Malmo Sweden and Visitors 16 and 17

---

Geo: 55.61, 13.02

Only seem to go to countries beginning with the letter 'S' these days. Headed off to Malmo in Sweden for the day with our latest visitors from Ireland (J&H) and took the train across the the Oresund strait on the very cool Øresund Bridge, offically "Øresundsbron". Saw a documentary about it & it's very intertesing as it is a combined bridge-tunnel & is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe. The bridge has one of the longest cable-stayed main spans in the world at 490 metres (something to with letting ships pass underneath). The total length of the bridge is 7,845 metres, and they had to build an artificial island Peberholm followed by a tunnel on the Danish side, so the aiport wouldn't be effected. 144dkr for 24 hours ticket (about 19eur).

Anyway Malmo is small but Sweden's 3rd largest city & has a university, 35 canal bridges (we took a boat tour & it was a lovely day), the largest night club in Sweden (approp. an ex Slaughter house) and the coolest looking apartment block 'Turning torso' I ever saw and the same vibe as Denmark with a graveyard that is a park which is amazingly pleasant to walk through, a cool anti-war scultpure of a gun with a knot tied in the barrel by ??. It also does early shop close on Saturdays (why oh why?) but we had a lovely Italian lunch & some vino instead (not dearer than CPH as was rumoured).

Although I see this in wiki "Malmö is mentioned but once by a major writer of the English-speaking world. This instance may not be totally accurate, but Naked Lunch by William Burroughs includes a brief report on a visit to the city (which he really had made in the fifties), describing the third city of Sweden as very dull, hopelessly grey, with not a chance to be served liquor in the morning "and with a cemetery in the middle of the city". Burroughs resolved to take the first boat back to Copenhagen. "

So there ya go!

---