Arriving in the Cold

February 17, 2011

We awoke to a beautiful sunrise.  Passenger trains cannot run in weather colder than -30C because the water systems freeze.  We had to disembark in Börden and ride two buses the rest of the way – about 7 hours.  The first bus was a double decker bus and we rode up top.  It was an interesting perspective.  Ellie had a hard time with the concept that things were really bigger than she thought because we were higher up.  She thought the 30 foot tall trees were the size of Christmas trees you could put in your house.   We were able to see quite a bit of wildlife from the bus – 1 lynx, 1 moose and 4 caribou.  The hardest part of the bus adventure was food.  We were not prepared to feed Ellie and the bus only made one stop where we could pick up snack stuff.  Thankfully, David had gone to the dining car when it opened on the train and made sure we had a good breakfast. 

We arrived at Abisko at about 2:30.  After checking in and eating a quick ice cream snack, everyone took a nap so we would be ready for our late night adventure.  Ellie was very excited about the ladder bed (bunk) in our room.  She couldn’t wait to climb up and try it out. We ate dinner in the hotel dining room.   The food was excellent.  There was a starter of salad, bread, and smoky tomato soup.  The meal was dill lamb, lamb brisket in a red wine sauce, and potato pie.  We were all layered up and ready to go up the mountain.  Unfortunately, the chairlifts could not run in the cold weather either (less than -23C).  It was -34C (about -30F).  We decided since we were dress anyway we would go do some exploring.  We walked for about 1 hour looking at the stars and moon and hoping to see the lights.  Ellie walked for about ½ an hour before she gave out.  After an hour we were all very cold.  We headed back to the room and sat in the dark watching the night sky.  Our window faced north and also had a wonderful view of the frozen lake.  We slept with the curtains open and David got up periodically during the night to check for Northern Light activity.  David and I were pretty disappointed about not being able to go up on the mountain but Ellie’s natural enthusiasm made us smile.  She had a great time seeing snow, riding a train and two buses and sleeping in a ladder bed.  She thought the day was a great success. 

Moving to the bus.

Ellie (and Mommy) crashed on the bus ride.

Amazing wildlife -Caribou

Ellie's "ladder" bed.