Backdate: Norway, Sweden, Finland Nov - Dec 2025 Day 10

6/12/25 Sat: Had our buffet breakfast at 7.30am after we gossiped with the rest last night haha~ Tried this juice and whoa the ginger taste was strong! Checked out at 8.30am and we headed towards Ranua Wildlife Zoo.

Arrived after 1.5 hours of bus ride and we saw pink skies~ so pretty. Was hopeful of a clear sky at night but it didn't happen~ oh well.

Start of our tour with the pretty guide and the whole walk took us 1.5h or so. We saw sleeping otters and very small rats in the first conservation area.

Kee said he thought the snowy owl is the prettiest animal there. They were huge too.

I really loved the scenery… well as long as one can brave the cold haha. It wasn't too cold for us because of climate change though, albeit the paths could get slippery at some places.

Saw a wild boar, who was a greedy male. There's also one female polar bear about 20YO, but the zoo has brought in a few more now. It's interesting to learn how their fur colours differ according to what they eat. *See how tall a polar bear is? No wonder we have to run if we meet polar bears face to face~* 

Potato has his "favourite", the big cat lynx. We also saw pack of wolves. In Finnish, Wolverine is called “Ah Ma” lol.

Took a group photo before our buffet lunch at 12pm. It reminded me of school canteen because we queued to get our food haha.

I was very full from the meal. The corn soup was a bit salty. After that, we bought some chocolate souvenirs (EUR12.6) from a mart outside the zoo before going to Vaaran Polotila, a reindeer farm. Got there at 1.45pm and we saw some reindeers kept separately in random areas.

Male ones are the ones with horns, and they looked really tough. The white one was the only female reindeer we saw, but there were 3000+ reindeers there and majority were actually females. We were then split into three groups for the reindeer sleigh rides. 30sLGEgang chose to be the last batch to go.

We were right behind Anthony and Gracie. Was looking at the reindeer's heart-shaped butt throughout the short and slow ride lol.

When we were back, we talked to some of the owners and this one was very actively searching for his berries treat after we started feeding them haha. So scared he would poke me la~

Got to Pikku hotel at 4.45pm. *Potato’s always the one taking our luggage! Arigatou~* It was simple and quite spacious but the room reeks of wood smell. The view outside from the third floor in this ski resort was nice though.

Love this Lingonberry juice we bought for Euro 2.59 (S$3.92)~ but had no chance to buy it home after that haiz. 30sLGEgang gathered in ours to play Yaniv at 6.15pm before our late dinner and they enjoyed it haha! Potato won over WS in the end!

Had our three-course dinner at 8.30pm… damn late. The starter was the golden beetroot, smoked yoghurt and VSOP gouda. It was not bad. For the mains, we had fried Arctic Charr, crispy Jerusalem artichoke and dill beurre blanc. It was a very nice sauce with the charr. The skin was well-seared too. My favourite, however, was the vanilla white chocolate cream, sea buckthorn sorbet and licorice meringue! It was well-matched and the licorice was not too strong either. Overall, a satisfying course meal!

Got back to our room at 9.45pm but it was cloudy that night, so no chance of aurora at all.