We had a wonderful dinner in Lilla Torg last night and slept heavily through the night. Checking out at the front desk in the morning, I filmed the last clip of the hotel I randomly selected through Expedia Mobile App yesterday. Other than receiving an unfriendly parking ticket during the only 5 minutes while I was checking in, Elite Hotel Plaza itself was a great choice. It's not large but decorated elitely, the location is very convenient within walking distance to the center of the city of Malmo.
As I shared, I took trains at Central Station in Malmo twice in 90s but wasn't able to recognize it very well this time. My impression back then was that it looked like the train station in the movies depicting 1930s to 1940s. I recalled that I exchanged US dollars to Swedish Krona at a Forex Kiosk in 1992 just outside the station what was the first time I did it in Scandinavia. I did want to film a clip across the street of the station remotely but my son blocked it, he wanted to be on road to Stockholm as early as possible. Actually he had been tired of such a long trip and wanted to go home. While frustrating with his attitude, I knew I shouldn't expect that he had the same passion as I had about this country. Almost 3 weeks away from his bed and video game console at home might be too long for him.
Getting back to freeway, we were heading to Jonkoping where I planned to stop by Vattern to wander around for half an hour. The sky was light blue and sunshine was pretty mild. It's a great morning to be on road in Southern Sweden.
Last time, we drove from Goteborg to Stockholm, so hadn't gone through this part. We did stop by Jonkoping to walk along the lake. This time, I might miss the best exit to approach the lake, so decided to drive up the hill to take a remote view. First of all, I stopped the car at a bus station to film the lake. From this point of time, my son became increasingly inpatient whenever I stopped to film until the end of this trip. He really wanted to go home.
Taking a U-turn by borrowing someone's front yard, we drove back toward E4. Since my son didn't like filming, I had to film while driving all over this trip. He kept blaming me doing that. It's not safe, I knew it, but why couldn't he do it while sitting on passenger's seat? I did feel frustrated with him about this. Anyway, we both agreed that this viewpoint was the best place to park.
I created my first sonnet for this trip by watching the clip of beautiful Vattern, which is the 2nd largest one in Sweden and it was my 3rd time to be around it:
Standing up the hill to view Vattern in distance, (a)
Digging deeply in my soul back to two decades ago. (b)
Starting from the west edge of the paradise, (a)
Approaching the lake having only seen on video. (b)
Walking along the blue water with my past beauty, (c)
Putting on the yellow shirt against wind in May. (d)
Looking through your eyes to pull out the purity, (c)
Holding me tight to go through our milky way. (d)
Waking up by the breeze under the summer sun, (e)
Wondering if this is the place we had been together. (f)
Pulling back by the memory of the spring rain, (e)
Questioning if that was the dream I can't get back forever. (f)
Vattern as a witness is always here, (g)
But you like a mirage were no longer there. (g)
Heading back to E4 and driving for a couple of minutes, we sought the first and the only accident on Freeways during this trip. Fortunately, it was on the other side. The freeways in Sweden are generally two-lane with very narrow shoulders. Whenever the accident incurs, it will take a super long time to have the road cleared. This one was pretty serious by Swedish standard. After we passed through that area, I could tell the traffic jam had been extended probably 10 kilometers.
Next significant city on E4 is Linkoping. While passing by, I could see the tip of the cathedral remotely.
Driving another 40 kilometers, we were passing the city of Norrkoping. I am impressed by this city for two reasons: I demanded to take over the wheel close to it on E4 to drive her brand new Volvo 850 in May; This city has a nickname of Peking where I was born and raised until 18 years old. You can imagine what kind of feeling I had.
In the next almost 200 kilometers, we experienced heavy clouds and rains up to the point where it is probably 50 kilometers away from Stockholm. Though the road might be renovated in the past 23 years, I couldn't recognize the exact spot, however, this is approximately where I gave the wheel back to her and sat back onto passenger's seat. Actually, from this point, the sky became gradually clear, which removed my concern of a rainy night in Stockholm.
