Gotland, Sweden – Day 3

I’m sitting alone in the coziest little cafe I’ve ever seen, with beautiful string music playing in the background and the smell of freshly baked brownies tantalizing my overactive sense of smell. The coffee is the first subpar cup I’ve had in Sweden, but I hardly mind given the ambience here. It feels like I’m sitting in someone’s living room.

I have a lazy afternoon in Visby ahead of me until my ferry departs for Stockholm. It was still raining this morning and though it has since stopped, it’s still rather soggy and dreary out. I plan on cafe hopping and aimlessly wandering the streets some more until I have to leave. I am amazed at how dead Visby is. I mean, I knew it would be dead outside of the crazy summer months, but not this dead! I see all the empty tables set outside of restaurants, and maybe one table occupied inside. It’s hard to imagine the bustling streets, raucous youth, and packed cafes during the summer. Visby must take on an entirely different feel when everyone is here on holiday, and the weather is hot enough to go swimming. I imagine it must be like Block Island or Martha’s Vineyard during summer. But despite the lack of sun and excitement, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here.

I’ve only been in Sweden for 5 full days, but my impression thus far is that Swedes are not very friendly toward Americans. They aren’t mean or anything, just not friendly. They do seem friendlier when talking to other Swedes as I see them chit chat during transactions. But when I make a little joke or remark it seems to be lost on them. So perhaps they just aren’t so confident in their English to say anything beyond the basic hello or thanks to me. And that’s ok – I would rather them be terse than fake-friendly (I never did like being fake-friendly to customers when I worked in retail).

In other news, I feel no pain in my legs today after my epic bike ride around Gotland yesterday. Seriously, what does it take to make me feel anything these days?! If a 92km bike ride is painless for me, that’s just ridiculous. Granted it wasn’t too grueling, but still.

I spent the drizzly afternoon holed up in the town library, taking advantage of the free wifi on my iPad. I spent an hour catching up on emails and such before realizing that the sun had finally emerged. Blue sky, at long last!! Needless to say, I dove back into town and took a bunch of pictures just to have some without a cloudy white sky in the background. I hiked to the top of the hill to get the best view over the town. I got a wee bit distracted taking pictures of myself on the hill, which proved difficult without a tripod or remote with me. Then I realized my shots started getting underexposed, and I looked up to see massive clouds rolling in from sea. Crap. As fast as the sun had come out, the rain began to fall. I can’t get over how fickle the weather is in Gotland. Literally one minute it’s clear blue skies, and the next there’s a huge cloud sweeping across the island and it’s pouring rain. It’s like New England weather in fast motion. The nice thing is that it all happens so fast, meaning the rain clears up before long.

I took the 4:45 ferry back to the mainland. Did I mention how much enjoy this ride? 3+ hours of photo editing, with the luxury of being able to roam around at will (unlike on a train or bus). I had two frivolous cups of coffee and munched on grocery store snacks in lieu of a proper (read: overpriced) meal. Glorious.

And then it was back to Stockholm, where I had about 2 hours before my train to Copenhagen. I grabbed some chicken nuggets at the Swedish fast food joint called Max, which i took to be a healthier version of McD’s based on the excessive green colors used in all their displays. A reasonable assumption, no?

And oh boy did I luck out with the bottom bed in a 3-berth sleeper car! It was glorious. I really love taking overnight trains, so long as I have a bed, that is. I learned from prior trips that I don’t get any sleep when sitting upright in a seat or laying on a bench-turned-bed that might as well be the floor. You’re in a tiny compartment that could very well be described as claustrophobic, yet to me it feels cozy and secure. You feel the motion of the train and hear the whizzing sound it makes speeding through stations. I can’t get enough!

Thankfully I was sharing the compartment with a Swedish girl who caught me up to speed on how the night train works – namely, that we each get a wakeup call about a half hour before our scheduled arrival, so there’s no chance of oversleeping. Whew.