Walking the IVV Olympiad - Finland 1997
Regina Overholt, one of our European correspondents on Walklist,
participated in the IVV Olympiad in June. This event is held every two years in different
locations around the world. It brings together walkers to promote international friendship
through non-competitive sports. The event includes walks, bikes and swims. I combined her
story with photos from my friend Naomi Kihn and from Walking Tours, Inc. to take us along
on this great event.
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Suomen Latu, the Finnish IVV associate, offered 5 sidetrips that could be taken before or after the Olympiad, all with an IVV walk. These trips were a trip to the Arctic Ocean, a trip thru eastern Finland, 4 days to St. Petersburg, Russia, 1 day to Viburg, Russia and 3 days to Tallinn, Estonia. Some tour groups evidently made separate arrangements with Suomen Latu and did not go on their buses. I opted to start with the St. Petersburg trip.
Day 1, June 23
I met the tour bus in front of the Finnair bus terminal (next to the main train station) at 7am. I was surprised to find only 4 Italians and a German woman on the bus, although we then left to pick up 16 Americans (well, actually 14 Americans and 2 Canadians) who were traveling with Walking Tours, Inc.. They, with our 2 Finnish tour guides, and Perti, our bus driver, made up everyone going to the first ever IVV walk in Russia. We then headed for Russia. About 11 am we hit the Russian border. Everyone had to de-bus to go thru emigration and customs, losing 1/3 of our visas, and having to declare all our money, checks and other valuables, while the Russians went over our bus. After about 45 min (much less time then it used to take, we understand), we continued to Viburg, where we had a 45 min break before going to St. Petersburg. We arrived in St. Petersburg about 3:30 or 4pm We stayed in the Hotel Moskva, which is only 7 stories high but had long halls (something like 750 guest rooms) and is on the far end of Nevski Prospect (major St. P. street) from the Winter Palace and the Hermitage. After a 5 pm dinner, we were free to do whatever we wanted. A number of us crossed the street and saw the Alexander Nevski Monastary, which includes a historic cemetery (many famous composers and writers were buried there) and a large church, which seemed to have a service going whenever anyone was there. (Russian orthodoxy seems alive and very well in St. Petersburg.) It had rained all day until dinner, and was a pleasant dinner.
Day 2, June 24
We were on the bus at 9am and met Olga, our Russian guide, and went on a city sightseeing tour. It was raining when we started, and downpoured a couple times, but managed to stop whenever we got off the bus. St. Petersburg is a city full of wonderful buildings, there was certainly a lot of money there at the turn of the century and in the last century. We were supposed to start walking about 2, but before then, when it became apparent we were supposed to just get off the bus and start walking, several people expressed strong desires for lunch and/or bathrooms before the walk. After thinking about it, Olga took us to another historic spot, the first McDonalds in St. Petersburg, where we took care of our needs. We then took a short ride on the bus.
The walk. We were dropped off at riverside in a park in downtown. Since our bus driver did not know where the pickup point was and spoke only Finnish, Olga and one of our Finnish guides went with him, we were led by Costa (Constantine), who basically spoke English with an American accent. We walked along the river for several km, in the shade of trees. (Somewhere in here the sun came out, and I wasn't rained on again (except a couple drops) the rest of the trip.) After a while we turned down a side canal and walked thru an area where there were several mansions (or cottages on the order of the cottages in Newport, Rhode Island) in varying states of repair. Then we walked out to a point of land on the Gulf of Finland, where there was a large stadium (holds 80,000) where the National championships are played and the Goodwill games were played in '92 or '93. (Walking to the top of the stadium was the literal highpoint of the walk. Looking in and around it, it seemed to me to have insufficient (if any) restrooms).) We walked a while longer in the park, crossed another canal, and the last 2 km where thru an industrial center (large brewery) back to the bus (Last couple blocks were park again.) According to my pedometer, it was almost 12 km, although a couple hundred meters were a shortcut that led to a locked gate, so we had to backtrack. All in all, it was a very pleasant walk, I think, far more than everyone was expecting, and I think everyone enjoyed it. And we got an RUS IVV stamp out of it.
