Scandinavia 2017

A 30-day adventure by We are Living the Dream Read more

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Day 7
Sunday, December 24, 2017 at 1:05 PM
⛅ -16 °C
Altitude: 151 m
Finland Myllykylä 66.543902, 25.84501866°32’38” N 25°50’42” E
Santa's Village
December 24, 2017 in Finland ⋅ ⛅ -16 °C
It was wonderful seeing Santa and would really love to come back with all the grandkids one day. A dream come true.
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Day 7
Sunday, December 24, 2017 at 8:00 PM
🌙 -21 °C
Altitude: 99 m
Finland Rovaniemi 66.503948, 25.72939166°30’14” N 25°43’46” E
Christmas Eve in Rovaniemi
December 24, 2017 in Finland ⋅ 🌙 -21 °C
Another full day visiting Santa's Village, wandering around town and taking photos of the sunset. Unfortunately still no Northern Lights. We finished the day with a Lapland Dinner at a very quaint Finnish restaurant. We had the tasting plate of Lapland fish and reindeer servings, very yummy. John had reindeer again this time cooked 2 different ways and I had the vegetarian dish of beetroot.

Merry Christmas from Lapland.Read more
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Day 8
Monday, December 25, 2017 at 2:35 PM
🌫 -10 °C
Altitude: 96 m
Finland Ounasjoki 66.50231, 25.7364566°30’8” N 25°44’11” E
Rovaniemi
December 25, 2017 in Finland ⋅ 🌫 -10 °C
Leaving Rovaniemi city centre today. We decided rather than walk around this morning we thought a snowman build on our balcony could be the activity for the morning.
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Day 8
Monday, December 25, 2017 at 3:05 PM
☁️ -10 °C
Altitude: 90 m
Finland Sonka 66.63743, 25.34359666°38’15” N 25°20’37” E
Arctic Snow Hotel
December 25, 2017 in Finland ⋅ ☁️ -10 °C
Next stop via bus to the Arctic Snow Hotel and Igloos.

The Snow Hotel sleeps 70 guests and is one of the largest in the Nordic region. The building is carved each year to be different in appearance. The walls and furniture surfaces of the unique rooms are decorated with ice art and illuminated artwork.

