Helsinki, 10 Jul

We walked over to a little coffee shop next to the train station and started the sunny morning with a pastry and coffee. At the Kioski next to the train station, we bought our official Helsinki tourist cards that allow us 3 days of travel within the "region" for a set price. It's good on all trains, buses, and ferries. We grabbed an "R" train heading to Helsinki. It flew along at 160 kph and in about 12 minutes we were downtown. It was handy that I had been in Helsinki last year and had some bearing of what was where. We headed down to the Market Place and strolled the vendors. At about 10:30 we took the ferry over to Suomenlinna. It's essentially 4 islands that were turned into a coastal fortress for Helsinki.Construction started in 1748 by the Swedes, who lost it to the Russians in 1808. It became Finnish in 1918, a year after the Finns declared independance. It's now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and they were doing a lot of restoration work. We walked the length of the 2 largest islands, did some shopping, had some lunch, snapped this abstract photo of some buildings, recorded my lifer Barnacle Goose (they were everywhere and tame), and by 13:30 were on the ferry back to Helsinki. From the ferry we had a great view of the Helsinki skyline as well as multiple big, enormous, huge, ferries that were in various stages of loading or unloading.We roamed the market again before heading over to a nearby park for a chai latte. What looked like the Finnish army cadet band was playing on stage... including selections from "The Blues Brothers". Huh? We watched Helsinki walk by for entertainment, and entertaining it was. We walked more, shopped more, and by 17:30 we ended up at the National Cathedral. It's Lutheran. We gave it a tour, including a reverent bow to the statue of Martin Luther. After Deb and I posed for a tourist shot at the cathedral, we crossed the square to the south of the cathedral and ate dinner at the Savotta Restaurant. Niklaas and I had reindeer steaks and moose sausage. Deb and I had the traditional Finnish beer. All was very good.

We meandered back to the train station and grabbed an "I" train. Not much choice. It made about 8 stops on the way, but it was still only a 20 minute ride.


Birds of the day: Skylark, Barnacle Goose (lifer), Ring-necked Pheasant, Common Eider.

Closing in on Helsinki, Thu, 9 Jul

We checked out of the FinnHostel only to discover that our Metla friends had picked up the tab. Everyone at Metla has been an extremely gracious host. Leena and Mizue drove us to the train station and we were soon off on the nearly 5 hour trip to Helsinki. Well, actually, the Tikkurila stop in Vantaa, north of Helsinki. The Helsinki international airport is just a couple of kilometers away. We walked the 1.5 kilometers to the Metla complex. We are staying in the guest quarters, which are on the third floor of the library (the grayish building in the center). For dinner tonight we strolled back near the train station and found a Thai restaurant. It was good to get some food that had a kick to it. It's been a breezy, rainy day, so we are hanging low tonight, reading tour books and brochures, in preparation for our assault on Helsinki tomorrow.

Stumpin', Wed, 8 Jul

We woke up to a steady rain, perfect for spending the day in the field. After breakfast, Leena, Mizue, and Heli Viiri picked us up about 9:00 and we headed south to see some equipment working in the field. Specifically, Deb was interested in see machines that pull stumps out of the ground after harvesting. I don’t really think this is a good idea from a sustainable forest point of view, but some Finns have good reasons, or at least think they have good reasons, to do it. Our first stop was at an atypical site; they were pulling pine roots and the site was not going to be reforested. The stumps are pulled, piled, allowed to dry a few months, and then moved to bigger piles by roads. From there they are hauled to bioenergy plants, chipped, and burned. Given the time, labor, and equipment expense, it doesn’t seem like it would be profitable, but they claim it is. We then saw a more typical operation pulling spruce roots (they have shallow root systems so they pull easier and with less soil disturbance). They had already pulled all the slash (small stems and branches) to the road to be hauled away for bioenergy. After lunch in Kitee, we went to Heli’s research plots. She is investigating whether stump pulling changes the abundance of pine weevils. These little devils like to eat young seedlings, but the Finns have discovered that if they do some site preparation that leaves at least one square foot of mineral soil around the seedling, it is less likely to be destroyed by the weevils. So, the Finns do a lot of mounding (essentially flipping a piece of forest “sod” upside down and then planting the seedling in the middle of the mineral soil). But, the thought is that stumping may actually improve habitat. So…. under sporadic rain showers and thunder, we helped her collect samples from her trap-line of “fly traps”. The bugs fly into clear panels and drop to their deaths in a salt solution. Ahhh, science.

Tonight for dinner we walked down to a “Hungarian” restaurant. It was pretty good. Time to pack in preparation for Helsinki.

