It is quite past lunch time when we exit Santa Village so we decide to try the local hamburger chain Hesburger. Even though we are tempted we do not buy the Arizona burger but go with the safer hamburger and cheeseburger menus, at least we assume that’s what they are. For the first time we get a server that doesn’t know English and of course the names of the burgers and long and complicated to pronounce so hilarity ensues as we try to communicate. Finally we get our order through and receive the hamburgers – overall quality and presentation seemed to be similar to McDonalds to us.
On the road south we have multiple encounters with reindeers but then as we approach civilization the reindeer start to disappear and the speed cameras start to reappear. Also traffic start to pick up making it more difficult to make good time towards our hotel. On the way we stop a few times mostly near lakes to stretch our legs and take some nice pictures.
It is late already so we call the hotel from one of our stops to let them know we are late, they give us a pin number so we can enter the reception area and pick up an envelope with our hotel room cards.
Last stop of the day is Kajaani where we visit the ruined castle on an island in the middle of the city. Once again we are grateful for the long days as we are really late with our visit around 9 PM but it still feels like midday with people fishing and jogging in the park.
Unexpectedly the ruins actually are used to support a modern bridge that we are passing as we try to find a parking spot.
It is free to visit the ruins and it is a nice spot to spend 1/2h to explore the different nooks and crannies and also to view the ducks that frequent the area.
Arriving at our hotel in Kuopio late we discover that parking is at a premium in the parking lot with barely some space left. After lots of repositioning we finally make it, get our keys and crash in the beds almost without unpacking.
