We woke up hoping that the chairlift would be operational so that we could at least see the view from the mountain but it was again too cold (-27C). We again bundled up and headed out. Ellie had fun making snow angels and climbing up snow drifts and sliding down. The snow was way too dry to make a snowman but she tried. There was a recreated Sami village (Sweden’s native tribe) about 1 kilometer away that we walked too. Ellie was our official snow remover so we could read the signs. The Sami raised reindeer and followed their natural migration pattern so they would have been in the Abisko area mainly in the summer. To keep from transporting all of their belongings, they built storage sheds that they kept seasonal items in during the migration. We were okay as long as we stayed on the pathway, but several times David or I would step off and end up in knee deep snow. Ellie was light enough that she didn’t plummet through.
After two hours of exploring we headed back to the room to warm up and pack. We again ate lunch in the dining room. They served a yummy salad, bread and spaghetti made with moose. It was delicious. At 3:30 it was time to check out and get ready for the bus to pick us up. We made it to the bus stop without any problems. Ellie was fast asleep within 10 minutes of boarding. It was a beautiful drive out. The train was running a little farther north and so we were only on the bus about 2 hours. In Kierna, we caught a train that would take us to our sleeper train. About 10 minutes into the journey, the snowplow train leading us out got stuck on the tracks. We had to wait about 25 minutes for it to get moving again. Further into the journey we were stopped again waiting to pick up a second train that was having difficulties. We had found a great group of people to talk with. Leaving the hotel we met a German couple with a son 6 weeks younger than Ellie. We ended up in the same train car and Ellie and the little boy, Nik had a great time playing. The couple has been living in Sweden for three years and it was interesting to hear their thoughts on living in Sweden and medical care in Sweden compared to Germany. She was a nurse and he was an anesthesiologist. We also got some great travel suggestions. Sitting in the same area was a refuge from Pakistan. He was interesting to talk too and hear his perspective on moving to Sweden.
We finally made it to Börden about 9:30. Ellie and I were so glad to see our sleeper car. Within half an hour we got ready for bed and were asleep. Luckily, we had three Chinese bunkmates that were okay turning in early. Ellie was tired enough that she slept straight through the night.
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| The view from our window. |
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| Our hotel. |
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| Ellie loved making snow angels. |
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| Hiking up to Sami Camp. |
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| David roaming off the path |
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| Oops! Deep snow. |
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| Ellie was the offical snow remover. |
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| Walkng back through the woods. |
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| Ready to find some warmth. |
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