A VISIT TO SANTA IN MARCH?! WHY NOT?! -Adventures of Lapland, Finland PART DEUCE

I arrived to Lapland the following evening after Cyn does, due to work-scheduling conflicts. Fortunately, I was able to catch a redeye flight to my connection airport (Washington DC) right after work. I get to Finland late Saturday evening, giving me a total of 29 hours of adventure time. So as usual, it was crunch time.

Our tour guide, Kati picked us up from our hotel around 10am and brought us to Santa's Village for Adventure #1: Snowmobiling through the Arctic. We stop by the office to gear up and off we went.

We ride our snowmobiles to the farm for Adventure #2: A Reindeer Ride. We are greeted by Locket, a 12yr old reindeer from Lapland (reindeer years are like dog years) Not sure where he fits in sequence with Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, etc. But we'll just call him Santa's unspoken reindeer after Rudolph). Locket takes us for a spin in the sleigh, making a few pitstops mid-route sniffing around for snacks. Then off we go to the host-family's home for some reindeer school.

Funfact: Reindeers have the third thickest fur after the Tibetan yak and the polar bear, and shed a few layers during the summer to adapt to the warmer temperatures... We enjoy these little reindeer tales, share a few stories over tea and cookies, and graduate from reindeer-school with our very own "Reindeer Drivers License (yes, really)...and they're good for 3 years! I know what I'm pulling out the next time I get pulled over!

And then we're off to Adventure # 3!

Dog sledding has been on our bucketlist for a while now (then again, EVERYTHING is on our obnoxiously-long bucketlists), and we were able to cross this one off on our Arctic Adventure along with many other activities. Lapland has some of the cutest Siberian Huskies, making our hearts melt. Our team consisted of 7 dogs with the two strongest and oldest leaders in the front. Siberian Huskies surprisingly know the value of teamwork. At one point I see one of the dogs attack its sibling is if it were telling the other to quit slacking and run faster.

After our dog-sledding adventure, we're off exploring town in Santa's Village. Here, we visit Santa's official post office where you can have your letters stamped by Santa's official postal service. You can also sit down and write postcards, draft your wishlist for next Christmas, or send a letter home to your friends bragging about how you met Santa. Totally fun. The post office visit is followed by more child activities because of course, we're never too old for snow-sliding.

As usual, Cyn finds something to climb and I find somewhere to run around.

Finally, the moment we've been waiting for, we visit Santa! After a short tour around Santa's toy shop, we're able to sit down for a little chat and picture taking. We recited every catch phrase we could think of from the movie "Elf" starring Will Farrell, which Santa apparently hasn't seen since he seemed pretty confused when we ask him questions like "If you're the real Santa, what song did I sing to you for your birthday last year?" We got a good laugh from it. And now we can say "SANTAAAAA, I know him!!!" now and really mean it. (If you haven't seen that movie, the last couple sentences wouldn't have made sense, so we apologize in advance to those who think we're crazy). And FYI, yes his beard is real!

After our Safari adventure we took a cab to the Sky Hotel Ounasvaara to try to get a glimpse of the Aurora Borealis (The Northern Lights). We were told that their roof deck was one of the 2 best places in the city to catch the lights (the other being by the Arktikum museum). We were warned that they don't come out every night, and we would have a better chance to see them on a clear night with no snow. Lucky us! We timed it perfectly, they first showed up one or 2 strands at a time and then disappear within minutes, that night they came back every 10 minutes or so, and then all of a sudden at around 9:30pm, right when we were ready to call it a night, directly above us multiple streaks of greens and yellows began to appear, everyone on the deck went on a frenzy of "oooooo's and ahhhhhh's" while trying to capture the lights on their cameras. Witnessing the Lights definitely completed our trip.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

