HEAT-WAVE IN FINLAND

The Finns are getting used to global warming.  They no longer walk bare chested in Helsinki streets as they did twenty years ago when I first visited the capital of Finland! The month of July 2018 broke all temperature records in Scandinavia.  During my visit early August, the mercury hit 32⁰ C in Helsinki! In Savonlinna, 800 kms south of the Arctic Circle, 29⁰ were registered during our stay.  Lapland did not escape the sizzling sun either. It was the hottest month of July on record since 1838 when the Finnish Meteorological Institute was founded.  Compared to the 40⁰ C recorded in Calvisson, for me 32⁰ felt Arctic!

The local animals were suffering from the crippling heat too.  Newspapers reported that reindeers were joining beach goers for a swim, and trains were delayed because locomotives overheated and flocks of elks had taken refuge in railroad tunnels!!!

                                                          Reindeers cooling off.

The Scandinavian elks (Alces alces) are not like the North American elks! The name got lost in translation.  The Scandinavian elk is the biggest deer-like animal with large palmate shaped antlers; Alces alces is known as moose in North America.  The American elk (Cervus elaphus) is slightly smaller, commonly known in the West as Wapiti, their Indian name.  During our 400 kms drive to Savonlinna through the Finnish Karelia region, none were spotted, they were probably all hiding in tunnels. Taking about elk, I was told to buy a tin of elk meat, expensive stuff, but still cheaper than bear meat.  Back in Calvisson, I served it at dinner, it was not a hit in the land of foie gras.  Elk meat paté, like foie gras, must be an acquired taste.  

American elk (top). Scandinavian elk (bottom)

Our sightseeing cruise on Lake Saimaa to spot the iconic Saimaa ringed seal was equally unproductive. The diminutive freshwater seal is the most endangered seal in the world, and it is usually hard to spot one basking on the rocks.  During our safari, it was probably too hot for their afternoon sunbathing.  Around 400 remain, and people have been building snow banks to serve as nest shelter for them. This subspecies developed in total isolation after being cut from other populations at the end of the ice age 9,500 years ago. 

Although wildlife spotting was not the purpose of our trip to Savonlinna, it was nonetheless frustrating.  We even did not see the whooper swan, Finland’s national bird, whose picture graces the country’s one-euro coin.  Savonlinna has four swans, but all of the plastic variety. 

Finland has an estimated 188,000 lakes. The small city of Savonlinna is built on two islands located in Lake Saimaa. The city was granted city rights in the 17^th century, but Olavinlinna, its stunning medieval castle was built in the 15^th century by the Swedes to defend the border from marauding Russian soldiers.  The Tsar’s army occupied the castle and the city in the 18^th century until Finnish independence in 1917. The castle’s claim to fame is that it is the northernmost medieval stone castle still standing.  Belgium cartoonist Hergè used it as a model for the Kropow Castle in Tintin’s King Ottokar’s Sceptre.

                                                           Olavinlinna Castle.

Two events put Savonlinna on the map: the opera festival in July and the Mobile Phone Throwing World Championship in August.  We attended the former.  Savonlinna prides itself on having created the first Mobile Phone Throwing competition in 2000.  Who does not develop a love/ hate relationship with one’s smart phone?  In the land of Nokia, this rapport was pushed to the extreme and some people vented their frustration by hurling their phones.  Now, people no longer smash their mobile; during the competition open to women, men and children, the missile is provided by a phone recycling company. The furthest throw is the winner.  I wonder if my old phones have not ended up in such a competition lie this take place in other countries as well.

The opera festival is older, founded in 1912 by a famous Finnish soprano. It was suspended during WWI and only resumed in 1967.  Its northern location makes it one of the world’s most exotic opera festivals.  The annual month-long festival takes place under a tent in the courtyard of the castle and attracts an audience of about 60,000. The festival stages Finnish works, international operas and routinely invites foreign opera companies.  With my small opera lovers’ group, we saw Puccini’s Turandot and Tosca, both Torre del Lago festival productions.  Torre del Lago is a small Tuscan city which hosts the annual Puccini festival.

I am no opera pedant, but I didn’t enjoy these two productions.  They were operatically disappointing, with an uninspired orchestra, an old fashioned and conventional staging, worn-out costumes and unimaginative singing by tired singers.  It is sad that the Puccini festival dispatched its understudy cast and provincial productions to Finland.  Both operas were not bad, just run-of-the-mill productions.  I was expecting a spark which never came.  Turandot’s hit aria Nessun Dorma, and Tosca’s Vissi d’arte were followed by encores.  The young French/Tunisian tenor Amadi Lagha was Prince Calaf, and he dutifully repeated Nessun Dorma twice! Middle performance encores are common practice in Italy, but rarely done elsewhere.

From this blog, my Finnish trip does not seem like a success: We missed the action and excitement of the Mobile Phone Throwing competition, didn’t spot the iconic Saimaa Seal, and watched two lackluster operas.  Nonetheless, I very much enjoyed this escapade.  Lakeland with its maze of blue crystal-clear lakes and dark green forests is splendid.  I also did some great shopping in Helsinki, and even discovered a Marimekko outlet in a road-side shopping mall.  Last but not least, I escaped the scorching heat-wave affecting the south of France.  32⁰ C in Helsinki was cool in comparison.