Oh Kiruna. What an AMAZING PLACE. Well, Lapland is anyway - Kiruna the town itself, is a little lacklustre - but I did enjoy it all the same. Every place has their story to tell. I was especially surprised by how tiny the town was; it was an industrial town, covered in snow, with a pretty limited number of stores, not too many young people around and not even a pub!
It all began with a 17 hour train ride, Harry Potter style. It was a Thursday and I was ditching both my Friday class and my Monday class for this supposedly legendary trip up to the north of Sweden where we were going to probably freeze to death. I can tell you, I am not exaggerating too much - honestly - we were terrifed! As me and my friends sat in Ostgota nation a few hours before the train trip casually eating waffles (waffle buffet for the win) we were feeling just a little ill and sure, it could have been from the incredibly large amount of cream and berries and amount of waffles (hey, it was a buffet!) we were ingesting but I know that a good portion of the illness also came from the fear of going to the Arctic Circle where it had only last week been reportedly - 44 degrees! Nevertheless, it was a little late to be backing out and so I packed my bags with all the clothes I had, my newly bought thermal leggings, and new waterproof "lesbian" boots (as my friend Manon calls them - they are like sorta Doc Marten-like boots) with special fleece insoles which are meant to make a whole lot of difference and we were off to the train station to catch that Harry Potter train.
Altogether we were going to be a group of 9 people but 2 were going to taking the next train and meeting us in Kiruna a few hours later. As the train pulled up, we consulted our tickets and my heart literally sunk when I realised that because we were a group of 7 and the cabins were for 6, one person would be left out. Of course, that person was me - dammit! If anyone knows me well enough, they would understand how bummed out I was about that. Still, the cards had been dealt and in the end, it wasn't the worst because I spent my time in the cabin with my friends until it was time for bed anyway.
The train was pretty cool I must say. There was a bistro on the train but we had been forewarned it was fair pricey so we had all brought our own dinner to eat. The trip was an overnight one so we had purchased couchette tickets. What is a couchette you ask? Well, let me enlighten you! Basically on the train, you get to your cabin and you slide the door open to find two lounge seats in the room facing each other and up higher are two beds suspended at the top on either side. There is a table in the middle that can be folded in and folded back out. How could 6 people sleep in here? Well! It turns out the back of the lounge folds up to make another bed! So all in all, you have 3 beds on either side. One which is the seat you sit on, one which is the back of the seat and one which is always there. Not sure if that completely makes that much sense but hopefully so! Either way, I was super impressed! We had a mini party in the carriage to help the time pass. The train left Uppsala at 6pm Thursday and we were due to arrive in Kiruna at 11am on the Friday. However, we had been told that due to the extreme coldness - the train would only be running to a certain station where we would need to change trains - at 6am! GAH.
I asked one of the girls to take a few photos of us in the carriage as she wasn't joining in on the festivities but alas, she didn't know how to use the camera and it was on Manual so all the photos were blurry! Still, it was an interesting effect, right? right? haha.
Back in my cabin earlier, I had met my cabin mates for the night - who were perfectly nice. There was a couple who was from Kazakstan (not sure if that is the right spelling) and there was an Egyptian lady and her husband who was from Switzerland. Interesting people. I didn't retire back to the cabin until quite late that night and they were already asleep. I climbed up into my top bunk and had quite a disrupted sleep. As my friend Manon put it - sleeping on a train is like sleeping on a rollercoaster! It definitely was a rocky trip and the whole night, I worried about rolling out of the bed - it would have been a pretty big drop! Waking up at 6am was not fun. But the sky looked amazing as we changed trains! What nice lighting. It nearly makes up for the early wake up... nearly.
The last leg of this journey, we were in train seats rather than beds but noone complained - most people went back to sleep. I was eagerly looking out the window, amazed by the trees in lines covered in snow. It was so much snow! And oh the trees just looked amazing. It seems this blog is going to be referencing many quotes from Manon - but well, she was right. It looked like Narnia. We were riding a train through the land of Narnia - and the both of us tried to find a reindeer! Despite my best efforts, I couldn't get a good photo of the trees that was not blurry. I have honestly like 20 photos of just blur but I liked this photo which is the least blurry and has nice sky.
As we pulled up to Kiruna station, I was feeling pretty tired but optimistic for what was to come. It was not so cold outside it seemed and all feeling of "oh my gosh we will die" we starting to fade.
Next challenge was trying to find our hotel for the night. I had checked it out briefly on good ol' Google Maps but looking around, I felt completely lost. In the end, we picked a direction and walked. It turned out, it was not the right direction and we ended up walking along the freeway (yes, quite dangerous) and it was only later that we realised that there had been a tunnel we were meant to use to avoid walking on the freeway to get into town. There was so much snow!
