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Dried codfish has long been a staple of Norwegians. Opposite: Fishershoist trap full of king crab.
chines’ headlights. Like obsessed big game hunters, we scoured swimming in the Sigerfjord that morning.
the skies for any sign of Northern Lights. No luck. It was during a grand celebratory seafood feast on our last
A day later, near the Russian border, we suited up again – this night aboard ship, as we sailed the Barents Sea, that we finally
time for a sled ride onto the frozen Lang Fiord near Kirkenes. had an encounter with Northern Lights. Just as we were sitting

When we stopped, guide Michael Decker sawed a large square down, the public address system stopped us; the captain an-
in the thick ice and pulled up a huge cage-like trap crowded nounced a sighting. Most of us eagerly abandoned our prawns-
with live king crabs – more than a dozen enormous ones. piled plates and raced to the frigid, windswept deck lugging
Our next stop was Decker’s log cabin, tucked away in the cameras already attached to tripods.
snowy Siberian-like Taiga, a forest of pine and arctic birch. Our celestial show was brief – but the Aurora’s dazzling
Our crabber became our chef; he steamed our catch outdoors beauty was jaw-dropping awesome. It made us hungry for
in a giant kettle on a propane burner. Inside, warmed by an old more.
wood stove, we sat at candle-lit pine tables and relished every We got our main course the next night in the skies above
morsel of the best king crab I've ever tasted. the Snow Hotel in Kirkenes, where many of us had booked a
It wasn’t the only dining delight of this trip. post-cruise stay. The hotel, which operates December through
For most Finnmarken first-timers, meals aboard ship were March, is built new each year – entirely of ice. In every room, a
a surprise to savor. Breakfast and lunch buffets were abun- thick queen-sized slab of ice serves as a platform bed; it’s topped
dant and always included regional specialties (cloudberries with a two-inch vinyl-covered foam mattress. Sculptures are
and cream anyone?). Dinners were multi-course affairs with carved into the rooms’ ice walls and headboards. To survive the
set seating and wait service. Food was expertly prepared with night, each guest is issued an industrial strength sleeping bag
fresh ingredients sourced from local farmers and fishers in and an old-fashioned rubber hot water bottle. There’s an ice bar
ports we visited. We dined on reindeer steaks, Lofoten lamb of course; it serves core-warming shots in frozen glasses.
and a cornucopia of just-caught seafood: Skjervoy salmon, The most chilling aspect of the Snow Hotel: No ensuite bath-
Fossen trout, Nordland prawns and Arctic char that had been rooms. The loo is a long lonely walk down a frigid icicle hallway.

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