Goodbye Norway

The story of Norway has come to an end because there's been a minor fault that has appeared with the car, one that couldn't be fixed on the spot in Trondheim; we would've had to wait for the next week for an appointment in the car workshop. That would've meant spending almost all of our remaining holiday there just waiting. The car would've still been fine to drive for a long time without causing any additional problems - so the mechanic said - but we decided it wasn't worth it to risk driving additional kilometers and headed back to Finland, skipping the Lofoten archipelago and northern Norway.

But we didn't just want to end our holiday by going back to home prematurely. Luckily a dad of my friend lives on a reasonable spot in Finland - without having to take a large detour - at whose we were able to come and lodge. In fact, the apartment is unoccupied because it is on sale, so we get to be here by ourselves, cook, eat, do sauna and enjoy the rest of our holiday fully.

We actually drove here, to Iisalmi, in a single session throughout the night, all the way from Trondheim. About 1300 km. One reason we did this was because the weather was crap - it was snowing in Sweden's Lapland - and because it was doable with three drivers rotating between driving and resting in the back seat.

What made it easier was also the fact that during these months it never gets completely dark in the far north during the night, and we got to experience the twilight and a gorgeous sunrise.

Quality is what it is, because I can't post pictures from my real camera until I get them to the computer, but you get the idea. That's how it looked around 2:30 am.

It was unfortunate we couldn't make it to all the places we wanted, but we still got to see and experience the fjord Norway where we spent most of our time.

I have hundreds of photos from there, can't show them yet, but here's a taste from my phone of what's to come when I get back home.