Ice Hotel
Well these past 3 days have been quite an adventure for me. Not only because I went to the Ice Hotel but because I planned it myself and did all the booking and over all I would say things went fairly smoothly. I say fairly because of course our train to go to the Ice Hotel was delayed...3 hours! Haha...I am so prone to having my modes of transportation get delayed.
So after Amy (Fellow Canadian and exchange student from Victoria who is in my district here in Sweden) and I finally got on the train we were really tired. Our train was supposed to leave Stockholm at 9:22pm but ended up leaving at 11:50pm. We spent some more quality time in T-Centralen (which is really something that only exchange students in and around Stockholm can understand since we oftne unitentionally spend huge amounts of time there). Taking the train wasn't the most upbeat beginning to the trip since it was so late and then we sat for 16+ hours to get there. We went so far!
Check it out on this handy map that I found. Alright start at Stockholm and then go up, we went through Uppsala, Gavle, Sundsvall, Umea, Lulea, and finally to Kiruna. That whole trip was over 16 hours and we took two trains. I am glad that we did the switch trains because it broke it up a little change of scenery etc. Then from Kiruna Centrum we took a taxi for 20 minutes to Jukkasjärvi which is east of Kiruna and lies right on the Thorne River which is of course where they harvest all the ice from. Check that out...I was above the Arctic Circle...how many people can say that!?!
It was interesting checking into the Hotel because Amy and I automatically say 'hej' in Swedish so it messed people up when they were giving us instructions. Well I mean they knew what they were talking about but we just couldn't follow and translate fast enough. I never thought about how hard that would be to work in a tourist place like that and always have to guess which language to speak in. The majority of the people there were from Germany and Britain and then also some Japanese, but not as many, plus Swedes. However the number of Swedish people who have been to the Ice Hotel is very very low and although I found this surprising it isn't really considering how far away it is and how costly it is as well.
The other picture there is of the main hall of the Ice Hotel. The hotel is built with the main corridor down the middle and then to the right are two halls of normal double rooms, like we had, and also at the end on the right is the Absolut Ice Bar. Then on the left of the main hall is the suites, and family rooms. The family rooms were basically the same as a double room but just twice the size and could sleep up to 6 people.
When we got there we were given all this winter gear which Amy and I thought was quite hilarious because when we got out of the Taxi we both said 'Wow, Its really warm up here.' It was only around -5 but that is about the same temperature that it has been in Stockhom except that we have the moist cold which like creeps into your bones and stays there until you bundle your self up with many layers to prevent the cold from sneaking in. Anyways...they give all the visitors boots, snowsuits, and these big furry hats with the ear flapps. We had to wear the whole get up once just because it was so hilarious. You can also see in the picture the Ice Hotel lanyard they give to everyone. The lanyard holds a map of the hotel ground and facilities which would have been helpful but turned out not to be because well...I guess I am not good with this type of map. But we never got in trouble or anything so that is good...it just took us a little longer to get to dinner (which, in itself, caused a little fluster because we didn't make reservations...how was I suposed to know you need reservations for a place called The Old Homestead? Sounds more casual to me...well it wasn't haha...oh well).
The other picture is of me through a pillar of ice. The ice from the Throne River is so clear it is amazing. In the tourism magazine that the Ice Hotel had it showed how they harvested the ice and it looked crazy. They were still harvesting Ice when were were there but we didn't/couldn't get close enough to see it.
Besides obviously the Ice Bar and the rooms the Ice Hotel also has the Ice Church. It is not actually connected to the Ice Hotel inside. It is a separate ice 'globe' but is still attached to the hotel. It was very very pretty inside and it would definetly be a memorable place to get married (...and hopefully you have lots of money so you can afford to have those memories!).
This is the inside of the Ice Church with a complete ice stage, table and wall for a nice picturesqeness. And also the benches are made of ice and covered in caribou hide. It was quite the place. Also the roof was really really high both in the church and in the main hall of the hotel...strong stuff ice and snow. The other picture is of me and Amy in the Ice Church...don't you just love that cameras can take pictures by themselves!
