I Dovregubbens hall

And no, for Swedish speakers, there is no mistake in the title : it's just Norwegian :) The English version is In the Hall of the Mountain King, a famous piece of classical music by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. But why is it relevant to my blog ? Well, I just needed a cool title linked with today's subject : our visit of Sala Silvergruva, or Sala Silvermine, composed of "Halls" in what our guide referred to as a "Mountain" (but I'm still looking for the "King") ! I say "our" because I didn't go alone, it would have been too sad. So, on Sunday morning, three brave adventurers took the ... train! (sorry, horses are so mainstream nowadays) to go to the lovely town of Sala, some 45min from Uppsala. Then, their adventurous spirit reborn, they walked in the wind, the cold and the snow from the station to the mine. They went through frozen lakes, crossed dangerous bridges and fought voracious wild animals, to finally arrive to the mine !

Our journey to the world end mine

When we arrived, silence fell upon us : the mine was still closed. For one hour, we wandered around it, walking not to get cold, drinking coffee, eating cool Swedish cakes and candie and giant apples XD In the end we could enter, and after visiting a museum, serious things began ! A spatio-temporal gate opened before our amazed eyes, and a miner from the ancient times appeared, with his so easy-to-recognize hat you'll see on the pictures (you have probably guessed that it wasn't THAT impressive :-) ). We headed for the Schakt (a big whole under a tower) were the map of the mountain was revealed to us. Finding the secret entrance elevator was the next step, and after some seconds of mental preparation, we started our descent.

Our last rays of light before the darkness

In the mine, following our guides, we discovered the beauties of the underground world, the one that never sees the sun. We saw galleries, tunnels, huge halls and lakes. It was really really impresssive, and if it wasn't for our guide's torch, we would have got lost quite easily. At one moment, we even came back the same way as 10min before, and we didn't even notice we were doing so and only recognized the hall when we were right inside. We saw the last remnants of the mining activity : statues of miners, and learnt that the entire mine was build along a long crack (that's when you stop trusting the guide when he tells you there is no danger). The best things we saw were the huge underground lake where you can actually dive, and the echo room. In that room, the struture of the hall and the whole in the hall's wall (yes, it's a newly invented tongue twister, first of the day) creates a 12sec echo, quite impressive and way better than a Church !

"Dans la mineuh tic tac-euh tic tac"

Then, we came upon a group of underground nymphs singing in a room, rehearsing for Lucia, a popular celebration in Sweden. They tried hard to cast a spell upon us, poor men, but our will was stronger and we managed to escape, keeping our feet on the ground (or under XD). In the end, our perilous mission was successful as we found the King's Hall, full of treasures beyong imagination, in the form of a luxury hotel suite situated 155m under the surface. Sleeping there will cost you around 150€ :-)

The King's Hall / Hotel suite

We then came bak to the light, our minds full of images we will never forget. "My mine mind is satisfied" would say someone I know :-) (second tongue twister of the day). After a last cup of coffee, we started our journey back to the town. Our underground trip was so scary that I even had some grey hair :

"Grey haired Miguel"

And the three adventurers went back from whence they came, and lived happily ever after.

THE END

This day has been very interesting and I hardly recommend you to spend some hours belowground if you ever come near Uppsala.

Vi ses

Mig

(Any similarity with existing histories is completely unwanted and purely the result of a coincidence)

PS : the cultural minute : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrIYT-MrVaI