Reindeer Express in Magical Realism

The bus to Kakslauttanen was super smooth and uneventful. Slept a little on the bus and before we knew it we were at the resort! Luckily the reception was not far from where the bus stopped, we headed in and got checked in. After check in we put our luggage on sleds and took a nice walk to our GLASS IGLOO! I saw a photo of these igloos on some list of the most unique hotels in the world and mentally bookmarked as a gift for A, he had not seen the northern lights yet so I hoped this would be a good time/place to see them.

The igloos were warm and cozy, there was a little bathroom with sink and toilet only right in the igloo, and a really nice cabin with steam shower, finnish sauna and cedar lined showers down the road. We would take turns pushing each other to/from the main restaurant on the luggage sleds and park them at night in front of the igloos.

At the resort, we got into a really nice routine. Each morning the sun came up very early (A claims around 4am but to me it seemed later than that, but I did wake up around 6am Finnish time naturally which is unheard of for me, so maybe!) We'd get washed up and head over to breakfast. The main restaurant was a big rustic cabin style place, with a top level with a sunroom/reception/giftshop, the next level down was where they'd do the breakfast buffet, then below that were the main dining room and then to the side/downstairs from that was the bar/lounge.

For breakfast there was coffee/juices, meats and salted salmon, fruit, different breads, cereals, and eggs. I ate mostly eggs and fruit and coffee and A did a lot of toast/cereal. It wasn't as luxe as the breakfast buffet in Rovaniemi, but it was always nice to start the day and since breakfasts/dinners were mandatory and included in the igloo costs, made sense to take advantage of. After breakfast we'd have coffee and check emails, then we'd head back, take long walks around, or just drink wine and watch the sunset from the igloo.

It was so nice. We usually sauna/showered in the late afternoon which was also nice and leisurely...then headed out to dinner. The dinner seatings were at 6pm and 8pm and for the first few nights we did 6pm because 8pm seemed unfathomably late! (Again, totally out of the norm for us, usually we like the Spanish style superlate dinners.) Food was good, not amazing but it was a nice ritual and end to the day. They did three courses each night, stuff like reindeer and cod with soup/salad and a dessert each night. (I didn't do the reindeer myself but A said it was good.) Everything was served with South African wines, which were very nice.

After dinner we'd usually head down to the bar/lounge and have a glass of wine or cocktail to end the night. The main bartender liked making random cocktails so one night I had a cosmopolitan and another night a grasshopper - gotta love it! They had a drink on the menu called reindeer piss which I think had whisky and boullion broth in it - neither of us dared to try that one. (I just googled "reindeer piss" to check my memory and instead found that apparently people have been known to feed reindeer psychedelic mushrooms, then drink their concentrated urine to share the effects? Wow.)

We took a reindeer safari in Saariselka one day, I couldn't leave without seeing reindeer and it was really fun to feed them reindeer moss. We got to wear these crazy eighties looking expedition suits over our other outerwear, it was super funny.

A feeding reindeer!

Me feeding reindeer!

After the reindeer safari we had a "traditional" Sami meal of reindeer or salmon soup (I had the salmon, it was really nice) and pancakes with cloudberry jam. Yum. Headed home after that, then showered and hit the "late" 8pm dinner. That night after dinner we were the only ones in the bar until a large group of men from a nearby convention came in. They had been doing some networking thing in the smoke sauna and then came to the bar. I like this way of doing business! A chatted with some of them and I was antisocial...it was the latest we stayed out but still only 10:30/11pm. I was on such a great sleep schedule.

There was an area by the frozen lake next to the pier where two holes had been cut into the ice, complete with a covering to keep them from freezing over. You could open the tops and release a ladder for a dip in the cool water. A didn't get a chance to swim in the frozen river pool, so we decided to take a dip in these holes. We walked down from the igloo and put our clothes in the sauna, then came out in swimsuits with hats/towels and flip-flops. We took some photos, including one of A lounging on the snowy dock like it was a warm beach...so funny. I'll keep that one private but here's one of us just before going in:

We took off hats/shoes, counted to three, then climbed down the icy ladder and dunked our heads. It wasn't super cold (at least compared to the river ice pool) but the water was super shallow, I actually hit the bottom with my feet without meaning to. We jumped out, got sandals on and dried off a bit. Outside the sauna I jumped into a snowbank and made a snow angel - so funny. Rinsed off in lukewarm water, then turned the dial hotter before going into the sauna since it's not good to go directly from cold to hot. Got back to the igloo and had a celebratory shot of Finlandia vodka, served in an ice shot glass!

We had one more night in the resort, and FINALLY saw the Northern Lights. They were not super vivid or colorful, but it was good to finally see them. (I still want to see the crazy neon green ones you always see in photos.) The next day we had breakfast and headed back to Helsinki for one more night in Finland before we headed back.

We took the airport bus again (so convenient!) and checked into our hotel. Had a bite to eat (bread and cheese from Stockmann!) and relaxed a bit. Got showered up and headed back to Stockmann to meet up with [a brown gown]! We saw her right away outside the store entrance - we have been reading each other since at least March of 2003 but I had no idea how adorable she is. Jessica Rabbit crayola red hair, bright lipstick, sequined leggings, tweed coat, bright scarf and patterned Doc Marten style boots. Too cool! She was such a gracious hostess, taking us on a lovely walk on the waterfront and through town before landing in a super-funky bar, Cafe Moskova. Totally kitchy with green walls, mosaic bar, vinyl seating, and a super-cranky bartender. [a brown gown] explained that the bar was owned by the Kaurismaki brothers and styled to be as depressing as possible, like the setting from one of their movies. Ha! I found it cheerful but by now I think we all know I'm deranged. We had some red wine, chatted a bit, then headed out. (Via google I later learned they announce last call there each night by playing Brezhnev speeches, kind of sorry we missed that.)

We were hungry so we went to No. 9 back in the design district - it was crowded so we grabbed a small table by the window, ordered our first bottle of red, and some food. [a brown gown]'s boyfriend [Dew] came from fencing class and they were kind enough to move us to a larger table that had just opened up. I had the sesame chicken salad (so good!), A had the salmon/noodle wok, and [a brown gown] had a halloumi salad. Between the three of us we put away three bottles of wine. [Dew] had already eaten and was drinking beers so we can't even count him and minimize some of our gluttony, hee. Conversation was so fun, we were laughing like crazy and even though we'd already kept them out waaay too late on a school night, time to head out came way too quickly.

[a brown gown] has a nice entry on her PB including another classic photo, but I think these sum up the night pretty well:

We ran with them to the bus-stop, said our goodbyes, then headed out. I'd seen a place on our walks I wanted to try out, so we stopped in at Bar Loose, a kind of rock bar nearby. It was a neat place and still pretty happening for late on a Thursday night. We drank mostly water there to dilute the vats of red wine, but had some good people watching until it was time to head home.

Slept like a rock on our last night in Helsinki, then headed back to the airport. Flight was uneventful and arrival/customs/trip home was smooth. After two weeks of eating/drinking like it was going out of style and staying out until 4am most nights, I was glad to be back in my own bed, get back to my normal workout and food routines and detox a bit!