Levi

The next stop of the trip was Levi in Lapland. To get there we hopped on the train to Rovaniemi, the capital city of Lapland located just south of the Arctic Circle. From there we travelled the remaining 100 miles to Levi by bus. Being that far north in the winter meant very little daylight. In fact the sun rose at 10 a.m. and sat at 2 p.m.

Levi has plenty of winter sport activities and we tried our hand at several. On our first day we went cross country skiing. The tracks were a lot hillier than we are used to so there were plenty of falls and bruises.

Day two included some downhill skiing along with ligonberry and cloudberry pastries, Finnish beer and reindeer for dinner. On the third day we went snowshoeing on the Levituturni (the Levi hill). We took the gondola to the top and trekked and trudged our way to the bottom.



At the top of Levituturni the wind howled and the visibility was low.

About halfway through the trek we stopped at a Lapp hut for coffee, warm berry juice and reindeer sausage with mustard. As we continued our descent we passed a few reindeer and snow covered trees.

We finally made it to the bottom with all hands accounted for and in need of a warm drink.

That evening was New Year's Eve. At dinner, some of us had yet more reindeer. Afterwards Bill and Bernie headed to bed while Eric, Andy and Bridget stayed in town to ring in the New Year. As midnight approached several people gathered on the front piste for the fireworks.

New Year's Day saw some of us moving rather slowly, yet more downhill skiing was enjoyed. On the next day we caught the bus for Rovaniemi and boarded the train again. At the the town of Kemi Bridget and Andy said their goodbyes to Eric, Bill and Bernie, who continued their Finnish adventure while Andy and Bridget returned to Helsinki for their flight back to Seattle and the happiest spotted dog in the world.