EXPLORING A SNOW CASTLE IN LAPLAND ADVENTURES IN LAPLAND- Finland PART 1

Last weekend we took a 4-plane, 16-hour flight time (each way) journey from San Francisco to Rovaniemi, making stops in Washington DC, Frankfurt, Germany, Helsinki, and our final destination: "the world capital of Christmas," Rovaniemi, in Lapland, Finland. Lapland embodies a winter wonderland and we were lucky enough to catch it on a perfect weekend: sunny, with fresh snow, white everywhere, with manageable weather, and just all around beautiful. This was the farthest, and most expensive weekend trip we've taken so far, but it was also one if not the BEST short trips! Since we did so much in the mere two days we were there, we are dividing this destination up into a 2-part blog. Part 1: Exploring the Lumi Linna SnowCastle of Kemi. Stay tuned for Part 2: Our Arctic Safari: snowmobiles, reindeers and husky rides around the Arctic Circle, a long overdue visit to Santa, and witnessing the Northern Lights.

After our long trip, we finally arrive in Rovaniemi, the heart and capital of Lapland, located at the northern Arctic Circle and immediately fell in love with the Christmas-like atmosphere. Rovaniemi's small airport is also known as "Father Christmas's airport," and it's decorated like we were there for the holidays rather than mid-March.

Rovaniemi is a modern town situated in the middle of nature, and offers a variety of attractions and activities in and just outside the town. We took the airport shuttle (7 Euros one way) to our hotel, which was right outside the city center. The Guesthouse Borealis, is a quaint B&B style hotel that's conveniently only 15 minutes walking distance to the center and about 7 minutes walking from the major train and bus stations. The hotel was reasonably priced to meet our budget adventures. 3 Likes: The staff was very accommodating, rooms were clean, and there free WI-FI (whoo hoo!). The only downside was there was no sauna, which is a staple facility in the arctic regions. Apparently in Finland, it is customary run outside naked in freezing temperatures and roll around in the snow and then come back in for a sauna session to rejuvenate the skin.... So, maybe it was a good thing our hotel didn't have a sauna...just sayin.

The following morning we headed to Kemi City, located in Sea Lapland and is the only deep-water harbor in Lapland. The town is packed with different activities for any kind of visitor. Unfortunately we only had enough time to explore the Lumi Linna SnowCastle, which is accessible by train from Rovaniemi (approximately an hour and 20 minutes away and cost us about 36 Euros roundtrip). It's built every winter (this season's building began December 3) and is usually open from late January to early April (weather permitting). After you pass the main gates of a skull snow sculpture with its mouth wide open (used as the opening to the castle) and ice fangs, it will cost you 8 Euros to get into the castle's courtyard. The SnowCastle also includes a SnowChapel, SnowHotel, and SnowRestaurant. You can order snacks and warm and cold beverages at the IceBar, but if you want a meal, you have to make reservations in advance. The tables are made of ice (with a clear plastic sheet on top of it to put your food on), and the stools are covered with reindeer fur. Each year the SnowCastle has a different theme, and delivered this years theme was comics. Exploring the castle was an afternoon well spent, we ran around taking pictures next life sized ice sculptures of Batman, Spiderman, the Hulk and the likes, crawling into ice igloos, exploring the SnowHotel's rooms, and sipping some hot berry juice at the ice bar. The castle had great light-effects that add to the charm of the place, and is definitely worth a visit while in Lapland.

We spent our second full day on an Arctic Safari and searching for the Northern Lights, which you'll have to wait until Part 2 of our Finland blog, coming soon!

I'VE NEVER MET A PIECE OF CHOCOLATE I DIDN'T LIKE...

Waffles, Frites, Chocolate, Beer, Chocolate Beer...do you really need more reasons to go to Belgium?!?

We started off our weekend trip to Belgium in Brussels, their capital and also the center of the European Union. Brussels' culture is a mix of French and Flemish, and lets off a sophisticated atmosphere. Which is why I was surprised that one of they're main landmark (and kinda like the city's mascot) is a small statue of a naked boy peeing, called "Manneken Pis." But I do love a city with a good sense of humor. The famous Manneken Pis is the emblem of the rebellious spirit of Brussels. What amazes me is how this inatimate object has more outfits than some third world countries have. His wardrobe consists of more than 800 suits and counting. Pretty steep number if you ask me, especially considering that he only gets dressed up 36 times during the year (on fixed dates).

