Northern Sweden - the Ice Hotel and Dog Sledding

Our drive from Umeå to Kiruna was long and snowy. Peter was a great sport and did all the driving, since he's the only one of us who knows how to drive a stick! We passed the Arctic Circle and stopped by the gift shop (of course there's one...and they charged for the toilet!). Eventually, we made it to our hotel in Kiruna, Camp Ripan, in time for dinner (some surprisingly good Thai food for a change of pace). Kiruna had a VERY large amount of snow. It basically snowed and was cloudy for the entire time, which ruined our chances of seeing the northern lights, but we still had a blast and really loved Kiruna.

The Arctic Circle

Paul's come a long way with his fear of the friendly neighborhood yeti

This is how the road looked most of the way.  They don't really "plow" roads in Sweden. Slow going!

Night in Kiruna

Ice slides in downtown Kiruna (location of David wipe out #2)

The next day we had a busy schedule. After a breakfast that included horse meat (no, we didn't eat any!), we went to the Sámi culture park in nearby Jukkasjärvi. The Sámi are traditionally semi-nomadic reindeer herders native to northern Scandinavia. We had a chance to feed some reindeer, which are bizarre little creatures. They're kind of like a weird small deer/pony mix, with odd hooves and huge antlers.

Our snowy cabins at Camp Ripan

Breakfast at the hotel

Peter with a baby reindeer

Photo-bombed!

Fluffy!

Feeding the reindeer

The church in Jukkasjärvi

I guess we wanted to curl some more

Our next stop was the Ice Hotel. The hotel is completely rebuilt every year in October and melts in May.  They store some of the large pieces of ice in a freezer over the summer and produce more blocks each winter from the water that flows in the river next to the hotel. Each year, they commission new artists to design a handful of the rooms. These rooms change every year and are very unique. The majority of the rooms, though, have a standard design.

We did not stay in the ice hotel. You have to book well in advance and it's very expensive, but you can tour the hotel and visit the ice bar for a small fee. You're allowed access to all but two of the rooms. Guests are required to move their property from the rooms during the day to allow people to tour. It's cold in the Ice Hotel!  Snow and ice are great insulators, and the rooms are kept at a nearly constant temperature of 23*F.  In a normal winter this would feel warm. Normal February high temperatures in Kiruna are around 16*F with lows around -8*F. The weather in Kiruna while we were visiting was unseasonably warm, in the middle 20s Fahrenheit, so it actually felt colder inside the hotel. So much for David breaking his all time low temperature of 5*F set in January 2014 in Atlanta.

The deep blue color comes from ice that was a few feet below the surface of the river

Kicksleds were all over the hotel grounds for personal travel

Ice Hotel jump!

Everybody is getting in on the jumping action

HADOKEN!

Yes, the Ice Hotel has fire alarms

The artist who designed the Brazil 2014 World Cup logo made this snow carving

Just chillin on some ice furniture. Get it, "chillin"?

All bow down before the ice unicorn

Typical room at the Ice Hotel

City loft room

Pole-r bear!  This room was, by far, the most surprisingly themed.

The bed is INSIDE the metro car!  City planning nerd-out!

The ice bar was popular with tourists and made some yummy drinks

The glasses, like everything here, are made from ice from the river.  As you drink, your mouth melts away some of the glass.

Cheers!

After visiting the Ice Hotel, we returned to Kiruna to rest up a bit. That night we went dog sledding. The reason to go at night is to hopefully see the northern lights, but we didn't see them because of the cloud cover. It was still a lot of fun! There were 11 dogs to pull the 4 of us and our sled driver. The dogs, Alaskan Huskies, were super friendly and energetic. While they were harnessing them for the run, some of the dogs were so excited and eager that they were barking and jumping in place. Once we started they were completely silent, like turning on a switch.  Interesting ol"fact"ory: sometimes the dogs just go to the bathroom while running.  Also, Janice fell off the sled into a snowbank while attempting to drive the sled.

All bundled up!

Our dog team

Ready to go!

Wheeeee!

It's kind of hard to take a good picture from a moving dog sled at night

Pit stop for some hot drinks and a snack

Awwwwww

Friendly doggies!

Yeah, there was a lot of snow

Uh oh, David fell down. Wait a minute, Janice pushed him! Never trust a Canadian!  Evil always comes from the North.

We highly recommend visiting the Norrbotten region of Sweden in the winter.  It's a very unique experience.  Kiruna is a great base for winter activities. In addition to the things we did, you can ski, snowboard, go ice fishing, go reindeer sleighing, and a number of other chilly activities.

11AM "sun" doesn't make it very high in the sky

Kiruna church

Even the church statues are cold!

Modern housing in Kiruna

Next stop, Norway, via train for a 24 hour whirlwind tour to see a fjord, the northern lights and check Norway off the list!  Peter made fun of Norwegians the entire ride.  Apparently, most Swedes think they're a little slow. =)