Week 44 - Trains, Snow & Skansen

What a busy week this was! Monday to Wednesday weren't that out of the ordinary, nor extraordinary, though we did get our first small sprinkle of snow on that last of those aforementioned days. The day after that: everything descended into chaos.

It probably wasn't so much the snow as the cold that caused some electrical problems somewhere along the (train) line, and traffic stood still for hours. Meanwhile: the roads were covered with a thin layer of ice, and cars slid around and blocked both high and lowways. I stayed home from work a while, hoping the train traffic stockade would blow over, but when I finally decided to venture into the city some new malfunction occurred just half a station along the way.

We were shooed off the train at Kungsängen and onto a replacement bus, only the bus went to Hjulsta instead of Kalhäll as it was supposed to. People rioted, and shouted, and demanded the driver open the doors - but he just kept on going and told the crowd he wasn't allowed to stop. We reached our destination, and I took a brisk walk to the nearest train station in Spånga. Pretty much everyone else opted for the nearby subway, which did not go in a straight line anywhere near where I was going, but after a brisk ten minutes of quick walk I managed to climb aboard a train that rolled in just as I arrived, on a station packed with people that had been waiting for hours. Lucky.

In the end, it didn't take more than an hour extra.

This same week a certain section of the train tracks have been closed down for maintenance/expansion, so replacement buses were running shuttle traffic between stations. Perfect timing for my nephew to drop by for a surprise visit, and no less want to venture into the city on two extra occasions, to visit Livrustkammaren (the armory museum at the Royal Castle), and Medelhavsmuseet (a museum of the Mediterranean, with plenty of pre-Christ statues and remnants from civilizations of old).

That was Friday, and I picked him up at Stockholm Central that same day the trains stood still. We made it home just about 40 minutes behind schedule that day, and a bit earlier the next, and with no delays at all on Sunday. Though we still had to take the scheduled replacement buses: an extra hour and a half each trip.

On Saturday we visited Skokloster Castle by car, took a tour and tea, and drove by Säby Holm on the way back to pick some apples. The very next day apple season froze over entirely! Snow. Snow. And more snow.

Here's a quick tour of the castle grounds:

The dining room, later known as the King's room after the portraits of kings were added to the walls.

And here's how it looked as we left.

As for the apples: no pictures there. We picked them in the dark of dusk, with great haste because embark we must. Great weather - albeit short-lived in the wake of winter.

On Sunday we went to Skansen - which is like a combined zoo, amusement park, nature reserve, and collection of old buildings in the middle of Stockholm.

On this one particular day the entry fee was free, and we had good luck with the weather: it was so snowy and cold that barely anybody but us had the guts to spend time there, looking at enviously well-furred animals in the middle of a sudden blistering November winter.

The bears were already asleep, but we did see some lynxes, lemurs, otters, owls, cows, pigs, wild boars (isn't that a paradoxical name though), bison, wolves, cats, goats, seals, various birds and snakes and frogs and other reptiles and probably a few other breeds I forget. It was a beautiful place - especially the architectural remnants of times past - mostly in worn-down wood, and it was both my first visit at a zoo and my first trip to Skansen, so that was nice.

I've been avoiding Zoos for as far back as I remember, since I really don't like the idea of animals in captivity, or see the appeal of looking at animals in cages, or even worse: knowing people make a profit off of people's indulgence in said area, but it wasn't that bad, and albeit bored - most animals seemed to be doing OK.

The cats especially. It felt almost like an odd form of justice that cats were caged as well, since they usually lead such carefree and adamant lives, in-house or out, even if they seemed to be leading as carefree lives at the zoo as anywhere else, snuggled up close to the visitor glass; oblivious to the gleeful shouts of onlooking children.

I'll be keeping an eye out for more days with free entry, preferably during a warmer time of year. We saw most of the animals, but there's more to see, and a lot of ground we had yet to cover when we left, with cold fingers and cloudy breath.

I didn't take as many pictures as I'd have liked, because for a moment I thought my fingers might fall off, but that was before we found a glasshouse and spent half an hour watching blobs of molten sand and red hot furnaces. Here's a few pictures though:

This... is Skansen! I mean: this is Stockholm. As seen from Skansen.

And from another angle.

Some people didn't seem to mind the cold.

For conclusive list of animals seen see above.

Walking through a bird cage.

And here a Heron here on the edge! Though it's a rare bird, this one was actually free; hanging out with the seals a bit. If only all animals could drop by their showcages like this, and travel around a bit; go wherever they want. I don't like looking at animals locked in like this, and maybe that's because I can relate? I mean: the society we live in is like one giant cage. I do like looking at animals though. And it's nice variation with a selection less like humans.

Overall it's been an insanely eventful four-day weekend, and my nephew left happy. We stayed up late night playing board games and Worms Crazy Golf as well; had a pretty good time. I waved him off at the airport, and slept... just a night because the day after that it was back to work as usual. And here I am now, this week, posting a bit late.

Otherwise I've been trying to catch up on doodles and other things. Same old same old. Couple of collaborations underway too, though more news on that soon later on... oh, and I totally forgot about Halloween on Monday! I attended no party's this year, but participated a bit online, and my sister's birthday celebration went well.

On the blog I posted this, this, this and this. Also read this. Here's last week.