tell me about stockholm

[Aggie87]

Thanks for your insightful posts, Allen. They will certainly make me think twice before visiting Sweden again.

[AllenLowe]

you're welcome - I consider it a public service - all part of my organissimo task list -

Edited October 31, 2008 by AllenLowe

[Free For All]

Shouldn't that be in the pony/porn thread?

[AllenLowe]

actually I think it goes with the "humping the camel" thread -

[AllenLowe]

and speaking of that - more Swedish Camel News:

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - What is a dead camel doing on the side of a highway in Sweden? That's what police are trying to find out after the unusual discovery Monday. Police thought it was a joke when they received reports early Monday that the carcass of a camel was spotted next to the E22 highway near Karlskrona, in southeastern Sweden.

"But when the patrol got there it turned out be completely true," police spokesman Lars Lindwall told news agency TT.

Judging by its injuries, police believe the camel was being transported on a trailer, but somehow fell off and was dragged behind the vehicle.

"When that was discovered they probably just dumped the body," Lindwall said.

[sidewinder]

What the hell happened to this thread whilst I was away?

And big to Daniel for the kind hospitality in Sweden. Great place !

Edited November 1, 2008 by sidewinder

[J.A.W.]

What the hell happened to this thread whilst I was away?

The usual suspect took over...

And big to Daniel for the kind hospitality in Sweden. Great place !

Great guy

[AllenLowe]

geez guys, I was just trying to help -

sniff.........

sniff...........

sniff.........................

Edited November 1, 2008 by AllenLowe

[Ted O'Reilly]

Back to hijacking the topic :

The BBC details are here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressrele...wallander.shtml

Sadly, one 90 minute episode for each book!

Agreed! I suppose that they'll just reduce it all to 'solving the mystery', though Branagh is quoted on the website as saying "Wallander is a wonderfully complex and compelling character and, as a long time admirer of Mankell's novels, I am very excited to be playing this fascinatingly flawed but deeply human detective."

Won't get much "complex and compelling character" in 90 minutes! Maybe we Wallander fans would be better served with an English-dubbed version of the original Swedish shows, as the Germans have done. (But maybe not: apparently all the Swedish TV shows are original screenplays, rather than adaptations).

But this all makes me wonder "Why don't we English-speakers take much to dubbed foreign films and TV shows?"

[Christiern]

Figuring that the ordeal was over, I did the civilized thing: grabbed my Bellmans plunta, a sealed copy of a J.R. Monterose album, and poured myself a modest glass of well-herbaled—and in other ways seasoned—schnapps.

Not much left in this bottle, but I have had it for 36 years!

[Ted O'Reilly]

"Swedish Schnapps"! Good title for a tune. I'll suggest it to Bird next time I see him...

[medjuck]

And speaking of Swedish detective novels: Anyone here read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or remember the Martin Beck novels?

[Ted O'Reilly]

And speaking of Swedish detective novels: Anyone here read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or remember the Martin Beck novels?

Ah, yes: Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö's Martin Beck series...

But maybe we should be opening another site for topic, rather than poaching this one?

[sidewinder]

Back to Stockholm - I did get an early morning stroll in to the Old Town over the bridge (not far from the hotel). Very interesting, full of character and an area which looks to be early medieval in origin with those very narrow meandering lanes down to the river leading off a 'main' road (it reminded me of York - itself a significant Danish settlement at one time). There was even a vinyl store which I went back to check out but they only had progressive rock e.g. Uriah Heep albums. The was an album (reissue) by Chris McGregor though. :rsmile:

The 'Glenn Miller Cafe' was a great little place that was packed to capacity with lots of neat B&W photos of jazz artists on the wall. The food was excellent and the beer went down well (both Swedish beer and Belgian trappist monk varieties sampled). Somehow though, the band missed the gig but it didn't matter in terms of a fine evening !

Heading out though the weather really turned for the worse and they de-iced the aircraft wings - based on my Canadian experience that's when you really know that Winter is on its way.

I'd definitely like to go back though and check out the city thoroughly as a tourist.

Edited November 2, 2008 by sidewinder

[A Lark Ascending]

Did you get to eat moose? With lingonberries. I was tempted when I was in the old town...but neshed out.

If you go as a tourist there's some nice boat trips out to the range of lakes that surround Stockholm. I did a really good day trip out to the old Viking settlement at Birka.

Drottingholm just to the north makes a good day out in summer. And Uppsala (cathedral/university town) is lovely too. Easy to get to by public transport, I expect.

I took the train from Malmo to Lund a few years back - all you had to do is buy a ticket from a machine on the platform which was modest in price. Unlike the UK where you have to take a written exam (which you have to book months in advance) in order to apply for a rail ticket. I've not been on a train here since about 1990!

