SJ informed me by text mid Tuborg Grøn last night that my train would not be starting from Copenhagen but instead Malmö, which was nice.
SJ trains have disappeared like this on me — but without warning — before.
My plan after Stockholm is to go to Oslo because it’s on the way to Trondheim and I appear somehow to have committed to going to Trondheim now, although I might yet chicken out. On Wednesday evening I looked at the SJ site and there was a direct service timetabled to leave Stockholm central at 10:51 and getting to Oslo at 16:14. When I looked the next day to reserve, it had gone, leaving only a silly-o’clock early-morning service (no thank you) or one that got me in a little too late to be polite for my host.
Instead I’ve booked a train to Göteborg on Wednesday where I’ll stay overnight before getting a train to Oslo on Thursday. Anything further than that remains slightly unclear at the moment, and I’m not entirely sure I like that. But at the same time, I really quite like that. Aftet all — what could possibly go wrong?
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Following the change, I decided I’d leave nothing to chance and got the 5C bus to central station in plenty of time and on an absolutely glorious sunny morning to take the 08:47 commuter service to Malmö, rather than the later train which had been suggested in the text message. My logic behind this was that I’d use the extra time in Malmö to sit in the SJ lounge and mainline caffeine until it was time to get on the Stockholm service and subsequently melt into the chair as the landscape slid past the window. My heart sank as signal failure stopped us not five minutes into our journey, but glee and inner-squeals were restored when we started moving again five minutes later.
After a stop at the airport where my part of the train (not a metro) quietly emptied, we slid into the darkness of tunnel and a few moments later popped back out onto a little man-made island called Peberholm from whence the Øresund Bridge carries trains and traffic alike to Sweden. Exciting as this was, it became apparent there’s not really much to look at from the train because you’re on a bridge; the bridge itself is prettier than the view you get from it. If I’m honest, it was a bit of a dreary view really, but it was nonetheless very exciting to be on the longest bridge in Europe (I may be lying). Before we knew it we were back on dry land and pulling into Malmö, ready for free coffee and whatever other delights the lounge holds.
The SJ lounge in Malmö Central is closed on Sundays, but the time I now had between trains gave me an opportunity to quickly scoot around the immediate vicinity of the station which is all very pretty indeed. Once you’re out of the station and past the buses, you are quickly standing on a cute bridge over the Rörsjökanalen, from whence Saint Peter’s Church is but a minute or two’s walk away. There was no way of getting into the church, but someone was clearly practising the organ which added a little intrigue to the walk around it.
The 10:04 HST service to Stockholm left on time and I quickly found myself in the bistro (technically not a dining car, apparently) ordering breakfast. The X2000 is the Swedish railway’s high speed tilting train and it looks lovely with its corrugated side panels and almost aggressive but ultimately welcoming pointy ends (technical term). The bistro was already open as the train left the station and I had a cup of coffee and a lovely cinnamon sticky bun, warmed by the lovely lady who sold it to me, as we sallied forth to Stockholm.
First class also has free hot drinks, snacks, and fruit (fruit!!) all available for free to sustain the excited passenger. I had a cream cheese cracker and an apple. And some chocolate. And quite a lot of coffee.
The X2000 is also a winner of the Red Dot Award (them of the museum in Zollverein, coincidentally enough) for its lovely interior which is quiet and supremely comfortable. I had hoped to be sitting in the direction of travel but when I made my reservation was only able to get seat 47, a window seat pointing the wrong way. This was not a problem as the view from the window would’ve been spectacular whichever way you face, unless it’s tilting, in which case you might see sky.
As we moved north, the snow got whiter and deeper and in some sections was thrown up around us so outside the window went quite sparkly. I spent a lot of time looking out of the window and before I knew it was pulling into Stockholm Central where I was met by Host who took me for a whistlestop tour of the old town and a(nother) sticky bun and coffee.
There was quite a lot to take in but most importantly we determined the locations of various fine tat emporia as well as having a little visit to the Järnpojke, the smallest monument of Stockholm. The little boy who looks at the moon was wearing a hat and scarf, and someone had thoughtfully left him some chocolate.
I also learned about snow falling from roofs and that one should definitely look up from time-to-time. We saw this in action when some snow fell from some flashing outside the royal palace. It made quite a satisfying thwump sound.
