Västerås tales - my new home

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This is my 2nd weekend in Västerås and I have already started liking this place and more importantly the weather. There is a general crib from people here that the weather is something which frustrates them. Well, I find this interesting. Since the time I landed on the 1st of June, I have experienced bright sunny mornings, gloomy cloudy afternoons and evenings of continuous drizzle. Although it is summer time out here, it is difficult to move outside without a thin pullover or a jacket. Yes, the expectation is that the weather is going to be better in the days to come around July when most of the folks around have already booked their vacations. One of my colleagues believe that if the last week of June sees bright sunny days, then the weather in July would be just great. Apart from the weather, this is the time for long days out here in this part of the world. I have never seen darkness till now because when I go to bed around 11:30PM, the sky is still lighted and when I wake up at 5:30AM, the sky is very bright. It seems the darkness hours are somewhere between 12:00AM to 2:00AM and I am yet to experience this. The longest day, the Midsummer's Day is shortly coming on June 21 and I am told that its going to be a festive atmosphere out here. I am also waiting for this day and see for myself whether the skyline is full of light for the entire 24 hours.

Dear friends, Välkommen till Sverige and Välkommen till Västerås - Welcome to Sweden and Welcome to Västerås. We are in Scandinavian territory, up and somewhere closer to the poles. This is the first time I am in this part of the world and believe it, it is going to be interesting out here. Although winter is expected to be very severe, I think thats the best part of the year when one can have most of the fun and I am eagerly waiting for it. I would love to go for skiing, skating, dog sledging and winter trekking up the snowy mountains. Västerås is located in central Sweden and is around 100 kms west of Stockholm. It lies on the shores of the beautiful Lake Mälaren and is one of the bigger cities of Sweden with a population over 1,00,000. It takes around an hour and 15 minutes by bus to reach Västerås from Arlanda international airport in Stockholm. I find this to be a very beautiful city with several vintage buildings all around and an even more beautiful city centre. The first thing I liked about this place is when I saw people on the streets at the city centre. The best mode of transport for people is walking or cycling. There are separate bicycle tracks all along the main roads and walkers and cyclists are always first preference on the roads. The city centre has very nice and beautiful shops where you can do window shopping as long as you like, but it might burn your pockets if you enter inside.

Surprisingly, I could also see quite a lot of restaurants around, mainly Chinese, Thai and of that sort and these restaurants are full during lunch hours. The city centre wears a deserted look around 8:00PM as all the shops close latest by 7:00PM. I could find an Indian restaurant too, but then people say that the owner is not an Indian and he is trying to use the name of India to attract people. I visited the restaurant last week and I found it to be a shabby place and the man at the counter was happily telling me that there are only two dishes which can be served - chicken and vegetables. For vegetarians or partly vegetarians like me, there are not too many choices for eating - most of the eastern restaurants do have few vegetarian items. Yes, one can eat at the few SUBWAYS and at McDONALDS, but how long can you eat at these places. I have had food outside on several days in the last few days and it was good. The best thing to do is probably to prepare food yourself and thats exactly what I am doing nowadays. It is not very difficult to get the items you need like rice, aata, vegetables etc. The only problem is that there are many different varieties of these ingredients that one needs to learn "svenska" (swedish) to know exactly what you need. Last week, when trying to search for milk, I got something which turned out to be a different sort of milk prepared artificially, but I found it good for tea.

The experience till now has been real fun. I got a nice apartment at a nice place very close to my place of work and I keep walking all around as I have tons of time now. The people here are very nice and helpful. I have not gone for any outings for the time being. I want to spend some time understanding the place and the surrounding before going out for trips. Most of all, I am yet to get a bicycle which I am hopeful of getting one next week. The first planned trip as of now is going to be to Bjorno island by cycle sometimes in July.

Till then, Adjö (Goodbye) from Santanu.

Here are some photographs of Västerås which I took when I visited this place in Feb 09 which was winter time. I am yet to start my photography stints yet and it will take some time as I forgot one of my lenses out there in Bangalore. And my friends over there in Bangalore, if these photographs don't entice you to visit me in Västerås sometimes soon, there are more photographs which will be shortly coming your way which I am sure will change your mind.

Vasteras City Centre

Västerås Railway Station