Sunday,
We sailed all night and arrived in Stockholm at 9:30 am (picking up the hour I lost on my birthday). Awoke to see tiny islands as we sailed by them at beginning of landfall on the Swedish coast which is an archipelago. Looks like lots of little holiday residences scattered over these islands, tucked away in the forests and usually with a boat tied up to a jetty. Looks like a nightmare to navigate through it all, some of it is quite narrow for a big ship. Have seen a couple of other large vessels so it must be the main route to Stockholm. The rocky islands remind me a bit of the granite near Esperance and Albany except here they are black and grey rather then red. Had a good sleep and a great shower. It was overcast and drizzling which was a shame because we’d planned to spend most of the day looking around Stockholm.
Whizzed through customs (nothing to declare - although we had to stop while a dog sniffed us over) and out into the rain. Found a bus into town easily enough and dumped the luggage into a locker at the station. Had to do the bankomat thing first and got ourselves some Swedish Kroner. The only problem with some of these machines is that you get large denominations - so now I had a couple 500 SEK notes ($100). Banks re usually good at changing them but it was Sunday and they’re not open. So, off to a news-agent and bought an international phone card and a snack. Then we could get some change for the locker and also tried to make a couple of calls home etc. but couldn’t raise anyone so we set out into the rain.
Walked across into the old town and enjoyed the narrow streets and (not many cars could get around here) and ended up in the old square. A few tour groups also out braving the elements but we headed into a coffee shop and down a tight spiral staircase to the cellar. Only candle lit, so quite dark but full of people and dry and warm. Enjoyed a latte (which came in like a soup bowl) and some cardamon cake and a chocolate cake. We then discovered that Wendy had left her reading glasses on the ferry and the waiter very kindly lent us his mobile to ring the company to ask about lost property. Didn’t have much luck (got the ‘on hold’ messages) and was cut off. Tried again later when we visited the Alfred Nobel museum and the person selling the tickets let us borrow the house phone! People are very kind. Finally got through (after 15 minutes on hold), and let them know of our loss and hopefully we’ll hear something about them. Will need the loss report to be able to claim on insurance... The Nobel museum was expensive and probably worth a longer stay (lots of audio and video which we didn’t really have time to sit through) and had a focus on creativity and how breakthrough ideas don’t always happen in the laboratory but often during times of relaxation/contemplation.
Back into the weather and past the palace with its guards standing in the rain getting wet and back across the river to see if we could find something to eat. Found a mall and found out that things are expensive - a takeaway bowl of soup was $12. Lots of people around and everybody is eating ice cream/yogurt. Didn’t find anything as we were running out of time and headed back to the station but did see a sort of cultural center (drama, art & literature) that had a whole library of animated novels. Lots of people inside out of the rain lounging in bean-bags absorbed in these cartoon novels. Emptied the locker and raced to the platform and noticed that our train was leaving at 16:40 (I had 16:20 in my mind so we did find something to eat in the station and went back to the platform in time for the 16:40. The train was there but it wasn’t ours! We’d missed the one we needed (the 16:20) and there were others in the same position (a couple of primary school principals from Sydney)!. A train guard told us not to worry, “just go to the last carriage and it will be OK”. Plenty of seats but it was a slower train so we’d get there an hour later than planned - did have a good chat with Gloria and Danuka though.
Got to Nörrkoping and checked into the hotel (they had emailed a code to get into the front door and also into the 2nd floor) where we found our room (door was open with the keys inside) and the conference registration information. Settled in a little and headed down to the conference centre, 6 minute walk. The area is very interesting and used to be very industrial with a river flowing through which used to drive 17 power stations (the water drops about 18 meters over 2 kms through the town which is situated near the mouth of the river that runs into a bay). We were about an hour and a half late but were greeted with a smile and we traded our registration voucher for our name tags and the conference bag and found some food and a glass of wine. We bumped into Heather, Philip and Deb a little later and it was nice to see some familiar faces. Will have a closer look at the program in the morning to work out what sessions we want to go to.