Though I didn't have chance to take the clips when I drove into the city of Stockholm, I was amazed by all the attractions along the roads, Again after 19 years since I was here last time. I am not sure if it was because I was fairly familiar with this city, it was the only one with which I didn't waste even a second to arrive at our destination straightly. However, learning the lesson of getting the ticket in Malmo, I drove the car into the Q-park garage across the street of our hotel to park it at Section H, then we shouldered the bags to go to the lobby to check-in.
Scandic Clara is a very nice hotel, I could tell it as soon as we walked in. In addition, it is near Kungsgatan and within walking distances to Sergels Torg, Kungstradgarden, Gamla Stan. The receptionist was a young woman who spoke very well English. After asking her about how to pay for parking, I shared my stories of getting tickets in Malmo and Goteborg, she was even willing to help resolve the problems. At that moment, I left the tickets in the car, so didn't have chance to bother her. Though she was wearing a pair of glasses, I could tell she was very pretty. This actually was proved when we checked out 3 days later, then she didn't wear the glasses.
Taking the rest briefly, we walked to Kungsgatan within one minute after getting out of the hotel. As soon as we reached the edge of the street, we caught a restaurant across it. Without looking at others, we decided to dine at this one.
The young girl was sweet and explained the menu to us patiently. My son was pretty hungry and ordered the big starter and main dish. I appreciated that the girl tried to be nice to imply that it might be too much for my son, but my son said he could eat a lot. During the dinner, my son was bothered by the smoking coming from both tables behind him and me. I can't say it is bad or not, I found many more smokers in Sweden than in States during this trip. Last time when I was here, I smoked too, though not a heavy one, so I might not pay much attention. Since I have quit smoking for 17 years, I was pretty sensitive this time. It might be as my son said, air in Sweden may be too clean, people want to add pollution into it.
There is a very small square on our way back to hotel, it might be the dirtiest spot we had seen in Sweden: trashes were all over it. But there might be a reason because the very next day, we would find a fair like a flea market being held there.
As I said in this clip, I was so glad to come back to Stockholm at that moment and I knew I still love this city so much...
Standing up the hill to view Vattern in distance, (a)
Digging deeply in my soul back to two decades ago. (b)
Starting from the west edge of the paradise, (a)
Approaching the lake having only seen on video. (b)
Walking along the blue water with my past beauty, (c)
Putting on the yellow shirt against wind in May. (d)
Looking through your eyes to pull out the purity, (c)
Holding me tight to go through our milky way. (d)
Waking up by the breeze under the summer sun, (e)
Wondering if this is the place we had been together. (f)
Pulling back by the memory of the spring rain, (e)
Questioning if that was the dream I can't get back forever. (f)
Vattern as a witness is always here, (g)
But you like a mirage were no longer there. (g)
Next significant city on E4 is Linkoping. While passing by, I could see the tip of the cathedral remotely.
Scandic Clara is a very nice hotel, I could tell it as soon as we walked in. In addition, it is near Kungsgatan and within walking distances to Sergels Torg, Kungstradgarden, Gamla Stan. The receptionist was a young woman who spoke very well English. After asking her about how to pay for parking, I shared my stories of getting tickets in Malmo and Goteborg, she was even willing to help resolve the problems. At that moment, I left the tickets in the car, so didn't have chance to bother her. Though she was wearing a pair of glasses, I could tell she was very pretty. This actually was proved when we checked out 3 days later, then she didn't wear the glasses.
Taking the rest briefly, we walked to Kungsgatan within one minute after getting out of the hotel. As soon as we reached the edge of the street, we caught a restaurant across it. Without looking at others, we decided to dine at this one.
The young girl was sweet and explained the menu to us patiently. My son was pretty hungry and ordered the big starter and main dish. I appreciated that the girl tried to be nice to imply that it might be too much for my son, but my son said he could eat a lot. During the dinner, my son was bothered by the smoking coming from both tables behind him and me. I can't say it is bad or not, I found many more smokers in Sweden than in States during this trip. Last time when I was here, I smoked too, though not a heavy one, so I might not pay much attention. Since I have quit smoking for 17 years, I was pretty sensitive this time. It might be as my son said, air in Sweden may be too clean, people want to add pollution into it.
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