January 28 - Flight to Lapland, Kakslauttanen Resort

We had an 8:00am pickup for our transfer to the airport.  Fortunately, we both managed a good nights sleep and we are beginning to feel human again.  Everything was smooth at the airport.  We did notice that the Finns are quite civilized when comes to boarding the planes.  No one was in a rush.  No lining up early.  When boarding groups were called people took their time wandering to the gate.  And when waiting for the luggage to come out a luggage claim they all stood well back, only approaching the belt when their luggage came out.  It was all quite pleasant and civilized.

From the plane it looked like there was a lot of snow on the ground...confirmed after we landed. 

We were picked up at the airport by a very silent driver for our drive to our new home for the next three days, Kakslauttanen Resort.  There is snow on the ground and in the trees and it is quite magical.  We are spending a few days at the Kakslauttanen Resort in far Northern Finland (latitude 68.7N - just north of the Arctic Circle) with the hope of seeing some Northern Lights.  

Our room is a large log cabin with fireplace, kitchenette (which we won’t use) and an attached glass igloo that gives us great viewing of the skies.  

Map of the resort.

Now the skies just need to cooperate and give us a good display of Northern Lights. 

At this latitude the days are very short (about 5 hours of sunlight) and the sun sets about 3:00pm  The high clouds started clearing as we neared the resort and by 2:30 or so we started getting a spectacular sunset (the sun sets at 2:52PM…!!!!).  However, the sunset lasted a very long time.  And today's sunset was ethereal...like the most delicate watercolor painting you can imagine.  

We walked down to the lodge for dinner.  The walk was beautiful but a bit cold.  

Dinner selections were quite limited…Russian salad (sort of a potato, veggie and mayo salad) or salmon soup, fish, cabbage stuffed with mushrooms or turkey with root vegetables.  Paul, the long time vegetarian, opted for turkey.  He can’t stand mushrooms.  And a mango mousse with cloudberries for dessert.  It was all very tasty.

We were back in the room by 5:00.  It seems so very late because it gets dark so very early.  Seems like it is time to go to bed.