A night in an igloo

Dinner in an Igloo

Just for something different I thought it would be really fun to spend a night in an igloo on a snowy mountain in the middle of a European winter.  Unfortunately they couldn’t accommodate us while Zander was with us but we decided to go ahead anyway a few days later.  So last night it was Igloo night. 

Spending a night in an igloo sounds so exciting particularly in 35 degree Vietnam heat and it was BUT it also means never really being warm.  The temperature when we went up the mountain at 2.30 was minus 12 degrees and I assume it only got colder much much colder, or as Kaela said “minus really cold”.

The igloo was bigger then I thought - it was really an igloo hotel.  Our room slept 5 which meant on the slab of ice there was some kind of mattress with 5 sleeping bags.

The Restaurant

Door to our room

When we arrived we had mulled wine - which is really not that nice but after a few weeks in winter Europe I am starting to enjoy, mainly because it is warm.  We then had a tour of the hotel - the whirlpool which was inside but had no roof was strangely appealing but the thought of putting on swimmers and walking down the icy hallway was not so we all forwent that idea.  Dinner was in the dining room, where there were wooden tables with sheepskins on the stools.  Poor Bella just could not stand the cold even with a blanket wrapped around our legs.  Cheese Fondue was dinner, this involved dipping chunks of bread into melted cheese - thankfully I had already organized  spaghetti for me but I did think the others would like it - Oh how wrong I was!  The kids and Matthew all tried it but none of them liked it, Matthew and Mikaela thought it was edible but only just Josh didn’t like the cheese which I don’t think we will tell the Swiss and Bella just called it “fond spew” which I think tells her thoughts on it.

After dinner we had the option of going for an hour snow walk.  I had my work cut out for me convincing everyone it would be wonderful - but they all agreed to at least try the half hour walk.  (I don’t think it was so much my persuasive skills as the embarrassment of watching these little 3 and 4 year olds get ready).  

We then put on every piece of clothing we had brought with us - trackpants under jeans for Josh and Bella and trackpants over jeans for Kaela, extra tops and even my socks for gloves for Kaela (her glloves were wet) then Hats and scarves wrapped around our faces.  Snow shoes tied onto our own boots completed the outfit and off we set.

Our Bedroom

It was truly beautiful.  The only noise was our feet crunching through the snow, who knew the snow could make such a crunching sound.  Yes it was cold but not unbearable particularly when you were walking.  As we stood on the mountain looking down at the lights of the town of Engleberg below us, the full moon shining above us with a glass of schappes in our hands you could only wander at the beauty of our world.  

We were all so inspired that we continued on the walk - even Mikaela with her stitches in her leg choose to continue.

Once back inside warm tea really did only a little to warm us so it was off to bed.

Sleeping bags were never really made for people Matthew’s size.  Once he finally managed to get inside with Bella zippering him in he couldn't move, its times like this I am thankful for my small stature - I might get lost in crowds, I never can see what is going on over people’s heads but at least in sleeping bags I have room to move.

Besides feeling exceptionally cold for the first half hour I eventually warmed up and drifted off to sleep hoping (actually praying more like it) that I would not wake up and want to go to the bathroom - which was down the icy hallway and would require completely getting dressed back in my clothes, jacket, hat, gloves and scarves again.

I did sleep quite well.  The benefits of being a family were particularly evident, we were all so close I think we had room enough for another family on our bed of ice.

Waking up and getting dressed was only made easy by the thought of breakfast in a warm restaurant.

As we now head to Lugano we all agreed it was fun though noone is very keen to repeat the experience - Hotel Walter here we come.