Day 223 - 3 Feb '24 - Oslo. Rovaniemi weather report: cloudy both nights of the 8th and 9th (but lots of snow today!).
What was meant to be an early night for Dan and the kids, didn't go exactly to plan. First of all, the kids didn't go to sleep. Then at 9:42pm, the apartment was lit up by flashing red lights as the fire alarm went off. Dan got out of bed, I told the kids to get their shoes on, and I stuck my head outside the door.
There were a number of confused faces in the hallway, but after a few more seconds, the alarm stopped. Everyone looked at each other for a moment or two, then we all went back into our own apartments. Clearly a false alarm.
"Do you reckon it was that Norwegian couple, not smoking in their room again?" Dan asked rather cynically.
At 11pm, both Alex and Abi were still awake.
"Right! We have both had enough. You are apparently incapable of going to sleep when you go to bed. What do we need to do?! There will be a consequence for you both in the morning."
And so, morning arrived after a good sleep (for me). We didn't get out of bed until just after 9am; the sun hadn't come up until 8:30am so there wasn't really any point getting up after that.
The kids were told they weren't getting their Nintendos for two days, one of which included a 5-and-a-half hour train journey. They gave me such a blasé response, that I contemplated making it longer.
Dan felt decidedly sub-par, with a splitting headache, but insisted on coming with us to see Oslo, as he'd never been here before. We didn't leave until almost 11am though; we bought a 24-hour pass for the public transport, and needed to have it still active for when we headed to the train station tomorrow.
We saw so many people at the train station carrying cross country skies! Adults and children alike, wearing lightweight clothing, and already in their special shoes. We also saw a few people with boards and skies, possibly off to the ski jump slope just outside the city.
Our first stop today was the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History. This was an open-air museum of over 100 historic buildings, as well as numerous indoor exhibitions.
The Gol Stave Church was built in the 12th century, but was moved to its current location at the end of the 19th century. Most of the building was the original, but the exterior was faithfully replaced.
It was interesting to look at and inside some of the old loft houses and farm buildings, built between approximately 1650 and 1800. The beds were very small and in three sided boxes, to keep the air in the bed warmer. Of course, it was usually two or three to a bed for warmth.
One of the indoor exhibitions had pieces from 1600-1914, when trade ships first started, and Norway became connected with other countries of the world.
Some of the artefacts were beautiful, such as a doll house from 1765, a large collection of chests (they have over 1600!), and a glass dessert decanter. This piece would be used as a table centrepiece, and each dish filled with sweet treats would be placed in front of the diner at dessert-time.
Alex and Abi were loving the snow everywhere, and even managed to make a small snowman!
We got back on the bus into town, then went to look at the Norwegian Royal Palace. This was a beautiful yellow building with a commanding view back down the main road.
All the pavements and pathways around the area were treacherous, with ice and slush that had refrozen, and gravel that had been thrown onto them for grit, sometimes frozen into the next layer of ice! Everyone was slipping around, and it didn't matter which type of shoe you wore. A few people were wearing some slip-on ice pick over their shoes, but they were mostly elderly, runners, or mums and dads with small children or prams.
We hopped on the metro again, this time going to the Vigeland Sculpture Park. The park was a huge piece of land, filled with over 200 of Gustav Vigeland's sculptures, representing his life work.
They were amazing in their storytelling; you could see different emotions and feelings very easily portrayed, and they were all naked. One rather amusing one was of a mum giving her two young children a horsey ride, with her own plait becoming the bridle and reins!
At the centre of the park stood Monolith, a massive pillar of 121 men, women, and children, writhing and twisting around the entire structure. There was also a large fountain depicting the life cycle, but it was again turned off.
The park looked very pretty with skeleton trees and a white blanket of snow everywhere, but it was a shame we couldn't see it in it's summertime beauty - flower gardens, the fountain working, and labyrinthian mosaic walkways.
After this, we decided to head back to the apartment. It was about 3:30pm, the sun was getting lower, and Dan needed a break.
When we got back, the little shits were tired and annoying each other (Abi ended up in tears over a drawing pad), so I sat them on chairs at other ends of the room, not facing each other, and told them to be quiet.
"And you can stay like that until told otherwise! We've had enough of the two of you, and Daddy is sick."
