Before I do, something I forgot to mention in Malmö is that during the game, one of the supporters' chants had the drum beat of the Hoodoo Gurus' "Like Wow Wipeout", then they shouted, "MALMÖ!"
Anyway, yesterday morning I didn't do much. Had breakfast again at the hotel in Malmö. That time I had their pancakes, which were palm-sized pitas, as well as a croissant and toast. Polished it off with OJ again.
I just hung out in the hotel room until checkout: 12 PM.
Check-in for my room in Ystad wasn't until 3 PM, so I took my time at Malmö's central train station. They have a little food court there. I got a slider and a can of Coke.
I hopped on a train to Ystad, which left Malmö around 1:25 PM. The ride took about an hour.
I wandered around Ystad a little bit, looking for my hotel. My directions had me lost, so I went into the Tourism Office, since it was right there across from the train tracks.
The hotel was about 50 yards from the Tourism Office. I just had to cut through an alley and it was right there:
After dropping my gear off, I hit an ATM nearby. I didn't want to use my credit card for every purchase. Took out 1,500 kroner (about $160USD).
I spent the rest of the afternoon deciding what I was going to do the next day . . . Monday was pretty much a travel day.
For dinner, I wandered around for almost an hour. Couldn't find any real restaurants. Some cafes that closed at 4 PM, several Asia food joints, and restaurants with "pizzeria" on their windows. I eventually settled on a Thai place. Sad day for me, they're a cashless establishments. Damn you, tech heads, and your phasing out of dollar bills!
I settled on chicken and vegetables. Of course it came with white rice. It was a bit spicy and fell in the fast food column, IMO, and since I was right next door to Denmark, I ordered a Carlsberg beer. Disappointing that it was a green plastic bottle and not completely cold. Didn't even finish it. Maybe for the best, since I had a drinking problem up until March 1, 2012.
After dinner I wandered around a bit. At one point I crossed the train tracks and took this pic at 8:23 PM:
Today, Tuesday, I had breakfast here at the "hotel". I put it in quotes because it's basically a boarding house. My room is super tiny. There's about a foot on three sides of my bed. Like the old sitcom line goes, "Now I realized why it was so cheap."
After having toast and OJ for breakfast, I got a shower and split around 9:30 AM. Near the Tourism Office is Wallander Cafe. I hopped in and bought a little triangular treat and a can of Coke.
Next I walked about a mile to Ystad Studios, where they shot some of the Wallander episodes and films.
There wasn't a tour, per se, you just kinda walk around on your own, though the two women there were helpful. I was kinda bummed they didn't take cash, only electronic payment. The twenty-something who took my "money", led me to an area behind the front desk where a 10-minute film ran with an Ystad police officer talking mainly about the Swedish TV show and a little about the BBC production. Oh, real quick, before the film started, I was talking to the twenty-something girl and she mentioned that Denmark and Sweden weren't joined by a bridge until 2001. WHAAAT?!!!? Before that you had to take a ferry. And I did mention I've been watching the Danish TV show UNIT ONE, which started around the year 2000. She said it was very popular at the time and the first of those type of crime shows. Her parents used to watch it.
The tour was pretty cool. It wasn't all Wallander. Apparently the studio is still active, though the salad days are behind them with the two Wallander productions. One exhibit was really cool: a video interview with Henning Mankell.
Before I left, I asked the other Ystad employee, a woman about my age, maybe younger, though at least 40 years old, about local Wallander shooting locations. She mentioned she was in Philly around '95 while working for UNICEF. She stayed with a family in the suburbs but couldn't remember the town. She did say our Penguins were doing well. Had to tell her they're on the other side of the state, yo!
After making a pit stop at the hotel, I walked to an Espresso House for lunch, but they didn't take cash, so I headed a block away to some fast food joint called MAX. Bought six chicken nuggets and a kid's box of apple juice. I got lost on the way back to the hotel because I tried taking a back way . . . but it's so confusing with the serpentine streets.
I ate my lunch at the hotel and the nuggets were a mistake. Gave me wicked indigestion.
I skipped to the Tourist Office again to buy some souvenirs for my mother and nephew, the latter whose birthday is in June. Took a while cuz I wanted to get it right and make sure it won't get damaged in my suitcase.
Then I walked in a couple blocks to a pool that's being renovated into housing, I think. I just wanted to check it out because in the BBC Wallander, it was used as the exterior for the police station. Pretty cool.
Spent the rest of the afternoon at the hotel. For dinner I went to a restaurant that's across from yesterday's ATM. I ordered garlic bread for a starter and a main course of salmon, vegetables and potatoes. Interestingly the salmon was cold. Guess that's how they roll in the sleepy seaside town of Ystad. The meal came out to 299 kroner but I gave the girl 400 cuz I need to get rid of this cash before I leave — different currency in Denmark . . . still called kroner, though.
After dinner I walked to 10 Mariagatan Street, where in the Swedish TV show, and maybe in the books, Wallander lived. Cool pic, I think:
On my way back to the hotel, I saw there was a race going on. It was seven o'clock at night. You Swedes so crazy. Guess that's what you get with a town of 20,000. (There were at least 100 racing.)
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