Vinter Hotell Palatset Kiruna

I am on the 2-carriage train from Narvik to Kiruna and have become friendly with 3 students studying in Sweden - a German girl and boy, and a Chinese Australian called Jason. They tell me about a place called Abisko that's on the way and I decide to get off there with them. It's set on a plateau 390 metres high beside the 70km long Tornetrask lake and is supposed to be one of the best areas in the world to see the northern lights because of the clarity of the atmosphere and the lack of ...

Had an amazing day today, went to see there fanous ice hotel in the day, which has a constant tempertaure of -5 degrees inside the rooms where you sleep and can drop as low as -8 when the outside temperature falls below -30. All of the ice is extracted from the river near by River Torne and the hotel only exists between ...

... quality than the train. It even had three different options for recycling! When I got on the bus and the driver looked at my ticket he looked at me like I must be deranged and asked "Kiruna?" Even the Swedes thought I was crazy for going there. The second deck on the bus had the front seat open, so I would receive just what I was looking for- a giant window for my own personal bus tour of Sweden. The radio played the country western song, "When the ...

... I can't tell you how great it felt to have a shower in a hot water and not to have to bath in a lake with freezing cold water! After the shower, we left immediately on a search of a good spot to put up the tent. Although as the night drew longer, the weather got worse and we were convinced it is a much better idea to stay in the car. By now we had gotten used to sleeping in the car and Henrik was even managing well with his maneuvering in the sleeping ...

... special package to the Ice Hotel for the night, and went there by mid-day. (www.icehotel.com) I hadn't intended to stay there, just visit, but I was really glad I ended up staying. The building was incredible. The whole building is constructed out of ice every year out of ice from the adjacent Torne river. Artists from all over the world compete to design the interior and the suites, and apparently it is different every year. They also have ...

... off, while they were all waiting to get hooked in, they were barking so loudly and jumping up in place, like they were itching to get started. Once we started off, they were completely silent and seemed to be working very diligently at pulling the sled. One really cute one pulling my sled kept looking back, like he was checking if he was doing a good job. Being the shortest, I got to sit in front. Once we were settled in, my friend Ingrid ...

... part exciting. When you first step off the plane, you expect it to be freezing - but it isn't really that bad - but I believe that is the shock, so after about 10 mins you realise that you are actually freezing your balls (or tits) off!! It was about -20 degrees when we arrived, and I think it may have dropped a little more in the night. Transfer to the ice hotel is via bus, through this gorgeous (fairly dark) landscape, with snow laden trees and rivers of ice ...

... around the grounds & down the main road (if anyone reading this going there is looking for the Homestead cafe its ages away past the 'Konsum' supermarket) & we found out you can just take the Kick Sled's (which are all over the hotel grounds) and are like snow zimmer-frames so we had great craic flying around on them, then after tea in our cabin, (& a quick shop for me) & snoozes we went on the Northern Lights safari on snow mobiles again & had dinner (couscous for us ...

... to regain my dignity for the rest of our stay. We have an overpriced dinner, where James eats half the population of mooses (meese?) and Santa's entire reindeer clan. I am concerned about revenge attacks. With a full stomach, we go for a walk before heading to bed in the cold accomodation. The lockers are separate from the rooms, and thankfully I discovered a door that meant we didn't have to walk through the bar in our pants. It still isn't exactly private, so my wisely ...

... t one of my go*ls on this trip w*s to st*y in the f*bled Ice Hotel in the very north of Sweden. I'd he*rd *bout it from friend Olof, prob*bly when we were downing * few beers melting in Sing*pore's sweltering 32C *nd humid he*t. I tucked th*t *w*y in the b*ck of my mind, envis*ging some ice c*stle much like the one in the Superm ...