Since it is winter and it's cold, and following up on yesterday's theme of cold and snow, I and a friend were recently discussing the Ice Hotel. I have long been fascinated by it, and I am thinking of adding it to my bucket list of trips. Yes, I'm very odd, and never want to go to the " most popular spots" to travel. The ICEHOTEL is a hotel rebuilt each year with snow and ice in the village of Jukkasjärvi, in northern Sweden, and is the world's first ice hotel. After its first opening in 1990, the hotel has been rebuilt each year from December to April. The hotel, including everything from the chairs and beds, is constructed from snow and ice blocks taken from the nearby Torne River. Artists are invited to create different rooms and decorations made by ice. Besides bedrooms, there is a bar, with glasses made of ice and an ice chapel and even a restaurant. The structure remains below freezing, around −5 °C (23 °F), so best to bring a hunk of man and long johns to stay warm in!!!!
The entire hotel is made out of snow and ice, even the glasses in the bar are made of ice. Nothing like a very cold gin and tonic, I say! Talk about having a drink "in the rocks". Each spring, around March, Icehotel harvests tons of ice from the frozen Torne River and stores it in a nearby production hall with room for over 900 tons of ice and 27,000 tons of snow. The ice is used for creating Icebar designs and ice glasses, which are used for ice sculpting classes, events and product launches all over the world while the snow is used for building a strong structure for the building. About 900 tons of what is left is used in the construction of the next Icehotel. When completed, the hotel features a bar, church, main hall, reception area, lounge, plus about 100 rooms for guests. The hotel also has an ice restaurant. The furniture is sculpted blocks of ice in the form of chairs, tables, sofas, chandeliers, just about everything. The thick walls, floor and ceiling are made of ice. Even the beds, the fittings and decoration are carved from ice. No two rooms are the same; the rooms are unique works of art.
At the Icehotel the beds are fitted with reindeer furs and guests are given sleep in polar-tested sleeping bags. There is no heating and the bedroom temperatures are constantly around −5 °C (23 °F). I understand there’s no plumbing at the hotel, but there's a sauna, and spa that is run on the premises of the Icehotel with hot tubs outdoors. The ice suites do not have any bathroom facilities, but bathrooms for guests are found in a warm building close by. The Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi is known to be the biggest hotel of ice and snow in the world, Each suite is unique and the architecture of the hotel is changed each year, as it is rebuilt from scratch. Each year, artists submit their ideas for suites, and a jury selects about 50 artists to create the church, Icebar, reception, main hall, lounge and suites. When spring comes, everything melts away and returns to the Torne River. The Icehotel only exists between December and April, and has been listed as one of the Seven Wonders of Sweden. The northern hemisphere's aurora borealis can be seen during the winter month in the location. Just how cool would that be to see????
There would be no time to get bored either. They have plenty to see and do beside seeing those stunning northern lights, worth the trip alone in my opinion. One can enjoy the sauna's, fishing, cross country ski, take midnight snow mobile rides, dog sled trips, reindeer sled excursions, a horseback moose safari and even ice sculpting classes.
Now I don't know about you, but I would love to go here and experience this place. I'm ready to grab my gin, my long johns, and my fur chubbies and head there!
As long as the ice bed can support me and one of the hunky locales, I'll be fine. I have also seen what they charge for the trip.
I wonder if they would accept my money made from ice???
