Kiruna!!!!!!


Situated 1350 Km north of Stockholm, Kiruna is a very popular tourist destination. The city is home to a big ore refinery, the ice hotel and lots of animals. This trip was hands down one of the greatest things I have ever done in my life. During my stay, I saw a wild moose, went dogsledding, visited the ice hotel, saw the Northern Lights (sorry, pics didnt work) and went on great hikes.

Kiruna airport..........VERY small as you may have expected.........

As soon as we got off the plane, Matthias and I ran and picked up the car we rented.......

This is a pic of me arriving at out camp in Vittangi, which is 80Km away from Kiruna. I had to drive in pitch black weather in the arctic for the first time in Europe. What an experience.......

We rode in style though. An Audi A4 no less!!!!

A view of the mountains from downtown Kiruna.......

A common seating area in the "city center" of Kiruna......

Gorgeous sunset pic I thought I would throw in......

A pic of our nice little cabin in Vittangi. It was a great little camp complete with Sauna and playground!!!

A night shot......

Really cool shadow pic of all of us in front of the cabin......

The entire group!!! If you know me well and follow the blog, you should be able to recognize them by now..........

Havin dinner!!!!

The talented chefs!!!!

After dinner; Sascha and I decided to have a couple drinks......... ya right. I showed the Germans how to keep beer cold in the snow (thanks for the tip Dad!!!!!)

Things got very serious for parts of the evening........

You can tell that I am deep in thought here..........

I believe the expression here is "pissed"..............

We decided to check out the sauna later on in the evening.........despite what they say, it was REALLY REALLY hot!!!!

Funny guys thinking it would be a good idea to jump in the snow right now..............

Nooooooooooot such a great idea afterall........this was QUITE painful but a funny picture in the end though!!!

Ice Hotel
Well, the next leg of the trip involved a visit to the Ice Hotel. It is a really cool place to go see, but I really dont know if I would ever stay there. It is cold, expensive and they really dont give you much in regards to a bed or a bathroom!

The main entrance.....

Me, sitting and thinking in the lounge.....

I decided to take a closer look into one of the sculptures........all of the designs were so cool to look at in the building.......

The ice garage which doubled as an advertisement for Saab......

The Absolut Ice Bar Lounge..........

The Ice Chruch. Somehow I managed to scare the heck out of an English lady who was coming around to check out the confessional as I was sitting in it..........so funny

Example of a room...........all of the suites are designed differently from artists around the world. It really makes for a cool effect.

A bed......like I said. Not very much at all.

One of the entrances to a room......

This is the money shot of the main lounge of the Hotel........breathtaking

I decided to get kinda artistic with a shot against a wall of ice.........not really though

The Ice Bar again.....

I decided to hop the counter and take some pics behind the counter since no one was inside the bar............and yes, EVERYTHING is made of ice except for the bottles of Vodka......

Pouring a drink.........

This one is self explanatory

Nature & Hiking in Kiruna
Well, after a long night of partying we all decided to venture out with the car to see all of the beautiful things that Kiruna had to offer. So, we followed the map to a spot where the road stopped in one area, got out and began to explore...........the rest is history

For some reason Sascha wouldnt stop attacking me in the snow......I think it is because I am Canadian and can drink more Whiskey than him.........I dont know?!?!?!?

They beat me up a couple times, but I didnt let it break my spirits...

We really had no idea of where we were going, the terrain and what we would see. We really did find out how deep the snow was though. I am not kneeling in this picture. My legs simply shot right down into the snow and were stuck. I am thinking about a metre deep plus......

Steffen wanted to demonstrate how deep the snow is to everyone. He is a very special young man.......

Snow Angels!!!! We took this pic when we wanted to relax a little bit on the side of the road that runs across this frozen lake. Thats right, they turn lakes into roads in the winter. Apparently, in the summer you can drive by automobile speed limit signs with your boat.......pretty cool!!!

Matthias insisted in taking a close up shot of me......

Oddly enough, we spotted a Moose!!!!!!!!! I had NO idea just how big these animals are. Well, let me tell you that they are *&!%$# big man!!!!!!

I decided to take a closer look. In and around that area I lost my nerve and turned back.......

On the last day, Steffen and I decided to go on our own hike at the base of a couple mountains we found on the highway. The others relaxed in the car or slept. Just thought this was a cool shot. O ya, I am stuck in the snow again, LOL.

Cool shots of me on the trail......

Grizzly Adams DID have a beard!

Nature shots.........

A very cool shadow pic of me just off of the trail.......

Steffen, the German Nature Boy in the flesh!!! He loves this stuff and oddly enough, so do I.....

Again, Bill is stuck in the snow. At least I can laugh about it by now though......

Its a bird.........its a plane...........nope, just good ol' Bill. Steffen and I decided to practice our gymnastics routine on a small cliff before we headed back. LOL, so fun..........