Managed to have an even worse sleep last night than the previous night – got about 4 hours sleep total. However, I managed to get up properly on time today and not fall asleep! Had breakfast in the hotel and took a taxi to the airport to catch our flight up north to Kiruna. The downtown area seemed very quiet this morning – probably because it is a Saturday and the traffic to the airport was very light so we made it to the airport pretty quickly. Checked in and headed to the gate. The flight was packed and there were a lot of people with carry on luggage. A short hour and a half flight to north of the Arctic Circle. The ground in Kiruna was covered in snow and there is not a lot around. A small terminal where you walk off the plane and to the terminal. Quite a lot of people from our flight though, all crammed around a tiny luggage belt. Met our driver and picked up our luggage and then rode for 45 minutes to our lodge. We got our rooms and had a briefing about our activities, including the recently announced change to the itinerary, which would result in less time dog-sledding. Had some coffee and pastries for “fika”, which is an afternoon tradition of tea or coffee and pastries. We then were assigned our winter gear, which consisted of an overall winter suit, boots, gloves and a fur hat. Then we headed back to our rooms to relax and take some photos of the sunset and lodge. Tried on our snow gear and got ready for dinner back in the lodge building. Every night is apparently a three course dinner. Tonight we had a creamed tuna thing wrapped in a crepe type thing for an appetizer and then meatballs (Swedish, of course :)) with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy and then a chocolate mousse, creme anglais type thing for dessert. Was stuffed, especially after having a pretty inactive day! Hung around after dinner for a bit chatting with some of the group – 12 of us in total – as it was still early and we don’t start snowshoeing tomorrow until 10 am. Updating my blog now before getting to bed – hopefully, I’ll sleep better tonight!

Woke up at 1:30 am and had a difficult time getting back to sleep. Ended up checking some email and watching some downloaded Netflix until about 4 am when I was sleepy again. Fell back asleep and when my alarm went off at 7 I felt awake so I turned it off and didn’t hit snooze as I normally would. Apparently I was not quite as “awake” as I thought as the next time I looked at the clock it was 9:50 and I had said I’d meet Kim for breakfast around 9! Got up and had a shower and got ready for a day of sightseeing. We stopped first for a coffee and pastry at Wayne’s Coffee, which had great coffee. We then walked along the water to the island with a large park and a bunch of museums. Took some photos along the bridge. The weather was cloudy and cool but nice for walking. The city has a relaxed feel to it with people walking during their lunch breaks, looking casual and happy. W e stopped first in the Nordic Museum, which is housed in a large building with a massive open hall in the middle and the exhibits around the outer rectangle. We had a quick lunch at the museum restaurant of a cream cheese quiche with salad, which was very good. We then toured around the museum, which had jewellery, clothing, furniture, folk art, fabrics, some history of the Sami people and some other exhibits and was interesting. There was a mock up of a 1940s apartment and the kitchen was very Ikea-like with the storage items! After the Nordic Museum we went to the Viking Experience, which was a small museum on the history of Vikings in Sweden and included a “ride” which was a bit cheesy. After that, it had snowed outside and the ground had a light dusting for our walk back to the hotel, which was about 45 minutes at a leisurely pace. Had time to change quickly before meeting one of our travelling companions from Madagascar for dinner. He was on the Ice Hotel trip the week before us and just finished his tour. We had dinner at Tak, a Nordic, Japanese fusion place, which was interesting. I had some sparkling sake with sakura, salsify (a root) tempura with roe and mayonnaise and pork (or prok, according to the menu) ramen. We shared two different desserts, which were a bit odd – a chocolate cake with yuzu fudge and toasted rice ice cream and an almond ice cream with dulce de leche and some flowery ice shavings. After dinner we had a few beer in the hotel bar to hear about the trip and catch up before heading to bed.