So we got into town on Friday afternoon and we were ready to explore the quaint town of Kiruna. It is a mining town in the middle of nowhere, and so there isn’t a whole lot to do, but they did have a few things. One of the first things we did was go check out the beautiful old wooden church.
Turns out that is just about all one can take of walking outside in the freezing cold without long johns on and so we went back to our hotel to get warm. Actually people keep asking if I was really cold, and honestly, for the most part, no. It’s a dry cold (it is one of the driest places in the world), and so you don’t feel it as bad.
Our plan was to go to the Abisko Sky Station on Friday night, which is supposed to be one of the best places on earth to see the Northern Lights, but apparently the road was closed, so we stayed in and watched some March Madness. Thank goodness NCAA streams every game online for free and that it actually works overseas, unlike for example, NBC which just recently decided not to show things online in my region. So we didn't see any Northern Lights on Friday night, but we were warm and we got to watch hours of basketball streamed with American commercials... I was pretty much in heaven. (Speaking of commercials, did y’all see the IBM commercial where they talk about Stockholm and even speak a bit of Swedish in it?)
The next morning we were picked up in a van outside our hotel. So as a preface, we didn’t really have any clue what we had signed up for with the "2 Day Northern Lights Tour." The description on the website said:
“We travel with a dog team 10 km through wilderness to the camp comprising genuine peat cots. There's a good chance we'll see moose along our route.
We'll have lunch and dinner made from Sami specialties at the camp. There's
also time for activities such as ice-fishing, skiing, wood-fired sauna etc.
The Northern Lights can be seen in all their glory without the need for
electric lighting. You'll sleep well on the reindeer hides in the cots. We
return the next day after lunch.”
And we knew some dude named Henrik was going to pick us up sometime around 9 am. That is all the information we had to go on. So back to getting picked up in a van by a stranger- a van pulled up to our hotel, a large older gentlemen gets out and says, dog sledding? We say yes, hand him our stuff and get into a van. There were 3 Asian girls already in the van. We weren’t nervous at first because, well, this is Sweden and they don’t really have the crime rates that we are used to in the States. So we start to make small talk with our guide and with the other 3 girls, and as soon as we mentioned Northern Lights, Henrik were pretty honest about there being a good chance that we wouldn’t see the Northern Lights. Also, he casually mentioned that they rarely see Moose out in these parts. So basically calling the tour a "2 Day Northern Lights tour" is a little misleading. And why would they even mention that there’s a “good chance to see a moose” when in reality, there is not a good chance at all? Still, we weren’t deterred by this- we were still excited about dog sledding and everything else. In fact we weren’t concerned until we get to the middle of nowhere after driving for 20 minutes and the Henrik says, ok- someone will be here in a little bit. And so we and the 3 other girls with us got out of the car and the driver drove off. In the middle of nowhere. Having nothing else to do but be cautiously optimistic, we waited, and sure enough another car pulled up with 4 more people in about 10 minutes or so. But still, the whole thing was off to a sketchy start.
So the first thing we did was take the dogs out of their crates and put them on a line. They have a very specific way of walking the dogs over to the line by holding them up by their collar and having them walk on their back legs to the line.
This seems weird, but they said it is because the dogs aren’t trained to be walked like pets, and that they are so strong, so if you walk them on all fours than you might lose control of them. So the dogs get on the line, and we pet them and play with them a bit, but we are just sort of hanging out. This is when I started to get cold. Finally, another van with 8 Spanish folks pulls up, and we stand around and wait for them to get all their gear on. Apparently there was a mix-up with them, which is why they were so late getting there. Unfortunately this meant an extra hour or so for us standing in the wide open doing nothing.
So finally it is time to get the dogs on the sled, and by this time I am frozen solid. Which was not the best way to start the adventure since most of the time I would be sitting on a moving sled not doing anything. There were 17 people total in our group, and there were only 2 dog sleds, which hold at most 3 people each, so we took turns riding on the dog sled or riding on a cart that was pulled by a snow mobile.
