Karasjok, Norway Motorcycle 0 km, human feet several km

Last night we had a Laplander (Sami) meal in a sod house dwelling adjacent to the hotel and cultural village. Norma had a reindeer filet and Doug, not being able to get the image of Rudolph and his red nose out of his mind, opted for the arctic char (he is just kidding – N). The wooden boards on which our meals were served were placed on vertical sections of trees, the whole setup requiring a balancing act and the need to lean forward carefully getting the food to your mouth. We wondered if it would have been better balancing the wooden tray thing on our knees but opted to just lean and eat for fear of upsetting the drinks as well as the contents of the plates – we didn’t spill anything, though. They offered to light a fire in the fire pit for us to make it more authentic but we declined. This arctic heat wave was enough. We do know they use the fires as you could smell the smoke in the area and this morning the young fellow from the hotel told us they recently installed new chimneys as the guests were complaining too much about the smoke.

Restaurant

Dining Tables

Reindeer filet

This morning after asking at the reception desk we managed to find a washing machine in the hotel annex and did a load of laundry. It is actually a set up for staff so we are happy they allowed us to use it. The concept of laundromats does not exist here.

While this was happening we went to a Sami Museum (different from the cultural park). Many interesting buildings on the grounds of the museum as well as displays of the culture and the life of these semi-nomadic reindeer herders in a main building. By the height of the buildings they must have been pretty short. Doug could barely fit through the door then needed to keep stooped to walk about. They seem to use lots of pine twigs for mattress springs and cover them with reindeer hides. The main colours for their clothing and decorations is red and navy blue. It was very educational and elicited mental comparisons to our own northern people.

Demonstration sod dwelling

In the afternoon we went to the cultural center gift shop but opted out of the entrance fee to the cultural park, mainly because we had walked through most of it either accidentally or while doing our laundry (the annex is inside the cultural centers grounds) and what we did see was the same as the museum display. Besides some souvenirs we did purchase a sled dog to accompany us on the remainder of the tour (see photo). 

Everything is within walking distance here (grocery store, museums, etc.) and the maps give walking times – i.e. 5 minutes, 7 minutes.

Tomorrow we are on the road again. Off to see Santa Claus and his Finland city.