The ice hotel, Ice Bar

when it comes down to it, the ice hotel is a very simple structure.  you open the reindeer doors to a small reception area with an ice desk.  if you head strait you enter a a long foyer with four hallways on each side leading to the rooms (at the end of the foyer is a ice unicorn).
If you go left, you enter the Ice Bar.

Ice Bar:     that's cb in the middle.  hard to see giant fish in upper left

This year the ice bar had an underwater theme.  a good part of the bar was occupied by an enormous predator fish.  you can't stay in the ice hotel without having at least one toddy in the ice bar, so we all bellied up.

our whole group bellied.  tom, danya, cheryl, dane, cindy, kevin, corrinne

they never asked for corri's I.D. 

bar babes

ice booth.  lots of frozen cheeks in this bar

the one and only "ice glass"

our group developed an obsessive fascination with the ice glasses used in the bar.  in particular, how were they made??  oddly enough the ice bartender did not know how they were made, he just served the drinks.   so the debate went on and on.  everyone had their own idea.
drinks here in the ice bar were, shall we say, un-economical, so after the first round we picked up our misunderstood glasses and took the debate to our ice room, where the were filled with beer and wine.

later I asked at the reception desk, how the ice glasses were made, but they did not know either. the debate continued.  the next day, after returning from a lovely day of dog sledding,  we checked in at the warm hotel.  the warm hotel is the other half of the cold ice hotel. they can't seem to get people to spend more then one night in the cold hotel, so they built a warm hotel next door so people wold stay more than one night.  the gal at the reception desk also did not know how the glasses were made. BUT, she did know someone who would know. she was on the project.  Enter: Jens Ivarsson,  "director of design" at the ice hotel.  he is the person responsible for designing the hotel each year, and coordinating all the artists who create the Art Rooms.   At that moment, Jens was on his way to the ice glass production facility, next to the ice hotel, to give his wife's visiting girlfriend a tour of the the ice glass production facility.  timing is everything.  he walked over to the reception room and invited our whole group to join the tour.  swedes are just the nicest people.    not to be anti-climactic, but in a nutshell:  huge blocks of clear torne river ice are harvested  in january and stored in a warehouse.  enough ice is stored to last until the next january.   the blocks are cut into 4 inch slabs with a saw that resembles a tree cutters saw.   those  slabs are then cut lengthwise then crosswise, and you end up with a 4 x 2 x 2 rectangular ice cube.  then the ice cube is board out using a 1.5 inch diameter drill bit.  simple dimple, mystery solved.  danya had the winning entry by the way.

jens ivarsson outside his production facility.  his son on the left is riding Sweden's version of a scooter.

2000 pound blocks of ice.  the stacks on the right are ice glasses ready to ship around the world

a saw cuts the blocks into 4 inch slabs

another saw cuts length and width

the Ice hotel owns several ice bars located around the world.  i know there is one in stockholm and one in England.  they are currently opening one in shanghai, china. currently they manufacture and ship approximately one million ice glasses per year.

see ya

dog sledding in Sweden, march 9, 2014

What do you do after you survived the ice hotel?  you go dog sledding of course.  dog sledding was another bucket-list item, and this was the place to do it.  northern sweden is a snowy winter-wonder-land and there is no better way to see it then from a sleigh.  we had two sleighs,  we traveled about 5 miles, over frozen lakes and into the wilderness to a small cabin where we played in the snow for a bit, had lunch, and then headed back.  the dogs love to pull the sleighs and they get very loud and excited when they are ready to go.   as soon as you pull the break and let them run, they get quiet and go, go, go.  it was a beautiful, peaceful,  scenic, ride.  we even saw some reindeer. i can't wait to do it again.

corrinne, once again in her element

all smiles and ready to go

chooch, danya and friends

Christmas card shot

and another Christmas card shot

the snow was too deep for Corri to walk in

TW & Chooch on the lake

after a long ride we took a nap on the lake.  kevin, dane, tom

thanks for the ride, baby

Ice Hotel, Sweden, march 7, 2014

Sweden's Ice Hotel

The ICE MAN COMMETH: Dane Benson Hoban.

