Half Empty or Half Full / Puoliksi Tyhjä vai Puoliksi Täysi

Kumputunturi, Lapland

It starts to grow between the trees

Fist you see only climbses

Then the forest opens up

And there stands the mountain

In front of you

And above you

There is nothing around it to challenge it's height

It stands there alone

581 meters from the sea level

Reaching the clouds

If there is a treeline at it's sides

It's so far down

It vanishes to the forest itself

Before the mountain even starts to rise from the ground

North facing side is a little bit easier

Little bit more approacable

And from there goes a little path all the way up

The view from the top is amazing

Terrain is really rough

Just rocks and some more rocks

And so for

Nothing to block the view

Nothing to block the wind

That hits you from every direction

In the middle of this emptiness

On the highest point stands a little cottage

In the past

The cottage has belong to the fireguard

Whom has been sitting here

Guarding and watching

Ready to spot the wildfires

Hard to imagine his life

Living alone

On top of the mountain

Just himself, wind and stars to keep him company

We imagine this

Sitting in the fireguards lookout hut

Waiting for coffee to boil

Coloring a life to the thoughts

Of this place in winter time

How it would be here under the starry sky

Northern lights dancing above us

How it would be if you would get stuck in a snow storm

How you would sit in the cottage

Wrapped in blankets

Sipping hot chocolate in candle light

And listen how the wind roars around you

We wonder how it is

That even so the scenery is rough and empty

It is still so full of life and wonders

Only limitations are in your own imagination

And how wonderful it feels

Here in the middle of the beautiful emptiness

To share your thoughts

The moment

And a cup of coffee

With an other living soul

On a Lo Fotr / Ilveksen Käpälällä

Lofoten, Norway

Everybody is talking about it

At least everybody somehow related to outdoor life

So when they asked me

Do you wanna hop on a car and go for an adventure

I said YES

And this is how

I ended up exploring these famous islands

If you ask me

What comes to my mind when you say 'Norway'

The answer would be

Mountains

Sea

Vikings

Not necessarily in that order

I was amazed the first time I visited Norway few years ago

How come there was this beautiful land

With magnified mountains and fjords

Just next to my country and I have never visited there

Well, I partly blame my parents

Whom always on holidays took us to the southern Europe

But it's ok

They are not winter people

Although both of them have been born in middle of the winter

But anyway

Finnish Lapland was the most north they felt they needed to go

And ofcourse it's way more cheaper to drive to Spain with four kids

Than travel to Norway with them

Norway?

No-way!

 Now

On my third trip to this land full of wonders

I'm still amazed

I can't get rid of the question in my mind

Why do people wan't to travel all the way to New Zealand

When you have all the same possibilities here in Northern Europe

But of course it's a matter of preferences

2 hours in a plane

Or 22 hours in a plane
(Or in my case 12 hours in a car)

I have always loved water

It's one of the most multiple elements in this world

It can be salt or fresh

Calm or rapid

Strong and unstoppable

Or light mist

As a clouds that grab the mountain peaks

When frozen

It covers everything in it's protecting white blanket

It's the power of life

Without it 

There wouldn't be any

And finally
The sea and the mountain shore villages
Brings us to the vikings
That horribly violent fighter folk
With their mystical life
Between the giants and the goods

Despite all the violense

I admire them

They found a way to habit the rough mountain shores

They cultivated the land where they could

And took what was them by the rights of the strongest one

They respect their free women

And as men also women lead them to victorious battles

Can't but admire them

Now days the viking life styles lives mainly in museums

And among people whom keep up memory of their society

It is important to understand where we come from

Acknowledge the wisdom that has been there for thousands of years before us

And I think Norwegians whom have been successfully inhabited this rough land

Have that wisdom in their blood

It's strong in their roots

Knowing all this

Standing on a shore of the great sea

Surrounded by mountains

That has been here way before me

And will be here long after me

I can feel this deep peace inside me

Rising up from my roots on this earth

Roots stronger and older than my words to describe them

It's a deep feeling of belonging

And I know it deep in my soul and heart

I need to come here again

Pssst!

Here you can find the stories from my first adventure to Norway

Nordkapp - There and Back Again part1

Nordkapp - There and Back Again part2

Finders Keep.. Or Is it? / Löytäjä Saa Pitää.. Vai Saako?