This was a very cool clock building - probably the most memorably building there was in Kiruna. From there, we found that we really had no idea where we were but managed to find the Bibliotek (library) and so dropped by to ask the nice librarian for some instructions. The hotel we stayed at turned out to be in completely a different direction but the town really is not so big so it was not too far and it was a great place! My favourite part of the rooms was the reindeer blanket! I would so love to have a Reindeer Blanket!
After a general walk around the town, it was pretty easy to conclude that there wasn't so much to do around here. We checked out some markets which happened to be on but they mainly were selling clothes and winter clothing and surprisingly - it really wasn't that cold. I'd say maybe -5 or so. Doable! In the end, we decided to go and check out the Kiruna church which is meant to be the second largest wooden church in some kind of region or maybe the world. Not sure! But it was definitely pretty cool!
A nicer street in Kiruna Town
The markets...you can see the church in the background
Walking up to the church and the bell tower
The church
Well, after seeing the church - we were stuck for things to do in town so eventually decided to take the 45 minute bus ride out to the Ice Hotel. SO WORTH IT. It was just incredible. I'm sure you guys are already aware but the Ice Hotel is basically a hotel which is completely made out of Ice that guests can actually stay in. The rooms are designed by designers and rebuilt every year from scratch. I loved it here.
Just an Igloo thing out the front of the Ice Hotel
Having fun out the front of the Ice Hotel
I love the lighting here!
Inside another church...made of ice this time!
Intricate walls - this is the ceiling
The entrance is made of reindeer skin!
Down one of the many hallways
One of the bedrooms: called FROZEN LOVE. Wanna sleep here?
Ma Penguin Pal
Strike a pose in the ball of ice
Just playing the pinball machine - whatchu looking at?
Giant Buddha made of ice
So cold! Don't. Want. To. Sit.
Just chilling in the Ice Hotel!
Being "THE BOSS" - Angriest Face Ever!
So all in all - the place was awesome. I have so many great photos but I really should move on. There is so much more to tell! We all ended up having a very early night that night - being in bed by 9pm ready for the tour tomorrow and a reasonably early wake up for the BUFFET BREAKFAST (yes!). After eating our fill, and sneaking a bit extra for the trip, we got ourselves in a bit of a sticky situation when checking out for it but were rescued by our tour guide who came to pick us up. He was definitely an interesting character. A German bald man with a round flat hat and always a cigarette sticking out of his mouth. He had rocked up in a Green Volkswagen Van which could accomodate 8 people but we were 9. So it was a bit of a squeeze but hey, we were always going to get to know each other quite well on this trip!
Stefan, our tour guide, in his funny German accent explained to us that there had been a few issues and we would not be able to check into our cabin until 2pm (which I thought was fine) but he seemed to think it would be a problem. Because of this "inconvenience" he made a stop off at the Systembolaget (alcohol store) and said that he would buy us 2 boxes of red wine which he would then hide on the frozen lake that night for us to look for and party into the night. Hilarious! This looked like it was going to turn out to be an interesting weekend with this tour guide.
As we pulled up at a sorta dog camp area, we were led into a room where we were fitted for some super good-looking jumpsuits, sorted out the luggage we would take with us, and ooh-ed and aah-ed at the cute dogs! Stefan was busy preparing the snowmobiles which we would be riding the 10km to the middle of nowhere - our home for the night.
Best photo of the tour guide - holding cash and looking like a Mafia guy
The plan was that we would take 3 snowmobiles, and as there were so many of us, all the "little people" would sit in the sled and be dragged behind (you can see the wooden sleigh thing in the background of the photo just above). Lucky me! I wanted to drive the snowmobile :( But Stefan said we would all get a chance later on! It ended up being a whole bucket of fun sitting in the sled with my friends and it was such a nice ride! What a beautiful place.
As we drove out into a giant clearing, we got a group photo on the frozen lake but thanks to the complicated functions of the camera, it ended up being blurry! HOW ANNOYING.
As we arrived to the camp site we would be staying in, we were amazed by how much snow there was and so we had some fun jumping around in it with our awesome waterproof boots and jumpsuits. There was also really cool dog houses.
We then went out to the giant lake clearing to go ride those snowmobiles around. It was such an amazing place to be. If you can imagine it - a giant lake with trees all around it frozen and completely covered in snow. It was just such a big clearing. I thought it was amazing. And so quiet. Not a single sound except for us and the snow mobiles. It was a lot of fun!
While waiting, we did a bit of jumping fun because that's what is cool to do, you know?
When we weren't riding the snowmobiles, we were chilling on the lake on reindeer skins
When it got cold, we had some lunch inside that wooden cute little hut you saw in the previous pics - waiting for the previous group to move out so we could move into our actual accommodation.
All day, it had been super cloudy and not so cold, so we had been told we may not get to see the Northern Lights! Nooo! We had come all this way. But really, I was so relieved it was not cold. Driving snowmobiles in -40 really would not have been fun! At night, we decided to go for a walk around the lake in the dark and just take in the quietness of the place and enjoy being out here in the North. We took some fun photos too!
