| OUR TRIP TO LAPLAND (Part1)、 2011 Aug29-30: From Oita - Itami - Kansai - Hesinki - HamburgGrossenbrode |
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Here in Oita Japan, we are still suffering from harsh heat even in the end of August this year. Our 10 year-long-cherished-dream "Lapland journey" has come to true at last. |
| We headed to Oita airport in the afternoon of Aug.29 |  |
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| We have been busy till just before the start and got a short rest at the airport. Cold beverages of Uji-Kintoki ice and grape puffe healed us a little. We swelled our hearts what the journey would be. | |
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Oita airport departure 18:10 for Itami On this time journey my husband packed his belongings to a backpack and I used a medium-sized suitcase. Another small suitcase is for cabin-in size. Now, let's start. |
| A limusine connection carried us from Itami to Kansai in 70
minutes. We pre-stayed Kansai Nikkou Hotel. Aug30 Morning buffet at the hotel. Now the long Lapland journey sarted. |
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Kansai dep.10：55 to Helsinki. Finnish Air AY078 seat was fully occupied. |
| Soon after the plane was in the cruising altitude,lunch was served. We toasted for the journey with red wine . |  |
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There were two options of the lunch. My husband took Penne and I selected chikin with rice. My selection wasn't so good except Japanese Soba. |
| The Soba was so good. Generally speaking, the feeling of Soba passing through the throat is wonderful in hot season. |  |
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The flight map shows the far destination Helsinki across Sibelia. I killed the long time by looking the map and movies, sometimes fell into dozes. After 10 hours flight, we arrived at Helsinki at last. The time difference between Japan is 7 hours. |
| Helsinki is a convenient gateway to nothern Europe. The sky
was heavy and looked very cold. I felt quite cold because I had just
wore a polo and summer blouse. I cleared the immigration check. |
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We transferred to Hamburg connection at Helsinki. The passengers in the lobby look like lightly dressed, but they carry down coats or thick dusters with them. |
| Helsinki dept 17:30. We changed the flight to Hamburg. We
walked to the plane. The air was cold as I was afraid of. |
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A small fuselage plane flew two hours. A simple meal was served. |
| At Hamburg airport, Mr.Klaus, this time leader, waited for us. He visited my homepage some ten years or so ago by chance and we have been keeping good contact since then. Now, let's start. |  |
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The sky is still bright but the time is already past eight p.m. The Mercedes Bentz is Mr.Klaus's favorite car. It will carry us to "OUR 3500 Km JOURNEY TO LAPLAND." |
| The first filling of diesel fuel. How many times should we fill in 3,500 Km journey? |  |
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Bright red sunset. The time was past eight. We will stay at a hotel very close to Mr.Klaus's home. We will drive to there. |
| Mr.Klaus's home is located in a small town facing to the
Baltic Sea. As we were afraid that we might be unable to eat in such
a time, we dropped in a small restaurant on the way. This is Mr.Klaus. He loves tea very much. He took a cup of tea saying in German, people take light supper. |
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We wanted to eat something, however. As it is expected to
take much fish after tomorrow, we ordered meat here. The dish was
Schnickel. I was surprized the dish size. I talked to my husband that
we should have shared the dish, but it was too late to cancel a
dish. Mountainous fried potato was wrapped for take-out. It will be used for snack after tomorrow. |
| Another 30 minutes drive took us to the hotel at last. The time was too late for check-in. Mr.Klaus patiently knocked the backdoor to wake up the owner. The hotel is lovely smart hotel. | |
| Today's mileage 145Km | next |
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