Rovaniemi Again
Friday 08/03/2007 2:52 AM (In Finland: 9:52 AM)
This post is coming a little later than I'd planned. I found a coffee shop yesterday evening with free wireless internet access and a place to plug in for electricity, but I misread the open hours. I got online, checked email and resized pictures for the blog, and then realized they closed at 8 instead of 10, so I didn't have time to post.
I took a train here from Nakkila -- three trains, actually. Luckily, all of the changes and travel went very smoothly and I got to Rovaniemi right around 5 pm Finland time. While I was on the train, though, I took a few pictures of Finnish countryside, but then realized they all looked the same:
OK, so the second one has a barn, but it's the only picture I have from the train window that has anything other than trees, grass, and sky. Every now and then we'd go over a river, but by the time I got the camera turned on and ready to take a picture, it was back to trees again.
Oh, there is one other photo of interest from the train. It's the only commentary on the Iraq War I've seen since I came to Finland, and I'm guessing it isn't an official statement from the train company (the info in the top right corner says it is an official US Army poster, but I somehow doubt that too):
I walked from the train station to my hotel so I could get to know the town a little better. It was only about one mile: luckily this town is pretty compact so it's easy to get around on foot. Most of the tourism industry is focused on winter here: the lodging is less expensive now, there aren't many people hauling luggage and maps around town like me, and all of the tourist brochures seem focused on ice castles and skiing. So I was especially surprised to find this bar across the street from my hotel:
Hemingway? Does anyone know if Hemingway has a connection to Rovaniemi, Finland (or is this an attempt to offer American tourists like me a familiar face at the Arctic Circle)?
And officially, Rovaniemi is already north of the Arctic Circle, though the marker for the line is in Napapiiri, about 12 km north of here (though officially, the line shifts throughout the year). I took a bus to Napapiiri yesterday, and those photos are in the next post ...
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