Extreme contrasts
Landed as scheduled early in the morning at Arlanda airport and take the train to Uppsala, where I meet Carter. First impressions of Uppsala: there is no one here.
Flying from crowded, noisy, dirty, hot, humid SE Asia to cold, quiet, clean, sparsely populate Sweden has been a shock to the system. We spend the afternoon wandering around the centre of Uppsala and visit the main church and some of the main streets. There is hardly anyone around. We take the bus to a lake nearby — still no one around. Carter asks a lady near the lake “is there a beach/sitting area nearby with more people?”
“More people?!” she repeats. Her expressions and tone imply that we are crazy to think we’ll find more people. “It’s Sunday afternoon…” she says.
So it’s Sunday afternoon, and no one is out and about. Uppsala is a charming little town with lots of old buildings mixed with modern rather boring looking apartments. Not quite the stylish Sweden I was expecting, but this is only the 4th largest city in the country and half the population in Uppsala is made up of students. Most of the students have left the city over the last few weeks, as classes have ended for summer break.
The weather is much chillier…I’m used to the heat and humidity in Asia and the wind chills me…it feels so cold! But the days here are long…and will continue to get longer until midsommar on June 21st. At midnight, although the sun has set, it’s not truly dark. The sky still holds blue light. And the “darkness” doesn’t last long; in a few hours time, the sun will rise again. I’m enjoying the long days and it throws my sense of time off. Walking back at 7pm, it’s hot and sunny and feels like 1pm in the afternoon. You can get a lot done with days like this.
