Marooned in Malmö

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This morning we expected to wake up to streets blanketed in snow, but it seems the worst of last night's storm did not hit the city. After breakfast we headed to the station to check that our train to Sweden would be running this afternoon. We were told that the train would be running, but it would be running from Malmö not from Copenhagen. The girl at the Swedish Rail information desk told us which Danish train we could catch to Malmö to connect with the service from Malmö to Stockholm.

With our train arrangements confirmed we proceeded out the other side of the station towards the National Museum of Denmark. Copenhagen may have missed the brunt of the storm, but was still copping some light snow showers so we had a fairly brisk walk to the museum. We spent a couple of hours exploring the exhibits at the museum. Some of the museum's earliest holdings were quite extensive due to the high number of artefacts found in peat bogs. Peat bogs create the perfect anaerobic conditions to preserve everything from humans and animals to timber and metals.

About lunchtime we went from the museum back to the hotel where our bags were being held for us in the luggage room. We thought that the weather had improved while we were in the museum - we were sure that we could see some blue sky through the atrium ceiling. If it had improved it was now snowing again and this wasn't soft snow flakes, gently drifting to earth like we had in Munich, this was face-stinging, wind-driven pellets of snow!! I'm starting to see why the Inuit have 50 words for snow!

Bags in tow we grabbed some baguettes from the 'Upper Crust' shop in the station. Baked and filled fresh each day these were surprisingly good takeaway baguettes. We just had time to eat our lunch before it was time to board the train. Our train to Malmö left on time and took us over the Øresund Bridge. Being big fans of the Danish/Swedish drama 'The Bridge' were were quite excited about travelling over the bridge. It would have been better to drive over on the top deck, but that was a bit difficult to organise during our short stay.

We arrived in Malmö in plenty of time to catch the 3.11pm train to Stockholm. We checked the departures board which told us the our train would be leaving from platform 3a. We dragged our bags down to platform 3a to wait for the train. As 3.11pm approached it seemed unlikely that we would be leaving on time because no train arrived at platform 3a. Sure enough at about 3.12pm the board changed and it no longer had a service to Stockholm on it. There was a mass exodus of people from the platform, but we had no idea where they were off to. We found a departures board which told us that the 3.11pm Stockholm train would now depart from platform 10 at 3.40pm.

Aah, so that's where everyone has gone to! We changed platforms and our train trip to Stockholm was looking good because there was actually a train at platform 10 and the board said it was the train to Stockholm. Unfortunately we couldn't get on the train as the doors were locked so we stood around in the cold waiting to be allowed to board.

So we waited and waited and then without taking on any passengers the train pulled out of the station. Shortly after that the board changed to say 'Inställa' and there was a mass exodus from the platform again. It didn't take long for us to realise that Inställa probably meant that our train to Stockholm had been cancelled and one of our fellow travellers confirmed this.

We found our way to the Swedish Rail information desk and joined dozens of other travellers who were trying to find out exactly what was going on. They had a numbered ticket system which another helpful traveller explained to us. There were no announcements or signs in English so we had to rely a fair bit on finding English-speaking fellow travellers to translate for us. The gist of it all seemed to be that there would be no trains to Stockholm until tomorrow. It looked like being quite a wait to ask about whether we needed to do anything to be sure of a seat tomorrow so we divided the responsibilities; I stayed in the queue watching for our number to come up while Bernie went first to the Tourist Information counter to find out about accommodation options and then to the Comfort Inn to book us a room for the night.

Well, Bernie managed to book our accommodation and get back to the Swedish Rail info desk before our number was called. Not long after it was our turn and we were able to confirm that there will be no trains to Stockholm this afternoon or this evening. The first service on Saturday is scheduled for 6.11am and then hourly thereafter except for 10.11am. No bookings are being taken so it will be on a first come, first served basis with the first two trains expected to be the busiest.

Thank goodness we were able to secure a decent room in Malmö for the night! A bit over it all we couldn't be bothered going out again in the extremely cold wind to find a meal so we ate in at the hotel restaurant.

6.15 km

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Comments

[Robyn Smith]

Zoo Group
A beautiful sunny 24C day at Fairfield Boathouse where we sat on the verandah overlooking the river bush setting. We had lots of fun, chatter and good food. Thank you for the lovely gift of Merle's violets. Good luck with the weather, stay warm and we will continue to enjoy your adventures and wonderful photos. Love Robyn and Ian

[Caroline Brunner]

It's fine here in Numurkah!
Enjoying beautiful sunny days here at my timeshare resort; swimming, mini-golf, canoeing; and of course photography at the wonderful wetlands. I do envy your current exploits - but not the weather. The severe storms in Europe have been given a lot of publicity in the evening news. Hope it all improves for you both. Cheers.