THE SAMI PEOPLE AND THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN

The Sami People are among the largest indigenous groups in Europe and inhabit parts of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia and their ancestral lands cover an area roughly the size of Sweden. Numbering somewhere around 100,000 the majority of the population is located in Norway followed by Sweden, Finland and Russia.

Livelihoods have ranged from fishing, fur trapping, and sheep herding but they are best known for reindeer herding where approximately 3000 are actively involved and herding is legally reserved only for the Sami people in certain regions of the North.

The Sami People have survived for over 2500 years by adapting to the Arctic north and are represented by three Parliaments with limited influence and controlled largely by the Scandinavian Governments. The representatives are concerned largely with border questions and the promotion of cultural autonomy.

In Kautokeino approximately 90 percent of the population speaks Sami and it is the home of a high school and reindeer herding school here also is the International Center for Reindeer Husbandry and it is considered the cultural capital for the Sami People.

Karasjok is the home of the Norwegian Sami Parliament, located here as well are the Sami Collections Museum and the Sami Art Center.

A one and ½ hour flight from Stockholm to Kiruna will provide a convenient starting point for a more detailed study visit and at the same time an opportunity to visit Jukkasjärvi the home of the famous Ice Hotel.

For those looking for peace and tranquility the natural beauty of the arctic north provides a perfect setting and a few days spent at Kronogård Viildmark at Kåbdalis will be just the thing. Daily excursions are arranged for guests encountering wild life and magnificent views. While here you will also have an opportunity to stand on the Arctic Circle just a few kilometers to the north.

During the summer months beginning in mid May and continuing through mid August the North of Scandinavia becomes the land of the Midnight Sun. At the end of June areas of the north enjoy 24 hours of daylight.

Portions of this article were found through a Wikipedia search.

Sincerely,

John and Don

Stockholm's Grand Hotel

In many of Stockholm’s panoramic views one of the most recognizable buildings is The Grand Hotel. Ideally located, this 5 star property offering deluxe accommodations is a far reach from lodging offered in the 17th and 18th century.

In the late 18th century the Swedish Pomeranian officer Georg von Pollet commented “The Inns are altogether bad, one could scarce be worse served in the Marburg Post House than in the foremost inn of Stockholm “Malmens Källare”. Small unkempt rooms, inferior food and inflated bills are the lot of every stranger”.

Even in the beginning of the 19th century conditions seemed largely unchanged although by this time there were a few exceptions. Bergstrahlska huset by Riddarhustorget, Kastenhof on Gustav Adolfs torg, Reisen on Skeppsbron, Franska Värdshuset on Regeringsgatan, and Den Gyllene Freden on Österlångatan were some of the better taverns and eating houses in the city.

The Hotel Garni could perhaps be regarded as Stockholm’s first real “hotel” as we know it today. It was opened in 1832 by the court confectioner Abraham Christopher Behrens. The hotel’s trade card stated in Swedish and French “ In this tastefully decorated Hotel, located at #3 Drottninggatan, are three floors of furnished rooms for travelers , for families as well as individuals, with adjoining Servants’ quarters. Stables and servants rooms also provided”.

In January 1858 the Hotel Rydberg was opened to the public. Stockholm finally had a continental-style hotel. It was an astoundingly luxurious building for its time. In addition to rooms for travelers, the ground floor contained storerooms, a carriage room, lodging quarters for the hotel manager and a wash-house with a water pump. Gas pipes were installed and the hotel was illuminated with modern gas lamps. There were also bathrooms with bathtubs and bath attendants. Not even the royal family had such splendor in the Palace.

Just one year later Régis Cadier (who would later play the crucial role in the creation of the Grand Hotel) managed to purchase the leasehold for the hotel. Calmly and methodically, he built up the business.

Few things have been more significant to the development of Stockholm than the opening of the rail link to the capital in 1862. In one stroke the journey time from Gothenburg to Stockholm was cut to 14 hours opening Stockholm to the outside world. Never before had the Swedish capital seen so many travelers arrive.

It soon became clear that a new hotel was needed and Cadier was asked to come up with a solution. Attention was turned toward the harbor and Cadier discovered three interesting properties on the southern side of Blasieholmen.

Work began on the new hotel in March 1872. From records it would appear that the roof was completed by the end of the year and work on the interior continued throughout 1873.

