Helsinki

We stayed in Helsinki at a campground with a playground.  We saw a red squirrel!

We had a day in Helsinki going to the shops. Then we went to a science museum, called Heureka, which had rainbow colours at the entrance.  There were lots of fun things to do. Like make a car and race it down a track. There was a virtual world called Jukola and you could do different activities.  We powered a train by using a rowing machine.

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There were lots of great science experiments that the girls enjoyed running round and playing with, but without being really interested in the results.  Such as Foucault’s pendulum, to show the world rotated.  Genevieve grabbed this as soon as it started swinging because she couldn’t help herself! Still a great way to spend the morning.

 

Savonlinna

After the Arctic Circle we headed south. We had a campsite at Kerimaki lake near a big wooden church.  We saw lots of geese heading south for the winter.

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Then we went to a castle called Olavinlinna in Savonlinna. It is built on a rock in the lake, and there in some of the castle rooms you can see rock sticking out of the floor.  The floors were very uneven. The castle was built by Erik Tott, and was named for St. Olav. We climbed right to the top. There was a room for the ladies and a room for the men. The toilet stuck out the side of the tower and if you stood underneath it you would get poo on your head! The tops of the towers were round, not like English castles.

Then we drove to Helsinki, but the car wasn’t very well and we needed to order some parts.

Crossing the Arctic Circle

Yesterday we drove to Finland. We wanted to go to the Sami museum, but it was closed. Then we drove to the campsite, and me and Vivi made a den out of sticks while Dadddy and Mummy made a fire. After that we went with Mummy to find big sticks to use as horses while Daddy made dinner. It was a big fire and we made smores!

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Today we went to see real SANTA at the Santa Claus village in Rovaniemi. He has a fluffy beard and he is not scary at all. He also has big feet. He told us that on the west of Finland there are trees, trees and lakes, and on the east of Finland there are lakes, lakes and trees. We also saw his time regulator, that slows the earths rotation so he can visit all the children in the world on Christmas eve. We gave Santa a letter that told him how to find us when we are travelling.  We have a picture as a signal that we will make out of twigs or stones next to the car.  It is a smiley face with a santa hat.

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We crossed the Arctic circle again, and this time we are going south.

Daddy also bought me my very own knife!

Then we went to the Arktikum museum. There were lots of things to do and we learnt about all the animals and people who live in the Arctic.  I tried on wooden goggles used by Sami people, to stop snow blindness. There was a section on pollution and you had to try and get an oil ‘ball’ from the source to the town, by creating a pipeline.  It was really hard. I learnt about people catching stockfish and cutting them open and hanging them to dry.  We saw lots of hanging frames for the fish in Norway, but they were empty.  We also watched a Northern Lights display.  They are very green. Some people believed that they are caused by a fire fox running across the sky.  Other people believed it was their ancestors playing football with a walrus skull.  The northern lights are really to do with the solar wind that comes from the sun.

 

Alta and Hammerfest

***Delayed publishing 27/09/18***

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Last night we camped just outside Alta in some pine trees. We had sparklers and toasted marshmellows.

Today we went to the Alta Rock carvings. They are from 6000 years ago. We could see fish, reindeer, people and boats. Some were hard to work out what they were. They were carved using one rock to tap the shape into another rock. It must have been hard work.

Then we went to Hammerfest. This is the northern most town. There were lots of stuffed animals. My favourite was the Polar bear. Daddy joined the Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society. He got a certificate and a polar bear pin.

 

Then we kept driving north. There was one big tunnel under the sea to take us to the island where North Cape is. We saw lots of wild reindeer.