Ho ho ho!!! We met Santa in his home. Well that is the biggest reason to travel this far north to Roveniami, Lapland. Actually, it has turned out to be the only reason. In both a good and bad way.

May is the quietest month here and it is almost like being in a deserted ghost town. The village is empty. It does mean no queuing, but it also means several of the main attractions are closed.

I knew this was a tourist attraction, but it feels like we have booked to spend 2 days in a massive souvenir shop with nothing else to do but eat and buy souvenirs.

The stay started well arriving last night and checking in. The restaurant was open till late so we were able to get dinner. The taxi driving here was very friendly and spoke good English like everyone else. We have a great cabin in the far end of the village away from the couple of other families here. So we dumped our bags and went for a walk around the village to enjoy the fact that the sun does not set until midnight.

The village was empty, we were the only people walking around and it was 17 degrees. The only snow is the remaining piles from the road clearing a few weeks ago. But we got a photo in the "snow". On the way back to our cabin we had a rare experience. We spotted an Arctic Hare and followed it around the village. Could not get close enough for a decent photo as I only had my telephone on me and not a real camera. But we saw it and it was an experience.

We stayed up till after midnight to photograph the midnight sunset.

Today we went to the village for the day. Breakfast was waffles cooked fresh ourselves though the first attempt was almost a disaster as we waited for the "green light" to say it was ready, but the light was broken. Luckily another guest who must have overheard Chris and I talking pointed out that the light was broken and our waffle was probably ready......it was black. Second and third waffles were a success and very yummy with honey and banana.

So after breakfast it was time for the full Christmas experience. Into the Christmas shop for some souvenirs then off to the post office for letters from the Arctic Circle. We also culled a lot from our bags now that the weather is warmer and the souvenirs from the first half of the trip are getting heavy. Sent a 9kg box home to Australia with heaps of different stamps. The Post Elf took great care to put as many different stamps on the box as possible.

From the post office we went to the Santa House for coffee and all you can eat cake. Another great experience. Then into Santa's grotto to meet Santa. This was also a surprising well done attraction. This is however where the adventure here ended. The husky farm and reindeer farm are both closed, the snowmobile rides and museum are closed, half the other bars and restaurants are closed. There really is nothing else to do apart from shopping and all the souvenir shops are essentially selling the same things.

2 days up here is too many. Even the aurora can not be seen because the night does not get dark enough. There are some very expensive personal tours to the reindeer summer farm at around $200 each, but that kind of pushes our budget.

But there is a glimmer of hope for tomorrow. Apparently the tourist office in town and the library have public computers. Maybe I will finally be able to put my camera photos on the blog. Spend tomorrow blogging waiting for our overnight train back to Helsinki.

It has not been disappointing coming here all the Santa Christmas stuff has been great, but the guide books, including the village website did not clearly point out just how quiet this town is in summer.

Written by Rod