June 19
Our plane lands in Kiurna, Sweden. We're way above the artic circle. The
sun won't set below the horizon for the next few weeks. We're used to excellent public transportation in Sweden, but here in Kiurna there is limited bus service. At the airport no one can tell us when a bus will be by to take us into town. We opt for a taxi to take us the 5 or 6 miles into town. Later, we learn that there is only one bus a day from the airport.
I asked a taxi driver why the bus service was so infrequent. He said,"No one lives here." Well, that isn't exactly true. 19,000 people live here, but most own cars. It's a young city as far as Swedish towns go. It was started to serve the iron ore mine here. The mine is the town. Turns out that future mining will require tunnels under the town. This will require for most of the town to be moved. Yes, moved. Isn't that amazing. The first section of town, including the railroad, major highway, and the city hall will be moved within 10 years. The complete move will be completed within 30 years. The mine is owned by a corporation owned by the Swedish government. The corporation owns most of the town. So, although they are seeking public input, the corporation can do as it pleases. This is the largest iron mine in the world. On a tour we'll take in a few days, we'll learn more about the mine.
We find the guest house we'll be staying in. With no public transportation, we set out on foot to explore the small town. By evening we have decided that we have to rent a car is we want to really explore this beautiful area of northern Sweden. There is train service to the high mountains to our west and on to Narvik in Norway. But a train gives us no latitude for exploring on our own time schedule.
The sky has been overcast all day. No chance to see the midnight sun if this keeps up. At 1030:PM I look out the window and see that the clouds are gone. I tell Pat that I'm going outside to see if it's worthwhile to hiké up on the nearby mountain to see the midnight sun. Outside, the sun casts a warm golden glow. The air is cool.Kids are riding there bikes. Jack rabbits are hopping around in people's yards. Yes, this is a night to see the midnight sun.
Back in our apartment, I tell Pat how I have seen how the sun sliding at a gentle angle across the sky towards the distant mountain tops. It doesn't descend straight down as would see it at our lattitude in California.
11:00 PM, we begin the hike up to the mountain. The air is a little colder now. We're outside of town now and on a dirt road that winds to the west around this mountain that serves as a little ski area in the winter. We don't need to go clear to the top to watch the dance of the sun as it toys with the mountain peaks. It's taken us 90 minutes to get here. The mosquitos are out now but aren't a real problem. We sit, we walk, we sit. We're in awe of this specatcle. The sun refuses to sink below the distant horizon. It just skims along the tops of the peaks about 50 miles to the west. We'd like to stay and watch the sun begin it's slow advance back into the sky, but now it's chilly and the mosquitos are getting more aggressive. Walking back towards town, a couple we'd met earlier on the road, stop their car and offer us a ride bacck into town. They've driven for 5 days to witness the midnight sun. They're in there 70's and have wanted to see this all their lives. We all agree that it was every bit as fantastic as we had imagined. Magical is what it is to see this with our own eyes.
It turns out that this is the only night that we could have witnessed the midnight sun, as the sky was overcast the remaining days we are in Kiurna.
June 20, we get a rental car, about 65 dollars a day, and begin exploring the roads and valleys to the west.
First, we drive to where we can see the highest peak in Sweden. There, we offer some backackers from Belgium a ride back into Kiurna. Then we start up the road that goes to Narvik in Norway. We have no plans to drive there. We'll just drive until we feel that we've seen the best of the mountain and lakes and then turn back. Of course darkness isn't an issue. It's daylight all day long. So, only fatigue and boring landscape will be reason for turning back. Well, the landscape unveils itself mile after mile, and it just keeps getting more and more spectacular. Past rivers, huge lakes, mountains cut right out of Tolkein's Ring, we finally find ourselves in Narvik, Norway.
That's where we turn back, after exploring a fjord just south of Narvik. We look for a good place to eat with a view, but find none. It's 9:30 PM when we find arrive back in Kiurna. Dinner is a cheap pizza a few blocks from our apartment.
June 21, we hadn't thought we would want a tour of the mine, but everyone in town says that we have to take it. We do. We board a large passenger bus that descends to 540 meters below the surface. There are 240 miles of roads underground in this huge mine. The tour is worth the time and money we spent on it. Out of the earth again, we drive east to where the famous Ice Hotel is located in the winter. The landscape is strikingly different from that west of town. The west was mostly grass and birch trees no taller that 15 feet. The east is trees, low mountains, and rivers. Lunch is at a tourist Sami camp where we have reindeer meat fryed in a big black frying pan over an open fire. The site of the Ice Hotel and the exhibition there makes us want to return here someday in winter to experience the hotel and the winter night. Now we turn in our car and catch the train. We share a sleeper cabin with a nice guy from Kiruna who is heading south to visit his parents. The cabin is very comfortable. About 10:30 PM we make the seats into bunk beds and bed down for the night. When we wake in the morning we'll be nearing Bollnäs. The airfare and train ride cost about the same. We're glad that we got a sleeper cabin. The people who have only seats look totally miserable and unhappy. They have paid less money but are paying a price in discomfort. 14 hours on a train sitting upright the whole way is not our idea of fun.
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