Brussels is a beautiful city, but say you only have limited time, like we did, about a day and a half to be more accurate...so here's a list of the city's other top attractions that you should definitely visit:
1. Grand place and guild houses (blogger side note: this is one of the nicest squares I have ever been too)
2. Manneken Pis
3. Atomium
4. Cathedrale St Michel
5. Palais Royal
6. Galleries Royales-St Hubert
7. Palais de Justice

Now, a trip to Belgium, even a short one isn't complete without at least a day trip to Bruges, which happens to be Belgium's most popular destination. This medieval city is a fairly easy train ride from Brussels. Bruges is well known for the high quality fabrics that they produce, in particular, lace. Theres even a big lace map of the city for tourists to try and use to navigate through the streets of white almshouses and canals of Bruges. One interesting site I wanted to note is the Chapel of the Holy Blood, displays an ampul reputed to contain the blood of Christ. Our group is Roman Catholic and if we can make any trip at least a partial pilgrimage, it's always a plus.

Now, to get to the good stuff...and the main topic for this blog...the FOOD!
Our diet in Belgium literally consisted only of four things: waffles, fries, chocolate, and beer. But no complaints here!

Chocolate is the food for champions (at least that's what I think because I love cohoclate)! But the Belgians take it one step further, it's a culinary tradition for the country. They see chocolate making as an art, so its no wonder that the master chocolatiers of Belgium chocolate powerhouses are so internationally well know, for example: Godiva, Neuhaus and Cote d'Or are some of the leading fine chocolate brands in the world. Belgium produces 172,000 tons of chocolate per year, and Brussels is lined with chocolate shops. So you can't help but go in at least a few of them, and the best part of the experience are the free tasters that each shops give! But my personal and my family's favorite is Leonida's chocolate (and not just because it's my mom's name so would automatically have to buy some) but their dark chocolate and chocolate wafers are deeeeelice!!!

The one food I love (almost as much as chocolate) are fries...and Belgium does not disappoint. Frites as they call them are sold everywhere, we bought ours from frites trucks on the streets. They serve them to you in a paper cone with your choice of sauce, like mayonnaise, pickle sauce, sauce pommes frites and cold mussels in vinegar, there's alot to choose from. My favorite was the Andalouse sauce (mayonnaise mixed with tomato puree and garnished with julienned red sweet pepper), it really hits the spot!

Belgian waffles are big, and they're covered in powdered sugar, topped with a mountain of whipped cream and fruit combination of your choice, fudge or caramel, or even ice cream if you please. There are a number of different types of waffles here, including the Brussels waffle the Liege waffle and the stropewafel. You can't go to Beligum and not have one, or two, or in our case, substituting them as our actual meals.

I'm not a big beer drinker but..."when in Belgium"... plus, any place that serves a chocolate beer is alright with me. Now you're probably wondering does chocolate beer really taste like chocolate?! And the answer is yes! The best way for me to describe it is that it tastes like a liquid tootsie roll with a kick, but better. My favorite Belgian beer/ favorite beer in general is Lindeman's Framboise; a lambic beer mixed with raspberries that I can probably drink all day. I'm sure I would if I lived here (since its a little pricey in the States, about $9-11 and bottle). Belgium is a country well known for it's overall quality beer, Belgium beer varies from the popular pale lager to lambic beer and Flemish Red. There are about 125 breweries in the country, and produce about 800 standard beers, when special one-off beers are included, the total number of Belgian beers is approximately 8,700!

Is there really anything wrong with having waffles for breakfast, lunch and dinner? With frites as desserts? While washing it down with beer? And munching on chocolates the rest of the time? I DONT THINK SO. That's why this is a trip well spent. So what if I gained 5 lbs at the very least that weekend, at least we got to experience a sort of chocolate nirvana.