Sometimes a place becomes your home for a couple of years. However, once you move away you will not return as often as you first had thought. Linköping is that place for me. I lived there most of the time between 2008 and 2012 but have not returned since. Well, that was until today when I showed Susann the city for the first time. It is only a short road trip from Vagnhärad, where Little A spent the day with her grandparents.
Flygvapenmuseum
When I lived in Linköping I visited the area of Malmslätt a few times to see the air shows at the military air base located there. I did, however, never visit the Air Force Museum located just next to the air base. Reopened in 2010, it has been a place that I have wanted to visit for a long time and today it was our first stop in Linköping.
The museum has a free entrance and there is a lot of aircraft on display. Three planes that I find a bit more interesting are:
FVM Ö 1 Tummelisa, is a Swedish biplane that was actually produced at Malmslätt in the 1920s. Only 28 planes were ever produced and the only operator was the Swedish Air Force.
Saab 29 Tunnan, the flying barrel, was a Swedish fighter jet that first flew in 1948. A total of 661 were produced before the plane was retired in 1976. Most of these were used by the Swedish Air Force, but a few were resold to the Austrian Air Force.
Saab JAS 39 Gripen, the most recent Swedish fighting jet. Currently in use by several countries and an impressive sight indeed. It is even more impressive in flight. I have seen it in air shows previously both at Malmslätt and at the Slovak International Air Fest in Sliac.
There was also the centerpiece, the salvaged Douglas DC-3 that was shot down by the Soviets in 1952. It remained on the sea floor of the Baltic Sea until it was salvaged in 2004 – 52 years after its crash.
Ryd
Ryd is a neighborhood located a bit to the west of the center of Linköping. Linköping is a university town and the students dominate this area. That is also my connection with the area. It was here that I once lived and I just wanted to make a short stop to see if anything had changed. As it turns out, it looks almost exactly the same as when I left six years ago.
Gamla Linköping
Gamla Linköping, or the Old Linköping, is a neighborhood designated to house some of the historical buildings of Linköping and the surrounding area. Here you will find the old bank, small shops such as the children’s book store as well as a chocolate store by Cloetta. Not to mention a few cozy cafes and alleys.
You can find more information about the area here >>
For us, it was a short walk around enjoying the area. I’m trying to remember if I have ever visited Gamla Linköping when the sun has been shining. Today was one more of those days when the rain started to fall. It was, however, still nice to walk around. We also bought some chocolate in the Cloetta store,
Linköping City Center
From Gamla Linköping, we continued to the center of Linköping. Our first goal was to find a restaurant for lunch and it didn’t take long before we ended up at a Lebanese restaurant next to the main square. Eating a buffet for lunch is usually not so smart when your plan is to continue exploring a city on foot afterward. As expected, our walk was slow and it didn’t take long before we found an excuse to sit down at a cafe. Let’s just say that it started to rain.
Our walk took us by the cathedral, the castle, the garden park (Trädgårdsföreningen) and through the center to the stream Stångån. These are a few of the main sights in the town and the walk was nice but rather short. It is interesting to see how much has changed. It might not seem like anything has changed, but at the same time, there is a little something that makes it hard to believe that I once lived in this city.
Tornby
Our visit of Linköping was finished with a stop at the stores in Tornby. This is a shopping area outside of the center. Our plan was to find something nice for Little A to wear on her birthday party next week, but we were unable to find anything of our interest. Instead, we were soon running away from the area to try to get as far away from IKEA as possible – meaning driving north back towards Vagnhärad.
