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12 hours on a train would seem boring, and I'm sure some places in the world it would be. But for Chris and I it has been a really enjoyable trip going north.
We are traveling to Roveniami in Lapland, Finland. We caught the train at 10am in Helsinki. The trains here in Scandinavia has been brilliant. Really good service and clean and comfortable. We have 2nd class tickets and they have been nicer than anything I have been on in Australia.
The first part of the trip was making our way out of southern Finland. Rural towns that fringe the area around Helsinki. Several stops in the first few hours without making a lot of progress. But after we started up the coast the towns became less frequent and the lakes more common.
Rural Finland is a land of lakes and birch forests. It has been great just watching the countryside roll by. Seeing stations that are on Darryl's board game has been fun.
As we look out the windows we have slowly seen the seasons change. Helsinki was spring, warm and Sunny with bulbs opening in every garden bed and the trees getting their new leaves. Now, 2 hours from Roveniami we are seeing the remaining piles of snow that were pushed off driveways and roads around the town. The trees still have no leaves and there are no flowers. It is still late winter in the north. The Arctic Circle has been a bucket list place for Chris and I. The Santa village we are staying in is a novelty, but the reindeer farm and polar beers are not. This is Lapland. A different culture from the rest of Scandinavia.
As the train continues north I am becoming more and more excited about the experience we are going to have. We have accommodation in a cabin in the forest behind Santa village. A red timber cabin with white painted window and door frames and a private sauna. Roveniemi's main income is the Santa legend. But it is the history and detail of the story that appeals to me, even if Chris does want a happy snap with Santa.
We have an hour and a half left on the train and I am going to gaze out the windows and watch the north approach.
Write again in the Arctic, we know who's nasty or nice, cause Santa Claus is coming to town.
Written by Rod
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