Sunday, June 11, 2017

Scandinavia 2017 - The Blur of High Speed Rail

We had, as it happened, an overly romantic notion of what the rail trip would be like between Stockholm and Copenhagen. As it turns out the countryside looked much like that found in the upper Midwestern United States.

After fighting Stockholm's rush hour traffic we found our platform and boarded car number 3 searching for seats number 47 and 48. We discovered, a little to our chagrin, that our seats did not have a window. After a short time I was less upset about this than I was at first. For those who have traveled by high speed rail you know how fast the outside world flies by. Forests and fields become a green blur. Combined with the ups and downs and occasional wild swings back and forth on this particular route a window right by our seats might have been nauseating.

 I spent much of the time observing a dad trying to keep his two young sons entertained and distracted during the 5 hour ride. For the most part the boys amused themselves, getting along remarkably well for brothers. Not fighting and arguing as some do, particularly at the tender ages of these two. The small one had an "boo boo" at one point, we didn't see the accident, but is was a sweet sight to see the father comfort him. He seemed a loving and attentive dad, enjoying this time with his sons.

Pulling into the Copenhagen station after a ride described to us by a Stockholm tobacco shop keeper the day before, not inaccurately, as resembling a roller coaster, we got off and discovered that the temperature was in the mid 80's with bright sun and that the population of Copenhagen had lost it's collective mind.

1 comment:

  1. I enjoyed your photos on FB: thank you for sharing you journey with us.

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