Car Trip #1: Hapaaranta + Lasaretti

So now it's time for me to share some car trip stories and photos. I'm going to separate the sections since I've taken so many photos and some video clips during our trip he he he he...

We left on Monday, July 14th from Sodankylä at around 10 am. Our first stop was Hapaaranta (or Haparanda) in Sweden, near Tornio. There's a huge IKEA store there along with some other stores. People who live there speak both Swedish and Finnish and in the stores there are usually two prices: in Euro and Swedish kronor. Here are some pictures of Hapaaranta:



I think this building below used to be a railway station he he he...


In IKEA's parking lot in Hapaaranta:


We went to another hypermarket nearby and bought some stuff there, then we continued our way to Tornio to have lunch. I told hubby that I wanted to eat in a Chinese restaurant, so we had lunch here:



I ordered Szechuan pork. The price for this dish (€7) includes water and salad. This is pretty cheap. No wonder the resto had many customers!!!

On the way back home, we also tried going to another Chinese resto in Kempele (near Oulu) and I ordered pork garlic and it cost €12 and we had to buy the water (a glass of iced water cost €0,50!). However, I'm pleased that both types of restaurants had pretty spicy dishes, so it was good, though if I'm ever going to eat in a Chinese resto again, I'll choose the cheaper one HA HA HA HA HA HA...


Hubby chose beef. Delicious, too, but not hot at all. I chose the right dish HI HI HI HI...


Next stop was Lasaretti Hotel in Oulu. When we arrived there, the weather was VERY nice. It was around 22'C and it was sunny. We came on the perfect day! It felt like a second honeymoon, you know? And the price of the hotel room isn't too expensive, either. It's only €74 (trust me, that's not too much for a hotel with such a nice location!). Plus the hotel seems new and it doesn't have a tacky interior (I once had lunch in a hotel in Sodankylä and it had such a tacky interior!). And best of all, we got a BEAUTIFUL view! (see the other pics below)

Anyway, here is the hotel lobby and we stayed in the next building on the right. You can see the glass bridge between the lobby and the other building. So if you ever want to visit Oulu, I HIGHLY recommend this hotel!!! ;-D


Here are two pics of the lobby:



And here's the restaurant:


Here's another view of the hotel from the back: our bedroom is located on the third floor of the red building near the tower.


Walking along the glass bridge between the lobby and our room he he he...


Ta daaaaa...here's a view from our hotel room. YUM YUM...It was PURE bliss when we came inside and saw this after being in the car for about 4 hours he he he...


After lying down for a while to rest, we decided to take a walk around the place. There were plenty of people outside, enjoying the sun (walking, playing on the beach across, or riding bicycles). Only after that we realized why. The hotel is located right next to a park called Hupisaaret.


Here are some views from Hupisaaret park...Talk about the perfect day!!! ;-D But okay, I'm going to stop here and continue later. I still have many things to do, including blog-hopping he he he he he he...

But additional info: We took a long walk around the park and the surrounding area (I'll upload more photos later) and Arttu sighed. I said, "What? You don't feel like going home, eh?" He nodded he he he he...It was just such a pleasant day with pleasant weather and surroundings. Mmmmmmm...

Anyway, after that, we decided to go swimming in the hotel's pool. And guess what? We got lucky since nobody was there except us! It felt like we had our own swimming pool HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...And I did wear my bikinis HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO...And then we went to have sauna in separate saunas. It was a big sauna, probably big enough for 10 people and again nobody was there HO HO HO HO HO...WE LOVED IT! ;-D