Santa Park

Not only did we visit the North Pole and visit Santa at his village, we also went to his Park.  Located just outside of where he lives in Rovaniemi, Finland, the Park was built in 1997 and has steadily grown in size magicality since.  Located over 50m underground, and bathed in darkness, the park boasts over 12,000 sq meters of holiday spirit year round.  And it is the only place on earth where you can stand under the Arctic Circle.  Were we excited, you bet.

We arrived before sunrise.  Which sounds like a bigger feat than it was, being as the sun didn't rise until well after 11 am.  I snapped one quick picture before the girls tore off down the long tunnels into the park.

And this was the lightest it was all day in this place.  You would think that if it was always so dark outside in the winter they might buy a happy light and make it warm and sunny inside, but this is not the case.  We missed daylight while inside this day.  All one hour of it.

Not only are they standing under the Arctic Circle, they are playing in the snow that comes our of it every minute or so.  It was hard to make them leave this spot.

But we moved on.  To the ice cave.  Where there was an ice princess. And an ice slide. And an ice sleigh. And an ice bar. (which was super expensive because you are a captive audience at the North Pole and it was only 10 am so we skipped the experience).

 

We still had a few minutes before elf school started, so we tried out the Elf Yourself app on the tv screens right next door.  We make cute elves, right??? Right???

We attended elf school - 

And got our elf hats and diplomas...
And went off to make elfs/snowmen out of wood chips and craft materials.
When we were done they even put them up on the wall...

Then it was off to write a letter to put in the Drum of Dreams.  Legend has it that if you put your letter in, pull the handle and beat the drum three times, you will have all of your wishes come true.  It couldn't hurt so we all sat down and wrote out our hearts desires.  Some were easier to read than others because calligraphy pens and pots of ink are hard for small hands to work with.

Finally, we needed a break.  And some lunch.  Good think they have Angry Birds playground inside the Park.  The big people sat for a bit, while the little ones jumped and slid and slingshotted to their hearts content.  (Why Angry Birds?  Because it is Finnish)

We rode the train through the seasons of Finland 4 times in a row...before we went to stand in line to sit on Santas lap.  Again, no pictures.  And I just can't bring myself to pay 37€ for one.

We headed to the post office to send some letters...

And then called it a day.  All of this fun is tiring.  And we still had a tour of the Northern Lights tonight before catching a 5:30 am flight back to Prague.