So close I could smell the Arctic Circle

Over the past month we have slowly made our way southward from Stockholm until reaching Italy. We quickly erased this migration by catching a flight from Milan to Helsinki, Finland, to meet up with Don, Annika, and for the third time this trip, Oliver. As a complete sidebar, I want to discuss the fact that Don and Annika to this day are still not collectively referred to as Donnika. A) their names share a syllable and segue into one another seamlessly; b) they come from Los Angeles, where other couple's names have often been merged in the headlines (i.e. Bennifer or the not as natural sounding Brangelina). I know this is a tangent, but it just seems so natural to me. So, for the rest of this post do not be confused when two people are described by one name. However, this item does not relate to our travels, and I digress. It was great to see Emelie's parents after about seven months apart, and we spent a great week together in the far north. It wasn't terribly cold, as was expected seeing as though it was mid-November in Finland, but the days were getting rather short being so far north and light was at a premium.

Oliver and me atop a hill with a very Russian looking church illuminated in the background. We spent the first two days in Helsinki and one thing that caught me was the differences in architecture around the city. It is so close to Russia and former SSR's like Estonia that it is not entirely Western, but not entirely of the East as well. Thus, the buildings reflected both styles and you could see the influence of different cultures in both the buildings and the Finnish culture.

Donnika, Emelie and Oliver in front of the Helsinki harbor. You cannot see their feet, but Emelie is on her tiptoes so she doesn't feel like the "short stack" in her tall family.

If you're reading this blog, you know me, and thus, you know deep down I'm a nerd. I love flags for some reason, and on this trip I have found that taking pictures of flags is not as easy as one may think. The wind can make it very difficult at times. Because of this, I was pleased that on this shot Emelie captured the Finnish flag almost perfectly unfurled.

Don and Oliver in front of our hotel where we stayed for two nights. It was a nice respite from the type of traveling we had been accustomed to over the past month on the road.

I guess the best way to profess your love in Helsinki is to affix a padlock with your names written on it to this bridge crossing the harbor...

Dinner at the hotel after our first full day together with familiar faces and a few new friends.

The two beautiful ladies in bed gossiping about something in Swedish...

The real reason the Macpherson's came all the way out to Finland was to check the progress on the new boat that Don is having built in the central part of the country. After two days in Helsinki we all took off for the town of Pietarsaari where the shipyard is located. It was really cool to go to a small town so far north and experience something so new. One thing that totally caught Emelie and me off-guard was that in this part of Finland, Swedish was an official language. Perhaps it has to do with the close proximity across the Baltic Sea to Sweden and the fact that Sweden used to possess Finland, but here in this town and its environs, both Finnish and Swedish were accepted languages and the majority of people were bilingual. In Helsinki one could not get by on Swedish alone and English would be the default second language for the locals, but here it was not the case. Only 6% of Finns can speak Swedish, and we just so happened to be in that part of the country, which was nice for Emelie and Annika (and the rest of us because our Swedish is so proficient these days). Note the road sign above, where both the Swedish and Finnish names for the town are listed. So in our case, even though we were in Pietarsaari, we could also use the Swedish, and easier to pronounce name, Jakobstad.

Checking out some of the carpentry in its early stages. The man with his hand up, Christian, was with us the whole time and is the go-to guy on the project and was super nice and informative about the whole process. It was really neat to see the attention to detail that goes along with a process like this, from the thin sheets of teak that go over the plywood to give the interior wood its look, to the unique design of everything specific to this individual boat.

Emelie and Annika at the stern, using their foresight and envisioning where the helm will be. Oliver stands aside wondering what these women are doing.

Being brother and sister, Emelie and Oliver played the role the entire time and were picking on each other nonstop when Donnika weren't looking...

The first night in Pietarsaari/Jakobstad we were treated to an unforgettable dinner just outside the city. We were taken to an Arctic museum called Nanoq that documented the various trips that have been taken over the years to both poles of the Earth. There were artifacts, documents, and recreated buildings that showed both what expeditions were like to these remote corners of the globe as well as what life was like for the few brave souls who call these places home.

