Brownie's Polar Bear Adventure, North of the Arctic Cirle

December 2012

Hi! My name is Brownie, and I am traveling with my human family to Lapland, which is a region at the north of Finland. What's really cool about this trip is that we are going north of the Arctic Circle. It should be really cold there! Hey, do these humans know that I am not a polar bear? I better dress up really warm.

This is me at the Paris airport. Look at the beautiful blue sky. There will be no blue sky in Lapland, because in December there is no real daylight. It's evening or night, all day long.

All children get a little activity book like this at the Paris airport. So of course I got one too!

We flew from Paris to Helsinki, Finland's capital. Now we are waiting for our flight to Ivalo, the northernmost airport in Finland.

We just landed in Ivalo. It's snowing! We have to walk from the airplane to the airport terminal in the snow. I love it!

We get on this bus and they drive us to the hotel.

It's a blizzard but the bus is going really fast! I am a little scared. Look at that road, full of snow and ice.

I am so excited! This is not just a boring hotel. We have our own log cabin in the woods. I hope the heating is working!

This is my room. Can you see me? I am sleeping on the top bed.

In front of the main building they have a thermometer, which can go down all the way to -40 Celsius (which is exactly the same, -40 in Fahrenheit). Apparently they get that cold every winter. But you know what? It's only -4 C (25 F) today. Not that bad!

This is where we eat.

These traditional Sami clothes look exactly my size. Oh wait! Are these just shirts? OK, little too big.

Guess what we are doing today? Husky ride! I just hope the huskies will not think that I am a chew-toy....

This nice lady explains how to drive the sleigh.

Am I really supposed to drive this thing?

They are ignoring me!

I am not driving! I will let the humans and dogs do all the work, and I will just relax in the sleigh.

I have a beautiful view from the sleigh. The only problem: the huskies have too much gas. Hey guys, would you stop doing that! I am dying from this smell!

We see a herd of reindeer!

Phew! I survived the husky ride.

Now I get to pretend that I am driving.

Nice doggy, nice doggy...stop sniffing me!

The huskies can now go back to their little houses to rest.

And we get to have some hot apple juice, straight from the open fireplace.

One last surprise: a visit to the husky nursery. These puppies are 6 months old. Awww, so cute!

Back in the hotel we play in the snow. Sooooo much fun! And look how dark it is, it's only the middle of the afternoon.

Can someone get me down from here? Please?

Oooops, I think I am getting a little wet.

OK, let's go inside and melt...

I put on my best outfit, because it's New Year's Eve!

I am hungry!

This is my plate. It has moose steak, reindeer tongue and lingonberry. Yummy!

That was good!

My dessert: cloud-berry cake. All these berries I never heard of before! Bearilicious!

We melt little horse-shoes in the fireplace, then we throw them into a bucket of cold water. From the shape this lady can predict our future. Mine looks like a sailing boat. It means that I will sail to many places. I prefer to fly...

It's midnight. I call all my family to wish them a happy 2013. Then we go outside in the cold to watch the fireworks. Happy New Year!

I even had my own princess for the evening.

We are sleeping in a glass igloo tonight!

We are supposed to watch the Northern Lights in the sky from our bed, but there aren't any. Too bad. It's OK. I can watch the snow falling. And the bed is really comfy.

Reindeer ride!!!

I am nicely bundled up in the sleigh.

The ride is beautiful!

Then we go into a tipi. The reindeer herders live in these in the spring when they mark the young reindeer.

Inside the tipi we are drinking hot tea and making pancakes over the fire.

OK, mine got a little burned. But it's yummy.

This is the Sami reindeer herder. He is super nice. But he has a complicated Sami name, so I forgot what he is called. He is wearing traditional Sami clothes.

He made his boots from reindeer skin himself. When it gets really cold he stuffs them with grass to keep warm.

He sings two Sami songs for us. His drum is also made of reindeer skin.

Back to the cabin .... and look who is hiding behind our snow princess....a snow bunny!!!

I am soooooo cold! What should I do to heat up? I know! Finland is famous for saunas. Everybody seems to have one at their house. Our cabin has one too. Oh, now I am soooooo hot! Look at the thermometer. It's showing almost 60 C, which is 140 F.