Reindeer fillet and Sami Joik in a Lean-to at Norway Russian boarder

posted on 26th April 2009 under Culture, Food, Nature, Spring, Travel Norway

Kirkenes at 70ºN 30ºE is as far east as Istanbul and Cairo and as far north as Point Barrow in Alaska. You find this city in the municipality of Sør-Varanger with borders to Russia (196km) – the only NATO border to Russia – and to Finland (140km). Temperature measurements in February show a minimum of -52ºC while summer maximum can reach +32ºC. The municipality has approximately 4000 lakes and offers a great variety of outdoor activities. In addition to the lakes, there are great salmon rivers, cloudberry, hunting, a vast network of snow mobile tracks as well as perfect conditions for cross-country skiing.
When attending the Norwegian Computer Society’s (NCS – DND) annual meeting last weekend, we had an adventurous evening at Sollia Inn (Gjestgiveri) where you are in the middle of this fantastic boarder landscape and fauna. Let me give you an idea from my own photo album (click all pics to bigify and enjoy):

_{Behind me is lake Pikevann and on the horizon: Russia. I could not resist trying that four-wheeler}

On the lake (the Russian boarder goes in the middle of the lake), I spotted some ice fishers and walked closer, ready with my Nikon S2 camera:

_{A small fish; Perch. This was on the Norwegian side (you can’t walk over the boarder on the ice just like that), but the guy was a Russian. He was quite good in English, a business man with two years visa and stayed at the Inn.}

On the shore of Pikevann (lake), they have built a monument and restaurant with architectural inspiration from a Lean-to (= Gapahuk):

Sitting inside, nice and warm by an open fireplace and a fantastic chef, the view gives it a magical atmosphere:

_{The picture to the right was taken 8PM: The sun was about to go down (the midnight sun is there from May 20th).}

We had the most fantastic gourmet adventure – a cuisine made of local ingredients:

<sub>Kamchatka-crab (King crab) Chinois

Filét of Reindeer</sub>

Joik, the native song style of the Sami People:

Let me and this culinary feast with a cultural pearl, but first an introduction: The original inhabitants of this area are the Skolt Sami. This Sami group migrated between the coast and inland in the present Norwegian, Finnish, and Russian territory long before any borders existed. In 1826, the previously disputed areas were divided between Norway and Russia (Finland being a Russian principality), causing great difficulties for the Sami. During the 19th century Finnish settlers (Kven) arrived to the valleys, and from 1906 Norwegians came in numbers because of the iron mining starting up in Kirkenes.

Their Yoik or Joik, a unique form of cultural expression for the Sami people, can be understood as a metaphor for Sami traditional culture itself. Like the Sami people, the yoik has been misunderstood, ridiculed, appropriated, and even threatened. A form of song which utilizes a scale and vocalizations which are unfamiliar to virtually everyone in the Western (American and European) world, the history of the yoik is representative of all the encroachment and abuse that the Sami people have suffered at the hands of outsiders.
At the dinner the evening before, the Sami John Henrik Mienna song his joik made for his uncle, John Anders:

_{Left: John Henrik with costume from Kautokeino. Right DND’s annual meeting host Mariann W. Magga, with her costume from Sør-Varanger.}

I used my Nokia N82 to record his joik. I’m very sorry for the bad picture quality (difficult with a lot of lights from behind), but hope you understand I still want to share because of the wonderful song:


The whole weekend was a wonderful experience and I hope you enjoyed my sharing it with you. Check the two other posts!:
Catholic Orthothodox Easter Celebration in Zapoljarnyj Russia
and Snow Hotel, Reindeer and Dog sledding in Kirkenes Norway.

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Snow Hotel, Reindeer and Dog sledding in Kirkenes Norway

posted on 23rd April 2009 under Habits, Spring, Travel Norway

Kirkenes, the capital of Sør-Varanger municipality in the northernmost country; Finnmark, is located as far north-east as possible in Norway (70º north – 30 º east). The municipality has about 10 000 inhabitants spread over a territory of 3.670 km2 and borders both to Russia and Finland. They are in the centre of the Barentsregion, with ice free ports and all year round access to the Barents Sea. Here you’ll experience the indigenous traditional way of living as well as modern industrial society all in one generation. One can find remnants from the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Winter-war between Russia and Finland in 1939, the history of 320 bombing raids and total destruction during World War 2 and of course 30 years of cold political war.

