Day 14, 26 June 2014 - Copenhagen (farewell Central Station - pictured) to Malmo and on to Stockholm. Finally in ABBA land - and there's a Thai joint next to my hotel - Veges!!!

Train travel between countries always feels like an alternate universe to those of us from Downunder. Wake up, trundle across the road to the station, jump on train that takes 33 minutes to cross a bridge and woo hoo! I'm in Sweden - Malmo to be precise (doesn't IKEA make a bookcase called that?) Managed to get some kronor out of an ATM - gone from 5 to A$1 in Denmark to $6 to A$1 here - so that's good. Hilarious moment at the ATM. There was an elderly lady with a walking stick in front of me. I didn't want to hurry her, so moved away and did mental maths figuring out how many kronor to get... went back to the ATM a few minutes later and thought a miracle had occurred... she'd left her walking stick behind. She came back rather unsteadily a minute or so later... not sure how far she'd gone before she'd realised. Shared a smile. Then it was onto the super comfy train to Stockholm - 5 hours / $45 - mind you I bought the super cheap ticket in April 2014. Sweden is very flat. Very green. Lots of trees. And water. That was about it for 5 hours. It's the fifth largest country in Europe but has only 9 million people. By comparison, Italy has 61 million odd - in a country half the size (though even Italy didn't seem crowded when we were there). Upon reaching Stockholm I received my first Swedish price shock. For the train from Central 1 stop to the south to Sodra... 3 minutes... that was 47SEK/$8!!! Waaaark (cue the Scrooge McDuck sound). Luckily it'll be the last ticket I have to buy... Stockholm City Card kicks off tomorrow and that includes all my transport. Luckily indeed. On a positive note, if I'd take a cab that short distance, it could have been 440 SEK instead of 44 (at A$16 per 100 SEK - jeez $70!)

Time for a post travel day rest and planning for the next 3 days. The Hotel Alexandra is the most luxurious off my accommodations thus far. I have a bathroom of my very own. Nice.