Dinner was over with by 6:30pm, and both kids were in their pyjamas with their teeth brushed by 6:45pm. Abi was put to bed in my bed (we're in four singles again), and would be transferred back to her bed later.
I'll tell you something for nothing, they had both better bloody go to sleep tonight, or there will be hell to pay tomorrow.
Day 224 - 4 Feb '24 - Oslo to Stockholm. Rovaniemi weather report: cloudy overnight for both nights. Not looking very positive for Northern Lights viewing at all. And the -26°C means way too cold for snow.
You'll be thrilled to learn the kids slept all night. Alex went to sleep around 7:30pm, but Abi was a bit later at 8:40pm. She was up on the mezzanine in my bed, and it was hot up there, so she tossed and turned for ages.
I, also, tossed and turned all night, as it was hot up there. All the heaters were set to 17°C, yet upstairs felt like it was 25°C!
We started the day with arguments. Naturally. It would be nice if the opposite were true once in a while.
"That's not my banana peel!"
"That's MY drawing pad!"
"Those aren't MY tissues!"
"That's not my dirty bowl!"
Believe it or not, the biggest argument was about whose electronic drawing pad's delete button had the least amount of paint on it. I'm not kidding.
"Mine had hardly any white on it."
"MINE had hardly any white on it!"
"Do you realise you're fighting over whose looks the worst?" I asked. "Why wouldn't you want the one that looked better?!"
"Because mine had the one with hardly any white on it."
"No, MINE had hardly any white on it!"
"THEY'RE IDENTICAL!!"
Sweet mother of god.
"I know what to do," said Alex, and he flipped them screen side down, and slid them round and round on the floor, to mix them up. The floor that had sand and grit on it.
"NO! THAT WILL SCRATCH THEM!"
Sure enough, there were now scratches, and Abi was sobbing on the floor.
For f*ck's sake.
"Well, Abi, you can now pick which one you want, and stick it in your bag."
"I don't want it," said Alex, when he was told to put his in his bag, and dumped it on the table by the door.
"YOU'RE NOT LEAVING IT - PUT IT IN YOUR BAG!"
Miraculously, we made it to the station on time, most of the journey in silence. Tolerance and patience amongst us all has waned remarkably.
Our train ride today was five-and-a-half hours long. The snow covered the fields, and the frozen lakes and rivers, slowly gave way to green grass and flowing water, much to Alex's disgust. He was desperate to get to play in the snow, and every time the train stopped, would moan about how he wasn't outside, and later, how it had all melted.
The sun slowly dipped beneath the horizon, and the temperature lowered with it. By the time we arrived in Stockholm it was 5:10pm and just 2°C. Luckily, the pavements weren't covered in ice, and our walk to the hostel didn't take too long.
We braved the cold again shortly after dropping our bags, to go to the local supermarket. The hostel had a rule 'no outside food or drink' since they had an on-site restaurant; accordingly, we bought a cooked chicken and some rolls (and wraps for Abi) and ate it in our room! Ha ha ha!
Day 225 - 5 Feb '24 - Stockholm. Rovaniemi weather report: partially cloudy day and night for both dates, with a low of -25°C and a high of -19°C! Come on, the sunshine!
Ooh, she was a wee bit chilly this morning! Minus 3°C, with a high of 0°C, and the windchill making it feel like -4°C. Fingers were frozen fairly quickly on our walk through the town.
We had cereal in our room for breakfast (rules? what rules?), and then made our way to the old part of the city.
We passed what I thought had been the funniest thing I'd seen in a while:
"Sign" in Swedish means 'signature', so we assume it's the Clarion Hotel Signature range, but that's nowhere near as funny.
As we walked further, I was looking for activities to do. There was a common theme in Stockholm that was rather frustrating: everything was closed.
Riddarholm Church (13th church, last remaining medieval abbey in Sweden) - CLOSED.
Nobel Prize Museum - CLOSED.
Swedish History Museum - CLOSED.
Skyview (glass elevator ride to a viewpoint) - CLOSED.
If it wasn't closed, it was either too expensive or too far away, and the public transport 24-pass was $90NZD for the four of us, which was ridiculous.
Then, out of the remaining options, we couldn't decide on what to do. Dan asked the kids to look through our city planner app, and come up with their wish list.
