Mystery Object in Daisy Mariposa's European Geography Quiz

When I wrote Europe: Geography Quiz, I included a bonus question. I asked my readers to identify a mystery object — a yellow stone surrounded by a wooden boardwalk in a body of water. What is the object? Where is it located? How does one reach it?

You’re about to find out.

Several years ago, I accompanied my boyfriend to Stockholm, Sweden. The company for which he was working sent him to a client’s location for six months. The client, Ab Trav och Galopp, was one of the largest employers in Sweden — a harness racing track. To keep me from spending the entire six months shopping and sightseeing, a consulting assignment was obtained for me with the client.

We didn’t spend our entire time working. There was plenty of opportunity to absorb Swedish culture, visit museums, see the sights in Stockholm, and travel to other parts of the country.

We were in Sweden from May through November. Our Swedish colleagues suggested that we travel north to see the Midnight sun. (In Sweden, there is a 45-day period in the region north of the Arctic Circle during which the sun shines continuously... 24 hours per day for 45 days.)

We flew from Stockholm, Sweden to Kiruna, the northernmost city in Sweden — 90 miles (145 km) north of the Arctic Circle — population approximately 26,000. We rented a car and drove to our motel. That evening, we had a spectacular view of the Midnight sun from a ski slope in the city.

The object has several names:

• Three-Country Cairn (English)
• Treriksröset (Swedish)
• Kolmen valtakunnan rajapyykki (Finnish)
• Treriksrøysa (Norwegian)

I’ll refer to this object by its Swedish name throughout my article.

Treriksröset is...drumroll, please...the point at which the borders of Sweden, Finland, and Norway meet. The mystery object is a monument — a yellow dome-shaped stone made of concrete — built in 1926 to commemorate the exact spot at which the boundaries of the three countries meet. The monument occupies 150 square feet (14 square meters) and has a diameter of 13 feet (4 meters).

Many people consider the monument to be the smallest artificial island in existence.

Treriksröset is located 33 feet (approximately 10 meters) out in Lake Goldajärvi (also known as Lake Koltajauri).

You have two choices for getting to Treriksröset. You can walk 6.8 miles (11 kilometers) from the Lapland village of Kilpisjärvi (population approximately 100) in Finland on a public road, or you take the M/S Malla, a questionable little boat, across the Bajit Gilbbesjávr and walk 1.9 miles (3 kilometers) along a mosquito-infested swampland.

The trip from Stockholm to Treriksröset was not an easy one.

• Take subway from apartment in Sundbyberg municipality of Stockholm to central Stockholm.
• Take express train from central Stockholm to Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport.
• Fly from Arlanda Airport to Kiruna Airport, 90 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
• Rent a car.
• Drive to motel in Kiruna.
• The next morning, cross the Torne River, and drive 60 miles north in Finland to Kilpisjärvi.
• Marvel at the reindeer nonchalantly walking in the woods. Watch a white reindeer cross the road in front of our car.
• Show a woman in Kilpisjärvi a photograph of the M/S Malla (downloaded from the Internet), and get directions (via hand signals) to the boat landing along the shore of Bajit Gilbbesjávr (that's Lake Kilpisjärvi, in the language spoken by the Sami people — the local people in Lapland).
• Negotiate — again, via hand signals — with the Norwegian operator of the M/S Malla, convincing him to take our Swedish money in payment for the round-trip crossing.
• Walk 1.9 miles to Treriksröset, getting bitten by countless giant mosquitos along the way.

Yes! I would not have missed our trip to Kiruna, Lapland, and Treriksröset for any reason at all...as long as it was summer, during the 45-day period of continuous sun.

How many readers can say they have worn sunglasses at Midnight because the sun was shining so brightly?

How many readers can say that they have seen reindeer walking in the wild?

How many readers can say that they have stood on a wooden boardwalk over a lake at the the exact point where the borders of three countries meet?

The white reindeer calf in this photograph is the type of reindeer that crossed the road in front of our car on our drive from Kiruna, Sweden to Kilpisjärvi, Finland.