So, before I came to Sweden I told Per all I wanted was an escape from the Netherlands and to see a freaking castle. My wish was granted! We took the bus from Lund to Malmo. it was a nice trip. Only took about half an hour. It went through the country side and through the industrial part of the cities. Malmo was differnt than what I expected. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it reminded me of something similar to a Chinatown, but with different ethnicities. It's very diverse population makes it for a very good place to grab a bit to eat! So many options! I loved it there.We walked around, I got to admire Swedish architecture, and green parks, had a yummy lunch, and found a castle! Malmo Castle! The only thing I truly, truly, wanted to see in this trip. haha. It wasn’t that impressive, but I was satisfied. It was built in 1530’s and was the place where Mary Queen of Scot’s third husband was imprisoned. (the more you know…)

After walking around what seemed forever we met up with his friends. We hung out at their place and pre partied. They told me this was very much a Swedish thing and I thought…it’s very much an everybody thing! And was whisked back to memories of chugging “tall boys” of beer with my friends before the bar. *Ahh, memories* We went to Debaser, a club in Malmo, to see Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. A band I semi like and wanted to see. I appreciate that Per went with me even though he hates them. He even danced along! The show was meh, but the after party was so much fun. Spent the night dancing away to indie hits. By the way, Sweden as a whole is hipster land. Everyone there is a hipster…or at least dresses like one.

At the end of the night we took the bus back to Lund. On the bus I befriended some Swedes and gave them my fries. Per bought me fries for the trip home, but I guess my eyes were bigger than my appetite because I only ate about 1/4 of them. They were more than appreciative and I felt I did some good in the world. haha

Sun A beautiful morning! Next several days look perfect too! Judge swears one train last night 2am was coming thru our window and about jolted up out of his sleep in bed; what a strange place indeed to build bedrooms, immediately adjacent to a busy rail line. Fortunately this is not a freight line or it would be noisier even.
Breakfast buffet was rather wonderful and sandwiches were made! Put bags in storage locker, and got a train right into CPH central station. Getting tomorrow's seat reservation on the Swedish X2000 train Malmo to Stockholm, the agent told me my Visa credit card needed a PIN! I've never been asked that before anywhere in the world. But he needs one. Of course nobody I know has a PIN for a credit card! I try my debit card, but it doesn't like that one at all! Dang. Reason given is "security in the station area".? Judge tries his AMEX and it takes it thank heavens! I name this city CoPINhagen! Goofy! Later, even his Amex needs a PIN. Nutsy. How many thousands of tourists have been inconvenienced by this?!
I change 20 Swiss francs to Danish Krone and we are off walking...past Tivoli Gardens about to open and folks lining up, and thru the ped walkways seeing beer drinkers on this perfect Sunday morning. Remembering the time Don and I in '86 past the Rosenthal studio here and met Bjorn Windblad. Anyway, we wander on down past squares and large buildings and 7-11s and underground toilets to the boat ride area and get tickets for the 11:30 ride. Neet! Just before leaving, I watch and alert Judge to what's happening up top of the wall. A young man sold some cocaine? to older man who had his nose to the ground sniffing, then hands the guy cash, and he puts it in a purse, right out in the open! Then the same guy leans down and does a snort himself!
Many low bridges to remain seated for. We see the old naval yard now condos, the alternative living area of Christiana, then a man in bathing suit who yells at us, drops his pants, and poses, then jumps into the water to swim! Of course we saw the little mermaid, commissioned by the Carlsberg beer folks, surrounded by Asian tourists that are about to fall on the seaweed and rocks. The poor mermaid has been decapitated twice, dressed as a muslim with scarf, and may soon be relocated a bit farther out in the water. We saw no guards there and had complete access to her. Nice remembering being here with my parents. Mother and her mother adored the mermaid.
Returning to the wharf, the drug seller suddenly starts hitting and punching the older man, who stumbles to the ground, soon after that, they are calm again. Then, a little further down, this guy we saw passed out leaning over a wall, had his pants down we think pulled down by his buddies who have put a can of beer on top of his back and even stuck a cigarette in his butt-crack, and told us, "Come closer, he is more famous than the little mermaid!" We take pictures. What a place. Seems more like Amsterdam. Amazed at the amount of beer drinking Sunday morning and daytime. I wonder what the folks at the adjacent outdoor cafe' were thinking.
Afterwards we walk north, passing fountains, the 4rth largest church in northern Europe, with a huge dome, and a shady spot where we sat and ate our sandwiches. I took pictures for a couple from Barcelona. It is a nice temperature for sure, felt great out on the boat, but that sun is bright and direct! We end up walking easily all the way back to our hotel, retrieve our luggage, and catch another electric self-propelled train over the new bridge to Malmo, Sweden. No indication of another country nor immigration or customs whatsoever. Between the 2 of us, we easily navigate to our Clarion Collection hotel, on Englebrekstagan 16. The bad news is, there is only one large bed available for us, and although their site says guest laundry available, there is none. The good news is that they have a full breakfast, free internet, and perhaps the best part, a dinner buffet 6-9pm. Yeehah! Again, it is a warm room, and no thermostadt, but windows are open and we are cooling off. The city is rather dead, but we are happy at the level of activity we have had today I think.
The dinner buffet was Awesome! The cold fish in sauce with dill, meatpasta curls, the best apple juice, wow! We try to walk it off outside in the bright sun 7pm...walk all over this park, geese, coots, ducks with lots of ducklings, botanical garden area, lots of water, and the biggest wood pigeons cooing too. J got some good pictures of old buildings and horse monument of the founder of Malmo at some of the squares, almost wrote piazzas. We top it off with a Solero popsicle and come back. The living room area is "inspired by the African Savannah". We are laughing as both of us are passing some nasty gas. J thinks it was from the eggs we had. We see a neon sign that has some lights out, but the SKA part is lit!
We have gone from using Swiss Francs to Danish Krone to Swedish Krones in 24 hours. Euros are next.

