After a great buffet breakfast at Camp Ripan (a complete ‘180’ from the lunch buffet in town) we got onto the four-hour train ride to Luleå – also in the Arctic Circle but much farther south. Luleå is the largest city in Swedish Lapland. The train this time was super modern and very comfortable – apparently there are some train lines in Sweden that have invested in the updated models and others have a way to go. To pass this time Andrew and I binged on the Netflix series The Bodyguard that Ruthie sucked us into – we can heartily recommend it.
The difference between Kiruna and Luleå is stark. Luleå is a lovely and vibrant harbor town with its own archipelago within short ferry distance…our hotel was very nicely appointed and super central to walk to everything…which we did. After dropping our bags we headed straight for the harbor and hopped a ferry to one of the closer islands – Sandön. Since it was quite late in the day, we were two of just five passengers on the ferry – the number of folks leaving the island was maybe a hundred – those who had spent the day sunning, swimming and picnicking. We spent the ride over getting to know the captain and the first mate who were very chatty, trading information about their life in Sweden with questions about our life and work in the US.
We had a late fika (Swedish for snack break) on the island overlooking the water, then took a walk around the perimeter of the island before catching the last ferry back to the town. That ferry was packed with the last shipment of tired and sunbaked locals.
With the days so long we rested up for a while and then went out for a late supper. Not far from our hotel was a quaint boardwalk with just a few nice bar/restaurants. The hotel registrar recommended one of these for a dinner – called Bistro Norrland – and she was spot on. Andrew and I shared a wonderful Salad Nicoise that was very unusual, and very tasty. One of the components was something I’d never heard of – a 63-degree egg – the cooking water is kept at a constant 63 degrees Celsius [145.4 degrees Fahrenheit], and the egg is left in there for one hour. It didn’t do much for me – I didn’t like the consistency – but the rest of the salad was terrific.
Our server was a lovely woman named Sophia who happened to be the sister of the restaurant owner. Sophia was a delightful conversationalist and we are now communicating via email with her. We sat on the outside patio of the bistro as the sun set (sort of) and drank in the peaceful scene on the water.
Until next time…
Esther
Living La Vida Loca 