The midnight sun in Tromso

Day 13
From Kiruna we pressed on further north and crossed the border between Sweden and Norway. The two or three carriage train that travelled between Kiruna and Narvik in Norway was packed with young school kids and we spent the journey talking to a friendly parent. There was some pretty amazing scenery along the way.

At Narvik we changed onto bus and made the three or four hour journey to the world's most northern University town - Tromso!

Tromso is a small town situated in the middle of some of Norway's most beautiful fjords, divided by a bridge and surrounded spectacularly by ice-capped mountains.

On our first evening we wandered through the harbour and crossed the bridge for some amazing evening photos. We explored the other side of town and returned shortly after midnight with the daylight still present. Being above the arctic circle at this time of year means 24 hour daylight and although we couldn't see the sun, at this stage, we had daylight right through the night. Bizarre but extremely cool!

Day 14

One of our aims in coming this far north was to make it to Nordkapp, Europe's most northern point. However we soon realised that to get there on the small roads winding around the mountains and fjords would take about ten hours...one way! The only consolation to us was that apparently there's not actually much to do at Nordkapp other than to of course say you'd made it there.

We settled for exploring Tromso and it's surrounding islands and we wouldn't be disappointed. On our first full day we bought a joint bus and boat ticket that would take us as part north-east as Skervoy. The 'coach' was actually part of the local public transport network so it was a bit annoying that initially Sheryl and I sat at opposite ends of the busy bus!

The bus crossed the water on a number of occasions via ferry and after arriving at Skervoy we jumped on the world famous Hurtigruten fjord exploring vessel and sailed down stream back to Tromso! As with most of the photos we took in this part of the world the views speak for themselves.

Day 15
Undoubtedly one of the most fun days of our whole two year trip was today. We hired a car early in the morning and set off to explore the region. It was the same type as what we'd hired in Iceland, but these wheels were big, black and boxy!

We made our way to the beautiful Summer Islands and had a picnic out the back of the car. The place seemed more like something you'd find in Fiji not northern Norway and despite calm winds and clear blue skies it was still bloody chilly too. Too cold for me to test out the water for sure!

On our travels we passed the world's largest troll. It was in the middle of nowhere and certainly quite random but they seemed pretty chuffed to have their name in the Guiness Book of World Records!

Sheryl was determined to make a proper snowman, we'd bought carrots and everything. Late in the afternoon we found a decent spot and pulled over. We didn't realise that what appear to be perfect powdery snow was actually crunchy ice - not ideal for snowman building, but no harm in having a jump and slide around!

In the evening we'd made our way back to Tromso and on our final night here ventured up the cable car at the foot of the mountain to catch a glimpse of the sun above the horizon at midnight. You could sense why the people in this part of the world feel uplifted at this time of year. Just don't mention the six months of pitch black!

And so shortly after midnight the sun, after having made it's lowest point, starting to rise again.

On the Hurtigruten...(it's a lot warmer inside believe you me)

Let's jump in the snow! (and try not to disappear)

Carrying on up to Kiruna

Day 12
We arrived in the small town of Kiruna, in the far north of Sweden, by mid morning and to our surprise a snow blizzard was passing through the town leaving everything a few feet under the powdery white stuff.

We made our way to the Yellow Guesthouse but despite warning the owner we were due to arrive earlier than initially planned the place was locked up and nobody expected to be on reception until the afternoon. We had lunch at a local burger joint and killed time in the Tourism Office before making our way back to the guesthouse.

One thing I can suggest, if any of you ever make it to this part of the world, don't stay at this place! Warning - the owner is an arsehole and quite possibly one of the rudest people we've come across in our travels! Talk about absolutely no interest in us staying there at all.

The biggest problem we had in Kiruna was that, contrary to 11 months out of the year, there was actually nothing to do! The world famous Ice Hotel is located nearby and there are dozens of winter and summer activities in and around Kiruna. But, very much unfortunately for us, the month of May is neither winter or summer and all of the tourist companies shut down for a month. D'oh!

Even a visit to the Ice Hotel was not going to be worth it as the melted remains of the structure were covered in snow from the blizzard, and the museum mentioned on their website is in fact not open. It was pretty disheartening but these things happen when you're travelling around.

After realising this we cut down our planned two night stay to just one night and spent our one evening in Lappland watching TV (it was pretty cold outside as you'd expect) and enjoying a bottle of wine.

Hey, at least the snow was cool.

Swede as in Stockholm

Day 10
From Tallinn we made our way back to Stockholm via the overnight ferry. Being a Friday night it was a lot busier this time but we kept a low profile and tried to get a decent night’s sleep this time.

Our hostel in Stockholm was located in Gamla Stan (Old Town) and just around the corner from the Kungliga Slottet (new Royal Palace). We spent our only full day in the Swedish capital exploring the many streets and side streets of Gamla Stan before making the trek around to the park Djurgården.







We made our way back toward the Central Station area and to the world famous Absolut Ice Bar. There are five Absolut Ice Bars in the world and Stockholm is not only the original but also the only one open all year round. We made our reservation and returned an hour or so later to get kitted up in sweet blue Eskimo-style coats with gloves!

The entry price included a drink, served in a glass made of ice, which was some kind of concoction involving Absolut Peach and Blue Curacao. Everything in the bar, including the bar, was made of ice. There were various ice sculptures in the room and even an ice-couch covered with reindeer skin.









In the evening we chilled out, albeit not at five degrees under, back at the hostel common room.

Day 11
Our overnight train to Kiruna in the northern part of Sweden wasn’t until tea-time so it left us the morning and early part of the afternoon to fit in a few more activities.

We returned to Djurgården and to Skansen, an open air museum that is Sweden’s most popular attraction. At Skansen you can see examples of old Swedish folk buildings and houses, and people dressed in traditional costumes go about their daily life as it would have been then. As well as aspects of Sami culture, Sami people being the indigenous people of Sweden, there is even a zoo that houses a number of species of Scandinavian animals including reindeer, elks, wolves and bears.







Our night train left Stockholm at 5pm and was due to arrive in Kiruna at 10am the following morning. We had reserved two beds in the slightly crammed six-berth carriage. We’ve learnt from previous experience on long-haul train journeys that getting a decent night’s sleep in a seat just doesn’t work out.

That said if you end up getting someone in your carriage with a horrendous snoring problem then you may as well have not bothered paying the extra! We didn’t endure that problem but instead an old Swedish lady with a farting problem in her sleep. Our Lonely Planet guide book warns travelers of the increased danger of gassing on overnight trains – we didn’t realise this is what they meant!