Santa, our friends Liisa and Ari, and us
If the truth is to be told, we Norwegians are bottomless with envy for the Finns who have stolen the Santa from us. Here in Rovaniemi they have created a thriving industry.
In addition to the photo-op with Santa himself, they offer a “will be sent for Christmas”-mailbox for postcards. And, obviously, the place have a separate post code, instructions in many languages, entrance is free of charge, and so on.
As with everything here in Finland we are impressed.
I’m from Drøbak, Norway, where we have all the same stuff, even though it’s a small summer resort in the south, not an icy north pole town. Drøbak started this “Christmas town” thing quite a few years earlier than Rovaniemi, I assume they copied the idea from Drøbak since it quickly became a commercial success and they have all the same things in the same way. Nowadays, Rovaniemi has become more dominant than Drøbak. I guess the reason is more active marketing and maybe more credible location, even though both are pretty far from the North Pole.
God Jul,- hils Liisa og Ari !!