With Christmas fast approaching, the opportunity to secure a favourable rating from Santa should not be overlooked. I understand that he lives outside Rovaniemi, located on the Arctic Circle in central Finland and since Anne has always wanted to spend time in the Finnish countryside, what a great chance to combine our two objectives.

With our not inconsiderable amount of baggage in tow, we head to the Heathrow Terminal 4 Hilton hotel, a quick drive to return the car to Hertz and back turns into a saga of epic proportions as an emergency closes Terminal 4 which in turn stops all transport. How will I get back to the Hilton Executive lounge before happy hour closes at 7pm? The answer is I did not but Anne had secured me a large glass of wine in advance. It turns out half the lounge knows of the Terminal 4 closure and my delay and want to hear my story. Not too exciting but I shared a taxi between terminals with a Maltese woman trying to catch a flight home.

Next morning, after a filling breakfast with great service, we realise after the effort of getting four suitcases, two carry on bags and a motorcycle helmet from the room to the lobby that taking the train between terminals is completely impractical. An excellent taxi ride with a local driver, who educated us about in-flight catering as he was previously a General Manager in that industry. Helsinki here we come.

We have a relaxing evening in the Executive lounge at the Helsinki Airport Hilton, then after an early breakfast, which starts there at 3am which is far to early for us, we board a local train to Helsinki Station

There we wait the IC 23 to take us to Oulu. Here we will transfer to a bus onward to Rovaniemi due to daytime track work. We have chosen seats on the double decker train above the buffet car. Included in our ticket is all you can drink tea, coffee and hot chocolate, yummmmm….

The suburbs behind us, the landscape changes – patches of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), Norway spruce (Picea abies), and Silver Birch (Betula pendula), thanks Wikipedia. The Silver Birch is also Finland’s national tree.

The forests are interspersed with fields covered with golden stubble. The crops are harvested and the hay already safely stored for winter. Blue skies have accompanied us all the way. It is interesting, as a railway buff, that much of the lumber is removed by rail not road. We pass many sidings with railway wagons loaded with logs ready for shipment to distant factories.

Comfortable seats, food delivered to you, glorious scenery, the only downside is that when you see an interesting track meandering into the distance you cannot stop and explore. Due to daytime track-work the last three hours to Rovaniemi are by bus. We are happy to arrive at our Airbnb and settle in. We stock up at the local supermarket while navigating unfamiliar product names.

A walk down to the waterfront and we find a group of five girls dressed in pink badge covered overalls. Hens night? Birthday Party? No, turns out they are third year art students, hence pink colour, from the local university manning a checkpoint for first year students undertaking an initiation course. We learn that Law students wear burgundy (dark red), grey for accountants perhaps? Just kidding. The overalls were introduced in the 1960’s.

Ever wondered what Rudolf and his friends did for the rest of the year? We can confirm they work as Uber drivers in Rovaniemi in the off season.

When we arrived in Finland the weather forecast was for rain, rain and more rain where we’re heading. We had resigned ourselves to this, but so far, each morning the forecast changed and we have had mostly sunny days. We take advantage of this and we walk to the Arktikum Science Centre and Museum.

Here we get hope to get a better understanding of the region we will be exploring for the next week. Worth the time to give us background on not only the environment but the culture and learn about some of those who made their lives here such as Hildur Larsson whose work and life are exhibited here.

Blue sky again the next day, what luck. While we have been to a number of northern climes before including Alaska, Siberia and Iceland we realise that we have never crossed the Arctic circle. Visiting Santa will mean that we finally cross over to the other side.

Meeting Santa in his home for the first time could be daunting, but Santa quickly puts you at ease. We chatted briefly about Queensland and did check that our nephews and my sister, who had asked, were on the good’ list, “Mostly” said Santa, so those three should have a good Christmas this year.

It is amazing to think that half a million letters are sent to Santa each year at his official post office that is part of the Finnish Postal Service. The letters wend their way here with many different addresses from countries as diverse as Andorra and Zambia. No post code required for these letters!

After lunch we take a walk looking for a husky dog centre, sadly it does not open till November. I think we are between seasons, summer is waining, but winter not established yet. Probably a good time to take a break although there are many motor homes and a few coaches around.

Anne spies a walking track and we are off exploring. Autumn colours and textures abound as we walk through the forrest. A large map shows that tracks for walking and skidoo riding run for tens of kilometres in all directions. Must be amazing in winter just zooming along on the snow. Perhaps a winter visit?

Tomorrow we pick up a car and head further north, Reindeer, Polar Bears and Icebergs?, who knows what we will see.

– Anthony

PS. Recently, as many will be aware of, there has been some controversy over the incorporation of mushrooms, especially in dishes like beef wellington. Anne has recently taken an renewed interest in mushrooms. I have found the following photos on her phone, all taken here in Finland.

I also noted the following flavour of crisps for sale in Finland.

Probably not likely to be a big seller in Australia.

Should I have any concerns?