Linkoping, Sweden

Sarah B going all native on us in Linköping, Sweden. 

Last weekend, Dorthe and I went to Linköping to visit Sarah Baird. For those of you who don't know her, Sarah is an old friend from New Zealand, and has been in Linköping for the last six months doing some postdoctoral research at the hospital there. Where is Linköping? Well, its a small, sleepy town of about 100,000 or so about 150km southwest of Stockholm, and is renouned for the large SAAB aircraft factory that lies on its outskirts.

Dorthe and I took the train to get up there. Swedish railways have this fairly new train called the X2000 that runs the route between Copenhagen and Stockholm, and I have to say, I was very impressed with it. One of the unique features of this train is that it tilts slightly as it goes around corners: maybe 10 degrees or so, enough so that you certaintly notice it anyway. This rather cool feature allows it to run on conventional railway tracks, without the need for the purpose built high speed tracks that the TGV, Eurostar and Shinkansen use, while achieving substantial speeds: in this case 200 kph. The 420 km trip from Malmö (the swedish town just across the water from Copenhagen, which is the main access point for the danes to sweden, and where you catch the train) to Linköping took less than three hours total. Talk about fast! The alternative was at least 6 hours in a bus. We took the train!

Being students, Dorthe and I went for the cheapest ticket that we could possibly find - this had us leaving Copenhagen at 5:20am on Saturday morning, meaning a 4am start to the day. Oh well, it wasn't so bad, and we got some more sleep on the train. It was kind of funny though heading to the bus stop at 4:45am and meeting everyone you know coming home from a big night out on the town. They certaintly know how to go big here in Denmark!

Interior of Linköping Domkyrka (cathedral). 

The trip up to Linköping was fairly uneventual, and it has to be said, exceedingly smooth considering that you're doing 200 kph! Most of Saturday we just spent with Sarah looking around Linköping. It seems like a nice little town, if a little remote from the big city. It has a lot of old nice buildings, and the centre of the town is a rather picturesque set of squares linked by cobbled pedestrian walkways. We also went for a wander through the park (they have ROCKS! I'd forgotten what rocks look like after being in Denmark for a couple of months!) and had a look at the Linköping Domkyrka (cathedral), which was particularly nice inside.

Wandering around town with two girls though did kind of lead to the suggestion "oh, why don't we go into this shop" which then lead to a clothes shopping expedition. I have this sneaking suspicion though that the two of them had planned this, because I was the one who ended up buying all the clothes, not them.... Apparently, they seem to think that there is something wrong with stretched, smelly old t-shirts. Can't think what myself....

That night we went out on the town in Linköping, which consisted of a few quiet beers at a number of fine establishments. Swedish beer can't compete with Carlsberg though, it has to be said. I also learnt to distinguish between Danish and Swedish on this trip too - the words are somewhat similar, but there is quite a distinct difference in the intonation and pitch: Swedish is much higher pitched, and is very musical - I can see where the inspiration for the the Swedish chef comes from now.

Sarah and Dorthe in the grounds of Vadstena monastery, Sancta Birgitta kyrka. 

On sunday we made a trip to the town of Vadstena, about an hour west of Linköping. Vadstena is a medieval town that has retained a lot of its old character. Imagine lots of beautiful old houses lining cobbled streets, with swedish flags here and there, and creeping roses and vines covering the houses. Being autumn, everything was covered in fallen yellow and golden leaves, especially along the shore of the large Vättern lake. Just the village itself was beautiful, and well worth the trip alone. The main features of Vadstena though are the beautiful old monastery, founded in 1430, and the accompanying castle, built in 1545. The monastry was remarkably simple, but attractive at the same time. The grounds were really nice too, with lots of old graves covered with fallen leaves and surrounded by low stone walls. But the eight year old inside of me really liked the castle the most - its exactly what you you think of when you imagine a medieval european castle, resplendent with moat, drawbridge, and high ramparts: I wouldn't be too keen on leading on assault on that one, thank you very much!

The medieval castle in Vadstena, Vadstena Slottet. 

We spent the day wandering around the town, which was pretty quiet on a cold, windy autumn sunday, and finally once the sun went down, setup camp in a Konditorei (cake shop) with bottomless coffee to wait for our bus. And then it was back to Linköping, and then onto the train and back to Copenhagen, where I could finally understand (sort of) what they were talking about again!

It has to be said that trips like this are one of my favourite things about Europe: you can get on a train on friday night or saturday morning and head away to another country for the weekend. We both had a great time in Linköping, and it was cool to see Sarah again (I'm still trying to convince her to come down to visit Copenhagen). Then you get back on the train and you can be back home in time for work on Monday. Kind of cool, isn't it?

Sarah's loft apartment in Linköping.