And of course an evening spent in the Ice Hotel is incomplete without a visit to the Absolut Ice Bar to drink out of an ice glass. And so that is precisely what we did. It was, I would have to say, quite an interesting feeling to have your glass slowly melt and mold to your lips where you are drinking. Orange juice never tasted so good though...but it should since juice in an ice glass was like $8. I am not sure what all the people who were there were thinking because some of them went through quite a number of drinks and at $15 a drink...whoo that would have been expensive! Below is the Ice Bar sign. All the room numbers and signs in the Ice Hotel were done like this. Then there is me and Amy in the Ice Bar. Skål!
Yay! Bedtime...here comes the whole complete point of this trip...to sleep! The beds are the only thing in your ice room as that is all that you really require. You don't leave things in your room or use it during the day because people pay to come inside the hotel and look around at everything. Bedsides having legs and a mattress of ice there is another layer of thick foam and then caribou hides on the bed.
This is a picture of the bed in our room and my diploma that I recieved for surviving a night in the Ice Hotel. I am very proud!
Now what you are all really wanting to know...did I actually sleep in that big snowsuit...nope! The sleeping bags they had were the same kind that Michelle and I have at home which we used for winter camping in Junior High. The only difference was they they also had a sheet that went inside them. I am not sure if this was for warmth or more for cleanliness of the sleepingbags either way the only part of me that got cold was the tip of my nose and it was my fault it got cold because I stuck it too far out of my sleeping bag!
Inside the hotel it was -5 at night and -7 outside. Over all Amy and I concluded that we spent way to much time fussing about our packing. We were prepared to be freezing since that was what everyone kept telling us. Although it is always better to be over prepared than underprepared I guess.
In the morning the hotel staff wake you up and bring you hot lingon berry juice. It was really yummy but didn't make me anymore eager to get out of my sleeping bag! After going for a sauna we had a nice Swedish smorgasbord type breakfast. Amy and I had to laugh at how it was partially Americanized with the addition of bacon to the menu.
Then after eating so much awesome breakfast food Amy and I decided to rent some equipment from the hotel to entertain ourselves with that day before we had to go for our train. And of all the things we could have rented (it was the cheapest however) we had to rent the one that really, when you think about it, is least practical...ice fishing gear! Yes we were loaded up with a drill, bait, two fishing rods, and a nice little ice scooper and sent on our way to the Trone River to test our skills.
Now, me being the winter camper in junior high, didn't seem to remember ice fishing as being a hard task so I didn't really think it would be all that difficult of us...well I was wrong!
As it turns out drilling these holes is an impeccably long task. Thankfully there was a hole that was recently drilled so all we had to do was drill out the top of the ice off that one and then one of us was able to fish while the other drilled another hole. What a silly silly adventure and we didn't catch any fish. This is our drilled hole at its deepest.
I think we spent over an hour drilling our hole and although we got quite far we never made it to water. We did however find another hole that was deeper than ours so we finished off by measuring our existing hole and then drilling the prexisting one to that depth...although we still didn't hit water! The really strange thing was that they were only like 2 m from each other...is it possible for the ice to be that much thicker 2 m away? Oh well...we had fun and managed to amuse ourselves for quite a while.
Then we finally got to do the real full tour of the Ice Hotel...meaning we got to see all the suites and the two delux suites. Each one is designed by a different artist and they are all so unique and some of them are just so crazy that you have on idea how the designer was able to do that from a block of ice! Enjoy all the pictures!
So the first one is obviously like a cave of snowballs and then the bed of ice. I really liked the snowball one because it was so child-like and how cool is that to sleep in a bed of snowballs! The second one reminded me of like a padded chamber and I can't remember what it was called or was supposed to represent. The ice had is very impessive though and was is as tall as I am.
In terms of ice-wise the design and sculpting in this room was the best. I think it was inspired by a sand castle type idea. You walked in the room and saw this sort of ice room and then stairs of ice, with a grates over top of them, and at the top of the stairs is the bed. It was so cool, like sleeping on top of an ice castle!
Of all of the suites and deluxe suites this is the bed that I liked the best. It reminds me of the Babes in Toyland movie that my sister and I used to watch. Although I don't know why as it really isn't at all like the movie! The big ice chair was in one of the Deluxe suites. Both of the Deluxe suites had little sitting areas but since you really only get to sleep in there I don't understand what the purpose of them is...oh well...that is why I am a guest and not a designer or the owner!
I hope you liked hearing about my little nothern excursion. If you want to read a bit more about the Ice Hotel or one of the many Absolut Ice Bars you can go to www.icehotel.com Stay warm!