I finally visited Sweden!

10 - 11 May 2009

I finally visited Sweden!

I am finally attempting to finish my travel stories! On Sunday, May 10th, after a delicious family lunch in Mountain Lakes, I am off to Newark airport to head back to Sweden after just returning from Europe 5 days ago!! I am starting to understand the traveling lifestyle of my dad, jumping across continents from week to week. I was going to Sweden to finally visit my good friend, Anna, whom I met in 2002 when we studied together in Brighton, England. After subsequent visits together in the US and England, it was finally time for me to see her in Sweden.

After going through the usual airport security routine, I was finally in like to board the plane. As we were all waiting, squished into the narrow airplane rows, the man in front of me turned around and addressed me in Swedish. I, of course, gave him a confused look and said, “Sorry!” He replied, “I asked you if you were going home. You look so Swedish I just assumed! You are going to have everyone over there fooled into thinking you are Swedish.” That didn’t sound like such a bad thing! This guy was an Australian married to a Swede living in Stockholm, so he was heading back home. When I arrived at my exit row seat, I met another guy, this one actually Swedish, blonde and quite cute too! He was on his way back from Atlanta to Sweden, having traveled abroad for work.

About eight hours later, my plane touched down in Stockholm Arlanda Airport. The weather was overcast and much colder than the 80º weather we’d been having at home! As I walked through the airport, I was already impressed by the Swedish interior design. It was reminiscent of Ikea—minimalistic but stylish. The people at the customs check reminded me of the Germans in their efficiency. Before long, I had my bags and I was heading to the Sky City train, as per Anna’s instructions. I got on the next train from Arlanda to Uppsala which would take just about 25 minutes. The Sky City train waiting area was quite subterranean in nature…I literally felt like I was in a mine shaft! Finally this huge, tall black and red train arrived. It looked sort of like an old fashioned locomotive with a huge grill in the front of the car. I settled into the first seat I could find. A few minutes after we left the airport, a blonde woman came through checking tickets. It was then that I realized I had never received a ticket from the automated machine when I put my credit card in it! I explained to her what happened, and in perfect English she responded that normally one should receive a paper ticket but it was ok!

I arrived in Uppsala, large university town about one hour north of Stockholm, feeling underdressed in my spring coat. I wrapped my Scottish wool scarf tighter around my neck and headed inside to the warmth of the train station. As I waited for Anna to arrive, I sat and watched the bustle of the morning commute in Uppsala station as the Swedes came and went with bicycles, coffee, and newspapers. About 10 minutes later, there was Anna in her red University of Sussex hoodie, wet from biking over in the rain. It was hard to believe after all the years, I was finally here in Sweden to see Anna! We said our hellos and she led me over to the bus stop so I didn’t have to drag my huge bag for a mile to her apartment.

We stepped out of the bus just across the way from her apartment building. She lives in a high rise building painted a bright orange color. Luckily I only had to carry my bag up one flight of stairs and there we were in her sunny studio apartment! We immediately sat down for a breakfast of tea, rye bread with butter and cheese, and yogurt. It was delicious but the caffeine barely made a dent in my jet lag exhaustion! We relaxed and chatted a bit at her apartment. I was feeling tired and in no rush to gallivant around the city, but eventually it was time to do some sightseeing.

Anna and I took a bus about 15 minutes away to Gamla Uppsala. Gamla Uppsala, which means “Old Uppsala” is an important historical area. It was town of significant importance as early as the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, known to be the residence of the Swedish kinds of the Yngling dynasty. People have been buried in Gamla Uppsala for about 2,000 years inside of burial mounds that look like small hills. This is one of the reasons people travel to this site today, to see the mounds. Most famous are the Royal Mounds, from the 5th and 6th centuries, are considered Sweden’s oldest national symbols. This is where three Viking kings were buried. As we explored the mounds and the Viking museum, the sun came out of hiding just for us! We also got a chance to visit the church at Gamla Uppsala built in the 12th century. It was a simple church made of stone. The walls and ceilings inside were covered in faded painted murals. We explored the cemetery around it. It contained a large red wooden bell tower which was very unique in design. There were numerous graves, on top of each one was loose gravel. The church staff apparently rakes the gravel into designs or patterns; I had never seen that before. On the outer wall of the church, a runestone was placed into the wall. Runestones were erected in the Viking Age (4th to 12th century) and look almost like rudimentary tombstones with inscriptions. These stones were used as property markers, to honor the dear, or to tell of important events. This one had a picture of a sea monster type creature on it.

Now that we had done some walking around, it was time for a little break. We had a snack at a cute old café near the church. I had a much needed cappuccino and we shared a chocolate cake. This cake was not what you would picture, it was only slightly chocolatey, more sweet with a hint of chocolate, and it had coconut shavings on top, no icing. After a jolt of caffeine and some sunlight, I felt so much more alive! We took the bus back to the center of Uppsala and walked around some more. Anna took me to see some of the important buildings if Uppsala University. We spent awhile inside of the Uppsala Cathedral which was much different from the average cathedral. This medieval cathedral was a rusty red color with black roofs. Its double spire was the truly unique part. It was quite a grand cathedral inside but yet more simple than many I have seen in other parts of Europe. It was also decorated with faintly painted wall designs and religious stories. There were many tombs and status scattered through out cathedral for kings and even for Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy. There was even a statue of Saint Olaf which had me thinking of the Golden Girls!

We wandered around the cute cobblestoned streets of Uppsala, with its colorful stucco buildings. We perused through a few of the shops and eventually decided we’d better have some lunch. We wound up eating at a little café on one of the main shopping streets where we had salad and sandwiches. After that, Anna took me to see the Silver Bible, or Codex Argenteus, a manuscript from the 6th century at the Carolina Rediviva library. It is a translation of the Bible by a Swedish bishop and is written in Gothic language. The letters are actually written in a beautiful silvery ink. After that, we walked uphill to check out the Uppsala Castle. It was already closed at this point, but I got to walk around this salmon pink colored castle. It seems that the Swedish architectural design in general is much simpler than much of the rest of Europe. I don’t think I ever would have guessed that the building even was a castle; it looked more like a town hall or some other functional building.

Since dinner time was approaching, Anna decided we should swing by the grocery store for some food. I love nothing more than shopping at foreign or unique food stores. I could have spent a good hour there looking at all of the different food items. I tortured Anna, making her translate all of the labels for me. The cheese section was quite extensive and unique. Unfortunately, Anna was not a cheese expert so I was left with many unanswered questions! I looked at row upon row of rye crisp breads, coolers full of fish eggs (kaviar) in toothpaste-type tubes, and special jams like lingonberry and cloudberry. I had to use a lot of self restraint to not buy a whole refrigerator worth of foods! We did get some food for dinner and a wedge of cheese, some flat bread, thin drinkable-type yogurt, and a Swedish special yogurt called filmjölk. Filmjölk is a Swedish mesophilic fermented milk product (according to Wikipedia) which is a thin yogurt with a sour taste, it was sort of a mix between kefir and buttermilk. I loved it! After eating dinner at Anna’s, we changed into our PJ’s and settled in to watch a little TV before bed. Just like that, my first day in Sweden was over already and I was more than ready for some sleep!