Finland: Arctic Treehouse Hotel, Reindeer Farm and Rovaniemi Arktikim Museum

 At this point in the trip I'm frankly wondering why humans would choose to live in such a cold, harsh, environment that requires multiple layers of clothing.  I can take any adventure for a week, so it's off to the Arctic Treehouse Hotel, and the name inspires wonderment.  We've been assured of having a ringside bedtime seat for the best viewing of Aurora Borealis!  But first on the agenda is a brisk reindeer sleigh ride through the forest!

That's Gene and me being pulled by our favorite reindeer

This reindeer farm has been around for about 500 years, half a millennium!  The family gave us thermal clothing (that still didn't seem to offer enough warmth) and then introduced us to our very own reindeer (ours for about an hour).  The deer are very strong and swift, which makes me wonder why Santa required 8 of them, maybe because they were required to fly.  Dunno

Our trusty reindeer, wish I could remember his name, but it was Finnish and I couldn't have pronounced it anyway, took us for a tour around the swamps and through the forest.  This was quite a bit more restful than the snow mobiles or the dog sleds because these animals are on auto-pilot.  Also they weren't required to do their "business" while in locomotion mode.  That's me beside Gene and hidden under multiple layers of arctic wear.  

This was the view of "our reindeer" that is most memorable

Isn't he a handsome fellow?  And yes, those antlers are real, folks, not Hollywood!

Next up is the Rovaniemi Arktikim Museum, and I wish I could have spent the entire rest of the day in this place.  It was a beautiful and ultra modern museum washed in light that offered local arts and crafts as well as the history of this far flung area of the world.

A huge lunch of stew inside this gorgeous kota

The roof of the museum

After the guides hustled us out of the museum, we were told we could take a polar dive in the river that ran through this small town.  No takers!

A little history of Rovaniemi quoting B&R tour literature:  "The week following the 10th of October 1944 was a terrible seven days in the history of this proud little town.  The retreating German army systematically destroyed almost everything leaving  only 16 houses standing.  The German's final salvo was to burn the church to the ground, scorch earth policy. 

Without benefit of sheltering warmth and because of the impending frigid temperatures, the local inhabitants had no choice but to flee to neutral Sweden.  The town and its destroyed bridges were left to smolder beside the Kemijoki River.  

In 1945 the inhabitants drifted back and in March 1945 it was decreed that the town should be rebuilt.  They chose the talented architect Alvar Aalto, whose creed of functional "assymetricalism" was applied to rebuilding.  It's a monument to pragmatism, but not beautiful in any stretch of the imagination. 

Most of us ended up having dinner back at the lodge of the Arctic treehouse Hotel where we sat near open gas flames and had fun swapping stories with one another.  The treehouses were definitely interesting and did offer an unobstructed view of the night sky and Aurora Borealis!  

 Below are photos of the famed SANTA CLAUSE VILLAGE of Rovaniemi 

Good to know where to find these huge cities in case we get lost