Elina: We went and visited Mark, Marianne, Adelina and their 5 day old baby boy... Baby was schlaafing most of the time. Mark is an Aussie. Adelina is about a year older than me and we had heaps of fun mucking around. Marianne had a migrane so we made as much noise as we could :-)

Elke: It was Mikie's birthday today so we went out for lunch at the Kaapeli restaurant in the old cable factory which is now used as a cultural center.

Michael: After a great lunch (thanks Trent), we went over to Peter and Liisa's place for dinner. Peter is an interesting talkative English guy who has lived in Finland for almost 40 years and teaches conversational and security English. He spent 10 years in the Royal British Air Force. His father was first a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force in order to get his wings, then transferred to the Royal Marines and then to the Royal Navy as an aviator. In 1943, the Allies were planning to invade Sicily and wanted to weaken the Nazi defenses. They actually used Peter's father's identity (without his knowledge) and washed a corpse up on shore with false plans of an allied invasion on Greece. A book and movie have been made about the story: The Man Who Never Was. Let us know if you have seen the film or read the book...

We haven't seen them for ages so it was nice to catch up over dinner. Elina and Emilia played quite well and didn't fight too much this time :)

When we arrived back in Helsinki from our trip in Lapland we discovered that Elina's pram had been damaged in the flight (pretty much in the same way as last time when we came back from Germany 3 months ago). We reported the damage to Finnair and they referred us to the same place that replaced Elina's pram last time. The damage was again deemed too severe to repair so we got another brand new replacement. This one looks better than the last one so we are pretty happy about that. I wonder what the next pram will look like :-)

So much happened in such a short time...

Friday 21st was midsummer's eve - the longest day of the year. We decided to go camping and fishing in northern Lapland. We flew to Ivalo and caught a bus to Inari which is located about 300km north of the arctic circle so at this time of the year the sun doesn't set at all. In summer the sun doesn't set for about 2 months, and of course in winter the sun doesn't rise for about 2 months either! (The image on the right is taken at midnight. The sun does get slightly lower during the night but not much.)

After setting up our tent and cooking dinner, we went to check out the local entertainment. We had heard that the two places of interest were the local pub and a party down by the lake. Trent was keen to check out the Lapp dancing down by the lake. It looked pretty quiet but the guy charging 7€ entry said that there were about a thousand people last year so we thought it might liven up a bit. There were lots of old people from around Lapland dancing inside a tent to traditional music. Even with the sun up, it was getting really cold especially when the clouds rolled in so we headed back to find somewhere warmer.

On our way back to the tent we stopped for a drink in the Inari Hotel. Elina had lost her dummy somewhere so we started off towards our campsite. Just before we got back Elina projectile vomited all over her pram, her jacket and her sleeping bag; not really the best thing that can happen when you are camping and it is starting to get really cold. Luckily the campground had a laundry with a washing machine and a dryer. We just made it back before the office closed. We put Elina to sleep in one of our sleeping bags and waited for the midnight sun. Sure enough the sun never set. When Elina's sleeping bag was clean and dry we all hit the sack. Our sleeping bags are rated down to 0C so we expected to be nice and warm on a midsummer night, especially since the sun was out all night. We were in for one heck of a surprise. The ground was freezing cold and since we didn't have any mats to sleep on, it basically sucked the heat right out of us. Somehow Elina was nice and warm but the rest of us were freezing. We lay there laughing about how confident Trent was that he wouldn't even need a sleeping bag until we convinced him that 5C at night is not really that warm. He had planned to sleep under the stars in his clothes (not that you can see any stars when the sun is out). After six hours of us shivering, Elina woke up nice and refreshed. We got up and went to the kitchen to thaw out.

After a the 'longest night' we were worried that the next two nights might be the same. Elke happened to mention it to someone and they suggested buying reindeer skins because they are warmer and softer than the synthetic mats. It seemed like an interesting option so we went and bought four skins. Saturday night in the tent was so nice and comfortable. We can highly recommend them to anyone who is looking for something warm and soft to sleep on when camping. And when you aren't camping they look a lot nicer than rubber mats.

Just like most debacles, the "fishing debacle" started out as a great idea. Apparently June and July are the peak of the salmon fishing season and since we were going to be camping near some of the most pristine waters in Europe it seemed logical to buy some fishing gear and catch some fish for dinner. I bought a rod, reel, some lures and other bits and pieces. Elke bought a fish shaped thing that we could use to cook the fish in the camp fire, but even though it was a good 40-50cm long Trent and I thought it was far too small for the fish we would catch so we decided to leave it at home.

The night before we left we realised that we didn't have a fishing license but we found out we could probably get one when we arrived. When we got to Ivalo we asked an old guy who was carrying a fishing rod where we could buy a license. He said "I don't know, I paid for mine on the internet. You know the internet? It's that thing on your computer. www....". Another old guy said that if you don't have the internet you can buy one from some place in Inari.

