Celebration in the north

Poppy in front of the Icehotel by night with the entrance doors covered with reindeer skin

A little more than a month ago we were invited to a family celebration far up in the north of Sweden. My parents celebrated their 50th anniversary, Gold anniversary in Swedish, and invited me, my siblings and our families. In totat that is 22 people, but my brother and his family couldn't make it and one cousin became sick and had to stay home, but we were still a good group of 16 who travelled to the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi. It is situated 200 km north of the Arctic Circle and is on about the same latitude as the very north of Alaska. My parents both grew up in Luleå, which is a four hour drive south of Jukkasjärvi, but they wanted to show the big family something special about the Lapland region of Sweden. The Icehotel is certainly special and I have always wanted to go.

From Lund it is a 2,5 hour flight, but we went via Stockholm this time and met up with the cousins. First time for Poppy on an airplane and she did well. Not the most favorite thing to do, but she stayed calm and we spent some time standing up, walking in the aisle and talking to the stewardess in the front.

Our warm cabin and Poppy in her cutest Laplandic outfit

The Icehotel is built up from scratch every year from the Torne river and melts away during the late spring/summer. There are also cabins where you can stay in regular temperature, but the majority of the guests spend one night in a warm room and one night in the icehotel. The temperature in the icehotel never drops lower than between -5 to -8 degrees C, about 23-17F despite the fact that the temperature outside can drop to -30C (-22F). When we were there it was around -20C, about -4F, but the air is dry so it's not as cold as it sounds. But yes, it is important to get dressed properly or else you will freeze like crazy.

In the icehotel the beds are all made of ice blocks with a mattress covered with reindeer skin. You sleep in a sleeping bag and you are supposed to wear only one base layer, preferably wool, and a hat when you go to sleep. At 8am they come and wake you up with hot lingonberry juice. The only problem for me this year was that I have Poppy and since I am still nursing it was not a good idea to stay in the cold accommodation. We had a cabin where I stayed both nights. Mats and Nils were the vikings in the family and went to sleep in the icehotel the second night. Alice stayed with me and Poppy in the cabin.

Alice in the far end of the lobby and Nils on one of the many ice sculpture decorations

Thankfully the icehotel is open for everyone during the day between 10am-6pm, so you can walk into any room and check it out. We took a long tour of the lobby and the many cool rooms. They have two sections with special Art Suites where different artists have been invited to design and build a room of ice. My parents decided to stay in the Flower Room.

The corridor with the Art Suites and the Flower room where my parents stayed.

Since Mats and I couldn't stay in a room together we tried the bed in one of the designed rooms during our tour and Alice tried a chair in one of her favorite rooms. Love the wall in that room.

We ended the tour by having a drink in the icebar. The best bar for Poppy since it had the perfect outdoor temperature that she was dressed for (so she kept sleeping in the stroller the whole time). I had a lingonberry drink and even the glasses were made of ice, so you'd better keep the gloves on.

The following day the big group went on a snow mobile safari. Only adults could drive, but it worked out fine and everyone had a good time. They were fast and most of the ride was on the frozen river. Poppy and I took a long walk in around the area instead.

Rules and instructions before the snow mobile safari

In the afternoon we did an Ice Sculpting Class. Everyone got their own ice block and a wood chisel to form whatever you wanted by carving carefully. It was great fun once you got a hold of how to do it. We had an instructor who helped us get started. After a while I could truly understand how long it must have taken the artists to make the Art Suites in the icehotel. Not a job for me, but this little piece was fun and a suitable challenge for me while Poppy took her afternoon nap.

Nils made a house

Alice made a sofa

Mats made a heart and so did I - without knowing that he was working on one as well

We also enjoyed good meals the whole group, but for some reason I totally forgot to take pictures of that. Maybe because we were busy eating or maybe because the view inside was not as spectacular as outside. Anyhow, it was a great weekend that we ended by taking a tour of Kiruna - the slightly larger city closest by. It is known for mining of ore. Unfortunately the city is now right on top of the ore, so they are moving the whole city, including 3000 homes, further away so they can keep on mining.