I was quite sad that I didn’t have an opportunity to look around Norrköping today.
After the excitement at my accommodation last night I thought I’d get up early and do things, but when it came to waking up this morning at a time that would’ve been conducive to getting up early and doing things, I found I was suffering from temporary super-comfy-toasty-warm-bed paralysis. I’ve seen trams before.
When I did finally drag myself out of bed, I gorged on the free breakfast included in the price of my booking which while free was not particularly whelming, over or otherwise. Still, free breakfasts are not to be sniffed at and a big bowl of muesli, some Wasas with cheese and a few cups of (probably) coffee helped me start the day so when the time came to walk the fifty metres or so from my hotel room to the train, I was ready.
The first train of the day took me to Linköping on a shiny new and particularly comfortable regional Mälartågs train. These are double-decker trains with comfy seats, power sockets, reading lights and the like, and I can’t help thinking that they’d already look like shit in France or the UK with half the reading lights already knackered and spray-paint all over the windows. I only had one stop until Linköping where I had time to look around the station and catch my next train.
As if to spite me, a tilty-train to Malmö pulled in, late enough that I could have made the connection. I quickly found the train manager and asked in my most smiley obsequious fatigued traveller way whether anyone had failed to fill a seat in first which I might be able to take, but her one-word answer made it clear I was going to have to wait for the 10:20 to Kalmar instead. This turned up on the dot and was an IC3 service like the one that was so exciting between Struer and Copenhagen, or not exciting at all if you’re normal. I had only managed to get a reservation for second on this, but the train manager told me I could sit in the first seat available on the right or on the left side of first, perhaps indicating one or two seats are kept open for late-comers. In the end, it wasn’t even full so it was lovely and peaceful.
Lovely train lady gave me free coffee which I consumed slowly as we rocked gently back and forth along the single-track line, through snowy woodland and past thawing lakes, accompanied by the driver’s forthright tootling at wildlife, until we arrived in Kalmar at 13:38. I had not made any plans regarding tourism in Kalmar as the stop was supposed to provide lunch opportunities, but on arrival there’s a castle clearly visible from the train and I hastily abandoned any hopes of nutrition and decided that there would be tourism today after all.
The first defensive tower was built on the site where Kalmar Castle now stands in 1180 with the goal of protecting the bustling trading hub from attacks by pirates and other enemies. Progressively, the fortress was enlarged and extra towers and a surrounding wall were added and because the border between Denmark and Sweden was closer then, the site played an important defensive roll. When eventually the border moved to its current position after the Kalmar war, the castle played less of a pivotal role in defense and became a grain store and distillery.
The castle grounds are free to walk around but things like the kitchens, chapel and Golden Hall are off-limits unless you’ve bought a ticket. I didn’t have time for things like that and even if I had, the queue in the shop was moving so slowly I’d have failed in a visit anyway. Instead, I took an invigorating walk around the easily accessible bits until I could take no more, then found my way back to the railway station.
Kalmar’s central station was built in 1874 and is a säckstation, the terminus for trains coming from from Copenhagen, Gothenburg (oooh) and a few other places with the letter ö in them. It has a Chinese restaurant, a waiting room, a newsagent, and… chandeliers! I didn’t look for left luggage facilities but I’m starting to think that everywhere in Europe except France has them by default. It’s possible to walk over the tracks and investigate trains just idly sitting about on the platforms; there was another of those big sinister black SJ things looking menacing but I’d been so long doing castly things I didn’t have much time.
I should have had lunch, in retrospect, because the Öresundståg was devoid of anything snacky and the girl in the seat across the aisle had divine-smelling snacks that she ate somewhat provocatively and with malice, I thought. At some point along the way were were so early that our train had to stay in a station for ten minutes, which didn’t give enough time to nip to the shop (according to the guard) but would’ve given me time to nip into the Bistro on the tilty train on the adjacent platform (also according to the guard), but I wasn’t brave enough.
While we were waiting, a woman came into first and wet herself, although we didn’t know this until train people came to cover the seat with stuff to stop people sitting there. They seemed unimpressed at my observation that the leather seats in first were less absorbant than those in second and therefore easier to clean, or that if you’re going to wet yourself on a train, doing it in first without a valid ticket is the ultimate flex. At least she did it quietly.
In Malmö I could’ve shopped for snacks, but a connecting train to Trelleborg was due on the next platform at any moment, so I just got on it for the sake of getting there on time. My sailing was at 22:00 and I needed to have checked in before 21:00, so that left a couple of hours to poke about Trelleborg looking for things to do. There wasn’t much at 7pm on a Good Friday evening save for a funfair next to a tower I’d spied, thinking it was a church, so I looked at that for a bit and then found a falafelly triumph by chance. It was a strong contender, definitely better than last night’s and possibly better than Gothenburg. Delicious health for only 4€.
I booked a sleeping pod for the crossing to Rostock and was glad I had, as it came with a free locker in which I could store my bag. The pods themselves didn’t lock, which I thought was a bit poor, but the room which houses them does by means of a keycard which also opens the locker, so this wasn’t such a bad thing. After a swift half or two in the restaurant, I retired to bed.
