Napapiiri -- the Arctic Circle
Friday 08/03/2007 3:10 AM (In Finland: 10:10 AM)
Here is the photo I came all this way to take:
But I like this one better:
The first was taken by a stranger at the official marker, in "Santa Claus Village," which is where the bus from Rovaniemi drops off tourists who want to pay an extra 6 euros to get to the marker. Finland has entirely outdone the US on the commercialization of Christmas in this town ... and they are masters of catering to the tourist industry (see below). The second one was taken by me during a 3 km hike through the woods north of Santa Claus Village.
Though we're told in the US that Santa lives at the North Pole, he clearly lives in Napapiiri (brace yourself). Here is his office:
The outside of the post office:
And, my favorite, the inside of the post office (yes, the postal workers are elves):
Here is the filing system for the letters to Santa (one box for each country):
The count of letters so far (there was another sign in Finnish and one in Swedish, but I thought this one would be most helpful -- you'll notice that the US hasn't made the top 4):
And this, evidently, is where the elves are kept when they aren't working:
Yet another enjoyable sign for the WC:
A little more interesting might be the bus stop at Napapiiri:
or a Russian fast food sign:
or the smoked salmon shack ... yes, it's a restaurant with four tables inside and salmon and berry juice cooking on the fire. Sadly, though, it didn't open until a half hour before my bus back to Rovaniemi, and once I discovered it the tables were all full, so I didn't get to eat there -- didn't eat at the Russian fast food joint, either:
I looked for reindeer, and saw on a map that there was a Reindeer Station, but when I got there I discovered it was a gift shop. I suppose they were all away in training. So there you have it -- Napapiiri, the Arctic Circle. Maybe now you see why I took a walk in the woods.
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