Live from the Arctic Circle...
By billvision on 01/04
re: 'The Beginning of a New Year'.
Our second trip to Northern Sweden. It was the Spring of 2003. There was plenty of snow on the ground and the river was still frozen, so we could walk or drive across the ice to Finland.
Our last day in Sweden. We took a taxi to the airport, then hung out at a bar for a couple hours. After a quick de-icing of the wings, we were on our way to Chicago. Lunch in Chicago included a couple beers with silly labels.
We slept in till noon today! Nice. Then we drove out to Görvälnområdet, which is a huge lake. (I think so anyway). Henrietta had two cats that seemed to like having their pictures taken. Later that night we decided to walk to a local burger joint called Sibylla.
Henrietta and her sister picked us up at the airport in Stockholm and then we were on our way to Jakobsberg. After a rest and something to eat we jumped on the train and went to Gamla Stan, which means Old Town. This place is really great. We then had a great meal at the house and headed out to a club where we had a few drinks and headed home.
I got up early this morning and climbed up on the silo for a panoramic view of Juoksengi. Then at 3pm we jumped on a plane and headed for Stockholm to visit Henrietta and Björn.
We are leaving for Stockholm on Friday, so today we walked around with the dog and took some more photos of Jessica’s village. At around 9:30 Jessica noticed some green lights in the sky through the window. She ran outside and saw the Northern Lights!
We both threw on out jackets and gloves and hurried outside. I was able to capture the lights with my camera. This was so amazing to see on our last night up north.
Today we took off on the snowmobile again. This time we went way up into the hills where we got some great views of the northern mountains. At the end of the day, we decided to go out for one last spin before we had to return the snowmobile. I had to pee but thought we would be back in 5 minutes.
What luck, we go for a 5 minute ride and Jessica makes one wide turn and we sink in the snow and get stuck! It took Jess and I almost an hour to get the thing back on the trail. We were exhausted and sore and bruised. It was hilarious and we didn’t even have the camera with us. We really enjoyed the sauna tonight.
This morning we borrowed a snowmobile from a friend and Jessica and I cruised around the many snow covered trails behind her parent’s house. We were out for hours at a time.
We left the house at 6:00am and headed for Jukkasjärvi, a small village in Northern Lapland, Sweden that builds an entire hotel out of ice every winter! It’s called the Ice Hotel.
It is at a beautiful location beside the River Torne. About 200 kilometers above the Arctic Circle. We made several stops at other interesting places, like the worlds largest wool mitten, and a huge sundial, and a snowed in paddle boat. It was a 12 hour day, but well worth the drive.
Kalle and I drove an hour and a half to watch a car race on a frozen lake. When we arrived at the town we found a small hand written sign that said the race had been moved to another town another half an hour away, so off we went. We got there in time to see the start of the first race. On our way home we spotted two wild reindeer in the forest and stopped to take a photo.
Today there was a big ice fishing contest on the river, so we walked over to check out the excitement! When the gun went off all to competitors ran to their ‘lucky’ spot. After they drilled their holes and sat down we just had to wait and see who would catch the biggest fish, so we left!
We did come back two hours later for the raffle though, and Jessica’s mom won a hat & some other stuff.
Today we drove to The Arktikum, Santa Claus Village and Santa Park in Rovaniemi, Finland, about an hour and a half away. We showed Santa where San Jose is on his big map and he said he’ll be sure to bring us plenty of gifts next year. We had some great Chinese food in downtown Rovaniemi. It was so cold there I thought my nose would crack if I sneezed.
Then we drove back to Sweden, grabbed a few cold beers and hit the sauna to relax for the evening… but it snowed 2 or 3 inches after the sauna so we bundled back up for some nighttime snow play.
No clouds in the sky this morning but it is -16C degrees! I made some strong coffee then Jessica & I watched the news about Iraq. I hope they get the hell out of there soon so we can fly home safely.
Today we walked on water! Well, frozen water anyway. We walked from the house in Sweden to a gift shop in Finland via a road made of ice. The ice on the Torne River is about three feet think now. A few hours later we were off to Finland again, this time in a car. We stopped to take photos of some ice sculptures, then we visited another gift shop and had a snack. The view of the frozen country and river is amazing.
Next was a visit with Jessica’s Grandparents where we had coffee and pastries, then we took some photos of their reindeer.
The temperature was -3.5C/27F this morning! The sky goes from bright sun to dark and cloudy every 15 to 20 minutes, with short snow flurries thrown in between. Now it’s time to just relax for a week. No cars, no planes, no work, just rest & relaxation.
This was another busy day. We returned some clothes and bought some more, then we packed our bags and headed for Juoksengi at the Arctic Circle. Our 3 hour drive turned into 5 hours after stopping twice for burgers and once to buy more clothes. We arrived at Jessica’s parents house in Juoksengi at 5:00pm, just in time for an evening walk with the dog, then it was time for dinner, beer, and a sauna before bed.
This was a busy day. We took several photos, ate more burgers, bought some new clothes at H&M, toured an old military bunker deep inside a mountain, went bowling, watched more television, played a trivia game in Swedish (I lost), and ate some more great home cooked food. Then it was time for a couple melatonins and a soft pillow.
Well we arrived in Stockholm, grabbed our luggage, and checked it right back in. Then we hopped on another plane to Lulea. I sat next to a man from Murmansk (northern Russia) who had been visiting his daughter and new grandson in Stockholm. He pulled out a big bottle of whiskey and poured me a glass. Needless to say when we arrived in Lulea I didn’t need a jacket.
Jessica’s brother Charlie and his girlfriend Lisa met us at the airport. After a Swedish McDonald’s burger we were on our way to Skelleftea, an hour and a half south west of Lulea. We hit the local ICA Super (a large Swedish supermarket chain) for some beer and some fresh salmon. After a fantastic dinner we watched a Television then it was time to get some much needed sleep!
Here we go again. Another vacation in Sweden. This time we left San Jose at 6:00am. The flight was on time and went well. We had a few hours to wander around the airport in Chicago so we decided to buy a couple sandwiches. $19.00 (and two crappy sandwiches) later we were on our way to Stockholm. We arrived at 7:30am, the next day, 16 hours after leaving San Jose. Were we tired? You bet, but excited to be in Sweden again, and this time I get to see SNOW!!