IN THE SOUTH OF SWEDEN
April 29th:
I woke up in Copenhagen somewhat early to a beautiful sunny morning. I had about an hour and a half before I needed to catch my train to Sweden so I set out into the city for a brisk walk to get some morning shots of Copenhagen...
Notice the 7-11 below...
Before coming back to the apartment I stopped by a bakery to pick up some fresh Danish pastries. Oh man....
They were incredible...
I had a nice breakfast with Elder & Sister Jepson and then I said my goodbyes and walked to the train station. I boarded the train and was on my way to Malmö, Sweden...
The cool thing about the trip between Copenhagen and Malmö is the Öresund Bridge that connects Denmark with Sweden. It is the longest combined road & rail bridge in Europe and is unique in that for the first 1/3 stretch you are actually underground (and underwater)...
Here's an arial photo showing where the rail/road comes out from underground and becomes a bridge...
I traveled across the bridge safely and knew immediately that I was in Sweden because all of the buildings looked like IKEAs...
Soon I arrived in the city of Malmö. I was met at the train station by my good friend Szilvia. I knew Szilvia when I was a missionary in Hungary and I also saw her once when she was a missionary on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. She now lives near Malmö and through the wonders of facebook we were able to reconnect and I was able to come and visit!
We put my big bag in a locker at the train station and went out into the city...
One of the things about Sweden is that everything seems very clean and neat. Even the harbor was immaculate...
Malmö's most famous landmark is the "Turning Torso." Built in 2005 and housing offices and 147 luxury apartments, it is the highest building in Scandinavia and the highest residential building in the EU...
The weather was absolutely perfect as we walked around the green spaces of Malmö...
Even the factories were picturesque that day...
We visited the Malmöhus castle. It was built by the Danes (when this region was still part of Denmark) in the 1530's. It is one of the few remaining castles of its kind in Scandinavia...
Near the castle was the old windmill...
It seemed like half the city was green parks...
Even John McCain was there feeding the birds...
I actually got a good tan that day...
We walked towards the city center to look for something to eat for lunch passing buildings of typical Swedish architecture: cross-beams (fachwerk) and brick...
We found a nice little cafe near this square...
...and ate lunch. I was sure to order something with seafood.
After lunch Szilvia showed me around the city a bit more...
Unique architecture surrounded one of the main squares. Here is the top of the main church and the city hall...
The city hall...
Have you seen my childhood?...
After seeing a bit of Malmö we gathered my bag and took the train a bit inland to the town of Lund. This town is famous for their university and their large cathedral...
Walking through Lund it was starting to get rather hot, and we were in need of some refreshment so we went into a 7-11 and got the Swedish equivalent of a slurpee. It tasted really good.
We drank (ate?) our slurpees and went inside the cathedral to find a beautifully spartan interior... very ancient looking...
The cathedral was built in the 1100's, though it has gone through many renovations and additions.
One interesting feature inside is this astronomical clock built around 1424. Twice a day the clock chimes and six figures representing the three magii and their servants pass by Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus...
We followed the stairs down into the dark crypt...
The crypt, which has remained largely untouched since its concecration in 1123, was quite interesting. You can see below a mysterious figure carved into one of the pillars...
One of its more important works of art is this relief-decorated well carved in the 1510's...
We went back out into the blinding sunlight to find students and others littered about the churchyard enjoying the sun...
There are always fun details to pick out on such old buildings as this cathedral...
Chinese food?...
Nice stonework...
The reading spot...
It was fun to walk the old streets and see all the students in this town...
Near the cathedral is the main university building built in 1882. The university itself, founded in 1666, is one of Sweden's finest and is frequently ranked in lists of the worlds top 100 universities...
From the Lund campus I got my rock from Sweden.
We left Lund...
...and came to the small town where Szilvia lives. We went grocery shopping (where I bought some amazingly salty Swedish licorice,) and then went to pick up Szilvia's two kids.
We enjoyed a nice dinner with a yummy cake and ice cream...
Aron and Isabell both understand Swedish and Hungarian, and so I spoke with them in Hungarian. Aron however answered me only in Swedish (Isabell didn't say much.) They were really nice and cute kids and they were both very welcoming to me as a stranger in their house.
Because of the northern location, it was still surprisingly light at 9pm. Nonetheless, I was tired from a long day, I had gotten a lot of sun, and I slept well that night.
It had been a fun day in Sweden. But my trip was not over yet...
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