Arctic Expedition 10

Sunday in Kiruna, everything is closed, but we decided to take a walk through this winter wonderland.

 It's not so bad here.

The sky cleared for a few minutes.

This is as far as the sun will come up today.

Most of the light you get this time of year is reflected off the moon.

 We did find the local bowling alley open for league practice.

 They were happy to let us come in, have a cup of coffee, and warm up for a while.

 LKAB, the local mining company, is responsible for the prosperity of the town. The whole local economy is dependent on it's survival.  

 In the visitor center, we found this display. It shows why the town is going to fall into the mine, and what the company is doing about it.

 They are moving all the historic buildings to the next town over. Also, buying the affected land from the owners, and building an entire infrastructure to move all the people, services, and businesses there. In short, doing the right thing. 

Everyone we spoke to about the move, saw it as a positive change.

We stopped for lunch, actually found a burger joint open. Familiar food was quite a treat. Then we moseyed back to the hotel, to relax till dinner.

A family that had gone out to Abisko came staggering into the lounge, while I was enjoying a cup of tea. I asked if they had any luck with the aurora. 

They said it was a long, dark, cold, miserable, night, and they weren't sure there was such a thing as the Northern Lights. 

So, we made the right choice in staying in Kiruna.

We had dinner at a Thai restaurant, connected to the hotel's. It wasn't bad, could have been a little spicier for my taste. 

When we walked back into the hotel, Barbro, and her husband, Johnny, were there, having a glass of wine. 

They insisted we join them. In a very short time, this became a party. 

We had a blast, discussing everything from Thanksgiving dinner, to politics, to child rearing. Poor Teresa was working the desk, but she expertly went from joining the conversation, to taking care of the other guests, to serving us more wine and snacks. 

Once again, off to bed late, with a roaring buzz. 

We also have made more friends in Sweden, and hope to see them in CA.  

Tomorrow is our flight "home", to Åhus. and the start of Christmas festivities.

Arctic Expedition 9

We spent a lot of time tracking the weather, hoping for clear skies in Abisko. It didn't look promising, and when it came time to decide for sure, there was just no way. So, we chose to stay in Kiruna for two more nights.

When we called the manager of the Såmegården to see if we could extend our stay, she told us they were booked solid for the weekend.

We shrugged our shoulders, and walked down the street to the Arctic Eden Hotel. After booking a room for two nights, we packed our stuff and dragged it through the snow to our new home.

This place is really cool. It's a converted school. A multi-level library takes up the old staircase.

In the basement is a huge gym. A different room for any activity you desire: Spinning, rowing, 3 kinds of circuits, marshal arts, free weights, tread mills, and a 2.5 story climbing wall.

There is also a spa area. This has a sauna, and a cold pool, as well as lounge areas, showers, and locker rooms.

We decided to take advantage of this with a traditional Nordic spa treatment.
First we showered, then into the sauna, for as long as we could stand it, now a plunge into the cold water. At 4c (39f) it burned the skin, and took my breath away. Then we ran back to the sauna for a little longer cooking time. One more dip in that terrible pool, and it was time for a shower and scrub down. Since there was no one around, we were able to shower together, and scrub each other with the natural soaps, shampoos and scrubs provided in our kit. Feeling baby smooth, and invigorated, it was time to find some food.

The hotel and restaurant manager, Barbro, had told us that the restaurant was booked for Julbord, and there were no seats left.
Julie suggested that we try anyway, in case there had been a cancellation. Since she is smarter than me, I agreed.

 Barbro presenting the birch schnapps. She had picked the leaves, in the forrest last spring, herself. 

We walked into the restaurant, and Barbro greeted us like family. She told us that there had been a cancellation, and she told the staff to save the table in case her Americans showed up.
The Julbord of the north looked the same, but was quite different. Lots more reindeer and moose meat, almost no vegetables. It was very good, we tried some new things, including reindeer tongue and blood dumplings.

They also made their own schnapps. Röllaross (fire weed) and Bjorn (birch) so tasty, we had a few too many.