Videos | • Latest |
|
• Feature | • Sports | • Your Videos |
Many children dream of travelling to Lapland to visit Santa, but if the Arctic Circle is too far they can do the next best thing. For just under 200-U.S.-dollars, kids can send their favorite stuffed animal instead.
Let's meet Nalle. He's from Espo in southern Finland, but he's currently enjoying a holiday in Lapland.
Nalle is the cherished teddy bear of a group of children at a kindergarten in Espo, and they decided he deserved a special treat.
Here he is with his personal guide having his photo taken at the entrance to Santa's official office.
His holiday has been organized by Teddy Tours Lapland.
The company was formed in 2009 by Marja Ylinampa after she read about Teddy Tours Berlin, a company that takes teddies around the German capital.
Since then some 50 teddies have visited Rovaniemi - most come from Finland, Japan and Germany.
The tour takes on average of two weeks before the teddy is returned to its owner.
Nalle arrived at the Teddy Tours office by post. Once his holiday is over, he will be returned to the kindergarten with photographs of his adventures.
But for now, Nalle is being taken for long walks in the snow, braving temperatures as low as 30 degrees Celsius below zero.
Marja Ylinampa, Teddy Tour Guide, said, "We get teddies from all over the world; Japan, England, Germany and from a variety of other countries."
And perhaps the best treat of all is that Nalle also gets to travel to Santa's Village to meet the man himself.
Fresh from his visit to Santa, Nalle's popped into the post office to write a postcard to the children at home telling them all about his adventures.
And after a long, hard day he's finally ready to be tucked in bed for a long, warm sleep in the Santa Hotel.
Go to Forum >>0 Comments