Jukkasjärvi Icehotel

11 februari, 201711 februari, 2017 / Leya / 39 kommentarer

Icehotel is the world’s first hotel made of ice and snow. Founded in 1989, it is reborn in a new guise every winter, in the Swedish village of Jukkasjärvi – 200 km north of the Arctic Circle.

This winter season there is, alongside the classic Icehotel experience. ICEHOTEL 365. This hotel was built to be a permanent structure that includes luxury suites, each with private relax and bathroom, and art suites, all sculptured by selected artists. There is a large ice bar that serves champagne, and an ice gallery. This ice experience can be visited year-round and is cooled by solar panels during the summer months.

Let us first go inside the ordinary hotel and enjoy its cold beauty – 5 degrees C below zero.

As we walk down the aisle there are corridors on our left, all leading into rooms – the hotel has got 55 rooms and suites. I admire the grand chandeliers, all handmade in ice…

We approach the ice chapel, and the light is amazing. I have to walk slowly to take it all in.

The ice benches are all covered in reindeer skins, and we sit rather comfortably here. Artists made the altar and the decorations, as well as the baptismal font to the left.

The very white material making up the chapel is called snis – probably a merge of snow and ice, as that is what it really is.

The Torne river stretches 520 kilometers, and is the largest of Sweden’s four national rivers -in fact also one of the last untouched rivers in Europe.

It’s the Torne River that provides Icehotel with its ice in winter – and in the summer when the hotel melts, the water returns to its source. Natural ice requires a lot of work – before it is harvested in March, when it has grown its thickest. Months are devoted to maintaining the “ice field” and keeping it clear of snow for the ice to have the best possible conditions to grow.

Each harvested block weighs about two tons. The picture shows one of them standing.

In next post we will enter the new hotel and the cool bar…with drinks served in ice glasses. I will walk you through some of the spectacular art suites as well. I wonder if you would like to check in…? Hope to see you then!

WPC: Repurpose

27 januari, 201727 januari, 2017 / Leya / 16 kommentarer

Repurpose – a good thing to do! My daughter´s remake of an old Encyclopaedia Britannica.

She knows my love for books and would never dream of throwing away any kind of book.

Thursday Thoughts – The Importance of Festivities

26 januari, 201726 januari, 2017 / Leya / 5 kommentarer

Travelling means learning new things every day. I guess that is one of the best parts of life – learning new things. In this 2 million people capital, Quito, Ecuador, I enjoyed every second. Almost 3000 metres up in the Andes – you had to take it a bit easy the first day.

Do you, for instance, know which mountain is the world´s highest? I learned from the Ecuadorian businessman sitting next to me in the plane between Guayaquil and Baltra, that it is…..Chimborazo, a big volcano in Ecuador. It is higher than Mount Everest – if you count from the middle of our planet Earth.

Colourful Old Town Quito, together with Krakow, Poland, 1978 became the first UNESCO World Heritage sites. And they keep it colourful, clean and tidy.

There were grand festivities this week – December 6 was celebrated everywhere. So, what did they celebrate? Their freedom? No, they celebrated the Spaniards conquering them in the 16th century…I asked them how this could be something to celebrate – and they all answered that they had put all this behind them – this day was just a good day for festivities and having fun. That sounded just great to me!

Ecuador Ama la Vida

Music and Dancing in the street

Miss Quito and Gentleman

Lovely festive ladies

These musicians were absolutely professional – we did not leave even if we had finished our meal…

Beautiful city and beautiful people – and wonderful food! We enjoyed Quito despite some rain. Old and young, everybody in a good mood.

A young man came up to me with a rose. You know, the thing they do everywhere down in Europe, expecting you to give some money…This young guy was in a group of students, and he was the only one to have a single rose in his hand. I shook my head and told him I had no money, but his eyes were shining when he smiled, saying that he did not want any money…just to give me the rose.

Cee’s B&W Challenge: Sculptures, Statues and Carvings

19 januari, 201719 januari, 2017 / Leya / 2 kommentarer

Cigarette butt sculptures…a one man work to save the islands from this poison. All those sacks contain butts as well. Impressive. He was interviewed by media here.

Travel theme: Leaves – Beautiful Dead and Alive

1 januari, 20179 januari, 2017 / Leya / 22 kommentarer

Leaves for Ailsa. Trees and their leaves do represent life, and in China I always admire the ancient Ginko tree with its beautifully designed leaves. But on our last trip there, I found these traditionally painted leaves and could not resist buying one. They were framed in glass, otherwise not possible to take home.

From China – so thin and fragile – a handpainted leaf from a Banyan tree. Some lamp light from the right side, but hopefully you can understand what it looks like on my wall.

Travel theme: Paper

26 december, 201626 december, 2016 / Leya / 15 kommentarer

For PR – promoting things, like Lars Wallin clothes, we still use paper…

Writing novels, short stories and poetry…

Writing other important, or less important, messages…

Milk Maid Made in Sweden (out of milk packages)

Art and documentation – Photo after Pinatubo’s eruption

Paper craft…

Information and news…

…and for candy bags of course…

So, except for wrapping paper, these were a few more I found in my pockets, for Ailsa!

Thursday Thoughts – Ama la Vida!

22 december, 201622 december, 2016 / Leya / 16 kommentarer

Ecuador Ama la Vida – and they do. And they make us, all visitors, do. And we love them, the Ecuadorians and their astonishing country and nature.

I came back a couple of days ago, but in my heart I am still there – and I will never leave. On my first day in Sweden I immediately caught a severe cold, but still had to go to work. Yesterday was my last working day before Christmas.

So, where to begin, trying to explain that my childhood dream has come true? That this journey was the greatest adventure of my life? But we all have different dreams…

As a 7-year-old girl I first borrowed a book about the remote Galapagos Islands, and learned there was a place on earth where animals and humans lived in peace with each other. The animals were not afraid of humans, and you could sit right next to them and we could talk to each other as true friends. The little girl marvelled and nourrished a dream in her heart, that someday and somehow she would travel to these enchanted islands…

After this day she devoured everything about the Galapagos Islands…and later, on TV, she listened to David Attenborough and …her heart and mind was set. About then, she also decided to one day walk in the jungle, listening to all the sounds in the dark night, in the REAL jungle, the Amazonas. I do not think she realized the possibility of these two dreams once coming true within the same country, within the same year and the same month.

To a little girl who loved animals more than people, and who, in fact, in many ways still prefers animals to people – such a journey was the ultimate dream.

On this fantastic journey, I met some astonishing people as well…people I never will forget. They enriched my life and will hopefully continue to do so. The artist Jane Tomlinson and her photographing husband Moth Clark are two extraordinary gifted people. Their deep feelings for, and knowledge of, the natural world are genuine and vibrant. Moth’s photos are outstanding and Jane’s paintings as vibrant as life itself.

I received the permission from Jane herself to use one of her paintings in this post. I love starlings, so this was a natural choice. Now I am looking forward to seeing more of Moth’s photos from the Galapagos Islands and some lovely paintings by Jane. Ama la Vida – easily done when you see Jane’s artwork! The art of Jane Tomlinson.

Thank you so much for visiting, and waiting – I will be posting more when I am recovered!