Sunday, January 13, 2008 ~
I was reading today about an attraction in Sweden called The Ice Hotel. I’d heard of it before, but never read about it. It is just what it says it is… a hotel made entirely out of ice. Every year snowbuilders, architects, designers, and artists from around the world come and create the hotel from the frozen waters of the Tome River. From mid-December through mid-April, people from all over the world come to stay there.
And every spring, the entire thing melts!
The hotel has 80 rooms and an ice bar. There are regular rooms and there are suites! Artists make each room unique and add their own flair. There is even a church and a chapel where couples come to get married. Others come just for a unique and definitely memorable honeymoon! Personally I think I would opt for a nice warm beach, but the photos online are definitely beautiful.
What amazes me is the passion and creativity of people to do this every year. I have built sand castles and even helped to create a few sand sculptures that were soon washed or blown away, but this hotel is major! What must it feel like to create something amazing and breath-taking of this magnitude that will melt in a few short months? It’s one thing to create something that can be around for years for people to enjoy and in fact, many artists are fueled by the fact that their creation will serve as some kind of evidence that they were here. To pour their heart and soul, for instance, into a painting or a piece of music, a sculpture or a novel. But imagine pouring all your creative energy into something that will rather quickly…..simply vanish. Sure there will be photos, but the actual art will be gone forever. This must take great love and the ability to not be attached to their creation. To create for the mere joy of creating and then have the hope and excitement of what they can do even better next time.
****What would you enjoy creating, even if you knew it would disappear within the next few months? How would it feel to simply let it go?
Even though I always have cold hands and feet and tend to live like Linus (not generally without my throw blanket), I would love to visit The Ice Hotel…just for the experience. Check it out at www.arctic-experience.co.uk/tour22w.
Peace,
~ Cindi
