Ostersund August 9th

We Move to Ostersund August 9, 2006

We needed to leave the hotel at 5:45am this morning so that we could take the T- bana (subway) and get to the Central Station in the city center (this line is 4 layers down), navigate the maze of the underground and then find the correct platform. Sound confusing? Our Intercity train from Stockholm to Ostersund was scheduled to leave at 7am. (We missed the 5:45am T-bana because I was moving slow and we then had to wait 15 minutes for the next train. (See the picture of Happy Holly)

We made it to central in plenty of time, found our Intercity train and it left on time. We had a pleasant enough trip, except for a group of local youths who were behaving badly, and arrived in Ostersund around 2pm. We continue to be amazed at the clean efficient train systems in Sweden, although they are not inexpensive. These trains are much more modern than the ones across the Trans-Siberian Rail. These toilets do not flush directly onto the ground and they are available all the time, even while the train is sitting at stations.

Ostersund is about 500 kilometers north of Stockholm and the countryside consists of rolling hills with numerous lakes, forests, streams and rivers. This quaint town sits on the shores of Lake Storsjon and at the foot of the Oviksfjallen Mountains.

We walked the half kilometer to our hotel (Hotell Jamteborg) from the train station and after checking in, we headed for the tourist office. I have wanted to do some fishing so we were looking for information. There are a lot of options and when we pick up the car on Friday we will find somewhere to fish on our way to Kiruna.

We strolled down by the lakeside, hoping to find a waterside cafe, but at 3pm, nothing was open. We walked a few blocks back toward town and found a nice pizzeria where we enjoyed very delicious and very expensive pizza.

We did some browsing as we strolled around the center of town, generally working our way back to the hotel and calling it a day.