Unlike normal Hotels you do not check into your room and unpack you leave your bags in a cloak room and they remain there until late at night when it is time to sleep. You sit around the Main House which was very basic and not comfortable for the remainder of the day, which is weird because once you are here there is not much to do other than to sit in front of a fire and read. Even the café was closed. You can wander through the Ice Hotel and the grounds but that does not really take that long.Read more
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Day 8
Monday, December 25, 2017 at 4:00 PM
☁️ -9 °C
Altitude: 90 m
Finland Sonka 66.63743, 25.34359666°38’15” N 25°20’37” E
Arctic Snow Hotel
December 25, 2017 in Finland ⋅ ☁️ -9 °C
Ice Hotel rooms are set up in themes and was amazing how much detail is in each room and corridor.
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Day 8
Monday, December 25, 2017 at 4:15 PM
☁️ -10 °C
Altitude: 90 m
Finland Sonka 66.63743, 25.34359666°38’15” N 25°20’37” E
The Chapel
December 25, 2017 in Finland ⋅ ☁️ -10 °C
The Ice Hotel even has a Chapel.
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Day 8
Monday, December 25, 2017 at 4:30 PM
☁️ -9 °C
Altitude: 90 m
Finland Sonka 66.63743, 25.34359666°38’15” N 25°20’37” E
Ice Hotel Bar
December 25, 2017 in Finland ⋅ ☁️ -9 °C
At the Ice Bar you don’t order a drink with ice, you order a drink in ice. A frozen icy glass gives the drinks a totally new dimension of a cold drink.
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Day 8
Monday, December 25, 2017 at 7:00 PM
☁️ -11 °C
Altitude: 92 m
Finland Sonka 66.637283, 25.34370966°38’14” N 25°20’37” E
Arctic Christmas Night
December 25, 2017 in Finland ⋅ ☁️ -11 °C
Yes, we saw our first although faint Northern Lights before heading to dinner.
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Day 8
Monday, December 25, 2017 at 7:15 PM
☁️ -11 °C
Altitude: 90 m
Finland Sonka 66.63743, 25.34359666°38’15” N 25°20’37” E
Christmas Dinner
December 25, 2017 in Finland ⋅ ☁️ -11 °C
Our Christmas Day meal was mushroom soup, this was followed by Salmon cooked over the flames of the central fire in the restaurant and John again had Reindeer, this time more like a hamburger meat. We both had apple with icecream for dessert.Read more
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Day 8
Monday, December 25, 2017 at 10:34 PM
⛅ -15 °C
Altitude: 92 m
Finland Sonka 66.637283, 25.34370966°38’14” N 25°20’37” E
Bedtime at the Ice Hotel
December 25, 2017 in Finland ⋅ ⛅ -15 °C
Our room for Christmas night has several ice sculptures around the walls and it is lit by coloured lights. It will be interesting to see if we get a good night's sleep. The room temperature is 0–5C°, and we sleep in sleeping bags intended for extreme conditions combined with reindeer furs.Read more
TravelerBrrrrr!
12/28/17Reply
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Day 9
Tuesday, December 26, 2017 at 1:13 PM
🌫 -19 °C
Altitude: 99 m
Finland Sonka 66.638371, 25.34287366°38’18” N 25°20’34” E
Boxing Day - Snow Activities
December 26, 2017 in Finland ⋅ 🌫 -19 °C
Sleeping in the Ice Hotel was different. We slept in very tight cocoon like sleeping bags (which were a little difficult to move in) on top of reindeer hides. My feet got a little cold in the early morning, other than that I slept like a bug in a rug. In the morning, after breakfast, we walked around the resort having a go at a sled on ski's, tobogganing and walking with snow shoes into the forest where the snow was so deep that when I fell into the snow it was difficult getting up. We then took a walk on the frozen lake and then back to the Resort for a Finnish Sauna and outdoor Spa.Read more
TravelerThat looks like so much fun!!!
12/28/17Reply
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Day 9
Tuesday, December 26, 2017 at 3:34 PM
🌫 -18 °C
Altitude: 99 m
Finland Sonka 66.638371, 25.34287366°38’18” N 25°20’34” E
Glass Igloo
December 26, 2017 in Finland ⋅ 🌫 -18 °C
This afternoon we checked into the Glass Igloo. They are rather cute with a glass roof and a bed you can tilt to see the Northern Lights and heated so no sleeping bags or reindeer fur to keep warm tonight.Read more
TravelerThat is so awesome!
12/28/17Reply
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Day 9
Tuesday, December 26, 2017 at 7:15 PM
☁️ -17 °C
Altitude: 90 m
Finland Sonka 66.63743, 25.34359666°38’15” N 25°20’37” E
Dinner in the Ice Hotel
December 26, 2017 in Finland ⋅ ☁️ -17 °C
Dinner tonight is in the Ice Hotel dining room. The table is ice and some of the dinner setting is also ice. Dinner was yum, tomato soup, John had Elk and I had Chicken and a yummy chocolate dessert served on a frozen snowflake plate.Read more
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Day 9
Tuesday, December 26, 2017 at 10:15 PM
☁️ -18 °C
Altitude: 90 m
Finland Sonka 66.63743, 25.34359666°38’15” N 25°20’37” E
Bedtime in the Glass Igloo
December 26, 2017 in Finland ⋅ ☁️ -18 °C
After dinner we retired to our room, finished our bottle of bubbles and waited for the Northern Lights for a while. The Northern Lights did not appear so hopefully on the cruise up the Norwegian Coast we will be lucky.Read more
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Day 10
Wednesday, December 27, 2017 at 11:53 AM
☁️ -15 °C
Altitude: 99 m
Finland Sonka 66.638371, 25.34287366°38’18” N 25°20’34” E
Leaving Arctic Snow Hotel
December 27, 2017 in Finland ⋅ ☁️ -15 °C
Today we are leaving Rovaniemi and going to Stockholm for 5 days. Rovaniemi was a very interesting place to visit so much to do, visiting Santa was definitely a highlight but so were all the other activities.Read more
TravelerWhoa that is a lot of snow!
12/28/17Reply
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Day 10
Wednesday, December 27, 2017 at 1:41 PM
☀️ -2 °C
Altitude: 194 m
Finland Rovaniemi Airport 66.563104, 25.83007866°33’47” N 25°49’48” E
Rovaniemi Airport
December 27, 2017 in Finland ⋅ ☀️ -2 °C
When we arrived at Rovaniemi Airport we were surprised at how busy it was, people were everywhere.

