Finland is a winter wonderland! ❄️ Above the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi

after taking a 12-hour overnight train from Helsinki we've made it to rooni Finland a city in Northern finland's lap region with snow over 200 days per year endless winter activities and magical Furry Friends lap land is known for being a true Winter Wonderland and to kick off our time here we're off to meet the city's most famous resident he's here Santa he's [Applause] here [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh fun fact robon Miami is said to be the official hometown of Santa Claus and today we are exploring Santa Claus village this is a Santa theme park that has shops restaurants free and paid activities and of course the chance to meet Santa himself and what makes it extra cool is is that it's also on the Arctic Circle as soon as we cross this line here we'll be inside the Arctic Circle this isn't our first time at or above the Arctic Circle back in 2022 we drove our van to the Arctic Circle and then onto the Arctic Ocean in Canada and it was hands down one of our favorite memories of all time so it is so exciting to be back however being this far north it is very very cold for those of you all new around here we grew up in Texas where there is not a proper winter and even in our 3 years living in Seattle it never really got that cold before this trip we didn't even own proper winter clothing and this morning my eyelashes froze so it's safe to say that being here in Finland is a complete shock to our system it is currently 26° C which is 15° fah which is hands down the coldest temperature that we have ever been in but you know what I actually don't feel too bad we have on wool Bas layers I have on another pair of pants I have on like four tops including two jackets I have my head covered my gloves honestly the coldest thing are probably my fingers but I've actually been colder at much warmer temperatures so that really speaks to the power of good winter clothing but even being a bit cold it is so exciting to be experiencing winter here it is completely different from what we're used to but that's what we're craving different and challenging [Applause] experiences don't you do it all right that's it [Applause] I just love the glow of the sunlight it's the sun is not very high it's actually as high as it's going to get today it is crazy this is as bright as it's going to get man but it just looks so [Music] pretty since this is Santa's Hometown they have a real working post office where you can see the letters that Santa has received from all around the world they have boxes for so many different countries that are filled with letters and we read that during the Christmas season he gets about 30,000 letters a day and in total he's received about 20 million letters from almost every single country in the world and if you want to write Santa a letter we'll put his mailing address on the screen besides writing letters to Santa you can also write a letter to yourself or to your family back home you can buy postcards here and what's really neat is there are two mailboxes one to be sent now and one where your postcard will be sent next Christmas so we're going to pick out some postcards and write our family and our future selves a little note I got to get the fishing [Music] one I'm writing a letter to Future Adam and Catherine and I wrote Mary 2020 before Christmas we hope that this year has brought us I didn't know what tents or like who to address this to brought us Many Adventures happiness and rest rest is in all caps you are doing amazing and we are so proud of you all right hopefully we see this one again in December [Music] 2024 all right now I think it's time to go meet Santa the big guy he you here Santa he's here I'm Coming For You Santa this is really cool this little hallway here kind of feels like a haunted house a little bit wait for Santa claa or some Elves to pop out at me so as soon as you get here we recommend getting a time slot to meet Santa because this place is packed and even with our time slot I think we still have a 40 minute wait to to meet him will it be worth it yes 100% meeting Santa come on all right it's our turn be Santa it is free to meet Santa but there are no personal photos or videos allowed but you can pay for theirs and we didn't come all this way to not get that and we're suckers so we got them but what really NE about meeting Santa is that he finds out where you're from and so instead of just walking up getting a quick photo and leaving he actually has a conversation with you so he found out we were from Texas and he told me that I should go make a snow angel because I can't do that back home so Santa I always listen to you because I want to be the Nic list you know so I got to go find some snow to make a snow angel hey it looks pretty good okay I did it you can barely see it cuz the snow is just not the right consistency I don't think but I don't know if you can tell there's a snow angel I can see my wings if you can't make it here to meet Santa yourself there is something fun and free you can do from home on the Santa Claus Village website you can find out your elf name mine is kooka which is a type of drinking cup crafted by the Sami people from carved Birch Burl and mine was tohun in but I couldn't really figure out what that meant the only thing I could find is a man on LinkedIn with that last name we'll put the URL on the screen so you can try it out yourself and if you do comment below with your elf names and with that I guess we're changing our channel name to the elf ventures of t+ [Music] K for lunch we're at Santa salmon place which is in a