Copenhagen Denmark to Malmo Sweden: 6/1/08

            Last night was just like sleeping in a train yard. Oh wait I basically did sleep in a train yard! Around 02:00 I was woken by a train thundering down the track just feet away from the window. I just about jumped out of my bed; I had no idea where I was at first and what was going on. My first thoughts were I was either in an earthquake or the Luftwaffe was bombing the city. I then realized that it was a train and that I was not in any immediate danger unless one of the train cars comes rolling through the wall.

Again around 07:00 I was woken by another train, this time it was not on the tracks closest to the window.

            Today was spent touring Copenhagen ; we went out on a canal boat tour that took us down the canals and out into the harbor. While sitting in the boat waiting for the tour to start Dave notices two guys doing something weird up on the dock. One of them hands the other money then he leans over and snorts something off the dock right in front of everyone. I could not believe I was seeing someone doing coke out in the open like this! An hour later when we pulled back into dock these two guys were fighting!

The boat tour also goes through a part of town known as Christiania ; it is basically a hippie commune.

” Christiania, also known as Freetown Christiania (Danish: Fristaden Christiania, Faroese: Frístaðurin Christiania) is a partially self-governing neighborhood of about 850 residents, covering 34 hectares ( 85 acres ) in the borough of Christianshavn in the Danish capital Copenhagen. Christiania has established semi-legal status as an independent community, but has been a source of controversy since its creation in a squatted military area in 1971. Its open cannabis trade was tolerated by authorities until 2004. Since then, measures for normalizing the legal status of the community have led to conflicts, and negotiations are ongoing.”

            After the tour we watched the two guys fight over something drug related then walked a little further only to find three guys sitting on the ledge of the canal, one of them passed out leaning over the canal. His “friends” decided to have some fun with him and pulled his shorts down, stuck a cigarette in his butt cheeks, and a beer on top of his butt. This all taking place right in front of all the nice cafes along the canal; they were even telling people to take pictures of their buddy. “It’s ok, take a picture, he is more famous than the Little Mermaid!” Speaking of the Little Mermaid; we then headed back down to see the famous statue. When we went by it on the boat tour there was a bus load of Japanese tourists taking pictures and trying to crawl over the rocks to get closer to the statue. I had my camera ready to take a picture of one of them slipping on a wet rock and falling into the water.

“A statue of The Little Mermaid sits on a rock in the Copenhagen harbor at Langelinie. This small and unimposing statue is a Copenhagen icon and a major tourist attraction.”

After taking a few pictures of the statue we walked back to the hotel to collect our bags and head off to Malmo Sweden .

            Funny thing happened while we were in Copenhagen , which Dave and I now refer to as Co”PIN” hagen . They must have the worst case of credit fraud or every credit card thief in the world calls this place home. When you try to use any CREDIT CARD you also have to type in a PIN code. Now this is alright if you are using a debit card but a standard Visa or American Express has NO BLOODY PIN!!! The cashiers look at you as if this is the FIRST time they have every encountered this problem. I ended up using my AMEX card a few times with no problems, but the third time would not be the charm. Leaving this place behind with all their PINS was very nice. We crossed the new bridge over into Sweden and are now in Malmo Sweden .

