The Wayfaring Path

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Last weekend we flew up to Kiruna, in Swedish Lappland, in search of the Northern Lights. I’ll not keep you in suspense, we didn’t see them, but we DID get a wonderful dose of snow! But first, the week that was…

Monday was the best day of the month – payday – and we celebrated with meat/plantballs at the massive IKEA a short bus ride away. They were yum, and reasonably priced, as they are reputed to be, so definitely a winner. We walked around and looked at all the kitchens, but the style doesn’t really fit with our antique/cottage aesthetic so I think we’ll need another solution when it’s time to redo the kitchen. I’m thinking a big old French sideboard, repurposed for the job, but I have zero idea if that’s even possible. But that’s a problem for future Linda. There’s a whole other massive section with all the non-furniture bits and bobs, which I we didn’t even scratch the surface of, you could absolutely go a bit mad in there I reckon. Dangerous.

We popped into Rusta (kind of like The Warehouse) and picked up thick socks and thermals for our trip to the Arctic Circle; although the forecast wasn’t looking super cold at that stage we thought it’s probably good to have warmies as we have another two months of autumn/winter to go! Regan headed home and I walked to a second hand shop in search of kids’ books in Swedish to take home as a learning tool. I walked through a series of underpasses which in most other countries would be dirty and scary but because it’s Sweden they were clean, well-lit, and actually kind of beautiful – all tiled and planted nicely. I am REALLY going to miss Sweden.

Heaps of people had recommended the Vasa Museum to us, and we’d read that it was a shipwreck that had been dragged to the surface and bunged in a museum. We were both feeling a bit ambivalent about it, but everyone is so effusive in their praise for it we knew we should go. And holy moly it was SO GOOD! We walked in and just stood there, mouths open, staring at this massive ship, over three hundred years old! Photos and video do not do it justice, it’s quite overwhelming in size and in such great condition! It’s so rare to find things that old in such a good state and of such a size, and the museum is really well designed (of course!) and you can easily spend hours there. The fika is excellent too (of course!). I need to remember that marine archaeology is super interesting, I get a bit focussed on things coming out of the dirt, not the water.

On Wednesday I wandered around Gamla Stan (old city), visiting the cathedral and then checking out antique and secondhand shops. I also attempted to watch the changing of the guard but a rude group of tourists made it really unpleasant so I gave up on that. Life’s too short to be jostled by Italians in the rain I reckon. The cathedral was ok but nowhere near as amazing as the Uppsala one… it had that “dead” feel to it, whereas the Uppsala one felt vibrant and alive. I had two really interesting chats about antique jewellery and Swedish silver work – it’s nice to chat to people, even if they are just trying to make a sale.

I had vaguely thought I might buy one of the traditional Dala Horses, but I was in peak tourist district and the prices were very high for horses I didn’t think were made in Sweden. I’d seen a few in antique shops that looked more handmade and authentic, but still very pricey. It was in an antique shop that I saw a weird little guy – a wee gnome – and decided he’d be my Swedish souvenir! Henri had also suggested buying embroidered linens as a keepsake, and I found a wonderful 1930s tablecloth and a 1950s table runner, as well as a nice woollen jumper in a secondhand shop. I really like having things I can use every day as reminders of my travels.

The next day we went to Södermalm district and had fika together then I went to the Almgren silk mill and museum. There are literally dozens of museums in Stockholm, and we’ve loved all the big ones we’ve been to, but I also really like little museums, plus I love fabric and old machines, so it seemed like a good choice. It was! The last remaining silk mill in Scandinavia, they still make beautiful silks for things like medal ribbons and furnishings in the royal palaces. It was a wonderfully atmospheric old building, with a creaky floor and that lovely patina of age. Upstairs is a museum – small but really well done (of course!) with a good mix of the stories of the women who worked there over the years, lots of samples of gorgeous silks, and discussion about global trade and politics. Downstairs was the mill, with all the looms and winders and other machines there. You could see photos of the actual machines with their workers, and some of the women worked there for 60 years or more! The machines were old a hundred years ago, and all with their own foibles, which the women got to know and work with.

