On our way to Santa

Travelled : 334km to Santa's village Rovaniemi
Stay: free parking N66.5443 E25.8520

After chatting to our motorhome Swiss neighbours this morning we drove along the E63 highway. As we reached the 30km mark we saw 'The Silent People', a 1,000 scarecrow figures in a field that was originally created for a photo shoot but remained as a tourist site.

We continued towards Kuusamo and 33km from the town we stopped to visit the rescued bears at Kuusamon Suurpetokeskus @ €10 each, along with the foxes, Lynxes, wolverines and reindeers. The visit was short and sweet but we hope the money will go to a good use.

In kuusamo we stopped for lunch and a bit of shopping before heading off on route 81 to Rovaniemi.
Along the way we drove through snow falls as the temperature dropped to 2°c. 

We also saw reindeers on the side of the road. 

We decided to break up the journey with a stop at a log cabin cafe just off the road at Auttikongas. If it wasn't still snowing we would have gone on the 3.5km walk. However we did see the log run down into the gorge and the log cabins that one of housed a small museum that described the logging process here back in the day.

A simple rio bar stair case but effective

Nice wooden handle.

Then it was on to the official Santa's Village in Rovaniemi.  We arrived after it was closed and we're surprised with the number of french campers in the parking area. They are a group of 21 vans travelling to Nordkapp.  We had a walk around before returning to Bluey for dinner and putting on the heater to have a cozy night indoors.

Straddled the arctic circle line.

Reindeer handles.

Checking out the building practices 

Hohoho Santa

Oh no Mark is checking out the lights! 

You can stay in a cabin if you prefer 

Or a teepee