A Finnish Opera Singer in collision with a squirrel!

A squirrel scampered into the bicycle wheel of an unlucky Finnish opera singer, causing him to fall, knock himself out and break his nose just ahead of the world premiere of a new opera.

Esa Ruuttunen was pedalling his way to the Helsinki Opera House last month when the squirrel ran into his spokes.

The singer ended up concussed and in a local hospital, rather than at his rehearsals for the Finnish opera Kaarmeen hetki (Hour of the Serpent), which opens on September 15.
"He is not yet singing in rehearsals, but thinks he will be able to perform at the world premiere," Finnish National Opera spokeswoman Heidi Almi told Reuters.

The squirrel died in the accident.

Santa will let Finnair do the flying when he visits New Delhi.

Finnish carrier Finnair's soon to be introduced non-stop flights between Helsinki and New Delhi would be accompanied by some happy chortling, with the airline planning to fly Santa Claus from the Arctic Circle to the tropics to promote the service.

The Finnish Santa Claus, who lives above the Arctic Circle in Lapland region and each year receives over 11 million letters from believers across the world, including India, would visit New Delhi shortly after the inaugural flight on October 30.

"It (Santa's visit) will be part of the promotional campaign," Finnair President and CEO Jukka Hienonen said.
Finland already considers Santa Claus as its most important PR person who receives loads of visitors at his home in Rovaniemi in Lapland.

In fact, a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis by the Finnish Tourist Board lists Santa as Finland's unique selling point, besides the country's serene environment.
Santa Claus, who has his own post office in Finland, will take part in the official opening of the airline's services in New Delhi on November nine and will also visit kindergartens and some hospitals in the Indian Capital.

Finnair, more than 40 per cent of whose business is already Asia related, is betting big on the direct India service, which would be scaled up to five a week by summer 2007 from the initial three flights.

For more information about meeting Santa in Lapland this Christmas click here.

August temperatures near record levels

The month of August crowned what has been a phenomenally warm summer in Finland. In the southern and western parts of the country as well as in Lapland, August was the warmest month of the whole season.

In a long-term comparison, the August temperatures came very close to the all-time record levels from 2002 and 1937. 
Apart from the very north of Lapland, the summer's mean temperatures in the entire country ranged between 15 and 18 degrees Celsius. This is a couple of degrees above the 1971-2000 average.

     
In many areas the number of days when the mercury climbed above +25 Celsius was double the norm. 
The most "officially hot" days, 37 in all, were recorded in the municipality of Suomusjärvi in the province of Western Finland. The summer's highest temperature, +32.1 Celsius was measured in Lammi in Southern Finland.
     

The summer of 2006 was exceptionally dry. Helsinki's Kaisaniemi received only 34 millimetres of precipitation this summer. Comparisons with measurements taken since 1845 reveal that this was the lowest reading ever. The previous record, 47 millimetres, was from 1868. 

The capital area as a whole, as well as the Gulf of Bothnia, the northern arm of the Baltic Sea, received less than 60 millimetres of precipitation, which is less than a fourth of the long-term average. 

The longest spell of fine weather started in Kauhava on July 14th, lasting for four and a half weeks. The Kemi-Tornio Airport's five-and-a-half-week record from 1969 remains the longest-ever streak of clear skies in Finland. 

Helsinki's Kumpula district, as well as the islands of Utö and Valassaaret, received a record-breaking 1,000 odd hours of sunshine this summer.

As reported in Helsinki Sanomat.

To visit Finland click here.

Chester Zoo launched their Frost Fair with an opportunity to win an amazing holiday to meet Santa in Finnish Lapland.

Anyone ordering tickets to Chester Zoos winter Frost Fair by 31 October 2006 will automatically be entered into a prize draw to win a holiday of a life to for a family of four to meet Santa to with Lapland specialist Emagine. The four day holiday in December will include reindeer rides, husky sled safari and snowmobile safari. The lucky winners will get to meet Santa in his forest cabin as a family and again at a Christmas party.