The nature is different from the rest of Norway. There are many eastern plant-species growing in the municipality that are rare or non existent in other parts of Norway. The forest in Pasvik originates from the Siberian taiga; the worlds largest continuous forest area. You will find all the major predators in the municipality. Best known is the brown bear, and the Pasvik Valley is home for around 20 individuals. This is the highest density of bears in the entire Norway and also the home of glutton (wolverine) and lynx. However, your chances are much higher of seeing reindeer and moose, than running into one of the great predators. The fauna has many eastern elements, especially among the bird species. Other animals that have migrated from the east are the muskrat, the mighty Kamchatka crab (king crab) and the Russian Salmon.
This is a short summery from Kirkenes Tourist Inform – click to find more details!

Attending Norwegian Computer Society’s (NCS – DND) annual meeting there last weekend, we had some social adventure I would love to share with you:

The Snow Hotel:

Yes it’s true and here is the proof of the pudding. This winter (they are closed during summer time ) they opened a real Snow Hotel. From the outside it looks just like a snow bank, but when you get inside, you’ll find the most spectacular architecture with art and decorations made of snow and ice and of course a reception desk combined as a bar, a lobby and 20 rooms. Lets take a closer look (click all pics to bigify and enjoy!):

The reception and the lobby.

I’m just an amateur and only have a compact Nikon S2 camera. The lightening condition and the reflection from the snow and ice is a challenge, but I hope you get the idea – so lets go on and explore:

The corridor and one of the bedrooms.

Wall decorations: Left: Brown Bears – Right: Their footprints.

My regular readers knows my saying: ‘There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes’ and this shows the ultimate truth as it’s perfectly good to stay there and even sleep there if you have the right blankets. At least four rooms where booked that night already, when we were visiting in the afternoon!

The Reindeer Park:
Having a shower in the hotel, might be a bit chilly and also they don’t have a kitchen with ovens in the hotel – of obvious reasons However, at the same resort, they have a Reindeer Park with a Lavvu or Sami tent:

The Lavvo and a Reindeer.

Left: Inside the Lavvo. Right: The Dog houses for dog sledding.

Of course walking around these tamed reindeer and feeding them (they eat reindeer moss) is exotic, even for a Norwegian:


A lot more pics where taken, which you can find on my Flickr account!

I know it might be quite a lot to take in from one post and I can assure you it was a wonderful and almost overwhelming experience too. I do hope you like it as much as I love to share and get another example of why I prefer nature and natural surrounding as a place for recreation. Here is where to click if you would like to book a room the next winter!

Update 10.27.2009:
Fida Wild at Unusual Travel Destination have made a review of this post – go and check it up!

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Catholic Orthothodox Easter Celebration in Zapoljarnyj Russia

posted on 21st April 2009 under Culture, Spring, Tradition, Travel Abroad

Zapolyarny with a population of 18,640 is a town in Pechengsky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia and belonged to Finland in 1920-1944. It was founded in 1956 as Zhdanovsk and was granted town status and renamed in 1963. You get there by an hour bus trip from Kirkenes city, the county of Finmark far north in Norway. After attending the Norwegian Computer Society’s (NCS or DND) annual meeting on Friday/Saturday, we had a guided tour on Sunday through the cities Nikel and then Zapolyarny. Even if getting a visa now is just a formality, it’s still exotic for a Norwegian to go by bus directly through the border from Norway to Russia. I was there for the first time 11 years ago as well, but still feel humble about giving a report about a country quite different in culture, religion, traditions and habits from ours. It’s easy to fall into the trap of generalising and stigmatise, but I try my best in sharing my observation on this adventures trip.

After getting through the passport control, you reach the boarder gate – can only be done by car or bus as you’re not allowed to walk around in the area by foot (click all the pics to bigify and enjoy):

We are at 68° north – in a part of the Siberian tundra – it was a just above freezing with a bit of snow. After half an hour, out of the forest and hills, we spotted the city of Nikel:

The Murmansk Oblast is very rich in natural resources and has deposits of over 700 minerals – nickel is one of them. The main industries of the region are in the sphere of raw material extraction and basic processing. The largest industries are metallurgy (36%), electric power-production (23%) and food-industry, including fishing (14%).

At Nikel, we passed the cemetery; an example of differences in culture and traditions:

There was a table at almost every grave and they sat there, eating and drinking (yes; vodka too) as to remember and honour their loss.