Then it was jump on the bus, drive back to the hotel, where we had a half hour to change before going to dinner. Dinner was at the Ambassador Restaurant at 5pm, we had a plate of hors d'oevres, followed by a salmon steak, and ice cream afterwards. There was a guitarist who played thru dinner, mostly American showtunes, nothing Russian. Dinner was good, but a bit rushed as about half the group had tickets for the circus. The rest of us went back to the hotel. Anita (the German woman) and I then walked down Nevski Prospect to the train station, checking out shops (my bank card worked in the cash machine). The train station front is a beautiful old building undergoing renovation, the back is a modern trainstation, which listening to the announcements could be any train station in Europe or the US. We then walked a couple shops further down Nevski Prospect to investigate a sign we had seen from the bus. We (Americans) were right, it was a Baskins 31 Robbins. Anita and I each had a cone, I discovered that butter pecan in Russian is pronounced "butter pecan" although it certainly isn't spelled that way. Except for the 2 sign boards in Cyrillic, and the English one with prices in rubles, and the open bottle of Russian champange and brandy on the back counter, it could be any other B-R I've ever been in. The sun set at 11:42 that night (we were experiencing the white nights of St. Petersburg), if it ever got dark, I wasn't aware of it.
Day 3, June 25
On this day, at 9am we were on a hovercraft in front of the Winter Palace, and went out to Peterhof, a palace built by Peter the Great, destroyed completely in WWII, and rebuilt. Much of the furnishings and even silk "wallpaper" had been saved and was reused. It was mobbed. Impressive.
After 20min in the gardens, we took our bus back to the Winter Palace and the Hermitage. (30 min by hovercraft out, an hour by bus back.) We only had time to touch the surface of the Hermitage. (There are actually 5 buildings in the complex, interconnected, we were going to be in 4 of them.) I have seen a lot of palaces and art galeries in Europe, and this one is head and shoulders above the rest. Of 19 known Da Vinci paintings, 2 were there, a room of Rembrandts, a room of Cezanne, 2 rooms of Matisse, a room of Van Gogh, etc. And most of the rooms are fantastic without the paintings.
Then it was hurry back to the hotel to change for dinner. Dinner was at the Kalinka Restaurant on the University Island. The rooms in this restaurant had a lot of character, and it was the most interesting meal, although the main course was, I think, a traditional soup or stew (although I suspect more meat than most Russians get). It had a guitarist and an accordianist to accompany us. (I think I heard Volga Boatman, rest were western.) (It did rain leaving the restaurant.) Afterwards the American group and Anita went to the ballet, I went back to my room and watched Russian TV, it was interesting.
Day 4, June 26
We were free this morning until 11, when our bus left for Vierumaki. We had an hour stop in Viburg, to visit the market and get rid of our rubles. We left one of our Finnish guides there, because she was going to meet the group who was going to walk Viburg. (Someone told me later it wasn't that pleasant, although you went past the castle, you couldn't go in. The town looks as though it is having hard financial times.) We then went to the border, where we had to wait about 2hr before it was our turn (4 buses in front of us). Once it was our turn, it didn't take that long, no one was hassled about their currency (we had to report how much we were taking out of all currencies and give them our inventories we made going in.) After about an hour, we had a stop for dinner. We dropped our remaining Finnish guide off at a town where she could catch a train home. About 7:30 we arrived at Vierumaki, where Anita and I got off. Anita to camp, I to stay in the youth hostel. Everyone else went to Lahti, about a half hour away to stay in hotels.
Conclusion of the Pre-Olympiad Walks
I really enjoyed the trip and the companions. I like St. Petersburg, although it has some infrastructure problems (potholes in the streets and along side the trolley tracks, and old trolley cars) and there are still some bureaucratic mindsets (although evidently nowhere near as bad as in the past); people were pleasant, the economy seems to be booming, historic buildings were fantastic and the sidewalks are spotless.
