Week 3- February 9th - February 15th Ylläs, IceHotel, Stockholm,

Frankfurt

Saturday, February 9 Snow Adventures Ylläs

Second morning in Ylläs. Plan is for a big x-country day doing a big loop and stopping for “cups” – “cups” as described by our host are the various cafés and coffee houses along the path. Over 250KM of paths an occasional intersection with signs and an online map, but very little of the indicators seem to agree making navigation a treat.

After about 3 hours of steady uphill we have yet to find a “cup” but plenty of signs indicating “cups” beyond our reach (10KMs this way, 17KMs that way), perhaps we went the wrong direction to start. We are at least rewarded (beyond the beautiful day) with a view of the ski mountain and steady downhill on what we believe is our return path.

Week 3- February 9th - February 15th Ylläs, IceHotel, Stockholm,

Frankfurt

As we hit the 8 mile mark and sun is setting we realize we are not sure we are on the right path to

get back to our cabin (but we are making good time), but finally we find a “cup” and stop at the

Hotel Yllasrine for a beer and some snacks and our good fortune a cab ride back to our cabin.

Note the papa bear “cup,” the mama bear “cup” and the baby bear “cup.”

Week 3- February 9th - February 15th Ylläs, IceHotel, Stockholm,

Frankfurt

And of course, the signage is a real treat

Finished the day with a second night at our outdoor firepit. This time did a roasted cauliflower on open fire – one can never have too much cauliflower … Had a very fun end of evening home-school session talking about our Viking history book, but also how one can interpret the bits of this history in the context of the various theories in Jared Diamond’s book, Guns, Germs and Steel which we are listening to on books-on-tape. Will need to ask Max where he thinks “tape” came from on books-on-tape. We also thought about a wonderful learning experience – attempting to navigate from Place A to Place B using a map, odometer, watch and road signs as opposed to a networked super-computer powered by a set of deep learning algorithms taking

Week 3- February 9th - February 15th Ylläs, IceHotel, Stockholm,

Frankfurt

advantage of crowd sourced data and calibrated with a network of location triangulation satellites. Ok, not just cauliflower, but a few sausages and a bit of tuna on the side.

Sunday, February 10 Snow Adventures Ylläs

Third morning in Ylläs. Try again for x-country and “cups” but this time we will turn right on the trail instead of left. This takes us back into Ylläsjärvi and a lovely new ski path with what appears to be plenty of “cups.”

Week 3- February 9th - February 15th Ylläs, IceHotel, Stockholm,

Frankfurt

So finally, we do find our “cups:” first a clear sign of all the “cups” and when they are open, then a marker for our destination – a smiley sun in the trees and

then …

Week 3- February 9th - February 15th Ylläs, IceHotel, Stockholm,

Frankfurt

Of course, we still benefit from the wonderful ski trail signage.

Monday, February 11 Ylläs to IceHotel, Sweden

Easy morning in Ylläs and then three hour drive back into Sweden.

Week 3- February 9th - February 15th Ylläs, IceHotel, Stockholm,

Frankfurt

Destination - famous IceHotel. Incredible place that pictures do much better than words.

Week 3- February 9th - February 15th Ylläs, IceHotel, Stockholm,

Frankfurt

(a room for Trump?) The Shark Room The Women’s Room

Week 3- February 9th - February 15th Ylläs, IceHotel, Stockholm,

Frankfurt

Week 3- February 9th - February 15th Ylläs, IceHotel, Stockholm,

Frankfurt

And of course, we needed to visit the Ice Bar

Week 3- February 9th - February 15th Ylläs, IceHotel, Stockholm,

Frankfurt

One Hot Chocolate, One Hot Lingonberry with whisky and one Margarita.

And now bar is complete without the magic of the ice-mixologist.

A number of evenings we have had a “Northern Lights” watch including middle of the night alarms and late-night explorations outside. It turns out you need a number of factors to get great viewing:

• very far North: check

• clear weather: not so much

Week 3- February 9th - February 15th Ylläs, IceHotel, Stockholm,

Frankfurt

• viewing point with limited light pollution: check

• significant solar flare activity: variable. Our first night at IceHotel was good for the first three and we did see faint Northern Lights – predictions for more solar activity tonight – hoping for clear weather again. Night time in IceHotel is indeed a cold sleeping treat.

