Helsinki, Kuusamo, Rovaniemi, and Taivalkoski areas
This trip to Helsinki, Finland started in Austin, Texas with a few change-overs along the way. After spending a few days touring Helsinki by motor yacht, tour bus, and hiking we boarded a flight to Kussamo, Finland where we picked up our car rental and headed to the Royal Ruka hotel. We got in touch with my distant cousins and finalized plans for our visit to the Raisanen ancestral farm in Taivalkoski, Finland for the coming weekend. We then drove north to Rovaniemi, Finland visiting Santa’s Village, Artic Circle, and other interesting places before heading back to Taivalkoski. The remainder of our stay was meeting numerous Raisanen cousins, visiting my grandfather’s birthplace and touring the surrounding Taivalkoski area with our gracious and accommodating host cousins Jukka and Lea Mikkonen and their daughter Karoliina helping with translations. I can’t thank them enough.
The pictures are of all the above areas plus the Seurasaari Open-Air Museum https://www.kansallismuseo.fi/fi/seurasaarenulkomuseo, Kuusamo-Ruka Recreation area https://www.ruka.fi/en/alue, the Auttikongas Gorge https://www.luontoon.fi/auttikongas/reitit, Tapio Raisanen Ski Jumping Hill https://www.taivalvaara.fi/en/ and the Raisanen farm area.
(Google Translate works fairly well when surfing Finnish websites)
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