Sweden's West Coast

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Stockholm to Malmo

I managed to navigate the ticket machine at Stockholm's Central Station, found the right platform and leapt on to the train. Found seat 67 and made myself comfortable. Ahhhh a nice couple of minutes to spare before we head out. All of a sudden, I'm surrounded by a family trying to sit with me and put their luggage in the overhead compartment. Somehow I must have offended one of them as I received a stern look. Apparently I have the right seat number, on the right train, on the right track, but the WRONG wagon! Oooooooooooops - sorry about that chief!

After my false start, I lugged the purple wonder down the platform, found Wagon 15 (rather than 5) and the REAL seat 67. Phew! A shrill whistle was heard and we pulled out from the platform.


My lasting impressions of Stockholm are a quiet grandeur, replete with shining roofs. Sweden, I am a fan!

The scenery from the train was stunning, loads of forest lined the route from about 5 minutes out of Central. I was facing backwards, so I was actually looking where I'd just been, but I'm sure I'm not the only person to feel like they've got their head up their arse. The motion of the train was quite smooth, and this was countered with the ear-drum pounding entry and exit of various tunnels. I can assure you, these things can MOVE.

As it turned out, seat 67 was one of four set around a "table". Essentially, consisting of two sets of double chairs facing each other and a table set up in the middle. The guy opposite me (rockstar) seemed to want to stretch out his legs, but the only place for them to go was into mine. A few aborted attempts at footsies later, we compromised and crossed our legs in opposite directions. Although I'd been keeping ahead of jet lag by constantly moving, I could feel a bad case of the nods coming on. Funnily enough I kept catching the other guy (travelling with and sitting opposite the woman beside me) doing the same thing.

By this time, about three hours into the five hour trip had passed and not a word had been shared between myself and the three others sitting at the "table". I couldn't resist, I had to do something or I may fall asleep and miss Malmo altogether. So I asked rockstar whether he was winning his Soduku puzzles (he had a whole book of them). This got the conversation started and pretty soon all four of us were chatting merrily away.

It seemed that rockstar was moving to Malmo to start up a club night. He had a friend who already lives there and was going to do some initial scoping out of various venues before approaching someone about an 'underground' night once a month. The reasons for being underground seem to make sense given the strict government control on alcohol. As he already runs a popular 3 night per week club in Stockholm, he had every confidence he could do well in Malmo. If Malmo didn't work out, he might try Copenhagen instead (it's only 30 mins away on the bridge). More surprisingly still, he told us he'd been living in a hut in the woods outside Stockholm for the past 6 months...madness.

Other guy and his girlfriend had been in Stockholm to watch a football match between their local team and Stockholm. Their trip was a success on two counts, the local team got up 3-4 and the girlfriend had indulged in some serious retail therapy.

I only arrived in Malmo at 23:00, so it was check in to the hotel and hit the hay.

Malmo to Gothenburg - Day 4

Up early in the morning, repack the purple wonder, enjoy the included breakfast and then it was off to do some exploring Malmo style. Malmo is quite different to Stockholm. For a start, it's a lot smaller and a lot greener. It seems canals are the fashion, so more canals everywhere. I took myself off for a wander about the Malmo Gamla Stan (Old Town) and then made my way to the Malmo Museum.

This turned out to be really interesting with some history about Malmo itself, the castle and various archeological finds. The stand out item had to be the silk codpiece found mostly intact in an old latrine well...classy. Other things on display were an aquarium and reptile house (no way was I checking out snakes...yick), a modern art gallery and other stuffed animals - who knew Moose were so tall?

I also took in a photographic exhibition of from a Vogue photographer who certified as a war correspondent and was in the thick of things for 1944 and 1945. Some stark and awe inspiring photos were included along with comments about the photo and the subjects. One photo of an SS Concentration Camp Guard who'd been beaten after the allies released the prisoners included the caption that went something like "...he later died of his injuries and was placed on a pile of Jewish corpses ready for mass burial. His body was huge compared to the emaciated remains of his former inmates...the fat bastard."

Never one to over stay a welcome, I headed for the train station and embarked on the 3 hour train ride to Gothenburg. This time I made sure I found my seat on the correct wagon. An uneventful, yet pleasant and scenic trip was had by all.

Next stop - Gothenburg.

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