On Friday Regan started to feel unwell, so we had a quiet afternoon before heading up to the airport hotel for our aurora-hunting trip to Kiruna. Originally I had booked us in to the hotel in Kiruna for the Friday and Saturday nights, but flights were super expensive on the Friday and when I booked it all a few months ago I didn’t have much money so trimmed it down to just the Saturday night. So OF COURSE Kiruna had the most amazing and intense aurora on the Friday and absolutely nothing on the Saturday! I was pretty gutted… right up until we woke up on Sunday morning to wonderful snow!

I’ve only really seen snow in the distance, or the odd time driving the Desert Road in winter. I’ve never skied or been up a mountain in winter. I had a feeling that I would enjoy the snow but really had no idea as I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to the cold, plus I’m a bit clumsy so assumed I’d be forever slipping on the ice. But I loved it! On the Saturday there was a bit of snow around, which we were delighted with, but nothing compared to the Sunday!

On Saturday we were at the bus stop and Regan was excitedly walking on a small pile of snow when a man waiting for the bus asked us if we were from the south – he assumed such ridiculous behaviour could only come from someone from Stockholm, presumably! We surprised him with just HOW far south we’re from! He chatted with us and told us about the town and the mining, and we were so stoked to have a conversation with a stranger, as that doesn’t really happen in the city.

Kiruna is dominated by the huge iron-ore mine, and which has literally undermined the old part of the town so that residents and buildings are having to move to the new part. This new part has some very flash new buildings, which I’m assuming have been paid for by the mining company, so there’s clearly a lot of money sloshing around. Sadly, it’s not sloshing into the cups of those who need it, as the milk in schools programme has recently been cancelled due to a lack of funding. Sigh. Our bus stop friend is not a local, he works in the mine but lives in Kiruna full time so he can support the local businesses. He said that most workers are fly-in-fly-out and pay their taxes in their home area, rather than Kiruna. He thinks the taxes should be split between their home area and their work area, which I think is a sensible idea, but sadly I’m sure won’t be enacted.

So it was a bit of an odd sort of a place really, with the old and new towns a fair distance apart, the airport out past the new town and the train station way out past the old. There was a bus a few times a day, plus one from the airport, so we were able to get around ok without a car, but for true wilderness adventuring you’d need a 4WD or ideally a tour guide. We were too early for dog-sledding as there’s not enough snow, and to be honest we didn’t have the money for anything other than travelling there, sleeping and eating. But it still felt very adventurous and we loved being in the snowy environment.

I have vague plans to buy a summer house in Sweden one day – maybe not quite that far north – but somewhere I can winter-proof it and be there during the snowy season. All the houses are lit up and it feels so cosy. Walking in from the cold to a warm house or cafe is so lovely, and as a homebody the requirement to be indoors by a fire, knitting and looking at the snow feels like an excellent one indeed!

Not that any of the locals let a little snow slow them down – I’m sure that was pretty minimal compared to what they’ll have in a couple of months! People out walking, jogging, driving – the public transport didn’t grind to a halt, everyone just got on with it. Our hotel was really cosy, and we were the only ones in the building so it felt like all ours. We had an en-suite and access to a shared kitchen, and there’s a museum of Sami (the indigenous people) culture downstairs, but it was closed for the weekend, sadly. Not sure if things are usually open on the weekends at other times of the year, but maybe not if half the town flies out on the Thursday night?

The flight home was uneventful, and the plane thankfully less stuffed full of tourists. Not that we aren’t tourists, but you know what I mean. Everyone had space to spread out a bit. Daylight saving had ended the night before so sunset was at 3:30pm, so by the time we got on our 7:30pm flight it was well and truly dark! The runway had been cleared of snow and the plane had to be de-iced before we could take off – that involved some kind of liquid to be sprayed over the plane and did cause us a bit of anxiety, but they all know exactly what they are doing and there was no drama.

I adore Stockholm but have to admit it felt weirdly over-warm and sadly less magical without the snow covering every surface. Nice to return to autumn leaves – no leaves left in Kiruna except pine needles – but I miss the snow! It was a fun wee adventure and has inspired me to return. For longer next time so I’ve got a better chance of seeing the aurora 🙂

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