And now for something completely different

Trip Start Aug 08, 2006

Trip End Oct 08, 2006

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Flag of Finland Inari, Finland
Tuesday, September 5, 2006

When I booked my flights to/from Ivalo, I knew it could be a mistake to have just one day and a half in Lapland, but my schedule was already tight and I didn't really have many options to take the time from, so I decided to book it that way.
Then my plane took off from Helsinki (had to fly there from Turku) and I could see how beautiful southern Finland is, and it went above the gray clouds. One hour later, it came again below the clouds, and I knew it had been a mistake, after all. The forest in the north is completely different and all the more beautiful than in the south...
I got out of the plane under a cold rain, managed to find someone in the airport who was driving to Ivalo center and could give me a ride and, it being already late, spent the night in a hotel there. I had already decided to miss my plane, so had some new found time to spend. I then chose to head for Inari, 40km to the northwest, the next day, as it was recommended by my guidebook and there was the largest national park in Finland nearby

A stream by the road

. The buses are not so frequent, though, and I had to wait until 14h to leave Ivalo, taking the time to walk a little in the hotel's surroundings (nothing to see) and eat the reindeer fillet in Ivalo style in the hotel (this was worth it :).
I couldn't contact HC members in Inari (about the 500-something inhabitants, there are some members!), as I didn't have internet access in Ivalo, so had to rent a cabin in the camping (hotel Inari was full) and then start exploring the surroundings. The village has almost nothing, except for the Siida museum, about the nature in the area and the S�mi people that live there. But the forest is really worth missing your plane, and I spent one day and a half (returning to sleep in the cabin) wandering in it or just sitting by one of the many lakes you stumble upon and enjoying the peace, as a cold, cold wind silently announces that the summer is over and the trees one by one start to agree, so that there can be plants of the same species side by side and each bear a different hue, as they change from green to yellow, to orange, to red, to brown. Makes you feel like you need nothing else but to be there. I was so right in coming to Finland.
I am ready to leave to Helsinki now (had to give up Savonlinna), but how will I get there? Read in the next section. :)

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