OK, here’s the misleading second post I promised you. We didn’t actually spend a day in Sweden – it was pretty much just a morning in Sweden. But it matched the last post so there’s that consistency you’re looking for.
One of the reasons we went to Copenhagen was the prospect of being able to shoehorn an extra country into a very short trip. Reuben has a scratch-off map of Europe that gathered dust during the lockdown years and we’re determined to try and get it filled in. So a holiday where we could just nip over to Sweden for the morning seemed ideal.
Besides, it was raining in Denmark. It would be better in Sweden, right?
Wrong.
We’d started the day at the sumptuous breakfast buffet at Hotel Scandia where we ate plentiful Danish pastries and (for the carnivores among us) some very good Danish bacon as well. Then we set off on the short walk to the station in what was a considerable downpour.
Buying tickets to Sweden is pretty easy – there’s a machine inside the station with a Swedish flag on it and the instructions can be put into English. I should have mentioned that you can pay by card at all these machines and, in fact, everywhere in Copenhagen. We didn’t use cash once and ended up having to try and spend it at the airport.
There is some kind of subtlety around the type of ticket you get tho, as on the way back we tried to get on an SJ train from Malmö to Copenhagen and were told that we needed an SJ ticket for that. We assumed we’d just be travelling on the same Øresundståg trains that we got from the airport and that did seem to work for the way there. Just make sure you don’t try and get on the wrong train on the way back.
Another thing to note is that dogs are only allowed on certain carriages. Which is worth knowing because Hans and Crumble had come with us for the trip:
As you might guess, the stunning views from the Øresund Bridge were slightly less impressive than normal in the mist and rain. Still, it was exciting to cross over the artificial island of Peberholm and then the vast, choppy waters of the Sound. Less exciting was a long wait at Hyllie station but then we got moving and soon arrived at Malmö C.
When I was researching this trip, I saw some advice that said to alight one stop before Malmö Central, at a station called Triangeln. It apparently opened straight into a shopping mall and had a funky glass roof. When I read that, I wasn’t overly inspired but turns out it would have been a very smart move because my actual plan – wander round Malmö and see what we find – was not entirely waterproof.
So we left the station and wandered around to see what we could find. And initially, not a lot. Malmö seems to be one of those towns – like Calais – that exist as a transport hub rather than a destination in their own right. I might be judging it harshly by the few hours we spent there but there didn’t seem to be a lot of things open so it was hard to really get a flavour of the town. Where Copenhagen seems overflowing with hipster coffee shops, Malmö doesn’t seem to have quite gentrified yet, though we did spot one later in the day, in this old theatre:
There was also a Brewdog which seemed a bit innocuous next to its more traditional neighbours but is perhaps a sign that the hipsters are on their way. I’ll leave it up to you as to whether that’s a good thing or not.
At one point we noticed a church had its doors opened and nipped inside for a quick respite from the torrential rain but the priest looked surprised to see random people walking in and so we walked back out.
Eventually I took to Google Maps to see if there was somewhere we could go to for coffee and some entertainment. My phone was struggling with a new country’s mobile network and also a considerable amount of rain on its screen so it wasn’t being overly co-operative. The first suggestion I spotted – the Disgusting Food Museum – seemed like a bad idea just before lunch. But the Moderna Museet was a better prospect and after a few wrong turns we found it. It’s quite distinctive as it’s bright orange and has these rotating poles just outside:
And inside there was cake and refillable coffee. Hooray!
We slowly thawed out and dried out and then put our wet coats in the cloakroom to have a look around the exhibitions. There are also free lockers (all named after artists) to stash any bags.
I don’t really understand modern art but I was grateful to be out of the rain and finally engaging with some Swedish culture. The exhibition was called “Skymningsland” – “Twilight Land” – and there were a number of video installations, as well as some outsize sculpture:
One of the videos took place in an entirely dark room where screens showed the artist portraying luminescent fish. It was oddly soothing. Then we watched a 16-minute film called “Climate Change Propaganda” which was in English but also quite accusatory towards the English. Which is an odd position to be in as a visitor to the country. Still, it featured both wolves and Thanos so the kids were happy.
Reuben also liked this picture, which he thought was impressive:
All in all we spent around an hour at the museum which was good as it wasn’t huge and it only cost us around 100 Swedish Kroner to get in. We hadn’t seen anywhere particular for lunch so at the kids’ insistence we lunched back at the station. Reuben wanted to try a Swedish meatball sub from Subway but they didn’t have meatballs so he just had the same chicken and bacon sub he has in Highams Park all the time. Travel really does broaden the mind, doesn’t it?
It’s worth noting that, if you’re looking for trains back to Denmark from Sweden, you won’t see “Copenhagen” or “København” on the boards. It’s something like “Köpenhamn” in Swedish, which seems obvious when you write it down but did raise some questions in my mind as we went to catch the train. Not as many questions as this sign did though:
I’ve already mentioned that you should not get the SJ train back but luckily the trains are very regular and while you wait, there’s a cool train-window video installation to look at:
We got back to Copenhagen speedily and it was only when we are the airport the next day that I found out we were just in time. The Øresund Bridge was closed due to the weather conditions mid-afternoon and other people with a similar plan to ours had found themselves stranded in the wrong country. So we were pretty lucky.
As we got back to the hotel, the weather was just breaking and we caught a glimpse of Copenhagen blue sky for the first time:
Just in time to go and hang out in darkened rooms for a few hours. A few seconds’ walk from our hotel was the Planetarium and we’d promised Eva that we’d find time to visit. She’s going through a bit of a space phase at the moment so I knew she’d like it. It’s relatively pricey – DKK800 including a refundable deposit of DKK200 for English-language headsets – but our time in Copenhagen was limited and it was something we knew we wanted to do. I think we were there for two hours including the film so got a fair bit of value for our money. If we’d gone earlier in the day, we could have taken part in the workshops but obviously when going from our hotel to something a few metres away, it is essential to take a diversion via another country.
The first thing you see as you walk into the exhibitions is a big dark room. This was becoming a theme. There are interactive screens where you can stand in a little circle of light and command the space dust:
And a similar exhibit in the next room where you can make stars follow in your footsteps and occasionally go supernova:
At one point, the whole room went dark and we witnessed the Big Bang:
Every ticket includes a film in the dome at the top of the building. There’s a lift up but it’s small and there was a bit of a queue so we took the stairs. There were quite a lot of them:
Our film was about a plucky hamster who builds a rocket out of a surprisingly well-equipped junkyard. The film was fine, even if Reuben objected to its attempts to educate him, and we had the English dialogue through our headsets. But it was the standard pre-film film “Journey to Space” which was really impressive. Eva genuinely thought the seats were moving as we flew through the solar system and even I was gripping our seat arms. It’s what you go to a planetarium for, really…and don’t tell Reuben but it was also educational.
Back downstairs there was another exhibition called “Saturn’s Rings”. The kids sped through this one as I was getting the deposit back for the headsets but there were different meteors on stands and an interactive bit where you could feel the weight of moonrock:
Then we went back through the first room we’d been in cause the kids enjoyed it so much:
And that is probably where I’ll leave our Scandinavian adventure, before I get bogged down with the horrors of trying to board a Ryanair flight. If you do fancy a 72-hour jaunt, I would recommend it. There was so much more we could have done and both Malmö and Copenhagen would probably be glorious in the summer when we could properly explore the parks and go to the beaches. So who knows? We may just be back…
