The Blithe Traveler

Kiruna Proper and Not So

This post is dedicated to Loyal Reader Jen (M.), who longs to hear the seamier side of traveling. For you my dear, today we have the seamier side (6 and 8 year old version, so temper your expectations). But first, a bit about Kiruna.

The town of Kiruna, Sweden has a fascinating history. It is the northern most city in Sweden, it was founded in modern day in 1900 and is a mining town. Iron ore, to be precise. Kiruna has a rather charming, genteel feel to it, and is home to 18,000 people, the majority of whom are employed in the mining industry, with tourism a secondary source of revenue.

Cute, isn't it? And then, we have this bit buried deep in the Kiruna Wiki entry (verified in our discussions with local folks): "In 2004, it was decided that the present centre of the municipality would have to be relocated to counter mining related subsidence."

Did you get that? I can translate. Subsidence means "shift downward." The town has mining tunnels running underneath it. So rather than have the town sink, or worse, they're going to move it. Isn't that interesting??

Three years later, in 2007, the where-the-town-would-go (to the northwest) was announced and work began on the main sewage pipes. The plan for the buildings was that most would be torn down and rebuilt at the target site. However, the Kiruna city hall, the most architecturally significant building in Kiruna, would be cut into four parts, each of which would be transported whole to the northwest and reassembled there.

 However, human beings, even Scandanavian ones, who strike me as some of the nicest, kindest people on the planet, are at their basic nature not prone to quick agreement. Here's what Wiki says next: "In June 2010, the municipal council decided that the town would be moved eastwards, in the direction of Tuolluvaara, instead of the proposed northwestern location."

So, three years after the original decision was made and long after work had started on the sewage pipes (although, who knows, maybe they only worked on those for a few days before the legal tangle ensnared them?), the town was moving to a new new place. No further information.

I could probably google the gossip, but I prefer conjecture: I confess, my first thought is that the Town Council who had originally proposed the Nortwest all owned property there, and that the new Town Council all own property eastward. Cynical, I am today.

But, if in ten years we meander back up to Kiruna, it will all be the same, except in a completely different location. Maybe.

Anyway, we had a morning to loll away in this charming town. The children wanted to play in the snow, and Jeff and I wanted to walk around the town. Given how tiny the center of town is, we agreed that children would play, while Jeff and I explored. There were darn about the exact center, so we circled around to check on them every ten minutes of so and managed to cover most of the town in about 30 minutes.

This sign left us a bit puzzled, until ...

we saw one in action. Briliant! They were all over. Older people used them to manuver in relative saftey on the ice. The sledge bit in the front is perfect for groceries. Or, a small child. We saw a few wee ones being trundled around town sitting on the sledge bit. Nifty!

In this tiny town there are at least two Thai restaurants and this! It made me a little wistful for China. We did eat at one of the Thai restaurants (twice!), but didn't manage to get to this one. Actually, at this point in our travels, I hadn't had Chinese food since I left China (1). Probably because I couldn't imagine ever getting anyone to really make super hot 宫保鸡丁 properly.

 

One of the key sightseeing sights in the town is one of the largest wooden structures in Sweden: Kiruna Kyrka (church) is famous for its special tent-like structure (it's meant to look like the native Sami tents). It was built 1907-1912 by architect Gustaf Wickman and was voted Sweden's best looking church. It is a rather striking building.

Thus having done the town up right, Jeff and I sauntered back, returning to the Horrible Hooligans.

Isn't she cute?

We asked them how they were doing. Tom said there had been a minor crisis during our ten minute mini-tour, but he had handled it.

"Hope needed to pee! She didn't know what to do, but I told her."

Jeff and I congratulated him on his inguenuity and asked him exactly where she had gone.

He pointed to a corner of the small center-of-town park in which they were playing. Which was devoid of any structure that one might consider as a toilet facility. Rut roh.

"Do explain!" I encouraged, trying to cling to some modicome of optimism that my child had not in fact dropped trou in the center of town.

"Oh," said Tom, "she really needed to go, so I stood by and covered her while she peed in the corner." And they both beamed at me, all proud of their little independent selves.

Ah, well. There's still time to civilize them.

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(1) You could call this foreshadowing, because there is a point in the not too distant real-time past, not too distant blog-time future where we do end up in a Chinese restaurant.

