When I was a kid (or a 16-year-old), we took a family vacation to Amsterdam. Over the course of a week, we drove to Hamburg, and then to Copenhagen. Back then, if you wanted to travel to Sweden, you had to do so on a hydrofoil. It was a "fast" boat that traveled between Copenhagen and Malmö. My dad, always one for seeing as many countries as he could see, decided we should do this. So back in 1993, we took this crazy boat across the channel to Sweden for one afternoon and had lunch and walked around the old town area of Malmö. I still remember that I had a grilled ham and cheese sandwich because that was as adventurous as I would get, food wise, back then.
(Photo: Nick-D [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)])
Now, there's a bridge that connects the two cities. It's really an engineering marvel. The Øresund Bridge was built between 1995 and 1999 (so... construction started only two years after I was there!) and is the longest combined road and rail bridge in all of Europe. (Superlative, check!) So many things about the bridge are just so mind blowing... from the 4km underwater tunnel that they built, to the artificial island that they plopped down in the middle of the channel, to the fact that they finished three months ahead of schedule DESPITE so many headaches - such as finding 16 unexploded WWII bombs on the seabed floor. They also had to rectify the fact that the Danish and Swedish railway systems use different signaling and electrical systems! The total cost of the bridge was 2.6 billion Euro, but it was expected that tolls would, in time, pay for the entire cost of construction. The cost to cross is high, however... but at 62 Euros for a standard car going one way (I just threw up in my mouth a little), it's expected to pay for itself in 30 years. Locals can get a discount pass.
If you take the train over to Sweden, you will need your passports, or at least they will warn you that you need them. They never did check our passports, but at least we had them!
We had a SWEET corner room at the Quality Hotel View which is literally steps from the Hyllie train station, just two stops to Malmö. Believe it or not, that space ship looking thing is a water tower.
Natalie said, "Take my picture here in the corner window!"
We were thankful that we didn't have a whole lot of rain on our entire trip. We did have a little this particular evening, but it afforded us a huge rainbow! And we had the best room for the view!
We left the hotel in search of something to eat. We were right across the street from where the Malmö Redhawks play hockey. But everything appeared to be closed. So we went over to the shopping mall across the street. Also closed. What gives? It's a Friday night!
Oh. It's Midsummer Eve and to quote the sweden.se website, "Midsummer Eve is celebrated in the countryside − as always − and on the day before, everyone leaves town, everything closes and the city streets are suddenly spookily deserted." But of course. It's the start of the summer holiday in Sweden.
We found ONE döner place that had pizza and grabbed some dinner before heading back to the hotel. The kids ate pizza in the hotel room and got ready for bed, and then Todd and I went to the hotel bar. Look! Eco-friendly straws!
We always have a good time at the hotel bar and we met a super cool bartender from Serbia. She was telling us how she left Serbia for Sweden because she had some extended family here, and that she could make WAY more money in Sweden than she could in Serbia. She also warned us that there was a large amount of radiation leftover from the war 20 years ago and she didn't want her children to get cancer. Pretty crazy stuff.
The next morning, we went downstairs for breakfast and the kids spotted THIS in an adjacent, air conditioned room. This hotel ROCKS!
After breakfast, we took the train two stops into the city (well... the kids and I did. Todd ran back to the hotel room after the first stop to grab the passports because they made announcements on the train about needing them. Turns out we didn't need them!) When we walked out of the train station, we saw this beauty - the Glasvasen. This eco-friendly "Glass Vase" building was built in 2014/2015.
While we waited for Todd to return, we grabbed some quick souvenirs (you know... shot glasses and magnets) before heading over to see the Knotted Gun.
The Knotted Gun, or the Non-Violence sculpture was made in 1985 by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd in response to the murder of John Lennon. There are three originals in the world and one of them is right here in Malmö. The other two are located in New York near the headquarters of the United Nations and in Luxembourg at the European Commission headquarters.
Give peace a chance. Or lollipops. Give those a chance, too.
Once Todd rejoined us, we spotted a lighthouse we wanted to check out. The cool thing about Malmö is that we didn't have an agenda. We were just here to stroll. We strolled (and paused) right by the Posthusplatsen.
The Malmö Old Lighthouse from 1878 stands near the much newer Universitetsbron (or University Bridge.)
When we walked over to check out the lighthouse, we saw a family of swans! (Queue Billy Madison movie quotes!) That swan is definitely looking at me.
Although the Old Lighthouse hasn't been in operation since 1983, it's a nice place to hang out on the nearby anchor and ponder life.
Malmö, much like Copenhagen is a VERY bicycle friendly city. You can see (as Grant darts across the street) that they not only have a crosswalk (with a light) for pedestrians, but also one on the right for bicyclists!
We walked back down the Suellshamnen quay with it's pretty fountains and boats that double as restaurants.
The Spectral Self Container in Malmö is a colorful work of art/climbing structure.
Todd sitting in the Look/Insight sculpture in the Posthusplatsen on the east side of the Suellshamnen canal.
Todd took a cute picture of Natalie in the Look/Insight sculpture...
... but then I thought my picture was funnier. Do I see two little heads poking around the inside of the sculpture?
We walked past the train station on our trek into the old town. The Malmö central station is a classically pretty brick building which opened in 1858.
One of the main squares in Malmö is Stortorget, or Market Square which was founded in 1540. In the center of the square (and just to the right of this picture) is a statue of King Karl X Gustav.
