Blogs from Kiruna, Norrbotten, Sweden, Europe
Lapland. You can Sleep when you're Dead.
Published: March 1st 2012Europe » Sweden » Norrbotten » Kiruna
March 1st 2012
I just experienced one of the best trips of my life. One week in Norwegian and Swedish Lapland with a bunch of lifelong friends. You can’t ask for any more than that. Day 1 Bianca, Kiri, Corrie, Autumn, Aaron and I looking lovely, fresh and excited met at Lund Station around midday to begin the journey. Autumn had Burger King and Aaron had Subway which made me jealous as I had packed banana sandwiches. We eventually boarded the first train of the trip to Stockholm and it was an absolutely beautiful ride. There turned out to be several of these transfers, but we didn’t really care because we were so excited and I heard the most hilarious story in the world: Once Bianca’s friend was dog sitting for her cousin. The dog was very ... read more
July 3rd 2011
Abisko Nationalpark, 03.07.2011. Der Abisko Nationalpark liegt im Grenzgebiet von Schweden und Norwegen etwa 200 km nördlich des Polarkreises. Er erstreckt sich über eine Fläche von 77 Quadratkilometer. Obwohl rund 90 km von Kiruna entfernt gehört er noch zur Gemeinde Kiruna. Im Nationalpark legten wir einen Zwischenstopp ein und machten eine ca. 3stündige Wanderung durch den Park. Der Abiskojåkka fliesst durch den Park und bildet hinunter zum Torneträsk eine mächtige Felsenschlucht. Grosse Teile des Parks sind über Stege erschlossen. Diese sollte man wegen der empfindlichen Vegetation auf dem Permafrostboden nicht verlassen. ... read more
June 11th 2011
So here we are again, After we left Abisko national park we kept on driving as close to Lulea as possible. On our way down South we stopped in Kiruna about 100km from Abisko national park, an industrial town known for its iron ore. It has a very recognizable church completly built out of wood. We had a look in town and the senior year of secondary school were celebrating their graduation in a very peculiar way. Every class got his own truck with banners, they were drinking alcohol, shouting stuff, very amusing. We bought some postcards and returned to our car. Just outside Kiruna we found a sign towards the ice hotel that is built there every winter. We lost the sign but we found a very quiet place to sit and have some lunch ... read more
February 2nd 2011
This past weekend I went for a trip up north to a town called Kiruna which lies about 150Km inland from the Arctic Circle. It was an amazing trip to say the least and I'm totally glad I decided go. My friend Brian had called me earlier in the week letting me know a bunch of his friends/other exchange students were planning a trip and to book a train ticket if I was interested. It took me about a day to decide and I figured why not, I had been planning to go up there anyways at some point so I might as well do it while its primetime to go. The trip began on Thursday (January 27th) when I woke up and realized I had nothing packed, no cash, no groceries, and I only had ... read more
January 4th 2011
Continuing on from the previous blog. Every evening we took a walk to the north side of Kiruna in the hope of seeing the Northern lights and one night we got to see this clearly and we couldn’t believe our eyes. They were really strong green and really close to us, and also this time we could see red dancing along with the green. We headed right into the forest so that the city lights weren’t disturbing to take pictures. We think that we were really lucky to see this phenomena with own eyes – it was cold, clear night with many stars. Also this was the time when we got to see true husky’s, a breeder was taking four for a walk where we were sitting in the snow and got to learn quite a ... read more
January 2nd 2011
Happy New Year Everyone!!! Kiruna, the place where you can see a sunrise and sunset at the same time, hear and feel explosions from the underground at 1am every morning, witness the amazing sight of the Northern lights and much more. The arctic area of Sweden is just a fantastic spot in the world to celebrate the beginning of New Year. Chris has been in the north of Scandinavia before (but in summer time) and for Diana is first time in the north. It is awesome to experience real winter in Arctic Circle. Well Kiruna is a small city in the north of Sweden, but the main spot for Swedish Lapland. The population reaches 20.000 inhabitants, but it seems much bigger because it is a touristic place also. Quite cosy, friendly and beautiful city. The first ... read more
March 15th 2010
So the first trip of the decade and since my self imposed break to earn some money after my South American odyssey, it has been my longest break without a holiday since 2006! And to add to the torture, we weren't leaving chilly London for warmer climes, purely the opposite as he flew up north to freezing Stockholm. We arrived and it was a balmy -3 degrees (balmy compared to what we experienced further on in the trip anyway). We traversed the icy streets and found our hostel and eventually managed to get inside where we dumped our stuff and headed out looking for dinner. We ended up finding a cheap burger place and as I went to order, my brain kicked in that they wouldn't understand English so I would have to revert to a ... read more
April 18th 2009
(voor Nederlands, scroll naar beneden) Getting married on Saturday ... and on Sunday morning to the airport: not the French Riviera but destination Arctic Circle. A little cooling is always welcome, not? "What is that?" they ask at the check-in. These are 2 sleds of 30 kg with everything to survive independently for 12 days in negative temperatures ... Eyebrows are frowning, so great, a honeymoon! Lapland, the region above the Arctic Circle, stretches across 4 countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland and a piece of Russia. We choose the Swedish part of Lapland: rugged mountains, arctic tundra with valleys full of birch and pine forests. The area is a pristine wilderness, by far the largest in Western Europe. We draw our sleds (pulkas), walking on snowshoes, from Ritsem in Stora Sjoffalets NP, 130km north to Abisko. It ... read more
March 16th 2009
Two weeks ago, I took a 17 hour train ride to Lulea, Sweden. Its a few hours from the Arctic Circle and its where Kai studies. I had a bed in the train so it wasn't as bad as it sounds because I just watched movies on my laptop and slept for a good portion of the ride. Kai's roommate Markus had two friends from Germany visiting him as well and we all rented a car to drive North for the weekend. There were many other exchange students who joined us in other rental cars. We drove a few hours North and got out of the car to get some pictures of where the Arctic Circle officially begins. The Arctic Circle is defined as the point where the sun never sets on Summer Solstice, around June ... read more
December 12th 2008
The Arctic Circle in winter. Are we crazy? Nope. Just cold. We'd been to the Arctic Circle in Summer (Tromso, Norway) and seen the midnight sun, so it seemed that we should go again in winter for complete symmetry. Mostly we were interested in seeing the Northern Lights (although we knew we would need luck on our side). And it was soooo cool! Kiruna is 67.81˚N, and the week before we arrived it had been averaging in the minus twenties. Our few days were a balmy minus 12! We knew it would be seriously cool right from the start, when we landed at Kiruna Airport on a snow covered runway, and then an hour later at 1pm the sun started to set. We were staying at the famous Ice Hotel (about 15 minutes out of town), ... read more