We did take turns driving the sleds and the snow mobiles and those warmed me up a little bit. It only took about an hour to get to the cabin, where at first I thought we were just stopping for lunch at, but it turns out we were stopping for the day and this is where we would be staying. At first I was a little disappointed that we wouldn’t be dog sledding for a longer period of time, but like I mentioned, I was freezing cold, so it was probably good that we didn’t do that for too long. Like I said, we had no idea what to expect, so we were pleasantly surprised that we got to drive the dog sled and a snowmobile at all. Here is a video with Blake at the helm. Oh- and they don’t say Mush! Who knew?!!
The rest of the day was spent hanging out around the cabin and the surrounding area. We had to chop our own firewood and get our own water from the river, get the fire in our cabin started; it was all very rustic and fun. We attempted ice skating, but the skates were dull, and so that was a bust:
but then we went crawling through ice caves:
The cabin is situated at a place where 2 rivers meet which causes a lot of air pockets to form in the ice, and you can crawl through them. I feel like a gopher in this picture:
The area was just beautiful to walk around so Blake and I just explored the area and relaxed and watched the chilly sunset while getting some cool pics of the river and ice and sunset.
As soon as the sun went down, some of the people in our cabin started the search/wait for the Northern Lights. It was a clear night, so there was hope to see some, but it is a little late in the season and we found out later (from a hitchhiker we picked up) that this year is not the best time to view them. Apparently the viewing of the Aurora Borealis goes in an 11 year cycle, and we were sort of at the worst time of that 11 year cycle to try and see them. But around 8 pm, one of the girls ran into the cabin (Blake and I were happy sitting in the warm cabin by the fire while those chumps sat and waited outside in the freezing cold! ha!) and said they had spotted some! So we ran outside and sure enough, you could sort of see a cloud like pattern in the sky. My first thought was, that’s it? But still, I knew it was special just to see them, so I was excited. We ran down to the river to get a better view, and things started to pick up. After a short tutorial with another girl, Blake was able to capture some shots of the lights with my simple point and shoot cannon, and his tripod. The lights are constantly changing size and shape and brightness. The one thing to note is that the lights aren’t as green as the camera makes them out to be, but still.. how cool are they?
Around 9 pm we sat down for dinner of reindeer stew, and just as we were eating, Steig checked outside and told us to hurry up and get outside. Now mind you, my only complaint about the entire trip was how hungry I was the whole time. Like we said, we had no idea what to expect, so we only brought a few of cookies, but they should have told us to bring snacks and perhaps a few beers. The food they cooked was decent, but I am not used to eating lunch at 1:30, and then not eating dinner until 9. I need something in between. So I scarfed down a few quick bites and ran outside with everyone else. And all I can say is wow. WOW.
Now I could see that the big fuss was all about. The lights were now brighter (and actually greener) and they were moving fast all over the sky. Just wow. Blake was able to capture a few great pics, but in person, it really takes your breath away. The lights for the next 20 minutes or so basically made the entire trip worth it.
When we got cold again, we headed back to dinner. With Steig. Steig is probably one of the weirdest people I have ever met. He was the utensil Nazi. When we sat down for lunch he handed us all a plastic mug and told us that if we didn’t show this to him as we sat down to lunch the next day, then we wouldn’t get lunch. Also, he would only give you exactly the amount of utensils needed. We were having stew, so we all got 1 spoon. When he cleared our plates and he took our spoons and we wanted coffee, we basically had to beg to get 1 more spoon to share with the entire table to stir our instant coffee. Also, if he asked you to do something and you did it wrong, he would yell at you. Blake and I had it a little bit easier, because we can speak Swedish, and he seemed to like that. For example, at breakfast the next morning, Blake and I were the last ones there, and when I sat down I noticed all he had out for the bread was butter and orange marmalade. Well, I cant eat orange marmalade, because I am allergic to citrus, so I politely asked in Swedish if I could instead have some Lingonberry jam (which I knew he had because we had it with dinner the previous evening.) He gave me this right away, and one of the German girls who just didn’t like orange marmalade was like- I asked for that 20 minutes ago and you wouldn’t give it to me! It was pretty funny. By the end of the trip, everyone in our cabin would ask Blake or I to ask Steig for something when they needed it.
