Packages!

I want to send out a big THANK YOU to Pat and Ory Mee! Thank you so much for the Valentine's Day package. It was a great surprise!! A lovely card, Goldfish and M&M's...what more could a girl ask for :) It's great to know that you are thinking of me and following my blog.

I also got a nice card from Herb and Barb Nobles. Beautiful Aunt Barb! Thank you :)

And thanks goes out to my mother for saving me with a coat that has a functioning zipper (and few other items) :) Thanks Mama.

Finally, a "Thank You" to everyone out there who has been following me and supporting me throughout this amazing journey. I have had numerous people tell me how much they have thoroughly enjoyed reading about and looking at pictures of my trip, and I love hearing that. Being here is awesome, but knowing I have so much support from home makes it that much better. :)

Last Day in Lapland

On our last day everyone was on the bus and ready to go well before our departure time. Lara and I had taken a walk in the morning. It was a beautiful day, not too cold and fairly clear. We left to travel to the city center, more specifically to a Sami heritage museum. I was in the first tour group. The museum wasn't very big, only about 6 rooms in total, but it was interesting. We got to see traditional clothing, uses for various handmade creations, and how the Sami have lived in general. This is also where Sarah and I discovered that the mystery footprints we had seen on our walk were in deed rabbit tracks. The picture below shows a woman wearing her hat two different ways: if she wears it pointing forward, it means she is going towards home and if she wears it pointing backwards, it means she is going away from home. I thought that was interesting. Next you can see some traditional clothes and below, a painting.

After the tour we had a bit of free time while the other group took their tour. It was beautiful outdoors. We found a pretty church to photograph, along with some ice sculptures.

This last picture is something that I noticed in Kiruna and Jokk Mokk. They appeared to be walker-sleds. I saw quite a few elderly using them to walk or to push themselves around on. I think it's genius. 

At 2:30pm it was time to depart for home. I spent a good three hours staring out the window amazed by the scenery that was passing me by. We watched some movies and before I knew it, it was time to try to sleep, which I did not do much of. Staring outside at two a.m. isn't nearly as beautiful as four in the afternoon, but it's still pretty entertaining. Plus I was on the lookout for Northern Lights. We got in much earlier than I expected us to this morning, about 7 am. So far I have been quite productive today and I am going to end by finishing this blog :)

You should really check out my videos on Facebook too. While it does not do its beauty justice, it is interesting to see what the drive looked like from the bus window. And you should definitely look at all of my other pictures on Facebook. I think there's somewhere around 200. Enjoy!

Day 4: Ice Hotel

On the morning of Day 4 those who chose to pay for the optional cross-country skiing or ice-climbing tours went out to their activities while the rest of us had free time. Sarah did ice-climbing, but Lara and I were not scheduled for anything so we chose to take a walk around the canyon (see pictures below). Funny story, as we came around a corner on the trail that followed the canyon, we heard voices and there below us were the ice climbers! They were climbing a waterfall that had frozen in the canyon. Lara and I stayed to watch a couple climbers, but it took a while before they started and each climber took quite a few minutes and we were cold after two, so we continued with our walk (and I fell in a snowbank and had to go back and dry my pants by heater). I was so happy that Sarah did the ice-climbing. She came back being so excited and happy with her experience. I'm thrilled for her. Most of the ice climbing pictures are her doing also ;)

We left Abisko around 1:30 pm and headed for the Ice Hotel, about an hour and a half away. The Ice Hotel's season runs from December to about April. They start construction each year in mid-November and end after about a week of melting sometime around April. There are also non-ice accommodations in the form of cabins. The ice hotel originated as an art exhibition and it is still very art oriented. Each year over 100 artists enter a competition to be chosen to design some of the Ice Hotel and each year about 60 are chosen. The nicer rooms are unique because an artist gets to design one to his/her liking. Each room has a theme and is decorated accordingly, just as the pillar hall and the ice bar have a theme as well. Besides the ice bar there is also an ice church, which is not used for Sunday services, but mostly for weddings and baptisms. (See more pictures on Facebook).

View from Northern Lights Balcony

After the Ice Hotel we traveled another couple hours to the Jokk Mokk Camping Center. Lara, Sarah and I shared a cute little cottage equipped with our own kitchen. As you can see we made pizza that night for dinner :)

We were hopeful about seeing the Northern Lights until we walked outside at 11:45 only to discover that it was quite cloudy outside. We walked around for a bit but without much hope. Instead of watching the Northern Lights, we spent our last night in Lapland watching the movie 1408 which was playing on tv with Swedish subtitles. It was kind of fun because I could pick up on what was written a bit since Swedish and Norwegian are somewhat similar.

