Final Thoughts on Stockholm, Sweden

Yes, the sun has set over Stockholm, at least for me. Time to move on. But before I make the rail travel to Oslo, in neighboring Norway, I’ll offer some last thoughts about the front half of my journey.

It was easy getting into Sweden as it was leaving. Flying over to Oslo from Orlando, Florida took just a few minutes less than 8 hours. Mucho tailwinds accompanied the flight, pushing  the speeds of the plane to the 640 mph range for much of the journey. I didn’t know it at the time, but the strike by the Norwegian Air pilots that ran for 11 days was settled on the day I flew with them. Guessing the International service wasn’t affected, but on that day, March 10th, 160 domestic flights within Norway were cancelled.

Anyway the arrival was painless, passport control was a breeze, less than three minutes, and I didn’t have to deal with the luggage because it was routed straight through to the airport in Stockholm. I had another fight ahead of me, and from Oslo’s Gardermoen Airport to Stockholm’s Arlanda takes about 45 minutes in the air, and no passport control upon arrival.

At Arlanda airport I was able to purchase a 72 hour travel card, which would get me through three days, and a ticket for the Arlanda Express, a train from the airport which zipped me to the Stockholm Central Station. There I bought a sim card for my unlocked HTC phone. I handled the navigation to the apartment without undo stress.

Luckily I missed the snow in town but not too far out of the city, there was some snow still on the ground…

My thoughts about Stockholm are simple to describe – I liked the place. Most everyone spoke English and the folks who worked in restaurants and coffee houses, Tourist information centers, train conductors etc, were all a fairly cheerful lot. As were the people you met on the street. The Swedish are a tall people and there was an interesting mix of foreign emigres in Sweden. Many North Africans, Middle Easterners, Indians, and other assorted Asians. I did notice many people soliciting ‘spare change’ in the T-Bana (subway) and they seemed to all carrying placards that read Sofia 2015. Many were possibly gypsies – but in the main they were passive rather than aggressive.

I also missed seeing crowds of people flocking to the dockside for some boating.

Gamla Stan – Last Day in Stockholm

When you take the Red Line Southbound from Stockholm’s Central Station – the first thing you notice is that the train leaves the underground and rises to the surface, a necessity to cross over the water by a bridge for a train. Actually there are three bridges. One for the T-Bana or subway trains. The second is for the commuter, regional, and inter-city rail lines, Of course the 3rd bridge is for automobiles.

So the very next station from Stockholm Central Station is Gamla Stan. I think that in the film The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo as well as the 2nd film in the series, The Girl Who Played with Fire – when you see the shot of the train out under the sky – that’s what I’m talking about.

The recorded woman’s voice announcing the next station says Nasta Gamla Stan – only when she says it, it sounds more like Gamla Stawn (like lawn), At least that was my impression, and however it is said, it means Next [is] Gamla Stan.

So I exited the T-Bana at Gamla Stan. I was near the front of the train, so I took the south exit (utgang) and found myself on a waterfront park. It wasn’t the best time of the day for shooting across the water toward Sodermalm. I wanted to shoot that big apartment house, high up on a hilltop – it looked like the highest point across the water and it is the building that appears on the cover of Rick Steves‘ book called Stockholm – Snapshot. But likely I was in the wrong place, at the wrong time of day and the sun was behind the building – so I couldn’t get the shot I wanted. i took the shot but it should have been better.

So I abandoned that plan and followed along the waterfront promenade. There wasn’t a lot of people about – mid-late afternoon so most folks were still working, But there were some couples strolling or sitting, some younger people who had finished school for the day, and some unemployed just killing off another day.

Travel: Florida to Scandinavia

Travel Day is today – Stockholm, Sweden and then Oslo and Lillehammer, Norway are the destinations. Flying with Norwegian Air from Orlando, Florida to Oslo, Norway on the 787 Dreamliner,

787 Dreamliner cabin

then a second flight to Stockholm, Sweden. Flying time Orlando to Oslo 9 hours. I’ll have time for lunch at the Oslo Airport. Flying time Oslo to Stockholm is 1 hour.

Stockholm, Sweden

Leaving Stockholm via Intercity High Speed train to Oslo.

First Class seat ticketed by RailEurope. Travel time 5 hrs and 44 minutes. Stockholm Central Station to Oslo Central Station. Wi-fi on the train.

Oslo