host of myriad birds." - it would have been interesting had u mentioned the names of the other birds. Readers need not be birdwatchers to understand the names... one need not understand at all... it can always be the sheer joy in knowing abt other countries..... for Birdwatchers, it will be the joy in reading abt birds of different places..... Its just a suggestion.... pigeons and crows are not strange... instead of writing myriad birds, had u mentioned their names, the element of surprise/ignorance in the readers make the blog more informative... since the entropy increases.... hehe
I just wanted a picture to emerge, complete with all details. Mentioning the names of birds would please bird watchers, but would interrupt the imagery for others or so I thought. I chose crows and pegions as they are common in India too, and as soon as the sentence is read, a picture of these fat birds with fluffy feathers appears in the mind, without having to consciously trouble it. what say?
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