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Sundsvall - Stockholm Day 8 - 19-June

A hectic departure
Day 8 is a saturday, but after a week you forget dates and days. Well that shouldn't be a problem unless you have to catch a train that doesn't ride on saturdays. Luckily I find out that my train from 9:50 doesn't depart so I have 2 spare hours to spend in Sundsvall. I have seen the complete centre already so I decide to do the laundry in the hostel. Unfortunately doing the laundry is not good enough for just 2 hours (I have to get from the hostel to the station 2km downhill as well) and the dryer needs to be turned of after a few minutes. My laundry still feels a bit moist, but it should be dry enough to carry along. And in a hurry I leave the place to the train station.

View from Norra Stadsberget, 175 meters above the town.


The view from the hill may be nice, the view on the hill itself is nice as well. Swedish wilderness only a few meters away from civilization.

Free ride

Travel details: Sundsvall - Stockholm C Trainride: SJ X2000 Departure:8:31 - Arrival:12:09 Distance: 402 km

For the X2000 a seat reservation is mandatory and therefore I go to the ticket office in the train station. But those are closed on saturdays, and the ticket vending machines don't sell separate reservations. I decide to ask the conductor of the train what to do. She asks my Scanrail card, looks at it and says that I can sit somewhere without reservation. But when someone comes with a reservation I need to find another seat of course. Well that's fair for me, after all the haste this morning I can finally sit back in Swedens most modern train. At least, that's what the Swedish people name the X2000. It travels at a speed of 200km/h and is supposed to be very luxurious. Though the standard is certainly lower than the Norwegian trains on which I often thought that I was sitting 1st class instead of 2nd class. But the main thing is that a train should get you from point A to B, and this train does the job pretty fast. On the way we stop at Gävle and Uppsala. Uppsala looks nice for a day trip, in case I might get bored in Stockholm, but Gävle doesn't look very pleasant.


The hall of the central station in Stockholm.


A castle (I think) on the Skeppsholmen island.

Crappy accommodation in Stockholm
And so I arrive in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden and with 750.000 inhabitants the largest city I visit on my trip. The weather is quite rainy and cloudy and I find my way quite easily to the hostel. It's just a matter of finding a big sailing ship berthed at the shore of one of the isle Skeppsholmen. The ship (Af Chapmann) is quite large, but I have booked a bed in the dormitory of the hostel located on the land (Skeppsholmen). I am quite happy to be in Stockholm because the last days I haven't met much people in the north and that can be quite boring. Unfortunately the reception has bad news for me. They had put me in a 1-person room, but it is on the boat. So another 3 days sleeping alone, but at least there are loads of backpackers around.
I get a heavy key for the hut and finally find that the hut is on top of the boat. The room is really small and the bed is actually nothing more than a 1,5m high cabinet where they put 2 mattresses on (these were slightly to wide for the cabinet). There are 2 small porch holes, a door and a very small couch (not suitable for sleeping on). The ceiling isn't very high so I can't jump to get on the "bed". So with help of the grip of one of the porch holes I raise myself on the bed, finding little space left between me and the ceiling. I decide to try to get something better than this but the reception says that everything is full for the night and I have to settle with this accommodation.

Who wouldn't be tempted sleeping on a boat like this? The little white square indicates the hut I slept in.

Disappointed I decide to walk around the town, I try to find the way back to the train station because the football match of this evening is Netherlands-Czech Republic and in the train station there is a mini-stadium with a big wide screen where you can view the match. Other places where they show soccer-matches are hard to find. On my map of Stockholm I point all the places where they show football, supermarkets and places where you can eat something. Quite useful but still it is hard to find everything back. It takes me quite some time to find the train station again. After the match I see that Stockholm is getting dark. for the first time in a week the sun has gone down, Stockholm is as southern as Oslo but much further to the east, the sun therefore sets earlier and rises earlier. It is raining and the city looks quite deserted. Strange for such a large city that it is so quiet in the evening. In the common room on the boat there are some people but it is not that busy and I decide to get a sleep because today was really busy.