Hey everybody!
Sorry it's been a few days. Our accommodation in russenes charged $8 a pop for wifi which is ridiculous. So I decided to disconnect for a couple of days. Tonight I am in Rovaniemi and can get the wifi working on my phone but not the iPad. So no photos, but provided the next place's wifi works well I'll hopefully upload the photos tmro.
Today's entry is for the 23rd, 24th and 25th of June.
24th June 3.24pm
Yesterday we drove from skibotn to russenes. We left at 8.30am and I sat up the front of the bus with Leah and some of the other girls. Was a fun bus day full of laughing, snacking and some napping in there as well!
We made two stops only. The first was a beautiful lunch stop at a place called Kvaenangen. The scenery today was amazing with epic snow capped mountains and fjords. We set up our lunch on a hilltop with an amazing view. We were right near a restaurant and the owner was an absolute pig. Came out and had a go at dave and Laura for setting up our lunch there even though it was a huge public area. Also you had to pay for the toilet. I fully intended to but when I went to pay he was yelling at an Austrian woman so I didn't bother.
We saw a few reindeer on the way but there were heaps to come! We made a quick stop for groceries and Freir chocolate was half price - DAMN IT! So of course I had to buy two blocks. One of them has already been eaten and one is for when mum and dad arrive!
The place we are staying at is alright. About a third of us are over the road in a hostel type place. I'm in a fairly spacious room with Libby teagan and dani. Can't wait for some nice apartments coming up though, I can't put up with sorry rooms and bathrooms forever! Ah well.
We had carbonara for dinner and then headed off to Nordkapp at 8pm on a shuttle. On the way we saw a heap of reindeer! Even stopped at one point to take photos out of the bus and saw lots of babies (I think they are calves??). I took some video as well.
As much as I have loved Norway, I really don't understand how people live way up here in the north. This is summer yet it's 5 degrees and cloudy! There's hardly anything to do and hardly anywhere to go. I can completely understand why Norway has one of the highest rates of depression in the world in the winter. Lack of vitamin D, nothing to do and no light - not a good combo.
We made it to Nordkapp about 10.30pm. Usually you can see the sun set and rise in a 'V' formation as this is the northernmost point of Europe and well inside the land of the midnight sun! So the sun does not set between the end of May and the end of July. We are so close to midsummer that it is especially bright at the moment. But it was completely clouded over last night so we couldn't see anything. I bought a postcard though and have seen it other nights. I do not have much luck with "the top of Europe" though. Jungfrau was completely clouded over last trip, and now this!! Oh well. Still loved being there. It was still beautiful and it even snowed! Got my picture taken by the globe statue, then bought some souvenirs in the shop. Got some awesome socks with pom-poms and a magnet of course!
We all got a group photo at midnight and wore our sunnies as a joke to show "how sunny" it was. I rang nan and pa and it was great to speak to them! Then had a quick look at the small museum downstairs. Had never really thought about it, but the north and South poles only have one sunset and one sunrise per year! How weird is that!!
On the way back we went back through the massive tunnels we had gone through earlier. One was really long and went 250m below sea level. It was closed for maintenance on the way back and we had to wait 50 minutes to go through. It was 2am but bright as day so I went for a walk and did some star jumps. Finally got to bed at 4am, our room was flooded with light so we covered the windows with doonas. They don't like decent curtains here !
Today we woke at 10.30am, then had brunch with sausages, eggs, yoghurt, toast etc. Yummm!!! I then decided to go for a run. I ran right along the main road as far as you can see from the campsite. Took me 70 minutes there and back. I saw reindeer, waterfalls and some little houses. Got nice and sweaty and am feeling so much better about myself now. I've been feeling really bloated and disgusting with all the time on the bus.
Had a cold shower (warm water in Helsinki come at me...) and now here I am. Tonight we are having a trivia night. I've been recruited by an all girl team for my "sports knowledge" apparently. Little do they know it is unlikely there will be any AFL questions! Then we are having a punch party.
Tmro we leave Norway and head to Finland to see Santa - YAAAAY!!!!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
25th June 8.38pm
Hello again!
The trivia night last night was lots of fun. We had seven categories; geography, history, art, anthropology, economics, biology and English. All of them were funny and loosely related to the category name. You had to pick one person from your team to do each category. I was geography and had a perfect task for me - list as many European countries as you can in a certain amount of time. Smashed out 33 but still came second to Kahn! Our team won overall and had lots of fun in the English category where we had to write a song and perform it. We made ours to the tune of 'In the Summer' by Calvin Harris and took advantage of my memory by having me rap the names of all the towns we've been to. It was a big laugh! We got medals for winning.
We had goulash for dinner with ice cream for dessert. Also tried some reindeer which was delicious! But unfortunately a bit dropped into my ice cream. Still ate it and still delicious!
We had our punch party and had lots of fun. Went to bed at 12.30 and had to get up at 5.15 for an early start and another big driving day. We didn't really stop anywhere except for lunch and then in our destination for the night - Rovaniemi. We went to Santa's workshop! Got a photo with the great man himself who was really nice, and he's going to send me a letter at Christmas! Bought some decorations and we were on our way.
I am in a cabin with Ivana and Brooke tonight. We have a lovely little cottage with a lakefront view! Finland has 200,000 lakes apparently! What I've noticed so far - people here are very reserved, they drink LOTS of coffee and the words here have about 15 letters, half of which are ks! I've gone from Norway where I could understand most words to here not understanding anything!!
Tonight we had mushroom soup and then salmon for dinner - mmmm!!
Tmro we drive to Jväskylä and then the next day to Helsinki where I meet mum and dad!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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