Somewhere in Lapland

On the one of my adventures I found this hidden gem

So beautiful

Standing on the meadow

Surrounded by flowers

I assumed this one was abandoned too

Like so many other old house

Sense this one was almost collapsed

Like too many other old house

The door was loosely locked

Again I was wondering

Where goes the line of trespassing

When it is breaking in

And when it is a friendly visit

The law says it is always trespassing when you go in

No matter if the door is open or closed

And I understand this

There is too much people whom don't know how to respect the old house

They brake windows to get in

Make a mess inside

And take all kind of old things with them from the house

For these kinda things there is a simple term

It's called burklary

There is a simple code for people wanting to visit old places

Take only photographes

Leave only foot prints

Simple as that

Then the other thing is

What is 'abandoned'

Old house or cottage that looks like there has been nobody in decades

Can be still somebody's summer house

It would be wise to find out the history of the place

Before you go in

But like me so often

I come a cross with the places by accident

In this case I try to use common sense

I always also ask from the house if I'm welcome

Usually the house welcomes me and shows me the way in

But sometimes not

Then I respect that and continue my way

When I was younger

I was too thirsty for adventures

And too blind to stop and listen

So I made a way to get in this old house

While inside I got this really bad vibes

The whole house was rejecting me

There was a lot of scary stuff

And stuff that where obviously stolen

And I realized there has been somebody

Somebody I wouldn't want to meet

I left the place and never came back

Afterwords I felt bad

I had broke my code and the common code

I had actually done something that wasn't fun anymore

So you live, you learn

I never posted the pics from that house anywhere

and I never will

So now I was standing on one door again

Asking if I'm welcome

This time I was

The house was in a really bad shape

The basement was totally collapsed

I was stepping super carefully on the floor

Numbers at the house base stonewall tells that the house has been build 1938-50

Note on the bench tells that somebody has been visiting the owner 1983

Latest newspaper was the Hufvudstadsbladet from 1994

From the internet I couldn't find any information about the house

So it remains a mystery house for me

Exploring the main floor is always nice and exiting

But going higher or lower is always a bit scary

Especially if the house can collapse in any minute

Do you rather get burried

Or take a leap of faith with the upstairs floor

This is always a nice mind game to play alone in the spooky old house

This time also there was no ghosts making them selves visible for me

Not even afterwords from the pictures

Which is also kinda spooky when you see something in the pic

That wasn't there when taking the pic

So this seemed very peaceful house

It just stands there in the middle of the flower meadow

With the bright colors little by little fainting from it's walls

I'm not going to reveal the location of this place

So let just say it is somewhere in Lapland

Local people probably know the place already

Sense I definitely wan't the first one visiting there

(Some ladies had typed on the piece of paper that they were here)

But I hope you will enjoy the beautiness of this old house through my pictures

And maybe understand why I sometimes bend the law for the pics and stories

The Castle Mountain / Linnavuori

Ikoinniemi, Savonlinna

For a long time I have been looking this place on a map

The Castle Mountain

Actually just one of them

There is about 90 places in Finland called as Castle Mountain

Seven of them here in Southern Savo

Some of them have actually served as Iron Age fortresses

Lookout places for enemies

At some of the places they have found evidences about this

But some of the places have just the name

I visited one of these Castle Mountains

Here in Ikoniemi there is no evidence about ancient fortress being here

But for my opinion this has been a perfect lookout place 

The dirt road was so small and curvy

That I was really glad to have my new adventure partner  with me

This being my 4wd car

I just love it

The "parking area" was just a small wider spot by the road

And the path that was supposed to start from the "parking area"

Was so unused that I couldn't find it at first

It had been taken over by the Lilys of the valley

Nice

This kinda places I like

The hidden gems

 It was super hot summer day

I love the smell of the pine tree forests

They smell like home

Like a childhood summers

It's so quiet and peaceful

Only the Whooper swans disagree

At the nearby bay there is some kind of swan mayhem going on

National bird of Finland negotiating who was on that bay first
I would see this noise as a part
Of this kinda national and cultural view

Like Common Gull or Arctic Loon

I try to step carefully on the super dry lichen
Which seems to grow everywhere here
Funny plants these liches
On  rainy day they are like sponges
Soft and elastic
And now in this sudden heatwave
They are crispy and crunchy
And break easily

I also record that
It has been way too long sense my last adventure
Should remember to do this more often
Refill my batteries
Enjoy the moment

I didn't find either any signs about the Iron Age Fortress being here
Two stone piles on the top
Turn out to be some thing that tourists and visitors make when they visit here
It's apparently common to bring your own stone to the pile
I just wonder why so many people carry stones with them?
And I was thinking if the binoculars are too heavy to take with
Jeesus

Definitely worth visiting

Like so many places are

Now I just want to find those six other Castle Mountains

But that's a matter of some other day