Bringing in the New Year in Sweden

Sweden is a wonderful country. It has such a beatuiful culture and people. They have come along way since their barbaric viking days. The Norse wisdom often had a negative spin and from the readings i have seen, their chapters and sagas were about brutal survival and trusting no one. Now, you have a strong and patriotic community of people, with good solid family values, they are generally low stress and happy. They are organized, well educated, and no where in the country can you say there exists a Ghetto. Everyone seems to do okay there, the prices are expensive though, and taxes are high, but the high standard of living in combination of great design and style are what make Sweden special. It is a place i'll go back to as often as i can.

Carlo and I flew into Stockholm on Dec 30th. Our flight arrived around 1pm and the airport express to the city centre took only 20 minutes. Just outside the station was the Nordic Sea Hotel, where we were staying. The Nordic Sea Hotel also features one of the world's 5 Absolut IceBars, so that was pretty fun. We went for a walk around the harour and Gamla Stan (old town). It's a very picturesque city, full of gorgeous waterfront buildings in terra cotta colours. The daylight was minimal, and stores would shut around 1pm so we didn't have much time to shop, although i did find this great little shop that had cool house stuff. I ended up buying some little tea spoons. We found some great little restaurants and bars, and really just enjoyed walking around. For New Years Eve, we did some shopping in the day, and found this awesome little swedish pub called the Blu Dorren ( or blue door). We had meatballs and potatos with lingonberries, and some pike perch. Both were incredible and the beer was pretty good too. Then headed back to the hotel and had a nap before getting ready for the Ice Bar and the evening spectacle. After the Ice Bar we went to dinner at a fancy restaurant in the Stureplan, then went to the harbour for a fantastic display of the firworks. A really sweet older Swedish lady stood beside us and was really excited and we all brought in the new year together. Everyone was cheering and celebrating in the streets. Following that we walked back up to the Stureplan and had a few drinks and had a dance or two. By that time, we were both pretty tired and headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep. In the morning, we headed out but New Years Day was pretty quiet in the city centre so we headed back to Gamla Stan where there were more people walking about. In Gamla Stan we found the oldest church and found the Nobel Museum. Mr. Nobel was a Swede, he invented Dynamite, which gave him plutocratic status. He introduced the Nobel prize, and the museum houses a list of all the laureates. Unfortunately it was closed too so we didnt' get to visit, but i'm keen to return in the summer time. We had a quick bite at the Radisson Hotel, they had a great little bar on the street level and made good fries and then by 4 it was time to get back, grab our bags and head to Central Station to catch our train to Lappland.

The train cabin was tiny, only one person could stand up at a time with both our suit cases and bags. We made it cozy though and watched National Treasure on our laptop. That killed a few hours before dinner. The dinner cart was really cute, wood interior with blue and yellow decor. The entire room featured photos of the Swedish Royals, who they are quite proud of. One of the princesses is really pretty too. Carlo wasn't hungry but i had some lazagne and then we went to sleep. It wasn't the best rest, but it was better than sitting in an ordinary chair all nite. I felt bad for some of the other passengers!

In the morning we woke up to snow as far as you could see. At about 10am we arrived in Kiruna, the most northern town in Sweden. It is located 200kms north of the arctic circle line. The top industries in Kiruna are Mining, Tourism, and Space Research. Kiruna has a much better infrastructure than any other northern town in the world and there are about 20,000 people who live there. We checked into the Ice Hotel and there were crowds at the reception, i couldn't believe how busy it was. Once we were sorted, we moved our bags into a locker room and collected our snow gear. We changed and had an hour to spare before dog sledding, so we took a tour of the hotel and checked out all the suites. Each is different and we took some photos of our favorites, each is impressive and designed by a different artist. There are two founders of the Ice Hotel, one is from Sweden and the other from Japan. The ice is all from the Tourne River which the Ice Hotel is waterfront to. The Tourne River water is some of the purest in the world, i couldnt' stop drinking enough of it. Lapplandia Water is the best i have ever tasted. The Hotel is constructed with a new design each year once the weather chills down again. It is -5C inside the hotel and has about 50 different rooms. Truely a marvel, it is an ice palace to be seen. It was so surreal being there, and we were in absolute bliss.

Here's a clip of when we met the dogs

Lappland Adventures video 1

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Dog Mushing Tour

Lappland Adventures Video 2




The Ice Hotel

Lappland Adventures Video 3