Our Swedish friend, Bengt, has frequently stayed with us at the apartments in Singapore and Johor Bahru. In return, we have stayed at his apartment in Mexico City when we were there a few years ago. He has been pressing us to visit him in Sweden, offering us use of his apartment in Malmo (we accepted) and in Stockholm (we didn't accept as he is on crutches after a hip operation).We used Thai Airlines this time. The trip over was very comfortable (a perfectly flat bed), but on the return journey a new A340 'plane was used. The whole journey was spent sliding to the bottom of the bed, or pushing upwards. The food was reasonably good, and the service excellent.
We flew from Bangkok to Copenhagen, and the first sight of Europe was the yellow (rapeseed) and green patchwork of fields. From Copenhagen
to Malmo is only 18 kms by train over the well known Oresund bridge. The first 4 kms are by tunnel, the next 4 kms across a man made island (for wildlife, humans prohibited), then 8 kms on high girders (rail tracks plus a road on top), and lastly 2 kms to Malmo. The steady turning of the vanes on wind farm generators actually standing in the sound was a harbinger of things to come. Malmo is known for constant strong winds (not a hill in sight), and at 55 degrees north latitude, the winds are cold !
Malmo, in Skane Region (pron. Sker-neh) is the third largest city in Sweden, with a population of about 300,000. Once a centre of heavy industry, but now priced out of it, the city has become an IT, service, and financial centre. There is a highly regarded University at nearby Lund, almost a suburb of Malmo. Lund has been responsible for the invention of the ink jet printer, and the technology for the Blackberry was also developed here. Malmo is an old city, dating from the 14th century, when this part of Sweden belonged to Denmark. Many of its buildings date from these medieval times, and are in good condition (one houses a chemist shop which opened in 1571, and still trades there). The Church of St. Peter is a noble old pile. On a wall inside it was a list of its pastors - the first was appointed in 1569, and in the 439 years since there have been only 23 more (there were only 2 for the entire 19th. century). These men have done better than the Popes, with 260 or so of them, over 2000 years.
The most famous modern building in Malmo is the eye-catching "Turning Torso", a 54 storey apartment building, 190 metres high. The building comprises a series of panels starting on the ground, curling around and upwards as one imagines a human torso turns. The architect was strongly influenced by Antoni Gaudi, the Barcelona architect (famous for the Sagrada Familia and other buildings), who never used a right angle when a curve would do. Unfortunately the building has been a commercial failure - it has no balconies, the windows can't be opened, and all the internal walls are curved (bookshelves, beds etc,are difficult to position).
There are many squares in the city, and drinking in the open
is a favourite pastime of the locals when they finish work. All of these open air drinking places provide heavy blankets on the back of all of their chairs, and also overhead heating. We tried drinking at one of these establishments, but it is incongruous drinking a chilled beer rugged up to the extent that only the face shows. Swedish beer is good, and many imported English beers are available - we noted that the boutique English beers, "Bishop's Finger" and "Old Speckled Hen" were sold, amongst other English beers. The food in the city was good, but not particularly Swedish, except one night when we had Planksteak (steak on a plank of wood - said to be traditionally Swedish). We had one particularly Swedish meal, of fish patties and herring - not especially tasty..
The many beaches at Malmo are picturesque but not very inviting (no waves). The one we visited was particularly uninviting on the day we were there, as the wind was blowing strongly, and it was freezing. There is a heated Bad (Baths) on part of the shore, and this is frequented by (mostly ancient) naturists every day of the year.
In Malmo, we were taken around by a friend of Bengt's in Bengt's car.
We drove around the surrounding countryside - it is flat and wooded, with no particularly memorable sights. The surrounding towns all date from medieval times, have a castle, a church, a museum, and not much else. We saw a Stonehenge like structure (the ship-shaped Alas Stenar) dating from very early times.
