We got up at 4.55 and sleepily got on our flight to Rovaniemi. Two snowmen greeted us. The whole place looked amazing. As we came into land we flew lower and lower over the trees. I couldn’t see any resemblance of an airport but luckily it did appear.
Gavin decided the bus station would be our best bet. It wasn’t too cold about 4 degrees. There was no English or advertising so we were pretty stumped. In the end a taxi showed up. The village was cool. We had a lovely lunch to start off then went to meet the big guy. While in the line there was a lot of pushing over eager children no! Extremely rude adults. Santa himself looked very authentic. He took time to talk to us, which was really nice. When I say talk to us, I mean to Gavin about fishing. He didn’t want to talk to me. Gavin said it was because I was bad, and he was good. I brought some decorations from Santa’s shop. We then crossed the official artic circle line. The line occurs when for one day in summer, the sun doesn’t set and one day in winter it doesn’t come up at all. Unfortunately as it was the 24th Santa’s Post office was closed at 2pm. We got there at 2.10pm Nevertheless I still managed to post a card home.
We decided it was time to go to Santa Park. A theme park especially devoted to the man. It was actually underground. The idea was good and it was great for kids but there is room for improvement. Santa’s magic sleigh ride was kind of like a ghost train through the seasons, where you can see all the elves at work and play. There was a Rudolph ride that was fun. It was like a mini roller coaster with only a small hill to thrill us. We played a Rudolph race where you rolled balls to make Rudolph move. Gavin won and I got a husky dog. We also did a reaction test. I am qualified to walk, I got 7 marks. Gavin got 83; he can fly a plane and drop supplies. The helicopter ride involved us cycling ourselves around a track 10 ft above the rest of the park. That was my exercise for the trip. We took the train (a four wheel drive that looked like a train) back to Santa’s village to go home. Little did we know all forces were against us. It was 5pm and the place was all shut. We waited by the taxi stand then figured out that no one would be coming out at this time. I could see some little tepees and it turned out to be a snow-carving park. We thought a bus might be in order. One did actually come along but then carried on and stopped in the car park. We gave up and went to the Shell station to phone for help. As we were both frozen by this stage the fact that the taxi company hadn’t heard of Santa’s village was not very inspiring. What a debacle!
At the hotel a wonderful aroma greeted us so we sat down for a buffet meal. The salmon was fantastic. Santa arrived and gave out presents to all the children. Again it was chaos. He really causes a stir. I wonder if he’ll find us tonight.