Trip to Sweden
(or: Back to the Future)

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Tuesday:
With the car all filled up, I placed the cats beside me in the front passenger seat. The car was very heavy to drive. Naturally, the centre of gravity was very high, and that made it a bit tricky to drive. I made the trip, though, to the cattery. When I was in the neighbourhood, I had to ask the way. I followed the instructions (I thought), but I must have passed the place some four times before I finally found it. I was met by a woman. She told me that she had 25 cats and one stray, and I can believe her.

The cattery was indoors, and it stank from cat poop! The woman told me that she was in the process of cleaning the litterboxes. Maybe she was, but she hadn't opened any windows, that's for sure. When I left the place (several hundred pounds shorter), Snoppan was out of the transporter and Lillan was still lying inside it. She wouldn't come out. I sure hope she eats properly!

I learned some ten days later that Snoppan refuses to eat and drink. She is getting IV fluid! I hope she makes it. The vet thought it might be the stress of being away from home.

The rest of the trip was fairly eventless. I reached the ferry and was shown where to go to get to my bunk. I shared accommodation with a bloke who was very talkative, but I was exhausted, so I managed to take a nap before bedtime.



This is a picture of the primitive cabin, without shower or WC.

Between the coffee cups, I did have something to eat. I can't remember what, so it must have been something British.

Wednesday:
I woke up fairly early in the morning - way before the boat had reached the mouth of the river (Elbe, I believe), leading into Hamburg. The cafe wasn't even open yet, so I couldn't even get a cup of coffee in the morning. Instead, I kept smoking until they did open.

Hamburg is, as I'm sure you know, a fairly big place. There were no problems finding the right way towards Lubeck, and, even though I had lots of time, I went straight onto the motorway. I stopped on the way to fill the car and my tummy. For the first time in a very very long time I had a Wiener Schnitzel! Shallow fried potatoes! I closed my eyes and let my taste buds enjoy the food!



This is the restaurant from the oputside. A very nice place, I thought, embedded in trees and bushes and lawns and flowers.

Travemunde (near Lubeck) is a very touristy place.



I arrived early afternoon and the ferry wasn't leaving until ten PM. I walked about for a while in Travemunde and had a good look at the place. It is a nice place.



There is a duck pond in the middle of everything, and there were ducks and swans



and some other birds.



At least I was properly on my way!



I also took a look at the local beaches. Obviously, they charged you for visiting the beach. You had to rent a beach chair, but I wasn't interested. I have a couple of pictures from there too. 'At six o'clock I had seen most things there were to see in Travemunde, so I went down to the port. I had some more coffee and, I believe, a sandwich, and sat there for four boring hours.

When they finally loaded the ferry, I was shown the way to my cabin again.



This one was very very different indeed. There was a little couch, a table, two beds, one of which was made already and the other folded up against the wall. There was a WC and a shower too. This was really good quality. Sure, it cost a helluva lot more than a shared accommodation, but at this stage I thought it worth it.

In the evening I had some nice food again - meatballs. I had no difficulties falling asleep again. Thursday:
We arrived in Trelleborg early in the morning - about 7.30.



At the breakfast table I noticed that the trip had gone very smoothly. The ship had turbine engines, and you really had to use your imagination to realise that you were on board a ship! Nothing moved! No vibrations! No rattle! Yet, we were moving forwards!

Instead of turning right in Trelleborg, I decided to follow the signs towards Stockholm. I knew that this road would be bigger and lead straight to where I wanted to go. Yes, the ride was long and boring and tiresome. Now being on Swedish soil, I called Goran at the office, but he was not available. I also called Benjamin, the accommodation agent, to check if he had found me a place. He hadn't, unfortunately. We decided that I contact him again when I approached Stockholm.

I stopped by at Gyllene Uttern,



a very nice place just outside Jonkoping for a meal.

I had promised myself that the first thing I'd eat on Swedish soil would be yet another one of those fabulous prawn sandwiches, and I kept my promise. It was gorgeous! I was very hungry at this time, so I had yet another portion of meatballs, creamy gravy, boiled potatoes and lingonberry preserve. To die for!



I arrived at Benjamin's place about an hour before he was heading for home. He showed me their list of 'objects', and I pointed out the possible alternatives, and he phoned the people up. In some cases, they were already rented, in other cases, they had decided to change the date of availability. The bottom line is that he couldn't find anything. He did connect me with a bloke who handles flats in the Sigtuna area. He was a good 2.3 metres tall (some 7"). He showed me a three room flat at a castle, Wenngarn's castle, which was very nice. Too bad I couldn't affort to rent it, though. He wanted 10,000 for it per month (some $1,000 or £700). Far too much for me! The flat was very nice, though. We agreed that if I accepted any of his other available places, he wouldn't charge me SEK 500 for the overnight stay, which he would normally have done.

Friday:
The tall bloke dragged me to Marsta, which is a suburb of Stockholm, and at a decent distance from the office. There is a detached house, previously owned by HSB, one of the really big building societies in Sweden with houses all over Sweden. The bottom floor houses a two-room flat,



a sauna,



a laundry for the tenants and some storage spaces. The top floor



(only two floors in the building) is inhabited by a fairly young family with kids. The flat is a big one, for a two room flat. There is a big bathroom with a tub,



a loo, a washing machine and lots of empty space. The kitchen



has room for a dining table and chairs. The living room has built-in wardrobes and cupboards for bed linen and stuff. The bedroom is the smallest room of them all, but it still houses two beds and a walk-in closet. There are lots of cupboards in the kitchen for pots and pans and food and chinaware and everything else you can imagine.

There is a nice space in the garden,



where you can bask in the sun, sitting in a chair at the table and having some proper coffee. Not bad at all!

You can email to:
bengt@viking-sw.co.uk