From Malmo, we hired a car (a Toyota Verso, which had a high roof and was thus most comfortable for me to enter and leave). O
ur drive took us along the east coast to Stockholm, about 600 kms in all. This drive took three days, and the highlight was the visit to the Glasriket area near the town of Kalmar, halfway to Stockholm. This "Kingdom of Crystal" has 11 glass blowing workshops scattered around it, the most famous being owned by the Orrefors group. We bought some crystal items.These were not cheap, but very innovative in the Swedish way. The hotels we stayed at during this journey were not cheap, bed only being around SGD180 (equivalent) a night, with dinner for two (including beer) costing around SGD100 (eq). Petrol was more expensive than in Singapore, at about SGD2.45 (eq) a litre.
At Stockholm, we returned the car, being henceforth taken around by Bengt (who could drive), or else we went by easily navigable public transport. A beautiful and old city on a series of lakes, Stockholm has no skyscrapers "Swedes don't like skyscrapers" said Bengt. Swedes appear to be fond of museums, and Stockholm has many of them. The outstanding one was the "Vasa" museum. The "Vasa" was a ship which when built in 1628, was planned to be the most advanced warship in existence. Of 1210 tons, It was the first vessel to have two gun decks (with the heaviest cannon on the top deck), and as well it had spectacular external wooden sculpturing. However it was top heavy, and within minutes of launching, overturned and went to the bottom. It lay in relatively shallow water until 1961 when it was raised, and placed in the museum. It is spectacular, being almost perfectly preserved..
In Stockholm we had our first experience of staying at a hostel. Hotel rooms in the city are small and expensive (around SGD400 eq. per night, bed only). So, Kim was able to locate a hostel, which had one suite, which we took at SGD170 eq. bed only. This was a huge room on the top floor of the building the hostel was in , with its own Jacuzzi and sauna, plus a balcony. It was fitted for internet access, but for some reason this could only take place while sitting on the balcony (which was exposed and
windy). In the morning we would descend to the breakfast room, always full of high school tour groups, backpackers, family groups etc. Nonetheless a great place to stay, and it can be recommended. We had a number of good, but not distinctively Swedish, meals, with Bengt hosting a couple of them.
Our Swedish holiday then finished, and we left for a weekend in London (and Hertford, where we visited an old friend). Our hotel in London is worth mentioning. This was the "Hoxton" at Hoxton Square. Owned by the man who runs the "Pret a Manger" chain, this hotel works like a budget airline, in that the further ahead one books, the cheaper are the rooms. There are even a few at 1 pound a night withy breakfast.
We secured ours at 79 pounds a night with breakfast, but had we delayed a week in making our booking, the cost would have been double this. The rooms are all identical, very modern and well appointed. Breakfast is hung on the door every day (yoghurt tub, a small bottle of orange juice, and a banana). There was a high quality restaurant downstairs for those who wanted to eat more.The area around the hotel (in Great Eastern Road) is not high quality, but is being gentrified. We had a pub dinner one night, which was excellent (The Princess Royal pub). We shopped at Foyles, Selfridges etc.
From London we went to Munich, where Kim had to work. While he worked, I strolled around the town, had hearty lunches of prawn rolls and weak beer at open air markets, and shopped. We had a meal at one of the Hofbrauhauses. We ate good pork and drank weak beer. On the last afternoon, we did a tour of the BMW factory, which turns out 900 cars a day. This tour took nearly three hours and we must have walked three miles. The most interesting feature, I found, was the use of robots.
We returned directly from Munich to Bangkok, and on to Singapore.
There are many squares in the city, and drinking in the open
is a favourite pastime of the locals when they finish work. All of these open air drinking places provide heavy blankets on the back of all of their chairs, and also overhead heating. We tried drinking at one of these establishments, but it is incongruous drinking a chilled beer rugged up to the extent that only the face shows. Swedish beer is good, and many imported English beers are available - we noted that the boutique English beers, "Bishop's Finger" and "Old Speckled Hen" were sold, amongst other English beers. The food in the city was good, but not particularly Swedish, except one night when we had Planksteak (steak on a plank of wood - said to be traditionally Swedish). We had one particularly Swedish meal, of fish patties and herring - not especially tasty..
