Being on vacation for one week, we decided to enjoy this time and make the most obvious trip here: LAPLAND! We went there with the company Timetravels ( http://www.aikamatkat.fi/ ). The final price including all the activities was quite expensive for 5 days but it was totally worth it. Such an amazing trip!
The departure was from Helsinki the 4th
of March. We were travelling by bus all the night until Kemi where we spent the
morning visiting the Kemi Snowcastle. The Kemi Snowcastle, which is rebuilt every year, was really impressing for our first day and such a piece of art.
On the afternoon, we arrived in Rovaniemi to visit the Santa Claus Village, taking pictures with the Santa and crossing the magical Arctic circle. We didn't have so much time to visit but it was pretty
fun to be in this place though. Well, to say the truth, I had the biggest disappoitment of my life this day; if some children are reading this article, please stop it; there were two Santa Claus, two of them! Which one was the real one? No clue. They were in two different buildings taking pictures with tourists. We discovered it because we were waiting for about 20 minutes for our friends to take a picture all together, but they were also waiting for us with the other Santa Claus.
On the evening, we arrived in a pretty town called Saariselkä where our cottage was. We share it with students of different nationalities such as Italian, South Korean, Bulgarian and Czechoslovakian. One of my few dissapointment during this trip was that we were 8 French people in the cottage and some of us are really shy. I (Thomas) was sad because I wanted to meet foreign people but being many french speakers, there was a separation. There were 14 beds in the cottage, one fireplace, a kitchen, a living room with couches and most of all a sauna! We had a lot of fun in it during nights where we jumped in the snow and then went to the sauna. Anyways, it was a really beautiful cottage.
On the third day we began activities in Lapland. The morning we skied and made snowshoe then we had a soup lunch in a chalet.
The sun was shining, the weather was perfect and snowshoeing was nice but too short, during this activity, our Finnish guide taught us some things about Finland such as the animals called Wolwerines that hunt dozens of reindeer to feed themselves. Wolverine are like small bears able to climb on trees to jump on their victims.
On the evening we went to the Smoke sauna which is a traditional Finnish sauna with a hole in a lake where you can refresh yourself. Being in a smoke sauna is actually a weird feeling and I enjoy more going in a classic sauna. The smell of smoke is bothering after a while but we had to try it. It was again really fun but I thought my feet would explode! Great experience for sure!
On the fourth day we had Husky Safari the morning. We were driver then passenger. We saw kennels and took huskies in our arms. After this, a woman told us stories stories about the huskies while we were drinking tea with small cookies.
One sledge is most all the time composed with 6 huskies, all of them have a particular job.
The first two huskies at the top of the sledge are the smartest, they lead the other dogs and know the way. The two dogs in the middle are the youngest, they are learning and they also have more endurance than the others, therefore they maintain the speed of the sledge. Finally, the two dogs behind the others are the strongest (and the dumbest), they have the task to pull the sledge really hard.
It was an amazing experience, like in a dream. The dogs at first were crazy and all excited to run but after running they were really friendly and we took pictures with our new friends! It was surely the best moment of the trip.
On the afternoon, we did snowmobile, 30 minutes as driver and 30 minutes as passenger. Unfortunately, I (Thomas) were behind two French girls who were scared to death to drive, we didn't have the opportunity to drive fast many times, we had to stop and wait for them to go and then we drove fast. It was really nice when we were able to drive, great experience! I think there were more snowmobiles in the town than there were cars.
On the fifth day we went to Norway. During the travel we saw reindeer herd by the road. We had a fish soup lunch in a local cafeteria in Bugoynes and the owner told us about the Norway. He showed us a video about Bugoynes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msgvTSy1RwY
After, we had possibility to swim in the ocean. We did it 3 times between sauna.
It was so beautiful, the landscapes were outstanding! We saw reindeers, fjords, I really felt lucky to see this city.
On the evening there was a student party in a Saariselkä club.
We checked
every night the sky hoping to see Northern lights and it’s only the last night that we saw it! It was wonderful. We tried to take pictures but we didn't have a camera well enough.
Well, to conclude this article, I will highly recommend this trip to you. It was the best trip of my life. I will also advice you to go there with two friends, not much more. You will then be able to meet many people!
Bye from Finland!
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