The collected writings of a Renegade Tourist

Tag Dark and dreary

Linna Hall 2:39 pm

We are exploring a big, hulking soviet relic of some kind, an immense concrete structure, built in several tiers, wide staircases leading up to and over the roof. A plaque tells us that this is Linna hall, a concert hall, built in the 80,s but the shape makes it look more like a modern fortress. It has been badly run down over the decades, broken tiles and concrete blocks everywhere and many of the sides are now covered in colourful graffiti in contrast to the all-pervading grey of the concrete. The place has been closed down completely, steel gratings barring the way, … Read the rest

Kronoborg Castle 2:59 pm

There is something rotten in the state of denmark…it is raining so hard that visiting hamlets old castle is less than fun. We are standing in the tunnel through the second battlement, cowering from the rain. The vaults overhead are white except the last one before entering the castle grounds, which has been painted a bright orange; through its opening we see the big main building, yellowish grey masonry with a maroon roof and a high, ornamented copper spire tapering to a point, piercing the milky sky. I wish I could se more of this famous fortress but it will … Read the rest

Utlandagatan 0:33 am

The fog envelopes the city like a heavy blanket and blurs all edges. A short distance away the surrounding buildings disappear in the murk. There is a halo around the moon and around the streetlights and in the closest light droplets can be seen swirling like smoke. The faint swosh of a car comes towards me and I can see the beams of light sweeping the ground in front of it.  Thursday night, no one is out and about except me, everything is dampenedd by the mist. Were it not for my infected eye this would actually be very enjoyable … Read the rest

My appartment 7:17 am

I am standing in front of the window in a nearly dark room, only lit up by the pre dawn twilight. I’m looking out at the world in this early hour with tired eyes, I am not meant to be up this early. Outside is a series of interconnected apartment buildings encircling a sort of courtyard with one single apartment building right in front of my window. A few other people are awake, their windows glowing with amber, and down by the snow-covered ground streetlights cast an artificial white glare on the fresh frost. Here and there are short pillars … Read the rest

Cafe in Taoyuan 8:56 pm

I’m sitting at a table in a garden drinking tea, it is dark, the ambient light from the nearby cafe building spilling out on the people sitting here combined with a small oil lamp is the only thing that illuminates us. The early december air is verging on cool and in the background I can hear the noise of the nearby motorway as the walls around the garden do not block it out completely. Three women are sitting around me having a lively discussion is Chinese and one of the women’s son sits in front of me fiddling with a … Read the rest

Houli bike trail 5:20pm

Ancient steel trusses pass by to the sides and overhead, flowing backward as I speed forwards on this narrow train bridge come bike bridge. The river landscape around me becomes faded as the sun sets and ahead of me looms the narrow, almost drop shaped opening of the tunnel. With its rough cement walls covered by a hundred years of grime from passing trains, the tunnel should be an unwelcoming place but a series of bulbous lights in the ceiling stretch out into the darkness like a band of glowing pearls, casting a light over the cyclists inside. Long, straight … Read the rest

Over Göteborg 12:45 pm

The same familiar airplane surroundings, the screen now tells me I am over Göteborg, my home town. What bothers me is not the effort I spent the last two days to get to Stockholm via my parents house just to be back so suddenly; neither is it the rather soggy excuse of a sandwich they have provided me with. No, what bothers me is why they provided a packet of skimmed milk, some sugar and a small – in lack of a better word – spoon with my sandwich. What also bothers me is why they decided to make a … Read the rest

Over Örebro 12:28 pm.

In front of me, the blue leather back of a seat and a bland gray piece of plastic euphemistically called a table with the words “Fasten seatbelt while seated” and “Lifejacket under your seat” printed on it. To my left, an incredibly bright sky, white clouds and wing of an aircraft. Up and to the right is a small screen with a rather grainy graphic showing me that I am over Örebro, my parents home town. I left here for Stockholm a little over five hours ago and now I am back. Was it worth all that trouble? Wouldn’t it … Read the rest

Somewhere in Germany 10:04 pm

I am standing in the clinically efficient bathroom of a German sleeper train. The floor is gray, the walls have bland white nuance and here and there clean gray aluminium panels with painfully clear symbols on them let you operate the bathroom fittings such as toilet flushing and the tap. The only splash of color is a turquoise toilet seat cover and even that is washed out. Everything is so much better, so much more efficient, so much more comfortable than the Czech sleeper train that brought us to Budapest but that one made up for it by having so … Read the rest

Götaplatsen 4:14 pm

It is a rainy and rather cold summer day. All around me are yellow brick buildings and the sky is grey, not a day of celebration at all. No, not a day of celebration, except for the 50 or so white caps bobbing around on the square. Boys in black suits and girls in pretty white dresses are celebrating with vigor, shouting, blowing whistles, dancing and swimming in the fountain. They are all overjoyed to have graduated from highschool and are partying like it is the most important day in their lives. Later on some of them they might realize … Read the rest

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