Lapland travelogue – 22 dec 2015

Today in Finland is the official shortest day of 2015. And the further north you are, the shorter it is. We took advantage of this mysterious science by taking the long train up to Lapland for a winter holiday adventure!

It’s only been about a week but there have been MANY highlights. Stepping off the train at Rovaniemi into a snow globe at night. Crossing the arctic circle and meeting Santa at his workshop. Glögi and Christmas cookies and smoked reindeer and salmon and wild berry jam. Eve mastering some impressive vocabulary including “kiitos” (KEE-toe) (Finnish for thank you) and “snow” (NOE) and “Gigi” (jee-jee) (her grandma on my side).  

One night was spent in a mobile cabin, pulled out onto frozen Lake Inari by snowmobile in hopes of glimpsing some auroras. Although it was too cloudy that night, we spotted some the next night from our balcony of hotel in “downtown” Inari. Which is comprised of a hotel and a grocery store and a pizza-kebab restaurant. The other major highlight was our more-dramatic-than-anticipated “husky fun” expedition out to a husky farm for a dog sled ride through the frozen woods. As we were just getting started and the sleds being untied and prepped for takeoff – our pups, so excited to run (and all worked up by a nearby giant moose) strained the rope securing us to a tree ’til it snapped and we took off down the path, family of three packed into the sled… no driver. We made it an impressive distance – long enough to start worrying if we should try and jump off – before finally slowing on an uphill and Luke breaking with the heel of his boot on the soft snow. After this excitement, Eve dozed off for the remainder of the ride, even the part where we came upon a …pack? of reindeer and the dogs went berserk.  But she was happy to meet Lobo and Tarzan and all the other pups up close and give them some pets after we made it safely back to the farm. 

Finnish tourist towns also have phenomenal museums. In Rovaniemi, they have the Arktikum “museum of the arctic” with an aurora theater and cool science displays for both toddlers and grown-ass nerds. And in Inari there was the museum of Sámi history, with impressive nature exhibit,  including fake berries and a stuffed bug and other educational delights for eve to explore and find. 

Now as the days start to grow (slowly, imperceptibly) longer, we are taking the long bus and then the night train back home to Tampere. Where the sun, even today, sets at something like 3pm. AKA super late, compared to 12:30 up here on top of the world.