Day 3: Failed Trip to Narvik

On Day 3 we were supposed to travel to Narvik, a Norwegian town that played a pretty big role in Norway's involvement in WII, or at least acted as one of the main reasons Germany invaded Norway. Narvik is connected by train to Kiruna and holds an ice-free harbor where the iron ore can be easily transported out. Supposedly there are a lot of WWII relics-old machinery, guns and such. We planned to go to the War museum while we were there. There are also some fjords in and on the way to Narvik. We knew that going to Narvik was chancy because the roads get closed a lot when it is bad weather. We thought we were in the clear in the morning when the roads remained open but about a half hour into our trip the bus drivers decided to turn around. While it wasn't too bad of weather on our end, supposedly it was much worse in Narvik and the roads only got more treacherous.

We stopped at the supermarket in Abisko. That's where I bought the oreo chocolate bar :) The store also had a section just for American food. Thus the American flag.

After we got back to the hostel Sarah and I decided we would go for a walk to pass the time until our group went to the sauna later. It was beautiful out. There were big, fat snowflakes coming down. By the time we came back our hoods were full of snow. The first picture is of the canyon I was talking about earlier. Breathtaking. Except for the time when Sarah dropped her lens cover over the edge :p

 You'll never believe it, but we found an insect crawling through the snow!! I have no idea what he was doing out there but he was moving pretty steadily.

I tried to upload a video of the snow falling, but it didn't work. If you want to see it check out the "Videos" album on my Facebook page.

Later that night we got to go to a traditional wood heated sauna near the lake in Abisko. It was about a ten minute walk from our hostel. It basically just looked like a small wooden cabin. There were three rooms in total. You walked into a room to put all of the clothes and then there was the actual sauna and also a relaxation room that was still heated by a wood stove but was not nearly as hot. The sauna was heated by a wood stove with hot coals on top onto which you were supposed to pour water so it got humid. At one point the thermometer read 60 degrees Celsius  I was in the relaxation room the most because I didn't like the humidity with all of those people.  There was also an ice hole, which was only big enough for maybe two people to stand in. I filled my water bottle with the water since it was the same water that everyone's drinking water comes from in Abisko. I definitely felt as though I could tell it was lake water, though not everyone could and just because I could tell doesn't mean it wasn't good. It was actually very refreshing. Some people sat in the ice hole after being in the sauna for a period of time but Sarah and I chose to just run around outside in the snow. It felt great in all actuality (as long as you put boots on). 

We chose not to go out searching for the Northern Lights that night and it was just fine because it was so cloudy that there weren't really any prospects of seeing them anyway. I was exhausted and so were my roommates.

Day 2 Lapland: Sami Reindeer and BBQ

On the second day we had three hours of free time in the town of Kiruna before we had to leave for our next destination. Let me just say that three hours is way too long in that town. The main reason we had to wait is because there was another dog-sledding/snowmobiling tour in the morning that did not get back until noon, so to allow them free time the rest of us got a whole lot of extra free time. Sarah, Lara and I ended up playing UNO and eating our lunches in the tourist info center to pass the time. We went into a few shops beforehand. Sarah and I bought ourselves needles for sewing up our knitting projects. Speaking of knitting, I did not do the outrageous amount of knitting I thought I would. Basically all I did was start a headband. The problem with me is when I'm riding in a moving vehicle I can only read for a few minutes before I get a bad headache, and I found the same goes for knitting. Maybe a result of all the focusing?

Anyway, from Kiruna we made a stop to meet with a Sami father and son who still herd reindeer. For those of you who do not know, the Sami people are native to the northern regions of Norway, Sweden, and Finland, specifically Lapland. Since the 15th century they have been involved in herding reindeer and today Sami people still do this, though instead of skis they ride snowmobiles. More recently they have begun using GPS trackers to find out the location of reindeer and to monitor their activities. Reindeer are the most beautiful creatures in the world for the Sami. At one point their lives revolved around them. They used them for food, clothing, and for trading goods.

We met a father in his seventies and his son. The father was quite funny and full of old man wisdom--things like jokes should be told about reindeer but not about other people. The father took us into the pasture with the reindeer and we were able to hand-feed them lichens. There were only a few large reindeer. The rest were maybe only as tall as my hip. They were all quite friendly, some more aggressive than others. We learned that each reindeer has its own name based either on its coat or its antlers (and the Sami remember each one). For any of you who don't know, both male and female reindeer have antlers, but they lose them in different times of year. I was surprised with how different the reindeer coats were. There was one all white reindeer, and many with an off-white, brown color. There were also some more of a gray color and some deep brown colors.

