Saariselka / Rovaniemi 14-15 December 2017

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Thursday 14 December 2017 Saariselka / Rovaniemi



This morning we departed Saariselka, to visit Santa’s Village. Our journey started in the Polar light with the new moon shining in the southern sky. It was a beautiful drive watching the snow covered sides of roads and the conifer forests laden with snow. In time as the outside temperature dropped from -3 degrees to -10 degrees, we saw more light appearing but never the sun.



Part-way there, we stopped at a large service station for a morning coffee. After about 1½ - 2 hours we spotted the entrance of the Santa Claus Village which Tom & I had visited in shorts and T-shirt in 2014. The village had grown extensively since that time. It looked so different covered in snow. It was beautiful



The first thing we did was to go and visit Santa. We had to go and chat to him again, particularly as he is the REAL Santa. The line-up wasn’t long, and they move you through very quickly. We had the obligatory photo taken with Santa and had a bit of a chat with him. The young elves were very friendly and chatty.



We then walked through the line of Christmas shops and then found a coffee shop to have some coffee and snacks.



I spotted a new feature in the Village, a snow dome which housed a restaurant, hotel and ice bar. It had only opened a few days before hand. They were still carving out the rooms for where people were going to be able to sleep. Each room had different coloured lights which lit up the unique ice carving on the wall. Unbeknown to me, I had found the back door and encouraged Sheryl and Tom to follow me. By not coming into the front door we had missed paying 20 euros entrance fee!!! Still, I rationalised that it hadn’t been completed yet and we only walked through quickly!!!



I hope you enjoy the photos and that they depict most things that we saw. The accommodation which was being built when we were there in 2014 had been completed. It is a hugh Village now.



We then had an early afternoon departure from Santa’s Village, and travelled to Rovaniemi.



After arriving in the city of Rovaniemi and booking into the Santa’s Hotel Santa Claus, we went for a walk to see if we could remember the town.



Rovaniemi has been the business centre of Finnish Lapland since the 19th century. It was razed to the ground by the Germans in the final days of World War II, with only a handful of buildings left standing. The rebuilding after the war and the economic development in the ensuing decades have left much of the city a featureless expanse of concrete blocks. Officially Rovaniemi became a city in 1960, and in 2006 it merged with the surrounding rural municipality of Rovaniemi.



Because of its central location and status, Rovaniemi has become a centre of education in Finnish Lapland. There are as many as 10 000 university and university of applied sciences level students living in Rovaniemi. Compared to the number of inhabitants living in the old city area (pre-2006), as many as one in three or four people are students. During summers this shows as a large drop in the number of people vacating the city.



The river Kemijoki, notable for being the longest river in Finland, runs next to the city centre. On the west side of the river there is a large hill called Ounasvaara.



We walked down the main shopping mall with its brightly lit street poles with 2 Christmas trees decked out in lights attached to each pole. It was beautiful. There was also a large, decorated Christmas Tree surrounded by an ice-brick wall.



We popped into a couple of shopping centres. It’s something that you get practiced in. What I am meaning is that it takes a little time to take your coat, hat, scarf and gloves off and then you have to put them all on again when you go out. Life is so different in this part of the world.



The Christmas Markets were everywhere, including under tents along the Mall.!!!!



We had a buffet dinner in the hotel before 13 of us hopped in the bus to go snowmobiling to try to chase the northern lights. It was another cloudy night, so we were not hopeful but looking forward to the experience of riding the snowmobiles.



The company’s office was back at Santa Clause Village. On went the balaclava, snow suit, boots, gloves and lastly the helmet. We then went for a quick 5 minute bus ride to the where the snowmobiles were parked. After a safety chat and instructions on how to drive them, we were all allocation one between 2 people. I was our first driver. We were the las in the line. Off we went.



It was sooo much fun, but harder to steer than a motorbike or ATV, particularly if there were deep snow ruts generated by the 7 snowmobiles which went before us. Riding through the pine forest, with all their branched laden down with snow was an incredible site. Now and then we came to a clearing and we wondered if it was a frozen over lake or just a clearing.



The track as quite corrugated which gave us a bumpy ride, but it was fun. We learned that the track was due for some grooming. Snow was starting to fall and got a little heavier as time went on. Half way through our 3 hour trip, we spotted a camp fire set up by a couple of the guides. They were cooking sausages and warming berry juice for us.



There was a distinctive glow in the sky which was the airport lights reflecting on the clouds. It was beautiful.



After about 30 minutes we hopped back on the snowmobile with Tom driving. We arrived back to our starting point, feeling very exhilarated from our experience. What fun!!



What a day. We had a very small cognac before flopping into bed.



Rovaniemi Friday 15 December 2017



After breakfast at the hotel, Sheryl and I were going to do a 3 hour snowmobile tour along a different track to the previous evening’s adventure. Our guide Inger, met us in the foyer of our hotel and took us to where we were once again, kitted out for the cold weather. We had another short drive in a small van, to get to our snowmobiles. This was Sheryl’s 1^st experience on anything like this. She hadn’t ridden a motorbike or ATV so a very new experience for her. I was so excited for her.



The path we went on, which was North-West of the city, was beautiful. It had been groomed recently and we had heavy, new snow falls over the past 2 days. Our guide even took us off the track which was even better. It was so smooth.



I drove 1^st on Sheryl’s insistence. Half way around we swapped positions. Sheryl had an absolute ball which was fantastic, and it goes without saying, so did I. It was so much fun.



After taking of our warm gear, we walked into the city centre and found a wonderful coffee. It was about 12MD so also had a light snack.



Tom didn’t come with us as he was going on his own adventure, snow fishing. This took him to a farm further out from the Santa Village. There he was once again decked out with heavy overalls, boots, gloves, balaclava and motor bike helmet. Of course, he was going to do some more snowmobile riding. They travelled for about 4kms to a frozen lake.



Then the instruction commenced. Firstly, to clear the snow off the iced-up lake for an area about 1M diameter, then using a special long auger, drill down through the ice. When through, clear the pieces of ice away, using a sieved plastic ladle from the kitchen. Next was the critical part of the exercise using a specially adapted fishing rod and reel for that purpose. Tom was shocked to see that the rod was about 30cms long, with a tiny plastic reel, all complete with a small sinker, a tiny hook, and a brightly coloured fibre lure. Well down went the hook line and sinker and it was jiggled around hoping to attract some attention under the ice. He thought he had a bite but it turned out to be a snag or the underside of the ice, and had to break the line to pull it out. Tom was with Phil and Jenny who also had a turn and it was lots of fun.



They found a fish chart which showed the fish wouldn’t have been very large anyway. It was all good fun.



Sheryl and I went back to the hotel only t find that Tom had just arrived back. After hearing each other’s news, the 3 of us went across the road to Oliver’s Pub for a quick beer. It was very Irish but we made sure we drank the local beer.



We had all planned to meet at 6.00pm in the foyer of the hotel so that we could go out to dinner together. We all walked to Hemmingway Pub for a celebration drink and dinner. We found the latter was not available so about half of us went to a Mexican restaurant which was very pleasant. Others went to an Italian restaurant.



We all went back to the hotel totally satisfied that there was the completion of another wonderful day in Lapland.



We were getting up at 4.30am the next morning to catch the train to Helsinki so it was early to bed. I didn’t put lights out until 11.00pm as I was organising my photos and blog text, but all was good.

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Photos

Rovaniemi (20)
Scating Rink in city centre