Rovaniemi calls itself the official hometown of Santa Claus, and I went in ready to roll my eyes. A week later I was the one telling everyone to go.
Rovaniemi sits right on the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland, about as far north as you can comfortably get by train in Finland. We gave it the better part of a week, then dropped south to Kemi on the coast for the snow castle.
The Santa Claus Express pulls in. The reindeer logo is not subtle, and I loved it.
The Arctic Circle Runs Straight Through the Village
We came up overnight on the Santa Claus Express from Helsinki, a sleeper that runs while you sleep and lands you in Lapland by morning.
First stop was the Arctic Circle line painted across the ground at the village. You can stand with one foot on each side of it, which everyone does, me included.
The Arctic Circle line, marked at about 66 degrees north.
The signpost points everywhere. Vancouver did not make the cut.
The village is built around a signpost pointing to cities all over the world.
Vancouver was not on it, which felt a little rude.
We ducked into the Santa Claus Office to warm up. Entry is free and Santa keeps year-round hours.
Mid afternoon and the sky has already gone deep blue. This far north in December you get only a few hours of real light.
We stayed a few nights at the edge of the village. Here it is from above, red roofs and all.
The room came with its own sauna. I used it every night, sometimes twice.
The room came with its own sauna, which up here is less a treat than a default setting.
Finland has more saunas than cars, and after a day in the cold you understand exactly why.
There are reindeer everywhere in Lapland, most of them semi-domesticated and herded by the Sami.
This one let me get close for a photo before losing interest entirely.
A reindeer that tolerated the selfie, then went back to ignoring me.
Fire, Faint Green Light, and a Canyon of Frozen Waterfalls
Every aurora tour starts the same way: a fire, hot juice, and a lot of hoping.
One night we booked a northern lights tour. It opens with a fire, hot berry juice, and a long stretch of standing around in the cold.
Half of chasing the aurora is just being outside, patient, when it decides to show.
It came out faint and green over the treeline. My phone barely caught it, but you can see the glow.
Back at the room we worked through a haul of Finnish beer and chocolate.
The Fazer chocolate lives up to the hype, and the Lapin Kulta is literally named for Lapland's gold.
The haul: Finnish beer, Fazer chocolate, and a bag of reindeer chips.
Reindeer chips: dried and smoked, lean and dark, and very good.
We also tried reindeer chips, which are exactly what they sound like: dried, smoked reindeer.
Reindeer has fed people up here for generations. Strange to buy, very good to eat.
Mammutti, the biggest of the Korouoma frozen falls. It draws ice climbers from across Europe in winter.
Kemi, and a Castle Rebuilt From Snow Every Winter
After Rovaniemi we dropped south to Kemi on the Gulf of Bothnia and based ourselves in these glass villas along the frozen sea.
Kemi rebuilds its SnowCastle from scratch every winter out of snow and packed ice, with a new design each year.
It has been going since the mid-1990s and still feels improbable once you are standing inside it.
Inside the SnowCastle. The carving is the kind of thing you photograph badly and stare at properly.
A whole hall of ice sculptures lit from below. The year we went, the theme was a circus.
A week was enough to settle into the rhythm of the place and still leave plenty we never got to. The dog sledding, the icebreaker cruise, half the trails we walked past.
Reasons to come back, basically. More from this trip to come.