Alex had the science museum ("we've already been to two, Alex") and nothing else, so he just packed a sad all day when told we wouldn't be going there. Abi had selected five different garden parks, which were too far away, and the ABBA museum (which nobody else wanted to go to, and which cost $78NZD).
With no set plan other than my 'we'll go to the palace and make our way to other places from there', we crossed the bridge toward Gamla Stan.
The river was partially frozen, with huge sheets of ice sitting motionless. There were even a few seabirds catching a ride on some of the little icebergs!
We walked past the Riddarholm Church, with an intriguingly detailed spire, and which I'm sure would have been pretty amazing to see from the inside.
We carried on to the palace, but were not very impressed by its facade, until we realised we had walked around the side of the building! The front was 'alright' but we found the back door to be more interesting, with guards standing on the stairwell and a view over the water.
It was certainly a huge palace, and we thought about going inside to have a look, but it was too expensive.
"I'd rather spend our money on the Nobel Prize museum," said Dan. This was before we found out it was closed!
We went to the central square of Gamla Stan, the oldest part of Stockholm, with the buildings a blend of Amsterdam and Bruges; tall, skinny, singularly different, colourful, and freezing cold because the sun hadn't risen above the buildings.
"Shall we get a hot chocolate to warm our hands?" I suggested, when I spotted a cafe that mentioned them on their sign.
"Yes!" agreed Abi. "I'll ask them the price."
We didn't buy the hot chocolates.
We walked across a different bridge back towards the city centre, this time with a view to finding something to eat. We stood in a sunny spot out of the wind while looked online and found a cafe with gluten free offerings. It was at the nearby central station, so we made our way there.
We walked past lots of different restaurants, including an eat-all-you-can Thai buffet, Mexican, burger joints... Alex wanted the buffet, to which he was told 'no'.
Abi found sushi at the train station, but it was $25 for 8 pieces, so she was told 'no' as well.
Man, food was expensive here!
Then we took her to the cafe selling gluten free items, but she didn't want their sandwich or the salmon salad.
Losing patience.
We wandered the station, checking various places, even stooping to Burger King (not that it had gluten free options anyway), but it was also $18 for a whopper meal.
So, we went to the supermarket that was right next door. By this time, there were short tempers for all concerned, snappy answers to all questions, stormy silences, and no decision-making being done. Dan didn't want a sandwich, (he wanted something warm), Alex wanted the buffet (which he wasn't getting), Abi wanted the sushi (which she wasn't getting), and I wanted to get something cheap to go in a sandwich, which we could make in our room (breaking the rules again), using the bread and gluten free buns we already had.
In the end, we bought some ham and cheese, and two hot pastries with meat in one and cheese in another. We sat in the concourse to eat the pastries while they were still hot.
"Alex, come and have a bite of this," I said to him.
Silence.
"It was bought for you to eat, come and eat it."
"Daddy said I couldn't have one."
"I bought it for you. Do you want some?"
Silence.
A few minutes later he was asked a third time.
Silence.
"Fine, I'm not going to ask again," as I finished it off. It was delicious.
Dan went in to McDonald's to buy some hot chocolates for the kids and me. Alex came up to me and said:
"Why did you eat it all if it was for me? Why would you just give me the leftovers?"
"Alex, you were asked three times to have some, a long time before it was finished."
"Well, Daddy said I couldn't have any."
"And I said I bought if for you to eat."
"Alex, come and get your hot chocolate," called Dan.
Silence.
Boy, that kid can drive us up the f*cking wall!
Once again, he was asked three or four times if he wanted to drink it.
"This is your last chance, Alex," said Dan. "Do you want this hot chocolate? Because if you don't, I'm going to drink it."
Silence.
"ANSWER ME!"
"No, I don't want it, otherwise I'd have said I wanted it!"
Jesus Christ!
He then walked the rest of the way about five metres behind us, maintaining that distance whenever we stopped at traffic lights.
We got back to our hostel, but before we went to our room, we checked the on-site laundry machines.
"Good lord! They're $10NZD each for a wash and a dry!" I exclaimed. "Did you still want to do laundry today?" I asked Dan.
"No, I guess we wait until tomorrow after all, and hope it all dries".
(Our apartment tomorrow has a washing machine and a clothes horse).
