Happy Holidays, from Cyn & Char

Like many of you, I'm still in shock that it is already December and in a few weeks we'll be ringing in 2012 (I was still getting in the habit of writing the date as "2011"). As always, I fail to start my Christmas shopping on time, making me feel more like the Christmas Grinch and less like Santa's little helper. But reminiscing about the "Global Christmas Spirit" has helped put the warm fuzzy feeling back into my bones. Below, Cyn & I have mapped out a few of our favorite places to visit to find Holiday Cheer (just in case you temporarily misplaced yours).

Harrods, London
Harrod's holiday line makes a great keepsake tins filled with Christmas edibles. The assortment of Christmas Pudding is one of the more popular seasonal buys. But Harrods isn't just known for being the "Ultra Store." The monumental London-based store is a great scenic attraction for Holiday lights and window decorations.

Mark & Spencer, Oxford Street, London.
You can get all your shopping done in this one-stop shop. Our favorite? Walker Scottish shortbread cookies and M&S butter mints give a twist to gingerbread cookies and candycanes. (www.markandspencer.com)

Carnaby Street, London- An avenue of posh boutiques, alleyway of award-winning eateries, and vivid holiday lights! Carnaby's 12 streets are known as one of London's most popular districts.

 

Christmas Markets, Munich - From Nov 25th - Dec 24th, it will seem like every town square in Munich will have booths with holiday exhibits up. Everything from laughing Santa's, busy elves, and talking reindeers will keep visitors staring in. In others, you'll be able to smell roasted nuts and bratwurst firing up on the grill. Maybe you'll be able to score on some authentic "international" Christmas gifts/souvenirs ornaments to bring home. Ditch the hot cocoa and opt for a glass of Glüwine (warm red wine with spices) in a glass boot keepsake and you'll definitely feel all warm and fuzzy (and a bit tipsy). Go ahead and spread the Glüwine and all that newfound holiday friendliness with strangers. check the website for Christmas Market news and special events.

Lapland, Finland
Visiting Santa's village gave us the ultimate Christmas spirit even though we visited well into March. You can write a letter and stamp it at Santa's official post office, then go "dashing through the snow" on a reindeer sleigh ride before you end the day by meeting Santa at his toy shop. If this doesn't bring out your holiday spirit, you're screwed.

Christmas, "Island Style" 
Who said the holidays had to be all roasted chestnuts and egg nog?  Embrace something different than the snow storms and wintercoats and experience winter life in the tropics. Trinidad and Tobago holds Parang festivals in eastern towns like Arima, where bands sing traditional holiday songs in Spanish Creole. The Christmas Boat Parade in Bermuda cruises through Hamilton Harbor and the beautiful Parol lanterns in the Philippines both bring out the best lighting displays with a taste of culture.

But like many of us, the Holidays is a time that we spend close to loved ones, so we've outlined a few of our favorite local spots to find that warm Christmas spirit.

Christmas in the Park, San Jose, CA - local schools get creative and decorate trees with anything from recycled CD's to popcorn garlands in the Holiday Tree Gallery. Enjoy some cotton candy and a cup of cocoa sold on the corner stand while you sift through the exhibits and "fake snow" machine. The venue also provides an ice rink and carnival rides for the kid at heart. Check for special events at www.christmasinthepark.com

Global Winter Wonderland - Santa Clara, CA -  a fusion of Christmas lights and Disneyland's "It's a Small World" exhibit makes up Santa Clara's Global Winter Wonderland located in California's Great America themepark parking lot. From Nov 25th - January 2, visitors can enjoy a taste of lights from around the world and some fun activities and entertainment. Event Hours: Sun-Thurs 4pm-10pm, Fri-Sat 4pm-11pm. Address: 4701 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, CA 95054 (www.globalwonderland.org/2011/)

Festival of Lights - Riverside, CA - From November 25th to January 7th, visit the 19th Annual Festival of Lights located at the Mission Inn Hotel and Spa. The fun includes a spectacular light display, a skating rink, carriage rides, carolers, food, and more. Address: 3649 Mission Inn Avenue Riverside, CA 92501. www.missioninn.com/festival-of-lights/index.cfm

Macy's Downtown San Francisco - and it's iconic window wreath displays. Its the perfect backdrop for a holiday picture and the last minute Holiday shopping you need to finish.

 

Union Square San Francisco - Lures visitors and holiday shoppers in with it's eloquently decorated 80ft Christmas tree covered with 21,000 lights. Sit and enjoy the view from one of the park benches or grab yourself some cocoa before lining up for some ice skating fun.

For those of you that have kept the Holiday spirit alive, I commend you. This time of year, we get a chance to reflect on the past year's endeavors, hardships, achievements, friendship and family ties. It is also the time where we should spread our gratitude and give back to others. If your spirit is temporarily lost, you may be able to find it by giving back. You can help spread the Holiday Cheer by giving back to these local charities or maybe just to someone you know that is having a hard time this season.

Coats for Kids
A Virginia based organization that provides coats for children in need during the winter season. Check website for local coat drives in your area.

Toys for Tots
Give a child a chance to experience joy this Holiday season donating new unopened toys to various drop-off locations in your area. Locations may include participating stores such as Toys R. US and even your local fire department. Check the website for participating vendors.

SPCA
Don't forget that animals need some lovin' too. If you are local to the San Francisco Bay Area, peep out the Macy's SPCA Holiday Windows that feature exhibits of adoptable furry little creatures. The displays will be up Nov 18, 2011 - January 1, 2012. If you can't take your eyes off the puppy pressing his nose against the window, you can adopt him on the spot at the outpost right inside Macy's. If you love animals but not ready to adopt, you can choose from various ways to give back to the animal shelter from  monetary donations, pet food, medication, pillows, or even volunteering your time.

We wish you Happy Holidays and a prosperous travel adventures for the New Year!

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!