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Published: January 19th 2009
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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), but in the warm section of it. While sleeping in the frozen section would have been unique, we didn't think Peanut would have liked it very much!
By staying in the warm accommodation we were still able to wander through all the 'ice' section (ice bar, rooms, lobby etc) in the stylish thermal jump suits they provide. And because we were there
in December we saw them still building another wing of rooms, and the Ice Chapel. It was so fascinating. They would get snow from the river, process it through snow makers to make it wet again, carry it up to the building site, spray it over some moulds and wait for it to freeze before putting the arches together and dividing it into rooms and building ice beds. The lobby was magnificent. It was like something from a fairytale with all the ice pillars and chandeliers (with fibre optics in each 'crystal' for light). The coolest (and most expensive) rooms were the ice suites designed by artists from all over the world (including some Africans who had never seen snow before!). They were like one giant ice sculpture incorporated around a bed. Our favourite was an ice tree with stairs all the way around it leading up to a bed on top of the canopy.
Of course we had a ($$$$$$$) drink in the Ice Bar. The glasses were made out of ice and so stuck to our lips when we weren't careful. Steph had to drink very quickly - since hers was non-alcoholic it kept freezing! She then
Dog Sled Ride
Through a winter wonderland tried to take her glass back to our (warm) room to drink Coke in. Messy business... Our fridge was not working so well so we would pop the Coke in the snow just outside the window, but the snow was so soft and deep that it just kept sinking! Digging time 😊
Outside of the hotel, it was a winter wonderland and we loved just walking around in it. What I'll remember most is so much snow (fir trees with inches and inches of snow on their branches)and so little light (the sun doesn't make it above the horizon in winter, but for a few hours there is a glow). In the few hours of daylight we went on a husky sled road through the fairytale white forest. The dogs were so beautiful and so keen to run. As we were getting on the sled they were jumping up and down and barking like crazy anxious to run. It was funny watching them try to eat mouthfuls of snow from the side of the track as they were running!
Later that night we went on a Snowmobile Excursion well outside the bright lights of town, with the hope
Snow Mobile Excursion
On hunt for the northern lights of seeing the Northern Lights. The previous night had been cloudy so there was no chance of seeing them. And this day had been the same, but just as we were taking off the clouds seemed to roll away and we saw a sky so full of stars that I really thought we were going to get some action. Steph and I took turns driving our snowmobile through the forest trails, and just pinching ourselves. We stopped at a hut for a break and dinner - moose soup. No one was more shocked by us about how good it tasted! Yum, yum, yum. It was then that our guide told us just how rare the Northern Lights were - something I had no comprehension of before. I just thought that if the sky was clear you would see them. However, he had done this trip every night for 6 weeks and only seen it once. Apparently they can come out randomly for 30 minutes, or just a few seconds. And even though the lights had been the whole point of our trip, somehow it wasn't disappointing to not see them. Being so far north in the very middle of winter,
Stockholm!
Gamla Stan - the old town and seeing so many beautiful and white scenes was enough.
On both legs of the trip we went via Stockholm, and spent about a day each time. The first of the 2 days was rainy, but the second was brilliant sunshine (for the 4 hours of daylight anyway). I'm glad we had the sunny day too, because it left us with much better impression of the city. It is a pretty archipelago of about 14 islands set on the river, full of beautiful buildings and bridges. And everywhere you looked it was Christmas!
On the first day (a Friday) we tried to set out for the most famous Christmas markets at Skansen (on the island of Djurgården). I don't know how it was possible but despite speaking to the hotel concierge and 2 different information people and a bus driver, no one told us it was only open weekends until we arrived at the closed gates. And it was pouring rain. And the buses were on 20 minute intervals. 😞 But once we got off the island we found plenty of quaint Christmas Markets, and windy old Gamla Stan streets full of Christmas lights, and big department stores
with Christmas displays. And there was the H&M maternity section for Steph and Pizza Hut for me. Happy, happy campers. 😊
Anth
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Alanna
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Out done yourselves...
Everytime I think you can't do anything more exciting you prove me wrong. Your travel stories are amazing, and it's a thrill to read them.