(Finland) Amazing memories in Korpikartano Hotel 1 – Where is Korpikartano?

[14/12/05 (D+1192) to Korpikartano Hotel]

I had ridden my bicycle in the north to see an amazing aurora, but I had not seen yet. When I was frustrated, I had an idea. The plan is to take a bus from Oulu, central Finland to the north and see an aurora dancing during volunteering.
I typed “Hotel” in google map around the northern Finland to find a volunteer job. I had sent my resume with pictures to hotels which have the website.
Anne, the owner of Hotel Korpikartano, gave me a very positive message. She told me that she could offer me free room and food. Also she could pay for my bus which costs over 200$ for a round trip.
I knew only a few things about the hotel through their website.

Welcome to Menesjärvi!

When I arrived in the hotel, it looked much bigger and better than website. Indeed they have so many interesting winter activities.

When I had Working Holiday Visa of Canada, I had lived in Yellowknife from 2010 to 2011 to see Aurora. Yellowknife is located at 62 of latitude and Hotel Korpikartano is at 68 of latitude. I guess this is the highest latitude I’ve ever been.

Auroral oval means an oval-shaped region centered on the earth’s magnetic pole in which auroral emissions occur.
People cannot see aurora if they go very further to the north. The best place to see aurora is in which places is located at Auroral oval. Korpikartano was totally in that circle, so I was really happy to go there.

By the way, what is aurora?
An aurora is a flickering light mostly caused by the sun’s radiation, usually found near the poles. So it depends on Sun activity. If there is a strong sun activity, then people can see an amazing aurora. (Of course, the sky must be clear at first. If it is cloudy, people cannot see anything although there is a strong sun activity.)

The hotel is at the north of Finland.

The people who come by plane stop at Ivalo and take hotel’s van to the hotel. For my case, I took the bus to Inari and the hotel picked me up.

(Bus’s time-table and price : https://www.matkahuolto.fi/en/
There is no booking system because the bus is not always full.)

The hotel was surrounded by the forest and there was the lake at the front, which looked like in the film. The lake’s name was Menesjarvi which was the same as village name.

Google map : https://goo.gl/maps/5eQGH

There were two big buildings at the hotel.
The main building had a reception, rooms, restaurant, lounge, sauna, rental room.
The picture was taken at the front of reception.

It was a lounge which was used by guest for a hot drink with fire at the next of reception.

It was a restaurant at the downstairs.

At the other side of downstairs, there was a sauna. As I told before, sauna is a typical Finnish culture. The way to use Sauna at the hotel was simple. There was a timetable at the front of Sauna. The guest has to write their room number at the time they want to use. The guest will use for only themselves, which means it is a private sauna.
The sauna was quite big that there was a changing room at the first.

The room for shower

Sauna looked smaller on the picture, but it was bigger than picture actually.

The rental room where the guest could borrow

There were many things to enjoy the winter activity at the outside of rental room. Kindly Anne told me I can use all for free.

There was a slope to the lake from the hotel. It was so much fun to use all those stuff. Specially the orange one on the picture is the fastest one!!!! I do recommend!!!!

There was kick-sled on the lake which guest can use.

The front view from the hotel

The view from the suit room which was on the second floor of the main building

An annex to a hotel had many rooms. I stayed here.

An annex also had a sauna. At the front, there was a changing room.

The next room was for shower.

And the last room was for hot sauna where people can be relaxed. The way to use the sauna here was the same as main building.
Anne told me I can use sauna for free as well.

I didn’t have room’s picture, so I brought from the hotel’s website. This is hotel’s room.

At the next of main building, there was a big cottage which was called Kota. It was usually for a big group’s dinner or winter activity.

The interior of the room made for a very cozy atmosphere.

Just before the lake, there was a small cottage where the guest could make a fire for free. And yes I could use it for free anytime as well.

Colleagues I’ve been with for a month

Okay, then let’s start the story of beautiful Aurora and memories I can never forget in Korpikartano!

[14/12/05 (D+1192) to Korpikartano Hotel] Amazing memories in Korpikartano Hotel 1 – Where is Korpikartano?