puppy husky!

6^th March 2006 Monday Free-and-easy was the programme. We took our own sweet time to organize our 16-hour train expedition to Kiruna. Connex departed from Stockholm Central at 1800. We had dinner in the train and went straight to bed. Eng had stomach discomfort during the journey but he recovered by the time we arrived at Kiruna. We crossed the Artic Circle in Sweden along the way by noticing some posters and signs of indications.

7^th March 2006 Tuesday We alight at Kiruna, Lappland by 1030. It was bitterly wintry and attest to get used to the weather as it could be worse up North. We found our route to Yellow House (accommodation for the night) to unload our backpacks and headed straight for food.

yellow house hostel, affordable and clean !

I was craving for some Swedish meatballs (yes, the IKEA specialty) with mashed potatoes and they were indeed delicious. By 1400, we took a bus to the world renowned Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, the other one is located in Quebec, Canada. We were eager to witness the fairy tale land; the immense carving that is being rebuilt every winter. Check out its site if you need to know more but IMHO, the sculptures were remarkable but my feet were too numb throughout; imagine walking on ice with my thin soles from Clarks although I like my boots which I’d bought from the Christmas London sales. Shall not dwell further or else, this blog will divert from its origin

ice hotel, smaller than i thought from the outside

chapel next to the ice hotel, i thought it looks better than the hotel

entrance to the hotel, made from reindeer skin and horns, canggih!	dining area of the hotel with the infamous chandelier

icy reception desk and its friendly staff

Absolut Icebar, with everything made from ice including the glasses

You get proper bed in rooms. From the pic, the bed is a combination of 4 Ice blocks as Legs, wood frame on top of the ice blocks, mattress covered with reindeer skin and pillows

bored yet?	here’s more

5^th March 2006 Sunday Eng and I are early birds and it was unfortunate that Noreen had to wake up the same time as us to have breakfast together. Thanks for waking up pal! Eng could be a qualified travel guide as his itinerary and amount of comprehensive information he had gathered for our trip were pretty impressive and of course, tailored so much to my interests  We left for Gamla Stan after breakfast but we didn’t get to the subway station after half an hour as we were busy snapping photos of the environs outside Noreen’s apartment.

beautiful scenery 200m from the door step

I didn’t realised that I seemed to be obsessed with bicycles as every shot has its occurrence  .

Anyway, we arrived in the end. Gamla Stan literally an “old Stockholm” is a small island in the middle of the city. With its narrow lanes and attractive highlighted buildings, it is a charismatic vicinity to visit.

Identify the fake windows in one of the pix. Apparently in olden times, residents were being taxed for "installing windows" (ooopsss too much IT by now) in their units as it was considered luxurious.

looks like a cake!

4^th March 2006 Saturday Blanket of snow covering the Swedish landscape greeted Eng and I as the aircraft approached our long awaited destination. The view was pure white, something I would have imagined of North Pole (minus the forest). Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) SK1530 descended at Stockholm Arlanda at 1030 as expected. Arlanda wasn’t busy at all; interior is contemporary and there are washrooms almost every 50 metres (exaggerating a little but this was what I thought). Most importantly, we did not have to wait for our baggage vis-à-vis my various unpleasant experiences at other airports. Just 2 weeks ago, my baggage was delayed from Bangalore and the staff didn’t know the status.  I was so bengang as I accidentally put my Nikon in the luggage lah.

neat and well designed belt

impressive flooring for an airport

Without wasting any time, we took the airport coach Flygbussarna to S:t Eriksplan T-bana. The journey was 36 minutes; sights were spectacular along the way and we knew that we did made the right choice to discover Sweden. After alighting at S:t Eriksplan, we found our way to my dear old CBN classmate’s residence; Noreen. Noreen and her husband, Peter gave us a warm welcome, showed us to our room for the next 9 days and a tour around her cosy apartment. We chatted for some time before departing for an ice hockey game between Djurgården (Stockholm team) and Leksand at the Globe Arena. Peter and Noreen prepared yummy beef burrito for our dinner.

it wasn’t fun at all to find address with these luggages on slippery streets

national anthem in background

Close match, but Djurgården lost out at extra time

atmosphere was great, something i’ll never get on TV