the windmill, which I believe was used to grind flour once upon a time
sneaky tree gnome
Our train arrived in Malmo at 5pm, and we decided to walk with all our bags to our hostel, Rut and Ragners. We had taken a screenshot of the google maps directions to the hostel and were ready to go. On leaving the train station, however, we found that we were quite turned around, and stopped in a convenience store to ask directions. "Are you planning to walk?" the woman behind the desk asked us, a look of mild concern on her face. "Well, we were planning to, yes..." we said, now a little unsure of our plans. "If you don't know Malmo, I would suggest that you take the bus. The station is just over there," she said, pointing to the left. "Great, thank you," we said, and left the store. We stood on the sidewalk, looking at the bus station, then looked at each other, shrugged, and, stupidly, decided that we might as well walk anyway. It was sunny, we had just been sitting on the train for a while, and it was only supposed to be a thirty minute walk. So, confident and full of hope, we set off.
An hour and a half later, we were standing forlornly on the edge of a park, squinting at a map. We must have looked seriously desperate, because a man walked up to us and kindly asked us where we were trying to go. When we told him the street name, he brightened. "Oh, you are very close. Just go down this road and turn left at the edge of the park, and you will be there." So, we set off once again, this time in the right direction, and, finally, exhausted, arrived at our hostel. We didn't have the energy to do much that first night in Malmo, so we walked to the pizza place next to our hostel and, after a nice dinner there, went to bed.
me among the tulips
The second day in Malmo, we had a lie in and a late breakfast, then went out to explore the city. We quickly discovered where we had taken a wrong turn the day before. We walked to a nice street full of shops, looking in some of the little stores and window shopped for a while, and then continued on to Kungsparken, a large park located in the center of Malmo. It is crossed by many rivers and bridges, and we strolled over the bridges, admired a windmill, and looked at a display of tulips; there was a tulip exposition boasting over 120 different types of tulips. I went a little overboard taking photos of the flowers, so will upload them in a separate photography post.
Unfortunately, it had been grey and raining all day, and as we admired the tulips the rain picked up. We walked quickly back to the street lined with shops and took shelter in a cafe (ironically, we stepped in just as the rain stopped). I got a hot chocolate, and when offered whipped cream I asked for just a little bit, so they gave me my own little cup of whipped cream and a pitcher of hot chocolate so that I could add as much as I wanted. So nice. I also got a little tart, which was delicious.
The third and final day in Malmo, we had an early train trip to Gothenburg, where we continued our speed tour through Sweden. The train passed through beautiful countryside, full of color: green grass, blue skies, bright yellow waves flowers, whispy white clouds, and old red barns.
view out the train window
Departing thoughts on Malmo:
One of the things which really stood out to me about Malmo is that it is full of flowers. During our trek from the train station to the hostel, I noticed that every so often we would get a whiff of flowers, a soft and delicate scent which one does not often (or really ever, in my experience at least) associate with cities.
a Malmo scene