Ski Sunday

The main event for today was SKIING! No, WE weren’t skiing!! And it wasn’t just the normal weekend’s World Cup ski races. Today was also the day of Sweden’s (and the world’s) longest ski race - the Vasaloppet. This race covers 90k and for 2018 there were almost 16,000 skiers taking part from 49 different nations, including 23 from Great Britain and 34 from the US. The fastest elite skiers completed in just over 4 hours, though it often takes well over 10 for many of the skiers. It is televised on Swedish television all day and is extremely popular to watch.

See my Extra photo for a few scenes - 2 from the beginning of the race and 2 right when the first elite skiers crossed the finish line. Note how many have immediately collapsed on completion!

We had a great dilemma of course - wanting to watch both Vasaloppet AND the World Cup races taking place in Lahti, Finland. We overcame it by having multiple screens - Vasaloppet on the main TV, the World Cup races with Swedish commentary on one iPad and then the same with English commentary on my laptop. Crazy!!

Once the World Cup races were over we got out for some fresh air. It has really warmed up here - it was only -3C (26F) this afternoon! Almost spring!! We walked by this historic Military building, now a museum, and Alice was kind enough to pose in front of it, balancing on one of the old cannons!

We continued to watch coverage of the Vasaloppet into the evening. I only wish I could understand the commentary. Check out this link for some interesting facts and figures.

Check out Alice’s blip for her version of today!