Day 6. Gnesta to Stockholm.

Last day. It was supposed to be a short little morning cruise, but turned into a 60km frustration-fest. I arrived at 3pm, only about 5 hours later than I had hoped. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

I found my way on some windy foresty roads into Södertälje. It appeared to be a nice enough city, once I manuevered my way in through the suburbs.

But you can’t leave! TRY and find a signed bike route taking you outside of city limits. I circled around a water tower, found myself shooting down a singletrack mountain bike path, spooked a whole community of retirees, and went around and around a gigantic, dirty shopping area. It reminded me of the crappy parts of Denver, or maybe Sacramento, for some reason. They built a huge shopping mall where the flagship store was a GROCERY STORE. This is like having Nordstroms go out of business to be replaced by Smart and Final. Get me out of here!

I finally chanced a 20km-ride (keep in mind I still had NO MAP, and was under the false impression that Södertälje was right next to Stockholm, a Emeryville to its Oakland). It turned out to be more or less the right way, though it spit me out towards Botkyrka on some way-too-heavy traffic roads. I had to stop by a super-giant Walmart-esque ICA MAXI store to study a map in the book section. Didn’t help too much. I did eventually find a road connecting Tumba up to Stockholm, but the traffic was INSANE and there was no seperate bike path like every other developed area in Sweden, so I had to ride my bike on the sidewalk quite a ways. Finally, I reached a biotech area. It was like your average Sorrento Valley, Cambridge, South San Francisco, or Bethesda, only in Sweden. Here’s a division of the Karolinska Institute, who was heading up the clinical trials of my last employers’ product. I’d love to work in an area like this!

Where there is Vag, a Bro can’t be too far behind – ask the guys in your frat. (Bridge and Road, for those curious).

Then I saw a rad, garish apartment complex.

Biking north, I got stopped by some pedestrian traffic organizers who told me that I have to stay put for “7 seconds”. After 5 seconds, there was a big muffled explosion – they were demolishing some old pipes underground, I guess. Rad! I got lost trying to find the Skanstull bridge into Södermalm, and ended up in Hammerby. I carried my bike up a big set of stairs to a drawbridge, so I could enter Stockholm’s Södermalm island. Rad!

I biked through Södermalm, Slussen, Gamla Stan, and onto Skeppsholmen island to see if the last hostel (af Chapman) I had stayed at was available. It wasn’t, so I played the call-around game and found another boat hostel back on Södermalm. Rad! I got over there, checked in, and drank a fair amount of beer with my nice Aussie roomate, Pete before both exhausted parties called it a night. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.