Sweden is a unique place. It’s the only country on Earth to be called Sweden. But Sweden is not just known for being Sweden. It’s also known for her harsh winters. You’d think the Scandinavian winter would deter refugees from heading for Sweden but in the past few years millions have. There are different theories to why so many have chosen Sweden as their new home, some suggesting the nation’s welfare state as the main motivation.
But I have a different theory. In Northern Sweden is a very strange attraction – a hotel made entirely of ice. I think this Ice Hotel is probably why so many have chosen Sweden. You might not believe that millions of people would be drawn towards an Ice hotel. But if there’s one thing I know about desert dwelling refugees, and there isn’t, it’s that a building made entirely of ice is the best place for them.
The ice hotel was first opened in 1990. It was inspired by ice art created by Japanese visitors one year before. An igloo was created as part of it, and one man spend a night inside the igloo as no hotels had a free room. It was at that point someone had an idea which seems more suitable for an episode of scooby doo than real life. They decided to build a new hotel out of ice and snow. So they did.
One of the obvious problems with their plan was it’s only cold enough to maintain the ice hotel for part of the year. So each year between December and April the hotel was rebuilt. Rebuilding a 64 thousand square foot structure every year isn’t easy, which is why they probably shouldn’t use just ice and snow, even Santa knows better than that. But recently the hotel has announced they intend to redesign the building so that it may remain open all year round.
So for the first time part of the hotel will be permanent. But until now, the hotel, while people slept inside it… was kind of melting. It was sort of melting around them, which can’t have been safe come to think of it. I’m surprised the government allow it to be honest. Where I’m from people aren’t allowed to sleep in parks – how’s this happened??
Ice hotel is quite a sight. People come from all over to stay here and some choose to get married here, with it’s ice church. It’s a real church with baptism services regularly. The hotel is also famous for it’s bars where drinks are served in in glasses made of ice. It’s really not the best way to build a hotel but others have been inspired to build their own. There are now ice hotels all over the world! Or at least, in the super cold parts. Canada has it’s own ice hotel which is also rebuilt each year. It’s advertised as the “Coolest hotel in the world” – and people say my puns are bad, good Jesus!!
Each of it’s rooms are built like igloos. But it’s only open between January and March. And even then inside temperature must stay below minus 2 degrees Celsius. So you may as well sleep outside. It’s that bloody cold. It’s a hotel that melts after a few months and is miserably cold even while it’s complete/ It’s dumb. Ice hotels are dumb.