2026 Scandinavian Tour - October - Day 15 - Drive to Malmo.

 September 17, 2026

Well, I’m writing this from the 11th floor of a Hyatt property in Malmo.  The view is amazing overlooking the sea between Malmo and Copenhagen.  I did pretty good on this one using points to secure the room a while back.  It will be nice before we start flying towards home.  The Wayments will fly all the way home tomorrow.  We will fly to Ireland (Dublin) and stay one night there then try to fly stand-by on United the next morning.  It’s always and adventure.  But we seem to always make it.  I have a big day Sunday…so I need to get home.

We were on the road around 8:45 AM and immediately headed to see the Stockholm Temple.  The traffic getting out of town was a little busy, but not too bad.  I think it took about 25 minutes to arrive at the temple only to find it all closed up, surrounded by scaffolding.  You could barely tell it was a temple.  We were saddened to see this.  We knew it was closed for remodeling…but had NO IDEA to what degree.  It looks like it has a bit more time to go.  The area around the temple was quite pretty all covered with trees and such.  It sits right by a train station.  So I would assume it is fairly easy to get to from central Stockholm.

After a quick stop for pictures, we headed to Malmo.  The 7 hour journey seemed to go quite quickly…at least for me.  We stopped once for gas and lunch.  We stopped again for gas just a block or two from the hotel that we are in.  One anxious moment occurred while driving.  A little rock hit the windshield and put a little pock mark in the window.  I figured it would be my luck that I’d get billed for something like that.  But, after dropping the girls off at the hotel, which was tricky to find with no visible signage on the large building saying Story Hotel, Kim and I drove 3 minutes to Sixt, the rental car agency.  We drove into the garage.  But there were no folks there to check in cars.  We just kept driving until the 5th floor where we had picked the car up.  Fortunately there was an electric car space, so I took it..even though ours was a gas guzzler.  We then went down to the office and asked if we did the right thing.  They clerk said, yes, asked for the keys and told us we’d have an invoice in 30 minutes.  Well, that was around 3:30 PM.  I did not get an invoice until around 5:30 PM and I was sweating that they would bill me more.  But at least for now, the invoice is what I had expected.  So fingers crossed nothing more comes.

After checking the car in, Kim and I walked back to the hotel only to run into the girls coming to find us.  So we turned around and started walking around.  I suggested that we go to the train station to determine where the trains that we will want in the morning run and what they are called.  A ticket agent there gave us all the info we needed.  I think that we are set.  After that, we started walking around the central part of town.  It was really cool.  Multiple plazas, lots of stores and restaurants.  We ended up at Surf Burger eating burgers, fries, onion rings with 3 other people drinking beer and their small dog who just stared us down until he got some meat.  I just shake my head when I think that people have to bring their animals with them to go get something.  Bizarre.  Anyway, we had a great meal.  We then headed back to the hotel.  Kim was tired, so he went to his room.  Denise, Ilene and I took our 100 SEK coupons to the 14th floor to enjoy the complimentary coupons.  Denise and Ilene ordered a really good dessert that cost 140 SEK (~$15).  Subtracting the 100 SEK coupong, it would only be 40 SEK.  So we get up to the bar to pay for the two desserts and the guy says that they are only good for drinks!  What?  So we got hit with a $15 bill each for something we would not have purchased.  Well, we took some Ginger Beer and Fanta orange drinks nonetheless to our rooms.  I seem to always get burned by this stuff.

Well, the trip with Kim and Ilene has been fun.  We have seen so much.  It seems like a blur.  Ilene’s pharmacy has saved me in keeping my cold that came on hard at bay.  I’m amazed how it has come and gone.  Way to go Ilene.  And lastly, kudos to them for using their phones to navigate us in Stockholm.  They did an amazing job keeping us going in the right direction.  It’s always fun traveling with them.  Such good friends.

Some pictures of our day:

Our dessert on the 14th floor at the end of the day.

Just kicking back at the end our day high up in the hotel.

Bikes everywhere in Europe!  Between bikes and public transportation, why would you ever need to drive.

A nice lighthouse here in Malmo near our hotel…the Story Hotel by Hyatt.  Great place.

Just below our window.

Our hotel.

We saw this windmill while driving.

I bought a very good hot dog at the Circle K…Kinda like a Maverick back home…when we stopped for gas.  Denise looks like she has a halo.  She is an angel.  So I’m not surprised.  She got some interesting taquitos.

I’ve wanted to show this.  On our rental car windshield was a clock with an arm that you can adjust.  At certain parking lots, you pull in, set the time on this clock and then you only have so many hours to stay parked there from that time.  Totally on the honor system.  But I’ve never seen anything like that.

The Stockholm Sweden Temple.

This is the chapel that sat across the street from the temple.

One of the squares that we walked through killing time in Malmo.

This was one of the older looking shops that the girls had to go into.  I never understand why as there is NO MORE ROOM in suitcases.  Just crazy.  I keep telling Ilene that charity shops would like her old stuff and she could fill the suit case with new stuff.

This is Denise’s new hobby.  So she was excited to see this and see what they were asking for each.  $20 for each angel.

I loved this when I saw it.  So I took a picture of it.  Then…

I couldn’t resist.  I had to join and be the drummer (but I left my drum home).

It started to rain a bit and my wife turned into a ‘bag lady’.  I think that’s here…I’ll have to zoom in.

Our dinner mate waiting for his next piece of meat.  Crazy that you’d bring your dog and have them sit up and eat with you.  I just scratch my head.

Ilene finishing the day with the hard stuff.  We had to use that 100 SEK coupon.  Stick it to ‘em!!!