so this week we did some cleaning up of my grandmother’s house, it was stepping back in time. her old flowers were dry & the kitchen filled me with memories. all the Summer’s we would sit around the table eating salmon & egg every morning. it wasn’t just some regular old salmon, it was from the fish hall & she would make an omellet to go with it.

the living room was filled with old pictures of all her grand children scattered all over the room. it still smelled like her, her perfumes sitting by the front door. her favorite lotions still in her bathroom cabinet. i remember Summer’s where the house would be filled with the whole family. cakes where in every corner.

we would run around the neighborhood, playing & running around the city where she lives. sitting by the fountain eating ice cream & people watching. she is still alive kicking at nearly 100.

she celebrated her birthday recently & it was fun to be there helping her celebrate a milestone. her room was filled with flowers for weeks afterward. i am grateful for the sweaters she knitted for me over the years & her kindness. it’s awesome to be related to such an old fierce woman that i have always admired.

Kiruna & the Icehotel.

so last weekend we went to Sweden & had a blast @ the Icehotel. we went on some rather dull hikes around Kiruna but the highlight of the trip was the dinner we ate outdoors @ a camp ground with a guide & chef.

the price tag was ridiculous but the experience was priceless. it was complete karma that we made it & got the dinner. although our company was referred to Google after endless questions anyone should know. i was not fond of the selfie stick on the river boat or that they took pictures of our guide & us without asking permission. uncool. but as usual i transgress.

Kiruna was beautiful as was Abisko which we drove through on the way back. i also found a smashing barista that knew what to do with the milk. in a old beautiful house in the middle of Kiruna. the sun was out the whole weekend & it was warm. the weatherman had predicted rain. glad he was wrong.

the Icehotel was fun, drinking out of ice is a real experience in -5 C. crew @ the hotel was really cool & did everything to make things great for us. even though we stayed every night somewhere else they did a great job which says a ton of the hotel & their staff.

we didn’t have the chance to see the iron\ore mine but we had a great time even though we didn’t go on the tour. it’s really a shame that they are going to tear down that cute town just because of iron\ore. so hurry up & go see it before it happens.

how is that NRK, the Norwegian broadcast service manages to grab active people to sit & watch sommer toget. it is fascinating as you see all aspects of Norway from the small villages to the bigger cities. a few years back they followed hurtigruten along the coast & it was really fun to watch.

this it is the train complete with a stage & compartments for the hosts to sit & watch the view as they come into towns where everyone is waving a flag & is happy to see them. even in downpour & wind. people are out to greet the train.
between stations they have informative history of the rail line & who, what & where happened there.

if you don’t follow it through out the day you can catch up at night & see where they are. in each town they talk to the Mayor & they get to advertise for their community. really fun to watch. they began up North & have moved South the last few weeks. the train is on Røros rail line heading in a direction i dare not say, guess you’ll have to watch.