隻字片語 / Rovaniemi

Good morning to the world! It's 6:30AM, and I'm up due to a little jet lag but mainly because I had finished my diary on the airplane and had nothing to do, and slept at 10.

Yesterday we toured the city of Helsinki, a lovely city by the sea. Although being the capital of Finland, it gave me a sense of a small village. People were at ease, cars slowly moved along without hurrying, and the largest market didn't feel large at all.
By not large, I mean the vendors wasn't eager to make business, neither were the clients bustling in and out. Everything just happens like a slow motion film, as you would expect on a small town where there is only one main avenue. But this is Helsinki, the capital of the nation. Well, I guess it's just their pace of life!

We took a Blue1 flight to Rovaniemi. Blue1 is a budget airline of the SAS group. I had never taken a budget airline before! A menu on the plane listed the various snacks, drinks, and spirits you could order. To my surprise, quite a lot of people bought drinks and snacks! The prices were quite fair, though.

Rovaniemi is very near the arctic circle. Today we will cross the arctic circle, and go visit Santa Claus! I don't think I've been this north before. Night is as bright as day, the sky at 10PM made us feel like it was in the afternoon. Temperatures are cozy, right now it's 18C, so I'm still in T-shirts.

I have no complaints for this region whatsoever, except for one thing: the Chinese food here is, well, not quite a delicacy. I hope we have more Nordic meals!