After a very unrestful night where David and I both hardly slept worrying that we wouldn't wake up in time for our flight to the Ice Hotel we were served the most amazing breakfast aboard the boat. Breakfast included ham, cheese, salami, tomato, hot rolls, boiled eggs, cereal, yoghurt, crackers, caviar, juice and tea, coffee, and hot chocolate. There was another couple also staying on the boat with their 5 year old son. The woman was Swedish, the man was English and they had met while living in New York. They were in the process of deciding which country was going to be best for their family; at this stage they were living in Southern Sweden. It was really lovely talking to them about their travels and about life in Sweden.
Once we had finished breakfast we left the boat and walked as fast as we could back to the Central Bus Station to catch the Fly Buss back to Arlanda Airport. Poor Ryan had a stitch most of the way. We had spent too much time talking with the other family and were now behind schedule. We knew we should have left sooner but the couple were so lovely and we didn't really want to end the interesting conversation. We made it to the bus station with a couple of minutes to spare.
We arrived at Arlanda Terminal 4 and found that SAS required automatic self-check in. This is something that we had never tried before. It was a really simple process. After proceeding through security it was a short wait to board our flight to Kiruna.
Much like coming in to land in Helsinki, the view coming in to Kiruna was beautiful. There were masses of snow and ice everywhere. Ryan was super excited because Kiruna is a small airport and we had to disembark the plane via the rear stairs. He would finally get to walk on snow with his hikers.
We were met at the airport by a staff member from the Ice Hotel and boarded a bus for our transfer. The small village where the ice Hotel is located is only about 17 kms from the airport so the journey did not take long.
We arrived at the Ice Hotel and checked in. It was not far from Reception to our warm accommodation in Nordic Chalet #17. We quickly dropped off our bags and then headed to the main restaurant to get some lunch as they were due to stop serving lunch within about half an hour. After we had removed and hung up our outer jackets we had a delicious buffet lunch that included soups, bread, salmon, potatoes, cold meats, cheese, salads, juices, hot chocolate, coffee and tea.
After lunch we went to the Activities Desk to find out any relevant information for our booking on the snow mobile Northern Lights tour tonight. We then headed to the Dressing Room for the Ice Hotel to collect our warm clothing which included snow suits, polar fleece balaclava, mittens and snow boots. Unfortunately the boys suits were rather large. Apparently, many parents like the Ice Hotel snow suits so much for their children that they often fail to return them. We were told we could keep coming back to check if any smaller sizes had been returned. We returned all of our clothes to our cabin and then decided it was time to explore the Ice Hotel itself.
First we entered the Ice Chapel. This was very beautiful and peaceful. We are really looking forward to renewing our wedding vows in such a wonderful place in a few days.
Next we went into the Ice Hotel proper and made our way into the Pillar Room - the main entrance with ice pillars and chandelier. This is the only area of the Ice Hotel that is recreated each year. Every other room including the Ice Chapel is redesigned by a team of different and competitively selected artists each year.
We were then able to walk from room to room exploring each of the Art Suites, Ice Rooms and Snow Rooms. Here are some of the incredible rooms.
The Ice Hotel is open to the public from 10am-6pm daily for people to explore. The only room that has a door and cannot be entered is the Deluxe Suite. While the Ice Rooms and Snow Rooms were lovely they were much smaller than the Art Suites and where each Art Suite is designed by different artists the Snow Rooms are all identical. We worked out pretty quickly that only 2 Art Suites were big enough for us to stay in - "Attraction" or "And Yet She Moves". We are really hoping that we will get "And Yet She Moves." We also went up to the Aurora Balcony which is on top of the Ice Hotel and overlooks the Torne River. Lastly we went into the Ice Bar for a quick look.
We took a few minutes to explore the shop and to try our hand at riding the sleds before going back to our cabin to meet with the Priest and to get ready for our snow mobile trip. We had a lovely meeting with the Priest and planned out what we wanted during our renewal of of vows. Ryan is going to be the ring bearer and Connor is going to read the Bible readings and say something himself.
Soon it was time to meet our snow moiling guide Christopher and to get ready to had out. We suited up, put on our helmets and after a quick crash course lesson in how to drive a snow mobile hopped on ready to go off into the Swedish wilderness. I had Ryan riding with me; Connor was riding with David. I must say I was a pretty slow driver and found it really hard trying to steer the snow mobile where I wanted it to go. After a few brief stops Christopher advised I needed to stop trying to make the snow mobile go where I wanted and just let it go where it wanted to go. And to give it a bit more juice. Hmmm increase power and let the machine have control - I really wasn't sure about this idea. We took off across the Torne River and through forests until we made our first stop for the Northern Lights. We were very fortunate to see them and they were beautiful. We didn't stay long as it was only early in the night and they usually get stronger as the night goes on. The boys swapped snow mobiles and we powered on a little more confidently towards the wilderness camp.
Once we arrived at the camp Christopher prepared a beautiful and very warm fire inside a wooden cabin and then we all went in and sat down for a meal. We had traditional salmon sandwiches with warm lingonberry juice, followed by reindeer stew with vegetables and apple cake with tea and coffee.
Part way through the meal we were also treated to an amazing show from the Northern Lights. We had vivid greens and pinky purples as the lights changed and moved and danced across the sky. It was really stunning and we felt so lucky to witness it on our first night in the Arctic.
Poor Ryan was exhausted and fell asleep during dinner. We had to wake him and were a little worried whether he would be awake enough to hold on for the journey back to the Ice Hotel. He travelled with David who kept talking to him to try to keep him awake. We needn't have worried because the route back was SO bumpy I'm sure no one could ever sleep through it.
We stopped briefly for another view of the Northern Lights before finally making our way back to the hotel. The boys and I finally flopped into bed while David took some night time photos of the Ice Hotel before also crashing for the night. What a long and exhausting, yet amazing day.
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