Finland

A trip to see Father Christmas, in Lapland! (Part two)

Monday 19th December 2016Wednesday 21st December 2016Baggie

Hopefully you have read part one so see how we got to where we are. If you haven’t it might be worth having a look here. If you are continuing to read then I am assuming that you have read part one and are now looking forward to reading about our adventures in the Arctic Circle.

We woke bright and early to pitch blackness. Being so far north the sun only popped its face above the horizon for about 3 hours each day and daylight did not begin to almost 1100, something that we didn’t really get used to while we there. Candy Cane and Nutcracker picked us up at 0900 and we headed to an adventure park directly on the Arctic Circle for a taster of all the adventure safaris that you could pay extra to do solo in the afternoon. It was, a not too unpleasant, -12°C and especially wearing our supplied outfits we were wrapped up warm and ready for our adventures.

We were given the low down on the activities before we left the coach: the park had a sledging slope, reindeer sleigh rides, skidoos and husky rides. There was also a traditional teepee where you could take part in a traditional Arctic Circle crossing ceremony. It all sounded exciting. Queues formed at all the activities quite quickly but we were just entranced by the beauty the snow covered forest. There were a number of fire pits with elves dishing out hot berry juice and gingerbread cookies, so we headed there to take measure of what we should do. Speakers played Christmas songs and it felt somewhat surreal to be listening to Shakin’ Stevens sing ‘Snow is falling, all around me…‘ while standing in a snow covered field in Finland – I felt like I was in a 1980’s Christmas pop video – definitely a dream come true!

It was decided that Mommy and Auntie Liz would queue for the husky ride while Nanny Fran and I would queue with the Baguettes for the kiddie Skidoos. The queue for the kiddie Skidoos moved quite quickly and it wasn’t long before they all had their opportunity to drive their own Skidoo, albeit tethered so that they didn’t mow down the other Arctic tourists – which would have put a dampener on the holiday. Éowyn and Amélie loved it but unfortunately Ezra was a little on the small size and although he gave it a really good go his hands were not big enough to fire the ‘go button’ while holding on to the handlebar. Nevertheless he completed a circle and had fun before we encouraged him to give up.

We then joined Mommy and Auntie Liz in the queue for the Husky ride. It was possible that his failure on the Skidoos was playing on his mind but Ezra refused to go on the Husky ride, so he and Nanny Fran waited while the rest of the family climbed aboard the sledge. Unfortunately when we got off Ezra had got cold and a little distraught. I took him of to one of the fire pits while the rest of the family queued for an adult Skidoo ride (kids to be dragged behind a Skidoo in a sleigh. Unfortunately, Daddy wasn’t who Ezra wanted. Only Mommy could make him happy, so Mommy took him into the restaurant while I took Mommy’s place in the queue. Only I wanted to drive my own Skidoo so the others climbed under blankets on one of the Sleighs. Again it was a taster session so didn’t last very long but enough for a morning’s enjoyment. We then headed back to find Mommy and Ezra.

On the way to the restaurant we passed the shaman’s teepee and decided to head in. The elf-shaman told us that he looked after Santa’s reindeer and that magic makes his nose glow on Christmas Eve to light Santa’s way. He said that he would do the same magic for us and drawing his thumb through the ashes of the fire placed black ash on each of our noses telling us that when we go to bed on Christmas Eve that the magic would make our noses glow to help Santa find us more easily in our beds.

We turned up at the restaurant with black noses, much to Mommy’s and Ezra amusement. Although when Ezra found out the story he wanted to go and get his ‘nose magic’ so that Santa could find him too! Lunch was provided of vegetable soup, meatballs, potato mash and/or burgers and chips. We were not expecting any food so it was a pleasant surprise. Warmed and bellies filled with hot food we headed back into the snow for a reindeer ride and some fun sledging down a icy slope. By the time Candy Cane was due to leave we had had our fill of the morning activities and were happy to be heading back.

Rather that going to our hotel we decided to get off Candy Cane in the centre of Rovaniemi so that we could explore the city centre. We spent some of our money on souvenirs and a hot chocolate and cake. We found a soft play that the Baguettes enjoyed, but not as much as they enjoyed climbing and then sliding down the piles of snow in the street. Some pleasures are much more simple.