How did Cadier finance a project of such magnitude? One story has Cadier filling a wheelbarrow with silver coins at the Hotel Rydberg then wheeling it to the new building site to pay the construction workers. The story may be a myth but it makes for a good antidote.

By the spring of 1874 the interiors were nearly completed and the first guests checked in. It was at this time that the name of the new hotel was made public: THE GRAND HOTEL.

Today elegance abounds in the Grand Hotel’s 368 rooms each room being one of a kind. 42 spacious suites, with conference facilities accommodating most needs. To remind you of Régis Cadier enjoy a refreshment in the Cadier bar appropriately named “From the Founder to the Future” and breakfast, lunch or dinner in the Veranda Restaurant overlooking the Bay. A fine dining experience awaits in Mathias Dahlgren’s Restaurant specializing in “Natural Cuisine”. A 2,800 square meter spa and health club will be completed during 2009 in collaboration with Raison d’Etre and available for hotel guests.

And of course, location in the center of Stockholm with a magnificent view of the harbor.

Portions of the above information are from the web site http://www.grandhotel.se/

Sincerely,

John and Don

A Swedish Walled City?

Yes, there is one right in the middle of the Baltic Sea on the island of Gotland and it’s called Visby.

Just 56 miles from the Swedish mainland and easy to reach either by regular air service from Stockholm or by ferry from Nynäshamn just south of Stockholm.

Visby is on the west coast of the island and is populated by 22,000 inhabitants and is listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

With a background spanning 5,000 years the city and island abounds with history having been a Viking stop off and trading port and one of the most important ports during the years of the Hanseatic League. The port is still active today hosting numerous cruise ships and ferries.

The wall (Ringmuren) surrounding Visby is 3 kilometers long and one of the best preserved in all of Europe. When walking through the town visitors are greeted with the fragrance of roses and quaint homes restored to their original form. Magnificent panoramic views of the city and sea meet your eyes as you approach the 12th century Visby Cathedral officially opened in 1225. The cathedral, was dedicated to Saint Mary and reshaped in the 13th century to its current appearance.

But there is much more to see on the island including sandy beaches, a number of unique churches and at the north end of the island another island called Fårö. This name is often misinterpreted as meaning sheep island although there are many sheep on the island the name actually comes from “far” to travel and “ö” for island or travel island. It is connected to the main island by ferries and is known for the stand rocks, quaint fishing villages and the home of the late and well known film producer and director Ingmar Bergman.

A visit to Gotland and Visby may be just the answer to add a special compliment to your Scandinavian adventure.

You may wish to visit www.Gotland.net for more information.

Sincerely,
John and Don

Visit Lillehammer Norway!

No doubt most of you know Lillehammer as the host city of the 1994 winter Olympics but there is so much more to Lillehammer and it is just two hours northwest of Oslo by train or car.

In the city centre there is a collection of wooden houses from the early 1800’s and it is in a picturesque location with the influence of Lake Mjøsa the largest lake in Norway.

Of course, there are still venues left from the Winter Olympics of 1994, yet there is another attraction that should be of interest to all visitors and that is the Maihaugen Museum.

Anders Sandvig, the founder of Maihaugen, came to Lillehammer as a young dentist in 1885. He had contracted a serious lung disease and thought he only had a few months to live. The climate in the town was considered to be good for people with lung disease and he gradually recovered completely. He later passed away in 1950 at the age of 88.

As a dentist, Sandvig was responsible for all of Gudbrandsdalen. On his travels, he began to collect objects from the old farming culture that was in the process of disappearing. Nordiska Museet in Stockholm was buying old objects in Gudbrandsdalen at this time. Sandvig thought it was important for the old objects not to disappear from Norway.

He not only collected precious, special objects, everyday objects were just as interesting. He also bought old buildings and reerected them in his own garden in the centre of Lillehammer. This gave him the space to exhibit the objects. The collection was moved to Maihaugen in 1904.
Today the museum has nearly 200 historical buildings.

How about a visit to the Norwegian Olympic Museum it is the only museum in northern Europe that tells the entire history of the Olympic Games from 776 BC up until the present day. You will see collections from Sonja Henie who was the youngest Winter Olympics participant at 12 years old in Chamonix, France in 1924, and Kjetil Aamodt the most decorated alpine skier with 37 international medals.

Then there is the Norwegian Post Museum giving the visitor an historic view of the development of the Norwegian postal service.

There is much more to see and do including the Garmo Stave Church from 1200, hand craft and farm life exhibits from the 1890’s.

