Laponia 2002/3 - Part 1

Laponia 2002/3 - Part 1 | Laponia 2002/3 - Part 2 | Laponia 2002 - Northern Lights | Laponia 2003 - Summer

At the turn of the year 2002/2003, we were in Laponia. Or more precisely, in Rajamaa in the village Muonionalusta, located on the island Pitkäsaari in the border river Muonio - near the Finnish town of the same name and 200km north of the Arctic Circle. The island is already on the Swedish side. Lars Malmströn was our host in Rajamaa and accompanied us throughout the days (his Finnish wife Kaisuu cooked very well). The reason for the trip was the 50th birthday of Astrid's sister Birgit at New Year's Eve. We were able to celebrate the turn of the year twice, which was a "specialty" of this trip: First in Finland on a Finnish island in the river Muonio (before that, we had a great meal in Rajamaa), then again in Rajamaa in Sweden. This trip included a dog sled ride in Muonio and a visit to a Lappish reindeer herder in Finland. The temperatures were between -15 (rarely) and -36 degrees Celsius (mostly between -20 and -30 degrees). We were able to see the Northern Lights twice.

See also: rajamaa.com/en/about-rajamaa

BTW: End of June 2003, we visited Rajamaa for a second time, having nearly "tropical" temperatures. This time, the sun did never go down...

Situation of Muonionalusta, our destination	The main building, where we had our meals; Lars' VW van had problem with its battery	Day one: Astrid in her new "winter dress"
Astrid	Gerd with frozen beard	Barbecue at a hut (slogbod) - Lars tells stories...
Birgit and Astrid	Both together with Hans-Georg in front of our hut in the afternoon (fairly dark already...)	Astrid taken with a flash light in the afternoon. It was already so dark that a flash was needed.
Gerd ditto	In the afternoon, still not completely dark	Our hut in the afternoon
Next day: In Muonio at the river Muonio at an "ice bar"	An ice room with ice furniture	The river Muonio was completely frozen, as it seemed
Actually, it was not frozen everywhere, which was very dangerous	We made a tour with Husky sleds in the early afternoon	Our Huskies were eager to start. Astrid steered, and I lay on the sled and took photos, ...
... such as this one ...	... and this one!	Warming up after the sled tour in the nearby Hotel
On the third day, we visited a Lappish reindeer herder. Later we would ride these snowmobiles	The landscape around the farm	Fences for the reindeers
The reindeer farmer and his son	The first half of our group rode to a Laponian tent, while we stayed at the farm for some "entertainment."	Explanations how to use a reindeer sled (in case the reindeer could be motivated to pull the sled...)
Off they go ...	... but very slowly!	Unpacking after the ride (Birgit)
The reindeer farmer's dog	Now, we moved on with the snowmobiles ...	... to a Laponian tent
It was already getting darker outside (early afternoon)	Inside the tent a fire was burning and ...	... we got a warm Laponian soup - ...
plus lots of stories and ...	... perhaps another portion of soup.	Outdoors, numerous reindeers passed the tent ...
and we had a look at them (flash photo!)	But it was already too dark for photos!	And it was getting darker and darker before we returned to our bus!
On our way back, ...	... we, were "downloaded" at a ...	... Laponian "tourist trap"...
Laponia, December 2002/January 2003 - Minolta Dimage 7i

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