Day 144 – 146 July 8th to 10th. Stockholm to Lulea Sweden
Photos Travelling from Stockholm to Lulea
Two house sits, one Couch-surf and a cabin on an island in the Archipelago. A very brief summary of our time in Sweden.
Destination Sweden was spontaneously decided by the advent of our housesit in Sodra Sandby, this was followed closely by another sit in Stockholm. With a week inbetween and a need to travel to Stockholm to meet our Stockholm hosts – we decided the Swedish Archipelago was where we would most like to go for a week – and Moja seemed the most distant island we could easily travel to.
Our time in Stockholm was planned carefully – a visit a day. Choosing from the many museums we wanted to visit was a process of elimination. Our house-sitting-lovable-dog-sitting home was about half hour out up to 1.5 hours when a train line was out of action.
In the evenings during our 8 or so days in Stockholm we researched, planned and booked our way to Estonia via an unexpected visit to Finland through an unexpected visit Lapland. All sounding too exciting to believe.
After leaving our Stockholm hosts and the last lovable dog of our European housesits – we headed on to Vasteras with a train-train-bus via Uppsala, to catch the night train to Lulea. Forging ahead from one connection to the other, without waiting for the original connections, we found ourselves in Uppsala with time to spare. As we walked out from the station it was cold and wet and there was a bus to Vasteras about to leave, so on we went.
Arriving in Vasteras with what appeared a vintage American car convention in town, again rain and a chill wind lead us straight to dinner rather than exploring. We sat watching the parade of vintage cars from our heated outdoor setting, enjoying a delicious Greek platter with a wine and beer or two. We were ready for the train.
A short circular walk back to the station after dinner found lovely old buildings along a small canal-like river and a park and restaurants alive with people. The short summer season seems to bring on outdoor life with a vengeance the minute Summer is declared.
On Swedish trains you have an option to purchase the third bed in the carriage (of 3 beds) for the price of a child’s ticket. I was not fully onboard with this till we entered our cabin. More than this – before I saw three women in the next carriage trying to negotiate themselves and luggage into a very small space. We floated into our cosy cabin closed the door and watched Sweden roll by. The beds were 1 – 2 – 3 up the wall on one side, a small hand basin on the other. Beds were very comfortable and it was delicious listening to the sounds of the train, dozing and waking to see continuous daylight highlighting the flat expanse of forest and lakes on the 13 or so hour trip.
Once in Lulea we had most of the day till our Couchsurfing hosts were home so we planned on storing our luggage and doing some sightseeing. Two unforeseen hitches occurred in this plan – 1) there were no lockers at the station. 2) It was Sunday and nothing opened till midday so Lulea appeared as a ghost town. This was not helped by me feeling less than 100% and both of us a bit tetchy. All was helped by 1) Finding lockers at the bus station and 2) finding a most helpful woman at the Tourist Info when it opened. Chris being convinced he was being assisted by the Finnish version of Pink.
Out of this we found we could take a boat tour – the longer day journeys had gone but there was one regular ferry out to Sandön island to KlubbVicken where we spent a pleasant hour or so walking the almost human free paths of the island through forests and long marshy shorelines.
All with a short pleasant boat trip passing the set of Icebreakers we had read about named after Nordic Gods – Oden was missing.
For the first time on our travels we opted for a taxi to take us to our Couchsurfing destination – does that sound like an Oxy-moron – Taxi to Couchsurfing. Delicious – it saved time, luggage lugging, arguments over maps and apps. A short ride and we were there.
How was your stay? Well thankyou for asking – it was so wonderful we did none of the planned sightseeing for our full day in Lulea – we sat at the kitchen table surrounded by family life and friends and family dropping in. Later in the afternoon, translator in hand we headed off to the supermarket to get what we needed to prepare dinner. Note to self – Google translate is not so helpful in Finnish – guess work was required.
At the end of our time Chris and I were teary-sad to leave. Chris is now a confirmed Couch-surfer. A neighbour who dropped in thought he might also begin hosting. We all agreed it was an experience that highlights the joys of travel – sharing experiences with others.