When planning a visit to Norway a visit to Lillehammer and the Maihaugen Museum should be a part of your itinerary.

Portions of this blog are taken from the Maihaugen Museum Web Site. You may wish to visit the site for further information.

Sincerely,
John and Don

A FJORD IN DENMARK?

Yes, there is a fjord in Denmark the Roskilde Fjord and it runs almost 25 miles through the island of Zealand and at the very base of the fjord is the city of Roskilde. Although the fjord is quite shallow and no more than 19 feet deep in most places there are approximately 30 small islands with pristine areas featuring largely untouched flowers and wildlife. It is even possible to experience the fjord on a Viking ship.

But what of the town of Roskilde?

Only a short distance from Copenhagen, Roskilde is one of Denmark’s oldest cities. During the Viking period it was an important trading post and developed into one of Northern Europe’s most important cities. The Roskilde Cathedral was built in the 12th and 13th centuries and was the first Gothic cathedral to be built of brick and is the burial site of Danish monarchs. The cathedral organ dates back to the 1500’s and can be heard at regular intervals throughout the year.

The Viking Ship Museum houses the restored remains of 5 Viking ships sunk in the harbor in the 11th century to protect the city from attack as at that time Roskilde was the Danish capital. Besides being a tourist attraction the museum staff researches Viking ship building and seaworthiness. Visitors to the museum learn the differences between longships, warships and smaller fishing and ferrying type boats.

In the city center is a walking street a market square, and the former gasworks that is today an art gallery and workshop where artisans create their works. These venues together with an active harbor area provide a wide variety of activities for visitors to enjoy.

Certainly, Roskilde is a must visit as it is only a 30 minute train ride from downtown Copenhagen and several sightseeing tour combinations include a visit as well.

For further information:
www.roskilde-info.dk

Sincerely,

John and Don

Swedish Alfred Nobel

Nobel, a name familiar to most everyone and especially in Stockholm, Sweden each year on December 10 on the day that the Nobel Laureates receive their medals and Nobel Prize Diplomas confirming the amount of their prize from the King of Sweden. The banquet that follows the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony is held in the Blue Hall of Stockholm City Hall, here some 1,300 guests in their formal best dine in a splendid setting.

Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm into a family of engineers in 1833. At a young age his family moved to St. Petersburg where he received a quality education becoming fluent in 5 languages and developing a special interest in chemistry and engineering.

Because of his interest in poetry his father thought him to be too introverted and arranged for visits to Germany, France and the United States. In Paris, the city he came to like best, he worked in the private laboratory of Professor T. J. Pelouze, a famous chemist. There he met the young Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero who, three years earlier, had invented nitroglycerine, highly explosive and considered too dangerous to be of any practical use. Although its explosive power greatly exceeded that of gunpowder, the liquid would explode in a very unpredictable manner if subjected to heat and pressure.

Through experimentation and to make the handling of nitroglycerine safer Nobel experimented with different additives and found that by mixing nitroglycerine with a type of silica he was able to turn the liquid into a paste then shaped into rods of a size and form suitable for insertion into drilling holes. In 1867 he patented this material under the name of dynamite. To be able to detonate the dynamite rods he also invented a detonator (blasting cap) which could be ignited by lighting a fuse. These inventions were made at the same time as the diamond drilling crown and the pneumatic drill came into general use. Together these inventions drastically reduced the cost of blasting rock, drilling tunnels, building canals and many other forms of construction work.

Alfred Nobel had many different homes during the final decades of his life. In 1891, after controversies with the French authorities he left Paris to live in San Remo, Italy. Four years later, he purchased the Bofors ironworks and armaments factory in Karlskoga in the province of Värmland Sweden and established his Swedish home at nearby Björkborn Manor. He equipped all his residences with laboratories where he could continue his experiments. He was apparently homesick for Sweden but complained of the Swedish winter weather. When his health began to falter, he visited doctors and health resorts more frequently, but never had time to heed their most important advice - "to rest and nurse my health," as he put it himself. On December 10, 1896, Alfred Nobel passed away at his home in San Remo.

Björkborn Manor is now a museum where visitors can go back in time and imagine what it was like when Alfred Nobel spent his summers here. Apart from the manor another point of interest is the laboratory where Nobel continued with his experiments before his death in 1896. A visit here is easy to arrange during your visit to Sweden. it is just a little over 200 km. west of Stockholm. And while in Stockholm, experience the Nobel Dinner served in Stadshuskällaren, the restaurant in Stockholm City Hall, the dinner of the previous two years can be enjoyed for a party of two upon reservation.