The next day was an even earlier start: 0830 and the temperature had dropped to a chilly -18°C – indeed it was going to fall further throughout day to -22°C! The first stop in this chilly weather was Santa Claus Village. Situated directly on the Arctic Circle, Santa Claus Village is the home to Santa’s official post office, where Santa posts his replies, and you are encouraged (of course you are) to send a postcard (probably the busiest postbox for postcards in the world). It would be rude not to, so we let the Baguettes sent themselves a postcard so that it would have the official stamp when it arrived. We had the obligatory photo of standing astride the Arctic Circle and the signpost showing how far we were from home (2260km according to the sign – not the furthest that the Baguettes have travelled but definitely the furthest North).

Then it was time to board Candy Cane and head to our second stop of the morning: Santa Park. As the mercury plummeted it was nice to know that Santa Park was an underground theme park (one of Santa’s abandoned toy factories as the rumours suggested) situated 50 metres below the surface and again on the Arctic Circle – meaning this is only place in the World where you can cross the Arctic Circle so far underground.

Santa Park was excellent and probably the only place where our time there felt really limited. However, we managed to cram a fair amount into our allotted time. There was the magical sleigh ride, a trip through the forest to Santa’s workshop; Elf school, where we learned the first four rules of being an elf (elf-school lasts 99 years so it was only an introduction), Mrs Claus’ bakery, where the Baguettes decorated their own gingerbread cordate biscuits; Auntie Liz and Nanny Fran met the Ice Princess while the Baguettes played on the Angry Birds soft play. In between all that excitement we managed to watch the elves perform one of their shows. It is definitely somewhere that we could have spent an afternoon, if not a whole day.

We returned to the hotel to rest up before the evening’s gala dinner and our audience with the big man himself. We took advantage of the last of the day’s sunshine though to have a look across the vista of Rovaniemi from the observation deck on the top of the hotel. Amélie also convinced Auntie Liz to help her build a snowman replete with cheesy puff balls for eyes, nose and mouth (we didn’t have any coal or carrots). It wasn’t exactly the most lithe of snowmen and somewhat reminiscent of Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars (Return of the Jedi – let’s not mention the Special Edition of A New Hope) so we named him Jabba the Car-Hutt. There was still time to encourage the Baguettes (and most of the grown-ups) to have a nap so that they were not too tired for the big man.

The gala dinner was a coach ride away and held in restaurant (probably on the Arctic Circle as everything else was!). We were all shown to our tables and the fun began. The Thompson reps kept us all entertained with sing-songs, quizzes (which our table won – of course we did, despite being cheated out of one point, but I am not bitter!) and a rendition of ‘The 12 days of Christmas‘ where each table had a different line to sing. The meal was fantastic with three courses that the adults enjoyed but the Baguettes were nonplussed by.

At the end of the meal there was some excitement and the Thompson rep announced that Santa was arriving and we all should run outside to greet him. We made it out and fireworks and the chill air greeted our exit. While, all eyes were on the fireworks Santa entered stage right with Rudolph. Excitement levels increased among the children before we all returned to our tables and Santa settled into his room.

Each table was called individually while the games and quizzes continued. When it was your turn you were led into an antechamber to Santa’s room. An elf took the children’s name (to make sure that they are on the ‘nice’ list and certainly not to hand Santa the children’s names so he knew who is was talking to) and asked them what they were expecting for Christmas. Nutcracker had been entrusted by Santa to look after the entrance to his chamber and so we took the opportunity to grab a photo with her as the Baguettes, and especially Amélie had really taken a shine to her. Then it was our turn to see Santa.

I think this was the real magic moment. The Baguettes eyes opened wide as Santa said ‘Hello Éowyn, Amélie and Ezra.‘ It goes without saying that Santa knew their names and the fact that they were on the ‘Nice’ list. I think they were so taken aback that they didn’t say a lot to Santa and with a lack of conversation it was the perfect opportunity to take some photos, before Santa asked them if the would like a present. Obviously, they said, yes, and so they were presented with identical boxes that Santa said that they could open when they got back to the lodge. He also told them that they had to make sure that their rooms were tidy for when he came over on Christmas. I like this Santa. We said our goodbyes and left Santa’s room so that he could welcome the next family.

The route back to the table took us outside and back through the main entrance to the restaurant. As we stepped outside it started snowing: the perfect ending to a visit with Santa. We were one of the last tables to visit Santa so the Baguettes did not have to wait long before climbing back aboard Candy Cane and the return to Forest Heights and our lodge.

We obeyed Santa and let the Baguettes open their presents when we got back in the lodge. Not surprisingly, they were all identical and this year’s version of Thompson the Dog. Amélie was delighted but Éowyn and Ezra were disappointed but it didn’t take the shine off the fact that they had met the real Santa.

