See ya later Iceland and hello Finland.  We were passing through Helsinki on our way up to Rovaniemi and stayed one night at the airport.  We booked the Glo Hotel and it’s right in the airport – I mean, It’s closer to the exit than the taxi line.  So we got there, checked in and got our jammies on in about 15 minutes.

We were blessed with a lovely lady at the desk and she proudly let us know that our room had two beds….

Jenny did a rough count of beds when we got into the room….

And luckily there was room for the second suitcase as well.  I did have to do a bit of balancing, but it held overnight

Then the next morning, we had a bit of brekky, chilled in our room and then just waltzed down to our departure gate… simples!

We’re staying at the Arctic Light Hotel which is really cool!  Me Jenny makes friends everywhere she goes.

Inside the foyer/lounge area has a number of different lounge seating areas.  It’s really cosy and inviting.

Upstairs in our room, there’s a polar bear in the shower… who doesn’t love that?

And again with the bed, but this time they’ve jazzed it up with a fur (not real) rug …

and a plush polar bear soft toy, so win/win.

and extra Finland novelty furniture.

Rovaniemi is a university town , so people come here for school, but the town itself is fairly understated and in most Trip Advisor reviews was described as “probably a lot better in the winter when it’s covered in snow”.  We had a  wander around the centre and found a fantastic cafe that serves savoury waffles…. Let’s just say we’re going back there tomorrow.

We also found another little cafe, that was attached to the Santa Hotel – Santa’s Village is about 7kms out of town and is really the centre of the tourism.

These little guys were for sale in the cafe – Finland folklore perhaps?

All the tables and chairs had been spray painted silver and I think that whoever did the job must have been wearing these bobby dazzlers!

We walked down this street when we first arrived and I didn’t notice these decorations on the signs – just goes to show that you’ve got to open your eyes and look up.

Rudolf went a little far with the make up….

There has been lots of menu talk about crayfish and tonight we thought we’d give it a go.  We had crayfish soup and then I had a salad with cray tails…. that’s right, plural tails….  I thought, goodness, how many do I think I can eat?

But when they’re this size – you can go crazy with a whole bowl!

Just analysing one of the many tails with my magnifying glass necklace