Dec. 14 - Learning the Tube

Detailed directions to & from Ska Edeby were a gift from Maria, waiting for me when I awoke two hours after she left for work, my internal clock stubbornly refusing to jive with the Swedish one on my bedside.  

The Swedish train system is renowned.  Known also as an underground art gallery, with each station having a theme, it surpasses its functional beauty with precision timing & immaculate trains.

An art installation at a central Stockholm station. There are five windows with simulated tunnels dug into the wall & representations of global landmarks.

Living so far outside a major urban area would pose a problem in most places I’ve lived or visited...we’d certainly have many hours added to our time, requiring multiple transfers, should we want to travel from the far suburbs to inner Minneapolis.   They simply wouldn’t find that efficient in Stockholm.  Buses from even her remote area run hourly, with transfers to the next leg arriving every 15 minutes.  Save that first bus, which carries you just over a kilometer, making a short walk easier than waiting for the bus should you miss the hourly pickup right outside your door, I never  had to wait more than ten minutes to make the dozens of train and bus transfers in my first week.  Large signs pronounce the next arrival down to the minute & calm voices call out each new stop well in advance. 

Maria & I planned to meet after she got off work, so I left early, arriving at the Odenplan tube station about two hours before we were going to connect.  The station opened into a broad street, decorated for the holidays, with shops & restaurants lining each roads off the intersection.  A large church loomed beautifully over the entire area, from a slightly raised vantage, so I climbed towards a thick wooden church door, getting my bearings before sliding into the sanctuary’s silence.

A small church model was in the children's niche in the back of the church.  Many sanctuaries in Sweden have a children's play space for during the ceremony.  (The top of the steeple was about 20 feet high.)

It was fun to see an elephant in the creche set!

Our 2010 European trip taught us to expect a calming combination of splendor & spirituality when we visited spaces of worship in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark Switzerland & Sweden.  We never became jaded, no matter how many we visited, & my time in this first of several churches in Stockholm brought me immediately back to strolling through silent serenity with Kaitlin & Alec.


My first solo venture into the city ended with a relaxing cappiccino in a cafe/deli that filled their dessert case with beautiful treats, including marzipan pigs & tomte, the Swedish version of Santa Claus.