Rovaniemi is a lovely city situated close to the Arctic Circle where the Kemijoki and the Ounasjoki Rivers meet. Our hotel was on the banks of one of these rivers and central to the city area, so we were in walking distance of most things we wanted to see. The city plan is set out in he shape of reindeer antlers, the streets are decorated with Christmas lights in the shape of antlers and the gift shops are full of souvenirs made of reindeer antlers. Guess which animal is most common around here?

The locals say this is a very mild winter, but for us it was perfect - cold enough to have plenty of snow, but not so cold as to be unbearably freezing outdoors. Temperatures were around minus 4 to minus 12, with softly falling snow most of the time. Sunrise is well after 10 in the mornings and sunset, before 3 in the afternoon, so most of our photos were taken in cool blue-ish light or darkness lit by Christmas lights. Unfortunately for us, no northern lights due to cloud cover, so that has been our only disappointment for the whole trip. However, we have had many other lights, all high, and are content to have been blessed with good fortune in every other way throughout our journey.

We enjoyed visiting Arktikum, the museum and Arctic science centre where we did get to see the northern lights in a special theatre and learn all about Lappish life, culture and history.

We also enjoyed the local cuisine, especially reindeer stew served with a delicious lingonberry sauce. Lingonberries are the new superfood to watch out for, grown locally here and packed with nutrients. They are similar to cranberries and, on top of my reindeer dinner, looked a bit like lots of little red reindeer noses. Very festive.

Oh, and another treat - we had a coffee under the most northerly golden arches in the world. That's right, even Santa gets to eat at McDonald's in his home town.

It goes without saying that meeting Santa himself was fantastic and crossing the Arctic Circle, also high on our list of top things we loved. We made our last snowman and spread the wings of our last snow angel on our walk to the train station this morning. Now we are on the train back to Helsinki for one last night in Finland before flying home.