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.