Last Day in Lapland

On our last day everyone was on the bus and ready to go well before our departure time. Lara and I had taken a walk in the morning. It was a beautiful day, not too cold and fairly clear. We left to travel to the city center, more specifically to a Sami heritage museum. I was in the first tour group. The museum wasn't very big, only about 6 rooms in total, but it was interesting. We got to see traditional clothing, uses for various handmade creations, and how the Sami have lived in general. This is also where Sarah and I discovered that the mystery footprints we had seen on our walk were in deed rabbit tracks. The picture below shows a woman wearing her hat two different ways: if she wears it pointing forward, it means she is going towards home and if she wears it pointing backwards, it means she is going away from home. I thought that was interesting. Next you can see some traditional clothes and below, a painting.

After the tour we had a bit of free time while the other group took their tour. It was beautiful outdoors. We found a pretty church to photograph, along with some ice sculptures.

This last picture is something that I noticed in Kiruna and Jokk Mokk. They appeared to be walker-sleds. I saw quite a few elderly using them to walk or to push themselves around on. I think it's genius. 

At 2:30pm it was time to depart for home. I spent a good three hours staring out the window amazed by the scenery that was passing me by. We watched some movies and before I knew it, it was time to try to sleep, which I did not do much of. Staring outside at two a.m. isn't nearly as beautiful as four in the afternoon, but it's still pretty entertaining. Plus I was on the lookout for Northern Lights. We got in much earlier than I expected us to this morning, about 7 am. So far I have been quite productive today and I am going to end by finishing this blog :)

You should really check out my videos on Facebook too. While it does not do its beauty justice, it is interesting to see what the drive looked like from the bus window. And you should definitely look at all of my other pictures on Facebook. I think there's somewhere around 200. Enjoy!