We were returning to England the next afternoon, so the morning was spent packing before a one quick last view from the observation deck before climbing back aboard Candy Cane for the return to the airport. We landed back at Gatwick with the temperature a veritable tropical 12°C!

So was it worth it? Would we recommend it? Did the Baguettes enjoy it?

When you are presented with the invoice for the holiday it seems expensive but when you actually add up what is included it is pretty good value for money. It is welcome organised and you are looked after the moment that you step aboard the plane at Gatwick, though at the same time you are not crowded or pressurised into joining it. We can not compare this against visiting Lapland in one day, however it is a long journey and the lack of daylight played havoc with our body clocks so I would have thought it would have been too much for the Baguettes, especially Ezra. To spend the extra days there wasn’t that much more and allowed us to enjoy the experience a lot more and have free time in the snow. Did the Baguettes enjoy it? It depends on which one you talk to.

Éowyn complained about the cold, but I pressed her about it, it wasn’t the fact that she was cold more the fact that she had to put so many layers on and then when you went into a restaurant or a shop or back into the lodge you had to take them off again. She has said since that she did enjoy it and has missed the snow. Her favourite part was Santa Park.

Amélie was the perfect age. She stared in amazement for the entire time we were there. Everything was brilliant. She loved the elves, the snow, the cold, seeing Santa. The money was worth it just for Amélie, for there was nothing that she didn’t like and when we asked her what he favourite thing was she reeled off almost everything that we did.

Ezra got cold once, while we were on the husky ride and it took some Mommy time to get him out of his malaise, but apart from that he seemed to enjoyed himself and keeps talking about it. He stood open mouthed in amazement when we saw Santa but he said that his favourite thing was sledging which was effectively when he used his daddy as a sledge.

The only disappointment that Lucinda and I had from the trip is something that can not be organised by a tour operator and that was the fact that we didn’t see the Aurora Borealis – The Northern Lights. We had one clear night, ideal for viewing the Northern Lights (although it was a chilly -20°C) but the Sun activity was low and thus no aurora. However it does give me an excuse to return to the Arctic Circle as viewing an aurora is definitely on my bucket list. Equally, we were disappointed that on our arrival back home England doesn’t feel as Christmassy as the land of Christmas itself. The warm (for the time of year) weather, serious lack of snow coupled with the excessive daylight (in comparison to the Arctic Circle) has made it feel more like November than the weeks leading up to Christmas. I am sure that we will get over it, although it would be much easier if the weather turned a little colder and we had the odd snow flurry.

I trust that you have enjoyed our little summary of our trip to Lapland and if I have not bored you too much and you want to kill a couple of hours of your time, there are 650 plus photos in this Flickr Album.

Peace and Love

Baggie

The Bagnalls at the Arctic Circle

Meeting Rudolph

Astride the Arctic Circle

That’s a big snowman

Santa Claus Village

The Elves and the Baguettes

Ezra Claus

How far from home?

No idea what that means

Ready to go

Snow is falling

Husky ride

Nanny Fran and Amélie

Santa Claus Post Office

Auntie Liz and Éowyn

Éowyn on a skidoo

Amélie on a skidoo

Ezra on a skidoo

Mommy sledging I

Mommy sledging II

Mommy sledging III

Éowyn’s gingerbread heart

Amélie’s gingerbread heart

Ezra’s gingerbread heart

Cheers

Nutcracker and the Baguettes

Santa’s arrival

The Real Santa Claus

The Bagnalls with Santa

Bagnalls in the snow

Where is Ezra?

One excited boy

Daddy and Amélie

Cuddling Nutcracker

What did Santa give you?

Reading the safety information

A trip to see Father Christmas, in Lapland! (Part one)

Saturday 17th December 2016Monday 19th December 2016Baggie

As you are all no doubt aware it is December. This is the time of year that houses are adorned with festive decorations and lights that brighten the long dark nights while little ones hang their stockings hoping that Father Christmas will fill them with goodies. I have always been a big fan of the festive season and since becoming a father the magic has only intensified, I share their excitement at the anticipation of the big man’s arrival. The only disappointment in recent years has been the lack of weather that befits the necessity to travel by a reindeer powered sleigh.

