Lapland hotel Sky Ounasvaara
was located on the top of Ounasvaara hill near the city center. People said it was too bright to see the northern lights from downtown. So I went to the hotel at night with Minori, who was the Japanese girl I had met at the Santa Claus Village.

There was a staircase to the rooftop outside of the building. The staircase was completely frozen up and it looked like it was put in a freezer for too long.

left:
The hotel was next to Rovaniemi ski slope. After the ski slope was closed and the floodlights were turned off, the rooftop deck became a great spot to see the northern lights.

center, right:
The trees in front of a hotel restaurant were illuminated with colored lights. The colored lights against the white snow on the trees were so beautiful.

We had dinner at a hotel restaurant while waiting for the ski slope was closed. The restaurant was very romantic. We were just sorry that it wasn't a dinner date with a good-looking guy....

We enjoyed delicious cuisine!

I drank some beer to warm myself up and we went back to the rooptop again. We stood shivering at the windswept deck and we kept on looking up at the night sky for a while. But the sky was covered with clouds and we couldn't even see a star.... It didn't look like the clouds would clear away, so we gave up the serach for the northern lights.
By the way, don't go out into the coldd after drinking, especially in Finland. Because it made me even colder, and I often had to go to the toilet!

left, center, right:
Minori was really enjoying the winter scenery around the hotel. Because she lived in the west part of Japan, which didn't have much snow, it looked like it was getting her excited.