Page 197 - WDT INTERACTIVE

green. Those are the Northern Lights, all right.
Admittedly, my friends and I had expected an
extraterrestrial spectacle with a bit more blow-your-
woolly-socks-off oomph. We’re tempted to wait a
while longer to see what materializes at the Aurora
Hut on the outskirts of Saariselkä, a tiny village 250
miles north of the Arctic Circle in Inari, Finland’s most
sparsely populated municipality. But here in Lapland,
the largest and northernmost region of the country, the
night is cold---relentless ice-cycles-in-your-nostrils cold
that would make a snowman shiver---and our toasty
beds beckon.
Just as we’ve begun our descent along the woodland
path, ol’ Aurora pulls out all the stops, apparently
reluctant to surrender her audience. A hazy, taunting
temptress of a cloud suddenly transforms into a bright
green mist, and then a ray like an alien tractor beam
blazes diagonally above the treetops. A sinuous green
snake simultaneously writhes overhead, followed by
a shimmering curtain rippling on an invisible cosmic
breeze. We're almost dizzy now, twirling, gasping,
laughing, craning our necks to catch each new display
as it erupts among the stars.
The grand finale is a circular shower of light, a slow-
motion firework bursting in the frigid arctic air. Like
children straining to catch snowflakes on our tongues,
we turn our faces eagerly to the sky, basking in the
celestial radiation raining down upon us as the solar
wind shoulders its way through the atmosphere.
We’re hardly alone in our enthusiasm. Slogging along
a snowy path in Saariselkä one morning, I ask a couple
from Newcastle, England why they’re here. “We’re
Aurora hunters,” the man announces with a rabid
gleam in his eye. “Oh, really?” I reply. “Do you plan to
mount it over your mantelpiece?”
Does he smile? He does not. The Northern Lights-
--or “the bloody Borealis,” as it’s sometimes known
among visitors for whom it’s proved infuriatingly

Passing through the woods in Finnish
Lapland on a reindeer-drawn sleigh.
The view is always the same, unless
you’re the lead reindeer.
Left: A lonely tree braves the sub-zero
cold of Lapland, Finland in winter.

WINEDINEANDTRAVEL.COM 197