Tomorrow we are off to Stockholm Sweden .

We flew into Copehagen and got the short train over the bridge to Malmo. Once we arrived at the station we were feeling a bit lazy and decided to get a taxi. We knew price of the taxi (like everywhere else in the world) wasn't going to be cheap and there were other ways of getting to the hotel, like walking but we went for the taxi option anyway. 6mins later we had paid 200Kr ! After unpacking and looking at maps to plan where we were going to go we headed out of the hotel to explore Malmo as we only going to have one day here. So we decided to head toward the Turing Torso. We then headed into the harbor area and sat by the sea over looking the bridge that connects Sweden to Demark and watched fishing boats and yachts sailing.  We headed  back into town and walked downt he cobbled backstreets and headed into  one of the sqaures call ed Lilla torg and  headed to one of the many bars/cafés on offer, it was 4pm and people were heading into bars and cafés to get there night started.  After an hour headed back to the hotel  and asked reception if they had any recommendations of places to eat and  any bars to visit later on.  They suggested this restaurant which one we go there was already full. So we tried another just around the corner which served good food and had a good atmosphere. We then headed to the bar that they had suggested called  Debaser located in Norra Parkgatan which is out of the normal tourist  track.  What a find this bar may not suit all tastes but it had one of the strangest but best astmospheres ever.  The music they played would possibly be discribed as alternative, which isn't normally my thing, however it seemed to work here and go down well with a few drinks. The locals where dancing  and having a good time  which you would normally expect from a Friday or Saturday night but it was Wednesday !! As the night got later (1:30am) the bar was still filling up and people joining the  party it was great i finally left at around 2:30  just before it closed happy that i had been told about this bar.

    We flew into Copehagen and got the short train over the bridge to Malmo. Once we arrived at the station we were feeling a bit lazy and decided to get a taxi. We knew price of the taxi (like everywhere else in the world) wasn't going to be cheap and there were other ways of getting to the hotel, like walking but we went for the taxi option anyway. 6mins later we had paid 200Kr !

Sorry to say this but SAS flight SK 972 has landed in Copenhagen Airport and I've taken the short car ride from Copenhagen to my home in Malmö. Right now I feel that I'm in the wrong place. I've had the best trip ever...and I've experienced so much and so many incredible things, met A LOT of people and sealed the love that was found on my last trip.

But going home was not without regrets....last night while walking to the gate I passed the gate for the Cebu Pacific flight from Bangkok to Manila....and I kept thinking while siting in the gate that I was about to board the wrong plane, because I should be with the one that I love..but hopefully he will get his visa soon and we'll be together again!

Tomorrow is travelday..... at 10:50 pm my plane will leave Copenhagen Airport bound for Bangkok. So far my south east asian adventures has included Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and a 45 min. stop over in Hong Kong - but never before Thailand, so I'm acctually quite excited. Lot's to do though before I'm ready to go. The last laundry is boiling as we speak, I have to do some house cleaing, stop by Forex, the bank and the Pharmacy...and then later tonight I have a final business meeting to wrap everything up before I'm off the the wild unknown.

Belive me I have a feeling of butterflies and excitement in my stomach now - and acctually - right now I just want to be on my way....

Ai-Wa is a small chineese restaurant in the north of Malmö. The restaurant offers good chineese food from a selection of 60 disches on the menu. They sell both inhouse and for take away. The disches are autentic chineese like the chineese do it. A good example is the fried rice which is served with eggs - most chineese restaurants in Europe serves fried rice without eggs - inspite of eggs playng an important part of the autentich disch. The decor however reminds you a bit about a mixture between a chineese restaurant and an english pub. That I'm afraid takes down my rateing of the place. Service is slightly below average, but friendly and polite. In summary: If the food is the onley thing you care about - then go here for your chineese foods in Malmö, preferably as take away since the ambience in your hotel room is probably better then in the restaurant, but if you are looking for an experience expanding the food part - do something else.

I've never been the big Sushi fan. But Sakura is a must for every visitor in Malmö. It's a family owned restaurant with Japanese and Chinese specialities and a good selection of Sushi's. I tried one of their Sushi boxes with four diffrent dishes, and from the first bite I suddently started a love afair with Sushi. The fish and shrimps are fresh and deliciusly cut and presented and you can allmost feel the meat melting on your tongue. The service is perfect. You allways get perfectly polite service and good advice as to which dish or box you should choose, based on your idea for the day/night. Don't miss Sakura for anything while you are in Malmö!

