Snow Hotel

It’s snowing right along here in Tromsø, and the museum we’d like to visit doesn’t open until 11, so we’ll post a few things we haven’t had a chance to get to before.
A couple of days ago, we took an excursion off the Finnmarken, to go see the Snow Hotel outside of Kirkenes. Every winter, they bring in a team and build the whole thing in about 3 weeks.  They blow up big “balloons”, blow snow on the outside and pack it hard. The interior decorations are carved by artisans from China, to a theme chosen every year. Then in April they tear it all down and cart the 28,000 cubic meters of snow away.

The Ice Bar:


The hallway and some of the 23 rooms:

 Sparks! A.k.a. kick-sleds. A type of short-distance transport common throughout Scandinavia. We’ve seen people using them in towns for shopping, or just as support on icy streets.


There were also dog-sled rides available…