Inner Dome of Heaven

When my mom and I came over to London to house hunt internationally we stumbled upon this little al fresco dining area bustling with people, complete with heat lamps, Christmas lights strewn across the buildings, and an ICEBAR! 

I took this picture by the way. It's okay, you can be impressed.

That’s right, a bar made entirely out of ice! Upon further investigation, the details of the joint are as follows…

·      UK’s only bar made entirely of ice (shocker, I know)

·      Kept at about -5° C (equivalent to about 23°F for those of you not on the metric system, basically the same as Boston from January-April)

·      Everything inside is made out of crystal clear ice harvested especially from the frozen Torne River in Jukkasjarvi, Northern Sweden (not sure I entirely believe that…although there’s no way the Thames is that clear so maybe?)

·      Once a year the entire bar is completely transformed with a new design theme and layout by a team of skilled ice designers and sculptors, using new ice from the Torne River (there’s reference to that silly river again, if it even exists!)

And my personal favorite fun fact…

·      You are given a designer thermal cape with a hood to keep you warm during your visit

After that sales pitch, I was sold and vowed that I would go back once I moved here for good, perhaps almost entirely because I thought you got to keep the cape and gloves, but that’s besides the point.

So, fast-forward to Jon’s visit and you better believe I made a very special point to put this outing on our itinerary (yes, I made a very detailed day-by-day, hour-by-hour itinerary for us, no one’s surprised). I assure you we were not disappointed, that is, until the end when I had to give my cape back :(

We were on a very strict timeline, exposed to the chill for 40 minutes, and 40 minutes only, and they proudly displayed that countdown above the door to avoid any Ötzi the Iceman situations. Given our own special ice shot glasses, picture personalized ice luges, the drinks were flowing and the crowd loved it. 


We explored a little bit…

And got a little silly!

 

 

Until basically we were the last one’s standing and had to be forced out.

All in all, real fun experience, one I would certainly recommend.

English word of the day: Surgery = doctor’s office/consultation. I only know this because I registered for my first NHS GP since I have now given up my insurance in the states, scary I know, and I was told to “go on in to surgery”. Wary of what body part my new GP thought needed operation; I proceeded in to find nothing more than your run of the mill doctor’s office. Although I would have liked to hear what work I needed done surgically.