Malmö Musseum is located at the Malmöhus castle in a green environment in the centre of the city. The musseum has changeing exhibits on history, culture and art - not onley with a local focus but often also with international exhibits and artists. I've been there several times and the musseum often offers good value for money.

It's off to Sweden today!  We bought tickets for an 8 hour tour today -- but to Elsinor (the Castle where Shakespeare staged Hamlet); a ferry to Lund, Sweden; a bus back to Malmo and then the train across the Baltic to return us to Copenhagen.  We walked down to the Palace Hotel near Tivoli Gardens and waited for our 9:45 bus.  The bus never came though, as there had been a mix up when they sold us the tickets.  This particular tour only goes on Saturday and it was Thursday.  Further, this time of year, this tour is only on Saturdays and we'll be gone by then.  Ugh!

Scott and I headed for a coffee shop to warm up and come up with a Plan B (Paul stayed behind today to do some work).  We studied our maps and the train schedules and figured out we could still go see a tiny piece of Sweden by catching a train to Malmo across the Oresund Bridge.  A round trip ticket cost us $28USD.  So, off to Sweden we went!

The train went by the Copenhagen Airport (Kastrup) and then across the Oresund Bridge.  The bridge is 16km long and is the longest bridge in Europe that is an international crossing.  It was a quick crossing, about 30 minutes.  Since we are still in the EU, there was no passport control, and no stamp.  We did have to switch Danish Kronors for Swedish Kronors.  Both Denmark and Sweden kept their own currencies despite joining the EU, a la Britain. 

We walked up into the town center from the train station and took a few pictures at the Main Square.  Found a nice spot for lunch called "Chili's" (not the American chain restaurant), and we had a burger with chiles, bacon and cheese and a good Swedish beer (Spendrup).  It tasted great after the long morning in the cold.   Scottie was freezing and under-dressed, so we had to stop and find him a sweater at a local men's store.

I managed to find a Swedish shot glass for my collection and a couple of postcards and we decided to head back to Denmark.  It was a quick trip for lunch, but still a fun thing to do since we were so close!  On our train trip back we were in a car with two couples from Washington, DC and New York.  One of the wives was a non-stop talker!  Lots of questions and chatter.  Scottie tuned her out, so she focused on me and I couldn't get her to stop!

We got back to our hotel around 4pm and got caught up with Paul  We went down to the hotel bar for a drink and ended up having a great conversation with the bartender there.  She's recent immigrant to Denmark from Romania (Transylvania actually).  She had a lot of interesting stories about living behind the iron curtain, the former communist regime in Romania and the life after the fall of the iron curtain.  I really enjoyed talking with her.

Dinner tonight was at an Italian restaurant called La Rocca.  We had a fun waiter named Marco.  We did the four course tasing menu, paired with wines.  I had a nice salad, proscuitto with melon, then a superb steak.  Dessert was a tiramisu.  Very nice! 

damn it, i was really stoned last night, i was so quiet in a bar with vanessa and friends and suddenly i laugh like a hyena without any reason, hahahaha, twas reallt late when we got home about 2 am and i have a meeting with micki (profilename: krillea) at 10 am i nthe morning, when i got home from the bar, i couldnt sleep, because its always like that, i kept tossing and turning, finally i think about 4 am my eyes surrendered.

i already bought a ticket to malmö from cph yesterday, was really weird in cph, you have to pull a number for you to be able to be acoomodated by any services. it costed 87 dk (about, cant remember)

so anyway, im just walking from vanessa's house to the central station, it takes 20-25 mins. depending, coz i wanna save money.

at the central station, i looked at the departure screen and saw that on platform 4 the train departs to malmö, so i was sitting there waiting fir a train, then suddenly all the people are transfering, i dont know, but at the last minute, i heard "malmö" being said on the speaker and something about platform 5, darm, i had to hurry my ass to get there and about in time because the door closed when i entered, apprently the train platforms were swtiched. grrrr, i hate this, if they dont translate it in english if your in another country, i was like, no idea.

i was so excited inside, i sat beside the window to be able to see the magnificent view of the oresund bridge (the longest bridge in europe) and i was not dissapointed, eventhough i am soooooo sleepy i had "eyes wide shut"episode :D i was out of breath! and it took 10-15 mins to cross the whole bridge! :D

i had goosebumps when i arrived in swedish land.. i dont know.. the land is so ancient.. and full of unknown myths and legends.