We had a great dinner at a special table inside the museum. It was a delicious meal and I finally got to check reindeer off my list of foods to eat in life. Sorry, Rudolph. Or was it Dancer we had?

A Greenlandic piece of art made from a whale's vertibra. Emelie was especially blown away by this artwork. 

One afternoon I went for a walk, and Oliver, being from southern California deemed it too cold, so me and my Maine blood strolled the small town alone. Note the sun's position in the sky and the time of day.

We left Pietarsaari after two days and returned to Helsinki where we would all part ways again the following morning--Donnika back to LA, Oliver to resume his studies in Jonköping, and Emelie and I to resume our trip and last week in Europe. It was a fun little detour going to the north, and though I didn't get inside the Arctic Circle (a life goal of mine), I still managed to do the two things I hoped for in Finland. Eat reindeer, and get my sauna on. On the return flight to Italy Emelie mentioned how nice it was to see her family and how nice it was that it all worked out that for this small amount of time we were all able to meet up in one corner of the world and spend some time together. If only Maya and Erik could have been there. Back to the backpacking and another canal city--Venice.

Italia, prima parte...

We took the train from Lyon to Torino early in the morning and were treated to an amazing ride through the Alps. For two and a half hours I neglected the book in my lap and let my eyes instead look at snow-capped peaks in succession, often with sleepy towns built into the countryside. It was beautiful, and I made note that next time I'm in this part of the world to check out Switzerland and Austria, or anywhere for that matter where these mountains are in their backyard. We spent two days in Torino, and to be honest, it didn't blow us away too much. I had wanted to go because they had recently had the Winter Olympics, but as I later learned, most of those events were held outside the city where buildings were erected or where the natural mountains were. Nonetheless, the city did have some gorgeous spots, namely along the Po River. Like parts of coastal Italy, they were experiencing much heavier rainfall than usual for this time of year, as reflected in some of the photos below.

On a bridge with the Po River beneath.

The heavy rainfall of late caused the river to overflow its usual banks. These places are usually lively cafes and restaurants along the water's edge, but due to powers outside their control, they were shut down for business.

Emelie in front of the river, proud of her braid she put in that day. When you've been traveling for weeks on end and living out of a backpack with the same rotation of clothes, it's these little things that add spice to what's usually a common outfit.

On the other side of a river, a church (forget its name) perched atop a hill.

Aerial view of Torino from said church.

Torino at night. We had the most amazing pizzas this evening. They are so large, so varied, so cheap, and so delicious in this country.

Once the rain cleared on the day we were leaving, it was possible to see the Alps in the distance. We took a train this morning to Milan, the business and fashion capital of Italy. It is Italy's second largest city (behind Rome) and there is a great rivalry between the two, very much like the Boston/NY thing we have back home. Romans think that Milanos work too much and can't relax, and Milanos think that Romans are lazy and don't do anything for the country. 

Picnic dinner one night in our hotel. One thing we've found is that we kind of do miss cooking back at our own place. Don't get me wrong, eating meals out is nice, but when it's happening day in and day out it can almost lose its novelty. It makes you appreciate more the one night a week in Portland we'd go out, but also made us appreciate our own kitchen. Thus, it's nice to mix things up with an occasional meal like this one on our fancy table (bed).

The Duomo of Milan. The fourth largest church in all of Europe. It looks so different from others we've seen because of how Gothic the design is. Hard to tell from these photos, but there are so many statues around the building's exterior, all different and showing different things. Again, we're not religious us two, but buildings like this are hard to overlook for their beauty and grandeur. Also, this piazza here is one of the best places to get pickpocketed in all of Italy!

There was a random movement the day we were here where a group of hundreds of young people showed up and just randomly started making art on the streets. These girls were nice enough to explain what was going on and let me take their picture.

Free heat inside the church.

This may not look like much, but will bring me lots of luck in the next year. It is said that if you go to this bull, place your heel on his testicles and spin in a complete circle you will have good luck for the next year. For real. I couldn't make this stuff up...