For well over a 100 years department stores, shopping malls and garden centres have created grottos (usually in the toy department) and employed men dressed as Santas to encourage parents to bring their children to see the big man and as a by-product spend money in their shop, usually on the toys that you have to pass on the way to the grotto. It is believed that we have James Edgar to thank for this tradition, a department store owner in Brockton, Massachusetts who is credited as the first to dress up as Santa, in 1890, to entertain the children of his customers. However we all know that the real Santa does not inhabit department stores, he lives in Lapland where, at this time of the year, he is preparing for his big day.

Therefore, if one wants to meet the ‘real’ Santa Claus then one must travel to Lapland. Four years ago Nanny Fran took her adopted grandchildren to Lapland for that very reason. We would have travelled with her, except that Lucinda was pregnant with Ezra and equally Éowyn and Amélie were both a little young, thus we thought it would have been a waste of money and a missed opportunity. We wanted to wait until all three would appreciate the trip. With 4.5 years between Éowyn and Ezra it was always going to be a balance of waiting until Ezra was old enough to appreciate it while hoping that Éowyn would be young enough to still believe. Ezra will be four in March and Éowyn has just turned eight, so it seemed to be the ideal time to book the trip.

As you can appreciate therefore this wasn’t a spur of the moment decision, this has been in planning for the last four years and finances willing it was always going to be December 2016. Thus while visiting Nanny Fran in February during the half-term break we left the Baguettes at Funky Monkey’s with Nanny Fran and popped in to see a travel agent and arrange the trip. Regular readers may recall a surprise that I mentioned in this update, well now you know what it was. I also alluded to the trip in this post. But it was not only you, dear readers, that we kept this secret from: the Baguettes knew nothing of this surprise until the morning before our flight.

Let me take you back to February and the decision of where to go. As you no doubt know Lapland is the largest and northernmost region of Finland and the traditional home of Santa Claus. This latter fact has not been lost on the Finns and a tourist industry has thus sprung up. We booked our trip through Thompson who offer a variety of trips to a number of resorts. We decided that we didn’t want to do the ‘day trip’ as we thought it would be too tiring for the Baguettes, indeed too tiring for Lucinda and I! This meant that we had to stop over and as we have found in previous holiday bookings, there are precious few rooms that can sleep 5. However Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz were planning on coming too so it gave us a few more options.

We weighed the options and decided that if we are going to do this then we are going to do it right and we were not going scrimp on the trip. Therefore, when we saw that there was a lodge that slept 7 available in the forest surrounding one of the hotels in Lapland’s capital, Rovaniemi, then there was only a negotiation over the price and for me to put the deposit on the credit card for it was the perfect choice.

We kept the whole trip secret from the Baguettes and over the next 9 months or so we nearly let it slip only a couple of times so as December approached they still knew nothing of what we had got planned. The question thus raised itself on how and when we were going to tell them. Our flights were very early on a Sunday morning so it made sense to tell them on Saturday morning, to limit the excitement factor and encourage them to go to sleep early on Saturday night. Coincidentally we were going to see a pantomime on Saturday afternoon (you will have to wait for the pre-Christmas write up to wait for that nugget) and Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz were coming to see that too, so there was an excuse for them to be at Bagnall Manor this weekend. So, the ‘when’ was decided just the ‘how’. I came up with the idea to design a letter from the man himself inviting them to visit him in his Lapland home (I hope the big man doesn’t mind the forgery). With input from a number of people at work the final plan was realised: the letter was printed on heavy paper, rolled into a scroll and secured with the red ribbon and bell from a Lindt chocolate reindeer then left (along with the chocolate reindeer sans ribbon) in the fire place with snowy footprints leading them to the prize.

They awoke on Saturday morning none the wiser of what lay in store for them over the next week. As they entered the lounge they noticed the scrolls. Lucinda and I ramped up the excitement (I think we were more excited that the Baguettes) and made them sit on the sofa with the scrolls on their laps. Then we allowed them to open them and Éowyn read it aloud to the others.

Every year I choose a number of very special children to come and visit me in Lapland before I get too busy sorting all the presents for the boys and girls.

This year I would like you to join me at my workshop and have fun in the snow with my elves and reindeer.

Please bring some grown-ups.

Love Santa

I honestly think that they didn’t quite understand what was being offered here. There was no scream of excitement but a slow build up of what lay in store. However, there wasn’t much time for it to sink in as Amélie had a swimming lesson, Éowyn’s best friend was having a birthday party and then Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz were coming down and then it was off to the aforementioned pantomime in the afternoon. Just enough time for them to pack some toys and try and get some sleep.