We went and had a Sauna after our walk to relax but then the tour guide ran in and informed us the "light show was starting!!!" Now, I don't think I have mentioned yet a very important thing about this camp site. There was no running water, (we made several trips to a hole in the frozen lake to take water to cook) no electricity (we used so many candles and made fires), no showers, and no toilets! Oh man. You have no idea how scarred I am from the no toilet thing. They had an outhouse, you see. But it was the most disgusting thing I had ever been in. It was like Slumdog Millionaire but worse because the whole place was covered in pee...some fresh... some frozen. The toilet paper was also covered in pee. And the whole place stunk. The hole did not have a very deep drop and it was nearly overflowing. It was just the worst! One look, and we all chose to go all naturale and go out in the snow - the natural way. Ew ew ew. Well, anyway - point is. There was no showers and we had had a sauna and you have to cool down and we were in a rush. So we ran out of the sauna and rolled in the snow - screaming of course! It was actually so much worse than the ice cold water! It felt like cold needles! But it was definitely fun! Then we donned our jumpsuits, beanies, scarves, gloves, and lugged ourselves back out to the lake.
The Northern Lights are awesome to watch. Again, just such a crazy feeling to lie on the snow and look up at the clear night sky filled with so many stars and the northern lights shimmering and moving around. Just awesome. I didn't have a tripod and so it was difficult to get photos because you needed like a 30 second exposure and so I used the box of wine but it was quite tricky. The best photo I got was one where a line of snow mobiles were going past and they got in the shot! COOL BEANS
When the Northern Lights dimmed away, I was still keen to stay out. It was so still and so quiet and the moon was so big. Me and 2 others decided to sleep out on the lake that night - Stefan had said it should be ok as long as we sleep on reindeer skins, in our jumpsuits, with our beanies on and sleeping bags. Lying on the lake staring up at the stars rugged up in a sleeping bag with the light coming from the moon, we eagerly waited for the Northern Lights to come back - I was keen to see some Red! Alas, they didn't come back again but we got to see some shooting stars. I was also listening out for some Moose which apparently can come out and walk on the lake if it is quiet enough. At about 2:30am, I decided I had had enough of sleeping out in the cold - cause it was actually quite cold - and we all got up and went back to our warm cabin and slept to the sound of the crackling fire.
Mitch sleeping on the lake
The next morning, Sunday, was time for some dog sledding! The husky dogs, Stefan, explained to us are very interesting in that they have been basically bred for dog sledding. They are pretty much brainless - and only know to run. So we were told that no matter what, we should never let go of the handle of the sled even if we fall over because the dogs will keep running and running until they keel over and die from exhaustion. Woah! Ok. So we were able to each "command" a dog sled of four dogs. They were really quite cute and well behaved. However, when they were not running, they were quite impatient and kept howling and climbing over each other, restless to start running again.
Before Dog Sledding
Coming back after a good 5km run
White hair after dog sledding! Sure was a long run....
Dog mid bark!
As the dog sled team rode away, a friend took a photo of me to illustrate how big my jumpsuit was. I had to roll it up at the legs and really it was just a bit silly.
As we arrived back to civilisation - I couldn't help but also feel slightly relieved. A real toilet! Civilisation! We went for a quick shop in ICA (the grocery store) for stuff to eat on the train and then realised we were about 3 hours early for the train. People were fair tired so we sat around the station and then I went out for a walk with a few people to check our Kiruna by night (night being around 4pm). Kiruna is STUPENDOUS at night! I loved it!
Derros at the Kiruna Station...
Amazing dusk sky
That's our train!
I need a home!
Glowing trees for the win!
We walked down paths lit up like this - so good!
Ice sculptures in Kiruna! Cool!
Stupid Pineapple!
I liked this scene. Like an art exhibition or something...
So yeah! Another long train trip back where I got to again, be in my own cabin, this time with an old German couple who couldn't speak English and we were back home terribly in need of a shower! Yes, we probably stunk quite badly but it was all worth it! WHAT AN EXPERIENCE.
Also, on the train - I bought this Reindeer Wrap. We ate quite a bit of Reindeer up there - but unfortunately, didn't get to see one... one day!
3 comments:
Wow! I think of all the things in this blog so far (and probably to come) this is thing I most want to do! So jealous :P
Wow. Just Wow. That is so...Wow.
Did the sled dogs pee and poo while running, and did it get flicked at you? I heard somewhere that happens. It kinda put me off sled dog stuff.
Aww sorry to make you so jealous Rachael! I hope I went into enough detail so it kinda felt like you were there. It is definitely recommended - I'm sure you will do it sometime soon man!
Um I don't believe the dogs pooed or peed while they were running actually hahaha. They were eating snow but I don't think I saw any poo! I know that they poo when they rest but maybe on the job they dont? The snow is fair white so I'd like to think I woulda noticed.... don't be put off dog sledding! It was not a problem for me :P
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