June 30: Day 60, Rest day in Rovaniemi
It's nice to go to sleep without setting an alarm! There was quite a bit of sunlight through the blinds so it wasn't great sleep. But not being woken by an alarm is a good change.
Had a leisurely breakfast and then started investigating how I could get a bikebox in Kirkenes. I called the airport to see if they sold bikeboxes like they do in Amsterdam, or have cyclists leaving them behind; unfortunately the number for Kirkenes airport was answered by a callcenter far away and they couldn't help. There's some big warehouse-sized stores in Kirkenes, I tried calling one that sold bikes ... and got a callcenter. They transferred me to the shop but I was punted to an answerphone. I've also sent some emails but even if they reply, it probably won't change anything until I'm there.
So efforts to organize things in advance have failed: I'll have to improvise when I'm there.
I've also booked the flight out: it leaves at 1130 on Thursday 6th for Oslo, so there is a hard deadline. I added extra luggage and selected "bike" and it charged me 0.00 euro, which is suspicious. I've got screengrabs of all the reasonable things I did to check, but I hear check-in staff hear so many dubious explanations they’re probably immune to the legit ones by now.
I've also sorted out accommodation for the final section; it turned out that almost all of the stops were carefully selected remote stops which I'd booked last week. The one place that remained is tomorrow night in the next town, and the prices were high, and I'm not pleased.
Since I'd done everything I could I thought I'd go sightseeing. Rovaniemi is home to Santa's village, which has the path of the Arctic Circle marked out. That was cool; I took a bunch of pictures with it.
It also has so many dubious things trying to associate themselves with Santa that I can see young children who come here starting to doubt the Christmas fiction. There's a building advertising "Santa's Pizza & Burger", it has "Santa's Special Meal" which is a burger and fries. On the same building is a sign pointing to "Santa's Motor Park", with mini-skidoos and mini-quadbikes for children.
You can see Santa himself, for 50 euros! I didn't pay, but I did walk through the queuing area to see the set dressing (good but not great), the wall of celebrity pictures with Santa, and got close enough to hear Santa chatting up someone for 50 euros. There weren't any children there, I don't want to jump to any conclusions but the only people I saw around were older than I was... on reflection, perhaps Santa is having to work for that money.
From left to right: the arctic circle. Santa’s Pizza & Burger. The queuing area to meet Santa; it was like the entrance to a Disneyland ride. Photos of celebrities, I think I saw Chairman Xi in there. What does this mean? And information about sending a personalized letter from Santa Claus in any European language, that arrives at Christmas, for 10 euros.
There was some luxury brands I've never heard of trying to look classy by association with Santa, which I want to unpack in some snarky way ... but since I can't even remember their names I won't. Faintly troubling stuff. How does a 6 year old Santa-believer interpret these things? I want to believe there are epic meltdowns here, where they denounce all adults for propagating a flimsy fiction ... because perfume from a brand called Helvetica 1854 (or whatever it was) surely doesn't belong anywhere near the Christmas story.
I'd had enough, but there was still quite a bit of time before the bus left. So I had a wander around outside; there were some geodesic glass domes you could sit in with friends and drink while watching the snow fall; that does sound good fun. There was a cluster of (what looked like) house-sized geodesic domes for rent, which also caught my interest.
From left to right: I do like the idea of being in one of these glass geodesic domes in the snow. “Glass Resort and Restaurant”. “Santamus” - maybe I’m dim, maybe it’s in another language but this looks like a portmanteau and I can’t figure it out. “Huskypark”, all closed for the offseason. “Mrs Santa’s Shop”, also closed.
I thought I'd try to stop being the Grinch and go see some reindeers, but they had closed up shop for the day. So I went back to the bus stop. For reasons too stupid to explain the bus driver on the way out had sold me two tickets, when I only needed one; but on the trip back the payment machine was broken so I travelled for free.
All in all, a faintly troubling day out. But I had waffles for dessert and I think it’s time to move on.
What I’m listening to: Something to go nicely with the Santa village. Wandering Star / Portishead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T0cRt8efsQ
Also: Cowboys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApQpx-MVk0w