Night time in IceHotel is indeed a cold sleeping treat.

Tuesday, February 12 IceHotel, Jukkasjärvi

Morning in IceHotel is a cold start to the day, but warm sauna and warm shower make all the difference. We have adjusted our plans to stay an extra day here and abandon our plans of going to Kemi, but for second night in a “warm room.” This will give us a chance to do one of Max’s favorite things – a dog sled experience – a holiday gift from my parents to Max.

Week 3- February 9th - February 15th Ylläs, IceHotel, Stockholm,

Frankfurt

Week 3- February 9th - February 15th Ylläs, IceHotel, Stockholm,

Frankfurt

Wednesday, February 13 IceHotel to Ett Hem, Stockholm

Morning at IceHotel then 6+ hour drive to Umea, flight to Stockholm and then check in at the lovely Ett Hem hotel. Ett Hem is more like staying at rich uncle’s home than staying at hotel – with staff friendly in a genuine and generous way, a lovely “honor bar” and fun and interesting rooms, books, furnishing and art all around. Travels also included a stop at Max’s restaurant (good fries but not much more).

Hotel is relatively empty so they graciously offered us a complementary extra room for Max next door to ours.

Week 3- February 9th - February 15th Ylläs, IceHotel, Stockholm,

Frankfurt

Although initially a bit reluctant to have his own room, Max seemed to settle into the idea quickly.

Week 3- February 9th - February 15th Ylläs, IceHotel, Stockholm,

Frankfurt

Thursday, February 14 Stockholm

Morning at Ett Hem where we have a perfect breakfast in the glasshouse in the garden. Our goal for the day is to conquer a number of museums, Vassa, Viking, Skansen. The Vassa was spectacular, Viking museum ok and we arrived a the Skansen about 10 minutes before the 3PM closing.

Friday, February 16 Stockholm, Frankfurt

Second morning at Ett Hem where we repeat our perfect breakfast in the glasshouse. Today we have time for the Science and Technology Museum and a bit of walk in Stockholm and then of to the airport to start our journey home for a brief 48 hour

Week 3- February 9th - February 15th Ylläs, IceHotel, Stockholm,

Frankfurt

touchdown in Seattle (mainly for laundry) before we head up to Whistler for another two weeks of winter adventures. I have planned our trip home as I frequently have done for business, leaving the European city of choice to arrive in Frankfurt for the evening and stay at the airport hotel and then the morning flight from Frankfurt to Seattle. This gives us a chance for a brief visit to Frankfurt for as Max described – “wandering aimlessly about” – and dinner, in this case a German feast at Atschel – great food in a loud and busy pub. A few reflections on Scandinavia - truly a wonderous place to visit – exudes a sense of people living well and generously to one another and guests of all sorts. Beautiful cities and country sides all seemly celebrated by the residents and readily shared. Perhaps one of the funny bits is how similar Scandinavia seems across the countries we visited to our American sensibilities, but how frequently our conversations with friends and locals focused on the subtle differences between Danes, Norwegians, Swedes and Finns – the people, the culture, the governments and the various rules. Felt a bit like the 50 words Eskimos have for snow (or the multitudes of words a Seattle weather person has for rain). Also, lovely to live with the simplicity, elegance and functionality of what I think of as Scandinavian design for more than a few days. I have snapped pictures of things I hope to make in my shop over the next few years, modeled on interesting designs I have seen, but for a PNW version, trying to make it out of raw bits of wood from the beach. Moreover, much to my surprise, I am now interested in doing something I was pretty sure I never wanted to do again – visit an IKEA. As we close out the first half of our first of three legs of travel, we have largely had a flawless experience – wonderful places, great exercise and outdoor adventures, a chance to connect with friends and meet interesting people and no travel malfunctions. Mentally for me, I find myself in a truly unique place, without carrying a variety of open tasks and managing a variety of risks in the back of my mind as a parallel task to whatever else I am doing, but instead, just doing what I am doing. As a very experienced traveler I have also broken new ground, with more than 4M miles under my belt, I don’t think I have every checked luggage on international travel before – and as a dramatic break from the past we have been traveling with one large ski bag and five duffel bags full of winter gear without a hitch. We are already plotting our return for a future summer trip and certainly a repeat of winter trips.