Memories from our trip to Lapland (part 1): Rovaniemi

Hi!

I'll be making a short series of reminiscing different parts of our trip.

There were so many pictures taken and not nearly as many ended up on Steem before we had to leave. So I decided to go back and retouch a few of them, and take you guys down the memory lane.

This series will not be in any chronological order, so bare with me on this one. I'll be going through the photos one folder at a time, and because today was the 10th anniversary of me and my wife, I decided to start from this:

^{Sulka (Feather), by Taigakoru}

When we were on our way back from Lapland, we had to make a quick stop at Rovaniemi, to visit the Santa Claus Village, and more importantly the jewellery shop Taigakoru, to see if we could find a proper gift for Vera for our anniversary.

At first I wanted to buy her a brooch with two flying swans, but at 160 € that was a bit too steep for my wallet. Then Miro found two beautiful pendants that were 1600 € and 2800 € in price. Of course we'd liked to buy them too, but they were still a bit too expensive.

The Crow pendant was cool, and in our price range, but it was also a bit too gothic. (I must say it'd be nice if I had realized to photograph them all.) Both the crow and swan symbolized eternal partnership, which would've been nice touch.

Anyway, we settled on the silver feather pendant. It was surprisingly simple, unobtrusive and at the same time beautiful. In my mind's eye I could already see her wearing it with a dress and simply being beautiful.

I just had to buy it.

Yeah, before we actually did anything (like buying jewelry), the boys wanted to have some kids' time at the playground.

^{Boys playing "follow the leader"...}

As they were swinging and climbing and doing what every kid at that age has a habit of doing when they get into a park, I had plenty of time to relax and have a smoke a vape from my e-cigarette. (I really wished for a coffee for I hadn't slept at all the previous night doing dishes, laundry, cleaning up, packing and at the same time writing up the earlier post showcasing Leo's photos.)

So I decided to whip up my camera for no other reason than "why not, I already got it with me anyway?"

Started shooting the boys' activities. Too bad there were so many other kids and I didn't want to accidentally get anyone else in the picture. Not other people's kids anyway as I couldn't publish them if I did.

Anyway, as the boys were swinging away I took a couple of shots at them, and waited for their enthusiasm to curb so we could visit the jewelry shop.

I actually had a hard time keeping up with them, trying to shoot them in motion. Kids are just too damn fast. Once you get the focus right, the framing is off, and vice versa.

I've actually photographed birds and even they keep relatively still so I can get the shot. Not these guys. It's like when they see you take out the camera, they switch to an overdrive and you really have to run to get the shot.

When we finally had had enough playing, I started thinking this would be a good time to find the jewelry shop (or three large cups of coffee). At the very same time Miro started begging us to go see Santa Claus.

Gladly the Taigakoru jewelry shop wasn't very far. In fact it was right next to Santa Claus' office so I thought we might as well go visit Santa, as soon as I've taken a look at the merchandise at the shop first.

If you've gotten this far you probably already know what happened at the jewelers. We ended up buying the silver feather pendant. But not before I had photographed it. There were also some impressive looking amethyst rocks right outside the jewelers, so we stopped by and simply gazed for a while at the wonderful colours they emitted.

^{Better lit, but lesser color-emitting amethyst.}

It's a sad thing they didn't lit the room with the big colourful amethysts a bit better, since I'd liked to have been able to photograph them without too much grain. It was practically pit dark for photography and I'm simply not sure if using the flash straight at the amethysts would've been a good idea. (Maybe I should've tested it...)

After buying the pendant and stopping to chat with some little girls about amethysts and how they'd also been at the amethyst mines digging up some nice jewelstones, we decided to finally go and meet Santa Claus.

Miro had already devised a plan to tell Santa his wish to get an inflatable boat for Christmas.

For this part there are no pictures by us, as cameras were forbidden beyond the door to Santa's Office.

There was a lengthy queue in front of us, so as we sat there waiting, a young Japanese couple appeared behind us and started talking. It didn't take long until they noticed our kids, and especially Miro who was all smiles and brightly lit eyes waiting for his turn to see Santa Claus. (Even I almost mistook him for someone else. JK.)

The Japanese couple stood there for a while, watching. Then I heard it: "綺麗な"... A smile came to my face and I quickly translated to Miro that this Japanese lady seems to think he is beautiful. It was Miro's time to be dumbfounded for a while.

Suddenly he started babbling at his most babyish tone again, on how he's so going to ask for that inflatable boat, and then he went on to chat with the girl dressed as Santa's elf, and ask if Santa was home or something.

I started hearing some "ooh" sounds from the Japanese couple, and then saw the girl point at Miro and repeatedly exclaim to her boyfriend how "可愛い" (cute) our Miro was. Repeatedly! I almost couldn't keep my cool, I so wanted to laugh. Japanese are funny.

When we were finally let in, the elves greeted us and told us to leave our bags on the table, and then Santa would greet us by the hand, we'd get photographed and the kids got to tell where they were from and talk about whatever came to mind for a minute. Then we were quickly whisked away, for it was the Japanese couple's turn.

When exiting, we were greeted by yet another elf who offered us a video and two photos of our visit for 40 €, I thought "what the heck" and asked for the whole package. We then got a receipt for which we'd get a download code for our monies at the counter.

At this point it was far beyond the point for me to get my cup of coffee so we would almost run out and start finding a café.

We found a sleigh, and plenty of expensive souvenir shops. And an equally expensive café too.

So instead of spending and losing all of our money before getting to Oulu, we thought we'd be better off to go to a near-by gas station owned by my grandfather's nephew. No more expensive stuff for us... ;)

Story will continue, in which order I have not yet decided, and it remains to be seen.

Something tells me I've used all night writing this. I must be off to bed now.

See ya later everyone!

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