We saw some reindeer along side the road as we were traveling to Lapland, as well. Instead of reindeer crossing signs along the road, the locals put black garbage bags on poles to signify there are reindeer around. Supposedly this is because the reindeer crossing signs get stolen too often (probably by tourists like us).

While one group was feeding reindeer, the other group of us sat on deer hides inside a Sami hut with the son. There was a fire going in the middle and we all sat in a circle around it. We each got to taste a piece of reindeer meat on a piece of traditional Sami bread. It was pretty tasty I guess. Nothing special. What was more interesting was what the son had to say. What I found most intriguing was how much the Sami people embrace technology. When we hear "natives" we think of people who are resistant to change, and who want to keep their old ways of doing things, but from my understanding what the Sami care about most is the reindeer and any way to do their jobs better they will jump at. Thus, they embrace all of the new technological advances that make it easier for them to take care of what is most precious to them.

We drove a couple hours to Abisko and had some time for dinner before the BBQ at night. We were all prepared for a frigid night. Everyone was bundled up in layers upon layers. Therefore everyone was surprised when the walk to the BBQ was only about five minutes and it was inside a tent with a fire that was actually quite warm. I wore my gloves only for the last half hour or so. The BBQ was really nice though a bit chaotic with everyone trying to cook things. We cooked some delicious hot dogs and marshmallows and drank hot wine provided to us by our hosts. I was under the impression that there would be Sami people there to share stories with us and such, but it turned out to just be our group in the tent. I'm assuming you can rent it out. There is also the old tourist information building next to the tent. It's a museum now but it's only open a few weekends out of the year. Right outside of the tent there is a large canyon. It's very beautiful and we were able to admire it on a number of our walks in Abisko.

After the BBQ we decided to head back to the hostel to prepare to go out and search for the Northern Lights. We asked the receptionist about going out to see them. She was very helpful and looked  up the forecast and weather for us, but it didn't look promising. It was cloudy outside and the activity level of the lights was low. The next night looked even less promising and so we decided to try that night since it seemed to be the best possible chance. What's worse is people saw them in Abisko the night before we got there. We met one man there who had been there for about two week and seen them for 11 nights in a row except for that one when we arrived. Tough luck.

Lapland: Arrival and Day 1

We began our stay in Swedish Lapland with a stop at a hotel in Jokk Mokk, a small town. We were provided with a buffet style breakfast, which was very good--lots of meats, fruits, breads, and other things. The milk was a bit difficult to figure out though. What I thought was milk, turned out to be some sort of yogurt, so I ended up with half yogurt looking stuff and half milk on my cereal.

We drove another couple hours to Kiruna, a mining town where we would be staying for one night (see hostel above). That afternoon we had a tour of the town, including a look inside the city hall. There isn't much to the town, just a few shops and cafes. The big thing is the mine. But there is also a space center. Supposedly they will be sending tourists into space soon. What's interesting about Kiruna is that there is a plan to start moving the town to a different location in  just a few years. The mines have formed a crack in the earth that is slowly moving toward the city. Some of the buildings like the Kiruna Church (see below) is being moved, but others like the city hall are too expensive to move and a new one will be built. Over the next few decades the city will be completely moved to a new location further away from the mine. However, a representative from the town hall told us that in 100 years they may have to do the exact same thing again. The picture below shows the map of the town divided into sections that will be moved in different years.

After the guided tour our group split off into the activities we had chosen and paid for before we left. Some people chose to do a combination snowmobiling and dog-sledding trip, and others (including me) chose to go on the mine tour. We traveled by bus about 300 m down into the mine. The whole mine is over 1000 m deep. Then, we got out and walked around. We watched a short video, and then went on a guided tour. We basically went in a circle and didn't really see much of the mine itself. They had demo stations set up with the equipment they would use, but we didn't get so see any real action. I hate to admit it but I was nearly falling asleep during the guided tour. For some reason I just couldn't keep my eyes open. Overall, a very interesting experience though. The Kiruna mine is the largest iron ore mine in the world. When we were at our second location, Abisko, we actually saw some of the railroad cars carrying iron ore to Narvik.

That night we had free time to make dinner with our housemates. Lara, Sarah and I were staying with two Danish girls for this leg of the trip. They were very nice and fun to stay with. That night a good majority of our group went out to a local bar to socialize.