Blogs from Västra Götaland County, Sweden, Europe - page 2

Nous quittons donc le Danemark pour passer en Suède… Il nous faut donc prendre le ferry afin de nous rendre en Suède pour arriver prochainement en Norvège ! Pour cela, nous prenons le ferry à Frederikshavn pour nous rendre à Goteborg. Nous passerons donc le Kattegat : Le Cattégat, en danois Kattegat, en suédois Kattegatt, qui est un espace maritime comprenant plusieurs détroits au sud et une vaste baie au nord, s'étendant entre le Danemark et la Suède, plus précisément entre la péninsule danoise du Jutland et la province suédoise de Halland. Une traversée qui durera 3 heures ½… et qui se passe calmement dans ce grand bateau… Pas grand-chose à voir durant la traversée… Nous ne nous attarderons pas à Göteborg car y sommes déjà venus. Et pourtant… j’avais adoré la visite de la ville ... read more

June 23 we flew from Venice to Gothenburg via Brussels, and were met by Wayne's second cousin, Anders, about noon. He drove us the approximately two hours to Stromstad, a pretty seaside town on the west coast. Along the way we stopped by a roadside cafe for some Swedish fast food: a smoked salmon plate and a shrimp salad. If you don't like seafood, you may be unhappy in Sweden, because it turned out that we ate shrimp and lox at every meal with Anders's family. We enjoyed it, especially one "torta" (cake) made with a dark bread crust topped with shrimp, egg, and salmon in a cream cheese sauce. Anyhow, back in Stromstad we met Anders's wife, Monika, and two children, ages 7 and 4. We all got into their small outboard boat for the ... read more

Got just a few hours sleep despite earplugs - it was as if they raised the volume even compared to Monday night. So instead of lying in bed tossing and turning and getting more and more pissed off, I wrote an email to the hotel explaining that I hadn't slept properly both nights and expected compensation. And when I went down to talk to them in reception in the morning, I discovered they had decided not to charge me for both nights. As one friend put it: vindication. And a nice chunk of money to put towards the rest of my travels. Tired but satisfied. It was clear that I wasn't going hiking, but what to do with my final day in the Lidköping area? I opted to take it easy in town, first trying to ... read more

Speeding along through the countryside of northern Skåne towards Gothenburg and ultimately Lidköping. My aim for the summer - and the future - is to fly as little as possible. So I'm back on the rails, or back on track, or whichever cheesy train-based metaphor you wish to use. I love trains and train travel but after several years of failed journeys between Stockholm and Malmö (and by failed I mean seriously lengthy delays), I'd kind of given up on the choo-choo. But I'm finding my excessive flying habit increasingly hard to justify, so I will be weaning myself off it. I only really travel within Europe anyhow and the job I have makes not flying a real possibility. So this is my challenge to myself, to get creative and find alternatives. I have one flight ... read more

Tag 166 – Quer durchs Winterwonderland Ich stand kurz vor acht auf und machte mir Frühstück. Cecilia war schon bei der Arbeit und hatte mir aber gezeigt, was sie zu Essen dahatte. So kochte ich Tee und aß Hafermilchjoghurt mit Müsli. Dann nahm ich mir auch noch einen Apfel und schmierte Knäckebrot-Sandwiches für unterwegs. Schließlich verließ ich die Wohnung und warf den Schlüssel nach dem Abschließen in den Briefkasten. Dann nahm ich den Bus bis Brunnsparken. Beim Aussteigen ließ ich mir schnell von jemandem den Weg zum Hauptbahnhof erklären; der lag nämlich gleich um die Ecke. Obwohl noch Zeit war, stand mein Zug schon bereit. An der Anzeigetafel am Gleis verrieten sie einem, dass die Plätze 1-40 in Wagen zwei nicht gebucht waren – das war doch super, dann musste man nicht auf Platzsuche durch den ... read more