OUR TRIP TO LAPLAND, THE PLACE WHERE THE ICE COMES ALIVE The first day, the 22nd (of) December, we took the plane in Madrid at 10 o’clock in the morning, and then we were in Helsinki at half past three. But then, we had to take another plane to ÍVALO, where our hotel (Giselas) is placed. Here we arrived at ten to six. So, the first day we didn’t do many things, we just unpacked our luggage and we visited the area that was near the hotel. The second day, Christmas Eve day, we practiced some winter activities in which we included Husk sledding and snow-boarding. After the exercise, we had lunch in Kristiansund, a typical Lappish restaurant where you can eat all typical Lappish food, because this country has its own style of cuisine. There are a few essential food types used in the majority of traditional Lappish cuisine which include a wide variety of fish that is traditionally smoked and then it is served as part of a course. Another special item that you can taste when you are in Lapland is the cloudberry, which is a yellowish fruit that you will not find anywhere else. It is used to make desserts and tasty sauces to compliment the main courses and add a little bit of extra flavour. We had dinner in the restaurant “Petronella”, here is where the expectedChristmas Eve’s dinner took place. Here there was a funny atmosphere and a typical Lappish Christmas day. After that busy day, we returned to our hotellooking forward tot he next day nervously. The third day, Christmas day, wewent on an excursion with Rackets and we had a snack in a beautiful forest plenty of firs. After that we had a nice lunch in the restaurant Piti Pirkon, in which we continued tasting the typical Lappish food like in the other restaurants. In the afternoon, we had got a meeting with a “special” person, yes! We were talking with Santa Clause, we told him our wishes and he gave us some little presents. It was a very funny meeting; he showed us his house, his sledges (where the presents were waiting to be distributed!!) and he showed us too, his reindeers, and one of them attacked us, (you can see it in the video). It has got a red nose, and it was very nice! It was very young so, it didn’t cause any harm to us, it only wanted to play. Lorenawas carring her camera so she could capture the moment in which the reindeer attacked us. We had the best Christmas dinner in Nordmøre. It is a restaurant near the hotel because Santa Clause’s house was near the hotel too. The fourth day we went to see a dog sled race, called "White Olympics," where the sleds, which run very fast, were pulled by Husky dogs. In the afternoon,were visiting some Eskimos’s houses.
"Eskimo" is an American Indian word which means: "eaters of raw meat. Some scientists consider Eskimos related to natives of northern Asia, they came from Asia across a sand beach (which no longer exists) into northern North America (now called Alaska). Then They gradually spread across the Arctic regions of the continent. "Eskimo in Canada is "Inuit," while in Alaska Eskimos refer to themselves as "Inupiat" and "Yupik." The word "Yuit" is used in Siberia. All Eskimo people have similar physical characteristics which are: light brown skin, straight black hair, dark eyes and wide faces with high cheekbones. They speak many languages, but the majority of them are very, very similar in all the region. The fifth and final day we used the morning to buy souvenirs of our wonderful trip to Lapland, we think that we will always keep this trip in our memories, it was one of the bests experiences we have had. We bought reindeer figures, a singing Santa Claus, some sweatshirts of Lapland, and we brought food for our family, too. To finish this special trip we've been in a region of Lapland where Aurora borealis is very common, and we saw one of them. It was better than any Hollywood special effect; the Northern Lights illuminate the Arctic sky with many different colors and lights. This natural phenomenon that inspired ancient myths in the Sami tradition, which is from the native people of Lapland. Aurora is the roman goodness of dawn, and Boreas is the roman god whose name gives rise to the wind, the red, green, blue sky evokes the name of the gods. It was like being in (the) paradise. After that, we collected our bags because we had to catch the plane to come back home. We we were in Valencia at about 9 o’clock in the evening, we think that it was a wonderful trip, we’ve made many Eskimo friends and we visited many places. We’ve been in Lapland, a place where the ice comes alive.
THE ANNECDOTE The third day, Christmas day, we visited a “special” person, we talked with Santa Clause. It was a funny meeting in which we told him our wishes and he showed us his house, which is a very big house, with many wood furniture: there are lots of tables where some little persons were working, there was another big table where another little girl was reading all the cards that all the kids of many countries sent to Santa Clause’s house. There was a very, very big Christmas tree in the middle of the living room, around the house and indoors, there where many colourful lights and typical Christmas decorations, there was a chimney that creates a warm atmosphere, there were lots of candles and in
the kitchen there were many cakes and pastries, and its flavour was in all the rooms of the house, I don’t know how explain it, it was orange flavour, cinnamon flavour, mmm, I don’t know, it was delicious!!! Outside, in Santa Clause’s parking there where lots of sleighs where the presents were waiting to be distributed, and there where many reindeer waiting for the hard night that they were going to have. We were seeing the animals when one of them attacked us! (you can see it in the video), it was really funny, but I was scared!. It has got a red nose, and it was really nice! It was very young so, it didn’t cause any harm to us, as Santa said: Ho, ho, ho, ho, it only wants to play with you, don’t worry it is very young, it is not aggressive, this action is because it wants to play with you! Ho, ho, ho, don’t worry Iona! Lorena was carrying her camera so she could capture the moment in which the reindeer attacked me, after that we’ve been playing with the animal, we stroke him, we run with him, and then he carry us to the hotel, it was a very obedient reindeer but a little bit naughty! It doesn’t matter; we’ve made a new friend!