Back in our room shortly after 1:30pm, Abi had a single wrap with ham and cheese, Dan had a ham and cheese sandwich, and Alex had two ham sandwiches, all made with a sour face.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in the room in silence. Alex and Abi read on their kindles, Dan booked taxis for later this week, and I wrote my blog, sulking that we were spending the afternoon in Stockholm in our hostel room.
But, everything was either too far away, too expensive, or closed.
I contacted the next two places we were staying, that both said they had a washing machine, to see if they had a tumble dryer also. Since we were only staying one night at each, we kind of needed to have dry clothes to pack away!
Neither place had a tumble dryer, only a clothes horse.
"We've no way of knowing if the clothes horses will fit one week's worth of washing for four people!" Dan said.
"Yeah," I agreed. "Maybe we should just do the laundry here, and suck up the cost."
So, down to the laundry I went with all our washing. Forty-five minutes later, I went back down to put it all in the tumble dryer.
"I've set a timer, it's an hour-and-a-half," I told Dan when I got back to the room. "We can't open the door to check it's done though, as it will charge you again!"
"Wow! But what if someone opens it up?"
"They wouldn't though, would they, as there's a digital screen showing it is being used."
Well.
Guess what? Dan went down after an hour to check on it, and some f*cking sh*t-for-brains had opened the door and left it wide open, with our washing still soaking wet!
I had gone with Alex to get some dinner (more of the pastries for Dan, Alex, and I, and the expensive sushi for Abi), so Dan sent me a text to say he'd had to pay again. Then he and Abi sat in the room standing guard.
When Alex and I got back, I took up the guarding. Someone else came in to check their tumble dryer; they opened the door, closed it again, then went to reception, who came back and authorised the machine to start again...WITHOUT AN EXTRA CHARGE!
"WHAT?! I came to check my washing and the machine door was open, so I had to pay again!" I complained.
"Oh, sorry," the lady said. "You should have just come to reception and I could have started it again."
Where was the sign for that? I'll tell you where. NOWHERE, THAT'S WHERE!
Insert whatever swear words you like here...
The other guy offered to guard our washing since he was going to be there for an hour, and I'm sure he would have been fine, but I wasn't taking any chances again.
Day 226 - 6 Feb '24 - Stockholm to Umeå (or Freezing Town Number One, as Dan called it). Rovaniemi weather report: partially cloudy overnight on the 8th, cloudy on the 9th. Not looking promising at all, but fingers are crossed!).
This morning was a bit chillier at -7°C, and our destination would be -17°C by the time we got there at almost 7pm.
"You'll need to make sure you've got enough clothes to put on, but not wear yet, as we've got six-and-a-half hours on the train!" I told everybody.
It's quite a challenge planning for a 10 degree temperature change! Polyester tshirts were swapped to merino ones, scarves were pulled out, and gloves were changed to the much thicker snow variety.
We didn't have any breakfast, as we sat in the first class lounge at the train station for two hours, and they provided food and drink.
"There's hardly anything here!" the kids complained.
"That's because it's the breakfast menu," I pointed out.
Rolls, crackers, plain biscuits, pâté, cream cheese (with or without garlic), smoothie, lemon cake, fruit, and hot and cold drinks were on offer. Hardly anything at all...! There were even three, count that, THREE different types of gluten free cracker for Abi!
I spent a good 20 minutes convincing her to try the cream cheese, which she eventually did, and declared tasty enough to have more of.
At 11:30am they brought out the lunch menu, which was coleslaw, potato salad, and a divine pasta salad with salmon, dill, and capers. Yummy!
Sadly, at 12pm, it was time to say goodbye to the lounge, and board our train to Umeå, ready to sit on our bums for six hours and 20 minutes.
As the train rolled on, the scenery outside changed from cities and towns, to more remote villages, occasional houses, and lots and lots of snow.
The cloudy, grey sky, did a fantastic job of making the scenery look cold, but the houses that we saw were very colourful, either red or yellow with white trim.
Over the course of the day, the sun got lower (not that it was very high to start with), and it was soon dark. All we could see were the lights in passing houses, most of them with a small lamp in their windows.
I discovered it was a Swedish tradition, to have a lamp on in all their windows. It was to guide travellers in winter, lost or otherwise, to a place that would be warm and safe.
