Rovaniemi

The photo with the big man
see all photos »

Our journey to the Swedish-Finnish border was spectacular. First we woke up early and it began to snow. So we hiked to the bus station through the snow which was beautiful. Then we sat on the bus while the snow kept falling and we passed stunning pine forests and frozen lakes. This was what we expected from Lapland. Once we got to a town called Haparanda things took a turn for the worse. We needed to change buses here because Swedish buses have nothing to do with Finnish buses. We got some advice on how to catch a bus from the Swedish side and we waited. After some time we thought we better speak to the bus guy to make sure our bus was coming. He just happened to be the rudest, toad-like person we have ever met. He was no help so we kept on waiting. After waiting an hour longer than we should have we spoke to the toad again. He wasnt helpful so we suggested that we should walk over the bridge to Finland and he said that might be a good idea. So we left Sweden in a foul mood but luckily for us we got a bus and the niceness of the Finnish people we met put us in a better mood.

David thought he was hugging the real santa. He was mistaken
see all photos »

Rovaniemi is a town that sits just below the arctic circle and just north of the town is the official Santa village which actually sits on the arctic circle. We went to Santas village and we were both (Meagan especially) very excited. After a quick wander through the village we went to Santa house and very timidly made our way to see the great man. After a walk through Santa's time machine (this is how he can visit every house by the way) we were greeted by an elf. He introduced us to Santa and he asked us if we had been good and what we wanted for Christmas (Meagan wanted chocolate). Then we had our photo taken and we had to say goodbye. Even though it was brief it was a a really fun experience and we both felt like little kids again. After seeing him we saw the other sites of the village and the official Santa post office.

A "friendly" elf
see all photos »

Later that day we had probably one of the most frustrating experiences of our travels. We needed to book some accommodation for the next part of our journey and we couldnt find anything at all. Luckily for us we met the most helpful person ever in the tourist office and we slowly sorted ourselves out. Unfortunately it took us nearly all afternoon and it was going to cost us a lot more for accommodation and transport than we thought.

The next day we had some more accommodation issues which we had to sort out and then we went to a museum about lapland and the arctic. It was ok. We loved the town up here but had to leave feeling unfulfilled. We didnt get to see the northern lights and because of the season there were many tours that were not on. It would be a wonderful place to come and visit in the winter (even in the -45 degree weather).