 

The Northern Lights

We didn't see 'em. Disappointing, of course, but I suppose there will be other chances. And we did see other cool stuff. Like the Super Moon.

Super Moon: "On March 19th, a full Moon of rare size and beauty will rise in the east at sunset. It's a super "perigee moon"--the biggest in almost 20 years." It was gorgeous. And, since the Super Moon was pretty well covered in the media prior to its advent, it would have required very little in the way of foresight to realize conditions were not exactly ideal for Northern Lights viewing. Live and learn. Again.

Snowmobiling was the order of the day.

Jeff and I got one. I thought it best if he drove.

And the rather ticked off wee children rode in this little drag behind sledge. Look at those unhappy faces. I confess, this is a bit my fault. They were so excited at the idea of snowmobiling. I did guess that they would not be allowed to drive the snowmobiles, because the website clearly stated that one had to posssess a driver's license in order to be allowed to drive. Right? Make sense. But who knew they wouldn't even be able to ride with us?? This also, in hindsight, makes sense. Bouncing small children off the back of snowmobiles at 40kmp is probably not in anyone's best interests. But I did not think of it soon enough to warn them.

 

In fact, despite my warnings, the clever wee ones, in a rather hilarious attempt to outwit the Powers That Be, brought these with them.

 Yes, Legoland driver's licenses. I was, like, "Dudes. You are short and still have baby teeth. Do you really think you are going to fool the snowmobile people??" My warnings, as with most of my warnings, had about as much impact as a gnat farting in a hurricane; they were still clutching those dang Legoland driver's licenses when we pulled into the snowmobile yard and they discovered they would be sledging it.

All's well, that ends well, and they did have a chance to "drive" a bit with our guide as we crossed the lake. Happy faces again.

We spent the night in a cabin next to this [obviously frozen] lake. 

Here are the cabins at night, lit up by the supermoon. It was pitch dark out, by the way, but Jeff brought his tripod and this is what his awesome camera recorded.

This was clearly not a "hardship" kind of cabin experience. We had a lovely heated cabin, there was a sauna (hello! Sweden!), indoor plumbing and a lovely meal prepared by our guide. After dinner, we sauntered out across the trail to the wood heated sauna for a bit of a steam. Hope, always one to push the envelop, enjoyed her first nudie snow angel as a way to cool down post sauna. No, there are no photos. Even I draw the line there. The rest of us showed a little more decorum and cooled down walking back to the cabin in our bathing suits.

Once the wee ones were in bed, Jeff and I headed down to the lake to take some photos. For those who grumble that there are rarely photos of Jeff on this blog, here he is! Wait, where is he?

Oh, right, there we go. He wasn't quite quick enough the first go.

 

The next morning we bundled the wee ones outside quick as could be to enjoy as much snow time as they could before we had to leave. Sledding, snowball fighting and general romping commenced at 0800 hours.

And then there was this little bit of hilariousness. It's an igloo. Built for tourists. Apparently, the guide company will haul you out here on your snowmobile and then build you an igloo to sleep in (or maybe, and if I were a guide, I would totally do this, instruct you on how to build an igloo and then watch). The locals must just howl about this sort of thing all summer long. 

We packed it up and hit the snowmobiles to head for home around lunch time. About halfway back, our guide pulled over next to a large mound of blown snow and said that she would like to take a "jumping photograph" of us as a family. Now, it turns out, I am just not a fan of snowmobiles. Unlike the dogs, who run quietly on padded paws, these things are loud, heavy and smell. Alright, so in that respect they are not dissimilar from dogs, but I had already decided that as much as I was willing to give in and learn to like snow, there was no way I was going to take up snowmobiling as a hobby.

When she suggested that we jump the danged snowbank, I hopped off that wretched machine and put my foot down. If Jeff wanted to go leaping over snowbanks, well, that was his business. But there was no way in heck I was going to do it.

 

Turns out, she didn't actually mean on the snowmobile.

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Since it has been over a month since I last typed a sentence here, I am way, way behind. Shortly after our winter break, we headed to Barcelona for quick look around. We were considering moving there, poked our heads in the door, decided against it and instead are moving to Vienna. After Barcelona, we headed to the Canary Islands for Easter, then a weekend trip to the Moravian Caves (CR, not far from where we live) and finally to Krakow for a weekend last weekend. So, I'll try to catch up. I'm staying put for the next few weeks, so it's possible.