A while ago, due to the refugee issue, the Swedish parliament implemented an 'ID check upon entry' system. (The implementation itself has been around for quite a while.) When entering Sweden, everyone must show their ID. That's what made things awkward. Originally there was a direct Copenhagen–Stockholm train, but due to the law of the Swedish parliament that train disappeared. So when I bought tickets online, I had to separately arrange the Copenhagen–Malmö and Malmö–Stockholm trains. Malmö is called the gateway to the Scandinavian continent. To cross over to Malmö, I had to cross the Oresund (the O isn't this O but an O with a diagonal stroke through it, which I can't type;;). But in fact, even that took more time because I had to transfer at Copenhagen Airport to the train going to Malmö. When I looked it up online, it was said to be hit-or-miss, so I was actually anxious and had no choice but to depart early. Because if even one person got caught, there's no telling how much more time it would take, and if that happened my train ticket would be lost..
You can understand it as Sweden being an EU member and a Schengen Agreement member, so the system of not doing ID checks when entering from within the Schengen area has disappeared. People who previously went directly into Sweden from outside Schengen naturally underwent ID (passport) checks, so there's no difference. The only difference is that now ID checks are done even when entering from within Schengen.
This is Copenhagen Central (Copenhagen Central Station). It was early morning at this time, but there were quite a few people waiting for trains to head to the airport. That said, the train you see up front is probably one going somewhere else.. I think there's a high chance it's a light rail going to a nearby area. Because that day the airport train was delayed too, and it was scheduled to arrive right in front of the line where I was waiting..
So after riding the train from Copenhagen C and transferring at Copenhagen Airport, the ID checks began, so police briefly boarded the train and asked to see my passport. Well, I had to show it; the Korean passport is surprisingly quite good, so no visa is needed. In Europe, the Schengen Agreement and inter-state agreements are almost all in place, so I could enter visa-free, and there was no problem.
The Oresund Strait — hmm, since it's spelled with an O crossed by a diagonal, in Korean pronunciation it's a sound like the monophthong 'oe.' But actually, since the latter sound seems a bit longer, it seems to be pronounced 'Oresund.' (The d is just a faint sound, but Korean syllable structure needs a connecting vowel..) The photos and videos I took on the way are out of focus and just blurry due to the iPhone's limitations. Sigh, what a shame; still, it was a magnificent place. I never knew crossing that strait would feel this good..
Anyway, I arrived at Malmö station that way; honestly, if I'd had the energy to wander around this city I would have, but I didn't have the time (since I didn't make a plan there was no slack in my schedule) and I just wandered around inside the station for a bit. Next are photos of the station.. truly a pretty and beautiful station.
Arrived at Malmö station; the C mark usually means 'Central Station.' So you can understand it as Malmö Central.
The restaurants inside the station that hadn't opened yet.. preparations were in full swing, and anyway the interior is so stylish. I'm curious how long ago those floor tiles have been in use. I also can't quite imagine how long the roof has been in use.
My longtime resting spot, Starbucks; it was here too without fail, but on this day I didn't drink coffee here.
This is how the first station interior connects to the Starbucks area. What was good was that they'd installed displays so you could check the timetable even from in front of those tea-drinking tables.. this is similar to an 'airport,' so why doesn't Korea have this? Honestly, it'd be nice to install that at Seoul Station or Yongsan Station. Then people wouldn't be late either. You can see a Korean society that still lacks a lot of attention to detail.
Malmö station is largely two spaces. One is the underground station for trains coming from the Copenhagen Airport side, and the above-ground train station for going from Malmö to other cities in Sweden and Norway; among the photos above, everything except the Malmö station signboard is the above-ground area. Underground there's just the 'station' sitting there, and when you take the escalator up from there you come up to the ground level like this. Still a magnificent place; seeing it again, the station is really stylish. There were quite a lot of tracks too, so I don't quite understand why it's this stylish. So different from Korea..
The lighting that was in front of where Starbucks is. I once used this as my KakaoTalk profile photo.
Malmö–Stockholm is 4 hours by express train, 6 hours by regular train. I thought I'd bought an express ticket, but it turned out to be a regular train. I was full of disappointment, but well, the ticket was cheap (it was about 25 euros. Compared to other trains, this price is incredibly fair..) so I rode it satisfied, and went in a compartment that way.
While riding the train this day, in the 6-person compartment I was in, 5 of the 6 including me read books the whole way. Actually I was very surprised at this part, so I asked the very beautiful woman across from me, who seemed to be Swedish. Whether Swedish people normally read a lot of books on the way somewhere like this. The answer was yes. Apparently they usually read books like this when using buses or trains. The two grandmothers and one grandfather in there kindly answered my questions and we exchanged various simple bits of conversation. It's a shame that Korean society is now dominated by smartphones, but here books still remained.
And so the book came to me again. After my military days, I, who hadn't read books much on trains or buses, started picking up books again. Even if those people had been reading newspapers, the book would have come to me. To be precise, it felt like something hard to explain in words was asking me how about living a life of reading books again.
The photo above is of the cafe inside the train. A really good cafe. Korean trains, hurry up and bring back the dining car!
Stockholm Central, arrived after running a full 6 hours. This place, where I exchanged greetings with the lovely lady seated across from me and we then scattered and arrived — the station is big, but hmm, the atmosphere here is quite different..
About a 10-minute walk from the station a hostel appears, so I checked in first. Unfortunately, they said I had to rent the pillowcase and duvet cover for money, so a bit more expense went out. A shame. Some people carry their own, but I had no space for that, ugh.. Still, the location was very good, so it was a place where wandering around anywhere was no problem.
The place I went right after arriving was the Saluhall — that is, the 'market.' But I didn't take photos inside the market. This Saluhall was located on a street with a quite expensive-looking atmosphere, and the interior was tidy too. The time I went was also nearly right before closing.
Street photos.
In Stockholm I mostly noticed that Waynes Coffee. I'd heard that Swedish people's coffee consumption is considerable, and looking it up, here's how it is. (link: http://www.statista.com/statistics/277135/leading-countries-by-coffee-consumption/ ) Finland is #1;; Sweden is #2. Then come the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Denmark in order, and Korea is #12. Is that why there were especially many people in cafes...? Whenever and whatever cafe I went to, there seemed to be lots of people, so I was curious about these people's coffee consumption, and seeing it like this, they really do drink a lot.
These are movie-theater promotional posters I photographed because I saw them on the way. At this time Youth, The Danish Girl, Carol, and Jobs were Academy-related works that I remember being hot, but it's not that I saw them here; it was just a movie theater I passed by. I could've watched a film, but making time for it was a bit awkward, and I figured it'd be fine to watch in Korea, which is why — though sometimes there's the regret of wondering if I should've watched a film..
This is a photo of a church I stopped by on the way. The bell was ringing here, and looking inside the lights were on too.. though since it's a Protestant country it's not a Catholic Mass. Still, it's magnificent. As it was around the time the Mass was ending, I could see people slowly coming out.. As I said last time, this church too has a really clean color on the exterior. The harmony of white and black seems good wherever you go..
And so the day-1 itinerary recap is complete.
Comments 0
No comments yet. Be the first.