Sunday, August 23, 2009

Travel in Finland - part 23

14th September 2009

I woke up in the morning, and packed my luggage.
When I was eating breakfast, the receptionist told me that because she was going to be out in the afternoon, leave my luggage in the room while you were out in the morning.

I did as she said, and went to Santa Claus Village. The bus for the village left from the train station once an hour. The bus arrived at the village in 20 minutes.

Santa Claus Village is the place where Official Santa Claus are there. And it is the place where there is a border line of the Arctic Circle. That is, this is the entrance of Arctic Circle.

Maybe because it was Sunday and cloudy, not so many visitors were there. First, I went to the central post office to send cards. When you send cards from this post office, you get a special postmark. Also, you can see postcards that were send to the Santa Claus from all over the world.

Next, I went to the Santa Claus Office to see Santa Claus. Entrance fee was free. After entering the office and walking for a while, I reached the place where Santa Claus was greeting. I wait for my turn.

When I met Santa Claus, he asked me where I was from. I said, 'From Japan.' Then, he asked in JAPANESE, 'Where in Japan?'
I was really surprised because he spoke very fluent Japanese. Anyway, I said, 'Tokyo.' He asked again, 'Are you from Setagaya(this is a famous town in Tokyo)? I replied, 'You know well, but no.' He continued speaking Japanese, 'I'll go to Japan in three month. If you have any wish, send me a letter.'

Santa Claus was amazing. He spoke Japanese. But honestly, I don't want him to speak Japanese. I was a little disappointed. I took a photo with him, and said good-bye.

I received the photo at the exit, and bought some souvenirs.
After eating lunch, I went back to the train station. When I reached the guest house, there was nobody as she had said. I hadn't paid money. I stayed this inn for fee as a result. After a while, the airport taxi came to pick me up.

(to be continued)

No comments: