Santa’s Village and Ice Hotel

Grrrrr. Another bad night’s sleep but that’s life. As we were getting ready this morning, SB announces, “ I’m going to have my shower now, Catherine”. When I asked her who she was calling Catherine, she said, “ You! Aren’t you Catherine Zeta Jones’ body double?” Well silly me. Ofcourse she mistook me for Catherine as I was dressed in my black thermal long johns and skivvy, just like CZJ in the movie ‘Entrapment’.
Off to breakfast and a late checkout, which gave SB and Foggy time to re’enact their scene from Titanic, which they originally attempted in Belfast.

We then head off on our way to Santa’s Village. SB is like an excited puppy! Mind you, I thought it was simply fabulous too. When we gfirst got their, Kelli decided we all needed a traditional drink, so we all had a shit of a mint vodka! Beautiful, but I think it has potential as a paint stripper.

We then all follow her to the end of the village where we have to book an optional tour to a reindeer farm in a couple of nights. There is a skidoo museum at the booking office so I have a quick wander through there. We have a snow mobile tour booked in a couple of days, so I’m already wondering what my chances of falling off that might be!

SB and I are then left to our own devices so have a great time checking out everything, however as it transpired, 3 hours wasn’t nearly long enough.

We hit the shops and SB simply went berserk. First stop was the Santa’s candy store. Not sure how much of our purchases will finally get to the intended recipients as we might need to taste test them beforehand! Next stop, the souvenir shops and there was no stopping SB. I found a Santa reindeer that had a note on its paw that said ‘push here’ so I did, and suddenly I have a singing reindeer jiving in my hands, giving a loud and very jolly version of Jingle Bell Rock. So, with that SB and I started dancing to the music and there was the potential for our very own flash mob as everyone else in the little shop stopped dead in their Tracks! SB decided then and there that she simply had to buy him. Similar excitement over all future purchases of which there were quite a few, ensued. We went into Santa’s office with the hope of meeting Santa personally but as we were running short on time, had to give it a miss as the queue was way too long. Similar thing in the post office where I was planning on sending some postcards to those whose addresses I knew, but way too many Japanese ahead of me in the line, so some of you have missed out on a card from Santa’s home in the Arctic Circle.
Way too soon, and it’s time to board the coach. Next stop is ata local shopping centre so that we can get a late lunch as it is already past 3 pm. I had a Subway roll and figured I was doing quire well with the order in Finnish when the lass behind the counter handed me a laminated menu in English to use as my attempt at asking for the 9 seed 6 inch roll wasn’t producing the desired outcome. Time for a wander through the store which was similar to Costco and a few more minor purchases. Then back on th3 coach on our way to our home for the night in an ice igloo!

Apologies that the photos are out of order but they download at different speed and then randomly attach themselves to the blog. Once in oursssigned igloos, we are in 28 and Captn D and Foggy are next door in 29. We have welcomedrinks planned in our cabin, so the occupants of 29 join us and we have a celebratory drink to our fabulous holiday. At some stage SB has lost one of the igloo provided scuff slippers, so Foggy assists her with finding it. Now not only do we have these two bum ties performing Titsnic at every opportunity, we now have a scene from a Cinderella to endure.
Then it’s time for dinner in the main dining room and it was the best 3 course meal I’ve had to date. Rich tomato soup with crusty baguette, chicken with wild rice and ratatouille, plus chocolate whiskey mud cake with ice cream. I gave SB my ice cream and she gave me her mud cake!
After dinner we went into the actual ice hotel which is made entirely of ice. Amazing!

Every piece of furniture is made of ice. You can book a room for overnight stays.there are no doors, only a curtain you pull across the entrance to the room. We were able to checkout everywhere inside as long as there wasn’t a close curtain. The rooms were really large and all different themes. Not sure my camera was able to pick out all the detail. We spoke to some women at dinner who had stayed in the rooms and they said it was freezing, even though they were in arctic condition sleeping bags and wrapped up like mummies. SB wants to stay there but no way would I even contemplate it.

Time to head back through the snow to our little igloo. We are hopeful of a call through the night that the Northern Lights willappear, but it is a slim chance due to the light snow already falling. What a great day we’ve had with unforgettable experiences.