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Poland : Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk, Siennica and the Tatra's

Poland

Karen

Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk, Siennica and the Tatra's

Updated: Aug 19, 2008 7:23pm PST

Venezia 2008 :

Venezia 2008

Daniela Caneschi (foto)

Updated: Aug 18, 2008 10:49pm PST

Bulgaria :

Bulgaria

Hans van Otterloo

Updated: Aug 18, 2008 12:36pm PST

5. Go north! : Real Lapland starts somewhere north from Arctic Circle… We stopped at Saariselkä for a couple of days, visited Tankavaara Gold museum, Koilliskaira national Park Visitor Centre, Kiilopää mountain and some other places… Saariselkä is a fast growing skiing centre, main tourist season at winter and springtime. Of course it is open all year round, and the autumn colours of Lapland are famous. But summertime… this year there were not too many mosquitos.

5. Go north!

Lehtokukka photography

Real Lapland starts somewhere north from Arctic Circle… We stopped a ...

Updated: Aug 18, 2008 5:13am PST

Baden Württemberg - Sunthausen :

Baden Württemberg - Sunthausen

Daniela Caneschi (foto)

Updated: Aug 17, 2008 3:06pm PST

Friburg 2008 :

Friburg 2008

Daniela Caneschi (foto)

Updated: Aug 17, 2008 12:01pm PST

1. Prologue : The Ultima thule – as the Greeks of ancient times called the far north – still has some of its mystic left. For me, the Ultima thule means something up there in the north, wild (?), peaceful place, close to the nature. The idea of Finnish Lapland and Norwegian Finnmark is close to it. Yes, they are modern habituated areas with working gsm and 3g-nets, computers, skiing- and shopping centres factories, people live there all year round and earn their daily bread as we all do. You can live in a city (northest in the world), you can grow potatoes and cereals, you can work in a papermill. But you can also earn your living from reindeer management. Lapland and Finnmark are also the areas north from Arctic Circle – sun won’t go down at summertime, nor it won’t come up at the deepest winter. They are also the land of largest wild areas, forests and marshlands of Europe, Land of Nordic Mountains, streams and myths. These photos in the next galleries are taken on a family vacation to Lappland and Finmark at summer 2008. Of course I have left out the most personal ones from my family – sorry about that, if you were interested. The weather… well, it was not raining all the time. I had hoped for better, to see the midnight sun etc, but this time this weather. And anyway, we were sleeping at nights, so what’s the big deal of midnight sun… (Bitter fruits, said the fox, if you know the fable). But we saw reindeers and Santa Claus, mountains and Arctic Ocean. And enjoyed. I have also numbered the galleries to an order (about chronological), hoping that will make more sense to the ones who know us. But of course, you can look them in any order you like. For those, who are interested in technics: photos are mostly taken with Olympus E330 with 12-60mm lens – some with 70-300mm or old OM-Zuiko 8mm lens. There were also a Ricoh Caplio R3 with us, nice little camera. With Oly I always shoot RAW, and photos are developed in Capture One 4 or Photomatix Pro3 – still on a long learning curve on the last one. C1 is fast. Of course there is also some other PP done with photos – curves etc. No real HDR on these ones, but “fake”, one shot hdr on some. For the panoramas I used Panorama Maker 4 pro. 2. Powerpark – one mans dream Our first stop was the Powerpark. Alahärmä’s big boy Jorma Lillbacka wanted to have an amusement park, and started to built one to his neighbourhood… Now it is the fastest growing park in Finland, even if it is located far away from big cities and towns: to closest town Seinäjoki 55 km and Vaasa 80 km. It is known to be a clean place and have short lines to every machine you want to experience… Compared to Disneyland this is a small place, but big enough to spend a day. And if you are in motorsports, this is the place for you. I tried to get the Disney/cartoon colors to these photos. Oversaturated – yes, on purpose. Hope you like them. 3. Confirmation Our first “must” stop was at Haukipudas, where my goddaughter had finished her confirmation school. I had promised to take some photos of the ceremony and her. Hopefully she likes them – some samples here. 4. Sports and playgrounds Travelling with a 4-year old kid needs more than sitting in a car. Kemi, the town by the Gulf of Bothnia, served well as a stopping place. And of course, it helps, that grandma’s and cousins live there… 5. Go north! Real Lapland starts somewhere north from Arctic Circle… We stopped at Saariselkä for a couple of days, visited Tankavaara Gold museum, Koilliskaira national Park Visitor Centre, Kiilopää mountain and some other places… Saariselkä is a fast growing skiing centre, main tourist season at winter and springtime. Of course it is open all year round, and the autumn colours of Lapland are famous. But summertime… this year there were not too many mosquitos. 