LAPLAND

For the xmas break we did a driving marathon to The mythical finnish lapalnd.
A smooth 13 hours from the freezing cold, dark south of Finland for the even colder darker north.

But actually we were treated to pretty good weather in a great location. We had 7 days of fresh powder every day, and the coldest it reached was -17. Compared to -22 down in helsinki.

I think all the myths about the place being depressing and dark where blown away, as the snow made the place fell a lot brighter than helsinki.

We rented a little cabin for teh week, which was also an amazing little hideaway in the snow covered forests, highlights where jumping from the sauna into the snow, and very fast back to the sauna again. Riding through the trees in kneedeep powder, but careful not to hit any trees, as if you slow down or fall you have a good 10mins of huffing and puffing to get your self back out of the deep powder.

We were pretty impressed with Ylläs, the biggest resort in finland delivered big runs,a nd a nice gondola to rest our weak knees in for the 1omin ride back up to the top.

We didnt see any northern lights, but somthing tells me we will be drawn back to this strange magical place antohre time.

heres some shots:

Madrid

So this is a bit late, but better late than never, huh? We escaped the the hellish, what felt like never ending, darkness of November in Finland for a weekend of much needed sunshine in the capital of Spain. Landed in the heat of the city after two very bumpy (read i was sh***ing myself) flights, that I wasn't sure we'd never make it back down to sweet mother earth. Brett was of course rather chilled as usual, at least one of is was holding on to sanity.

Our hostel was on what seemed like a serene lovely little alley, but very soon showed its true face as one of the main streets on the red light district. Oh well, at least during the day it was very lovely and the handiest location with only a few blocks to the center, shopping and stuff.

We really just spent the whole weekend savoring the sun, sitting like true Finns with our faces directed at the mysterious yellow warmth that we hadn't felt for oh so long! We wandered through little alleys, ate lovely yummy tapas and paella to our hearts content along with the cheapest and tastiest wine since South America.

Nothing incredibly drastic took place in our short get away - it was a true charge of the batteries and a quick break from our life in Helsinki. The galleries and museums in Madrid were outstanding, although to be honest we didn't spend too much in them as we were too busy trying to find the next spot to sit and have a beer or a glass of wine in the sunshine!


Calle del Barco.

Our balcony.


Plaza Mayor.
Calle de Toledo.

Guernica.


Street art.

Brett the whitey enjoying sunshine...


...and the pair of us.