Saturday June 23 - Stockholm Skansen

It was raining this morning but the forecast was for better weather this afternoon - it stopped raining in the afternoon but remained cloudy.  Good job we went on the boat cruise yesterday.  We took the tram to Skansen, an enormous village containing old buildings and animals from all over Sweden.

Stockholm trams fly the Swedish flag at both ends.

This preserved car and trailer was at the car barns.  They told me it would be running on route 7 tomorrow.

Skansen is enormous.  It is built on some rocky ground, approximately 75 acres.  

There is a funicular railway at the entrance.

This lady was demonstrating making flatbread.  The original is only made from barley because that is all that will grow in the north.  It will keep for 20 years.  It was only in the oven for about a minute or so.

This is also a zoo showing animals that live in the Sweden and the north, reindeer, wild boars etc.

Elk

This great grey owl was very tame and came on to the railing of the viewing balcony.  It would quickly turn its head so the photographer had to be quick.

Many of the buildings were open and staffed by people who were very knowledgeable in their subject.  They all spoke excellent English and we spent some time with several of them. One man we spoke to had a degree in history and taught history.  Working here was a great opportunity for him.  We discussed the philosophy of restoration with another - how authentic can you or should you get? is it alright to replace a rotting wooden structure with a similar one using the same materials?

There was dancing around the maypole.  The grass was pretty worn around the maypole so they danced around a Swedish flag instead.

This quickly developed into a free for all with many of the visitors joining in.  Many of them had a garland of leaves on their head to celebrate midsummer and many had come in traditional Swedish costume.  There were many small children and one woman visitor had a young baby in a carrier strapped to her front.  It was pretty vigorous and everyone had a good time.

The goose on the chimney was making a great deal of noise above the grassy roof.

Glassblowing

Spinning

We covered the entire area but must have missed a great deal.  The set up is very good and it provided a great way to understand how people lived and worked in earlier times.

We spent the entire day at Skansen and caught the tram back to the hotel.  The first restaurant we went into for dinner a "bouncer" asked for our coats.  We said we would take them with us.  He insisted and wouldn't tell us why so we left (rudely).  We ate at a place that served Scottish meat across the street.  The meal was excellent.  Black Angus burger (Mary) and beef ribs (Colin).  Both were excellent.

Friday June 22 - Travel Kalmar to Stockholm, boat tour of the city

We left the hotel early and a three minute walk to the station gave us 30 minutes before the train from Kalmar to Alvesta left.

The engineer was already checking around and doing the standing brake test

There was plenty of room in first class and the hour and a half journey was uneventful.  We arrived in Alvesta in good time but the station announcements were only made in Swedish and there was only one departure board on an extremely long platform.  All Swedish platforms seem to be long -20 cars or more.  The X2000 to Stockholm was a couple of minutes late and we found our reserved seats alright.

The journey to Stockholm was again uneventful and we arrived about 10 minutes early.  Being a holiday the Central station was very crowded but the Tourist Office gave us directions and we walked to the hotel in about ten minutes.

The weather was good today but the forecast for the rest of our stay is not so good so we decided to take the two hour boat cruise to help orient ourselves.  The city is built on 17 islands and we were given a good idea of the way it is laid out.

Tree branches have been used to decorate buildings etc., for the midsummer holiday.

The old city, Gamla Stan, contains a lot of very old buildings but is ruined by the tourist traps.  We found a place to eat and decided to have Swedish meat balls and lingonberry sauce.

Swedish meat balls and lingonberry sauce with mashed potato and gravy,

A pissoir near the royal palace.

We did find a delightful small square (triangle) with a chestnut tree providing lots of shade.  The buildings dated from the 1600s and it was pleasant sitting there in a place that the tourists seemed to miss.

The stone over the door shows 1643

Mary liked the light and shade here.  I like it too.

Thursday 21 June - Kalmar

We spent the day wandering around Kalmar.  The main reason for coming here is the castle which is notable by its completeness.  It has had its share of battles but nobody has tried to knock it down in the last few hundred years.  It is the seat of Swedish royalty.

The walk to the castle was very pleasant and we took or time.  There was a gaggle of two geese with four young cropping the grass in the park.  One of the parents kept a very close eye on us and if we got too close it would hiss menacingly.

