|
On Monday, April 17th I took an early train from Hamburg to Rostock. Rostock, like Wismar, is a Hanseatic city on the Baltic Sea. I arrived at about ten to eight in the morning, and asked a cab driver if he could get me to the port by eight. The first thing he told me was that the ride would be at least 20 minutes. Since I had no quicker options, I took my chances and let the cabbie bring me to the ferry bound for Sweden. He wasted no time and raced to the port; I was there at about ten past eight. I knew that the ferry would leave at 8:30, so I had to hurry to buy a ticket and board the ferry in time. Since most people drive their cars to Sweden (and don't travel by foot), and since it was a Monday morning with very little traffic, I was on the ferry with time to spare. The ticket was super cheap: only 20 DM for a six hour trip to Sweden! I was extremely excited about the ferry. It was by far the most massive ship I had ever boarded - over ten decks for cargo and passengers! While underway I spent a lot of time up on the deck. It was windy and cold outside in the middle of the Baltic Sea, so I was always alone on deck, which made me think I wasn't supposed to be there. No one told me otherwise though, so I was able to enjoy the sea air and the unending view of nothing but water as much as I wanted to. There weren't many people on the ferry, just a few truckers and even fewer travellers. I was hoping to find a ride on the ferry so I could continue immediately after landing in Trelleborg, Sweden. I was very very lucky as one of my few chances for a ride turned out to be very helpful. I met a very nice Swedish couple on their way home after visiting Rostock. I left the ferry with them in their car. We went from Trelleborg, on the southern tip of Sweden, to Lund, which is near Malm�. Lund is a famous university city with a lot of students, including the gorgeous daughter of the couple giving me a ride. I quickly learned that Swedes are much like Danes in that they all speak perfect English, they are all very good looking, and they are all very nice. The couple told me they were going to travel further, and that I could go with them, but that they first wanted to visit their daughter in Lund. Furthermore, I was invited to visit their daughter with them!! So in Lund I found myself having coffee and cake with a nice Swedish couple I had just met and their beautiful Swedish daughter. This was actually the second such experience of mine, in January in Denmark I was also invited in for coffee by a very attractive Danish girl on her way to visit her grandmother. So after about 45 min of happy coffee conversation, the couple and I were on our way again. Before hitting the road though they gave me a quick tour of Lund which included of course the university, where, as I found out, they had both studied (and consequently met each other). Here is a part of the university. 
We continued to a town near the city of Karlskrona, further up the coast. I got out here as they were now near their home. They had brought me more than half the way from Trelleborg to Nybro, my destination. Before leaving they gave me their number to call in case I didn't reach Nybro and a telephone card, saying I could call them if I needed help or a place to stay. Now that's hospitality! I needed about four more shorter rides to reach Nybro, and this took a long time. Unfortunately, although Scandinavians are very nice, they are also somewhat shy (or afraid?), and most of them don't even consider picking up hitch-hikers. My experiences over the next few days would teach me that hitch-hiking is certainly not the most efficient (but still the cheapest!) way to get around Scandinavia. I found myself waiting as long as an hour at some points for the next ride. At one point I walked over seven km before getting picked up again. I made the mistake of using the most direct route, which was mostly made up of small country roads with few towns or inhabitants. I had to amuse myself by talking to the cows and horses along the way, since there wasn't anything else to do. The countryside was beautiful, in fact it was very much like that of Northern Ontario. Sweden has much of the same types of trees and rocks as one would find in the Canadian Shield. A lot of Swedes have traditional rust-coloured cottages. My last ride to Nybro was a really nice Iranian couple with their small baby son. The father didn't speak English, but the mother did. They offered me food along the way. The baby kept trying to steal my hat. Finally at about 8 PM I made it to Nybro, where my friend Pontus was waiting for me. The next day, a Tuesday, Pontus and I went to Kalmar, a city on the Eastern coast of Sweden. Kalmar has played an important role in Scandinavian history, as it was a former border point between Sweden and Denmark. In Kalmar we saw the castle, which sits directly on the shore. 
The castle featured a chapel and an old women's prison where brutal medieval punishments had been carried out. Outside on the castle grounds I took one of my most favourite pictures, which has Pontus showing off his "Swedish canon". 
Here is a very Swedish looking (water?) tower in Kalmar. 
After checking out the castle and a bit of the city, I left Pontus and continued on my way, my next destination being �rebro. There I had hoped to meet my friend Johan. I quickly got a ride from Kalmar to V�stervik, further up the coast. After a longer wait I got another ride to Gamelby. Then I was more or less stuck again. I started walking, this time along a major highway, kilometre after kilometre. Finally I got another ride with a guy on his way to Stockholm. Since I knew I would eventually be in Stockholm, and since it didn't seem like I was going to make it to �rebro with my rides coming so far apart from one another, I decided to change my plans and go straight to Stockholm. I had the chance to travel the last 250 km to Stockholm without having to wait again, and I wasn't going to let it go. I used the guy's cell phone to tell Johan I wasn't going to make it to �rebro and to call Torbj�rn and Martin, both in Stockholm. Torbj�rn and Martin were both out at this point. At about 9 PM we reached Stockholm, a beautiful city which has the landscape of a town on Georgian Bay. I tried my friends again and managed to get a hold of Torbj�rn's mother, who said I could come to their place. Back to the Main Page - Zur�ck zur Hauptseite |