On to the IVV Olympiad
Suomen Latu, the Finnish IVV affiliate, is a promoter of outdoor activities of all sorts, and I gather that the IVV part is a small part of the whole. They held the Olympiad in conjunction with their annual Camp Days. Between the 2 events there were so many things going on, that the general feeling seemed to be that future Olympiads would have a hard time matching Suomen Latu's event. These events included beach volleyball, skittles, various exercise programs (Kuntotrim, Street Dance, Keppijumppa (with a stick that looked like broomstick with notches)), boomerang practices and games, activities for children, Pirkka Games (which I think included camping skills and things like making snowshoes out of sticks and twine and having to walk some distance in them), the National Orienteering Competition, public forums on exercise and hiking (in Finnish), Costa Rican coffee demonstrations, dancing in the evening, and evening campfires. They also offered excursions Friday and Saturday to the nearby cities of Lahti and Heinola, and on nature and history.
The site at
Vierumaki is a large sports complex located about an hour or hour and a half north of
Helsinki. It had a golf course, ice hockey rink, tennis courts, stadium for soccer (what
the rest of the world calls football) and track (used for the opening and closing
ceremonies and the various exercise programs and Games), volleyball courts (beach and
otherwise), a lake, swimming pool, etc. The reception building handled room reservations
(if you were lucky enough to be staying in Vierumaki), and had a gymnasium type room that
was center to a lot of activities. These included general information, excursions, a bank,
a post office (with special Olympiad cancelation), start cards sales, IVV stamps, and an
Expo of tourist offices and vendors selling sports equipment and souvenirs. A large dome
in the center of the complex was the main restaurant, where food was available, you could
get IVV stamps and there was dancing in the evening.
Opening Ceremony
The opening Ceremony was begun the Opening Procession, which was a parade of the participants by country led by their flag. Then there were speeches by the Speaker of the Finnish Parliament, the President of the IVV and various Finnish sports dignitaries, in Finnish, English and German. A belly dancing demonstration by a gymnast group, folk dances. It ended with A Dance with the Lynx (the Olympiad mascot), which was remarkably similar to the bunny hop.
The Participants
As has been previously reported, it
was announced at the end that over 9000 people participated (although I think many Finns
just came for a day) and 22 countries were represented (not counting Canada, the Canadians
came with a US group, and don't seem to have been identified as such). Except for the
Finns, Germans were the largest national group, Norwegians were second, Estonians were
third with 360 people (at the end, they got a special prize for having the largest group
in proportion to their national population (1.8 million). There were about 60 Americans
(the largest number I've seen at a major European walking event): 35 from Walking Tours,
Inc. (including the 2 Canadians), 16 in a group traveling with Julian Bauer, 4 former
Ramstein Roadrunners who came from Texas, 4 current Ramstein Roadrunners (counting me, who
went alone, but although it is not my primary club, I am a member, a fifth member was
unable to come at the last minute), 2 Americans who came from Wurzburg, Germany, and
Kitra, who traveling with a German group, was probably counted as a German. There were 4
British participants and 1 Japanese. Three non-IVV countries were represented: Russia,
Belarus, and I can't remember if it was Latvia or Lithuania.
The events
There were 7 possible IVV stamps in 4 activities. When one got one's IVV stamp, one was also given a diploma for the event showing which event it was, the date, distance travelled, and the IVV stamp. One could also buy a medal for a completed event for 40 Finn Marks ($8), or a marathon medal or Triathalon medal (if one's completed 3 different activities) for 50 FM ($10). I think I heard an announcement about if you wanted a stamp for sauna, go to a certain location, but since I had just rented my bicycle I was unable to check it out.
Walking
There were 4 different walking events: one on Friday and Sunday and 2 on Saturday.
Friday, Scenic Orienteering
This is the event I
heard the most complaints about. It was originally scheduled to start from 10 to 12, but
after all the schedules were printed, it was decided it should start after the Opening
Ceremony and didn't start until 12. Because it was orienteering the participant had to buy
a map (which cost 20 FM, $4) in addition to the IVV start card (10 FM, $2), and they
insisted everyone must have their own map, which a lot of people thought was expensive for
just an IVV stamp. A lot of people, even after buying the map, had no idea what was going
on or what to do (at least for the first control or 2) I saw a lot of people on the trail
without maps, I think a lot just followed the trail marking for the next day or followed
the crowd.
