Day 85 - Saturday 27 July - Malmo

Saturday 27 July

Sweden!! We had never been to Sweden, and now we have, for a whole 6hrs.

We caught a train just after 9:00 that took us past Copenhagen airport, through tunnels and over bridges, and we were in Malmo (Sweden's 3rd largest city) about 9:50. We couldn't find a tourist info office for a map, and the money changers were not yet open.  so we just headed off.  By the time we walked to Sankt Petri kyrka, built in C14, it was 10:00 opening time. As with most churches around here, it suffered in the reformation, and the only frescoes remaining are in St George's chapel, known as the chapel of the cloth traders, whose coat of arms is still there.  But there were some good features still there, and some new things too.

 

The lovely pulpit still there

 A visual interpretation of the 'Transfiguration"

 The only fresco left after the reformation

 One of the better burial stones - let this be a warning to you all.

A panel on the font, which I took as being the 'Presentation at the Temple"

From there we walked through the city square, (Stortorget) and into the smaller square (Lilla Torg) which has some nice old buildings from C16. 

 The city hall

 A long way from home

Into Lilla Torg

 Above the double door at the end it said  "altered 1846 - the building was named for the first time in 1580 - rebuilt 1910.

 (While there, we witnessed what may have been a bag snatch.  A woman yelled, and A guy pushed B guy off the bike he was riding. The woman took away the shopping bag B had, and A stayed with B who was complaining of a bashed head, so was made to sit against a wall.  And we went on our way.)  

We went through the Kings Park (where there was a bunch of guys, one dressed like Robin Hood, and the others had bags and props such as a Winnie tP, a blow up guitar, a viking helmet etc - maybe a group having a bucks' day) to the Malmo Castle which was unimpressive from outside, not looking like a castle at all.  Along the footpath there were noticeboards with pictures about a crazy gymnastics inventor from the early 1900s, and the whole place was so weird we were glad that we didn't have any SEKs to get us in.
 

 A strange sculpture, including pigs, a goose on the top and various deers, on top and half-buried.

 The castle, with its round bastions

 We left the park and passed the local RC church, just in case there was anywhere to shop (no), then went back to town to an ATM, (1 x 500SEK note) and bought lunch at a supermarket and ate on a street bench. We were not far from the city's mini version of our 'Mill Markets', so we had a quick look through there and found one large expensive and not special nativity.  I had read that there was another flea market and asked the lady.  She wasn't much help, so we walked for about 30mins to Folkets Park, a family oriented park with playgrounds, paddle pools, and today an African festival happening with a few market stalls, and lots of people. We sat for a while and watched, then at the bus stop asked about buying a ticket, but it was too hard, so we walked back to the station.

 The entrance to Folkets Park.

 Boating on the river

A marching band leaving Stortorget

European trains are usually held in high regard by Aussies, but we have oftern found them less than ordinary. For the last 3 days people are being bussed from C'hagen towards Hamburg, as we were to Lux'bourg, and luckily not from Hamburg. Trains can be quite short, 3-4 carriages, then people are squeezed on for long journeys. There is never enough room for luggage, and big cases have to be lifted to overhead racks, or stacked in the aisles. Tuesday's trip across Poland will be our last Eurail 1st class ride, so we hope we can go out in style.