Catherine Bannister

The northern lights are dramatic green swoops in the skies near Tromsø, Norway. Lots of stars are dotted among them.

Success!
(More tomorrow - I’m cold and exhausted from the hunt)

The inside of the new Ensemble Theater (in the round) at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago during a tour of its construction (2021, which explains the masks)

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekIForInteriors

In the orange-tinged Halloween room, Jack-O-Lanterns grin and when you looked through the eyes (or nose) of the big one in the back there was a human-sized candle flickering in a separate room carved like the inside of the pumpkin

An elaborate mask carved into a side wall in the Venetian room

One of several animal carvings in a round room arranged like a carousel. This one of a saddled reindeer reminded me of the friend I made back in Pyhä.

A clear ice carving of the President of Finland in front of a wall with carved letters that say Independence Day Reception. Apparently, every December 6th, the President of Finland hosts a reception for citizens of all walks of life and he stands and shakes all of their hands - for hours! And it’s televised so the Finnish who weren’t invited watch the event to see (and comment on) the fashion of those attending. Kind of like the Oscars red carpet. We’ve been told about this event several times already (before this carving) - seems it’s a *really* big deal!

One more set of photos from the snow village. The craftsmanship was really amazing.

A map of Finland with a blue dot showing where Kilpisjärvi is relative to Sweden and Norway. Pretty high up!

Tonight’s view - radically different from all the rest. It looks like a black and white photo of high desert. Way in the distant right is a snow covered fell.

First legit wildlife sighting! This guy wandered out onto the road in front of us and then decided it’d be better to hightail it back to the woods. His antlers haven’t started regrowing.

Tonight we are in Kilpisjärvi - basically where Norway, Sweden and Finland come together. It was about a 3.5 hour drive NW And 2/3 of the way the terrain completely changed. No more towering pines and spruces! Tomorrow: goodbye to Finland, hello to Tromsø, Norway!

Clear blue sky from my glass cabin this morning

Took a walk this morning and finally found some tracks! Looks like I just missed a big snow rabbit

Down the road from our cabins is the obligatory sauna (this one also with a hot tub) and the stairs lead from the wooden building down to the frozen river where you go for the cold plunge after the hot room. We did traditional Finnish sauna at our last stop - I didn’t do the plunge part, just stood in the cold next to the hole while my friend submerged about to her upper waist.

Check out time! Suitcase back on the sled for the ride back to reception - uphill this time

Woke this morning (ofc) to perfectly clear skies - just in time to keep heading north where they are again predicting clouds and snow. Our Northern Lights chances are dwindling!

Thanks (and you’re welcome) - this is truly one of the most beautiful places I’ve been!

Finnish “hello” is “hei” (”Hey!”) - and goodbye is hei hei - so all week I’ve had my mother in my head saying “Hay is for horses” 🤣

A small copse of trees sprinkled with snow and under a deep blanket of white snow in the evening in the woods of northern Finland. (I didn’t put the night filter on for these, so this is about how dark it was)

More spruce and pine with heavy layers of snow

I loved these trees whose snow packs made them look like lollipops! The whole forest looks like Dr Seuss or (at night) a Tim Burton film

This tall tree looks like it’s wearing a huge dollop of whipped cream at the very top

After the snow village, Johanna took us for a walk in the woods which were surprisingly bright from the snow despite there being no moon nor stars. We made snow benches, put down blankets and drank hot juice and ate gingersnaps while she told us Sámi legends and Finnish history.

In the Venice room there was an ice gondola and gondolier under a sweeping ice bridge that had stairs going up one side and was a solid ice slide down the other - all three of us slid down!

Chinese New Year foom had an enormous dragon grasping a yellow lit orb

Just before the exit were these two kids on a sled, smiling and laughing as they race down a slope. Because this carving was directly across from an opening into the igloo space, the back child especially looked like their pom poms and hat were fuzzy!

Next to the village is a restaurant (indoor) that has an attached section that is all snow and ice - it holds about 50 guests and all of the tables and chairs are blocks of ice. I sat on one (in my snow clothes) and was still cold - not sure I could eat a whole meal on one of those seats! The ice is actually cut from the river in the winter and stored all summer until they begin work on the snow village each year in late September.

