From here it's possible to pick up the regular S back to Stockholm; check for connections on the timetable at the tourist office before you leave. Of course, you could always come to Mariefred from Stockholm this way, too: take the train from Central Station to Eskiltuna via Sodertalje and get off at Laggesta. Note that the steam train runs daily between June 24 and August 20, otherwise on Saturday and bunday only from the beginning of May, and up to the end of September. Eskiltuna hour west of Mariefred, ESHLTUNA on the main train line from ture° s mostly known for the precision tools and instruments manufac Tne riverside town makes much of its industrial heritage in a series of teenth r i!"® around its oldest houses, which date from the seven Aug Mon"p'if?®'"®' so4:alled Radermacher Smithies, a museum Qune M h T "P®"' 10am4pm; SeptNov TuesSun lOampm; ®niths anri 10am4pm; April & May daily 10am4pm; free) features «ma wnghts working by traditional methods; while on an island nearby. reached by road and narrow path, the Factory Museum (daily llam4pm; freel has three floors of displays, including several steam engines coaxed into lif every Sunday at 1pm. Next door is the Weapon's Museum OuneAug Tues! Sun llam4pm; SeptMay Thurs, Sat & Sun llampm; free). To reach the museums from the train station, walk ten minutes down Drottninggatan and turn left; the tourist office (June to midAug MonFrj 9.30am6pm, Sat & Sun llam5pm; midAug to May MonFri 9.30amnoon & 5pm; W0161145 00) is here, too, by the museums. Eskiltuna's youth hostel is at Vilsta Camping (и01б11 30 80; 90kr), a couple of kilometres south of the centre, and open all year. Of the central hotels the City Hotell, Drottninggatan 15 («01613 74 25; ®), is just 100m from the train station and has weekend and summer discounts. The best place for lunch is at the Smithies museum complex, where one of the buildings offers a 50kr salad buffet. The Sigurd carving Twelve kilometres from town, in a glade near SUNDBY, the Sigurd carving is a 1000yearold runic inscription running for four metres along a slab of stone. The runes are an epitaph for Sigrid, who built a bridge at the site, and are illustrated by scenes from the Icelandic epic poem of Sigrid and the dragon slayer. To get here from Eskiltuna, take the #25 bus (7 daily; 15kr) from the bus station near the church it passes right by the stone. Uppsala First impressions as the frain pulls into UPPSALA, only an hour from Stockholm, are encouraging. The redwashed castle looms up behind the railway sidings, the cathedral dominant in the foreground. A sort of Swedish Oxford, Uppsala clings to the past through a succession of striking buildings connected with and scattered about its cathedral and university. Primarily the city is regarded as the historical and religious cenfre of the countiy, and it's as a tranquil daytime alternative to the capital (and for an active, studentgeared nightlife) that Uppsala draws the traveller.