Lapplands tåg två (take two)!

Last weekend I went back up to the far north. This time I took a plane there (16 hours faster than the train) with my friend Audry from New York.



Landing in Kiruna! This tiny airport is a bit far from the city center. The shuttles weren't running and cab wait times were about an hour, but we got lucky and were driven into the city by the awesome lady who worked at the EuroCar rental desk (for only 100 SEK! ~14 or 15 USD). Unfortunately we never got her name and didn't get a picture with her :(

The first night there we stayed in a hotel because all the hostels were booked. It was kind of expensive, but it was adorable...



We got up early the next day to catch the early train to Björkliden (a town based around this little ski resort, just north of Abisko) to go dog sledding. Of course we got lost on our way to the train station and missed our train. We were able to reschedule the dogsledding, but had to spend nearly 5 hours in the train station (the second train was delayed from hitting a moose).

Björkliden was absolutely beautiful! It seems the further north I go the more in love with the area I fall! It makes me wish we went to Narvik (on the border of Norway...as far as the Swedish trains go).





Dogsledding (take two!) was an even better the second time. The dogs in
Björkliden (first time I went was in Abisko) were so much nicer. I told this to the trainer guy (see picture) and he said it's probably because they treat their pups more like pets. They were so lovey and happy to see people. It was adorable. And they had soooooo much energy. It was ridiculous. My favorite dog was one of my lead dogs who just went a little crazy. It was funny because at the beginning she was almost sleeping so I was like nooooo she's gonna be lazy again. But nope. As soon as we got them all ready she was jumping up and down and howling/screaming like crazy. It was so cute.

Here's a little video of the crazy excited dogs :)



Sorry there are a lot of pictures of the puppies. They are just freakishly adorable.







and here is Morgan! Our tour leader! He was very nice.



Unfortunately we didn't get too many pictures because our cameras were frozen! It was about -30 degrees C (-22 degrees F). So this makes the batteries in the camera freeze, thus not allowing the cameras to work. i tried to keep it in a pocket close to my body, but it just died as soon as i took it out (as did my fingers). We were wearing ridiculous outfits so we wouldnt get cold (we still got cold)...I think I had like three pairs of pants, two shirts, two thick jackets, huge snow boots, three mittens/gloves, and two hats...and a snowsuit over all of it. So cold.

Sexy (but fogged up camera :) ) picture of me in my snow suit



After dogsledding we ran back to the lodge to get our bags so we could catch the train to our Hostel in Abisko. Once we got to the station I...realized I forgot my purse there. I always do stuff like this and I was soooo mad at myself! So we missed the train and went back to get it. On the bright side there was a little musician playing for the "after ski" event at the lodge. He was so cute and kept smiling at us. It was great fun.



We got up early in Abisko and went cross country skiing. I'm not a very big fan of this, but we went on a long trail. We went to Abisko canyon which was amazing. It's just a small little canyon, but it's so pretty and frozen! There were even frozen waterfalls! Eeeep I love it. But again...it was SO cold! Our hair was frozen the whole time (from the condensation of our breathe)







So we were skiing for like 4 hours and finally I was just too tired (and I was getting annoyed with Audrey pretending like she knew where she was going and then getting lost) so I said "hej då" and left her to go rest my poor little body.

We saunaed at night...which is always great fun in Abisko ;)

It was a perfectly clear night to see the Northern lights, but for some reason nothing showed up. It was quite depressing. The nights after that were too cloudy to see anything. Just my luck!

The next day we caught the train back to Kiruna for the night (so we could catch our plane in the morning). When we got there we decided to go to the ice hotel which was ... AMAZING! all my friends had told me that the Ice Hotel wasn't that amazing, but I don't know what's wrong with them. Because it was soo sooo awesome. Here are some of the fun "art suites" and other fun things!







Even though I loved the ice hotel, I don't think I could stay there. It was hard of me to even enjoy walking around after awhile because I was so cold (although its much warmer inside than it is outside). Sleeping in -5 degrees C just does not sound too pleasant to me. Imagine if you had to pee in the night? I would not want to get out of my warm blanket/sleeping bag.

We hung out in Kiruna for the rest of the night...here are a couple cool pictures of the mine and the city




It's this huge Iron mine (I read somewhere that it produces 70% of the Iron used in Europe). They are actually currently moving the entire city of Kiruna so that they can start digging under where the city lies now. Crazy right?

Now I just have to go up one more time to see the "midnight sun" during the summer. Apparently in late April/May it's still snowy so you can ski for 24 hours...kinda cool huh? And do some fun hiking trails mebbe? I decided when I was there I wanted to marry I Sami man and move there. So I'll work on that. And also that I was a puppy Samoyed (like this one) and name him Björn :) They are basically the polar bears of dogs ya?