Speaking of cabins, we stayed in a pretty normal cabin with the non-Spanish group. (well we had a couple that was from Spain in our cabin, but they weren’t part of the 8 Spaniards who were traveling together.) I was pretty annoyed with the other Spanish group- they were just really rude and obnoxious. They wouldn’t close doors, they were loud, and just sort of annoying. They got to stay in the traditional Lappish hut, which seems cooler at first, but our cabin was much nicer.
The next morning, Blake and I decided to give cross country skiing, which neither of had ever done before, a try. All of the equipment was pretty crappy, but we each found a pair that seemed promising, and after a few struggles managed to go a few kilometers. It was a lot of fun, I would love to try it again with better equipment. We actually worked up a sweat, and so we took off our face masks and unbuttoned our jackets. We just forgot about the part where the sun reflects off of the snow and we got a sunburn! In the Arctic circle! Who would have thought? Not too bad, but our skin was already so dry from the dry air, so it just sort of compounded that.
When we were done, we came back, waited while starving (per usual) for lunch, and then we were ready to head back. Getting the dogs set up and organized takes awhile, but this time the sun was shining, and the ride back was a lot more enjoyable because I wasn’t so cold.
When we got back to the hotel we were happy to get back to a place where we didn’t have to where long johns and snow pants anymore and stayed in and watch Michigan State beat USC. Did I mention that I love March Madness? Go Green!
The next morning we were ready to see this infamous Ice Hotel that everyone has been talking about. So we drove about 20 minutes outside of Kiruna to Jukkasjärvi.
How is the Ice Hotel formed you ask? First, I will give you the Meta-overview:
“Ten thousand years ago, glaciers carved a riverbed and the Torne River was born. Since then, the crystal-clear, pure water of the Torne River has flowed freely along its 600-kilometer path through Lapland out to the sea in the southeast. The entire ICEHOTEL is on loan from the mighty Torne River and is a place where time stands still. When the spring comes and then finally the summer, the entire creation will once again become part of the rushing rapids coursing toward the sea.”
Oh, you wan’t an actual answer? The Ice Hotel is a temporary hotel made up entirely of snow and sculpted blocks of ice. All of the ice hotels are reconstructed every year, and are dependent upon constant sub-zero temperatures during construction and operation. The walls, fixtures, and fittings are made entirely of ice, and are held together using a substance known as snice, which takes the place of mortar in a traditional brick-built hotel. The entire hotel is made out of snow and ice blocks taken from the Torne River - even the glasses in the bar are made of ice. When completed, the hotel features a bar, church, main hall, reception area and rooms and suites for over 100 guests to sit and sleep on blocks of sculpted ice in the form of chairs and beds. We were able to tour all of the art roons, which all had different themes.
They even had a church made out of ice:
Although the ice hotel is decidedly really cool, we are glad we didn’t pay almost $500 for one night in a basic room (not even one of the fancy art suites) where we would have to share a bathroom and there isn’t even a warm and cozy lobby to hang out and relax in.
On our way back into town to go to the airport, we saw a young man hitchhiking on the side of the road, and both said we have never picked up a hitchhiker before, but what the hell? We are in the middle of nowhere in Northern Sweden- what’s the worst that could happen? And gave a very nice space-engineering masters student (or something like that) a ride back into town and he told us all about the 11 year cycle of the Aurora Borealis.
So as far as my life’s list goes (in no particular order):
Go to the Arctic Circle. Check
See the Northern Lights. Check.
Go Dog Sledding. Check.
Pick up a hitchhiker. Check.
Not too bad for a weekend! You can see all my pics (and some of Blake’s) from the trip here.
Oh, did I mention the 2 days of dog sledding? Yeah, it is going to be awesome! We will be back Monday if I dont freeze to death!
