Not as cold as I thought: Rovaniemi, Finland

Rova-what-now?
Yes, this strange little city, just 8km south of the Arctic Circle, has been my home for these two days. The city is so cheesy and fake I doubt even the Cheetos Cheetah could digest the artificial flavoring. To give you an idea on the brains behind this city and its 35 000 inhabitants, you will have to understand that after its destruction in WWII, the city architect and city planner Alvar Aalto redesigned the infrastructure to look like reindeer antlers.
Seriously.
Another “major attraction” to this town is the most northern McDonalds in the world, which I ate a cheeseburger at. It was good! Tasted like Rudolph, with the distinct aftertaste of the collective crushed dreams and spirits of children worldwide.
Either that or it tasted like a greasy hunk of beef, not unlike anything you would find on a grill at any McDonalds -- anywhere.
No, no -- definitely crushed spirits.

The city of Rovaniemi is about as interesting as a shopping mall with a small hallway linking it to another, very similar shopping mall. The main attraction, however; is the little area to the north named Napapiiri, just an 8km bus drive away. There you will find the Arctic Circle marker, which is surrounded by a tourist attraction known as the Santa Claus Village. Things to see, and things to do, could be found here, but they were either too expensive ($350 for a husky safari, which I really wanted to do), or simply out of my age bracket (also too expensive, haha).
There were some “free” sights which I took advantage of, such as the Santa Claus Post Office. This is literally Santa’s mailing address. If you post a letter to Santa, it will arrive here in Napapiiri. They have a staff of elves opening cards, sorting them into mail slots organized by country (memories of SMI mailing room duties quickly returned). They receive approximately 500 000 cards every year on average, with 2007 being their biggest year ever with over 700 000 cards received. The depot also had mail-out capability, but I was too late to get anything home in time.

As far as activities are concerned, I managed to revive the old snow-hill “Surfer King” (of Silverwood Heights) in me. I felt like Homer Simpson going down the tunnel water slide at the itchy and scratchy/Krusty theme park, getting stuck half way, and being destroyed by multiple children coming down afterwards (you have no idea how ironic this is).
Other than scarring children for life, I managed to have my first hot chocolate of the holiday season, which I admit was just perfect. It was definitely the cheap, powder-mix variety (which is of course, the superior type of hot chocolate), and was served in a small tee pee hut, heated by a small, wood burning fire. For just a few minutes, I completely forgot where I was, and entered my own little mental zone, just staring at the fire burning.

One day was more than enough time to see everything here. The sun never shows up (though it still gets semi-bright for three hours), but I’m stuck here for two until my night train leaves. To kill time I’ve been café hopping all day, and now I’m going to visit a well recommended pizza buffet in town, where I fully intend on filling my backpack with “leftovers.”

I’ve got a lot of ground to cover in the next few days, with a short stop in Malmo, I’ll be doing a Hail Mary down to Stuttgart for the evening of the 21st. I can’t find any accommodation for Paris on the 31st, so I’m not sure what I’ll be up to for New-Years eve. Rome? Athens? Ugh I need to do some more research.

-Kyle- surrounded by Finnish encyclopedia- out