Rovaniemi - A Visit to Santa - Part 3 (26-30 Dec)

For our last full day in Rovaniemi, we ventured back to the Santa Village, to make sure we caught all the bits we'd missed before.  On the road on the way there, we made some new friends:

Reindeer

They were pretty curious about the car

We all made it safe to the Santa Village (well except for the reindeer, they didn't come with us, but they were safe last time we checked, honest!)

Our first goal of the day was to find the location of the live webcam, as one of our friends back in Malmo was watching for us on it.

Found it - just above Cam's head

Turns out that the camera was also situated on the Arctic Circle:

Alana introduced the Arctic Circle

The Arctic Circle

Panoramic 360 view standing at the circle crossing

Us on the Arctic Circle

The temperature was a nice warm -4 degrees

Santa Claus Office

Christmas Tree - I didn't see an Aussie flag though

We found a place where you could ride a reindeer sleigh, but it was a little too expensive (and probably cruel to expect a reindeer to pull me when I haven't been to rugby training for a couple of months...)

Reindeer Sleigh

The reindeer tracks

We had a wander through the village, checking out the stores and the entrance to the holiday village:

The holiday village

Signpost outside the post office

We wandered over the road for lunch (a little cheaper that in the village) and on the way back, we got in a pretty decent snowball fight.  I think I have to claim shot of the day - it hit Kris on the chin and spilled down inside her (zipped up) jacket:

That's her "You're dead" look

After I had run away, we ended up inside and again found ourselves on the Arctic circle line:
(we'd now done in inside, outside and underground)

Arctic Circle

Kris on the Arctic Circle line

Santa's Office all lit up

That ended our last day and we headed back to the cabin to pack and clean.  The next day we had an early start - needing to leave for the airport at 6am.  We arrived in Helsinki around 10am and headed into town as we didn't have to catch our next flight until 3pm

This was our second trip to Helsinki, so we headed straight for the harbour markets.

Train Station

Statue in the Park

Christmas Decorations

After checking out the markets, we headed up to Uspenski Cathedral, an  Eastern Orthodox Cathedral, built in 1868. We'd seen it at a distance the last time we'd come so we wanted to check it out close up.

Uspenski Cathedral

Inside

After the cathedral, we headed back for lunch and then caught the train back to the airport.  It had been a short trip but a fun one.

We loved the Santa Village, even thought it was mostly shops.  Santa Park was a bit of a let down (especially for the price) but was a fun day.  For me, the highlights were seeing the reindeer and the snow.

We did check for the Northern Lights each night, but despite it being clear and cloudless we never managed to see them.. oh well, maybe next time.