The Ice Hotel in Sweden has long been on Cindy's bucket list.  she, and my sister-in-law Cheryl, have been talking about the place for years.  After moving to barcelona cindy saw her chance.  my brother tom, cheryl, and their college-aged kids, dane and danya would meet us in stockholm, sweden and the 7 of us would fly to kiruna in northern sweden to finally spend the night surrounded by ice.  no this was not necessarily on my list.  sounded dang cold to me.

off to sweden 

we arrived in stockholm around 4 pm so unfortunately not much time to visit the sites.  Tom & Cheryl were able to reach an old friend of ours Jens Wallman, who met us for dinner in the old town district. we spent the night in a small, permanently moored, 1950's cruise ship. corrinne got to share a cabin with her cousin danya.  danya is in college and corrinne thinks she's the "cat's meow college co-ed".

me, jens, tom, cheryl, cindy.  its pretty cold in sweden.  schnapps seems to be the national beverage.

the next morning we were off to kiruna and the long awaited ice hotel.

we stopped at the bakery before getting on a train and uncle tom got one of everything.  danya and corrinne did not seem to mind, except tom would not cut the pastries fast enough.

 the hertz guy kept his puppy behind the counter.  guess where corrinne ended up

the ice hotel is just that, a hotel built of ice.  it started out as a large igloo that the town built every year to attract interest.  twenty years ago someone came to town and there was no room at the inn, so someone suggested that they spend the night in the igloo.  it worked out just fine and some bright entrepreneur got the idea to build a bigger igloo the next year and rent rooms.   it has grown ever since, and the single igloo turned into a large sprawling igloo.  it kind of looked like those rounded  army barracks, made of ice.  the hotel is supported by metal frames and huge blocks of pure, clear, Torne river water.  this year there were 187 rooms.   most of the rooms are basic with one  large bed and some ice chairs.  if you want to upgrade, you can stay in an artist room.  each year the hotel invited artists from around the world to submit ideas for how to decorate rooms.  the winning artists are brought to the ice hotel to build their work.  most of the room pictures that follow are of artist rooms.  being made of ice, the hotel changes it appearance throughout the day, depending on the amount of sunlight.  the hotel is now a large, commercial venture, but it is a fascinating place and quite beautiful.
next to the hotel is a warm reception area.  upon arrival you are provided with any warms clothes that you may need to complement your own warm attempt.  whenever you are ready to retire for the night you are given a negative 15 degree sleeping bag, and a hardy "good luck."   you do not go to bed early here.  no one wants to tempt temp any longer than they have to.
by the way; you store all your luggage in large lockers.   showers, toilets, and lockers are  all in a warm building next to the cold hotel.  cindy and i were perfectly comfy cozy thru the night.  around 4:30 am corrinne complained of being cold, we moved her around and she went back to sleep until 7:30 when an attendant woke everyone with warm glasses of lingonberry juice.  tom and family also stayed warm throughout the night.   following,  is probably more pictures then you really want to see of my vacation.  if you get bored, turn the blog off.

fyi :
1. the hotel melts every year in april and they rebuild each november. they use about 4000 tons of pure torne river ice.
2. Torne river water is lovely, clean, and refreshing.
3.you transfer your luggage, and ten-year-olds, over the snow on luggage sleighs.
4. the hotel is a private corporation, owned by nine individuals.
5. in the morning, i saw only one hotel guest sleeping on the couch in the warm reception area.
6. how do they make ice glasses for the ice hotel bar??  future blog subject. i know you can't wait!!

This is the front of the ice hotel. the doors are covered in reindeer skin

ice hotel chapel

the front looks different when the light changes

inside ice chapel

the whole group made it to the church on time. cheryl was thrilled to be there

danya transferring her princes corri to the hotel

cheryl in a ice hallway

ice hotel hallway

sculpture inside one of the art rooms

this did not work out so well for CB

front entrance

tom and corrinne lounging on ice

ice chanadler

art room

art room

cb sitting on the bed in half  globe  made of thousands of ice cubes

dancing bears art room

corrinne & dane b.  bear hug

art room

ice hotel foyer

CB & Tom with ice glass cocktails

everyone was woken up with warm lingonberry juice at 7:30 am

the hoban-bensons, early risers.  tom was thrilled with the early morning wake-up

art room "mind the gap".   the bed was inside the tube car

dancing bear art form

ice hotel bar.  it was closed in this pic  8 am

brady bunch wannabes

danya could not stop singing

corri being watched over