Finland

1996 Finland posted by somenzi daniele [25/02/2007 18:50]

Michela and I set off from Linate with Lufthansa via Frankfurt, arriving in Helsinki at midday. The Nissan Micra is our travelling companion. We set off north and sleep the first night in a tent, in freezing cold, in April; at these latitudes the ice is everywhere. First and last night in a tent. But then how did Fogar manage when he crossed the North Pole? I drive along the splendid road; here it's a pleasure to drive, no holes or anomalies of any kind. For the most part you're in huge fir forests; here the main activity is cutting the trees down and then replanting them small, then coming back twenty years later and starting all over again. But who knew that Finland was, until 1917, Russian territory? In fact that's the date it gained independence. Only five million inhabitants for 337,000 square km; it reminds me of New Zealand, except that here it's much colder.

We try to see the elk, but not a trace. At a certain point we head back south and drive along the Russian border, with a visit to the frontier where dozens of trucks are queuing to cross over there. The Baltic Sea, in April, is super frozen; you can walk to Estonia. I know from a documentary that the Finns, aboard these strange vehicles, a kind of sled with three runners and a sail like a windsurfer, go all the way over there and come back having fun like madmen. Michela and I try the thrill of walking on the Baltic Sea; usually I swim in the sea, not walk on it. Here in Finland you can do that too. We go into a shopping centre and I buy a little yellow watering pistol, which I take back to Italy, to use in my garden. We also take, in a plastic bag, two little fir plants with soil and roots; let's hope they take root in Versilia, though it may be too hot.

A walk in Helsinki; we see that the traffic is orderly, but the weather is bad, and so everything seems sadder. Hotelli Pilotti is the name of the hotel where we spend the second night of our honeymoon. What a strange name. We see that some fishermen walk to the middle of the lake to fish in the hole, sitting on the edges of the opening, and they never go home empty-handed. Here, though, I don't trust myself to walk on it; the fishermen are experts and know where to put their feet in April; had it been January it would have been another matter. We go back to the airport where Finnair reigns supreme; we, however, fly Lufthansa. We say goodbye to Finland, which I'll visit another time in the future, and fly home via Frankfurt; a new life awaits us. Bye bye