A leisurely morning with breakfast around 9:15 in the hotel. The breakfast bar was very extensive with so many different options – breads, fruit, juice, yogurt with various toppings, herring with the fixings, cheese and meats, eggs, bacon, sausage, potato patties, vegetables, pastries…. After breakfast we headed out and walked to the museum island. The weather wasn’t too cold (around minus 2) but it must have been colder while we were up north as the river had frozen in some sections. As we arrived at the island it started to snow as well. We went to the ABBA Museum first, which was entertaining with a lot of interactive exhibits, including recording booths, and a stage show! You scan your ticket at the various activities and it records your “performances” for future download. After the ABBA Museum we went to the Spirit Museum and had lunch first. I had a beer and pork sausage with potatoes and sauerkraut. As we were eating a couple from our group, who was staying in Stockholm for a few days to visit their son, walked into the museum and the sat down with us – quite a coincidence. We then toured around the museum devoted to alcohol, which was fairly entertaining with some interesting exhibits. Afterwards, we went for the tasting, which we had added on (regretfully). The four alcohols for the tasting included aquavit, a Swedish bitter orange snapps, a “punch” and another concoction called bäsk, which was a very disgusting spirit with an unpleasant taste. The “punch” was probably the most drinkable as it was weaker and quite sweet. After the museum we headed back towards the hotel. On the way we walked by the Royal Palace and down a few of the streets in Gamla Stan, the historic island we are staying on. Stopped in the hotel for a quick rest and then headed out for dinner to Aifur, which was a viking themed restaurant. It looked like it was going to be a very cheesy experience but it actually wasn’t too bad and the food was quite good – I had some Swedish mead, venison with root vegetable potato cake and then some ice cream for dessert.

Managed to survive the night in the ice hotel and got my “diploma” from the front desk, along with some warm lingonberry juice. Had a sauna and shower and got ready. We then headed across the road to the restaurant and had breakfast – another good selection of food. After breakfast we checked out the gift shop and then got our packing organized. We then headed for a quick walk down towards the frozen river to take few more photos. We then checked out and headed up to the warm lounge for a final drink before our bus came to get us to take us to the airport. Definitely felt a bit cooler today. Managed to get some photos of the Ice Hotel uploaded before we left. On the way to the Kiruna airport we saw a few reindeer jump across the road and into the trees. The 1.5 hour flight back to Stockholm was full – lots of tourists heading back from up north. Said a few goodbyes to the majority of the group, who were all carrying on back to the UK, apart from two who were heading back to Lithuania. Bags were super quick and I saw mine as I was walking up to the belt. Definitely a much better baggage experience than on the way in to Sweden! Caught a taxi to the city; although ended up stuck in rush hour for quite some time and figured it may have been better to take the train and then a taxi from there to the hotel. Checked in and freshened up before heading out for some dinner. Walked by a place that served better than “damn good” margharitas and had to take a photo of the signboard. Then walked on and found a place a block or so from the hotel and had a nice herring appetizer with herring done three different ways. For the main I had some cod with shrimp with grated horseradish, a poached egg and potatoes. Was a lot of food as the herring had also come with boiled potatoes and a chunk of cheese. Was pretty tired after dinner so headed back to the hotel and relaxed before going to bed around 11 or so.