Lapland (10th Feb)

So my whirlwind trip to Germany was done, and i had to turn my attention to Lapland! Spent the afternoon doing laundry and packing.. before running for the bus to Helsinki...

This trip to Lapland is all planned for us.. all we need to do is hop on the bus and it brings us to different places to do different things everyday. =) I've decided to blog about the trip day by day. Firstly because there are just too many photos and stories to tell.. and also because its more organized (but tiring)

Lapland is basically up North.. seriously North.. and the Lapland region covers parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.

After a long.. long.. long bus journey (more than 12 hrs).. we finally arrived at a place called Kemi.. to see the Snow Castle!

Frozen lake

Snow Castle!

The Snow Castle isn't really big, but it is rather spectacular. The place is rebuilt every winter since the ice and snow melts away. Everything (almost) is made up of ice and compressed snow. Its like a hotel with a restaurant and bar.. interesting! =)

Bar

Restaurant Tables

Ice Chapel!

Entrance to the "hotel"

The Ice Throne

The mascots of this place.. carved into huge snow pillars..

Continuing our journey North we finally arrived at Rovaniemi.. which is where Santa Claus Village is.. I met Santa and shook his hand.. haha

Want to send a letter to Santa?

The biggest snowman i've ever seen

Try to read the vertical letters behind me.. it says "ARCTIC CIRCLE".. I had 2 feet on different sides of the arctic circle haha.. very "A Walk To Remember"

This is where Santa "works". By working i mean Shake hands, Say Hi and Bye, Pose for photos and charge you for them. I wonder what happens when he falls sick.. is there a standby Santa? haha

I got so excited when i saw this! So far from home! =)

And so the sun set really quickly and we finally arrived at beautiful Vasatokka.. and when we got down the bus we saw this!

Its the moon, forming a little "rainbow ring" at the sides.. don't think it's the Northern lights though..

Our cabins were nice, warm and cosy.. =)

My bed

But being in Finland.. there was always time for a nice Sauna to warm yourself up. The thing is, Finns don't just do Sauna.. they walk out at -12 degrees for 50 metres to the lake and do ice-hole swimming after that! And yes.. i dipped myself in negative degree water.. and it wasn't that bad.. =) I came back for more.. in fact i did it every night.. hehe

Unforgettable experience