Thursday was a grey and wet morning which added to the gloom as poor Ahmad went off to try and sort out his car troubles. We set off for a quick trip around town to see the market place which we had been told was a must. This square is on the water front and at night is obviously the place for eating and drinking.
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| Some of the night time cafes at the waterfront |
In the day time it is mainly all about the great old market hall building which is 110 years old this year.
It was designed by some very famous Finnish architects. It is in daily use and is very busy and well kept inside
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| The view down one of the long aisles of the market [ look at that roof!] |
The square is watched over by an amusing sculpture of a portly policeman who is widely regarded as the town mascot.
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| Not Mr Plod but Toripollisi |
The rain persisted so we drove on staying alongside the seas of the Gulf of Bothnia until we were almost at the Swedish border when we turned inland towards Rovanmieni the capital of Lappland (the home of the Sami people). The road was wet and busy ...
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| Log lorry on the main road |
At the entry to Rovanmieni we saw reindeer of a sort
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| The reindeer in the city |
Stopped to see the famous bridge of the lumberjacks with the lights on top
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| Lumber jack bridge |
Whilst in Rovanmieni we also took timeout to visit the Lapp Museum the Arktikum which was fascinating.
A small museum with an innovative layout built around a 3 storey glass tunnel running out to the edge of the river.
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| The view down the main atrium of the museum |
Te exhibitions were small but very well done and captivating - they also had a special show on Lappland and gold mining through the ages that I enjoyed a lot.
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| GOLD ORE SAMPLES IN VARIOUS ROCK TYPES |
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| EXAMPLES OF LOCAL GOLD PEODUCTION |
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| REPRODUCTION OF AN OLD CLAIM AND MINER'S HUT |
Then it was off to the Arctic Circle at a location a few km north of the town.
The first sign of the circle on the road............
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| One of the two markers showing the Arctic Circle |
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| A more picturesque marker at the Arctic Circle |
and the Santa Claus main post office............
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| Santa Claus Main Post Office - Arctic Circle |
.........we resisted the opportunity to visit Santa but we did se anothe Circle Marker............
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| Arctic Circle marker #2 |
.............and resisted having our pictures taken there too!
Obviously a very touristy place but we saw snow on the ground........
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| Snow on the Arctic Circle |
...........and native tents,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
and bought a few trinkets before heading back to find the road to Muinio which was to be our overnight stop. The rain still persisted but we saw almost no cars and our first live reindeer crossing the road.
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| The first reindeer |
Plenty of warning signs about deer herds but we only saw 4 all day!
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| Reindeer warning sign - the map shows all the top end of Finland as the danger zone! |
The rain continued but mostly the traffic disappeared
We saw now on the hill tops as we neared our stop at the skiing resort outside Muinio
Snow on the ground in more places too ,,,,,
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| Snow on the river bank |
Finally we arrived at our location and checked in to an out of season resort. Dinner was ata restaurant in another resort 8 km away and breakfast will be at the garage 2 km away.
The place is almost deserted
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| Our over night base |
The view cross the river at the resort, the other bank is Sweden!
On the way home from dinner we went into Sweden for 200 m
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| The entry to Sweden... |
...stopped on the bridge in No-Man's land
....and then came back again....
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| The return to Finland |
At the resort we saw this great sculpture outside our block...
And of course it is near permanent daylight at this latitude in late May.
These pictures were all taken at about 10 pm.
Here is a picture of my watch and the view from the window in Oulu the night before at about 2330 hours showing how light it was outside. Thank heavens we had blackout curtains in the hotel!
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| Oulu 2330 hours |
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