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Published: March 24th 2011
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Slottskogen Park
Simply gorgeous walking through the park in the late afternoon I feel like I have been travelling at the most sensational time of the year, although fresh and a little cold at times, the sun is normally shining, the sky is a beautiful blue and so far I have only had three or four days where it has rained on my entire trip – not bad considering I have now been on the road for eight weeks.
When I arrived in Goteborg it was late on Friday afternoon and I checking out the map that I had been given I found that 200mts up the road from my hostel was Slottsskogen Park, a beautiful park (about 140 hectares in total) that was covered in snow, I felt such a real sense of peace, even though I was in the middle of quite a large city. Walking through the park in the late afternoon with very few people about, it felt at times, quite mystical. Following different paths, I wound my way through Slottsskogen Park and was surprised to find a large pool which was home to several sea lions! After watching the sea lions play for a little while I walked back into the main streets and went supermarket shopping.
I have found the cost of living increase dramatically since arriving in Scandinavia, the cost of a bed each night is only a little more than some of the other cities I have visited, however a trip to the supermarket puts quite a serious dent into your wallet. It is also interesting that there are strict controls on the sale of alcohol, supermarkets can only sell beer with a maximum strength of 3.5% (or thereabouts) and if you want anything else i.e. wine, or spirits you need to go to a State run alcohol shop.
The following day I decided to buy the Goteborg Pass – many cities sell these type of tickets, where you have full access to all public transport plus a lot of museums, attractions etc. are either free of charge or discounted. So far, I hadn’t been inclined to purchase one, but I decided that since I would spend my day visiting some of the museums of Goteborg it would be worth my while. After visiting my third museum, which was a maritime museum, that provided some really interesting details about shipping in general, plus what is means to the city of Goteborg, I walked
out into the beautiful sunshine and decided that I would take one of the trams to Salthomen where ferries left for the southern archipelago islands off Goteborg. Arriving at the ferry terminal, I hopped aboard the next ferry and spent almost one hour cruising around the waters. It was so refreshing and exhilarating - the fresh sea air, the sun shining down on me, the sights of the islands, I really am coming to love this whole travelling thing!
The following day I went back up to Slottsskogen Park as I had been told that not only were sea lions housed in the park, but if I walked a little further I would find moose! I spent several hours walking around the park and found a menagerie of animals (including the moose!). There were so many families out enjoying the day it was really nice to watch, plus I noticed that there was an extraordinary large number of Dads out on their own with their kids, very attractive indeed!! I found the Museum of Nature which is located within the park and went in for a look. It was interesting if a little freaky! It was a taxidermists heaven
though, all different animals forever preserved in their death. The key exhibition at this museum is an African Elephant which was huge, standing beside this elephant it still towered over me by at least another one and half metres - I decided that I wouldn't like to come across one of these guys in the wild.
The following day, Bine (a german girl I met the night prior in the hostel) and I decided that given it was such good weather we would head out for another ferry ride. We headed back down to Salthomen and jumped on the next ferry leaving - this one took us out to nearly every island and was a two hour round trip. Once again it was a really lovely way to spend the day. Late in the afternoon, I went into the city to look around the waterfront which houses the Goteborg Opera House, an impressive looking structure built to represent the shape of a ship. Actually, there are a few buildings in and around Goteborg that have been built with a strong nautical theme to them. Goteborg also houses a "Giant Wheel" that allows you to travel so many metres high
Sea lions home
Slottskogen Park to look out over the city, I wonder how many giant wheels now exist around the world because they seem to be cropping up everywhere.
Later that night, a group of us were sitting about the kitchen area of the hostel, when one of the guys explained that he was into LARP - live action role-playing. I had never heard of such a thing, so he got out his laptop to show a number of film clips. These are serious role plays where participants get dressed up in costumes and act out a role, sometimes these can go on for days and can involve hundreds of people! The role plays might be historical settings or fantasy settings and may involve the characters going to war. The film clips he showed were incredible, all of these people getting right into their characters and into the role play. Google LARP if you are interested in seeing some of these.
I really enjoyed my time in Goteborg, and after already extending one night, I had to force myself to make a decision as to where I would travel next. I decided to head to Orebro and then Uppsala, both for two
nights, before making my way to Stockholm on Saturday where I will catch up with Jeremy, an old high school friend of mine.
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Michelle
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I love the photo of the moose!