December 26th was meeting day, so we drove to Karasjok, Norway, to visit some of my host dad's aunts.
This is a picture of a traditional Norwegian cake, which also happens to be the national cake for Norway, called the Kransekake. Eaten during special occasions, it is a cake made of marzipan rings and assembled to look like a tree, then decorated with frosting, Norwegian flags, and poppers that have jokes in them.
We also ate some crepe-like cookies that were filled with ice cream and jam and topped with berries.
I had ice cream inside of mine and cloudberries on top of it. Cloudberries are very healthy for you, but only grow up in the far north, so there are many here in lapland. The cookie basically was a substitute for a waffle cone and tasted very good.
Some more different treats; homemade gingerbread cookies and cloudberry pastries.
We spent a couple hours visiting in Karasjok trying different Norwegian treats and drinking tea. It was really nice, and everyone was very nice.
The next day we woke up early and drove a few hours North East to the Norwegian town of
Vadsø. The city of Vadsø is located on the Varanger Peninsula along side the Barents Sea in the region of Finnmark, Norway.
It was stunning driving along the coast the entire way. On the opposite side of the sea you could see steep cliffs and glaciers which were especially highlighted by the fog and sun.
No, we didn't go swimming, but we did stop to get out and take some pictures and collect a couple of rocks as well.
You can kind of see how the fog lifts up at the bottom above the water and lets in the light and some glaciers on the opposite side. Now imagine that and sunrise too. It was amazing, and eerie too.
The streets of
Vadsø. In Norway they have a serious holiday for Christmas which basically extends all the way to New Years, so if you plan be warned that nothing will really be open and the streets will probably look a lot like this.
Luckily there was a coffee shop open, so we stopped to get something to eat as a breakfast sort of snack. I ate a chocolate filled pastry and had hot chocolate.
At the 'kid's' table with the exception of my host uncle who you can hardly see. On the left side; Helmi and I, and on the right side, Lotta.
I'm guessing this means Merry Christmas or something along those lines, it was on a place mat at our table. I know from seeing Swedish that "jul" means "Christmas" in any event.
A Norwegian gingerbread house with little gingerbread men.
This is the lovely bakery and coffee house that we ate our snack at. It was full of Norwegians since everything else other than a gas station, hotel, post office, and grocery store was open.
Outside the bakery. The building in the background is the city library. Since
Vadsø is even further north than Utsjoki, the sun is up for even less time during the winter. We got there just as the sun was coming up. If you were to look far enough through the gap in the fog and clouds, then you could even see Russia way, way off in the distance.
The
Vadsø Church. It isn't necessarily a traditional style Norwegian church, but it is a nice one from the outside. It sits up on a hill overlooking the harbor and the rest of the town. The church is massive from the outside stretching up very high so that it can be seen from anywhere in the town.
Looking down at some of the houses and businesses in
Vadsø. The main street is just a bit behind me where the lights are in this image.
The statue looking over the town represents Finns. In
Vadsø there were many Finnish people at the turn of the century who really helped to get the town going and build things up, so the area, although it's very much Norwegian, it also honors some of it's Finnish heritage.
The Vadsø Kommune, or Vadsø town hall. There wasn't very much going on there though since it was Christmas vacation.
Along the harbor a bit.
Vadsø is a very active fishing community, especially in the summertime. When we first drove in to the city, we actually saw fish hanging outside to dry using traditional wooden racks.
A lone boat sits at one of the docks. The sea was very calm and looked surreal with the cloudcover.
Looking back at the town from the harbor.
Vadsø is a beautiful little Norwegian fishing town, I really wish more things would have been open to go into and look around, but it was great to just wander around the streets and look around at all of the different buildings from the outside.
On the way back home, we stopped in a tiny fishing village in Norway to get out and look at a traditional style church. This is what most all of the churches look like throughout much of Norway.
Approaching the national border of Norway and Finland on the way back home.
The Finland sign, with the ring of stars symbolyzing it's membership in the European union. We never did see a sign for Norway on the way back, so I don't know. I am sure there was one, but we much have just missed it.
A stone on the Finnish side marking the year the official border was made with Norway there in 1850.
That's right, I have officially been to the northernmost part of the EU, been through the last, furthest north village in Finland, and beyond into Norway.
When we got back we ate some more Christmas food, but also some Norwegian food we had picked up from the grocery store before our return. The two ball-shaped things on the right are fish patties made of real Norwegian fish. They were really tasty, but didn't feel like fish so much.
Just a side note, Norwegian chocolate is the best! I got some of the Freia brand chocolate and it was absolutely amazing, perhaps the best I have ever had. So if you come to Norway don't forget to get yourself some chocolate.
My trip to
Vadsø and Karasjok may not have been a very long one, but it was absolutely amazing and something I will never forget.
