James O'Brien

If you’re planning a visit to Uppsala and you like things to be open, Monday probably isn’t the day you should visit. In the back of my mind, I knew most museums and galleries were probably going to be closed, but I headed off anyway. The train from Stockholm takes about an hour, and costs you a bit extra, not otherwise covered by the travel card. Along the way, I also discovered you can use your Stockholm travel card all the way to Arlanda Airport, but again you need to pay an extra 75k for the privilege, and which still works out to be slightly cheaper than catching the airport bus.

On arriving at Uppsala I was pleasantly surprised. Even though there is a rather strange statue which greets you at the train station, Uppsala is a really lovely little city. You can tell the strong influence of the university, with lots of young people wandering around, with the large numbers of bicycles, and with a multicultural feel to the place. You can also feel the strong sense of history, with the many older buildings.

If, like me, you have grown up Catholic, you can usually pick a Catholic church from its architecture, and, as I walked into the Lutheran Cathedral in the centre of town, I knew instantly it was built prior to the reformation. Hey, there is even a modern statue of Mary! In contrast, the nearby Catholic Cathedral is modern and spartan, reflecting changing times. The graveyard too, is worth visiting. Over the course of several hours, I really enjoyed wandering around, enjoying the sunshine, snacking on some fruit I bought from a stall, and taking photographs.

Last night, the sunset was absolutely stunning as you will see from some of the photographs I snapped on my phone. What is it they say about the right camera in the right place.

The only downside to the day was discovering one of my all time favourite bars in Stockholm, Victorias has closed. I have been there on many occasions, with many fond nights of their schlager nights on Monday. Talk about disappointment.