We had to be at the airport for 0400 the next morning so we got up at 0230 to get ourselves and the Baguettes ready before heading around the M25 (and M23) for Gatwick airport. Valet parking was worth every penny as we dropped our cars off with the attendants outside the terminal. It was then we realised how popular this trip was. The queue to check in was huge, but thankfully moved quite quickly. It was going to be a full flight. So after a spot of breakfast we headed to the gate and begun our trip.

The fun started on the plane with one of Santa’s elves onboard who encourage the children to fill in the entertainment packs that they had. They also had to draw a picture and write down a joke. There was a Christmas sing-along of the old favourites: Frosty the Snowman, We wish you a Merry Christmas Jingle Bells, etc. So we were in a Christmassy mood when we landed on a snowy Rovaniemi runway.

When we landed the temperature was a chilly -17°C and there were light flurries of snow. Perfect! We walked across the apron to the terminal building to pass through customers and collect our luggage. The baggage carousel was adorned with Christmas scenes and as we waited for our luggage to arrive Santa had sent more Elves to meet us and guide us to the Christmas-related named coaches. Ours was Candy Cane and our Bus Elf was Nutcracker.

Once everyone was aboard we were given a précis of what to expect over the next few days and what was going to happen on our journey to our hotels. The first stop was to collect our warm winter clothing. Clothing elves would be able to guess our sizes from looking at us and they would give us woolly hats, scarves, socks, gloves, snow boots and the all important winter suit. So fully equipped we climbed back onboard the coach and were dropped off at our hotels.

Rovaniemi, we were informed is the largest city in Europe, it covers an area of over 8000 km² but only has a population of 62,000 so although we were driving through the city one never felt like we were driving through a densely populated urban area. Our hotel was last on the list (and thus would be the first one the list for the pick ups) and as we were dropped off we were told our pick up in the morning would be at 0900 and we had the afternoon to ourselves.

We carried our luggage out of the cold and snow into the reception and were disappointed to find that we couldn’t check in. After travelling for nigh on 12 hours and after 5 hours sleep we were knackered. We also had missed the talk by our Thompson rep so we bought some snacks and hot berry juice and warmed ourselves by the log fire. There was plenty of literature on Rovaniemi and the surrounding areas and a copy of Icebreaker, the 1983 James Bond novel written by John Gardner. On the cover was a note saying to turn to page 14. The well thumbed copy fell open at page 14 and the passage where James Bond is staying at hotel in Rovaniemi: the very hotel that we were standing in. So we were in illustrious, albeit fictitious, company.

The talk by the Thompson rep was a little disappointing. Nothing wrong with him per se but the talk gave us no more information that Nutcracker had given us on the coach ride over and seemed to be geared to selling afternoon safaris. Our trip was packed with events on the mornings (and the gala dinner on the last night) but afternoons were free time and thus was an opportunity to sell some more adventures, something that we were not interested in. So a little disappointed we left the talk, collected our key and made our way through the snow to our log cabin. It took a number of trips to get all the luggage there but the cabin was excellent. Two double bedrooms for the adults and a mezzanine level with three beds for the Baguettes. It had a fully equipped kitchen, a lounge with TV, a wet room with Sauna and clothes dryer and in the lounge the all important log fire. I could have moved in permanently!

As we were going to be in the log cabin for the next few days and it was self-catering we needed to procure some food. So we headed back to the hotel, bumped into our Thompson rep to get the low-down on the town and whether there would be a supermarket open on a Sunday evening. Lordi Square (after that Lordi!) was the centre of the shopping district and just North of there was a 24hr Supermarket over the road from, what was until 2013, the Northernmost McDonald’s. We ordered a taxi and headed into town. Knowing that the Baguettes would eat McDonald’s we decided that it would be the easy option and ordered our meals. Éowyn was disappointed saying it was the worst McDonald’s in the world because it didn’t have fish fingers, fillet-o-fish or milkshakes; first world problems!

After we filled our bellies we crossed the road and checked out our first Finnish supermarket. We filled our baskets with breakfast items and sandwich ingredients with a plan to get at least one warm meal out over the next few days. We headed back to what was going to be our home for the next few days with our bounty. Stepping back into the warmth of the lodge we realised how tired we were and it wasn’t long before we all turned in, knowing that we had to be up early (although not that early) for the first of our adventures.

You will have to wait for part two for those adventures but in the meantime please enjoy the photos below and the 650+ that are sitting on the Flickr pages.

Peace and Love

Baggie