We sailed all night and arrived in Stockholm at 9:30 am (picking up the hour I lost on my birthday). Awoke to see tiny islands as we sailed by them at beginning of landfall on the Swedish coast which is an archipelago. Looks like lots of little holiday residences scattered over these islands, tucked away in the forests and usually with a boat tied up to a jetty. Looks like a nightmare to navigate through it all, some of it is quite narrow for a big ship. Have seen a couple of other large vessels so it must be the main route to Stockholm. The rocky islands remind me a bit of the granite near Esperance and Albany except here they are black and grey rather then red. Had a good sleep and a great shower. It was overcast and drizzling which was a shame because we’d planned to spend most of the day looking around Stockholm.
Whizzed through customs (nothing to declare - although we had to stop while a dog sniffed us over) and out into the rain. Found a bus into town easily enough and dumped the luggage into a locker at the station. Had to do the bankomat thing first and got ourselves some Swedish Kroner. The only problem with some of these machines is that you get large denominations - so now I had a couple 500 SEK notes ($100). Banks re usually good at changing them but it was Sunday and they’re not open. So, off to a news-agent and bought an international phone card and a snack. Then we could get some change for the locker and also tried to make a couple of calls home etc. but couldn’t raise anyone so we set out into the rain.
Walked across into the old town and enjoyed the narrow streets and (not many cars could get around here) and ended up in the old square. A few tour groups also out braving the elements but we headed into a coffee shop and down a tight spiral staircase to the cellar. Only candle lit, so quite dark but full of people and dry and warm. Enjoyed a latte (which came in like a soup bowl) and some cardamon cake and a chocolate cake. We then discovered that Wendy had left her reading glasses on the ferry and the waiter very kindly lent us his mobile to ring the company to ask about lost property. Didn’t have much luck (got the ‘on hold’ messages) and was cut off. Tried again later when we visited the Alfred Nobel museum and the person selling the tickets let us borrow the house phone! People are very kind. Finally got through (after 15 minutes on hold), and let them know of our loss and hopefully we’ll hear something about them. Will need the loss report to be able to claim on insurance... The Nobel museum was expensive and probably worth a longer stay (lots of audio and video which we didn’t really have time to sit through) and had a focus on creativity and how breakthrough ideas don’t always happen in the laboratory but often during times of relaxation/contemplation.
Back into the weather and past the palace with its guards standing in the rain getting wet and back across the river to see if we could find something to eat. Found a mall and found out that things are expensive - a takeaway bowl of soup was $12. Lots of people around and everybody is eating ice cream/yogurt. Didn’t find anything as we were running out of time and headed back to the station but did see a sort of cultural center (drama, art & literature) that had a whole library of animated novels. Lots of people inside out of the rain lounging in bean-bags absorbed in these cartoon novels. Emptied the locker and raced to the platform and noticed that our train was leaving at 16:40 (I had 16:20 in my mind so we did find something to eat in the station and went back to the platform in time for the 16:40. The train was there but it wasn’t ours! We’d missed the one we needed (the 16:20) and there were others in the same position (a couple of primary school principals from Sydney)!. A train guard told us not to worry, “just go to the last carriage and it will be OK”. Plenty of seats but it was a slower train so we’d get there an hour later than planned - did have a good chat with Gloria and Danuka though.
Got to Nörrkoping and checked into the hotel (they had emailed a code to get into the front door and also into the 2nd floor) where we found our room (door was open with the keys inside) and the conference registration information. Settled in a little and headed down to the conference centre, 6 minute walk. The area is very interesting and used to be very industrial with a river flowing through which used to drive 17 power stations (the water drops about 18 meters over 2 kms through the town which is situated near the mouth of the river that runs into a bay). We were about an hour and a half late but were greeted with a smile and we traded our registration voucher for our name tags and the conference bag and found some food and a glass of wine. We bumped into Heather, Philip and Deb a little later and it was nice to see some familiar faces. Will have a closer look at the program in the morning to work out what sessions we want to go to.
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