This whole area was full of water birds, ducks geese, including Canada geese, swans and many gulls.  In addition we watched the antics of the wagtails and the swallows.

The castle is approached through a very well maintained public park.  It is certainly complete but there is only one piece of furniture - the queen's bed.  There are a large number of rooms which are identified - kitchen etc. but there has been no attempt to bring it to life with period furniture, implements or life sized figures.  Some rooms are devoted to temporary exhibitions, Jorn Bjorg and a lady who does exquisite work with designs she cuts from paper, but the whole place is dead.  An amazing contrast to the village and railway museum at Odense.  Even the self guided tour pamphlet was difficult to follow with some numbers used twice and the progression difficult to ascertain - it would have been easy enough to number the rooms and use these numbers on the guide.

The banquet hall had a table laden with simulations of the dished that would have been served and this was good.  I am not sure I would have wanted to have my meal with a dead, stuffed swan and peacock on the dining room table.

Covered well in the courtyard

The feast complete with stuffed swan and peacock

After visiting the castle we walked through the original town, Gamla Stan, which was moved to the new site.

Gamla Stan

The old town water tower dominates the town.  It has been replaced and has been converted into apartments.

After a quick snack we finished off the self guided tour of the town.  

A klapphus or communal laundry house set over the water for easy draining.

The cathedral is very large

The pulpit is borne up by Moses and has been there since about 1630

Tripp, Trapp, Trull.  Three small houses squeezed together.

lick below to see a slideshow of all the pictures from Kalmar

Wednesday 20 June Travel Odense to Kalmar

We checked out in good time to get the 0815 train to Copenhagen . It was delayed following a train into the tunnel to Zealand.  We had a wait of over an hour in the first class lounge in Copenhagen - very pleasant.  We had reserved seats on the SJ train X2000 which left 12 minutes late and lost our path - signal problems and left Copenhagen under what seemed like a 564 order.

Train to Stockholm at Copenhagen.  The X2000 must be 20 years old now

 Things were better after the airport and the bridge to Malmo, Sweden.  The last time I came this way the train was put on a ferry to Sweden.  Things were better that is until we had a loss of power and an emergency brake application just after leaving Malmo.  I just hate it when the brakes go on hard and stay on until the train has completely stopped.  The engineer has lost control of the brake.  The last time I experienced this was in the Channel Tunnel and the time before that on the Thurso Railway when a log fell down between two cars and parted the brake pipe.

We were about 25 minutes late into Alvesta where SJ had held our train to Kalmar.   This was very much a local train made up of old cars that bounced around on the curves.  However, the first class was fine and we were in no hurry anyway.  At a place in the bush it was announced that we were going to wait 20 minutes for a train coming in from Kalmar.  Lots of people piled off for a smoke break and I walked up to take a picture of the engine.

Waiting for the meet

We had to do something while we were waiting.

 The announcements were made only in Swedish but were translated for us by a delightful man who lived in Goteborg but traveled this way to his cottage.  He was very loquacious - we realized, after he had left to catch a bus at a stop close to Kalmar, that he had consumed four cans of beer on this train alone. First impression of Swedish Railways are that they are unkempt, using old and out of date equipment.  The station work is sloppy.

We finished up almost 30 minutes late but the hotel is only a couple of minutes walk from the station.

This evening we had a walk around the town and ate fish and chips with a local beer.  The beer was pretty good but quite heavily hopped.

Tuesday June 18 Odense Visit to Den Fynske Landsby Historic Village

It was bright this morning after the heavy rain of last night.  We went first to photograph the Hans Christian Andersen walk/don't walk signs in the HCA area of town then set out to walk to the Den Fynske Landsby historic village - about 4 km.

The walk is along a well posted path which follows closely the Odense river.  The part in town is very well maintained with formal gardens and the whole is extremely well used both by people and wild life.

There were lots of ducks, mainly mallards but also tufted, and a family of swans with several cygnets hiding in the tall weeds.  As we came close to the village we made a deviation to get a drink at a small thatched inn and checked out the train schedules back to town at the small station of Fruens Boge.

The village contains a  number of old buildings, mainly farms, that were brought in from all over the island and placed here.  It is strong on demonstrating how people lived in earlier times but does not cover very well the local crafts and industries.  Maybe there are more demonstrations at weekends and in the height of the season.

