Comeback of the sun

After 7 weeks the sun made a comeback and climed above the horizon for one full hour up North in Lappland. This is at the northest place called Nuorgam, Utsjoki in Northern Finland.

Well, only 6 months to go and then it is the opposite: the sun does not go down at all. Hence they have e.g. midnight golfing... Not bad, here is a taster of midnight moment from Lapland summer.

Now I know better!

Good morning,

Before going further, I wish to complete previous posts about Bääbs; Unfortunately Bääbs did not make it to the next round - unless the wild card comes to her - but despite of the outcome I am extremely proud of the show that was put together self produced, without any record company support.
Well done!!!

Then to the blog-topic;
I have been wondering if there are people who truly visit and read what I write. Ivanka is the only one who dares to comment (you know, you can post comments anonymus and without registering from the end of the post) and I only now and then hear direct feedback from some of you.

Feel free to post comments or give your views directly to me!

After I added the gadget that shows the flags and counts of visiting countries together with the total page downloads my confidence in you raised. Already over 100 page in a week, since I published it on 8th.

Thank you for reading, give your comments and stay on the channel - something new coming up again soon!

Bääbs Show can begin...

Continuance to the previous;

We are ready, already put the champagne in the natural cooler at the back yard.

Yes, it is real - the cooler is in the middle, next to the iglu that has got light inside. Just to clarify, this is different from the previous iglu - the one K made in Levi, Lapland.

-18C outside so the cooler is very efficient...

To complete tonight's Bääbs-packet, here are the instructions for voting (only in Finland).

Tässä tiedoksi äänestysohjeet:

Soita numeroon 0700-717-03 tai lähetä tekstiviesti 3 nroon 17132.

Äänestys alkaa suoran lähetyksen alussa ja jatkuu lähetyksen loppupuolelle asti.

Äänestyspuhelu maksaa 99 senttiä + pvm per puhelu.

Tekstiviestin hinta on 99 senttiä per viesti.

Live - tonight - from Tampere: Bääbs!

At her website http://baabs.fi/ scroll down and you can check out the video of the performance - but it is different from the show tonight.

Also English pages are available so go ahead and get into the mood, let's see if she can make it to the next level. However, for a self-produced piece it is FANTASTIC achievement that she has made it even this far!!!

Hyvä Päivi, Go Bääbs!

Enjoy your moment in the spotlight!

Go Bääbs

Like I said earlier I have higher interest to the Finnish qualification to the Eurovision song contest this year.

The reason for the interest, Bääbs, has done apparently better then ever expected but is this Friday facing the next phase of the qualifications. She is performing on stage and I am really looking for it!!! At Facebook there has been fan groups where Finns have been able to find instructions on how to vote etc. That's today's marketing ;o)

Go Päivi - I mean Bääbs - on Friday at Finnish TV2, 9:00 pm!!!

Wanna have a beer in Finland? Pay for it...!

If you plan a trip to Finland, keep in mind that you can get almost all the beers from the world - but with a price tag. Or what do you think about these prices in a Finnish pub?

(You can enlarge the pics by clicking them)

A regular lager 0.33 liter bottle with 4.7% alcohol (4.7 due to a strange law in Finland) costs you from 4 to 5 euros, but as you can see from above, all "special" brands to Finnish markets are 50-100% more expensive. What comes to the taste of the Finnish beers, no matter what the brand is, they taste more or less the same...

While passing a pizza joint the other day I couldn't resist - I had to take the pic below. -20C outside and yes, it is bare skin that you can see at arms & shoulders. And the hat is similar to what my daughter was wearing. She was too embarrased to go to the same pic...

Matter of taste and style, I'd say. He was smiling after I took the pic!

The iglu

We have a family member (or actually several) who loves to play in the snow and has not had the chance in past years. Hence he used the opportunity and went sleighing, pulkkamäki, as well as decided to build an iglu.

One hour passed and it was ready to go, big enough for a 2 meter tall man to sleep in!!!

Also it has been enjoyable to see him as well as another family member to clear the yard from the snow voluntarily. Still now, let's see how long it will last...

Ladies, let's park!

Let's start the new year with a news from last year.
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Ladies, this is good news;
There is a shopping mall that has got parking designed for women. Pink colors, bright lights and 1meter (3 ft) wider parking places!!! And this is not a joke.

Ja sama suomeksi.

Downside?
It is in China, not (yet) in Finland...

And here is another good one.
Someone is selling a ginger bread house at the same site as normal houses are sold. If someone buys the house, the money goes to charity of homeless people...

Hyvää Uutta Vuotta - Happy New Year!

2010, I bet it will be even better than 2009!

Well, at the same time I do remember how some guys were beaten by certain employer... There is a reason for everything and call me naive or what ever but I do believe the good guys will win at the end ;o)

Another dark story to clear the air;
What the f__k is wrong with people since they can't accept the facts and at the end can't handle things other then with violence - and in worst case like today. Not to talk about the school shootings - or the not-so-brutal-but-still-violent beatings at the schools. Parents, kids, it is time to wake up, you need to respect life!!!

OK, so much for the dark side. The best is to continue life and make the best out of it - realizing still the dark side. This year our New Year was a bit different from the past ones, since we are in the middle of active ski holiday, where 10-12 hour night sleep is nothing extraordinary...

Laplad is still beautiful! Here is a pic from the top of the World Cup slope on a foggy day. In clear weather you would see a nice background but here this looks like uphill... This is the same slope where the top guys and ladies ski for the title...

And here is the Tuikku-restaurant which is a bit like a water fountain in the middle of Sahara desert.

The Horizont-restaurant is pretty good, even if they should keep the fire place hot all the time

 

Well, at least they have the reindeer horns

And outside you can find the nature art

At the end of the day you can park your vehicle - or skis - and head to the village. Some of you might remember that I wrote something about FAN-F___ING-TASTIC Exel-ski poles that you can see on the left. They are great! Just like the Salomon Pilot8 skis, which are on the other hand a bit outdated and not enough curved... High speed and no mogules, they are great!

Anyways, you can finish the day at the bottom of the slope with sleigh (pulkka) ride. I can tell you it can be fun!!!

Afterwards cross the road and you are in the middle of the village centre.

There is a tower and all, but let's get real - it is new built without proper history. Commercial...

But on the other hand one can NOT argue about the beauty of Lapland!!!

It on the other hand can make one crazy, as we Finns know. Or how would you otherwise explain the man in the snow you can find in the pic...?!?

It is 2010 and we also did the traditional tin melting, this time with snow unlike the past years.

Hyvää Uutta Vuotta

Happy New Year

2010

Lapland, Finland - I love it!

Here are few tasters from a trip to Lapland in Northern Finland. The sun does not come up at all above the horizon while we are here. The joy is that the famous blue moment lasts for all the short day - and it is just like Fazer Blue chocolate.

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Roads in Finland can be dark and snowy, and we have the street lights only at the exits.

One can have fun also on the road

We also have a place called II, written with two I's

And they have a place called Hamina, which is another town in South-East corner

This is from Tornio at 2:04 pm

At the slopes at 11 am

The lights are needed all day long

Hot chocolate was decently priced, 2.40 Eur from a proper cup

The Christmas market was small but nice. This at around 4 pm.

This guy needed to cover his truck properly and had it running all the time. -25 C.

Tuikku -restaurant at the top of one of the fells was needed.

It also came with a view. Just for clarity, it is frozen snow at the terrace ceiling

I love this!

...more to come later...