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I awoke several times in the night to find the train stationary in Linkoping. At 0630, the scheduled arrival time in Malmo, we were 'officially' awoken by an announcement, pointing out to us all that we were still in Linkoping because the train had broken down. I switched to the next fast train to Malmo, which was still 3 hours, though we were given the option to stay on board and await repairs and then stay on the slow (5 hour) route.
I had planned a day in Malmo before my next connection, and used my interrail pass for the journey, so promises of refunds and reimbursements for missed connections were not at all useful to me. In the end, Swedish Trains did say they'd pay up to &eur;20 towards my food in Malmo, which was nice.
The rest of the day, shortened as it was, was lovely. All trace of snow had gone, the sun was out and the sky was blue. I wandered. Took photos. Sat on benches. Wandered some more.
I had breakfast in Farm2Table, which was very lovely and I could have stayed there all day. I went to the Form Design Museum, which was free, and they kindly stored my backpack for me until mid-afternoon. Inside was an exhibit about the carbon cost of different materials, showing how much of each you can get for 1kg of C02. I was, naturally, most interested in the mycelium boards.
I walked around the gardens and grounds surrounding Malmo Castle, then visited the museum inside. It was wide ranging, from local to natural history, to modern art, and lots of climate change related stuff.
I had lunch in Vegegarden, a delicious Chinese buffet. Then walked to the Moderna Museum, which strictly no-photos, and contained a gallery of modern art about.. you guessed it.. climate change. Some fantastic stuff; a lot of video and audio, as well as dance! (Nothing live while I was there.)
I walked more around a park with a big lake, and then back into town for dinner at Rau. A fancy, expensive, and extremely delicious dinner. Definitely recommend.
Finally I headed back to the train station for a train to Trelleborg. The route from Trelleborg station to the ferry checkin is sort of signposted, but also not obvious at all when you get there. I confirmed I was in the right place with the hotel next door. They also let me use their loo. The waiting room for Stena Line doesn't have wifi or much useful. There were only a couple of other foot passengers. None of the automatic checkin machines were working, and signs said staff would arrive to check us in 40 minutes before departure, despite other signs saying checkin closes 60 minutes before departure.
Staff did eventually turn up, ticked us off, and put us on a bus to the ferry.
This was a &eur;20 ferry ticket, only deck passage. But I was one of two foot passengers in the seating area, and had my pick. There was one power socket, so I posted up on the closest seat to that so I could charge my laptop while I slept. Onwards to Rostock.
(After dinner I noticed I was missing K's borrowed scarf. I emailed all the museums and restaurants and they all replied - it turned up in Vegegarden. A friendly local is going to post it back for me. Hurrah!)
A trains day!
I had just enough time for a hasty breakfast provided by my accommodation, before a fast march to Haparanda station. I caught a train to Boden, then another to Umea.
I walked along Umea's frozen river, admiring lots of random sculpture and an arts college, into the city center. I had an incredible lunch at Rost, and could happily have stayed there all day.
It was freezing and clear, and every so often a gust would blow powdered snow from trees and rooftops, filling the air with glitter in the sun.
I caught my next train to Stockholm. It was snowing by the time I got there, but I had a few hours to pass, so I stomped around the city center for a while. I had a distressing burger in the Swedish burger chain MAX. Initially excited to find a vegan chocolate milkshake, I regretted all of this junk food later. Then I boarded a night train to Malmo.
From Kemi in Finland to Haparanda in Sweden, by bus. The first thing I saw over the border was a giant Ikea. I checked into my accommodation which was much nicer than expected. Then went to hunt for food, just heading to the closest open restaurant, a Chinese one called Leilani. I was quickly and friendlily informed that all of the vegetarian options could be made vegan. I picked one and it was delicious.
Across the road from the restaurant was an interesting tower. The center of Haparanda was peaceful and seemed like somewhere I'd liked to have spent more time.
I forgot about the timezone switch, so got an hour more sleep than expected.
I had planned to spend the morning in Malmo, then take a train to Stockholm in time for my evening ferry connection. But the weather was miserable, so I got on an earlier train to Stockholm.
The weather was still miserable in Stockholm, but I went on a walking tour of the old town, had tasty vegan Swedish 'meat'balls with lingbenberries in Verte, then walked to the ferry port.
Train from Copenhagen to Malmo, across The Bridge.
A pleasant evening to wander around the coast, looking at fancy new apartment buildings. Dinner at Surf Shack, in lieu of anywhere else nearby being open at that time.
