It is absolutely freezing in Kiruna...

Yesterday I took a flight to Kiruna, 200km north of the Arctic Circle. Be in no doubt, it is COLD. I had thought it was going to be cold, but now I don't think I knew what "cold" was before. Outside currently it is 2 degrees (at 11:15am), with windchill bringing it down to -3. My body is warm in a thermal shirt, a t-shirt, a thin jacket and a ski jacket, but my face freezes - going outside is like having a constant ice cream headache, sans ice cream.

I discovered yesterday after arriving that it's a pretty bad time to have come - it's not tourist time, and it's between seasons: winter activities haven't kicked off yet because there's no snow and it's too cold for summer activities. The only tour running currently is the northern lights tour... but they won't run it for one person. I'm hoping that some other tourists arrive today and book a tour that I can tag along on. Last night I went for a wander at around 11pm (it was cold), but there are city lights, trees and buildings in the way so I didn't see anything, even though it was a clear night - I'm guessing you have to go outside the city.

Apparently there are a few things open - there is a Sami museum (hopefully with reindeer!), and the Sami-style church... and I could always go for a wander somewhere outside of the city.

Interesting factoid of the day: Kiruna used to be the largest city by area in the world, until Mount Isa in Northwest Queensland took it over.