Europe tour Interail 2006 : Helsinki

En français
We arrive at Helsingin päärautatieasema, Helsinki's central railway station in the morning. This station is particular as it has a clock tower and giant statues holding the lamps at the entrance. We started by going to the harbor to buy our ferry ticket to go back to Stockholm in the end of the afternoon. Then we visited the city. We visit the market and a Lutheran church called Temppeliaukion kirkko in the Töölö neighborhood. It's shape is really strange as it is round and half in the ground, it basically look like a landed flying saucer. We then walk around the lake Töölönhti, we walk back to the market center and see Helsingin Tuomiokirkko, Helsinki Cathedral. When we take the ferry in the afternoon we can see a lot of little islands around. The next day we will be back in Stockholm.
Europe tour Interail 2006 : Introduction 
Travel table of content

Europe tour Interail 2006 : Kuopio

En français
We arrived in Kuopio at the beginning of the afternoon. We walk in the city a bit to the main place which is also the market place, some people made us taste some food. Sebastien bought a T-shirt with "Suomi" on it, it means "Finland" in Finnish and I get a moose teddy. We then walked south to the lake Kallavesi. It's a very large lake surrounding the all city. Our next train is leaving at 1am.
Europe tour Interail 2006 : Introduction 
Travel table of content

タイヨウのうた (Midnight Sun)

En français


























タイヨウのうた is a Japanese movie by Norihiro Koizumi from 2006.

Kaoru Amane dream of becoming a singer but most of all dream about a normal life. She is suffering from XP (Xeroderma Pigmentosum) which means that the sun light or more specifically any UV light would create so much damage to her that it would damage her nervous system. Most people suffering from XP don't survive beyond 20. That fore she can only go out at night and plays the guitar in the street. She always looks at a boy coming to the bus stop in front of her house until the day when she sees him in the street.



I find this movie by accident and I'm glad I find it. It's a very nice story about courage. I would just say : "Don't let the things you can't do stop you from doing the things you can/want to do."
Start watching  here.

Casting :

Yui as Kaoru Amane
塚本高史 as Koji Fujishiro (About love part 3)
麻木 久仁子 as Yuki Amane (Kaoru's mother)
岸谷五朗  as Ken Amane (Kaoru's father)
Airi Toyama as Misaki Matsumae (Kaoru's best friend)

Cinema, Manga, Animation Content

Europe tour Interail 2006 : Back from Narvik

En français
We got up at 8am to go take the train at 10.50 am for Luleå. When we arrived in the city center, we noticed that a thick cloud was hiding the mountains. We were really lucky to have arrived the previous day. The first plan is to go take the train in Kemi. We arrived in Luleå at 6.15pm and then we took the bus going to Haaparanta. Haaparanta is at the border with Sweden, when we arrived there we realized that there is not trains for the evening and the station will close soon and we can't stay in. We decided to start walking to Finland and to try some hitchhiking. A few minutes later we were crossing the border on foot. That felt a bit strange, a bit like realizing that you really are traveling in a foreign country, a bit like knowing that all those trains you have been taken really took you somewhere in your sleep.
We soon fine someone to take us in his car. At first he was going to take us to Kemi but we realized that we would be really late in Kuopio. Hopefully as he was going to Vassa on the west coast, he took us all the way to Oulu. As there are not trains early morning we took a little bit of sleep, before continuing to other adventures.
Europe tour Interail 2006 : Introduction 
Travel table of content

Europe tour Interail 2006 : Narvik

En français
We took the bus to Narvik at 7.40 am. The landscape on the road is really beautiful, we can see the mountains with snow at the top and I even got a glance at some mooses on the side of the road. When we arrived in Narvik we first find a hostel for the night as our next bus will be at 10.50 am the next morning. That will be the most luxurious night of the trip. We then went for a walk in the city and started to be disappointed as we were expecting to be able to walk in the mountains. We had a picnic under the rain before starting to walk again. And we finally found a pedestrian road allowing us to go walk in the mountains. We decided to take the longer path marked 8 kilometers. We arrived at the top to find a little house and a lake of drinkable water, the clouds were below us. We also found that the path was not turning back and we had to walk 8 more kilometers to go back to the city. We weren't scared that it was going to be late because at that time of the year on this latitude, it's sunny during the night. We walked back to the hostel and arrived really tired. We were sharing the room with a couple from Switzerland, a Japanese girl and a very excited Korean girl with who we end up talking about cinema. We had one of the best night of the trip, for that we were in beds and we were really tired.
Europe tour Interail 2006 : Introduction 
Travel table of content