Mr Seefeld of Lapland

In this wintry season with snow already under our belts (well, it disappeared again rather quickly here in Denmark), I thought this Postcrossing postcard is a good fit. It is from a Finnish 14 year old who lives in Lapland, who sent me a card with the Finnish part of Lapland that shows that he lives just below the Arctic circle. It pretty much confirms the image that I had of the region: plenty of snow, deer and winter sports.

One thing you can do well in the region is downhill skiing. The card tells me about the famous Finnish downhill skier, Eero Mäntyranta (1937-2013) – “our local big sportsman”, who won seven medals in four Winter Olympics. He even got nicknamed Mr Seefeld, after the venue of the 1964 Winter Olympics where he was very successful. A good example of a “hero” in Hofstede’s onion!