+++ Breaking News: Goodbye Norway – Hello Russia – flying visit Finland – Paperclip challenge part 5 +++
Leaving the North Cape behind we were heading towards warmer regions and were finally meeting our first fearless elk close to the Finnish border.
In Finland we drove through a beautiful national park meeting a lot of Germans and stopped for a nice picnic at the lake shore.
We were pressed for time to find our 5th barterpartner. In the little town Ivalo was noone to be seen on the streets. We headed towards the residential area. No one on the streets. Eventually we found a resident. He happily accepted the bottle of rum and offered us a slightly dirty shot glass from the Russian border patrol. We also left him our entire sponsored beer which would have been over the Russian custom limit. Not the best barter, but we will see where it goes in Russia :-).
Shortly before the border we met a few teams and fullfilled the daily challenge. Making a fire out of small wood pieces we got at the start. To earn more points the fire should burn in Scandinavia.
Crossing the border wasn’t a big problem. Like a Mr. Bean movie toilet and other paper rolls, the backpacks and a lot of more stuff fell out of the car as soon as the officer opened the doors. At least he had to smile a bit seeing the unicorn costumes. We had to fill out a lot of forms. They told us it’s to contact us, if our car gets lost and they will find it again…
On the way to Murmansk we unsuccesfully tried to find a hotel. We’d like you to see this special specimen.
Quickly we learned that cash is the only way to go.
As we are in need of public wifi in Russia, we might not be able to blog daily.