Trip to Turku, Rovaniemi, and points North

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Turku, Rovaniemi, and points North. We travelled by train and a rental car. Our first leg was a daytime train in a "family compartment."

Long train rides aren't ALWAYS fun, but we did pretty well.

Chief among the highlights was watching Liz and her fellow Fulbright folks present at the American Voices seminar at the University of Turku. We were all proud Bertone-Johnsons!

James sat through all ten hours of presentations and had a ball!

While in Turku we enjoyed the sites and a few nice meals.

Turku Cathedral

Stormwater & Pavers around the 12th Century Cathedral

One of the oldest buildings in Finland!

From Turku we took the Night Train to Roveniemi! None of us had been in sleeper cars before. It was great fun for the whole family.

Sunrise from the train in Oulu.

James had a favorite perch. He took hundreds of photos of train yards!

We rented a car and stayed in the Santa Clause Holiday Village in Roveniemi - just a short walk to the Arctic Circle. In addition to seeing the REAL Santa Clause (we're all pretty sure), we enjoyed local museums.

We also saw Reindeer, and Huskies!

For an added bonus, we drove into Sweden for a lunch so that Reid, James, and Anna could all add it to the list of countries we've visited. Liz had been there already, but we all enjoyed the adventure.

We spent one day about 80km south of Roveniemi in Rauna. We had a wonderful time at Ranua Wildlife Park - a truly spectacular zoo and the "furthest North zoo in the world."

An incredible array of owls

Swans

Wild Boar

Polar Bear

Grizzly

Wolverine

Oh, and they had a killer playground!

After three nights in Roveniemi, we headed even further North to the Inari region. We stayed in Nellim, about 8km from the border with Russia. We took advantage of the dark and a clear night to see the Northern Lights (though I didn't get a good photo). We enjoyed staying at a lodge with a central building for drinks before dinner and our new routine of "coloring" in coloring books before dinner as a family.

We took a day to go to SIIDA in Inari, and we enjoyed the exhibits on Saami culture and the ecosystems of Lapland.

Modern Saami

Saami Bear Trap

On our way back to Roveniemi, my family tolerated a stop on a rise above treeline for me to fly my camera for a bit.

And, once we were back in Roveniemi we went back to the Artikum for a few more photos and a failed attempt at kite flying.

Our travels had to end sometime. We made it back to the train station in Roveniemi for our 7 hour daytime trip back to Kuopio. We all did our best - despite a lack of promised WiFi!