We arrived in Helsinki after a journey of two hours Cape Town, SA to Jo'burg, SA -- 12 hours from Jo'burg, SA to Amsterdam -- two hours from Amsterdam to Helsinki, and then from there we had to drive four hours to get "home" to Savonlinna, near the Russian border to the east.
Our daughter, Tarja Harkonen was there with her daughter, Marjuska, and we hugged all around and cried. She had come, with a group of other Finnish students of English, to Ole Miss in 1982 and she and another Finnish student lived with Vaughn. We have remained very close for all these years, and had visited her and her family in 1987. This was a "rerun" of that trip, and too long overdue. But the years between just vanished when we got together in the car, and it was like we had just been separated for a few weeks.
We spent the next day washing clothes and recuperating. Just kind of "hung out" and began getting to know Marjuska. We are hoping the fates will bestow a semester at UM for her, too, and she is eager to do so.
The next day we arose early (and I mean "early"!) and left at 5 am to drive to Lappeenranta where we boarded a boat for a canal cruise to Vyborg, Russia and on to St. Petersburg. The trip was delightful, going through eight or nine locks before arriving at the town whose name and identity shifted several times during its history. Vyborg (Russian and Swedish) or Viipori (Finnish) has changed hands so many times, it is hard to keep up...however, since the end of WWII, it has belonged to the USSR and later the Russians. Finns still call it their own.
On the last trip to Vyborg, we went through an ominous admission process with the Communists. Remember, we were traveling with a Finnish group -- and we were the only Americans. At the border, we were warned NOT to smile as these 18 year boys with Kalashnikovs concentrated on our passport pictures. There were threats of being held "forever" if we were found to have rubles on our person when we left the country, and as we drove on, periodically there were towers with armed soldiers aiming their guns at us. A most threatening experience.
Then, arriving at the Beryozka shops, we supplied ourselves with the Stolichnaya vodka to brush our teeth with. The water in Leningrad was reputed to be "not good", so we used a combination of Crest and Stolichnaya for all the times we brushed. Not going to be a big seller on the toothpaste/cocktail market.
And then, the road was edged with forests. In the Journal article, I called them "the forests of fairy tales: deep, dark and forbidding", and they were! You saw no signs of life. There were occasional bus stops along the way, but there were seldom any people. Just that endless, menacing forest.
This time was different. We drove on the "new road", one that was peppered with mileage signs to St. Petersburg, gas stations, and more cars than you could count at one time. There were trucks and every brand of auto in the world, including the Hummer limousines! I was so excited to see the changes.
We arrived in St. Petersburg to 5 o'clock traffic the likes of which we last saw in Kuala Lumpur. Six lanes of vehicles replaced the vast emptinesses we had observed when there in 1987, people were crowded on the sidewalks -- SMILING people -- and there were shops everywhere. This place was alive. It was gorgeous.
Under Communism, money was spent on the military complex, weapons, and equipment for war. There was nothing expended on the beautiful city that Peter had created. For over 70 years, this incredibly handsome place had languished in neglect, and it showed. Vaughn and I were both enamored by the place in 1987, and agreed that if ever the Russians put some resources behind the rehabilitation of the city, they would be sitting on a gold mine.
Well, in advance of the 300th anniversary of the city in 2003, Vladimir Putin put lots of rubles behind a renaissance of St. Petersburg. Today the 17th and 18th century Rococo buildings are being revived for a new life in the 21st century, sometimes even housing indoor malls. But the architecture of the city will simply take your breath away. It is magnificent. Everyone should make a journey to this place. You will feel as though you are swept back in time to when Peter was Tsar.
We spent the first evening in the city on another canal cruise, sailing past the Hermitage, the Fortress of Peter and Paul, and a myriad number of interesting buildings, including where the first "beef" stroganoff was created. It was the celebration of their White Knight and Red Sails holiday -- remembering the legend of the young girl who rebuked her lover because she had a dream that her husband-to-be would come down the Neva River on a ship with red sails. So, he left, made lots of money, and bought up all the red silk he could find, and put them on his boats. Maneuvering his way down the Neva with his ships of red sails, she saw him, they were married, and lived happily ever after. In our first trip we had seen a group celebrating this by asking each one of the people gathered to tell of their dream for White Knight and Red Sails holiday.
The Hermitage was on our list this time, and as we had not seen it in '87, we were eager to enter those gold and white rococo halls and climb up the staircase to the museum rooms. Our English speaking guide was delighted to talk to us of the changes since the fall of the USSR, and we spent as much time discussing that as seeing the vast number of Russian holdings. What an exciting tour!
Our visit to St. Petersburg was so encouraging. Even though there are major differences in our governments and philosophies, the Russians are recouping their pride in themselves, they are smiling, and it makes us feel good.
When we returned from Russia, we spent the day at the summer cottage with Marjuska and Tarja and her parents and brother and family. We had visited the same summer cottage on our earlier trip, and had our first REAL sauna experience. Almost all Finns have a sauna, in their apartments, in the multiple dwelling buildings, in their homes, and in their cottages. People of grandparents age were born in the sauna (the cleanest place in town!) and when they died, the body was bathed in the sauna. You wonder why the skin is so beautiful on these women? One word answer - SAUNA! You sweat all the dirt out!
The sauna begins with building a fire in the stove. There is a pan of stones on top of the stove where one will throw water on and cause them to steam (Loyly). Birch branches are used swat yourself or your partner so as to stimulate the circulation (and to get even for any disagreements you might have), ease sore muscles, relieve mosquito bites, and even, if you are lucky, it will dispense with depression. One enters the sauna "buck naked" as we say in the South, and sits there for a while. If you are lucky, you have some sausages boiling in water with you while you are there, and your beer is cooling in the lake. It is a "sacred" place, and sex is not discussed, even though males and females (coworkers, friends and family) may go to sauna together. This is a place above the carnal world. It is an integral part of the Finnish character. They understand it, they live it, and I would have a hard time adjusting to the "community" aspect of it. Otherwise, I love the experience.
Anyway, you get out of the water, cool off in the lake and have your sausage and beer...then is when you know "life is good".
There are over 2 million saunas in Finland and only 5 million population. There are almost as many summer cottages as there are people. These folks take relaxing to a new level.
Anyway, we had a great time with our entire Finnish family at the summer cottage, even though this time we did not go to sauna. Tarja's brother, Hapi, laid out a five hole golf course on the shores of a beautiful Finnish blue lake. The holes were green paper cups set so as to be at ground level. The dogs kept digging them up, running away, then chewing them to pieces. But we persevered; we all tried to play a round of golf. I gave up after 1) missing the ball, 2) hitting the tee while avoiding the ball, 3) hitting someone else's ball, 4) hitting a tree, and 5) hitting the ball backwards, all on the first hole, After that, I became the "documentarian" as the rest played. The international championship was actually shared: Marjuska won the first hole, and Vaughn won the second. Third, Fourth and Fifth were rained out.
Wait 'til next year!
What a chatty post. I need to shut up for a while. More (if you want more???) later.
No comments:
Post a Comment