After a little less than an hour more by bus, we reached to the city of Zapolyarny and surprisingly took part of their beginning of Easter Celebrations. The whole town was partying and the town square or parade place in front of the culture house was overcrowded:

There were all kinds of performances, like musicians, singers, and dancers in their regional costumes:

I took a lot of pics, so please check the rest in my Flickr group here.

To give you a sense of the atmosphere and see them live, I even made a movie (taken with my Nokia N82):

The standard of living had increased quite a lot over the years since I first was there 11 years ago and once inside the stores (not many signs on the buildings or window posters), you find all you need from clothes to groceries:

Our guide said you could by almost the same of everything here as in Kirkenes. There are some tourists specialities though; mostly crystal, porcelain and of course all kinds of Russian souvenirs:

They also have a big marked in the city, with all kinds of fabrics, clothes, shoes and boots as well as souvenirs and porcelain:


But let’s reflect a bit about the party and my observation at the town square: I found that this was less about religion and more about having fun, eating and drinking; they where celebrating the end of the winter season and were soon ready for spring! The performances at the podium set the standard of course, but also they served kebabs. At one side of the square, I found an improvisatory table and took a picture:

Then I experienced the Russian’s hospitality; their openness, kindness and eagerness to share. We could not understand each others language, but I was soon convinced I could have as much as I wanted of food and drinks:


There is a lot more to this blast of a feast and the city of course, but let me end this post with another observation: Their willingness to pose – if you ask nicely and show them the result afterwards:

Teenagers in Russia dress quite similar to Norwegians in the winter time and if you look closely, you’ll see we had a snow fall too.

Our guide was the one and only: Kurt Wikan at Pasvik Turist who was experienced, very nice and humoristic, but most of all an excellent story teller sharing a lot of facts and history on our rounded too!

Now I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this ‘short report’ about my adventures in Russia – as much as I enjoy sharing with you. Like I said, there is a lot more pics on my Flickr and if you like to read about my adventures 11 years ago, you’ll find the post here! And don’t forget to come back: I’ll report more about Kirkenes later, including our stay in a Snow Hotel and when we met reindeer!

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Gastronomic sensation at Basil & Co in Brussels

posted on 16th April 2009 under Food, Travel Abroad

Brussels in Belgium, the de facto capital city of the European Union (EU), offers a lot of cultural, historical and even gastronomic adventures. Last weekend I was there to attend a meeting at CEPIS ((The Council of European Professional Informatics Societies), we where invited for dinner in the evening at Basil & Co. There where representatives from Computer Societies all over Europe and as a network evangelist, I just love this possibilities to mix business and pleasure. Adding to that, my wife joined me on this trip so that doubled the fun and increases our adventures. I had my Nokia N82 at hand of course, and as often would love to share this culinary sensation with you:

Basil & Co at 156 Avenue Louise is a Spanish, French, International & Fusion restaurant with excellent service, a sensational wine cellar and mansion atmosphere. I was told the house was from the 1800s and originally owned by a brewery family. Their historical exclusive restaurant, helps your gastronomic dreams come true and connoisseurs will enjoy the food as well as the atmosphere. I would say a perfect match of culture, architecture, history and food.

When arriving, our table was already set in the dinning room on the first floor and this picture (click all to bigify and enjoy) hopefully gives you an idea of the atmosphere:

To the right, you see a fire place and behind that: a piano.

After a glass of champagne, we set down at the table and had great conversations about IT Professionalism, skills and required competence as well as Brussels, culture, the news of today and of course food. On my right side, I had the pleasure of getting to know CEPIS’s Policy and Communications Executive and of course we talked a lot about how to use Social Media to promote our services to our members and the societies. To my left, I had interesting conversations with the Irish representative of the British Computer Society.

But now I assume you are starving and so where we – so lets enjoy the servings:

Salad with Serrano ham, dried tomatoes and rucola. Wine: Terret-Sauvingnon 2006 by Jean-Francois.

Leg of lamb with “Tierenteyn” mustard and parsley, wokked vegitables in rice paper and Risotto with mushrooms. Wine: Abadia Real Tempranillo 2006 de Castilla Y Leon

Ice cold nougat with raspberry juice (sorry I had some before I took the picture )

Since pictures says more than a thousand word, I think I leave it there and just hope you enjoyed!