Our train trip would have been enjoyable, had it not been for Abigail, who was an annoying little sh*t from the second we boarded.
"That's where I was going to put MY jacket!" when I 'stole' her space in the overhead luggage storage.
"I don't WANT to drink!" when her lips were dry.
"I'm not putting my gloves and hat in THERE!" when her gloves and hat were on the floor and pointed to the netting on the back of the seat.
"Why CAN'T I have another chocolate?"when she was told that four was enough.
On and on and on it went. All. The. Time.
It culminated in her running back along the corridor and hitting the head of a man who was going through his bag, and then spilling her drink on the floor. We could cheerfully have left her on the platform of any of the stations we stopped at.
As we neared Umeå, everybody started donning their layers, in preparation for the cold. And sure enough, it was RATHER cold when we got off!
To be fair, it didn't feel cold as such, but the air felt cold. I know, that doesn't really make too much sense, but the only parts that felt cold were the exposed bits. (Our faces! Get your mind out the gutter!).
It wasn't long before everyone had red cheeks and noses, and our chins were a little numb. Alex and Abi were loving walking in the snow and hearing it crunch. Alex in particular, was desperately hanging out to play in it tomorrow morning!
By the time we got to the house we were staying in, my legs had gone numb to the cold; I was only in my thin hiking pants, whereas everyone else had thicker trousers. We dropped our bags off, then went back to the station and across the road to a supermarket.
"I am not hungry at all," I said. "Is anyone else actually hungry and wanting dinner? It's 8 o'clock."
"I'm not really hungry either," said Alex.
"Me neither," said Abi.
"I'm not surprised! All you've done all day is eat!"
In the end, we bought some sliced cheese, a loaf of bread, and some bananas and a bottle of milk for breakfast. A brisk walk back to the house to keep warm, and cheese and ham sandwiches for dinner.
I'll be digging out my thermal leggings tomorrow, that's for sure!
Day 227 - 7 Feb '24 - Umeå to Tornio (Freezing Town Number Two). Rovaniemi weather report: slightly clear skies on the 8th for a couple of hours, keep those fingers crossed!
It was slightly snowing when we woke up this morning, and the kids were desperate to get outside and play in it.
“You’ll need to put on your thermal undies Alex, top and bottom, and you, too, Abi,” I told them.
“Can we go out and play in it once we’ve done all our jobs and brushed our teeth?” Alex asked.
“Yes, but Abi hasn’t even had her breakfast yet!”
“HURRY UP, ABI!” he yelled at his sister.
It was a cool -16°C, and Alex gave up waiting on Abi. Out he went into the garden of the apartment we were staying in, walking through the super soft snow that was a good three feet thick!
Of course, he sank a bit, (quite a lot, actually), and I watched him take his gloves off numerous times to shake the snow out of them. Soon he had stamped a small hole to play in, and was building a wall around it.
Abi didn’t take too long to join him, and then they were both exploring in circles around a garden table; in the below picture, only the tabletop is slightly visible as a dark line to the right of her.
After a while, I went outside as well, and promptly sank through the snow that Alex and Abi had already walked on.
“I thought you said you’d walked on it already!” I complained, as my legs sank up to my knees.
“We have!” came the reply. “You’re just heavier than us!”
“Come on, let’s go across the road to the big open space.”
It was the garden space of a block of flats, and was also deeper than I was prepared to walk through.
“Come on Mummy!”
“No thanks! I’ll just wait here and keep my feet dry!”
Once again, the problem of living out a rucksack was lack of equipment. When it came time to buy winter shoes, we had to make the decision based on practicality. We were only going to be in deep snow for a couple of weeks max, whereas, we would be in potentially wet weather for a few months, and carrying our packs. Wellies or snow boots wouldn't be the right choice for the long-term.
After a couple of minutes, Abi said her toes were cold, and Alex’s boots were very wet, so we went back to the house. Right then, Dan came out to join us, so we went for a walk down the road a bit, throwing handfuls of powdery snow at each other; it was all way too soft and dry to make any snowballs.
It wasn’t long before there were tears though, as Alex threw some snow at Abi, who just happened to turn around at the wrong moment, and got it in her face.
