Greetings,
Well, folks, I did it! I can officially be dubbed a true
Viking now. I braved the snow, the desolation (sort-of),
the ice, and the cold of Sweden's Ice Hotel. I even received
an official Diploma for (quote) "surviving the night" in
MINUS 5 degrees INSIDE our room, and MINUS 8 outdoors!
And for those of you who may be skeptical about that fact,
come look at the real thing - now hanging prominently on
my wall.
Let it be said that this was, without question, the MOST
AWESOME EXPERIENCE AND ADVENTURE IN MY LIFE (to date)!
And just the thought of being 200 kilometers above the
Arctic Circle kinda gave me goose-bumps (literally). However,
those of you who know me well, realize that I have Siberian
blood and prefer winter to any other season. This was a
real treat, albeit for only 3 days.
I am enclosing only a few photos of the many I took, but
none of them do justice to the "real thing".
It is beyond words of description!
The beds are made of blocks of ice covered with a thick
layer of sticks and two layers of reindeer hides (a few
beds, including the one in the wedding suite, have thin
foam pads under the hides). Then, all of us insane people
who expected to actually SLEEP on them, received sub zero
sleeping bags to put on top. Sleep came with difficulty.
My body was actually quite toasty, but my face (which was
the only exposed part) was indeed too awake. I tried covering
my mouth and nose, but discovered quickly that it was NOT
the right thing to do. The steam of my breath promptly
got the bag wet, and yes, it froze to my face... When they
instruct you to leave your face exposed - they have good
reason. Live and learn... Then half-way through the night
I slid off the bed, and in trying to get back up, klunked
my head on the immense ice sculpture of a woman that decorated
our room. I never knew that ice could resonate quite so
eloquently! I ask you - "how often can one
say something like that"? It was really very funny.
After all that I did manage to fall asleep for a little
while.
In the morning, everyone who stuck out the night (about
half of the residents bailed), got a nice mug of hot lingonberry
tea. Boy, was THAT good!
The rest of the day was spent on dog-sled, and then there
was the late afternoon visit to a Saami (local tribe of
people in Lappland) reindeer farm. I even drove my own
reindeer sled! Had I been wearing red, I would have felt
like Santa...
Lots more to tell, but I will stop here. Those of you
who are interested in finding out details are more than
welcome to call. However, I can't promise that I won't
drool as I'm talking about this trip. I'd go back in a
minute!!!!
Enjoy the photos. One of the pictures is of me INSIDE
a hollow block of ice (about 6" thick
on all sides), but it's so clear that were it not for the
two cracks, you'd probably never even know... And yes,
the chandelier IS indeed made of ice, too, lit with fiber-optics.
Of course, you can also check out their website for yourselves:
http://www.icehotel.com 
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