Please feel free to learn more by visiting nobelprize.org or stop by your local library.

Sincerely,

John and Don

Discover Lofoten, Norway

Could you imagine a place located well within the reaches of the Arctic Circle where average temperatures barely drop below freezing?

The Lofoten islands are a natural Norwegian beauty situated between the 67th and 68th parallels. The mild temperatures in the winter are warmed by the Gulf Stream, making it inhabitable year-round.

While fishing and agriculture is a main industry in that region, tourism is also a large industry. Although the population of Lofoton’s largest city, Svolvær has a population of 4,290, approximately 200,000 tourists visit each year!

Svolvær began as a transit harbor, and continues to be a major stop along the Hurtigruten cruise route. Just some of the activities can include kayaking through the archipelago, wave surfing, fishing, hiking, catching a glimpse of the northern lights, experiencing the Midnight Sun or Polar Night, biking, shopping, viewing one of many art galleries, and visiting the largest house discovered from the Viking Age, at 275 feet long, which has been reconstructed as a living museum with findings reconstructions, exhibitions and domestic animals.

125 miles southwest of Svolvær, on the steep and towering islands southwest of the populated island of Røstlandet you will find the "home" to the largest number of nesting birds across Norway – with approximately a quarter of the country’s seabird population. That is about 2.5 million adult birds! Scientists, Ornithologists and bird lovers travel from all over to regularly visit this region with average temperatures that remain above freezing all year round.

Traveling to Lofoten has gotten much easier in the past few years. The most popular route for tourists is commonly the Hurtigruten Cruise Line. Also popular is via airplane - the Lofoten area has three small airports in Leknes, Svolvær and Røst. If driving from the mainland, prepare for a lengthy drive, but it is now possible! In 2007, highway E10 finally connected Lofoten with the mainland for the first time via roadway. Ferries are also available and public bus transportation as well.

For any additional information, please visit Lofoten’s official website at http://www.lofoten.info/

Sincerely,
John and Don

The Beautiful Danish 'Skagen'

Did you know there’s a place in Northern Denmark where you can actually walk out on a sandbank and place your right foot in the Skagerrak and your left foot in the North Sea?

This place is called Grenen ("The Branch" in Danish) and is located just north of Skagen. This is where the famous Danish painters Ancher, P.S. Krøyer and Denmark’s national poet Holger Drachman lived and worked.

Skagen is thought to have been founded in the 13th Century and began to flourish during the 1800’s when painters and poets discovered the area and during that period Skagen was regarded as Denmark’s most fashionable holiday destination and is still today one of Denmark’s most popular tourist areas.

65 kms of white sandy beaches meet visitors and sand dunes make the area perfect for outdoor activities and bathing. The beach along Skagerrak to the west can have powerful waves and treacherous currents, while the Kattegat beaches to the east are milder and more suitable for leisurely bathing. In Skagen there is a wide variety of flora and fauna with many rare birds that attract ornithologists from far and wide. Skagen Harbor is a focal point for visitors with thousands of pleasure boats and a small fishing fleet supplying fresh fish for auction everyday.

OK, now how to get there? Most will think of Copenhagen first and on your way to Skagen as mentioned above, a visit to Århus may be of interest where it is possible to view the 2000 year old Graubelle Man in the Museum Moesgard. Then there is Aalborg the lively city on the Lim Fjord and home of world famous Aalborg Akvavit. The Danish national archives are located here and visitors that may have Danish ancestry in their lineage will find a visit here rewarding.

Continuing by car, drive on to Skagen for a rewarding visit before boarding a ferry from either Hirtshals to Stavanger or Oslo in Norwary or from Fredrickshavn to Gothenburg in Sweden.

Important: don’t forget your bathing suit when packing for your extended stay in Denmark!

Sincerely,
John and Don

Finnish Savonlinna Opera Festival

Is Opera one of your interests? Then the Finnish Savonlinna Opera Festival is for you, this year held July 1 through August 3, 2009

The birth of the Savonlinna Opera Festival ties in closely with the emerging Finnish musical identity and Finland’s striving for independence at the beginning of the 20th century. Attending a patriotic meeting in Olavinlinna Castle in 1907, the Finnish soprano Aino Ackté, already famous at opera houses the world over and an ardent patriot, immediately spotted the potential of the medieval castle built in 1475 as the venue for an opera festival. The romantic castle set amid lake scenery of ‘supernatural beauty’ could not, in her opinion, fail to impress all who beheld it.