“Okay, let’s go back to the house to warm up your feet and hopefully dry out your shoes a bit.”
Our train didn’t leave until 1:30pm, and our accommodation let us stay there until 12:30pm, which was awesome! It gave us plenty of time to pack and dry some socks, and also meant we could avoid the -14°C outside for as long as possible.
The kids and I left Dan at the station with our bags, while we walked across the road and bought some sandwiches for lunch and dinner. Actually, Little Miss Fussy chose a yoghurt and nothing else, saying she’d eat some crisps. I bought some cheese slices so she could at least make a sandwich on the train.
This train had no first class section, and no seat reservations, so it was first come first served for seats and luggage space. We needn’t have worried; plenty of room for everyone, so we sat at a table space for six people.
We had to change trains at a town called Boden, and the conductrix was very helpful, telling us which platform to go to. When we got closer to the station, she even came to tell us the platform had changed, and we could just walk through the other train, rather than go up and down the stairs!
It wasn’t a long wait on the platform before our train arrived, but the kids still managed to find time to play.
On the train, Dan suddenly got an alert from the taxi we had booked, to say they were on their way to the station. Shortly after that, another alert to say they’d arrived.
“Oh no! They’re an hour early!” I said.
“Yeah, I was worried about that because of the hour time difference between Sweden and Finland,” Dan replied.
(The train arrived into Haparanda, which was in Sweden, and we were going to our accommodation in Tornio, which was in Finland on the other side of a bridge).
We quickly typed the driver a message (but got no reply), and then a couple of minutes later, Dan got another message to say the booking had been completed.
“Well, that answers that question!” he said. “We’ll need to book another one now!”
Our second taxi booking was a success, and we made it to our accommodation, where we were greeted by the hosts! They showed us around, then left us to our evening.
We made a quick walk out to a local convenience store to buy some milk and bananas for breakfast, then put the kids to bed when we returned. We'd lost an hour arriving in Finland, and it was important we all got a good sleep tonight, as tomorrow we'd be in a snow hotel - eek!
Day 228 - 8 Feb '24 - Tornio to Rovaniemi (Freezing Town Number Three). Rovaniemi weather report: cloudy, clear, changes so frequently! Sunrise at Tornio was 9am, just -21°C, and simply beautiful.
"The best thing about seeing the sunrise in winter, is you don't have to get up early for it!"
Our travel today was all in the afternoon, and as luck would have it, our accommodation had a 12pm checkout! Perfect!
After breakfast, Dan and Alex went across the road to the frozen river, and played in the snow for a bit. Abi and I watched them for a while, laughing when Dan made a path through the snow and went up to his knees!
We went and joined them for a few minutes, and it was definitely cold. We could see millions of ice crystals sparkling in the air, and Dan had frost on his beard. Within seconds, our faces were also red, and even through our winter gloves we could feel our fingertips getting cold.
"I guess that's why Santa has red cheeks," I said in the lift back to the apartment, "because he's always freezing!"
We had enough time in the apartment to get feet warmed up again, before it was time to go. The first leg of our journey today was a bus to a town called Kemi.
Bus drivers around the world should take lessons from that guy, as he barely paused long enough to let people on or off. No such thing as 'late' in his vocabulary!
We had a 45 minute wait at the train station, and fortunately the waiting room was open and heated. It was quite a busy wee station, with most of the seats already taken by people similarly dressed in multiple layers.
Our train ride was just an hour long, and we had some wonderful views of snow, icy trees, snow, icy trees, snow, and icy trees!
When we arrived at Rovaniemi station, our taxi driver was waiting for us when we got there - success! There were a few moments when the tyres were sliding a little, and I admit to feeling rather nervous when he overtook another car!
"That's when I was confident it was definitely a fixed fare," Dan told me afterwards.
The road had been cleared, and there were non-icy tracks for wheels to go, but other than that it was compact snow and ice all over the tarmac.
Nevertheless, we made it to the Arctic SnowHotel and Glass Igloos in one piece. Yay! We were finally here!
After checking in, we took our bags to the lockers then joined the guided tour. We were shown outside where we could find the reindeer, the saunas, a warm room with a fire, snow slides with sledges, a kick-sledge area, and snow sculptures.
