Paris Werewolves

I finally got my first photo of owls in the wild. I had to brave freezing temperatures and icy conditions, but it was worth it. Discovering this pair would not have been possible without the assistance of the Finnish embassy in Paris' 7th Arrondissement, which provided excellent satellite imagery. Finland, as seen from Earth's orbit. Owls popped up all over Finland--except in my binoculars, unfortunately. The owl council will now judge you.  

Sunset, about 3:30 PM, Sinettä, Lapland, Finland, latitude N 66° 38' 53", longitude E 25 27' 47". Is the Arctic Circle cold in late-January/early February? Surprisingly, the answer for us was "it depends." The lowest low temperature for the three days we were in Rovaniemi was -10°c (about 12° F) but usually around 0°c (32° F) during the 7 or so hours of daylight. Basically, in the ranges that are normal for a winter in Tahoe, and warmer at times than Paris in the month prior to our trip. Not at all as depicted in the 1913 silent film Les Drames du Pôle. Which meant it was warm enough to walk around comfortably outside, but also warm enough to cloud up and snow--which meant we had no chance to see the Aurora Borealis, which is what motivated the trip in the first place. If you've ever got skunked on a fishing trip or surf vacation ("you should have been here yesterday!") you know the feeling. The good news was that rural Lapland is beautiful in ...

An ice breaking ferry, Port of Helsinki We went to Helsinki with only three Finnish words between us: terve (hello), anteeksi (excuse me) and kiitos (thank you). This did not matter in the slightest because every Finn we encountered was proficient in English to a degree that made me question whether it was an official language (it is not; those would be Finnish and Swedish). The accent of a French person speaking English typically sounds like they did their best late in life to learn a very dissimilar language, with a different syntax and a presumed indifference to pronunciation. I can understand their English about as well as they can understand my French, so we can at least take care of business at the marché or  boulangerie . Finns speaking English sounded like they had moved to US in grade school, became organically fluent, but still retained enough of an accent to make an American wonder where their parents came from. The first Finnish stranger we encountered in a coffee s...