The ship is half empty.
A few muslims, couple of blacks and a lot of
young Estonian men alone or in small groups. Construction workers going
back to work after weekend.
Enough time for reading a book. We are in Helsinki half past midnight.
In Jyväskyla I take over driving. So I get to drive my dream car from childhood - Jeep Grand Cherokee. The road is clean and there's not much traffic. No rain-deers to be seen. In about an hour we change back and I sleep until Oulu. Next change. It has got light in mean time. Trees are frosted, the sky blue-pink-yellow. Parking places and nice views don't match. Up to 17 degrees minus. To the north the road is covered in ice and a bit slippery. Still no rain-deers. Sun is up.
Music starts. First song sounds familiar and somehow is connected in my mind with Georgia. Same story with next song, the I get it - Ewert Sundja and the dragons! I'm forced to familiarize myself for some time with Estonian pop-music.
We arrive in Enontekiö after three o'clock. 15 hours as planned. Sari is not at home but comes soon and takes us to the cabin. Nice yellow house by the lake, big living room, fire place, sauna, two bedrooms. Last week 12 persons from the Netherlands were here. An older man cleans the stairs from snow and is happy seeing us: Estonians are our relatives! Somehow it's very nice when a Finn says so. Then he gives me detailed instructions how to use the fire place. I also get an internet-stick.
Clouds move diagonally overhead.
My mobile stubbornly thinks that I'm in Sweden.
In the village it's possible to have a hot chicken sandwich. Not much going on here.
We prepare to move a bit away from the clouds.
Cloud map shows that cloud approaches from west and north, that means we have to escape towards east and south. We drive about 40 km, searching for a spot where it's clear view towards north, no street lanterns and a place to park the car. Meanwhile we're trying to guess what's going on in the space. And if something's going on.
One good spot. There's a car already. On closer look it appears to be covered in frost and has probably been there for a while. Not a competitor. We put the place on our mental memory card and circle around for some more. There are a few lakes in the vicinity but these are further away from the road. Second road option goes towards Inari, there are also a couple of clear spots. Finally we settle down to a small parking space next to the road.
One hazy lighter strip in the sky. I don't dare to point towards it. Probably just a cloud or are my eyes not seeing clearly anymore. Instead I go to the other side of the road to take pics of moonlight. I don't bother with snow shoes which turns out to be a mistake. Already at the second step I sink into snow till bottom. Being securely fixed there, I record trees and straw in ghostly light, laying on snow and looking strait into Great Bear (ursa major). The light strip on the other side of the road doesn't get out of my mind though. I point the camera towards it. On the screen with long exposure it looks green. Wow!
Climb out of snow to announce that we are dealing with a Nordic Light here. Put on snow shows and climb over a heap of snow to the field and put the camera on tripod. The strip moves itself here and there, looks cool on the screen but only like some faint light with naked eye. Suddenly it starts to twist, rises higher and turns green even without the help of modern technology. Fades away for a moment like to collect strength and diverges directly above into many swirling ribbons. Someone must be running on it above. All sky is green. And silence, no wind, no sound. Finally the clouds cover the last green strips, only a small light green worm-like thing flutters above horizon.
Only now I notice that toes and fingers are frozen from cold. The equipment goes into the car. Short second act is performed but through light clouds is not so powerful anymore. One and half hour show and coming here has already paid off.
Driving back, I see a green swirling ribbon above. The car stays in the middle of the road and I get some more frames.
Cool, cool!
Enough time for reading a book. We are in Helsinki half past midnight.
In Jyväskyla I take over driving. So I get to drive my dream car from childhood - Jeep Grand Cherokee. The road is clean and there's not much traffic. No rain-deers to be seen. In about an hour we change back and I sleep until Oulu. Next change. It has got light in mean time. Trees are frosted, the sky blue-pink-yellow. Parking places and nice views don't match. Up to 17 degrees minus. To the north the road is covered in ice and a bit slippery. Still no rain-deers. Sun is up.
Music starts. First song sounds familiar and somehow is connected in my mind with Georgia. Same story with next song, the I get it - Ewert Sundja and the dragons! I'm forced to familiarize myself for some time with Estonian pop-music.
We arrive in Enontekiö after three o'clock. 15 hours as planned. Sari is not at home but comes soon and takes us to the cabin. Nice yellow house by the lake, big living room, fire place, sauna, two bedrooms. Last week 12 persons from the Netherlands were here. An older man cleans the stairs from snow and is happy seeing us: Estonians are our relatives! Somehow it's very nice when a Finn says so. Then he gives me detailed instructions how to use the fire place. I also get an internet-stick.
Clouds move diagonally overhead.
My mobile stubbornly thinks that I'm in Sweden.
In the village it's possible to have a hot chicken sandwich. Not much going on here.
We prepare to move a bit away from the clouds.
Cloud map shows that cloud approaches from west and north, that means we have to escape towards east and south. We drive about 40 km, searching for a spot where it's clear view towards north, no street lanterns and a place to park the car. Meanwhile we're trying to guess what's going on in the space. And if something's going on.
One good spot. There's a car already. On closer look it appears to be covered in frost and has probably been there for a while. Not a competitor. We put the place on our mental memory card and circle around for some more. There are a few lakes in the vicinity but these are further away from the road. Second road option goes towards Inari, there are also a couple of clear spots. Finally we settle down to a small parking space next to the road.
One hazy lighter strip in the sky. I don't dare to point towards it. Probably just a cloud or are my eyes not seeing clearly anymore. Instead I go to the other side of the road to take pics of moonlight. I don't bother with snow shoes which turns out to be a mistake. Already at the second step I sink into snow till bottom. Being securely fixed there, I record trees and straw in ghostly light, laying on snow and looking strait into Great Bear (ursa major). The light strip on the other side of the road doesn't get out of my mind though. I point the camera towards it. On the screen with long exposure it looks green. Wow!
Climb out of snow to announce that we are dealing with a Nordic Light here. Put on snow shows and climb over a heap of snow to the field and put the camera on tripod. The strip moves itself here and there, looks cool on the screen but only like some faint light with naked eye. Suddenly it starts to twist, rises higher and turns green even without the help of modern technology. Fades away for a moment like to collect strength and diverges directly above into many swirling ribbons. Someone must be running on it above. All sky is green. And silence, no wind, no sound. Finally the clouds cover the last green strips, only a small light green worm-like thing flutters above horizon.
Only now I notice that toes and fingers are frozen from cold. The equipment goes into the car. Short second act is performed but through light clouds is not so powerful anymore. One and half hour show and coming here has already paid off.
Driving back, I see a green swirling ribbon above. The car stays in the middle of the road and I get some more frames.
Cool, cool!
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