drive through Finland

Phone dies in the night and I oversleep.
No-one in the dining room but there is coffee. Finally a friendly lady appears and takes money with severe Slavic accent.
Although free parking in front of the house ended at 8 nobody has spotted my car between the snow piles.
Breakfast in a gas station near Lahti passes without any major events.
It is as cozy to be in Finland as it is to be in Iceland. Some kind of peaceful safety surrounded with vast wild areas. Only more difficult to find hot tubes.
I drive a bit faster than allowed but still gather a herd of mikahäkkinens in tow. The prescribed 80 km/h seems pretty adequate for me, considering the circumstances. Don’t want to crash into raindeers with whom signs constantly threaten. An anthropocentric worldview. Raindeer does not cross the road but the road actually crosses the forest. Besides, enough snow has climbed up the trees for it to be difficult to keep my eyes on the road.
Around Jyväskylä people are forced to race with 100 km/h in an icy chute through a developing snow fall. The mikahäkkinens like it.
While aiming for a break I miss the correct way on the roundabout and go for another circle. GPS despairs and yells ”exit roundabout!”
Huge eatery. The girl behind the counter asks if I’d like dessert as well and lifts some plastic cup. I don’t want the plastic cup so no dessert.
Holes in the clouds make the snow shine. Towards the sunset weather clears, then turns into pastel tones and finally it gets dark. Icelandic history podcast has been replaced with Ukrainian pop music, then songs from the Faroe islands and in the end with local radio. The radio is more enviroment-conscious than any mass media in Estonia.
Oulu. I visit a shopping mall in order to ride with escalators. I need to buy a book by Tapio Koivukari. Tapio Koivukari is a Finnish writer who speaks fluent Icelandic and follows Estonian news online.
80 km before Posio I turn to a road with no other traffic and asphalt hidden under snow. Nordic lights are drawn right across the road. I park in a bus stop and go out to watch the green ribbons, massive amount of stars and deafening silence. Firs stand quietly for not to shake off any snow. Now there are the correct firs with packed snow. Amazing. Temperature has dropped 31 degrees below zero (Celsius). No complaining about it being too hot.
The hotel is called Laplandic fairytale. A young man is still awake. Finnish is definitely not his mother tounge.
Not sure what is going to happen during the next five days. Probably not much internet on the menu and all batteries will be low.
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in Lahti
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introduction to Riisitunturi

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