 Pic 1. A Lapp reindeer ready to bear you off to Santa's jolly presence  Pic 2. Santa and one of his fetching elves delving into the Christmas mail sack |
"It was not for the world's most adventurous and visually edifying skiing that I landed myself in Rovaniemi - the confluence of the Polar Road and the Arctic Ocean Road - a few days into a new year. I came at the behest of the eternal child inside us all; I came to give life to a dream of longstanding. I wanted to meet Santa and discuss affairs of state." So writes Glenn A. Baker about his journey in Finnish Lapland to spend time with the Jolly Red Gent, who receives and answers over a million letters a year, from children in more than fifty countries.
He finds the glossiest and most seductive travel brochure come to life. Snow-covered from October, it is one of the world's premier winter wonderlands; an accessible; enveloping realm of fells and cliffs, reindeer and sled-dogs, shimmering ice crystals and snow-laden pine trees.
Photography by David McGonigal
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