Journal no. 3

 we went to Uppsala for a day trip (say oohp-sala). it's an old university town about an hour from Stockholm. my friend studied there on exchange so i was looking forward to experiencing a bit of the atmosphere.
we brought one-way tickets for SEK 84 at the vending machine at Stockholm rail station.
it was a bit troublesome because the vending machine needed local credit cards and stuff, so foreigners like us can't get it at this price, and C had to buy it for us.

the station was spacious and modern with hints of history. the train itself was also spacious, clean and comfortable.
we arrived at Uppsala station, which was thoroughly modern, because the original station is now used as a fancy restaurant. the guy at the tourist information center was cute and humorous - he was fake-angry at the Danes and said xie xie after trying to find out the languages we knew :P

Uppsala showed us its pretty side, with the greenery, canals and colourful houses. no ugly modern buildings on this side! and the students were on vacation so it was quiet.

we got a do-able itinerary from the tourist center, except that the rain threatened to spoil our plans.
first was the University Library that housed a small exhibition on the Silver Bible, a very old manuscript.
the interior was very functional, i.e. nothing ornate to admire.

next to the library was the Uppsala Castle, situated on a hill overlooking the city.
castle = slott in Swedish, another awesome word.
it was very stout and fortress-like, but it's colour is so on-trend! lol. we didn't go inside to the exhibition.


the battlements on the castle hill faced this lovely garden, the University Botanical Garden.
admission was free and there were lots of interesting flowering plants to admire.
unfortunately we were in a hurry and only explored a corner of the garden.

a ridiculously pretty water feature on the river.

the Uppsala Cathedral, whose interior is terrifically old and grand. it was filled with decorative stone  markers from the 1700s worn down by the footsteps of visitors, life-like statues of dead monarchs and gorgeous stained glass.
we had lunch at the al fresco area of Saluhallen (the food hall) overlooking the river, shaded by the large white umbrellas.

one of the set lunches of the day - slabs of tender pork with mash and apple salad - yummmm~
the buffet bread/salad wasn't anything to shout about, but the view that accompanied the food was certainly magnificent.

C showed about a bit more, to an old and seriously cute cafe with an interior like something from a Jane Austen movie, and also the shop where she bought tea from. it had floor to ceiling shelves of  tea blends in 2 litre oriental tea bins. i think that's where my slight obsession with tea got fired up.
then she was to go back home, so she helped us to buy the return train tickets when we went to see her off.

we explored Uppsala by foot, so we walked all the way to Carl Linnaeus's Garden, but didn't go in because there was an admission fee. #cheapo
so we went into his house instead for free, with free audio guides!
he was an esteemed professor who studied flora and fauna and created the system for naming them.
it was a modest mid-sized house lovingly maintained with a tiled stove in every room.

we sat by the river for a bit, and saw a family on a floating garden raft.
on the bridge were these huge balls of real flowers, which were amazing.
this area was so picturesque and relaxed, it was unreal.
then we went back to the shopping district, which was rather busy. we sat there until it was time to go catch our train.