traditional lapish t with a fire inside and the only items that they serve are salmon cooked over the Fire cloudberry Jam and cheese and dessert barely even put the fork in it it just falls apart that's pretty solid I love the crispy skin with a nice chmer flavor yeah skin so fatty and buttery the salmon here in Finland is so good again this just like melts in your mouth the salmon is actually delicious like not just not just good and I'm not just eating it to eat salmon like I actually really enjoy it it's the best piece of fish I think I've ever had oh yeah yeah that's a match made in heaven sweet but salty at the same time oh my [Music] God even though Santa Claus village is super touristy it's hard not to feel the Christmas match magic here with all the lights the snow and heck we got to meet Santa in his hometown it doesn't get much better than that but you may be wondering where are Santa's trusty seeds well don't you worry tomorrow we are going to meet Dasher dancer Prancer Fixit Comet Cupid Doner and Blitzen and of course the most famous one of them all [Music] r welcome to siero to our farm there is ISU who is parking for squirrels ISU is really friendly one we've been having this Farm having reindeers here for around 200 years already you see there is a few houses behind the trees there is a Ari is living there our farm owner and it was AR's great great great great great great great grandfather who was starting to having reindeers here there they are [Music] in Northern Finland there are over 200,000 reindeer compared to 180,000 people and while we may think of reindeer as Santa's faithful companions here in Finland they have a bit of a different meaning for centuries reindeer have been an important part of the Sami culture the indigenous people of the region reindeer herding is the traditional occupation and source of livelihood for many Sami families with reindeer providing meat hides and antlers as well as Transportation getting to meet these Majestic animals is a childhood dream come true that has made even more special knowing how integral they are to the way of life here oh my gosh there are so many I don't see any with red noses though so Rudolph must be further out there or something yeah he's working I guess reindeers were the traditional Transportation method for the Sai people here in Finland and when I booked this tour it said we might get to go on a reindeer ride cuz I mostly just booked it to come see the farm and see reindeer not necessarily for the ride but we get to go on a slight ride and I'm so excited with this scenery all around it's just like a magical Winter Wonderland like dream come true there like a painting out here straight off of the painting with the pink in the sky all the snow on the trees just wide open space I I I have to like pinch myself is this for [Music] [Music] real this is our reindeer pulling oured his name is [Applause] Manu oh it's cozy in here and we're off this is so fun it actually feels a bit faster than it [Music] [Music] looks We're stopped we ran off the track oh here we go oh he's hustling too it's funny they keep stopping to sniff something or eat something and then we go off the track a little bit it's a wild slay ride what the poops thank you Manu did a great job job very proud of you the rest of the tour was spent warming up inside and learning tons about reindeer plus enjoying a hot Barry juice and [Music] cookies we got a reindeer driving license it's good for 3 years so we'll have to come back and renew obviously so the tour is over but before we head back to town we have a little bit of time so we're getting to feed the reindeer this is like a chocolate for reindeers this Moss want oh no I Dr so we going to go to that one I grew up leaving out carrots for Santa's reindeer so to actually get to feed a reindeer with my own hands so cool thank you thank you we had such an incredible time at the Reindeer Farm we love animals so getting to see and interact with the reindeer was so exciting for us our guide was also amazing and taught us so much about reindeer and I think that was our favorite part was just getting to learn so much about them one of my favorite fun facts that I learned is that every year when reindeers grow their antlers they grow back the same shape so they always had the same shaped antlers and some of the reindeer have crazy shaped antlers one big perk of the tour was that we were able to get picked up and dropped off because we don't have a car currently but tomorrow that is changing we're picking up a rental car and we're driving even further north to where the sun does not rise at all and we're going to stay at a really cool really unique accommodation that we are so pumped about this entire video I'm going to have nose icicles it's not boogers they're just icicles I can't get rid of them they're so intense feel like I had a spit Bubble at the end though probably froze as soon as it the and I'm whispering because you're just really smooshing here with people it's really quiet reindeer butts drive me [Music] nuts

Channel: Adventures of A+K

Views: 49,359

Keywords: santa claus village finland, santa claus village in rovaniemi lapland finland, santa claus village lapland finland, finland travel vlog, finland travel, visit finland, things to do in finland, finland winter, finland vlog, what to do in finland, rovaniemi finland, things to do in rovaniemi, what to do in rovaniemi, arctic circle, arctic circle finland, finnish lapland, finnish lapland winter, finland lapland, finland lapland winter, finland reindeer, rovaniemi winter

Id: MpuaJ35EL20

Length: 14min 24sec (864 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 25 2024