That said, I really enjoyed it. There were nine controls at various points around the largest lake in the area. The controls were marked by an orange and white flag once one found it, and was a stamp with needles that made holes in a pattern on a special orienteering startcard. The last control, by a ski jump, gave a lot of people problems. The landscape was distinctive enough and with enough trails (marked on the map) that a compass was not necessary. They said it was 10km, 6.5km as the crow flies (but 3 legs crossed water), my pedometer when I finished said I did 7.9 km, but I am not sure it recorded 2 steep climbs I did.
Saturday morning
Saturday morning there was a
choice of 3 distances: 10km, 25km and 42km (marathon). I chose the 25 km trail. All three
went thru birch and pine forests and had lake views. Much of the 10km trail I think I saw
on the previous day's walk. The 25km and 42km trails continued north to the town of
Heinola. The 25km trail turned back there, the 42km did a loop north thru Heinola, which
on the map looked about 60% residential areas, and I figured probably paved, before coming
to the control on the 25km. Although there were places about every 5 km to get juice,
there was only one control stamp for each trail, so the 10km had one stamp, 25km had 2 and
marathoners had 3. Shortly after the 3 trails came back together, there was a fork in the
road. The right hand fork had a sign that said "Difficult, but beautiful," the
left hand fork's sign "Easy, but .8km longer, plant a tree." For some reason my
feet were hurting, so I opted for the shorter route (and saw more of the trail from the
day before, other route wouldn't have). Most people I talked to took the longer route so
they could plant a free tree in the "IVV Forest." My pedometer said it was 24.15
km.
Saturday Midnight walk
This walk began with a mass start
at 11pm Saturday night. This trail went around the same lake as the previous walks, but in
the opposite direction (clockwise, instead of counterclockwise). The real problem with
this walk was that they were planning for 150-200 participants and got over a thousand,
and the first 3 km or so were on fairly narrow trails, so it was a bit of a mob scene. I
think the sun set about 11:10 (23:10), it was never more than dusk, at 12:20 I was going
up an open hillside, looked back and saw a line of red from the sun on the horizon. Later
it seemed to get a little darker, but I think it was because I was in trees, I never did
feel the need to get out my flashlight. My pedometer showed the trail as 9.29km. As the
line for stamps got long, they apologized for underestimating how many people would take
part, and announced that people could get their stamps in the morning.
Sunday morning
Sunday morning there was a 10km trail that went off in a completely different direction (east instead of north), also very pleasant. My pedometer showed 8.62km.
Swim
The swim was done in an indoor pool behind the main restaurant, and could be done Friday afternoon, all day Saturday or Sunday morning. The pool was 25m long and divided into 5 lanes. When I was there Friday afternoon, there was a line to get in and to swim and there were 5 people in a lane (and at one point while I was swimming, 7), but that got the crowd thru, and by the time I finished my 300m, there were only a couple people waiting, and when I finished 500m, no one was. I don't think it was that crowded later in the weekend. One could swim up to 1000m.
Bike
The 25k bike trail was available Friday afternoon, all day Saturday and Sunday morning. The 50k bike trail was only available Saturday. This was my first ever bike event so I did the 25k Saturday afternoon. Although all on roads, none seemed heavially traveled. There were probably just enough hills to make it interesting and none too steep (except that between not having ridden a bike in years and having tired legs from the 25k walk and no gears on the bike, I walked the bike up most the hills; toward the end, my rump was hurting so badly, any hill was an excuse to get off the bike).
Rollerski
The fourth activity was rollerskiing, available Friday afternoon and Saturday and in distances of 5km and 10km. I chose not to do this because I fall down on my crosscountry skis at the least decline, and in shorts and a tshirt on asphalt, it didn't seem like a good idea. This thought was reinforced when I walking along the trail, not far from the start, and saw 3 Red Cross ladies at the bottom of a long but not steep hill. Most (all?) the injuries I heard of occurred here (French dislocated shoulder, German broken arm, American swollen hand). Rumor had it that on Saturday a potential renter was asked if he cross-country-skiied or rollerskated or inline skated, and if the answers were negative, was told the Red Cross recommended he not try it.
Accomodations
Sign reads, "Toilette 50m. You can nourish the forest as well, a few steps off the rail, Please."
