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| Travel writer Veronica Perry visited the Ice Bar in Stockholm looking for the coolest night life in Sweden Still suffering from jet lag, I promised to meet my traveling companions at the new bar they'd told me about in downtown Stockholm, a few blocks from our hotel. The entire bar was made of ice, they said, and you didn't even need warm clothes because the bar supplied them. After grabbing a nap in my room, I groggily walked the few blocks to the Nordic Sea Hotel, with a tiny tingle of adventure luring me on. Inside the hotel I saw nothing unusual. But when I turned a corner in the lobby, I found a receptionist facing a glassed-in bar area. She was seated at a desk next to a long rack of silver parkas, each one with a fake-fur lined hood. I waved to my friends inside the bar, who were visible through the glass window. The receptionist picked out a parka for me, and helped me complete my arctic ensemble by fitting me with heavy gloves and thick cloth booties. When she opened the door to the bar, I felt a sudden blast of chilled air hit me in the face. Suddenly, I was wide awake and ready to party, my jet lag completely forgotten. The room itself was surprisingly small, probably able to hold no more than a few dozen or so people comfortably, at most (any more body heat and we might be up to our ankles in water). I greeted my laughing friends, who were standing at a table sculpted from ice. They saluted me with their vodka cocktails-in glasses that were also made of ice. I turned to the bar in hopes of catching up, and saw that it, too, was made of ice, as were the various modern art sculptures that decorated the back corners of the bar. Scanning the menu, I found that all the drinks were made from Absolut vodka, a product I'm sure the Swedes are justifiably proud of. I noted the drink prices were as eye-popping as the frigid temperatures, which hovered around the -5° C (23° F) mark. Somehow, most customers never manage to stay very long. After my friends had left--their red noses said they'd had enough--I found companionship with a lively young Swedish couple, neither of whom had ever been to the Icebar before. In fact it surprised me that locals might want to drop in for a drink at a spot that's such a tourist magnet. Still, the place makes its patrons feel like they've just planted a flag at the North Pole. What is it about spending time in a freezer that's so much fun? Whatever it is, it seems to have been a very good idea. Open since June 2002, the Icebar attracted more than 70,000 people in its first year-among them celebrities like actor Pierce Brosnan, his "Die Another Day" costar Rosamund Pike, and rocker Kelly Osbourne, plus a wide assortment of well-known Swedes. I learned that this is the world's first permanent ice bar, and sister to the bar at the famous Icehotel in Swedish Lapland. All the ice used in the interior, including the carefully cut blocks that line the walls, were shipped in from the Torne River area where the Icehotel is based, about 1200 km (740+ miles) north of Stockholm. I sensed that the Icebar is meant to be a celebration of ice, and, as such, is a tribute to the imaginations (and promotional abilities) of its creators-Ejnar Söder, Nordic Hotels president, and Yngve Bergvist, founder and president of the Icehotel. All I know is that I had a great time in what can only be described as an igloo. © Veronica Perry 2003
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