For various reasons the festival laid dormant for almost 40 years but returned to life again in 1967 when Savonlinna Music Days arranged an academic course for aspiring singers. The leader of the course staged a performance of Beethoven’s Fidelio in the castle court yard and joining the young students were singers of international fame. The performance was a great success and is today regarded as the start of the present festival.

Over the years the Savonlinna Opera Festival has grown from a one-week event into an international festival lasting a month. Each year it performs to a total audience of around 60,000, a good 10 per cent from abroad. Savonlinna has become a byword among opera lovers the world over. Its artistic standard was already attracting widespread interest and admiration back in the 1970s, due greatly to the uncompromising efforts of its Artistic Director, the world-famous bass singer Martti Talvela, to achieve the same objective as Aino Ackté in her day: to place Savonlinna on an artistic par with the great European festivals while presenting the world with Finnish opera at its very best.

The Savonlinna Opera Festival has become one of the most illustrious fixtures in the Finnish cultural calendar, and an event of the greatest international significance. Aino Ackté was right: first-class opera in a romantic, medieval castle amid lake scenery of ‘supernatural beauty’ is a unique and hence unforgettable experience.

The festival season July 3 – August 1, 2009 begins with one of the most popular works in the operatic repertoire, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. This production telling the tragic tale of a Japanese Geisha and an American officer will be in the hands of experts with an inside view of both cultures, for stage director Henry Akina, stage designer Dean Shibuya and costume designer Anna Namba are all Americans of Asian descent.

Savonlinna’s other own productions will be Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele, Puccini’s Turandot and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Singing the title role in Mefistofele will be star Italian bass Carlo Colombara and the conductor is Philippe Auguin. Mefistofele is an opera that allows the Savonlinna Opera Festival Choir to demonstrate its vocal and dramatic skills to the fullest. Pet Halmen’s visualisation of Turandot is in turn one of the Festival’s most popular and most spectacular productions. Excelling in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor is the Festival’s Artist of the Year for 2009, soprano Eglise Gutiérrez, who shot to international fame after appearing at the Savonlinna Festival in the summer 2007.

Savonlinna is approximately 200 miles northeast of Helsinki by car and air, bus and train connections are also available as are packages for events and lodging.

Sincerely,

John and Don

Please visit www.operafestival.fi/In_English/Front_Page.iw3 for more information

Norway and World War II

On this day, April 9, sixty-nine years ago, the German forces began their invasion of the neutral country, Norway. After a two month struggle even with the assistance of the British and French military, Norway had no choice but to surrender, leaving the Norwegian governmental authorities in exile. Over the following five years until liberation, the Norwegian people struggled through amazing hardship under German control. To this day there are many who remember the difficulties during the Nazi occupation, and several museums exist to preserve the remembrance of Norway’s role in World War II, which included valiant resistance by the Norwegian people during this war time.

Some World War II museums that you may choose to visit:


Bergen – Theta Museum of Resistance on Bryggen
Svolvaer – Lofoten – World War II Memorial Museum
Oslo – Norway’s Resistance Museum
Narvik – Red Cross World War II Museum


Today, we remember the brave Norwegians who fought so hard for their country in World War II.


Sincerely,
John and Don


Portions of our information have been obtained on the web at www.norway.org/history. Please feel free to visit the site for further information.

How did Swedish IKEA company start?

IKEA, most everyone is familiar with this innovative company but how and where did it begin?

The founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad, was born in Småland, in the south of Sweden. He was raised on a farm called Elmtaryd, near the small village of Agunnaryd. Even as a young boy his entrepreneurial skills were showing. He started by selling matches to neighbors when he discovered that matches could be purchased inexpensively in bulk and resold at a lower price but still with a profit. From matches, he expanded to selling fish, Christmas tree decorations, seeds and later ball-point pens and pencils.

In 1943, when Ingvar was 17, his father gave him a gift for succeeding in his studies, he used this to establish his own business. The name IKEA was formed from the founder's initials (I.K.) plus the first letters of Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd, the farm and village where he grew up. In the beginning pens, wallets, picture frames, table runners, watches, jewelry and nylon stockings were sold, any product where there was a need and could be filled at a reduced price.

