Blogs from Malmö, Skåne County, Sweden, Europe - page 2

I had a semi set wakeup time on Monday morning, as I had to make sure I got to the MFF shop right as it opened to insure my ticket for that evening's game. I made my breakfast, got dressed and boogied down to the Stadion wear I got a seat in the last section available, ahhh! Promises to be a good game with that sort of attendance. I also, don't ask how much it was, bought a jersey, because if you know anything about European soccer, you can't go to a game and not be supporting a team, and more importantly, you really want to be supporting the home team. So I got the ticket and the jersey, and then that was pretty much all I had planned for the day other than the actual ... read more

Malmö! Ahhh Malmö... From the moment I stepped off the train from Gothenburg, I knew I was really going to love this city! I slept in relatively late yesterday, which was ok because there was a train to Malmö every hour on the :40. I ended up catching the 11:40, this time with a slightly more scenic view out the window. We passed mostly countryside, quite resembling the Canadian Shield, but there were a few really nice coastal villages we ripped through that looked like gorgeous places to live. Again, about 3 hours later, I arrived in what I think now, is my favourite city, city so far. Like I said, I stepped off the train and instantly was hit by the sun and the positive vibes of a Saturday afternoon in this place of just ... read more

Saturday, January 4th started with us at the larger venue, the Malmo Arena for the 3PM game. Our seats were at the centre line, 2nd row of the upper deck above the penalty boxes. We watched Sweden beat the Russians 2-1 in a game that ended with fighting that will likely result in some suspensions on both sides for Sunday's games. Although we cheered along with the Swedes that were sitting all around us, we secretly hoped the Russians would win as our preference was to play Russia in the medal round rather than Sweden. Canada played Finland at 7PM and as usual, the stands were FULL of Canadians as well as a lot of Swedes too. It was apparent early on that our boys were not quite up to the task of taking on Finland. ... read more

Our day started off early, taking the bus to Emporia shopping mall by the Malmo Arena. We wandered around with minimal shopping then had lunch at a couple fast food places by the arena. We went to the Sweden-Russia game in the arena after lunch and while looking for our seats, we were approached by one of the volunteers. She was waiting for us with four new tickets, 11th row centre ice, because the system had accidentally generated our original tickets in seats that did not exist. Great service! And always nice to get a free upgrade! It was an exciting game and the Swedes were winning when we left after the 2nd period to bus over to the Malmo Isstadion for the Canada-USA game. We watched the Swedes win their game on the big screen ... read more

December 29 A couple of buses got us into downtown Malmo with our first stop at Gustav Adolfs torg, a square with a variety of food booths, crafts and ice sculpture going on. From there we walked through some pedestrian shopping areas, and along the ocean and through the train station and shipyard areas until we passed by the Turning Torso building. The vision of HSB Turning Torso is based on a sculpture called Twisting Torso. In 1999 HSB Malmö’s former Managing Director Johnny Örbäck saw the sculpture in a brochure which presented Santiago Calatrava in connection with his contribution to the architectural competition for the Öresund Bridge. It was on this occasion that Johnny Örbäck got the idea to build HSB Turning Torso. Shortly thereafter he travelled to Zurich to meet with Santiago Calatrava and ... read more