The many beaches at Malmo are picturesque but not very inviting (no waves). The one we visited was particularly uninviting on the day we were there, as the wind was blowing strongly, and it was freezing. There is a heated Bad (Baths) on part of the shore, and this is frequented by (mostly ancient) naturists every day of the year.In Malmo, we were taken around by a friend of Bengt's in Bengt's car.
We drove around the surrounding countryside - it is flat and wooded, with no particularly memorable sights. The surrounding towns all date from medieval times, have a castle, a church, a museum, and not much else. We saw a Stonehenge like structure (the ship-shaped Alas Stenar) dating from very early times.From Malmo, we hired a car (a Toyota Verso, which had a high roof and was thus most comfortable for me to enter and leave). O
ur drive took us along the east coast to Stockholm, about 600 kms in all. This drive took three days, and the highlight was the visit to the Glasriket area near the town of Kalmar, halfway to Stockholm. This "Kingdom of Crystal" has 11 glass blowing workshops scattered around it, the most famous being owned by the Orrefors group. We bought some crystal items.These were not cheap, but very innovative in the Swedish way. The hotels we stayed at during this journey were not cheap, bed only being around SGD180 (equivalent) a night, with dinner for two (including beer) costing around SGD100 (eq). Petrol was more expensive than in Singapore, at about SGD2.45 (eq) a litre.
At Stockholm, we returned the car, being henceforth taken around by Bengt (who could drive), or else we went by easily navigable public transport. A beautiful and old city on a series of lakes, Stockholm has no skyscrapers "Swedes don't like skyscrapers" said Bengt. Swedes appear to be fond of museums, and Stockholm has many of them. The outstanding one was the "Vasa" museum. The "Vasa" was a ship which when built in 1628, was planned to be the most advanced warship in existence. Of 1210 tons, It was the first vessel to have two gun decks (with the heaviest cannon on the top deck), and as well it had spectacular external wooden sculpturing. However it was top heavy, and within minutes of launching, overturned and went to the bottom. It lay in relatively shallow water until 1961 when it was raised, and placed in the museum. It is spectacular, being almost perfectly preserved..
In Stockholm we had our first experience of staying at a hostel. Hotel rooms in the city are small and expensive (around SGD400 eq. per night, bed only). So, Kim was able to locate a hostel, which had one suite, which we took at SGD170 eq. bed only. This was a huge room on the top floor of the building the hostel was in , with its own Jacuzzi and sauna, plus a balcony. It was fitted for internet access, but for some reason this could only take place while sitting on the balcony (which was exposed and
windy). In the morning we would descend to the breakfast room, always full of high school tour groups, backpackers, family groups etc. Nonetheless a great place to stay, and it can be recommended. We had a number of good, but not distinctively Swedish, meals, with Bengt hosting a couple of them.
Our Swedish holiday then finished, and we left for a weekend in London (and Hertford, where we visited an old friend). Our hotel in London is worth mentioning. This was the "Hoxton" at Hoxton Square. Owned by the man who runs the "Pret a Manger" chain, this hotel works like a budget airline, in that the further ahead one books, the cheaper are the rooms. There are even a few at 1 pound a night withy breakfast.
We secured ours at 79 pounds a night with breakfast, but had we delayed a week in making our booking, the cost would have been double this. The rooms are all identical, very modern and well appointed. Breakfast is hung on the door every day (yoghurt tub, a small bottle of orange juice, and a banana). There was a high quality restaurant downstairs for those who wanted to eat more.The area around the hotel (in Great Eastern Road) is not high quality, but is being gentrified. We had a pub dinner one night, which was excellent (The Princess Royal pub). We shopped at Foyles, Selfridges etc.
From London we went to Munich, where Kim had to work. While he worked, I strolled around the town, had hearty lunches of prawn rolls and weak beer at open air markets, and shopped. We had a meal at one of the Hofbrauhauses. We ate good pork and drank weak beer. On the last afternoon, we did a tour of the BMW factory, which turns out 900 cars a day. This tour took nearly three hours and we must have walked three miles. The most interesting feature, I found, was the use of robots.We returned directly from Munich to Bangkok, and on to Singapore.