The first IKEA advertisements appeared in local newspapers in 1945 when the business outgrew individual sales calls, he began advertising in local newspapers and operating a makeshift mail order catalogue. His products were now distributed via the county milk van and delivered to the nearby train station.

Furniture produced by local manufacturers was first introduced into the IKEA product line in 1947, the response was positive and offerings were expanded. In 1951 the first IKEA furniture catalogue was published and with this success the opportunity of becoming a furniture provider on a larger scale became a possibility. Mr. Kamprad now made the decision to discontinue all other products and focus exclusively on low-priced furniture, and the IKEA that we know today was born.

In 1953 IKEA found itself in a price war with its main competitor. As both companies lowered prices quality was also at risk. To counter this, the company opened its first furniture showroom in Älmhult thus presenting their products in three dimensions function, quality and low price. Customers did just what IKEA had hoped, they wisely chose the products with the best value for the money and for the first time it was possible to see and touch the product before ordering.

By 1955 IKEA began designing their own furniture as pressure from competitors caused suppliers to boycott the successful firm. This move lead to a more innovative design and function and even lower prices. Then, by lucky inspiration, one early IKEA employee decided to remove a table’s legs so it would fit into a car, and avoid transport damage. From there flat packaging was introduced leading to even further reductions in price.

With many innovative designs and national and international expansion IKEA now numbers 127,000 co-workers across a global network of over 250 stores in 24 countries and in 1985 the first store opened in the U.S.

You may wish to visit Älmhult during your visit to Sweden just 62 kilometers southwest of Växjö off of route 23.

Sincerely, John and Don

Our research was based on information from www.IKEA.com- feel free to visit their website, or visit a location near you.

Lego's Beginnings in Denmark

How did Lego bricks come to be?

From humble beginnings in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen a carpenter and furniture maker.

After his workshop burned down in 1924 he began again by building a larger workshop and increasing production but the depression in the 1930’s almost forced him out of business when a social worker encouraged him to begin making toy reproductions of his furniture.

He began with pull toys, piggy banks, cars and trucks and enjoyed a modest amount of success but his toys were expensive and he was forced to return to furniture making.

In 1934 the company name was coined. A contest was held encouraging his employees to come with a name and two names were considered “Legia” a combination of legion of toys and “Lego” from the Danish phrase “leg godt” or play well.

When plastic came into widespread use Ole Kirk stayed with the times and began producing plastic toys including a modular truck that could be taken apart and reassembled and in 1949 began producing plastic bricks designed after Kiddicraft bricks produced by Hilary Harry Fisher Page.

The Lego bricks were developed to resemble traditional wooden blocks that could be stacked one upon the other the difference was the several round studs on top and a hollow rectangular bottom so that they would stick together and the rest is history.

Legoland Denmark in Billund can easily be reached by car from Copenhagen and on the way a stop in Odense for a visit to the Hans Christian Andersen home and museum may be in order.

Sincerely,
John and Don

Our research was based on our reading of lego.com - feel free to visit there yourself for more information!

The Lake District of Finland

There are lakes of all sizes in every region of Finland but the eastern part of Finland is very well endowed with pristine lakes. The Saimaa lake system following along the eastern border of Russia is a vast interconnecting network of waterways. It is this region that has earned Finland its reputation as the land of a thousand lakes. For anyone that is longing for the peace of unspoiled countryside and a clean environment, a visit to this area will provide a rejuvenating experience.

Another area and equally beautiful are the lake systems extending on either side of Tampere and in the vicinity of Jyväskylä in central Finland. The Finnish Silverline offers programs that feature restaurant boats with dining cruises. Silverline has operated on lakes Pyhäjärvi and Vanajavesi for more than 60 years with scheduled service between Tampere and Hämeenlinna.

It’s easy to reach Helsinki with Scandinavian Airlines from any one of their gateway cities including Chicago, Newark and Washington, Dulles where non stop service is offered to Copenhagen and/or Stockholm with convenient connecting flights. A visit to Finland can easily be added to your Scandinavian adventure.

Sincerely,

John and Don

Dear Readers,

Today is our first time 'going live' onto our new blog, and we plan to keep you up to date with our "Inside Scoop". Please visit us again soon, as we are preparing our next post!

In the meanwhile, feel free to visit our Nelson's Website, www.nelsonsscandinavia.com


Sincerely,

Don and John
Nelson's Scandinavia