so micki was waiting for me in front of the train platform :D was so nice and he greeted me first with a smile :D he promised to drive me over the coastal side of skåneand was very excited :D

i slept in micki's house and stayed for one night, and he promised me to show his city - malmo. i was so tired from the long train ride without enough sleep, and the day i arrived and in the evening - vanessa, kim and friends and me went to a bar and went home at 3 am, so i fell asleep so deep and fast.

when i woke up, he was already preparing breakfast for us - bacon, eggs, carrot juice, and bread :) he was so nice! :)

yesterday when we were driving back to malmo from kaseberga, i was so quiet, i was just watching the landscape from the car window and only beautiful, is the only word i can say.

we walked from his house to his neigborhood in malmo, which is very colorful, because it has the highest concentration of foreigners in the city. nearby his house is a construction of a new subway system direct from the oresund bridge, so that it gives a direct connection to the city without turning a big bow in the south of malmö. we walked until the city center were there are lots of plazas - big and small are located and a winding canal that divides the city.

and from the cit center, we went to a beautiful park where there is an old windmill standing and the unconventional structure called the "turning torso" designed by santiago calatrava can be seen.

after that we went to the small harbor, and the long stretch of beach in malmö where people can go swimming or just lie around in summer.  from there a magnificent view of the oresund bridge and oresund straight connecting the baltic sea and copenhagen from the distant....... from where i was standing, it was again the october sky above me, gray clouds and the blue sky..... everything turned enigmatic.... sweden is a very beautiful country and i have been only in the south part of it.

as i rode the train back to copenhagen, i positioned myself in the window seat to be able to get a sunset and last glimpse of the oresund straight and i was not dissapointed... beautiful beautiful beautiful everything seems always new to me...

and i am brave enough to say that i had spent the best two days of my life in sweden.

NOT RECOMMANDED!!! - Basis Budget Class Accommodation but it is a long way from the City Centre. Staff services not realy good thou. Basically, not bad if you check-in without any expectations. Would be one of the choices, but still not recommanded. A 3 star hotel with a not really economy price. General Info: Ibis Hotel Malmö is located 40 km from Copenhagen and 30 km from the airport. Situated close to city centre, 4 km (2,5 miles) from the Central Station. All rooms has a light and clean atmosphere with shower, wc, telephone, cabel TV and a large desk. There are one double bed (160cm) + a couch (80cm). Remarks: Bicycles for rent (check at the reception). Bus stop is located just outside the hotel. Taxi round trip to the city costs less than 70 kr. Facilities: - 24 Hours check-in - Restaurant & Bar (Breakfast served fr 4:00am till noon) - Conference Room - Gym & Sauna - Hotel Parking - Pets Allowed

Hard to imagine how Malmö looks like? Well, here we go. Malmö is called the City of Parks with its 275 000 inhabitants Sweden's third largest city. (u can't see any pics of Parks in my album thou. hhee...) u know what amazed me most? "TWO NATION VACATION" Visiting Malmö has never been easier. With the Öresund Bridge, it takes only 35 minutes by train from Malmö city centre to the city centre of Copenhagen. Why not take a “Two nation vacation” and visit both Denmark and Sweden?? Long story short, not mention the general sightseeing spots like Turning Torso, West Harbour, plenty of Old Buildings and of course Parks. My friends took me a adventurous tour to Southwest Skåne. Malmö is the capital of southwest Skåne. The land is flat, open and largely developed. Southwest Skåne lies as far south as you can get in Sweden. Southwest Skåne lies as far south as you can get in Sweden. The fishing harbor of Barsebäck, Skanör's rich bird life, the vast white sandy beaches of Skanör and Falsterbo: All these things make up the exciting area known as Southwestern Skåne. Love it makes me feeling peaceful & silent. Last but not the least, Malmö has a reputation as Sweden's City of Art. More than 30 art galleries, various theatres and different museums all you can find in here. Talking about art in Malmö, it ususlly make you thinking about one's history. Here it tells all from the ancient buildings all around. There are also a number of Free churches in Malmö. Whether or not you're a follower of the Muslim, Catholic or Jewish faith, or maybe just curious, you'll feel welcome in Malmö! Here you will find churches, mosques and synagogues, side by side. Being a Catholic, I love to see different churches everywhere over the world. One by one, each one has its own story behind. The more you discovered, the more you impressed. See if you would feel in the same way as me??