Wed 3rd - arrived Helsinki and left bags in the storage lockers. Spent the day walking around. First went to the markets by the harbour. Bought some weird pastry thing from the indoor food market and then some postcards and magnet from a stall outside. Walked to a church and the Cathedral Square and had a coffee in a cafe. Had some lunch in the supermarket (fish and rice) and walked over to the old Olympic Stadium as well as through central park. Helsinki was small, easy to get around but the nowhere to go to the toilet. Had to pay pretty much all the time! Waited in the station a bit before the train. Met a Japanese guy called Taiga. In the evening caught the overnight train to Rovaniemi. Had seats, no bed and it was a little uncomfortable and noisy but managed some sleep.
Thu 4th - Had a croissant on the train and arrived Rovaniemi early, about 7.15am. It was thick snow. Saw Taiga again who had caught the same train. We wanted to walk to our hostel but the snow was so thick and it was hard to wheel the suitcase so had to catch a taxi. The taxi dropped us at the hostel but when we got out we had to checkin at the Santa hotel which was another 1km down the road. The taxi driver was not so helpful and left us to wheel our bags all the way to the hotel to check in. The taxi cost a load too. So we got to the hotel and they said in fact our room was ready so we checked in and had to get another taxi back to the hostel! After this we walked back to Lapland Safaris. We had booked a 9.30am cross country skiing trip. It was really good. We wore the gear they provided and drove about 10 minutes out. There was a family of 4 from Australia and a Singaporean couple. It was beautiful thick snow and a really clear, sunny day. The skiing was hard and fell a few times but loved it. Half way through had some hot tea and biscuit. After the skiing, had a pizza in Rovaniemi and took the bus to Santa Claus Village and to cross the Arctic Circle. Saw Taiga again! Queued up to meet Father Christmas which was really good and bought the digital photo and video for 40 Euros. Then boughts some cards and sent these at the post office as well as some letters. Then got both passports stamped. Back in Rovaniemi, went to the supermarket for tea and had the food back in the hostel.
Fri 5th - Got up early, had breakfast and the kind cleaner called a taxi for us. We took our bags to the train station to leave in a locker. Then we went for a coffee in the centre. We met Taiga, whose birthday it was, for a drink and then decided to walk around for a bit after having some lunch at Hess Burger. We walked down to the river and then up along a nature trail where we built a small snowman. Then back along the river where we built a bigger snowman. We then walked to the train station and caught the 6.05pm train overnight back to Helsinki.
Sat 6th - Arrived in Helsinki early and decided to take our bags straight to the Stena Link ferry terminal. We had to wait a short while for the terminal to open at 8.30am and then left our bags in the back room of the newsagent. It was Finland's National Day and it seemed most places were shut. We walked back in to the centre and got porriage and berries from a bakery in the station. We then caught the #2 tram and took a 1 hour journey on the loop (both #2 and #3, it switched half way through). It was a good trip. After this we walked over to McDonalds and had a coffee then decided to walk over to some of the outdoor attractions - a church that is build into some rocks and some silver tubes hanging down. The weather was wet and overcast but it was nice to walk around. For lunch we had Burger King in the station. We then walked down to the Ferry Terminal to catch the ferry at 5pm to Stockholm. We were both in 4 berth dom rooms. Lucky for me there was no one else inside and Troy had only one other person so he came to share with me. We had a drink in the pub then walked around the boat then bed early.
Likes
- Finland is clean, safe and everyone speaks English and was friendly
- Helsinki was easy to get around
- Rovaniemi was full of snow and quite pretty.
- Great fun meeting Father Christmas
- Cross Country skiing was fun
- chocolate bars are great
- weather was not so cold
No so like
- expensive. coffee, food, all the activities in lapland etc all quite expensive
- so difficult to find a toilet and then when you did you had to pay
- the hostel in Rovaniemi was not so good - location poor, wifi rubbish
