2014-02-26

Day 3.  Sunday.

It is early morning again.  We hide from the cold.

With so much protection on… we should probably try something dangerous.

Yes.  These will do nicely.

This is my snowcat.  There are many like it, but this one is mine.

I will let other people use it for photos, though.

It is not possible to take photographs from a snowcat.  So here’s Valé looking serious.

And Freddie looking not-serious.

We rode to this:

It doesn’t look like much, but it is an entire hotel and bar carved out of ice.

Our group enters the compound…

…and gets scolded by our tour guide, Leif, for being slow.

The hotel is expensive to enter.  So, I join the team of cheapskates for a quick pass through the free Ice Church.

It’s pretty bright inside, despite a lack of lights.

Freddie got trapped in the ice.

Alé got trapped in the ice.

I got trapped in the ice.

There are various touristy things you can do at the ice hotel.

And  everything is made out of ice.

But ice hotels are expensive, so we strolled into Jukkasjärvi, the local town.

But, sadly, Coop was closed.

So we strolled further.

Down Slöjdvägen.

To the church!

The church is more than 400 years old.

And it is not particularly large.

But it features a magnificent Sami mural.

With all the typical Christian things.  Like Jamaican Jesus:

Dia de los Muertos:

And Einstein dumping a keg of beer while Sami villagers strangle a reindeer:

There is also a canoe.

€17 for a CD of Sami music seems a bit steep.  You can get it on Spotify for less!  Various Artists – Lappish Joik Songs from Northern Norway

Postcards are available in a variety of languages.

My latin is a bit rusty, but it clearly says “DUMPER MEAT” on the last line.  And happened in 1736.

I can’t read this either, but it seems to say 1681.

We head back out into the village.

Freddie is still questioning his life of sin.

But he’ll have to knock it off, because these flags can only mean one thing!

Sami!

But they didn’t seem like Sami.  We bought a coffee from the cute Swedish girl, sat around the bonfire in the tent, and did not see any reindeer.

Eventually, it’s time to head back.

This time, Freddie drives.

I look confident, because I have no idea what my future holds.

It was terror.  Sheer terror.  More terrifying than this ice sculpture on our porch.

But we all survive.  We eat some reindeer kebabs, and then notice what a lovely evening awaits us.

Time to make more bad decisions.

Though, at first, it really seemed like a good idea.

Alessandro and Daniela catch up to us eventually.

And we make it pretty damn far.

But as the Canadian passes us…

…Freddie suddenly remembers that Italy doesn’t rank very high in the winter Olympics.

…and we have a long way home, into the rapidly setting sun.

We made it back after dark.  Exhausted from a long day and rigorous exercise, there was only one thing left to do: find the beach.

Nope.  Didn’t find it.