Tvätta kläder i Stockholm - Washing Clothes in Stockholm

The primary focus of today is our third, and final, clothes wash, of the holiday, but also more time to spend in this delightful city. But before we go into that details let's begin with the early parts of the day.

Morning

I wake up after a good night's sleep at 4am. I edit and upload the photos we took yesterday, a large number yet again.

Drew wakes up at 6am and I make a cup of coffee for us both. Then we shower and get ready for breakfast. 

Breakfast

We go upstairs to breakfast at 7am, it is quieter today that yesterday, but the food is still excellent, though there aren't enough cakes for Drew's preference, he doesn't mind the biscuits. 

Blogging

As the laundry doesn't open until 9.30am, I use the hour after breakfast to update the blog. I'm writing about Vilinus to Riga a whole eight days ago. I've never got so far behind on a holiday blog, but thanks to making contemporaneous notes I have plenty to go on.

Metro

At 9am we walk across the to Tunnelbana and catch the T19 to Odenplan, 3 stops from the Central Station. This is the route:

We arrive at Tvättomaten i Stockholm (Washing Machines of Stockholm) at 9.27am three minutes before opening time, a young American couple are already waiting.

A very friendly man arrives and opens up, he tells all five of us:

Fill baskets to tell how much you need, tell me the temperature and whether it can be dried. One machine 200Kr.

Having put our washing into the baskets it is clear we will need two machines at 40c (our standard at home) and all our clothes can be tumbled dried, so we left the clothes with them and agreed to return in an hour and a half or two hours paying 400Kr (£28.80).

Bus

We decide to use the bus to visit two of the churches we hadn't yet seen in our visit to Stockholm.  

We caught the number 2 bus to the ferry port at Slussen,

there is a lot of renovation going on in this part of the City, so the walk to the first of the two churches in the area wasn't up a long gentle path, but up a set of stairs that reminded me of the stairs described in Barbary Lane in Tales of the City. 

Katarina Church

The first church here on the island of Södermalm is called Katarina Church (St. Catherine's) a beautiful 17th century baroque Lutheran Church.

The church is not open, but has lovely grounds were even this early in the day people are gathered to sit and take in the lovely weather. The church grounds have their own beehive.

and well-kept graves.

Sofia Church

The second church, a half mile along the island, is named Sofia after Queen Sophia of Nassau. It was commissioned by King Oscar II in honour of his new queen following a competition among architects. Completed in 1906 it bares comparison with the Kallio Church, built in the same era in Helsinki.

Returning for the washing

We leave St. Sophia's and walk to the bus stop

catching the number 66 bus from Sofia to Medborgasplaten

then the Tunnelbana from Medborgasplaten back to Odenplan

Our route so far has been like this:

Arriving back at Odenplan we walk the twelve blocks to the nearest ATM and take out 400Kr having not used cash anywhere else in Sweden.

The clothes are wrapped in plastic bags which we pile into our case and travel back by tunnelbana (T17) the three stops to Centralan arriving back at the hotel at 11.55am.

Checking Out

We sort our clothes and the other items in the room and are packed and ready to check out by 12.15pm. We again avail of the hotel's luggage room put our luggage there for later. 

Co-Pilot's Lunch

You will have noticed, dear reader, that during the course of this voyage we have had numerous poncy dinners, and yet only one tiny, little, itsy-bitsy pizza. So, and after copious amounts of nagging, the Pilot, decided, perhaps somewhat foolishly, and no doubt driven by the notion that he could sneak in an extra dinner later in the evening, decided that I could pick the location for lunch.

Being of a practical and logical mindset, dear readers, I felt that healthy, nutritious burgers were the order of the day, however this caused some consternation in the ranks!! The conversion as was, went something like this:

Mr B: You can pick somewhere for lunch, if you want.

<< Drew Ponders >> 

Drew: We can have a burger.

Mr B: I'm not having a burger.

Drew: Don't be a taker-backer - you're having a burger.

Mr B: Don't want one!

Drew: You're having one.

Mr B: DONT WANT A BASTARD BURGER

Drew: BUT YOU'RE BLOODY WELL HAVING A BASTARD BURGER

And do you know what dear readers! - He damn well had a Bastard Burger: 

This fine emporium, dear readers, of nutritious and healthy delights, welcomes us with open arms to: 

This is what we had 

and it was very enjoyable whatever he says!!

Bookshop

After lunch we head back to the windy streets of Gamla Stan 

where Drew goes into a bookshop to buy two books to strengthen his written Swedish.

St. Gertrude's Church

While in Gamla Stan we visit the Church of St. Gertrude, known locally as the German Church, which was not open when we walked past two days ago. This has some of the smartest stained glass we have come across. You can see it all on Flickr - here, but here is a taster:

 

Gustaf Vasa Church

From Gamla Stan we catch the T17 metro back up to Odenplan. This morning we had passed the attractive church called Gustaf Vasa Church, but it was closed, we noted the opening time and returned, we were glad we did, as it is light, bright and amazing.

Again, Flickr is the best place to see all the photos, starting here the inside is amazing marble. This is no strict protestant traditional church but a midpoint between strict protestant tradition, not unlike some of the High Anglican tradition we see in the UK.

Back to the Hotel

We caught the number 53 bus back to the hotel. This is the same bus we caught three days ago when we arrived in the city. It seems right to be ending as we started. It went right from outside Gustaf Vasa Church to the City Centre and we knew our way to the hotel this time. 

Accounting note 

This being our last ride on Stockholm public transport it is worth noting that, we have travelled via various methods 17 times since we arrived in the city. At 39Kr per ride this would total to 663Kr when we paid 330Kr for the three day ticket. In the case of the over 65s, i.e. me, at 26kr per ride this equates to a cost of 442Kr when we paid 220Kr. So, a saving of 333Kr and 222Kr respectively or 555Kr (£40) when combined - well worth it and so convenient too. 

SJ Lounge

Having arrived at our hotel at 3.30pm we pick up our cases from the luggage room and head over to the station. As our overnight train trip is technically a First Class ticket we are able to make use of the SJ (Swedish Trains) Lounge at the station.

We arrive at 3.45pm and they have some lovely coffee and plenty of cold water, as the day is again warming up. 

I used the time, and their free wifi, to uploaded all the pictures we took today so far to Flickr before going on to a wifi free train for the next 12 and a half hours! 

Onto platform at 5:15pm for train at 5:34pm. I'm not sure why a sleeper should need boarding earlier than a regular train but it seems everyone had the same plan as when the train arrives at the platform at 5:25pm it is a packed platform. 

The story of the overnight journey will form the content of the next blog post.