We then went to one of the rooms to see how the lights work, and the locker room (where we'd already been) where we were given a demonstration on how to use the sleeping bags. (The locker room also doubled as Plan B, as there were four sets of bunk beds for people who couldn't handle the cold, or the profound silence). After that, we were free to explore!
We weren't allowed into our rooms to sleep until after 9pm, as the snow hotel was open to the public, who would come and look at all the amazing art in the rooms.
Each room was crafted differently, with some seriously incredible skill with ice carving on display. The hotel is made fresh every year, and is like a rabbit warren, with corridors going in lots of different directions.
After a while, we went outside to have a look around before it got too dark. Wowee it was coooooold! Our fingers would freeze within 10 seconds of taking our gloves off to take pictures.
Both Alex and Abi got to feed the reindeer some lichen, their favourite food in winter.
We then went to the slide area, and both kids had a turn going down the frozen snow ramp. It was rather bumpy and very fast, and Abi came tumbling out of her sledge! Those few minutes provided Dan and I a brief break of listening to Abi complain about her sore toes.
"You need to keep wiggling your toes, Abi!" we both told her, repeatedly. "When you keep them moving, they get warm again."
In the end, we decided to spend a couple of minutes in the 'warm room' by the fire, which I was thrilled about as my fingertips had actually gone numb.
We went back out to look at the sculptures, took a few more pictures, and then went to the restaurant for an early dinner.
There were three restaurants on site, and we went to the cheapest one, which was a price-effective €150 buffet for the four of us.
OUCH!
"Can I have some more potatoes?"
"Yes."
"Can I have a plate just of grapes?"
"Yes."
"Can I have a fourth plate of dessert?"
"Yes."
"Can I have some more meat and gravy?"
"Yes."
Basically, we sat there and ate for as long as possible, eating until we were bloated, and using up as much time as possible in a warm place.
Abi and I went back to the locker room briefly to grab hers and Alex's kindles, and even that short visit was cold.
Don't get me wrong, IT WAS COLD - we were in the Arctic Circle after all. Outside was -21°C, and would get to -25°C by the time it was 7am. Inside the snow hotel it was between 0°C and -5°C, which, by comparison, was positively tropical. But there is still a huge difference between 0°C and 18°C, which was the temperature of the restaurant.
We were all feeling the cold, and nobody was under any illusions about the temperature or the price. We knew all the information when we booked it, but it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. All we needed was the Aurora Borealis to be the icing on the cake.
After sitting in the restaurant for a total of four hours, we could eventually go to our room. First stop was the locker room to get some toiletries. We brushed our teeth and went back to the locker room, this time to take off all the layers until just our thermal underwear and a pair of socks were left. We grabbed our sleeping bags and liners, and went to our Hallowe'en themed room, complete with giant carved pumpkins!
The decorations on the walls were a spider and web, a haunted house, a witch's cat, and a spooky tree. All very impressive!
Dan and I got the kids sorted in their sleeping bags, and then got into ours with a bit more difficulty. In between the sleeping bag and liner, we also had our hats and jackets, to keep them warm. It was extremely hard to hear anything with the sleeping bag done up so tight around our faces, and the snow muffled all the noise from the other side of the room.
Nonetheless, after repeatedly telling Abi to be quiet, Alex and I swapped beds. Dan went through the unzipping process, and carried Alex to my bed, while I went through the unzipping process and walked to the other side (Dan did offer to carry me too, but I declined). Then of course, there was the rezipping to go through!
In the end, there were multiple unzippings and rezippings done throughout the night for toilet trips. They never got any easier!
We were cosy warm in our sleeping bags and liners, and once we were in comfy positions, we all managed to get some sleep, as broken as it was.
Day 229 - 9 Feb '24 - Rovaniemi. No Aurora last night. Bother. Hopefully tonight...
We had selected a 7:30am wake up call, which came with a cup of hot berry juice - yummy!
We quickly got dressed into our jacket and hat, and made our way to the locker room, where we put on the clothes we wore yesterday, plus some extra layers! It was -26°C outside today!
We had a delicious buffet breakfast, and ate and drank as much as we could. I wasn't very hungry, still being full from dinner, but food equals fuel equals warmth!
Today we had booked an excursion to Santa Claus Village back in Rovaniemi. On the way, we saw an outdoor thermometer showing -30°C, and the car's one was showing as -33°C. Whatever the temperature was, it had gone beyond cold. Super glad we'd brought our hand and feet warmers.