Farmyard with an old wagon with some detailed carved scroll work.

The geese provided a lot of entertainment although they didn't let anyone get too close.

The vicarage garden was very large and beautifully done. 

A brickworks with a vertical kiln.

An alms house built unusually out of granite because it would be more durable and less likely to burn.

A smithy.  It would have been interesting to see it in action.

 

The village is well maintained and we were pleased that the signs were in English as well as Danish.  They were very informative and very clear - there was a sign for each type of crop explaining how it had developed and how it was used.  We walked back to the station and caught the train back to Odense.  There are at least two trains an hour and it took just over 5 minutes.

Trains meet at Fruens Boge on this single track line.

Click below to see all pictures taken at Odense

Click below to see all pictures taken of the Danish Railways (DSB)

Monday 18 June - Travel Copenhagen to Odense and Danish Railway Museum

We had intended to take the 0930 train but were ready for the 0900 so we caught that instead. These trains are ten-year old and come in 4, 6 and possibly more formations. The one we were in had a diesel engine but others I saw had electric as well.  This provides a lot of flexibility and although they are getting old the interiors are looking good.   The first class section had free refreshments and a light breakfast if we needed it.  The trains have free wi-fi. There is a definite advantage in using first class - lots of room, refreshments, no tourist groups milling around. We had to check that the seats were not reserved for the portion of the journey that we are taking. As is was we had the entire five-seat silent section to ourselves.

The sky was sunny and bright although there was a heavy rain warning in effect.  There were poppies along the sides of the wheat fields and dog roses in the hedgerows where a couple of pheasants were to be seen - as well as a couple of thatched cottages.

The crossing from Zealand into Funen is first through a 8 km tunnel.  The railway then surfaces at an island in the centre of the channel and then runs alongside the highway on a 6.6 km bridge.

We quickly arrived at Odense and found the hotel very conveniently situated close to the station.  Check in was easy and the room is very comfortable.

Apart from the ends these trains remind me of the Hastings thunder boxes although not so noisy.

With all the restrictions it is difficult to figure out what you are allowed to do.

The man at the tourist office was very helpful and suggested what we should be seeing in the next day or so.  He also steered us to a restaurant which served open faced sandwiches as well as a full brunch.

A feature we also noticed in Copenhagen - a blanket put out for the use of people at outside tables.

Around midday it began to rain and the wind got up.  I went to take a look at the railway museum which is in a roundhouse next to the station.  There are 19 stalls open to the public and nearly as many again presumably for workshops and warehousing.  The public display is excellent.  There is good access to the exhibits which have been brought to life by the use of a very large number of full sized figures in period costume.  It is not just a passenger car but it is at a station, with people getting in and others seeing them off, train staff in the cars, on the engine and doing all the jobs that have now been largely forgotten or eliminated.

A wheel tapper

Lots of people

I was interested to see a locomotive with two fire doors - needed to fire a wide firebox.  One of the express passenger locomotives had a couple of steps down from the running plate so the crew can presumably look at the running gear on the road.  The finish on the exhibits is first rate, no amateur job here.

View from the cab

A three section double ended gas motor car train.

It rained heavily while I was in the museum and when I came out I visited the adjacent bus station (how about that for integration Ottawa?)  A bus employee was giving out free rain capes.

Click above to see a slide show of all pictured from the Danish Railway Museum

Although the clouds were threatening we went out for a stroll around the old houses in the town centre.  A mother duck had got about 6 ducklings settled down to sleep on the grass and a moorhen was trying to do the same with her three.  

There was a lone tufted duck on the pond in the park near the castle.

 The buildings in the old town are very old and very attractive. 

The doorway section has a pronounced tilt in it.

There is a couple of streets with small cottages, some of which had mirrors, similar to vehicle wing mirrors mounted on the second storey windows so they could see down both ends of the street.  At the HC Andersen museum a mother duck was trying to get about 12 really small ones out of the water and ready to sleep.

We looked around for a suitable restaurant and finally found a buffet which wasn't too bad.  The vegetables and salad were fine especially the five types of potato (baked, fried, roast, scalloped potato and chips) but the beef was a little tough although the turkey breast was fine.  The local beer was excellent.  On the way back the mother duck had taken her charges away under cover.  I was forced to use my free rain cape from the bus company - seems it is one use only.