Accomodations were available in all price ranges
and styles. Many people camped everywhere among the trees south and west of the reception
building, theoretically by country (and the Finns by latu, group), although I only saw the
Finnish and Estonian areas. I signed up for a youth hostel room with 4 to 6 people, and
had 3 Finnish ladies as roommates, one there for a team competition, one who had just
returned from many years in Canada and only had Canadian stamps in her IVV books, and one
I didn't talk to enough to know just why she was there. Some people staying in hotels
managed to stay in Vierumaki, but most I talked to stayed either in Lahti or Heinola, with
free shuttle buses back and forth.
Food
There was an interesting collection of food. A restaurant in the Reception Building had a buffet and a regular menu. The main restaurant had 3 meals each day (soup, a meal such as meatballs, or a salad of the day (tuna for example)), and sandwiches and pastries. Outside there were a number of booths selling paella, a Finnish fried potatoes, hotdogs/wursts, stuffed baked potatoes (salmon or shrimp), crepes and salmon steaks pegged to boards and cooked by an open fire.
Closing ceremonies
The closing ceremonies had a bunch of speeches, several songs (from different countries) by a Finnish girls choir, some prize giving, the presentation of the IVV Olympiad flag to the mayor of Biblione, Italy (where the next Olympiad will be in 2 years, between Trieste and Venice on the Adriatic), the Finnish national anthem and the lowering of all the national flags to the singing of Auld Lang Syne.
Summary
I really enjoyed it. It was really the event of a lifetime. And as everyone was saying Sunday afternoon, "See you in 2 years in Biblione."
On to Estonia
After the Olympiad, I went on the side tour to Tallinn, Estonia, which lasted three days, 30 June to 2 July.
Monday, 30 June
The tour started
with an 8am check-in at the Helsinki Silja ferry terminal. There were a lot of familiar
faces waiting to board. Between 9 and 12:30 we had a very smooth crossing of the Gulf of
Finland on the Wasa Queen. In the parking lot of the Tallinn ferry terminal, four buses
waited for us. First was a Finnish tour bus, driven by Perti, who had driven my group to
St. Petersburg, and which it turned out had been rented by a German group led by Walter
Mallmann, president of the DVV (German IVV affiliate). The other 3 busses were Tallinn
city buses with signs that read IVV USA, IVV Norway and IVV Austria, Switzerland, Italy,
(somewhere else). After everyone boarded the appropriate bus, we learned there had been a
change of plans. Instead of going to the hotel and then a sightseeing tour, we would have
a sightseeing tour, check into the hotel and at 5pm have the first of two Estonian walks.
(We had only expected one, on the next day.)
Estonia has a population of about 1.8 million people, and about .4 million live in Tallinn. Most live in Soviet built highrises away from downtown. This makes Tallinn a pleasant, very do-able city. We were told that Tallinn has never been captured by an invading army, because they had a policy of surrendering first. As a result, Tallinn has one of the largest extant medieval citywalls anywhere (or at least for a capital). We were dropped off in the higher part of the old town for a walking tour, saw a palace (now parliament building), several old churches, a scenic overlook, and down into the lower town. This has one of the largest collections of Hanseatic League era houses that I've seen (Tallinn was a member), most freshly painted or under renovation. After reboarding the bus, we drove around some and saw the open air amplitheater where the national song festival is held (every four years since 1868), I think we were told that the stage held 2500 people and the audience area help 800,000, a substantial portion of the Estonian population.
The USA bus (35 Walking Tours, Inc. people and 3 of us from Germany) got to the hotel about 4pm, first in. The Hotel Pirita was built for the Moscow summer Olympic Games as part of a complex built for the yachting competition. (I got the impression that Estonians feel that giving the yachting competition to Tallinn was the only thing the Russians did right.) It is being well maintained on the inside, but some of the exterior concrete is crumbling. After going to my room (only one floor up, but the very end of a very long hall, at least I had a gulf view), I wandered around and noticed the other buses arrived a 20 min intervals, just as one group cleared out the next arrived. Either they were very lucky or they had good coordination. Unfortunately this meant the German group didn't get there until 5pm, so the start of the walk was delayed about a half hour.
