We have been staying in an apartment in Rovaniemi, called Apartment Laua A6. I don’t fully understand exactly what that means … maybe the apartment block is called “Apartment Laura” … but I can confirm that we were in apartment A6 on the second floor.
It was very comfortable, warm, and well equipped, including a washer and dryer so we were able to get all of our dirty stuff washed and dried. Goodness knows that we would never have got anything dry by hanging it outside – it would be been frozen and it would have snapped in half.
Of note, it also had a sauna in the bathroom wedged between the washer/dryer, and the shower.
The sauna was big enough for 2 people – actually probably 4 people at a squeeze – but only one of us used it. That will be the younger looking and better rested of the two of us.
I’ll say no more about that, though.
The other thing about the apartment was that the bed was one of those memory cushion affars that seems quite hard, but then moulds to your shape. So you sit on the edge of the bed for a while, and there is a big, bum-shaped indentation in the mattress. When you sleep in the bed on – say – your right side, it leaves that indentation in the mattress so that when you roll over to your left side, you feel like you are lying in a hollow that is the wrong shape.
And sometimes – after you have been lying down, you look at the indentation in the matress and think that maybe a meteorite crashed into the bed, and then you remember that you ate too many croissants in Paris. Or had too many helpings of salmon and potato soup.
I’m sure that some people swear by these matresss, but I’m not a fan.
Today we woke to our last day in Rovaniemi. We are catching the VR train down to Helsinki for a few days before flying back to Paris.
We had done the majority of our packing last night, so we only needed to have our abultions, have breakfast, get dressed and call an Uber to take us to the station.
At 6.57am, the temperature was -12 that felt like -18, and the forecast was snow. We had made some decisions on what we would wear on the train today based on how we felt in the warm environment of our apartment (and after a sauna), but the harsh reality of -18 and snow meant that we needed to pull out our thermals.
Again. Pull out our thermals again.
We had breakfast and got dressed, and by the time we were ready to depart, I was sweating up a storm.
Bags downstairs, and MBW rubbed her magic smartphone to summon the Uber genie while I was putting the key back in the lockbox.
You see some funny things here that you don’t see at home. For example, the cars here are typically plugged into power overnight – I assume – so that the engine block doesn’t freeze solid. You also see people with a snowmobile on the back of their car.
Key safely back in the lockbox, and Uber summoned, MBW and I waited in the snow.
“How long until it arrives?” I asked MBW.
“1 minute”
“Did you get any indication of what type of vehicle we are waiting for?” I asked.
“A black Mercedes C class”.
I would have expected no less. We are Aussies, after all.
So our Mercedes turned up, our bags were loaded, and we set off to the station with a driver from Somalia. Seriously, Rovaniemi is a melting pot of all nationailties living in the one place … although “melting pot” is probably not the best way to describe it.
The fare for the Uber was about €5.50 Euro. A taxi would have cost about €20-30, and the bus would have cost €7.20 and taken about 4 times longer than a car trip.
Go figure.
We chose to travel in Ekstra (Extra) class because it just seemed like a better choice. This class is intended to provide a place where you can sit quietly and watch the world go by … and enjoy the complimentary tea, coffee and water.
Free coffee is always a bonus. Not the best coffee I’ve ever had, but not the worst either.
And they are pretty serious about it being a quiet space because they provide a quiet room at the end of the carriage where you can go to make a phone call.
Very thoughtful and obliging people, these Fins. The lady sitting opposite us – who appeared to be working on her laptop – must have gone up there for a conference call. In fact she was there so long I nearly went to check she was not stuck in the room and needed rescuing!
The train is a 2 level carriage, and we are on the top level. Our seats – 69 and 70 – are unfortunately facing backwards so we get to see what what we have already passed, rather than what’s coming … but that’s not the end of the world.
While we waited to depart the station, we took the opportunity to video call all 4 of our FLP – Elias and Isabel, Teddy and Lili.
It was good to see them and talk to them. Our emotional tanks are full 
The trip was uneventful, as you would hope.
Lots of snow. Lots of small townships where there are houses painted all sorts of unusual colours that look really pretty here, but would look a bit strange back in Australia.
As much as I like travelling in trains, you can seriously only look out the window at snow so much, and with a trip that starts at 9.22am and finishes around 5.30pm, you really need a plan B.
MBW has downladed, and been watching episodes of “The Rookie“, while I downloaded an 13 part Netflix true crime thingo called “The Staircase“. I actually quite enjoy the way that Netflix puts these programs together.
But I’m waffling, because I don’t have much of substance to say today. Sorry 
As you would expect, the view out of the train window changed as we went further south, and while there was still snow to be seen, it became less prominent and – in some places – almost non-existent.
We arrived into Helsinki about 5 minutes late … hey, it wouldn’t be a train journey if we didn’t arrive late.
I often think that Australia has a long way to go when it comes to accessibility – making it easy for everyone to get in and out without assistance. But I’ve found that accessibility is almost non-existent in Europe.
I’m sure I’ve spoken previously about the challenges getting suitcases in and out of the subway in Paris.
Even here in Helsinki, I had to manhandle both of our suitcases down a flight of stairs on the VR train, then down another 2 flights of stairs to get out of central station.
I don’t know if there was a ramp or wheelchair option anywhere, but I didn’t see it.
Once we were out of the station, we wheeled our suitcases around the corner to the Grand Central Hotel, a pretty swanky hotel in the city and right above the train station.
And guess what? I had to haul our suitcases up another 2 flights of stairs to get to reception.
We are in room 4079. We took the elevators to L4, then walked down a loooong corridor to get to .. another loooong corridor to eventually find our room. Honestly, I’ll be hitting 10,000 steps a day just getting to and from our room.
We dropped our stuff and went out for a walk to find dinner. MBW has heard of a food market nearby, which turned out to be a supermarket with a selection of hot and cold foods and salads.
Crispy chicken, potato rosti, and a yummy salad with mozzarella, tomatos, grapes, lettuce and cashews.
Then we bought coffee and icecream.
Breakfast is included here, and I’m hoping it will be fancy. Like the hotel.
Tomorrow we have a walking tour then some free time to explore, then Thursday we fly back to Paris.
We’ve both been having some trouble getting used to being on the other side of the road. Cars are left-hand drive so they drive on the right. Down escalators (on the left in Australia) are on the right here, and you need to keep to the right of the footpath.
We keep defaulting to keeping left, because old habits die hard, I guess.
But we are going to have to lift our game pretty soon. In two days we will be back in France and picking up a brand spanking new Citroen C4, and things could get ugly if we start messing up our left from right.
As I’ve said, this is a pretty swanky hotel, so I’ll bet they have a pretty swanky sauna here. I’ll have to go exploring …
Ciao
#Europe2025