The Frost Fair will run from 01 December 2006 – 04 February 2007. It includes an outdoor ice rink on which there will be ice discos, family sport and obstacle sessions, and toddler time. Stalls will be featuring local produce, arts, crafts, food and drink. Daily events will include street entertainers, Winter Tails story time in an Ice cabin, a treasure trail and a chance to create zoo-themed winter crafts that you can take home.

For further details about the frost fair click here

If you want further details of visiting Santa with Emagine click here.

Swedish Authorities find a unique way to test driver observation skills!

Swedish authorities are trying to remind drivers of the dangers that lurk in woods along the country's roads.

This week, papier maché elks will be positioned off the road in several places throughout the country in hopes drivers will realize how easy it would be for an elk to walk out from the woods onto the road.

“They could, for example, be placed about 25 meters to 50 meters from the road so that it appears as real as possible,” said Lars Sävberger, spokesman for the project, according to Dagens Nyheter.

Swedish police, SOS Alarm and the Swedish Road Administration are all involved in the week-long project.

After a meeting with an imitation elk, police will stop many drivers and ask them if they saw the animal. Some 9,000 car travelers were stopped during last year’s campaign.

“There is a tendency for many drivers to not pay attention to that which exists on the side of the road,” said Sävberger. “If you did, you could reduce the number of accidents.”

Some 35,000 elk are hit on Swedish roads each year. The program will last until September 3.

First published in The Local, by Adam Ewing.

Image provided by:Håkan Vargas S. / Swedish Travel & Tourism Council

For further deytails on visiting Sweden Click here.

Finns take almost all medals in mobile phone throwing world championships World record stays in Finnish hands.

Summer in Finland is the time of year when wives are carried, saunas are endured, and mobile phones are thrown with main force as far as possible. We may have missed the wife-carrying (in Sonkajärvi at the beginning of July), and the sauna endurance world championships (in Heinola earlier this month), but the mobile phone tossers will not be denied.
      Unlike the wife-carrying, where Estonians seem to be invincible these days, and sitting in the sauna, where Finnish hegemony has recently been threatened by sweat-meisters from Belarus, the Finns cleaned up in almost every category at Saturday's mobile phone throwing worlds, held in Savonlinna.

     
The men's traditional event was won by Lasse Etelätalo with a throw of 89.00 metres. In the women's traditional competition Eija Laakso not only secured victory but also set a new Finnish and world record mark of 50.83.

The most international category was the freestyle team competition, where the throwing technique was perhaps less important than originality, style, aesthetics, and convincing the panel of judges. 
Victory here went to Team Sweden. The team's Peter Siepen also hurled the mobile nearly 40 metres in the individual men's event, setting a new Swedish record. Even though this distance pales somewhat beside the other throws, it was enough for the national best - mobiles have not previously been thrown in Sweden under strict competition conditions.
     

This was the seventh holding of the championships, and there were around 70 competitors, hailing from Finland, Sweden, Russia, Holland, Belgium, and Canada. The Dutch and Belgian national champions were also represented, but they did not figure on the podium in Savonlinna.
      However much one might have wished at some point to hurl one's own malfunctioning Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola, or Samsung, this was not possible in Savonlinna. The organisers provided the official phones, with all kinds of models and brands to choose from.
     

Perhaps the weekend's happiest winner was 6-year-old Paavo Kolari, who took top honours in the individual freestyle event with his heavy-metal outfit, throwing the mobile with vigour and style despite being hampered by a guitar and a long black wig. 
Paavo had charmed spectators a year ago as a phone-throwing Captain Hook, but the 2005 jury had relegated him to the silver medal spot.

Reported in Helsinki Sanomat - International Edition.

If you want to start practising next years event will be held on 25 August 2007 for

further details click here

For further details on visiting Finland click here.

Some phrases and words that you may find useful if planning to visit Finnish Lapland in the coming months…….you never know who you might bump into.

Hauska tavata!   = Nice to meet you!

Hyvää huomenta!  = Good morning!

Hyvää iltaa!   = Good evening!

Hyvää päivää!   = Good afternoon!

Nimeni on ….  = My name is …….

Kyllä kiitos  = Yes, please

Ei kiitos  = No, thank-you.