More from snow village

The entry hall to the snow village is long, curved and has a blue tinge from the backlit chunks of ice embedded into the snow walls. At the end of the hall is a curved lit doorway with a pink hue in its middle

Throughout the snow village are rooms that have been intricately carved from the snow (everything in there is either snow or ice except for the lights and signage). Here is the wedding chapel with ice block pews and dais backlit in light blue. Massive carvings of a kissing Sámi couple in traditional garb, their joined lips and curved necks forming an archway

This was so creepy! In a room dedicated to the running of the bulls in Pamplona, there were buildings and houses carved into the snow walls and here is supposed to be a resident looking out at the bulls rushing by. To me it looks like a specter in a haunted house!

This was a room dedicated to the Day of the Dead in Mexico with beautiful and intricately decorated skulls carved over the ice ofrenda with icy offerings

Last night we were supposed to go hunting for Northern Lights but it was completely clouded over, so Johanna, our local guide improvised and took us to the snow village! (Her cousin has designed it for 25 yrs - in a town of only 350 everyone’s related)

A peek inside a sliver of a washroom in the Palace of Pena in Sintra, Portugal. The walls are covered in small cream ceramic tiles painted with green and pink curlicued diamond patterns. The edge of a wooden rimmed sink is visible and near the cwnter of the frame is a tall wooden shaving stand with a round mirror, a candle and a small round shelf

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekIForInteriors

It totally depends, tbh. We’ve done some organized tours, some completely on our own and some with agencies that will put together itineraries for just you or a small group based on what you want to do. For this one, we used KimKim.

That hat flew off my head like a minute after I took over driving the sled! I thought it was lost for good and was sad - but then a lovely Dutch woman saw it on the trail and brought it to me when we finished the rides. 💕

Oh no. I’m so sorry, GP. She was the such a good girl and you gave her the best life. Now she can play with Charlotte again. 💔 😔

!!

It’s actually not that bad, cold-wise, in my opinion (my friend may think differently). January in Chicago was way worse 😊

LOL most of it! I picked up a couple more pair of snow pants for the trip but everything else comes in handy for snowy cold Chicago winters 😉

Of course! (And now I want a physical copy for my shelf, too)

Thanks!

Just finished reading the Internet Archive version, but I - FOR SURE - am pre-ordering if only for your foreward! 😊

On this trip, we’re pretty much doing Lapland (northern Finland), starting in Helsinki ending in Oslo. But I’ve been to Denmark, Norway (2x), Finland (2x), St Petersburg, RU, and my favorite city in the world is Stockholm! (Can you tell I like the North? 😊)

The candle trees (Siberian Spruce) get heavier coats of snow the higher up the Fell (bigger than a hill, smaller than a mountain) you go. With the grey sky, this view from the car looks like a black and white photo.

When we checked in, they said “grab a sled for your luggage” then we set off down the path toward our cabins

My retreat for the next 18 hours or so is a glass cabin (with a glass roof) that looks out onto the snow covered woods. I hope a moose walks by! (Or a rabbit or fox - any wildlife, really - although I see no tracks out there)

A view of the glass cabin showing the left-hand corner’s perspective

The drive across the top edge of Finland was like being in a fairy tale. For some reason the tune “We are Santa’s elves“ kept running through my head 😊 And our stop for the night is SO COOL (except for the cloud cover so no Aurora spying tonight)

The view from within the fortress on Suomenlinna, near Helsinki. The interior is dark with a tiled stone floor and thick grey stone walls. The deep slotted window is open to a hazy view of bare trees and the tops of yellow roofs

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekIForInteriors

The cute behinds of our sled dogs

A young (under a year) black and white Alaskan Husky pup graciously showing off his large paw pads

After playing with the pups we needed a snack so we took off across the lake for a nearby cafe. That’s me looking like I’ve been banished to Siberia - LOL

Made it to the cosy cafe where we had coffee and tea and yummy homemade baked treats - mine was (of course) a big slice of rhubarb pie!

No pictures from our beautiful but rigorous night snowshoeing adventure last night, and BlueSky was down when I tried to post these earlier but these are more from Pyhätunturi. North to Äkäslompolo today. We keep hoping for Northern Lights!

Nope. Sorry, but bolstering operations and tech aren’t what‘s gonna get me to come back.

A beautiful white and grey snow scene from a dog sled heading toward a bright horizon

One of our pups shaking out her neck and shoulders after our run through the snow

They were so cuddly after the ride - leaned in for scritches and love

Andy (one of our lead dogs) was very interested in my camera

Mush!

The track platform inside the train station full of people awaiting the night train in Helsinki

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekIForInteriors

It’s been planned for a year, so… everyone has been quite lovely (and understanding)

Probably so! I had blueberry juice on the way here and it was so good (and I wondered how many blueberries it took for my small glass of juice!)