Island Sauna, Tue, 7 Jul

This morning Leena Finér told us about her research program. Her area of study coincides more with Deb’s work than mine, so lots of time was spent talking about soil, organic matter, soil disturbance, harvesting impacts on future forest growth…. At noon we met some other METLA researchers (Tapani Repo, Marja Roitto) as well as a soils professor (Tarja Lehto)from the University of Juensuu for lunch at a cafeteria on campus. We then spent most of the afternoon looking at various laboratories and growth rooms. They have really nice growth chambers. I was drooling most of the time. And, the METLA building with all its wood is impressive. After freshening up at our FinnHostel, Leena, Lasse, and Mizue the researcher from Japan) picked us up and we drove about an hour north to the Finér cottage. We sent Lasse over by row boat to start the sauna and dinner, and the rest of us went to the nearby Koli National Park. It is a small park, but has very ancient bedrock formations. It’s a high point in Finland, literally, all 300 meters (1000 feet) of it. From the parking lot we took a short tram up the mountain. It starts out going nearly vertical, then switches over to near horizontal. Kinda like a self-leveling Palouse combine. The views from the top were great. We then headed back to the cottage. The Finérs own an island, about 1 hectare (2.2 acres). We took the row boat across. They have a nice rustic, wooden cabin that sits about in the middle of the island, and on the north end is the sauna.

Lasse said the sauna was ready so the women went. We men folk toured the island, looked for the loons, and listened to the Mew Gulls that nest on the nearby rocks. Once the women were done, it was our turn for the traditional sauna. It was wood-heated, and in the spirit of learning the culture, we did the traditional naked thing, which for us Americans is a bit weird at first. After getting a good sweat going, we walked down to the lake and plunged into the 15 C water. What is that in Fahrenheit? Dang cold! After a brief dip, it was back to the sauna, a swig of beer on the way. We repeated the process three times. Lasse showed us that you could drink the water out of the lake direct, but we weren’t that game.

By the time we walked back to the cottage, dinner was ready. More good fish! On the way out, I stepped on a rock next to the dock. Too bad it was loose; I found myself knee-deep in the lake. We got back to the hostel at midnight. I put my boot in the oven.

On to Joensuu, Monday, 6 Jul

We had a great time in Lappeenranta; our hosts, Marji-Liisa and Eero treated us so kind. We will always remember their hospitality. About noon Marji-Liisa picked us up at the Lappeenranta Spa and drove us to the train station. Niklaas has become our official tour guide, so we already had our tickets for Wagon 2, seats 81, 85, 86 (upper level), on the intercity train from Helsinki with a stop in Joensuu. It pulled in to the station at 12:26, and 2.5 hours later and that much further north, we arrived in Joensuu. The biggest excitement was winding through 4 cars to find the “kiosk” for a snack. Upon arrival, we were met at the station by Leena Finér from METLA, along with a visiting scientist from Japan, Mizue Ohashi from the University of Hyogo. They delivered us to our accommodations, a sports hostel. We aren’t quite sure what that means, but the room is clean, quiet, with beds, so that should do. We had about an hour to kill so we walked the block over to the big Lutheran church and gave it a once over. It was very ornate, with beautifully painted ceilings. At the opposite end of the street, about a dozen blocks away, was the Greek Orthodox church. I guess that is as close as they could get. About 16:30, Leena and our Japanese friend picked us up and gave us a brief tour of Joensuu, including a stop at the METLA building, which is atypical for a new building in Finland. Built about 5 years ago, it is almost completely made of wood and other local materials, some of it recycled (maybe some photos tomorrow). We then swung by and picked up Leena’s husband, Lasse, and went for dinner at a nice restaurant downtown. I had fish and potatoes, what else? The food was excellent, as was the conversation.

Sunday, 5 Jul

We slept in. Finally about 9:30 we shuffled across the street for our complimentary breakfast. By 10:00 we were hunting down an Otto, and then headed toward “the fortress” that overlooks the harbor at Lappeenranta. The old buildings have been restored and many of them host art galleries, shops, and restaurants. It would have been a better time, but it was on-again, off-again rain. We ended up by the harbor and Finland’s biggest sand castle. For the past 5 years, they have been constructing huge castles to draw tourists. It was big, and the details were amazing. They spray it with glue to keep the rain from disintegrating it too soon. About 14:00 Eero picked us up and again we were hosted by the Juntunen’s. We were served another great dinner; this time moose. After dinner we drove up to Imatra to see “the rapids.” During the summer they release water from the old power plant and flood the old rapids. People line up on the bridge to watch, and get an idea of what the river must have looked like before it was tamed for hydroelectric power. Now, the water is diverted even farther away to the new power plant. After a brief tour of Imatra, we ended up at the military cemetery in downtown Lappeenranta, viewing the respectfully maintained graves of Finns that died in the Winter War and World War II. We finished off the day at the harbor, eating a waffle smeared with strawberry jam.

