Overnight to Rovaniemi

We went to Rovaniemi. It's a 1000 kilometer trip from Helsinki, about due north. We took the 10:30 pm train, and the station is mostly closed at that time of night. And the signs are in Finnish. And our tickets were too for that matter. So I asked a security guard for some information, and he told us which track our train would be on. He also told us this helpful tidbit "the train is only here for about 5 minutes, so get on as soon as it arrives."

SO, the train pulled in. There's nobody official near it, or on it for that matter. We had been told we'd have the upper deck in a double decker train, with our own shower (!), but this train had no double decker cars. We got on the car that we decided was ours (they are numbered) and found our 2 tiny cabins. Pretty soon the train pulled out. By now we were really hoping this was the right train.

About 5 minutes later the conductor came around and punched our tickets. Whew! We were on the right train.

The cabins had 2 bunks, although there is a third that can be folded out. The bunks are not bad, about twin bed width. The cabins are about 30 inches wider than the bunks, and they are the same length as the bunks, about 6' 6". Cozy. There's a little sink in the corner.

We wandered around the train a bit, then slept pretty well. The train stops quite a bit. In the morning I happened to think we might not get off at the right place, especially if we were in a different time zone, so I asked at the lunch counter. We were in the same time zone all the way, and due into Rovaniemi at 10:30 am. We arrived on time and got off at the right place.