Stockholm is our next destination.
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Day 10
Wednesday, December 27, 2017 at 7:15 PM
⛅ 2 °C
Altitude: 58 m
Sweden Pålsundet 59.31802, 18.0386859°19’5” N 18°2’19” E
Stockholm
December 27, 2017 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ 2 °C
Arrived in Stockholm and staying in an Air BnB. The apartment is small but with a certain eclectic character of its own. The owner of the apartment has left the fridge and cupboards full of food and chocolates in a number of places for us to eat.Read more
TravelerFunny but nice looking place
12/28/17Reply
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Day 11
Thursday, December 28, 2017 at 10:54 AM
☁️ 4 °C
Altitude: 38 m
Sweden Pålsundet 59.315738, 18.03435759°18’57” N 18°2’4” E
Information Seeking
December 28, 2017 in Sweden ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C
The apartment is quite central to so many sightseeing places. Today's adventures started by looking around Hornstull where we took the train into Central Stockholm. We visited the tourist information centre to obtain information on how to spend the next 3 days. Over coffee and cake and 30 min research we now have a list of things to do.Read more
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Day 11
Thursday, December 28, 2017 at 12:00 PM
☁️ 4 °C
Altitude: 10 m
Sweden Museum of Medieval Stockholm 59.328293, 18.07030859°19’42” N 18°4’13” E
Medieval Museum
December 28, 2017 in Sweden ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C
We then walked into Old Town (Gamla Stan) it has cobbled streets and lots of old buildings which are now restaurants and tourist shops. We continued walking to a Medieval Museum which had displays of how people lived in the Medieval times. It was actually a very good museum. On the way home we came across this beautiful church and also stopped at the local supermarket so I could buy groceries for a home cooked meal and some red wine. Bring on tomorrow's adventures.Read more
TravelerLooks pretty
12/28/17Reply
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Day 12
Friday, December 29, 2017 at 11:10 AM
⛅ 2 °C
Altitude: 18 m
Sweden ABBA The Museum 59.324913, 18.09696659°19’30” N 18°5’49” E
2
Abba Museum
December 29, 2017 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ 2 °C
Today is Cultural Day, we plan on visiting 4 all very different museums.

The day will be long and the light was short but discover Stockholm is the plan.

Abba Museum was first, it was fun learning about Abba's lives and their road to stardom. The museum had a few interactive activities including, karaoke, dancing on stage with Abba and mixing the sound for one of their songs.Read more
Traveler Nice pants Dad! Nice legs Mum!
1/1/18Reply
Traveler Very nice legs, I only wish
1/1/18Reply
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Day 12
Friday, December 29, 2017 at 1:54 PM
☁️ -6 °C
Altitude: 8 m
Sweden Vasa Museum 59.328023, 18.09139659°19’41” N 18°5’29” E
Vasa Museum
December 29, 2017 in Sweden ⋅ ☁️ -6 °C
Vasa Museum was No 2 which provides a detailed account of a ship which sunk when it was first launched in 1628 and how it was raised and restored in the 1960's.

The Vasa ship capsized and sank in Stockholm 1628. After 333 years on the sea bed the mighty warship was salvaged and the voyage could continue. Today Vasa is the world's best preserved 17th century ship and the most visited museum in Scandinavia.Read more
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Day 12
Friday, December 29, 2017 at 2:54 PM
⛅ 3 °C
Altitude: 2 m
Sweden Junibacken 59.32953, 18.08964359°19’46” N 18°5’23” E
Junibacken
December 29, 2017 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ 3 °C
Third was more like a children's fun place called Junibacken where we rode a story train through chapters of a story by Astrid Lindgren.
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Day 12
Friday, December 29, 2017 at 4:54 PM
⛅ 3 °C
Altitude: 23 m
Sweden Historiska museet 59.334679, 18.08993259°20’5” N 18°5’24” E
Swedish History Museum Stockholm
December 29, 2017 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ 3 °C
The last museum for the day, Swedish History Museum, was only a quick visit as it was closing 45 min after we arrived. We just had time to visit the Viking section where we viewed artifacts from the Viking Era.Read more
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Day 13
Saturday, December 30, 2017 at 11:00 AM
⛅ 1 °C
Altitude: 22 m
Sweden Tessin Palace 59.325698, 18.07187959°19’33” N 18°4’19” E
Old Town Stockholm
December 30, 2017 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ 1 °C
Today was another day in Gamla Stan (Old Town) so we could take some photos during the daylight. We wandered around for a while taking photos, visiting the local stores and finding the narrowest lane in Stockholm.

Gamla Stan is the city’s old town, with cobbled streets and colorful 17th and 18th century buildings. It’s home to the medieval Storkyrkan cathedral and the Royal Palace, the king’s official residenceRead more
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Day 13
Saturday, December 30, 2017 at 12:00 PM
⛅ 1 °C
Altitude: 26 m
Sweden Stockholm Palace 59.326822, 18.07171959°19’37” N 18°4’18” E
Changing of the Guard
December 30, 2017 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ 1 °C
At noon we walked up to the Royal Palace and watched the Changing of the Guard which was the winter version (less marching), not quite the performance in London.
Traveler😮
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