We departed from Rovaniemi to spend the next couple of nights in Kakslautanen. We seem to have increased the amount of luggage we have, and including the warm clothes we rented we had a luggage cart full. The bus trip to Kakslautanen was through some incredibly scenic parts of Finland. It was all covered in snow and the trees and frozen lakes looked spectacular. After … Continue reading Hey Hey Santa

The main reason for coming to Kakslautanen was to see the Northern Lights. This year is meant to be a good year for Auroral activity and northern Finland is an ideal location. Unfortunately it also depends on the weather on the day which we can’t control. We had organised a reindeer safari to see the northern lights. This entailed getting on reindeer sleighs at about … Continue reading Elusive Northern Lights

Today was meant to be the highlight of the visit to Lapland thus far, with a visit to Santa’s Village. We started by going to Arktikum which is a museum dedicated to Lapland. We read about their history, clothing, culture etc. It is an incredibly harsh environment and living here would be brutal. We followed it up with lunch at a manor which consisted of … Continue reading Amazing Santa

Unnamed Road We had a bus pick us up at 11 for a day in Santa’s secret hideaway with his elves. We started with a kilometre long hike through knee deep snow. Fortunately Ben found a sleigh that Emily could ride on which made the walk a lot easier for her. We started with a sleigh ride around the frozen lake. I sat out with … Continue reading Lapping it up

Korkalonkatu 31 Merry Christmas The kids all woke up very exited as Santa had visited overnight and left some presents for them. Apparently he dropped their presents off at home and then made another special trip to our hotel to leave a note. Emily was just soooo exited that she got an Elsa dress. Matthew got a motorised Lego kit and Ben got a robot … Continue reading Merry Christmas

Light Snow, -3°C Jaakonkatu 2 Christmas Eve The hotel had put on quite a few activities for the kids before dinner. They got to decorate their own Christmas tree, halfway through which Emily decided it was easier to be the tree than to decorate it. They also got to decorate their own Gingerbread cookies. We decided to save ours for Santa later in the night. … Continue reading Christmas Eve

Light Snow, -4°C Rovaniemi Just snow much fun We headed out to the woods near Rovaniemi to experience a Snow Fun Day. There was light snow for most of the day which the kids loved. They started with tobogganing down a hill. Matthew made a friend and raced against them, while Ben and Emily went down together, over and over again. They then got the … Continue reading Just Snow Much Fun

Overcast Clouds, -3°C Koskikatu 16 Finally in Rovaniemi We landed into Rovaniemi airport a bit later than planned at 2.30 in the afternoon and the sun had already set. The sun is meant to rise tomorrow at 11.08am and then set again at 1.25pm. The bus took us directly to a clothing rental place so we could get proper snow overalls, boots, gloves and beanies. … Continue reading Finally in Rovaniemi

The kids woke up really excited as we are heading to Rovaniemi today, the official home of Santa Claus. We flew Finnair which is the official airline of Santa Claus. Check-in was a breeze as Finnair is part of OneWorld which meant that our Qantas status got us priority treatment. It, however, didn’t get us into the lounge as they only allow one guest per … Continue reading Hey Hey Helsinki

Final Day in Helsinki Today is our final full day in Helsinki and is also the shortest day of the year. We headed out at about 11 and the sun was only just starting to rise. After a visit to some souvenir shops we headed to the local markets for lunch. Salmon soup is a local delicacy and is specific to the area. We ordered … Continue reading Final Day in Helsinki

Light Intensity Drizzle, 3°C Mannerheimvägen 13 Finnish History Ever though the time in Finland is only an hour different to Sweden and Denmark, it is taking us a few days to adjust. The lack of daylight and dark rooms isn’t helping either. Today we didn’t get up till almost 8.30, except Matthew, whose body clock has the ability to wake him at 6 no matter … Continue reading Finnish History

Light Intensity Drizzle, 3°C Katrinegatan 3 Museum, Markets and Meals After lunch we visited the Helsinki City Museum which was located right opposite Senate Square and a mere 5 minute walk from the hotel. It looked quite unassuming from the outside, however kept is all entertained for the entire afternoon. It was spread over 3 levels and we started in a Virtual Reality Time machine. … Continue reading Museums, Markets and Meals

Overcast Clouds, 2°C Unionsgatan 36 Now I’ve seen it all In Dubai last year we saw air conditioned bus stops and a ski field in 45 degree temperature. And today we found heated sidewalks n Helsinki. I guess when you have winters with sub zero temperature that lasts almost 6 months it makes sense. We were meant to go on a walking tour that started … Continue reading Now I’ve Seen It All

Goodbye Stockholm We had got all our packing done last night and just needed to get everyone ready this morning. We had our final breakfast in Stockholm and then boarded our ride to the airport. The airport is out of town and we drove past a number of snow covered fields and it seems it snowed in parts of Stockholm during our visit, just not … Continue reading Goodbye Stockholm

Clear Sky, 1°C Skeppsbron 18 The Royal Armoury We had a bit of a quiet day in Stockholm today. The sun was out and it was a positively hot 2 degrees. We visited the Christmas markets nearest to our hotel and they were bustling with visitors… guessing it included locals as well as it was a Sunday. Some of the stalls had really interesting and … Continue reading The Royal Armoury

Clear Sky, 1°C Galärvarvsvägen 14 The Ship that almost Sailed Stockholm is a collection of a number of islands and while there are bridges across most of them, traveling by ferry is still very popular and convenient. We caught a ferry from the dock nearest to our hotel and headed to the island of Djurgarden. The island is primary a natural reserve however also includes … Continue reading The Ship that almost Sailed

Overcast Clouds, 0°C Mårten Trotzigs gränd 1 Walking through Old Town We had organised for a walking tour of Old Town in Stockholm this afternoon. The tour started at 2 in the afternoon and the temperature was already starting to drop. Old Town is the original part of Stockholm and some of the buildings are over 800 years old. We started at the Nobel Center … Continue reading Walking Through Old Town

Overcast Clouds, 1°C Västerlånggatan 68 A meal fit for a king I had booked a restaurant called Aifur for Ben’s birthday dinner. It was advertised as a Viking themed restaurant and it did not disappoint. We sat on long shared tables and Ben got to sit on the throne at the head. They even had props that the boys used for photos. The meals included … Continue reading A meal fit for a king