Exploring SWEDEN as a RUSSIAN | Malmö to Stockholm by train, Swedish traditions & Russian folklore!
I've just took a 40 minutes bus ride, and I'm already in another country. So in Sweden, I'm going to visit not only the capital but also the city of Malmo, where I am now. So in this video, we will walk around Malmo and Stockholm, learn about local traditions with my Swedish friend, go to an ethnographic museum, and even find something that reminds me of Russia. Let's go!
If you watched my previous video about Denmark, you know how I got here. So I took a Flixbus from Copenhagen to Malmo, and for some people, it is just a daily commute, like 40 minutes. But here, there are two different countries, and they are connected by this bridge that was mentioned in the famous series where two police departments of both countries had to investigate a crime because it was committed exactly in the middle of the bridge. So I heard about this only from the show, but now I personally was on that bridge.
The idea of this bridge is very interesting, so I decided to Google a picture of how it looks from above. So here is the picture of the bridge. It looks so cool! So this must be Denmark, and here it goes over to this... Wait, is this Sweden? Like, I thought it would be bigger! So if my final point was Malmo, it's probably somewhere here, and then I will take a train to Stockholm. Probably this is Stockholm, so I will go like this. But, like, I'm confused—where is IKEA? Where did they film the Midsommar movie? Wow, you live, you learn. I really didn't know. Am I on an island? But how did they manage to fit all these facilities, all the cities, in such a small place? Wow, that's some impressive Nordic city planning. I'm shocked!
I was going to go to a park, but now I'm actually walking in the middle of a cemetery. It is my first time seeing a place like this in the city center. So it's adjacent to the big park. In Russia, you would never see cemeteries in a normal place where people walk. Usually, in Russia, a graveyard is a place outside of the city. Gravestones are different—they are larger, and there are these big plastic wreaths, and just a different color and style of monuments. Here, I feel that it's okay to walk here; I feel that it is normal when a cemetery is located in a park where people relax. But in Russia,
it would be like... a cemetery would be a very uncomfortable place to be. What a nice river! So here, I'm walking in a park, it's called Slottsparken, although it was quite hard to figure out its name on Google Maps because there is another park called Kungsparken, and it's just one big continuous park. And it seems that there's some big celebration. I wonder, what is the fest for? Wow, I found myself amidst some big celebration. Is it the Midsummer Festival? Are they going to sacrifice someone to the gods? Sorry, but I will be making a reference to this movie throughout the whole video. And there are some interesting things,
and there are many kids' activities like fencing competitions and so on. Very cool! On my way to the train station, I discovered myself in some very big festival again, and there was a food part with so many different dishes. But I took a big combo from Ethiopian cuisine, which was good but too big for me. So this is my train, and it's considered a fancy option because it is a high-speed train, and it will take me to Stockholm in just 4 and a half hours instead of 8 hours by a regular train. Honestly, it doesn't look fancy from the outside in comparison with Russian trains like Sapsan or Lastochka. But of course, not all trains in Russia
look like Sapsan—only between Moscow and St. Petersburg probably. And of course, I'm still a big fan of our good old platzkart from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok that I took a lot. But yeah, I would like to see what it's like to ride a high-speed train. The journey was nice. The restroom was clean, and they even had vomit bags if you feel sick, and I didn't see such bags in trains in other European countries.
Welcome to Stockholm! So, what can I say about this train? It was pretty regular, but it was unusual for me that the carriage was tilting on turns, so it was doing such movements. It was very unusual—maybe it has something to do with a different kind of rails. But yeah, it is so beautiful here, and it's almost 9 p.m., and pretty light still. Now, let's explore the city of Stockholm! We have so many buildings, and even air balloons are flying above this little island! Or maybe I'm mistaken here, I don't know. But correct me in the comments. Anyway, what I know for sure is that Sweden is the birthplace of one really famous furniture store, and it's so cool that I had the opportunity to explore it with a local friend. Here I am,
actually not in an apartment but in IKEA, with my Swedish friend Josephine. Hello everyone! Josephine today will be my tour guide, and actually, we met in Georgia. That’s why I’m wearing this Georgian t-shirt. What can you tell me about IKEA? Yeah, we are in IKEA, which is very symbolic since it's a Swedish furniture store. As you see, they build up this room where you can walk around. You can sit on the sofas, lay on the bed, see the kitchen, and you can also have traditional Swedish food here, which we are about to do later on—eat Swedish meatballs. Let's go! - Yes. I heard that in IKEA you can actually lay on the bed, but I never believed it. Like,
how is it real that you can do this in the store? But here, yes, I’m in, and I can sit here. Wow! There used to be an IKEA in Russia, but only in big cities, and this store was actually very popular. But in 2022, the company suspended its operations in Russia after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. So this is my first time in IKEA, and it is symbolic that it happened in its homeland.
