Nordic Freeze: Santa’s Village

 

Santa Salmon Place Teepee
Santa Claus Village

“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!” - Psalm 84:2

Jesus is the reason for the season. Our simple celebration in Stockholm reminded us of the humbleness of the First Christmas. But after that, we were gifted with the chance to experience all the trappings of a white Christmas.

We flew from Stockholm to Rovaniemi in Finland. Rovaniemi is the Christmas capital where Santa lives. Christmas greeted us at the Rovaniemen Lentoasema (Rovaniemi Airport): from the elves and the reindeer decorating the baggage carousel to the jolly lady elf taxi driver who picked us up.

 

I had learned my lesson about transport from the airport, so I accepted the kind offer of the owner of the RovaVisit Apartments Siljo where we were booked to arrange our taxi ride. It was a good thing we took a cab because we arrived late at night and the apartment was not that easy to find.

The one-room apartment was nice and homey. I appreciated that it had a kitchen where I can cook our meals. We trudged through the snow the next morning to the grocery. It was still dark at 9:00 am and it gave us a peek into what a normal winter day was like for people who live in this side of the world. 

 

I wished to see two things here – the Santa Claus Village and the aurora borealis. I was blessed to see only Santa’s Village. It was lovely. Still counting my blessings.

Santa Clause Village (Joulupukin Pajakylä) is an amusement park known as the official hometown or North Pole residence of Santa Claus located in the Lapland region of Finland.

 

Santa Claus Village

We started our unguided tour in the Santa Claus Gift House for that requisite photo on the Arctic Circle (Napapiiri). A white line denoting the Arctic Circle at its position in 1865 is painted on the gift house floor and runs across the park. Outside, the Arctic Circle line is traced by a blue light that can be seen overhead.

 

Arctic Circle Line

We lined up to see Santa in the Santa Claus Office (Joulupukin Kammari) to have our picture taken with him. But we learned you can’t take your own photos. You can only buy the photos they take of you with Santa. We gave up on seeing him as tour groups were cutting into the line making the wait longer. The Giant Snowman made up for our lack of photos with Santa.

Lunch was at the Reindeer Café Restaurant Sirmakko where we savored  reindeer pizza and apple pie.

 

After lunch we toured the rest of the park. 

Christmas House

A visit to Santa Claus’ Main Post Office (Joulupukin Pääposti) is a must especially if you want to see all the mail that Santa gets.

 

Other must-have-my-photo-taken-here spots are the Snow Castle Ice Sculpture Exhibition and the Old Arctic Circle Cottage or the Roosevelt Cottage. It is the oldest building in Santa Claus Village built in 1950 to commemorate the visit of Eleanor Roosevelt to the Arctic Circle.

 

We realized that half a day in Santa Claus Village is not enough. I’m adding to my bucket list spending Christmas in a hotel right inside the park. There’s so much to do and see like taking a ride on a reindeer sleigh, viewing the Aurora Borealis and dining at the Ice Restaurant.

 

“Announce his salvation, day after day.” - Psalm 96:2

 

My plan for the third day of our Finland leg was for us to take the overnight train to Helsinki instead of the plane. I wanted my family to spend the night on a sleeper coach. Not only would that be a new experience, but it would also save us the plane fare and the hotel. Brilliant, right? Not really, because I made the biggest booboo for this entire trip! I did not book our train ride to Helsinki before leaving Manila. I thought the tip to buy it in Rovaniemi was sound.

It caused us major trouble because we couldn’t get tickets to the overnight train, and we couldn’t stay an extra night in the apartment. We faced the prospect of spending a freezing night in the train station and turn into human popsicles. Okay, I’m exaggerating, the train station was heated but staying there overnight would have been miserable.

But as the bible passage above says, God gives salvation each day. After frantic calls to our travel agent, we were saved. They got us train tickets for the next day and another apartment for the night. We did face more hurdles when we transferred – lugging our bags about 4 blocks in heavy snowfall and eating a 3-hour lunch so we can stay in Subway while waiting for the key. But we got perks after that.

The new apartment was in the city center, and everything was near it. Just around the corner was Lordi’s Square (formerly Sampo Square) where we enjoyed some sightseeing.

At the Winter Holiday Fair there, I did pasalubong shopping and bought reindeer horn personalized key chains for my friends.

Our apartment at Santa’s Holiday Homes was huge with 2 bedrooms, a family/living room with 2 beds and a kitchen. So, we had the luxury of having our own space. The boys each had a room, and I got the family room with the tv.

Best of all, we made up for our grocery and 7 11-bought Christmas meal. We feasted on Black Angus steak at the Ravintoli (Restaurant) Monte Rosa in Arctic City Hotel right across the street from us.

 

The most important lesson I learned in this trip is this: Book everything before leaving your home country!!! Do not take chances especially during the holiday season.

And I have expanded my taxi tip for seniors: take a cab when you have luggage no matter how near Google Maps say it is, especially in winter. It gave me comfort and peace of mind when it was time to go to the train station.

Praying we get to visit Rovaniemi again.