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Published: February 23rd 2016
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We got up very early this morning and got on Bus #2. The driver told me 'Kaakse' and raised two fingers. So obviously I said we can't start at two, what is 'One' in Finnish? It's 'Uukse', by the way. By the end of the day I got to three. So, one two three, uukse kaakse kolme!
Between my Finnish lessons the driver took us to Kemi, on the Gulf of Bothnia. There we boarded the Good Ship Sampo, a Finnish icebreaker. Sampo was built in 1960 and kept the Finnish shipping lanes opened for many years, until the cargo ships got too big for her. But instead of retiring her they turned her into a cruise ship. She is the only ice breaker in the world used for tourism!
We boarded the Sampo and wandered around a bit before we were served the traditional Finnish salmon soup while the ship made way. At first she made her way through a permanent route that is kept open for shipping by the bigger ice breakers. Later the ship ventured out onto virgin ice, about half a meter thick and we watched as the Sampo smashed through it like it was
paper.
Along the way we were given a tour of the boat. We saw the engine room where the extremely loud diesel engines supply power to a generator. The ship uses electric motors for thrust, not diesel. This gives her the ability to turn much faster (don't ask me why). We visited the engine control room and the bridge, where we met the captain. He didn't say much, more the silent type.
Soon after that, seemingly in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by endless sea ice the ship stopped. We all took turns donning special float suits. We were told that the suits were originally designed by NASA in the hope that astronaughts would find water on Mars or something, but I think they were really designed by the Teletubbies. Either way we needed the help of the crew to get into them.
Once in our suits we walked out on the ice and floated into the water opened up by the Sampo. It felt a bit like floating in the Dead Sea minus the heat...
all of the heat. Still, lots of fun! A very special experience!
We were helped out of the water
and out of the suits by the crew. We had some time to walk around the ship, on the thick sea ice, another unique experience. If the ship wasn't right there you wouldn't know you were walking on water. The ice is a solid as rock.
Eventually we got too cold and hurried inside to warm up. Soon after that the ship made her way back to the harbor, where we got off the boat and got our Official Icebreaker certificates.
We got back on the bus and got ouselves some lunch at a small fast food place in Kemi, close to the Kemi Snow Castle. After lunch we had time to wander around the castle. What an amazing place! The whole castle is made of ice and filled with the most incredible ice carvings! In the bar (both the bar and tables are made of ice) there's a viking-looking dude having a beer. Both beer mug and viking are made of ice.
The rooms and halls are filled with carvings of animals, mythical beasts, wizards and more. There are slides, thrones, pubs and even a chapel. The castle serves as a hotel, and each room is
unique. Each has an ice bed with a real mattress, blanket and furs, but each room has a different wall carving. Eagles, owls, bookshelves, people... truly amazing.
Finally our time there came to an end and we got on the bus for the long ride to Luosto, much farther north, deep inside the Arctic Circle.
Our home for the next three days is the Luostotunturi hotel, a very comfortable place that even has wet and dry saunas, a jaccuzzi ad pool, which, of course, Ethan and I tested as soon as we got our room.
Our room, by the way, is on the ground floor and instead of a balcony we have a door right to the snow outside!
I think we're gonna like it here.
Here's our day:
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