Day Trip to Finland - Arctic Zoo and Santa Claus Village

I was never this excited about any trip to tell you the truth. Seeing Arctic animals in their natural environment and then going to Santa's workshop! Wowee! But alas, the Arctic zoo was a major let down, it was so poorly maintained and the exhibits were not really reflecting the habitats of those animals. Besides, the animals all looked so sad and bored. I seriously think that the polar bears in the Singapore zoo are much happier, at least they look like they are enjoying themselves from time to time.

It was really icy, and many people slid and fell.

This deer was the highlight of the trip, she up really close and we all got to pet her. She loved the attention.
Pretending to be some animal with antlers with the help of Katalin =D

Next Stop Rovaniemi, Santa Claus Village!
Well this place was a huge let down too. I guess I went there with expectations of seeing the process of how Santa gets his job done, but all we were met with were shops, shops, and more shops. There was a show with santa in it, and you could pay 30 Euros to take a photo with the jolly old rip-0ff, so I didn't.
But there is one really valid reason to still go there if you visit Finland...
Santa's Post Office!
Here you get to see the elves at work, stamping the letters and cards people send from this post office with Santa's official seal.
They keep stacks of letters from all over the world, I found Singapore's :)
The central square in the village. The blue line indicates the polar circle boundary.
Well all in all it was an okay trip I guess, but if you don't see the need to send post cards from Santa's post office I wouldn't recommend going to Rovaniemi. And Just skip the Arctic Zoo :/