Another feature of IKEA is the unusual product names. Some of them are a play on words and sound especially funny if you know Swedish. In IKEA, they also have these different names for every item, and sometimes they’re very funny. And this one is called
"omtänksam," which means that you kind of take care of someone. And these are for, um, for the shoes when you want to put on your shoe. So these “take cares” of you! Yeah, it helps you with your shoe. It's funny because in Russian, we call this thing just a 'spoon for boots.'
What about this name? It says here "bästis." Yeah, 'bästis,' that means 'best friend.' Oh yeah! I see why such a thing can be a bestie for you. Exactly! This one looks fancier. Is it pronounced "mjukplister?" Yes, you can say that. I don't know what it means.
I think maybe "plister is a pattern or something. I don’t know. And "mjuk"—it sounds like soft. Yeah, it does sound soft. I wouldn’t necessarily say that this is Swedish style, though. This is just very... Yeah... it feels like... I don't know, 'Count Dracula style' So, this one looks like Swedish style? Yeah, this is more the Swedish style, I would say. More like beige, white, and yeah, it looks so minimalistic This is called "knorrif," it is like a tail.
So it's like a 'taily piggie' They're so cute. This is called "jungle". Yeah, it makes sense because it's all elephants and lions. So cute! Oh my god,
you know, I was such a fan of lions as a kid. It looked like a metro map from a distance, but it’s actually a map of the different departments of IKEA. Where are we now? We are in the red spot there, the children’s section. Later we want to go towards the food.
Yay! Try the traditional IKEA Swedish meatballs. So now, I have the opportunity to try out some more undergrounds in Stockholm, and here’s how it looks. You see some art, and actually, all the subway stations here in Stockholm are some sort of exhibition, like an art exhibition. So, it’s an art project, and in every subway, you can see different kinds of art. This one has some colors, and it’s a bit like a cave-ish. My personal favorite is the one in 'Stadion,' and that’s like a rainbow. It’s blue and then a rainbow, and I really like that one.
I like that it’s simple but also looks like some modern abstract art. This station is called "T-Centralen," and we’re here to change to another metro. This is another design—looks like buinders. It's very unusual because I am used to seeing metro stations in post-Soviet countries. In Denmark, it was also interesting, but here, it’s something else. I also want to point out this mosaic here; again, it’s some abstract art.
So, this is a street called "Hornsgatan," and it’s a very cool street. It has a lot of secondhand stores, and it’s also ranked as one of the best streets—not the whole street, but the small part we just went through—because it has so many secondhand shops and thrift stores. It’s very cool to just stroll around. They also have many pretty cafés and everything, you know? I really like this street.
And here we found a vintage store, but it’s for furniture and household items—so cool! I just like how retro this book looks. Serbia for some reason... So, this area is called "Maria," or "Mariatorget." They say "Bevara Maria Queer," which means like "Keep Maria queer", like "Keep this area queer" I love this! And also, we are going to go for a Swedish fika here. Or what’s the correct pronunciation?
Fika, yeah, you said it right. I just say 'fika,' like in Russian, but probably it’s 'fika.'" So can you please tell us about this tradition? Yes, so we have something called 'fika,' which is the Swedish word for having coffee and a sweet treat. So, the traditional Swedish fika is usually based on 'kanelbulle' or 'kanelbiscuit,' which is what you picked here. Normally, it’s not with those almonds. And this is something called 'biskvi' I guess that’s not the most traditional one to pick, but that’s one of my favorites. Then, you usually have filtered coffee, but it’s warm outside, so we decided to take iced coffee.
And yeah, this is a Swedish word that every Swedish person loves—"fika." It brings people together. Is it at particular time of day? Usually, it’s around 3:00, but it can eaten be whenever you want. Yes! So cool, because I’ve heard about this a lot, but it’s my first time experiencing it. But I still have a question: there are so many buildings, but how do you guys manage to fit it all on such a small space? What do you mean? But, I mean, do you know this bridge that I crossed from Denmark to Sweden? Like, when I looked at its picture... Can you Google it
Yeah, let me just Google it. So, you see here? It’s Denmark, right? Then there’s the bridge, and it ends on some island. Guys, was I the only one who didn’t know about this? Yeah...
Okay, actually, I understand now that I was mistaken, and Josefin explained to me that that island is not Sweden. And you know what? She also told me that the Earth is round! Can you imagine? Jokes aside, obviously, Sweden is located on the Scandinavian Peninsula, and they have enough space for Malmö and Stockholm, and celebrating Midsummer. Speaking of islands, guys, did you know that Stockholm, the capital, is actually located on 14 islands? But when I first arrived in the city center, it didn’t feel like I was on one of the islands. Only when you look at the map, you see all these little islands. My hotel is located on the very central island, called Gamla Stan. I didn’t plan this, because when I was booking the hotel, I didn’t know where the city center was, and I wanted to avoid it. Gamla Stan translates as "the old town," and it
is a nice little island with historical buildings, important museums, and these cobbled narrow streets. Probably it seems cool to live on such an island, but honestly, I don’t like it because it’s uncomfortable. There are too many tourists. It’s annoying. And yes, I am also an annoying tourist for them, but of course, I think I’m better than other people. But yeah, whenever I want to go get breakfast, I just go to a café, and it’s very overpriced and not of good quality. So, I would prefer to live somewhere maybe in a residential area, but here’s a trick: I don’t know how to find a place that is not too touristy but also not in a sketchy area.
