We took a flight to Stockholm and then transferred to Kiruna, there we caught a bus that took us to the hotel. When we arrived we were given time first to actually wander around inside the hotel to take a look at all of the rooms. They have basic ice rooms and snow rooms (snow rooms are basic rooms but ice rooms are more like a suite that has a table and chair in there, too made of ice). The beds are a block of ice with a piece of wood fit into the top, then lined with foam mattresses topped with reindeer fur. The nice rooms and really interesting ones were considered Art Suites, these have their own theme designed into them, each one is different, each designed by a different artist. Some are very odd, some are nice, but each has it's own personality.
We looked at all of the rooms, some very very neat. One that we liked had massive pillars that were carved into the shapes of womens legs wearing high heels and then carvings of high heels around the room. Another looked like you would be staying in an spaceship or the top of an apple tree, things like that. One of our favorite rooms began at the entrance way and continued all the way through, it was carved entirely like a mushroom forest. There were mushrooms all over the walls and ceilings, and the pillars in the room were the stems of the mushrooms, so you were looking up at the underbelly, not the tops. After we walked around we were told that we could upgrade to an art suite, since there were some available, and so we did. The mush-room was available so we took it.
We took a walk around to the gift shop and the reception area before making our way back to the main dressing area to get our snow suits that they lend you. They are not flattering but they are supposed to help you stay warm. We kept saying we felt like Ralphie from A Christmas Story. We took a walk around the chapel in between wedding ceremonies before heading off to the Ice Bar for a drink. The Ice Bar is sponsored by Absolut and was cool, except that the one in Queenstown was much cooler to us. We enjoyed our drinks in our ice glasses and hung for a bit and then went to the main lounge in the reception area, since it was warmer. We had a drink here before heading to dinner at The Restaurant across the street.
Supper was very good. Greg had a mushroom broth with mushroom salad and walnuts as an appetizer in honor of the room we were staying in that night, followed by a very good risotto which had a bunch of stuff that we couldn't identify in it.... but it was still good. Tami had a King Crab salad that was covered in cucumber broth as a starter and then had Pike-Perch with linguini which was also really good. We were too full for desert, so headed back to the changing room to hang out a bit.
It was too early to go to sleep, so we hung around the fire and played cards until we were sleepy. Then we collected our double sleeping bag and headed for our room. It was quite an interesting experience. The coldest part was walking to the room since you have a short section where you are outside. Once you get all snug in the sleeping bag, you're pretty much set. Tami had to go to the bathroom a couple of times which was cold since you had to walk through the hotel, back outside, and into the changing rooms to get there. But all in all, it wasn't bad at all. We will say that it was much more comfortable than you would have thought it would be.
We don't have access to post pictures yet, but don't worry... we will add plenty later.
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