The walk was basically us, but I noticed a few Estonian kids the first day, and someone said there were some Estonian adults the second day. (I had previously noticed it listed as a 2 day event in the International Calendar.) The start was at the Olympic center, which meant the other side of the parking lot. We were greeted, and at the end, given our awards by the president of the Estonian IVV affliate. The trail went inland into an area of an old very tree-lined residential area, the house looked perhaps turn of the century with interesting woodwork. The area eventually became just forest. I wasn't really aware for the most part of climbing, but the control was the base of a TV relay tower. They were giving away soda (Coke, Fanta, Sprite) and bottled water, which because it was a very warm day, went quickly. It was then downhill thru woods and then residential, past a very large roofless structure, a church or Hanseatic warehouse, by the looks of it. As an award, we were giving a certificate (diploma) and a gold medal. Since most of us had left our IVV books behind in stacks by nationality, it was easy to retrieve our prestamped books.
We were free for dinner. Since we would be eating in the hotel the next night, Kitra (an American traveling with the German group) and I decided to go to a recommended cafeteria a couple blocks for from the hotel. It turned out to just be a snack bar (burgers, fried chicken and fish), but was pretty good and very reasonable. Later we walked out to the good beach and the yacht harbor.
Tuesday, 1 July
The only plans for the day were an
IVV walk at noon and dinner in the evening (Americans and Norwegians at 5pm, everyone else
at 7pm). A number of us just spent the morning wandering around Pirita (the town/area we
were in). 4 of us were in a 24hr/7 days a week supermarket at the same time. It was not
very large, but it is amazing to see the number of familiar brands in the store. It is the
only place in Europe where I've seen Icehouse and Reddog beer. Prices seemed reasonable.
(Kitra and I went back at 10:30pm to get a forgotten item and it was considerably busier
than than at 10am.)
The walk followed the coast most of the way back to Tallinn (our hotel was 5 or 6 km away). It then cut into a park and around Peter's Palace, built by Peter the Great after conquering Estonia, to give Russia a Baltic port, before he decided to build St. Petersburg. The palace is currently undergoing extensive renovations, after which it will become the national art gallery. The control was located at the far side of it. Then we walked about halfway back thru a treed residential area to the Song Festival Park, where we walked along the road that went along the coast. Kitra and I (and several Norwegians and perhaps others) left the trail to check out a large Russian war or military memorial, which our guide had jokingly called a Russian attempt to build a bridge to Helsinki (it did look like the approach to a bridge). We then cut thru some woods (following trails, of course), and rejoined the walk just before the end. It was supposed to be the hottest day of the year so far this year in Tallinn and it was hot. At the finish we collected our IVV books, a certificate and we had a choice of either a metal tray (circular, about 20cm in diameter) or a little doll painted in one of the 144 different Estonian national costumes (a variety of the costumes were available).
Many people then went into town for more sightseeing. I decided to have some downtime, acquired a beer (Estonian) and enjoyed my balcony and seaview, and got some of my reading done. Dinner was nice, and we ended it with a (water) toast to Canada on its national day.
Wednesday, July 2
This was basically a day of departure. The German bus left at 9am for St. Petersburg. The Walking Tours group left at 10am to catch an earlier ferry, so they could catch a Helsinki-Stockholm ferry later. Everyone else left at 11am. We loaded our belongings on the 2 buses, went downtown for a free hour to wander around, before going to ferry terminal and catching the Wasa Queen back to Helsinki. We had a very nice buffet (lots of fish) on the way back. It was also a very smooth crossing. Arriving at Helsinki ended the tour.
Summary
The Estonians were a very pleasant people and I liked Tallinn. Unfortunately we were unable to get into the country. I would recommend Estonia to anyone wanting to go there. We were told that it is the only Baltic country where the water was completely safe, but it didn't taste good (true), so most people drank bottled water. (This is in contrast with St. Petersburg, where we were told not even to brush our teeth with the water.) I bought 2 lunches, a couple beers, 3.5 liters of Diet Coke and a couple other things and still had Kroon left over from the $20 I had changed. I saw a lot of money machines in Estonia, but none used any card that I carry (which with Hungary are the only places I've found in Europe that I can't use a Cirrus, Plus, Visa or Mastercard). This ends my Olympiad reporting.
From your Guide Wendy: Many thanks to Regina and to our photographer Naomi Kihn for this walking travelogue!