This Renaissance town hall on the east side of the Stortorget was built in the mid 1540s - although the Dutch Renaissance facade is from the 1860s.
Malmö is rocking the super cool manhole covers near the Stortorget!
Our ultimate lunch destination was the Lilla Torg, where we stopped at Mello Yello. It wasn't even cold out, but they provide blankets at most of the seats which my freezing kids were thrilled about.
In 1590, the Stortorget became so crowded, they built the smaller but super cozy Lilla Torg, which means, "Little Square." Today it's surrounded by shops, restaurants and some cute little half timbered buildings.
Three goofballs in a Lilla Torg panorama.
This AWESOME building located in the Lilla Torg is known as the Faxeska house and was built in the 1760s (renovated in 1910.) Wine maker Adoph Faxe bought the house in 1842 and it is still with the family.
It's never easy having a child with a food allergy. It's especially not easy only having ONE of your two children with a food allergy. The kids wanted some ice cream, but the ice cream shop we found told us one of their flavors included peanuts. When that is the case, we just don't allow Grant to have any ice cream from there, and unless we can find an alternative, we don't allow either kid to have ice cream (because that wouldn't be fair if Natalie was sitting there eating ice cream in front of Grant!) But across the street was a little convenience store that sold Magnum bars, which he can eat! Crisis averted!
We decided to stroll over toward the Malmö Castle and gardens after the kids had ice cream. On the way there, we spotted the famous Turning Torso! We didn't get to see the Turning Torso up close, but we did see it from a distance. At 54 stories high, it's the tallest building in all of Scandinavia! (Superlative, check!)
There's a weird pseudo gate on the east side of the castle (I say pseudo because it's clearly brand new and is just made of rocks and chicken wire.) I spotted this on it! If you're a fan of the show, you might remember that leading up to the final season, they placed six Iron Thrones around the world and fans just had to find them. This was a clue (I'm guessing.) There was one in nearby Björkliden, Sweden, which is between Malmö and Gothenburg.
The 12,000 square meter Slottsträdgården is an organic garden behind the Malmo Castle. The idea actually came about by a community of gardeners back in 1994, so it isn't nearly as old as the Castle. I'm gonna be quiet now and give you a series of pretty flower pictures of the Slottsträdgården.
Ah, wasn't that a nice stroll through the Slottsträdgården?
The Slottsträdgården even has an old windmill known as the Slottsmöllan, or the Castle Mill, which was built in 1851. It was powered by wind power from 1895 to the 1930s, and then shut down fully in 1945.
Our destination for the afternoon was going to be Malmö Castle. The first castle was built here in 1454 by Eric, King of Pomerania (he was the first to be collectively king of Sweden, Denmark and Norway) and was rebuilt in the 1530s by King Christian III. It was added on to in 1607, and has had a few updates since then, but it's largely the same castle.
I also saw these life preservers all over the city and they made me laugh. In case someone falls in, you can just toss this to them!
But... Midsummer. So it was closed. Do you see those bands of white chalky material on the outside of the castle? Those are remains of the original castle from the 1450s.
I was super sad because there's an excellent museum located here. This castle served as refugee camp at the end of World War II for those who survived the concentration camps. Plus, it's Scandinavia's oldest surviving Renaissance castle! I mean, come on! Technically the outside of the castle is from the late medieval Gothic era but internally, it's a Renaissance castle.
So much for a fun day at the castle! Anyway, when we were on the train (some train? We've been on a lot of trains lately,) Grant saw a girl with a shirt that said, "Bastard Restaurant" on it. He couldn't contain his giggles. When we finally found the restaurant in Malmö, he had to take a picture! This is the face either of my kids make when you say a bad word... even if it's the nice version of a bad word (like "flipping" instead of that other word!)
I took this picture as we moseyed back into the old town and I just liked it. And see the next picture because you can get a sense of where those roses were (on the left side of this picture.) I love that in an urban setting, you can just grow roses along the wall.
Beautiful roses of Malmö! I love the peach color!
As we walked back toward the Malmö central train station, we saw this bus! MSC! Our cruise line!
This picture made me think of our niece and nephew, Lauren and Gordon. This is the World Maritime University. They both went to Mass Maritime. I think maybe if I could do it again, this would be a good field for me (a Floridian.) International Maritime Law, perhaps? (No wait... maybe that's Todd!)
Germany. You could learn a thing or two from the Nordic countries. Even the 7-11 at the Malmö train station won't take cash!
We finally made it back to the hotel and we saw this. A massive line outside of the McDonald's. I'd like to think that this is because of Midsummer... but maybe it's just because the Swede's and the tourists at the hotel just like McDonald's???
Todd grabbed some McDonald's for the kids and some salads for us at the bar. Here I am, waiting to be served.
The best Serbian-Swedish bartender EVER. Another note to the rest of Europe... all of the Nordic countries I've been to have Maker's Mark. Just a little tip.
Time for another date night at the hotel bar! Not just for us, but apparently for this couple behind us who couldn't keep their hands off each other. Get a room! (Hey! This is a hotel! That should be easy!)
The next morning after a hearty breakfast, we packed it up to head back to Copenhagen to get on our week long Baltic Sea cruise! Grant spotted this "skum" fire extinguisher in the hotel hallway!
Next stop, the MSC Mereviglia! Until next time, Malmö!
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