6. Finnmark – almost there Going from Finland to Norway is easy – just slow down a bit on the border (if you notice it). The border is on the bridge, in the middle of Tenojoki. The landscape is wilder than in Finland, higher mountains, deeper valleys. And the salty taste of Arctic Ocean everywhere. 7. Nordkapp – the Ultima Thule? Famous North Cape… Every year thousands and thousands of tourists go there to experience the midnight sun, the arctic summer and ocean… Views are great – if the weather is good. For us, there were fog, rain and clouds – although at the afternoon we could see some waves between the clouds some hundred meters below us. Was it worth going? Yes. Is it the Ultima Thule? No. Or yes. Part of it. 8. Alta museum – graffiti from stone age One very interesting place in Finnmark is Alta and the Alta museum of Komsa culture. Komsa culture habituated the area as early as 10000 years BC. From the Wikipedia: “The Komsa culture was a stone age culture of hunter-gatherers that existed in northern Norway from around 10000 BC. The culture is named after the Komsa mountain in the community of Alta, Finnmark, where the first remains of the culture were discovered in 1925. The distinction between “Komsa” type of stone-tool culture north of the Arctic Circle and a “Fosna” type from Trøndelag to Oslo Fjord rendered obsolete in the 1970s. Nowadays both phenomena are ascribed to different types of tools of the same culture. Recently, archeological finds from Finnish Lapland have revealed a presence of the Komsa culture equally old to the earliest finds from the Norwegian coast forcing a re-evaluation concerning the strictness of the maritime nature of the culture as well as direction of spread. The commonly held view today is that the earliest settlement of the North Norwegian coast originated on the western and southwestern coast of Norway and ultimately in the final Palaeolithic Ahrensburg culture of northwestern Europe.The Komsa are thought to have followed the Norwegian coastline when receding glaciation at the end of the last ice age (between 11,000 and 8000 BC) opened up new areas for settlement. Some elements may have moved into modern-day Finnmark from the northeast, possibly coming from ice-free coasts of the Kola Peninsula, though evidence to this formerly widely held view[is still poor. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Komsa culture was almost exclusively sea-oriented, living mainly off seal hunting and being able boatbuilders and fishermen. In comparison to the southern Norway's contemporary Fosna variety of this same culture, stone tools and other implements appear relatively crude. This has been explained with a paucity of flintstone in the region.” The stone carvings at Alta museum are fascinating. The explanations I have given to them are about my own, so don’t trust them too much. I’ll have to add here an old saga about “Jatuli-people”. They were said to be red-headed giants, who lived in Finland before sami-people (lapps) and finns came. Jatuli-giants escaped to the north . Some vanished to the sea, some hide themselves to the mountains and caves, under the ground. And they still live there… 9. South from Alta Heading home, but not too fast. There is still plenty to see. Beautiful landscapes, mountains and streams, both in Norway and in Finland. In Finland, the Muonionjoki – Tornionjoki –river combination is one of the biggest rivers in Finland, one of the most important salmon rivers and one of the few still really wild ones. Because of the rains, the water was high in every river and lake in the north. But the fishermen were happy – they have got salmon very well this summer. 10. Gulf of Bothnia - there again Back in Kemi, sailing on Gulf of Bothnia with a friend. A beautiful day, with some great halos in the sky. I hope you enjoy seascapes. This was the real end of our tour in Ultima Thule. A couple of days rest there, then a long drive home. But just a drive, nothing much to tell about that. Enjoy the photos. Comments and critics are always welcome.

1. Prologue

Lehtokukka photography

The Ultima thule – as the Greeks of ancient times called the far nor ...

Updated: Aug 17, 2008 7:13am PST

Aurland Trail :

Aurland Trail

cobb

Updated: Aug 17, 2008 5:39am PST

Near Tuva, on Hardangervidda :

Near Tuva, on Hardangervidda

cobb

Updated: Aug 17, 2008 5:27am PST

Tromso : Tromsø, Norway is located at 69°40′58″N, within the arctic circle.

Tromso

cobb

Tromsø, Norway is located at 69°40′58″N, within the arctic circl ...

Updated: Aug 17, 2008 12:45am PST

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