This week it was my turn to update the Finnish Comenius blog so I thought I'd tell you about something that is very unique for Finland and the Nordic countries in general: the snow. The other countries do get snow as well but up here in the North we get it so much that we can make and build huge amounts of things of it. Few weeks ago I took a group of exchange students to visit a big snow castle in a city of Kemi in Northern Finland and next I will be telling you something about the castle.
The city of Kemi lies on the coast by the Baltic Sea so all the snow and ice used for this castle has been taken from the sea, in fact the snow has been made of the actual water of the sea. The water is taken from the sea and then with the help of snowguns turned into snow. The snowguns blow the snow into casts of a particular shape. After the snow has frozen to the shape of cast the casts are taken off and the castle is done. The whole process of making the snow and building the castle takes approximately six weeks.
In the castle they have a restaurant, a hotel, a chapel and all kinds of exhibitions that have different themes every year. This year's theme was comics and cartoon characters and in the exhibition and around the castle they had various theme-related ice sculptures, for example: Sponge Bob Squarepants, The Simpsons, Spiderman and the main characters of the Ice Age -movie.
Every year the ice hotel accommodates more than 1000 people from nearly 40 different countries. The temperature in the rooms is about -5 degrees and the quests are provided with a sleeping bag suitable for arctic conditions. There are 20 rooms and even a bridal suite in the hotel.
The snow chapel is very popular among the local people but also the tourists. The chapel can be used for example for weddings and christenings. Tourists are especially keen to get married in the chapel and have an unforgettable wedding.
Hope this was something new and exotic and not too boring to read :)
xoxo Eira
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