Week 11: “I was right! I DO like chocolate mousse!”

Paris ~ Lapland ~ Paris

Traviata Drama!

Time for some high culture! We have planned a handful of visits to the opera/ballet during our stay. The first was Sunday afternoon after our return from Val d’Isère, at the Opéra Bastille while the kids were having a quiet recovery day. Our babysitter was the sister of the kids’ french teacher in Sydney which was a nice connection.

We were off to a performance of Traviata where for 3 nights there were “super-subs” scheduled to perform the main 3 roles: Anna Netrebko, Placido Domingo and Charles Castranovo. Much touted by the Paris Opera as an event to be remembered!

Somewhat predictably, a week ahead Anna Netrebko pulled out due to illness. Much grumbling by the patrons, but it still promised to be a great afternoon out, so off we went.

Great people watching at the more modern Bastille opera house, as Paris turned out for a Sunday high culture event. Simon taking careful note on how to upgrade and diversify his selection of neckwear.

Just before the opening curtain, the manager appeared on stage to inform the audience that regrettably Placid Domingo had fallen ill and would not be appearing.

Now it was on!

We suspect many in the audience had travelled long distances to see the super-subs, and they were not pleased! The opera is usually a pretty laid back and genteel audience, but they were giving it loads. Jeering, whistling, shouting, requests for refunds. The poor conductor was powerless to start the overture as the crowd got more boisterous. To his great credit he held his cool and let the emotion start to calm, then with some whistling continuing, launched in!

Thankfully the jeers died away and the music took over.

Act I went ahead without incident, the regular cast + Charles Castraonovo (to us the real star of the show) doing a great job.

A few walk-outs at the first interval, and then into Act II where … Placid Domingo appears!

Who said opera lacks intrigue, twists and turns. Now thunderous applause for each of his arias, and extended applause for the cast at the end. We should also say that Marina Rebeka was superb as Violetta and had great chemistry with Castranovo.

Great day out – for the quality of the opera, the quality of the people watching and the drama of the event. We now feel ready for the upcoming strike action in response to Macron reforms!

Lapland

Surviving the madness of Venice Carnival with young kids and driving rain emboldened us to take it up a notch.

So instead we took it up about 5 notches and took the family off to Lapland, above the arctic circle in the dead of winter. What could go wrong??

Kids had a couple of quiet days of downtime after Val d’Isère, then it was back off to CDG and our flight to Kittala (bustling metropolis with a population of 6,000). Charles was quickly mastering his Finnish pronunciation (“KI-ta-la”).

Finland has long hovered between the Soviet Union/Russia and the west, shaped by war, economics and geographic reality.

It was recently named the happiest country in the world, and we found the people welcoming enough, albeit with a bit of soviet style curtness at times.

We were lucky in the end with the weather. Just before we were there it was a brisk -25C, but on landing it had risen to a balmy -15C and it continued to become more tropical each day. Brilliant northern skies on arrival at Kittala airport…

Checked in to our cozy (and well heated!) hotel in Levi (like the Led Zeppelin song not the jeans) and coaxed tired children through dinner. Want to see my mashed potato trick?

Skeleton training

The winter olympics having just concluded, the first morning we headed to the family sliding area to prepare our children for future competition. The obvious first choice: skeleton!

Great fun had at the hill by all.

Surprisingly enough after all her years of skiing, this was Niamh’s first time sledding, and in true form she was straight into the black diamonds 🙂

The sledding hill came with both a rope tow and a wood-burning warming hut on the side. Much needed every half hour or so!

When you’re above the arctic circle in winter you don’t have a lot of hours of sunlight to play with, but what light you do get is beautiful low angle sunshine which we made the most of whenever we had the chance!

These pics show our long shadows in the midday sun…

Rami’s Huskies

The afternoon of our first day in Lapland we were off to our date with 70 beautiful huskies raised by Rami and his wife on their farm south of Levi.

After a longer than expected tour around the snowy backroads of northern Finland, we eventually found Rami’s place just in time for our dog sled tour. And boy were we glad we did!

Rami’s place was amazing. Set in a beautiful forest, with dozens of friendly dogs itching to get out and running down the tracks. It was a beautiful still afternoon with snow-laden trees all around, and a variety of indoor / outdoor warming huts set between the trees, with plumes of smoke rising slowly from their chimneys.

After a quick pit stop in the hut to make sure we had the right gear (aka size ~20 or so sledding boots that Simon could have put on with his existing boots still on his feet), it was straight out to meet the dogs and get settled into sleds.

Aisling and Charles both quickly making new friends:

Into the sleds! Charles and Aisling were riding in the front of Rami’s sled up front, and Niamh was taking her life in her hands with Simon at the helm of the sled at the back of the pack. The dogs live to run, so before they’re harnessed onto the sleds, the musher has to fix a snow anchor or else the sled will fly off into the distance before the driver even has a chance to step on board.