“The Bear”, Sat 4 Jul

One of the reasons we came to Lappeenranta was a chance to visit Russia. Marji-Liisa was telling us that we could take a cruise down the Saimaa Canal from Lake Saimaa at Lappeenranta to Выборг (Vyborg), Russia. After her offer, I read the official US State Department website about travel to Russia and about fainted. We then consulted our published-in-April-2009 tour guide of Finland and did faint. Both talked about required visas, lengthy detentions if you try to enter the country without one, yadda, yadda, yadda. The Finns, however, were adamant that the rules had changed and visas were no longer required. We would be fine. So, at 7:10 in the morning we found ourselves in the queue for the boat. They asked if there were any foreigners and we were the only 3 to raise our hands. They checked our names against the photocopies of our passports we had sent a week ago, got stamped by the customs agent, and boarded the Carelia, along with about 150 Finns. Soon we were on the way for our 5 hour, 43 km trip. We passed through 8 locks, dropping about 80 meters in elevation along the way. About half way, we passed into Russia with thoughts about visas and detentions and gulags running through my head.

We pulled into Выборг and could see Marji-Liisa and Eero waiting for us outside the customs area. They had traveled by bus instead. It took us nearly 30 minutes to get off the boat and through passport control. We discovered the 2 women customs agents were three times as fast as the man… too bad we were in the man’s line. Out the door we went, with just 2 hours available to see the sights. We headed toward the city center. Before World War II, Vyborg was the Finnish city Viipurin, the name the Finnish still use. It has some of the best surviving Finnish architecture, mostly because the Russians have never spent any money updating the structures, which are looking very tired. Most of the buildings we saw in Vyborg looked old and deteriorating. Our first stop was a three-story, round, fortress-like structure. This building looked very good, considering it was 700 years old. We went to the restaurant on the top floor and Eero surprised us with a bottle Champaign to celebrate the Fourth of July. Then to the main market. Oh my. People were selling candy, cigarettes, herbs, fresh fish, fresh meat, clothing, crystal, what were probably boot-legged CDs and DVDs, linens, clothing, and assorted stuff. The butchers were pretty interesting. They had large logs on end. The top had a piece of cardboard on top. Put the meat on the cardboard. Whack the meat with a large knife. I guess at the end of the day you toss that piece of cardboard and get a new one for the next day (at least that’s what I hope they do).

We visited Lenin’s statue, walked past the Lutheran church, and then back to the boat. The Juntunen’s road the boat back with us. We took the early dinner in the restaurant, and spent most of the rest of the trip on the aft deck, trying to stay out of the rain. The photo is a relieved Dumroese family having just crossed back into Finland. The boatload of Finns had spent most of the trip to Vyborg drinking, and picked up where they left off on the way home. They had a guy with a guitar and microphone and proceeded to have a good old fashion sing-along. He was assisted by very drunk women in a sort of karaoke-like style. A few folks were dancing as well. We pulled back into Lappeenranta about 21:45. A long, good, fascinating day.

Bird of the day: Common Sandpiper.

To Lappeenranta, Fri 3 Jul

After lunch today, we tossed our stuff into Marji-Liisa Juntunen’s car and headed south and east to Laappeenranta. From Suonenjoki, our travel first took us to Mikkeli where we walked through an outdoor craft fair. It reminded me a bit of Moscow’s Rendezvous in the Park… lots of crafts, folks dressed in renaissance garb. We also saw the Guinness Book of World Records award for the largest “pin” collection (pins, badges, buttons). The record holder was there, proudly showing off his 32,000 pins. I gave him a couple of Forest Service shields for his collection. From Mikkeli, we turned more easterly toward Puumala, driving through the heart of Finland’s lake district. Along the way we stopped at this kioski for an ice cream break. Ice cream is big here. A multitude of flavors. From there, more south and east to Imatra, just a stone’s throw (well, 5 km) from Russia, before heading south and west into Lappeenranta. Marji-Liisa dropped us off at the Lappeenranta Spa on the waterfront. It’s a great hotel, and I really like the European style in the rooms. After freshening up, we headed out to the Juntunen house for dinner. We met Marji-Liisa’s husband, Eero. He smoked us some “rainbow trout”. It was spectacular, pure and simple, although it seemed more salmon-like than trout-like.

Birds of the day: Hawk Owl (lifer), Whooper Swan (lifer).