I was really excited to see the actual latitude line of the Arctic Circle. I have no idea why…I just was. Well, arriving at 66° 33′ 44″ N was a lesson in expectation management. This is all there was:

Santa Claus has his “grotto” exactly 100m north of this crappy longitude marker, so we decided to pay him a visit. Well…Santa was nowhere to be seen.

Dear Santa, you suck!

Given that we are adults and (spoiler alert!) know the truth about jolly ol’ Saint Nick, we decided NOT to wait 45 minutes to see him, which would have then required us to wait an additional hour and a half for our bus back to town. They should really have a stand-in for Santa when he needs a potty break!

We opted instead to drink a toast to failed Christmas wishes at the train station and prepare for our overnight train to Russia!

I also had really high expectations for our 18-hour train ride from the Arctic Circle to St. Petersburg. I have no idea why…I just did. Maybe because we reserved a “private sleeper cabin with en suite shower”. Apparently what this really meant was: a table that turned into a sink, no shower anywhere on the train, and toilets that emptied directly onto the tracks. Again, expectation management.

Please don’t let that suitcase fall down…please don’t let that suitcase fall down.

Look who got the top bunk!

Well…there was nowhere to go but up from this let down of a day. So…Russia or bust, baby!