## The old town

After hopping off the train in the morning my goal for the first day was to just walk around and explore. I wanted to see how the old center of Kiruna differed from the new center and what was going on. Surpisingly... very little was going on. It was a Thursday but I'm still not really sure what happens in this city of 22,906 people it seems like not much is happening. In the old center I was surpised to see lots leftist political party offices Vänser partiet and Feministiskt initiativ as well as posters for ung kommunister. So that was a bit off. It also struck me walking around how no matter where you were in the old town it felt like you could see or feel the presence of the mine. It really is right there. So I can see how they could have issues with sinkholes and similar issues in the town when it is literally next door.

## The inbetween

I then proceeded to try and walk from the old town to the new town to see what was going on. I would recommend not doing that. I have forgotten what it's like to be in a non walk able city not to say that Kiruna is as bad as the US it isn't but there was just a lot of houses and not much in between the two parts of the city.

## The new city

Once I got to the new city center I was a bit disappointed too. It felt a bit like a mall and like it could be anywhere in the Sweden. Except for some of the new apartment buildings that we're interesting. However, after going into the new stadshus I was really surprised to see how beautiful it was. Really not my style usually but it was incredible on the inside really cool to see and there was a museum inside that was not complete but still super interesting.

There was a fascinating documentary which you can find here

https://www.liselottewajstedt.com/kvarteret-ortdrivaren/

## Heading to the hostel

I then took the bus home and enjoyed old kiruna in golden hour which really showed to me how some of the buildings there have so much character and interest.

Then I closed off the day with some relaxing time and sauna. Overall a great start.