Scandinavian Parkrun Day 1 - London to Malmo

---

We’re off to Scandinavia for a long weekend of parkruns. We booked it before I fell over in Poland and smashed my knee. It seemed like a much better idea when I had 2 working legs. But I reckon it’ll just about be manageable with the correct amount of painkillers and alcohol.

The cheap tickets out of Stansted at stupid o’clock aren’t so cheap when you add fuel, an airport hotel, car parking and the taxi to the terminal. Security is high. They’ve invested in new scanning equipment (presumably something to do with Donald Trump’s arrival) and they’re determined to get their money’s worth. With my dodgy knee I can’t spread my legs wide enough to stand on the designated foot markings for the body scan, which means I need an old fashioned pat down (she touches my knee which makes me squeal).

I’ve not been to Stansted before. We walk towards the gates past the rows of shops. I’m surprised there are so many designer labels represented. You’d think with such cheap flights, the airport should be lined with branches of Primark and Poundland.

We fly to Copenhagen then catch a train across the Oresund Bridge; a 5 mile long bridge which crosses from Denmark to Sweden, via an artificial island. It sounds spectacular, but it’s a double decker bridge with the railway running beneath the motorway, so in reality there isn’t much to see, just little glimpses of Malmö through the gaps in the ironwork.

We arrive at Malmö station and walk along the river, past numerous bridges and sculptures, to our hotel. It’s called the Garden hotel. It’s built over a multi-storey car park with our 6th floor room opening onto a roof garden, which is very pleasant, particularly as the temperature has reached 31 degrees.

In the afternoon we go for a wander (my knee isn’t capable of travelling too far). It’s Swedish National Day so there’s a bank holiday atmosphere. There are lorries full of revellers/protesters circling the Gustav Adolfs Torg, and in the middle, a drunk is having a fight with a statue in an ornamental lake.

We stop to get something to eat and drink. The bars and restaurants are heaving, despite beer being £8 a pint. It’s a good job we’re only staying one night.

---