Our trip could be called “A Quick Look at Scandinavia.” We have been on trains, buses, and ferries for four weeks, and our heads are full of exciting places and wonderful sights.. This week we move back to the Netherlands after 2 days in Malmo, an overnight in Hamburg, and a final 5-hour leg to Amsterdam to the Iron Horse Inn where we started.

MOMENTS IN MALMO. Arriving in Malmo and getting to the Scandic St. Jorgen hotel was easy—10-minute walk across the Old Town square. What a beautiful open square for pedestrians surrounded by a mix of very old and more recent buildings!

The hotel itself is very modern and top notch—great double bed (not two singles pushed together), windows into a courtyard, excellent shower, breakfast, gym, and sauna.

Malmo, the third largest city in Sweden, is much smaller than Stockholm or Gothenburg and easier to navigate. Three pedestrian squares are great for wandering around and appreciating the old and new architecture.

Everywhere we looked, we were surrounded by beautiful 300-500 year old buildings with fantastic carved gargoyles and caryatids, gables, cross timbers, or patterned brick designs, all with the patina of architectural ages past.

Tucked among the historic buildings are modern department stores, restaurants, and hotels. The old and the new make an interesting and pleasing juxtaposition.

The trip from Stockholm was five hours and we had not eaten since a light breakfast at an Espresso House, a ubiquitous chain in Scandinavia. They really do have great coffee and pastries! We googled “cheap eats near me.” Our first option was closed and actually looked dead. A second “healthy” choice also looked more dead than alive. We finally settled for Zocalo, selling a Swedish version of Mexican food. Papas and Beer in Hendersonville has no competition from Sweden!

We spent the afternoon of the second day at the Modern Museet which is housed in a converted power plant. Old and new are joined with a three-story orange metal mesh cube at the entrance.

An exhibit of works by Lars Englund demonstrated his skills as an abstract painter, sculptor, and printmaker. I liked his prints the most and they gave me ideas of things I would like to try.

A large retrospective of Lotte Lasserstein filled a triple gallery. She was a German artist who developed her impressionist technique during 1920s and 30s. A few of these prewar paintings survived and were displayed. When she was declared “3/4 Jewish” and her art “degenerate” by the Third Reich, Lasserstein was unable to buy materials, show, or sell her work. In 1838, she escaped to Sweden but could never rescue her mother and sister.

Lasserstein made her living in Sweden with commissioned pieces which incorporate impressionist lighting and give the portraits a “glow.” Many of these are still owned and prized in Swedish families and were loaned to the museum for the show. We are always excited to find an artist of such great skill. It is sad that she was not more appreciated in her time.

The last morning we ate breakfast at the hotel, then loaded luggage on the five-minute bus ride to the Malmo station. Contactless week/month cards or QR codes on the phone are the standard way of paying for transit everywhere in Scandinavia. For occasional riders like us, swiping a credit card gives you an hour of transportation. So easy.

A 9:38 train from Malmo to Copenhagen was scheduled for 50 minutes with a short time to connect to the 11:00 train to Hamburg. Both 9:18 and 9:38 trains were running late; we decided to take the earlier train rather than risk missing the connection.

In Copenhagen, Becky again led the charge to secure our reserved seats while I flung luggage up the stairs. We got settled and were across the aisle neighbors with the same young man who sat across from us from Malmo.

He had completed two years of Bible college in Sweden and was headed home to Stuttgart to his work in his family’s vegetable farm but not sure of what he was going to do next. Might be hard to keep him down on the farm! He had four large suitcases with all of his worldly possessions .

OVERNIGHT IN HAMBURG. Our first stop in Hamburg heading toward Copenhagen was a quick overnight: find and check in the hotel, take a nap, get take-away kebab, go to bed, wake up, get on the next train.

On our return trip followed the same pattern with a couple of differences. We were in a different hotel—the Furst Bismarck Hotel directly across from the Hamburg HBF station. It is rather old fashioned, probably grand in its day, with only 5 or 6 rooms on each floor. The rooms are well appointed, and the hotel is in good condition. Instead of a contactless room key, we had a beautiful heavy metal key that had to be turned in the heavy metal door lock and a chandelier in the bedroom.

The reception desk keeps the key when you leave the hotel and issues you a reclaim ticket. The weight of the key reminds you not to carry it.

Another change was dinner. We walked to a sidewalk restaurant on St. Georg Square. Caesar salad, Gorgonzola chicken and delicious spinach made an exceptional meal! The statue that dominated the square did not look like any saint or any dragon. Instead, it looked more like Queen Victoria. After a little search, I believe that the statue is of Bismarck which makes sense with the name of our hotel.

At 8:30 the next morning in Hamburg, we walked across the street to the station for a quick breakfast and to purchase wraps for lunch on the trains to Osnabruck and Amsterdam. We saw a 50 car transport of new BMWs rattle through the station, probably coming from Stuttgart.

Arriving at Osnabruck, we found that our train to Amsterdam was delayed by 75 minutes, and the lift to our track 12b was out of service. We sought help from a train system employee who kindly changed the direction of the escalator so we could ride down with our luggage rather than bump down a long, steep staircase. Becky grabbed our reserved seats, and we were on our way again. We rode the entire day without anyone checking our tickets.

TRAIN SPOTTING. One of the delights of train travel is seeing the countryside. Large cities have become more and more similar with the same stores and brands dominating shopping and food courts. But the towns, cities, farms and industry, train yards and buildings along the tracks are an ever-changing panorama.

We have seen endless forests, rolling hills, planted fields, great lakes and rivers, and flat land reclaimed from the sea. We spotted many cattle, swine, goats, sheep, geese, and dogs along our track. Ancient spires and gleaming new buildings called out for a closer view but we had no time on rapid rolling rails.

Our two full days of train have been visual treats. Winnie the Pooh encourages us to “say what you see,” and we did many times.

ONE NIGHT IN AMSTERDAM. Our delayed arrival in Amsterdam put us into afternoon rush hour. I found a tram to Leidensplein and we jumped on for a 10-minute ride to the hotel. At first we were booked into room 401 without an elevator, but the reception person kindly switched us to 107. Umami, the Indian street food cafe next door, was open. We enjoyed it before and decided it was worth another visit for poke and bao bun. We never tire of walking around Amsterdam and collecting memories.

Our travel plan with Interrailing ended in Amsterdam. We are planning more relaxed time for the last week. We will follow our noses and spend time away from Amsterdam in a small town in southern Holland for three days before heading to the airport and home.