http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Sweden , Västra Götaland en-us Mon, 20 May 2013 04:38:07 +0000 Mon, 20 May 2013 04:38:07 +0000 FinallyFor 14years I have dreamt about going to Australia and New Zealand and now I39m finally on my way. My bags are packed the apartment clean and I have left enough food for Sookie so my flatmate doesn39t have to worry about her.The plan for this trip are somewhat loose. In NZ I will bungyjump unless I freakout and faint take a 3day hike around Lake Waikaramoana meet up with an ol http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/Gothenburg/blog-769426.html So this is it. It39s time to leave the cold and dark in Sweden for six months of sunshine and adventures in San Diego California. For those of you who have known me for a longer time I kept a similar blog when I did my exchange year in lovely Potosi Wisconsin back in the days. I still smile when I go back and read my entries and look at the photos from then so I figured it would be a fun t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/Gothenburg/blog-765062.html For breakfast we enjoyed the Radisson Blu39s fantastic Scandinavian spread. After breakfast we were picked up by a Volvo chauffeur and driven out to the factory where we enjoyed Volvo39s very warm hospitality in exchange for buying a car. Our car was rolled out to us and then we had the opportunity to tour the factory. This is a tour that is open to the public and it was very interestin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/Gothenburg/blog-751527.html We arrived in Gothenburg on Sunday and were delivered to the Radison Blu by the very nice folks from Volvo. We cleaned ourselves up from the long plane ride and ignoring the jet lag ventured out into the rainy afternoon in search of lunch.We very quickly found ourselves at Gothenburg39s Horticultural Garden labeled on the maps as Trdgrdsfreningen. Admission was free at the time that we http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/Gothenburg/blog-751524.html As I have begun exploring the country of sweden with my sight being through a camera lens I have fallen in love with the architecture and colors of this city. Every street has a different identity. The smells the colors the people all change with each turn. On the avenue you see fashion of the modern century. From channel to prada the streets scream fashion show. The buildings on the avenue are http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/Gothenburg/blog-748921.html Version1.0 StartHTML0000000167 EndHTML0000031208 StartFragment0000000457 EndFragment0000031192Leaving Stockholm for Gothenburg Goteborg June 28 We boarded the SJ Train in Stockholm at 1610 for the three and a half hour trip to Gothenburg passing flat farmland and forests with some light industry along the way. My sister Laurie lived in Gothenburg when she was a young adult and was eager http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/Gothenburg/blog-744086.html Saturday was our oneweek day so it was time to do laundry. Unfortunately we have some very strong perfume smelling underwear thanks to Allan Wilma showed me how to work the washing machine in our cottage and I dutifully followed her instructions then proceeded to read my book while Allan watched TV. He decided that the machine was taking too long even though I had told him the new machin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/blog-743592.html We arrived by train to Ed Sweden where Peter met us at 1130 am. Ed has about 3500 people and another 2500 live in the woods according to Peter. Ed is the first stop in Sweden from Oslo about 2 12 hours away. Now they live truly in the woods It makes Allan39place ace almost look urban.At the house we had coffee and Swedish pastries then home made soup. We walked to the cottage nearby http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/blog-743524.html On another damp June day a Sunday walk around Klippan area of west Gothenburg...lots of graffitti art http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/Gothenburg/blog-725800.html On a wet 22nd of June we went to the Midsummer celebrations at cker Hembygdsgrd local folklore centre in Gothenburg39s northern archipelago.cker is linked to Hls to the north and Hn to the south which in turn is liked to Fot http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/Gothenburg/blog-725777.html Line up for the event was Swedish artist Tove Styrke Eurovision Song Contest winner Loreen Euphoria American rapper B.o.B. and finally Canadian singer Nelly Furtado. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/Gothenburg/blog-725769.html Hello from Lilla Edet We got up early and Ulf took us to train station in Stockholm through local subways to get the fast intercity train to Gothenburg Sweden. It was good to just watch the countryside sleep and relax for 3.5 hours before meeting more family and having more adventures. It was a very smooth ride and we got to experience walking between the train cars. It39s not like it used t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/blog-724511.html Building lvsborg fortress Oscar II started 1899 and it was combat operational in 1907. The fort is blasted into the bedrock and surrounded by a fast grave with two 39kontereskarpgallerier39. Armament consisted of two 24 cm guns two 15.2 cm cannons in armored towers four 57 mm cannons armored cupola and a number of 39kaponjr39 cannons.Hammarkullen Carnival is the biggest and th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/Gothenburg/blog-721181.html Mollsund.Records of permanent settlements date back to the early 16th century. Traditionally predominant catches were herring ling that was used to prepare the dish lutefisk.During the latter part of the 19th century approximately 30 sailing ships berthed in Mollsund transporting raw materials to and from the region including coal iron and salt. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/Mollosund/blog-721175.html A visit to Ram River falls Ramberget. Also saw a slow worm. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/Gothenburg/blog-721171.html stol.In 1747 when the great herring period started people wanted to be close the herring outside of stol39s harbour so they migrated to the windless harbour and built their homes.Stora Dyrn.Dyrn is one of the few islands on the Bohuslan coast with wild free range mouflon sheep. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/Stenungsund/blog-720998.html Not many changes.... http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/Gothenburg/blog-711592.html Trip out to a couple of islands before Easter http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/Gothenburg/blog-711590.html Flying into Gothenburg we flew over frozen lakes and green forests a scenery quite spectacular in its own right. Touching down we had one of the fastest exits from an airport ever from landing to customs to outside the airport and on to the bus to the city all up about 15 minutes and we didnt stop in a queue once. Think this may JUST have beaten our speedy exit from Quito airport a few http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/Gothenburg/blog-704780.html First picture is a taster for the sunsets at the end....make sure you get there....March 25th is Tranedagen 39Cranes39 day in this part of Sweden 100 miles NE of Gteborg. It celebrates the coming of Spring signified by the arrival of the crane on their journey North after wintering in Spain.At the beginning of the week there were 40 crane on Friday there were 5100 they count them as http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/Skovde/blog-700529.html