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After boarding the train in Umea at 6.50am we knew we were in for a long train trip through regional sweden, but we were not prepared for the huge amount of snow that would blanket this stunning countryside. Bunnings would make a load of cash selling shovels in this part of the world. A simple trip to the shop to buy some milk would be a logistical nightmare. On this leg of the trip we were going to have to eat lunch onboard so we opted for reindeer stew. Quite tasty, if a little salty. We travelled with a couple of huskies and some very white looking people. I did wonder if it had been a while since they saw sunlight. Finally at 6pm we stepped off the train in nardik to discover no taxis. Therefore, we decided to walk as apparently it was only a 20 minute walk. This may sound relatively easy but add icy footpaths, snow showers and cold winds to the trip and you can imagine the agony... Oh and add our backpacks to that!
Our frosty bodies finally found the delightful b&b nuremgarden which is an old restored house made into several lodgings.. It was cute but as my mum would say "too much tizz".
After a restful night and formal breakfast, it was time to explore narvik and one of my priorities was purchasing cramp-ons for my shoes that did not cope well on icy footpaths. What a relief when john found them in a shop. He was more relieved than me (I think he was over my cautious 'looking like a tourist" stumbling and sliding through the frosty streets).
Luckily the narvik war museum is in the middle of the city so it was easy to find. I was surpised how much narvik was involved in ww2. In particular, we found the model (small display) german battleship (biggest at the time) - Tirpitz interesting as it was based on the doco 'the greatest raid of all time'. This ship spent most of its life in the nearby fjord and never shot its guns in anger. The same museum also had a display set up of a narvik hospital from 1905... Looking at some of the medical tools and equipment, i'm happy the world has made so many medical advancements.
After a few obligatory photos, we made our way over to a nearby shopping centre for lunch where we shockingly spent half of our daily budget. "Let's try not to think about it" was all John could stay. With full bellies we climbed up the hill with me wearing my new cramp-ons. I felt like a new woman - not so clumsy.
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