When seeing cities all the time, you often don't get to get into nature too often, so stumbling upon this garden behind the Szfaro Castle was a real treat. An old garden that used to hold the elite's wild animals is now open to the public and just gorgeous. We lazed away the afternoon here, soaking up the sun and enjoying the fall colors on the trees.

This was pretty neat, and something I wouldn't have learned without a guide book. The arch in the background is from the days of Napoleon, who had conquered this part of Italy during his time of taking all possible lands he could find to compensate for being so short. On top of the arch are a bunch of horses that symbolized his coming to town when he took the city. However, after Napoleon fell the Italians got on top of the monument and physically turned the horses around--effectively sending them on their way back to France.

Next, and in the most illogical order possible, it's back north again. We're off to Finland to see Emelie's family who will be visiting the cold north for a week. Ciao!

Les Alpes

We left Paris on a TGV (Train Grande Vitesse) ((Very fast train)) to go to Lyon, the regional capital of the Rhone-Alps region of France. Though 425km apart, the high-speed train got us there in just under two hours. It is widely-known as the gastronomical capital of France, though sadly on our world-wide travel budget we did not treat ourselves to the many Michelin chefs that dot the town's restaurant scene. We both loved the city for its views, its people, and the much smaller feel than a city of Paris' size. 

Emelie, who doesn't keep it a secret from anyone that she loves flowers, proclaimed this was "the coolest statue I have seen so far in Europe." Behind in the photo, the Rhone River, one of two major rivers that converge near the old town. It is because of its rivers and location in a valley between two mountain ranges that made Lyon such a perfect setting for the former capital of Roman Gaul.

A view toward the town's central square, said to be the largest in all of Europe (though obscured from view by the fountains here).

When walking around the town our first full day in Lyon we stumbled upon a market along the Saone river that went on for hundreds of yards in each direction. It made us miss our kitchen back in Portland so much, for the food was so fresh, cheap, and unbelievably attractive when walking by stall after stall. It was one of those things you find when traveling that makes you happy to be where you are at that exact place and time.

Enjoying a freshly-roasted sausage while sitting on a bridge that connects to the old vielle ville (old city).

Fresh rotisserie chickens. Note the steam rising from the pile of poultry.









Below, Emelie again snapping away at flowers, also fresh and available everywhere at the market.

A view from below of the Cathedral of Notre Dame that looks over the entire city.

 

Next to the Cathedral, overlooking the valley floor and Lyon in her entirety.

Not sure what I was doing here. Maybe the church's presence nearby made me reach to the heavens above? In the background, the tallest building in the city is actually very modern. It's in the modern part of town near the train station where most of the newer businesses lie. Locals refer to the tower simply as "the pencil."

As I said before, way back in the day Lyon was part of the Roman empire. I knew this coming into the visit to the city, but was awed by one of the few signs that showed the age of the city and its vast history. These photos show the two Roman amphitheaters that are on the hill and are, for the most part, still perfectly intact. There were a myriad of mazes through the stones and the general scale of everything was impressive, especially considering the mast basic engineering tools they had at their disposal around 2,000 years ago.

After a few days we left, on a whim and because of an incredibly cheap train ticket, we ventured toward a town called Chambery in the Savoy region of the Alps. We spent but one day and night here, but it was great. First, I enjoyed it because it was one of the smallest places we'd been to yet on the trip--we have mostly been going to large cities with all sorts of sights. But for me, being from a small town and a state that's generally rural on the whole, it was nice to see the sky again.

The Fountain of Elephants, in honor of a resident of Chambery from the 1800s who went to India, made his fortunes, then came back to his birth city to bestow his money on the town he called home.

Laundry day in the hotel!

Emelie in front of a classic French boulangerie. Note on the bottom shelf the size of the merangue!

My lovely lady in some orange bushes that were just asking to have their photo taken.

Chambery sat in a valley, but the Alps (on a clear day) were a beautiful presence at all times in the background.

After ten days in France it was time to take off and again encounter the language barrier that would come with the crossing through the Alps into Italy. Au revoir, France...