My hotel is situated in one of these old buildings, and probably it used to be some fancy apartment building because I actually don’t have a restroom in my room. I share it with the neighboring rooms, and we have this nice common area. Probably this is how old apartments looked, but now I’ve come to another island, called Djurgården, "Animal Farm." I came to this island by ferry, and in fact, Google Maps wouldn’t show me this route. It first showed me a route by tram, but my friend told me I could take a ferry here. So here I am, and here I want to visit a museum called Skansen. It’s an open-air museum where you can see how old Swedish houses looked. So let’s go!
I bought the ticket, and they asked me if I wanted to take the funicular or hike. I said the latter, so now I have to go up, which is... well, okay. Wow, so beautiful! We’re just walking here, seeing the view of this water and some apartment blocks. Due to the proximity to the northern part of Russia, I would assume that a lot of Swedish architecture is similar to old Russian houses. For example, this wooden house or that one.
And here’s another—a Swedish hay barn, particularly from the north of Sweden. But you will not fool me because, guys, this is literally a hut on chicken legs, a house of Baba Yaga from Slavic folklore. It’s like a forest witch who can be good or bad, depending on the situation. Guys, look at this structure! Are you kidding me? Like, this exactly looks like the Russian folklore hut, and I’m so shocked! I didn't know that it also existed here on the territory of Sweden. Isn't it amazing how much this resembles this traditional Russian folklore house? Because when I was growing up, I would read these fairy tales about Baba Yaga living in this hut, and I considered this hut as some cartoonish fairy tale thing. But now, actually, I understand how people came up with the idea, why they documented it in folklore, because they saw such structures like hundreds of years ago. Oh
my God, it's so amazing, especially because now I'm not in Russia. Apparently, back then, there were no borders, and people would have similar architecture, but yeah, it's just so amazing. But actually, it is a Sami camp. So, Sami is the ethnic minority, nomadic people, and it's very interesting that the Sami people live on the intersection of four countries: Norway, Sweden, Russia, and Finland. In Russia, it's particularly the north of the Kola Peninsula,
and it's a very interesting people. I sometime ago watched a movie, Sami Blood, and there they told the story of these people and kind of colonization situation from the Swedish government side. And when I think about the Sami people, I feel so sorry for those who live on the territory of Russia. Imagine you live, yeah, you as a Russian citizen, but you know that you have Sami heritage. And you do communicate with your people who live on the Swedish or Finnish territory, but you know that they have better conditions than you.
They have their own congress or their cultural events, preserving their language, and they do invite the Sami people from the Russian side. Because in Russia, basically, those villages in the north—and I mean close to Moscow too—villages are dying out and there is no development. This situation gives us the opportunity to compare different political regimes. So, I Googled Sami parliaments, and they exist in Finland, Norway, and Sweden, but in Russia, it's only a form of non-governmental organization. Their autonomy and independence, and even basically their right to assemble, is constantly oppressed by the government because the Russian authorities are really scared of expressing any form of individualism.
So, I just feel so sorry that it's only the group that lives in another country that can do that. I have a Vietnamese flashback seeing this fence. I wish in Russia it was also used only for this purpose. Hello, would you welcome it into your house? Okay, they might be dangerous actually, because I've lived with chickens, and I know their kind 25 Euro ticket was justified. I like the concept of this place—a combination of museums, zoo, old farm exhibition. So, it's really cool, especially for spending time with your family.
So, this was my video about Sweden. I hope it was interesting to watch. Thanks to my local friend Josephine for showing me around. I wish I could return there and explore the city more, and the residential areas. I also like the fact that I visited another city, Malmö, and even took a train between these cities. I also took a train on my way to the airport in
Stockholm, and it was a high-speed express train, and it was really nice and smooth. From Stockholm, I took a flight to Berlin, so Germany is my next country on this channel. And by the way, regarding this photo where I mistook this piece of land for Sweden—yeah, it is a piece of soil, but it doesn't even belong to Sweden. It's a part of Denmark,
and Sweden is over there on the peninsula already. So, the road of the bridge starts on the territory of Denmark, then it goes under the water, then again there is this island belonging to Denmark, and then the bridge starts. I wonder how many people at the beginning of this video thought that I was being serious when I said I thought it was Sweden. So, thanks for watching. Like this video, write your comments, you can also subscribe to my channel or support me by becoming my Patron or a YouTube sponsor. Have a nice day or a week, and goodbye. Poka-poka!
2024-10-03 18:24