Broken Clouds, -4°C Václavské náměstí 56 The official fireworks and celebrations for the New Year happen on the 1st of January in Prague. As there are no regulations on the purchase and use of fireworks, there were unofficial fireworks and noise makers all over town. I had booked a train restaurant called Vytopnia for dinner after having read a number of great reviews online. It … Continue reading New Years Eve

Jiráskův most We went on a walking and boat tour of Prague today. Bron decided to stay in the room with Tom so it was just me with the older kids. The tour was a big disappointment. I was hoping that the guide would take us from Old Town via Charles bridge to the Prague palace. Instead we quickly walked through Old Town and she … Continue reading Tour of Prague

Fog, -6°C Karlova 4-18 We headed to a tiny theatre on the top floor of a building near the Old Town Square to watch a puppet version of Don Giovanni with the original score created by Mozart. I have been really surprised with the number of theatre and cultural performances in Prague. There are classical performances on all the time ranging from operas and performances … Continue reading Puppets and Dinner

Mist, -4°C Staroměstské náměstí 4/1 We didn’t really have anything planned or organised for today so we decided to have a quiet and lazy one. After a late breakfast we let Thomas have another sleep in his cot and headed out on the late afternoon. Our hotel is conveniently located right near Charles bridge and close to Old Town which is almost like the tourist … Continue reading A Walk Through Old Town

Fog, -4°C Smetanovo nábřeží 324/10 We packed up and left Kakslautanen today. It was a real shame that it snowed all night and we weren’t able to see any more of the Northern Lights as there seemed to be quite a bit of auroral activity.The igloos had quite an interesting design and no matter how much it snowed over night the snow would just slide … Continue reading What a Show

The kids and I were booked on a husky safari today. We arrived all decked out in our warmest gear, and it was lucky that we did, as it was the coldest that I have ever felt on my life. Even before we got onto the husky sleighs our extremities were feeling numb. Poor Emily, she just had had enough and wouldn’t stop crying. As … Continue reading Mush

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