TOPIC:

Well, I arrived in Kiruna[/url:2tu30cdz], Sweden, about 200km north of the Arctic circle this morning. It's about 2 degrees now, and apparently night will last an hour or two, not that it gets completely dark, more a two hour long dusk that merges into a dawn. One of those state off licenses is just around the corner from the hotel, but I haven't had a chance yet. Currently drinking a bottle of Mariestads Export, which isn't bad. Well, at €11 for 500ml I'm going to enjoy it no matter what! I hope that was just the hotel prices...

First impressions of Kiruna: bleak. There's a huge ugly mountain that is part of one of the largest iron mines in Europe right on the side of the town. The contrast from Münster is stark really, as I came from 25 degrees in lush green surroundings to 2 degrees in a grey landscape <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) --> But still, it's brilliant to be so far north. The surrounding landscape looks amazing, but I doubt I'll get a chance to go far out of town. Hopefully we'll head out on the town tomorrow night with the clients we are visiting and I'll get to sample some more beers. Well, after I get clearance from my bank manager!

Any trouble sleeping with so little darkness, or did the beer sort that out for you?

The curtains are pretty thick, and as I got up at 3:30 that morning, so sleep wasn't difficult to find (unlike a good range of beer)! <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

Heading out tonight with some of the clients, so hopefully they'll have a better idea of where to go. I'm going to write down that list of beers people suggested from the other thread <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->

I would love to visit that far north. Beer or no beer. It fascinates me. I love the idea of my day night cycle experience being turned on its head.

I'd love to come here in winter to see the Northern Lights! The guys here said this is not the best time of year to visit, and matches my thoughts about eh bleakness. The snows have just melted, so everything is dead looking. High summer or winter would be really interesting.

Anyway, my quest for interesting beers is definitely dying a death. Was stuck with Mariestad and Nordell Guld tonight which are not inspiring.

Just back from the bar where some young Swedish girl came up and asked if I was English as she'd like to talk about Bottom. And I don't mean her young bottom, I mean Adrian Edmundson and Rik Mayall Bottom. She even started calling me Eddie Hitler (presumably because I have a shaved head and glasses!) which naturally did not sound very good to my German colleague. Anyway, time to close the curtains and pretend to sleep <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

I'd love to see the Northern Lights too, I don't think you have to go in Winter though.

Here's a picture from our trip to Norway (not the northern part) at Easter. My mate took this, it's a 20 minute exposure, the 'streaks' in the sky are the movement of the stars over that 20 minute timeframe. There was certainly no shortage of snow.

[img:2yj06fzv]http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL443/10804264/19241587/317306272.jpg[/img:2yj06fzv]