For those who have not red about our Friday first nights adventures, here is the post!
Tomorrow I’m going to Kirkenes (almost as far up north as you can get in Norway). This weekend we’re having our annual meeting (or general assembly if you like) for the Norwegian Computer Society. And since we’re at the border, we’ll have a sight seeing in Russia on Sunday. So I will be quite busy, but while I’m away, you might enjoy reading my last posts from those places:
Kirkenes: Norway’s gateway to northern Russia and the Barents region.
From Russia with love.

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Easter Bunny Eggs Hunt in Norwegian Woods

posted on 12th April 2009 under Food, Habits, Nature, Spring, Tradition

Hunting the Easter Bunny Eggs out in the nature is a family tradition I can remember since I was big enough to sit in my father’s rucksack. Every year the feeling of anticipation and excitement takes me down the memory lane. You may say I’m a bit childish, but I’m just fine with that and it’s important to get the right spirit – and of course: you have to love being outdoors too. Yet another thing is that Easter first of all brings the feeling of spring: another great example of the change in the significant four seasons in Norway.

This year we found a nice, quiet spot in the neighbourhood (just 20 min walk) – a natural pearl of a river surrounded by a little forest (click all pics to bigify and enjoy):

_{Still some snow, but for sure you can smell spring in the fresh, crispy air.}

I went a bit ahead, to see if a can find some bunny footstep. Yea, it’s a family tradition – my father did so when we where young – so now it’s my turn – get the idea? . Walking along the river with increasing streams (next pic to the left), I found this beautiful fall (right pic):


Beside the waterfall, I found a perfect place to sit and make bonfire:


Then I told them I’ve seen foot prints in the snow and the hunt begins. The Easter Bunny knows exactly where to lay the eggs:

It’s easy to find if you follow the footprint and of course much more fun when you have a whole forest to hunt in. Every one helps to look and after a while, all of us has gotten the trophy:

_{The Easter Eggs hunting crew by the waterfall.}

I always want us to learn something from my posts, so I’ve been digging on the net about this phenomena and stumble upon this from SearchWarp:

The Bunny:
The symbol of the rabbit is actually a Pagan symbol, for the ancient Pagan celebration of Eastre. The Goddess, Eastre, was worshiped by Anglo-Saxons, and was known by her unique symbol, of the rabbit – the symbol of fertility and rebirth. The Germans were actually the first country to recognize the rabbit as an Easter symbol, and spread Bunny Cheer throughout the world, including America. The Christians didn’t recognize the Bunny as the Symbol of Easter for a long period after Easter was celebrated.

The Eggs:
The Easter Eggs, like the Easter Bunny, predates the Christian Holiday of Easter. The exchange of eggs during the New Spring Celebration was an ancient tradition, which was practiced long before Christians celebrated Easter. Dating back in ancient times, the exchange of eggs was practiced through various cultures, as a symbol of rebirth. Noble families would wrap the eggs in gold leaf, and the peasants would boil and colour the eggs with flowers and leaves, and offer them as gifts.

The Hunt:
That would be the Germans, as far back as the early 1500s, recognized the Rabbit as a symbol of Easter, And during the 1800′s, they celebrated the eating of edible Easter Bunnies. The Germans were masters in culinary arts, especially with chocolate and delicious sweets, the first edible bunnies were made from pastry and sugar.

Well, enough history and back to our adventures: Now it was time for our picnic and the tradition of frying sausages on sticks:

_{It’s a minute to learn, but a lifetime to master}

As my regular readers know, I love being out in the nature and are fairly good equipped. Here you see the fry result and the accessories:

_{Sami knife, wooden cup (made by my son!), the egg and the fried sausage on lompe (potato cake) with ketchup and muster on my sophisticated stick.}

So now I hope you understand the excitement in my Easter anticipation and why it’s so important to me to hold on to this childish, family tradition of believing it is the Easter Bunny who laid the eggs. Also I hope you see why this should be an outdoor activity: You have to find the eggs in the Bunny’s natural surrounding of course! And tell me; What can be more recreational than sitting around a bonfire, smell that spring is in the air, listen to the sound of birds and waterfalls?

That’s what I call quality time!

Happy Easter to all – and if you want some more details of this family tradition, you’re welcome to read my posts from previous years – the same procedure as every year:
2006: The Easter Egg Hunt
2007: Bonfire at the Easter Egg Hunt
2008: Spring equinox and Easter egg hunt
2008: Hunting Easter Bunny Eggs in snow

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