Blankets at the ready, Charles and Aisling are ready to hit the trails. Mush!

When running, the musher stands at the back of the sled with one foot on each of the two wooden runners, as the sled first glides and then flies along behind the dogs.

In between the two wooden runners is a brake, consisting of a metal loop that the driver can step on and drive into the snow as the sled goes along, creating drag to slow the dogs down. An essential tool when approaching curves at high speed! The dogs are really powerful, and once they get going can work up quite a speed over the Finnish flat lands.

Glorious scenery all around as we slid along the tracks:

After a while the -15 degrees catches up with you of course, particularly if you’re not a husky with a thick pelt doing lots of running and pulling.

When we get back to camp, we pile into Rami’s warming hut for a hot drink and a sausage. Niamh has also in a stroke of genius packed some marshmallows which the kids eagerly roast and share with the other guests around the fire. Perfect way to warm up from our magical husky adventure.

Once everyone was warmed up again, we headed back out to play with the dogs, who were only too happy to oblige. Amazing animals with piercing eyes and friendly dispositions (as long as another husky team isn’t trying to overtake them, that is).

An absolutely magical experience, sure to be one of the highlights of our entire trip.

Snow Village

Only a couple of km away from Rami’s was the Lapland snow village, so after reluctantly bidding farewell to the huskies, we headed over for a look.

The snow village is a very impressive set of buildings constructed out of snow and ice every winter near Levi. It includes an ice restaurant, an ice bar, an ice hotel, an ice slide and a variety of themed rooms in between.

Kids excited to explore the village, starting with the sloping entrance corridor with sapphire-like ice rocks decorating the walls

Service in this restaurant often a bit cold :-). Aisling grooving to the beats coming from the ice bar…

This year’s theme at the Snow Village is Game of Thrones, providing lots of inspiration for the snow and ice sculptors. Fancy an ice throne? Be careful your face doesn’t end up in the Hall of Faces…

The Snow Village is also a working hotel, and you can choose the theme of your (frigid!) bedroom. Fancy sleeping under a frog or a medusa? No problem.

Or if you really want sweet dreams, how about a romantic evening snoozing under the watchful gaze of a white walker?? Perhaps not everybody’s cup of tea…

Skiing in Levi

After the excitement of our husky and Snow Village adventures, it was back to the hotel for a quick dinner and a long sleep for the kids.

The day we arrived, Charles had spotted a grey streak in the clear night sky which he proudly pronounced the northern lights. It may actually have been the tail end of them, as they had been active around the time we landed according to one of the many Northern Lights tracking apps.

Simon made a valiant attempt to see the lights again the next night, setting alarms through the night to check the apps for signs of solar activity, but to no avail :-(. Very low solar flare activity through the night and then for the rest of our stay, which coupled with increasingly cloudy weather meant poor northern light spotting conditions. Something for next time!

In this case the clouds really did have a silver lining though – warmer temperatures, as the -15 of the day before gave way to -5. Much more amenable skiing conditions, so we headed out to nearby Levi resort to rent some skis and hit the slopes. Aisling quickly into her T-bar riding rhythm, showing off her skills honed all the way back in Saas Fee:

Skiing at Levi entails bundling up well and making the most of the light. Small, rolling slopes a bit reminiscent of Australian skiing, but the trees at the top show signs of rather different prevailing weather conditions…

Great family skiing with everyone in good form. Sometimes the natural light sufficed, and sometimes the lights were on in the middle of the day (see pic at right)!

And just for something a bit different, when we stopped in for lunch beside the slopes, in amongst the light fittings were actual stuffed birds hanging from the ceiling.

Anyone for a spot of skiing-slash-hunting?

After skiing it was back to our hotel to check out the impressive indoor pool & spa complex. When you’re living in a country that is deep frozen for much of the year, you need good indoor entertainment options, and this certainly qualified.

No less than 17 pools where you could choose from the frigid to the steaming, hammams, a heated outdoor pool you reached from an indoor pool by swimming along a little tunnel (we didn’t last long outside!), a large water slide, and everything else you can imagine in between. The swimsuits-forbidden mixed-sex sauna sits between the men’s and women’s change rooms in true Scandinavian style!

Simon, Charles and Aisling had a great splash around to round out a great day. No trouble sleeping that night.

Exploring Levi

Wandering around the town after skiing in search of souvenirs! A reindeer horn anything, anyone? Kind lady in the shop burnt Charles’ name into the slingshot his parents unwisely let him purchase…

Then off into the streets went the ice king & the ice queen…

Glass Igloos

For the last two nights we left our hotel and checked into the glass igloos set up on a ridge overlooking the tiny town. An amazing setting for appreciating the Lapland scenery and sky