Eventually we found the place in Inari that sells fishing licenses. The next problem was that we needed to decide which fishing license we wanted. Effectively it depends on exactly when and which river or lake you are planning to fish. There is a Finnish one that everyone between 18 and 64 needs. Then you have to buy one for the region you are in; in our case it was Lapland. Then you might need a specific license for the specific river or lake you decide to fish in. After a good hour of explanation and three trips back for clarification we just paid for the most simple license. It was very restrictive about where we were allowed to fish but since we only wanted to catch one fish for dinner we didn't really care as long as it wasn't too far away.

Our first fishing attempt was in the river near our campsite. After about 5 casts my lure got snagged on something. I couldn't get it free and I didn't feel like getting wet so I had to cut the line. I went back to the campsite and sat in front of the fire to attach another lure. Elke wanted to have a go so we went back down to the shore. Being the expert fisherman that I am, I showed her how to do it. After two casts I managed to snag it again. I climbed through the undergrowth to get a bit closer to where the lure was stuck. While trying to release the lure, my dodgy new collapsible rod snapped in half. I think it was faulty because I really wasn't applying much force at all. Just after it snapped two fish jumped out of the water right next to my stranded lure laughing at me. Then the half that snapped off slid down the line and ended up in the river. After a few minutes the lure released and I was able to wind it in. By this time we were getting pretty hungry and catching a fish was looking rather unlikely so Elke cooked up some sausages and I made some damper.

On Sunday Trent and I figured we may as well lose the last lure so we thought we'd walk to a fishing spot we saw on the map. I didn't quite realise how far it was. We walked through the forest for maybe an 45 minutes until we reached a cable boat which is used to cross the river. We had to wait while some German tourist tried to figure out how to get across the river. When we finally got to the other side I managed to skin my shin while jumping out of the boat. We let go of the rope and the boat floated away from the shore before we realised that we were still wearing the lifejackets. With some effort we got the boat back so we could leave the jackets in it. We continued walking down the river for a while until we saw the huge rain clouds brewing and coming in our direction. We turned back and had to cross the river again. Trent got a bit tangled in the ropes while putting his lifejacket on. He actually put the main rope which attaches the boat to the cable through his lifejacket and did up the zipper and the buckles. If I wasn't laughing so hard I might have got a photo of his face when he realised what he'd done. Once he got himself sorted out the first drops of rain started falling. We had to get a move on or we were going to get soaked. On the way out we had found a small hut that we could shelter in until the rain passed so we went there. After about half an hour the rain subsided so we made it back to the campsite. We made some more damper and baked beans for lunch and then we packed up and headed back to town.

Trent and Elke took the opportunity to catch up on some sleep at the bus station. They found some 'soft' benches to curl up on. It must have been comfy because Trent was asleep for around three hours.

Elina: I haven't so much fun in ages. We went to Casper's house for dinner and it was heaps of fun. Casper and I get up to all sorts of mischief when mamma and däddä aren't looking. Sometimes they almost catch us but we are getting really good at looking innocent and very cute just in time :-)

Michael: This morning we got up around 5am to catch a train to Tampere. It's only a two hour train trip, but door-to-door it takes more like three hours. Of all the days for it to rain, why today? It wasn't raining too much in Helsinki when we left but by the time we got to Tampere it was pouring. It's one of the only really rainy days we've had since the last snow melted in March. We checked out a few apartments and I went to see my new boss.

Elke crushed her finger while opening the door to the real estate office. At first we thought she might have broken it because it swelled up very quickly and she couldn't move it. Luckily the swelling subsided and she could move it again before we left in the evening.

When we arrived back in Helsinki, we got off the train at Pasila which is the stop before the central train station. We were walking along the platform when I realised that I had left my phone on the train! In classic B-grade action film style, I jumped onto the train, ran through the carriages, crashed through doors, leapt between carriages, knocked over women and children, climbed up on the roof, smashed through the window into our compartment, beat up some thugs, grabbed the Communicator and ran back to the door just as the train pulled away! Rather than jumping off the moving train I wimped out and just waved at Elke and Elina as they waited on the platform. Luckily Helsinki is only a few minutes away from Pasila so I just caught the next train back out.

REMINDER: As always, the stories on MEE journal are based on real events but occasionally there is a need to bend the truth because our lives are really quite boring.

Michael: Aarre's back is not getting any better so we went to the doctor to check it out. Meanwhile Helena, Elke and Elina took a cruise around Helsinki. [Update (27/06/2002): It turns out that Aarre actually has a fractured vertebrae! No wonder it hurts.]

Michael: Aarre hurt his back about a week ago so he's been taking it easy. Helena, Elke, Elina and I went for a nice walk in the forest near our place. The weather was just about perfect.

Michael: This morning Helena offered to babysit Elina so Elke and I could go out :-) We went out in Helsinki with Trent. Believe it or not, Elke was not allowed into one place because they thought she was under 18 and she didn't have any ID on her. At another place Trent wasn't allowed in because he's under 24. Eventually we found some places that would let us in so we could have a good time.

Michael: This afternoon my aunt and uncle from Australia arrived at our place. The have been traveling for a few weeks already, having spent a week in Stockholm and a few days with Aarre's relatives.