We were met by our guide, who took us on a walk around the village, showing us where we would have lunch, which was also where he would meet us to take us on our husky ride!
But first - Snowman World and INDOORS! Abi was already complaining about sore feet, and our fingertips were numb. When inside, we put all our hand and feet warmers on, and Dan bought Abi a second set for her feet.
"We've spent an obscene amount of money coming here, so another €5 to make sure she's not crying, is worth every cent," said Dan.
Our guide had recommended we go indoors every hour to warm up as it was very cold. I think we managed 30 minutes at a time!
We went out into Snowman World and ran around the ice labyrinth, then played on the slide there, going very fast down the hill on inner tubes. So much fun!
There was also an 'indoor' ice slide that you just went down on your bum. It was cold, but also rather fast.
After warming up again, we realised it was just about lunchtime, so walked to the restaurant. This time it was a set main course, but with a buffet starter and dessert. I had to force myself to eat, as I was most definitely not hungry, but it was all very delicious.
We were there for an hour, and we decided that nobody was wanting any dinner. Therefore, we all grabbed a handful of chocolates to save for later; they ended up our dinner!
Our guide that was meant to collect us, never turned up, so we walked to the first husky place on the map.
We weren't booked there.
They didn't have a phone number for our guide, so suggested we walk to the second place and try there. Luckily for us, they did have our names.
We barely had time to get into their fire-heated office to drop my backpack, before we were back outside and getting on to the sled.
We were told to make sure we were as covered as possible. Within seconds of taking off, everything left exposed was frozen.
"My eyelashes are frozen shut!" I squealed.
"My snot's frozen!" Alex laughed.
The huskies were very fast, running with their shoes on, and we were very 'lucky' so see one of the rear dogs poo while running - twice!
"That's quite a skill!" Dan said.
It was beautiful on the ride. All the trees and snow rushing past, and the sun shining through the clouds.
It was only 2km and was over a lot quicker than we would have liked, but getting back inside the office and warming up by the fire with a cup of hot berry juice, was very welcome indeed.
We then walked around the village for a bit; we visited Santa Claus and got our photo taken, then went to his post office, where all mail directed to him arrives - over 500,000 a year! We also took the obligatory photo next to the giant thermometer in the middle of the village.
We had a quick look at Mrs Claus' house, but didn't feel like paying more money to visit her, so went back to Snowman World. Dan stayed inside for a bit, while the kids and I went out to play on the slides again.
Abi and I tried the slow side, and it was so slow we actually stopped halfway down! We went on it a few times, then joined the queue for the fast one again. At the top of the hill we got to see a wonderful sunset over some of Santa Claus Village.
We also got to see our bus pull up! Oh no!
"Quick! Get down the slide and run!"
We made it on to the bus with a couple of minutes to spare, then we got to enjoy the ride home looking at the view. It was honestly like Narnia everywhere - so, so pretty.
When we got back to the hotel, we collected our bags from the lockers, as well as our certificate for surviving a night in the snow hotel, and made our way to our glass igloo for the night.
Ooh, it was toasty warm! And had nice comfy beds! That we could electronically raise and recline! And our own bathroom! So many things that needed exclamation marks!
We lay on our beds until 7pm, then went to the Finnish sauna on site, where we spent about an hour slowly sweating with some German tourists. We all went outside to cool down then came back in a couple of times, but it eventually got too much for the kids, so we got ourselves dressed again and went to the Ice Bar.
Abi wanted a hot chocolate, but I decided that was pointless.
"We've come to an ice bar, so we will all have a drink in their ice cups!"
Four shots of lemonade and strawberry juice, served in ice cups, that we could then smash by throwing on the wall! It was a very tasty drink, but at $48NZD a round, we only had the one.
It was then time to go to our igloo and get into bed. The sky was clear, but there was only a 30% chance we'd get to see the Northern Lights. We'd had so much fun here, and loved all of it (apart from frozen fingers and toes), but we were all still a bit sad we wouldn't get to see the Aurora.
At 10pm, once everyone had had enough fun playing with the controls on the bed, we went to sleep...with our Aurora alarm turned on. Just in case!
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