Edited November 2, 2008 by Bev Stapleton

[sidewinder]

Unlike the UK where you have to take a written exam (which you have to book months in advance) in order to apply for a rail ticket. I've not been on a train here since about 1990!

Aint that the truth ! I never use it either - not if I can avoid it.

The Swedish fast train service to and from the airport was very punctual and comfortable but at about £35 equivalent for a return 20 minute journey was damned expensive, even by our inflated price standards.

Didn't get to eat the moose but I'll leave that to the next visit. Until then I'm stuck with Swedish meatballs from Ikea !

[BillF]

Unlike the UK where you have to take a written exam (which you have to book months in advance) in order to apply for a rail ticket. I've not been on a train here since about 1990!

Aint that the truth ! I never use it either - not if I can avoid it.

The Swedish fast train service to and from the airport was very punctual and comfortable but at about £35 equivalent for a return 20 minute journey was damned expensive, even by our inflated price standards.

Didn't get to eat the moose but I'll leave that to the next visit. Until then I'm stuck with Swedish meatballs from Ikea !

Welcoming you back with "Dear Old Stockholm" from 'Round About Midnight by the Miles Davis Quintet on CBS vinyl.

[BillF]

I've not been on a train here since about 1990!

I haven't been on one since about 19:40 on Friday! Knowing you, Bev, I'm sure you're not influenced by Margaret Thatcher's views on public transport: "A man over twenty-five riding on a bus is a failure in life"

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

"A man over twenty-five riding on a bus is a failure in life"

Or taking advantage of the Government's free bus travel for the over sixties (Mrs T never thought of THAT as a way of providing an illegal subsidy to the bus companies.)

MG

[A Lark Ascending]

I've not been on a train here since about 1990!

I haven't been on one since about 19:40 on Friday! Knowing you, Bev, I'm sure you're not influenced by Margaret Thatcher's views on public transport: "A man over twenty-five riding on a bus is a failure in life"

I'm hoping that these really are the last days of unrestricted freet-marketism and that someone will have the sense to run the railways as a public service once more. You know - simple to understand ticket prices that you can read on a website without having to 'register' and 'search' (the latter normally resulting in 'there are no trains according to these criteria'!).

It would make far more sense for me to travel to London by train. I used to get a "Day Return" on a Saturday in the early 80s and it was reasonably priced, you could buy it at the station.

I'm told the pricing system has simplified recently. Maybe I'll try it!

[BillF]

I've not been on a train here since about 1990!

I haven't been on one since about 19:40 on Friday! Knowing you, Bev, I'm sure you're not influenced by Margaret Thatcher's views on public transport: "A man over twenty-five riding on a bus is a failure in life"

I'm hoping that these really are the last days of unrestricted freet-marketism and that someone will have the sense to run the railways as a public service once more. You know - simple to understand ticket prices that you can read on a website without having to 'register' and 'search' (the latter normally resulting in 'there are no trains according to these criteria'!).

It would make far more sense for me to travel to London by train. I used to get a "Day Return" on a Saturday in the early 80s and it was reasonably priced, you could buy it at the station.

I'm told the pricing system has simplified recently. Maybe I'll try it!

Not surprisingly, "simplified" in practice means more expensive. The key thing now is to buy tickets online at least a few hours before travel. They can usually be picked up at the station from a machine, using the card used to make the online purchase. The so-called "simplification" has raised the price of many "walk up" tickets to astronomical levels.

[Christiern]

The England I remember and lived in as a young man was one of a very sooty Waterloo station where one applied her majesty's yellow, glossy paper to one's bum and killed one's time in a small movie theater, tucked away in a corner. I guess the fares were reasonable then, I mostly traveled between London and Canterbury. As I recall, I was in England when they nationalized the rails—could that be? Shortly after the War?

Getting back to Sweden, I took a train from Stockholm to Copenhagen (over Helsingør) in 1984 and don't recall balking at the price. The trip was somewhat tedious, but pleasant. Of course, 24 years can make all the difference.

[A Lark Ascending]

As I recall, I was in England when they nationalized the rails—could that be? Shortly after the War?

January 1st, 1948.

http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/history4.php

(only of interest to trainspotters!)

I also took two journeys in Spain by train a few years back, again very reasonable. Simple to use even though I was communicating via the short phrase book at the back of my travel guide!

Though the train didn't run for the first half of the Granada to Seville leg, we had to get on a bus. Sadly, the bus driver did not know where the station where we were meant to link up with the train was. Eventually ended up on a platform in the middle of nowhere that looked like it had been used to film 'High Noon' (almost certainly one of those 70s Clint Eastwood films).

[Christiern]

Thanks, Bev, I was going to school in Canterbury, so I still possess remnants of functioning memory.

[sidewinder]

where one applied her majesty's yellow, glossy paper to one's bum

Izal !