Kiitos!   = Thank you!

Kippis!   = Cheers!

Kylmä    = Cold

Ulkona on Kylmä  = It is cold.

On todekka Kylmä = It is very cold.

Sataa lunta  = It is snowing.

Lämmin    = Warm

Minulla oli mukavaa.  = I had a nice time.

Hei!    = Hi! 

Hei Hei!   = Bye-bye

Näkemiin!   = Goodbye

Tämä on hyvää!  = This is good!

Poro    = Reindeer

Anteeksi   = Sorry / Excuse me

Joulu   = Christmas

Joulukuusi  = Christmas tree

Joulupukki  = Father Christmas / Santa Claus

Tonttu   = Elf

Revontulet  = Aurora Borealis

Iso tuoppi!   = Could I have a pint of beer, please!

And if all else fails………………………………En puhu suomea.  = I don't speak Finnish

If you want to put your new vocabulary to good use visit Lapland or meet Santa.

Image provided by Loraine Highfield.

Clients love the Stockholm, Viking Line, Helsinki and Tallinn combination.

This spring and summer we were contacted by many people looking for city breaks who following our advice took the opportunity of using the excellent Viking Line services to experience several Baltic capitals in one trip. For many the overnight cruise between Sweden and Finland was a highlight of their trip. We thought you might like to hear a little more about it in their words.

“ I am writing to thank you for your seamless organisation of our Baltic trip.
 We enjoyed our stay on the boat from Stockholm to Helsinki and the hotel in Helsinki was excellent and I would recommend it as convenient for the city and the port.
The Tallinn hotel was also good and altogether it was a very enjoyable break”

Julia Lecky
Neston
South Wirral

Image by Nicho Sodling.

We had done the usual city break locations, Paris, Amsterdam, Prague and Barcelona. When we started to look for somewhere new a friend recommended Stockholm. After doing some research it sounded brilliant so we decided to give it a go.
When we called Emagine and started to talk through the various options Loraine suggested that we
might want to combine Stockholm with an overnight sailing through the archipelago on Viking Line to Helsinki and if we had time to do a day visit to Tallinn. Our planned short break had now transformed into a fabulous long weekend all of which you kindly arranged.

We took the morning flight to Stockholm and reached our hotel, Scandic Malmen, just after lunch. The welcome was friendly, location good and room clean and bright. We dropped our bags and headed off on foot to the Old Town. Stockholm is a beautiful city and the weather was very kind. We spent the next 2 days hopping on and off boats, visiting amazing museums, eating picnics in the parks and enjoying the local nightlife. The hotel had quite a few bars and restaurants close by which was perfect.

The next afternoon we boarded the Viking Line ship. We certainly weren’t prepared for something so grand, I guess we just thought it would be like the ferries at home but this was more like a cruise ship. The three of us shared a cabin which was fine for one night. It had its own toilet, sink and shower. After a quick tour of the ship we knew we wouldn’t be spending much time in our cabin. We started the evening with the buffet dinner (thanks for the recommendation Loraine), so much great seafood and wine included. The rest of the evening was a blur of listening to live bands, in the many bars and then rounded off until the small hours in the brilliant nightclub. We did keep popping out onto the deck to take in the views, especially as it remained light nearly all night!

The last day was manic. We packed our bags and left them at the hotel. We then hopped on the hydrofoil to Tallinn with Nordic Jet. The journey was smooth and fast, only 1 ½ hours.  You arrive quite centrally. As we had limited time we did the sightseeing bus tour from the hydrofolil which was a great way of getting to know the city. After this we had a couple of hours to explore the old town and grab a bite to eat before it was back on the hydrofoil. Tallinn was really interesting and had a great buzz about it. We all agreed we would go back for longer, even a full day may have done the trick but we are glad we went. Once in Helsinki it was a taxi to the airport and our flight home…….
Thanks so much from all of us for arranging such a brilliant holiday.  We are now telling all our friends about our adventure and will be in touch to arrange that crazy weekend on Viking Cinderella that you recommended as our next girls get together.
 
L..P. and friends.
Manchester.

For more information about Viking Line and Baltic combinations click here.