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Published: March 1st 2012
Lakeside view
Tiny island in the Helgasjön (Lake Helga), near VäxjöOkay this is a long one cause I've squeezed the last ten days into one update. So picking up where I left off in Sweden...
Wednesday (18th June) saw another cross-country train journey - this time from the capital Stockholm on the east coast to the second-largest city Göteborg on the west coast; where I then lugged my backpack around for an hour trying to find my hostel, after turning down the wrong street! I might have seen the funny side of it if my shoulder hadn't given out the second I finally took my backpack off. :-( So after dumping my bags and resting up for a while, it was time to get a tram back into town to watch the football with thousands of parochial Swedes on a big screen set up in Kungsportsavenyn (otherwise known simply as 'The Avenue' - the place to be in Göteborg), but unfortunately there was nothing for anyone to cheer about with Sweden losing 2-nil to Russia to miss out on a place in the quarter-finals.
I awoke to an overcast day on thursday, so did little other than walk around the nearby Botanisk Tradgården (botanic gardens) and wash my clothes
A rare glimpse of sunshine in Göteborg
Sunlight glistening off the surface of the Rosenlundskanalen for the first time in two weeks; until I got a call from Karin and Tove - the two Swedish girls that worked with me at the Courthouse Hotel in Cairns - asking if I wanted to go out for dinner, as they had arrived in town the day before. So I had a pizza and listened to the girls speak Swedish all evening (which came as no surprise) before heading around to another friend of theirs' place - where I was at least able to watch Germany beat Portugal 3-2 in the first Euro2008 quarter-final! Still, it was nice to catch up with the girls again.
The next day (friday 20th June) happened to be Midsummer's Eve, which is a big deal in Sweden, as Midsummer's Day celebrates the longest day of the year, and as with most holidays in Europe they actually celebrate the day before (like Christmas Eve for example). So once again I met up with Karin and Tove, this time heading around to another friend of theirs' place for a traditional Swedish lunch/dinner - consisting mostly of as many different fish dishes as possible - and drinks. Now don't get me wrong, the food
Another low bridge
Cruising the canals of Göteborg was quite nice and had no doubt been lovingly prepared, and the company pleasant to say the least; but spending ten hours with five Swedish girls didn't exactly turn out to be the highlight that I had anticipated!
So once again I sat there with what must have been a look of mild amusement on my face while the girls chatted away about god-knows-what in their native language for hours on end - with only Tove occasionally offering some sort of a translation or explanation of what they were talking about - whilst trying to figure out why it was necessary to have five different types of dried fish on the table, without providing a single fish-free alternative! Not that I have anything against fish mind you, it just struck me as strange - as if the girl's were each supposed to have brought one plate of food, but had failed to discuss who might be bringing what and had ended up all bringing the same thing! Well, it's either that or Swedish people just really, really like dried fish - who knows!?!
Needless to say it came as quite a relief when someone finally suggested that we
Sailing ship and 'Lipstick'
View of the Gothenburg Utkiken building from the harbour all go out for drinks at about midnight - as I could no longer hear the girls talking once we got to Karin and Tove's old nightclub! And of course the free beers that kept being passed my way could only help the situation!
After having seen very little of Göteborg in my first two-and-a-half days, I had resolved to do some sightseeing over the weekend, so with the weather on saturday being more favourable - that is, cold and windy but with no rain - I went on an open-top bus tour of the city; which was followed by an open-top boat tour of the canals and harbour, where some of the bridges that we passed underneath were so low that everyone had to get off their seats and crouch down on the floor; whilst we all got quite a good soaking due to the wind-whipped waves out in the harbour! Afterwards I went for a walk through the centre of town all the way back to the waterfront, where I took a lift up to the observation deck atop the Göteborg Utkiken - otherwise known as the 'Lipstick building' due to it's unique tapering appearance - to
Göteborg harbour
Looking out towards the biggest harbour in Scandinavia get a better look at the harbour, which is Scandinavia's largest.
After ducking home for a change of clothes, it was then back into town to watch the third Euro2008 quarter-final at an Irish pub on the 'Avenue' called the Dubliner - which ended with a surprise Russian victory over the Netherlands 3-1 in extra-time. The rest of the night was spent playing cards with my new roommates at the hostel - a pair of teenage Norwegian girls, whose names unfortunately escape me.
For my final day in Göteborg I headed out with my new Norwegian friends to check out the Universeum - a sort of science/discovery centre with replicas of every kind of environment found in sweden, complete with native animals. Then it was over to Liseberg - the largest amusement park in Scandinavia - where the Norwegian girls and I spent the next five hours going on every ride imaginable, including three different roller-coasters (one made entirely out of wood), a haunted house and a tower with a revolving observation deck offering an awesome view over Göteborg from eighty metres above the ground. Wet and exhausted, we headed back to the hostel and had Thai for
Malmö waterfront
View from the open-top boat cruise dinner, while I watched Spain beat Italy in a penalty shoot-out in the football - despite almost missing the winning kick when I had to go outside to say goodbye to Karin and Tove who were booked on a morning bus to Oslo!
On monday I was up early to organize my accommodation for the next few days, and then after deciding on a last minute change of plans I was soon on a train bound for Malmö - the third-largest city in Sweden, which is connected to Denmark by the eight-kilometre long Öresundsbrön (Öresund Bridge). Thankfully I chose to catch a bus from the train station to the hostel this time, so as to avoid repeating the mistake I had made in Göteborg! After checking in and walking back into town for dinner and a wander around, I was on my way back to the hostel at about one o'clock at night when suddenly the lake in the middle of the park I was walking through burst to life, with three large fountains being blown up out of the water and illuminated by some sort of light projector positioned behind the fountains; and all the while classical music
Reaching for the sky
The 'Turning Torso' building in Malmö was being played from small speakers scattered along the walking path! And as far as I could tell I was the only person watching this amazing display!
The following day brought another sightseeing bus tour followed by another open-top boat tour of the canals and harbour, which really is a great way to get acquainted with a city; followed by another marathon effort on a rented pushbike, which I rode around the city on for the best part of six hours! Thankfully most of Malmö's main attractions are quite close together, so it wasn't too strenuous cycling around the numerous pedestrianized squares, parks and canals, and I was therefore able to avoid getting horribly lost like I had done in Stockholm! After exploring the city I headed out to the new western harbour district to check out the 'Turning Torso' - the tallest building in Sweden at 190 metres, with fifty-four floors and a ninety degree twist from top to bottom. From there I also had a clear view of the Öresundsbrön and across to Denmark - the first time I have ever been able to stand in one country and look across to another (which is quite the
Picturesque border
The Öresundsbrön, connecting Sweden and Denmark novelty for someone from Australia)!
* Interesting side note: with the four pillars of the Öresundsbrön towering almost 200 metres above the water, and with all four of them lying on the Swedish side of the border with Denmark, technically speaking they - along with the Turning Torso - are collectively the five tallest buildings in Sweden!
From Malmö I caught the train to a small town called Växjö, from where it is about twenty kilometres to an even smaller town called Alvesta, where I hoped to meet up with Emma and Charlotte - a couple of beautiful brunettes who used to work in the bar at P.J.O'Brien's whilst I was in Cairns. Unfortunately though none of us had thought to exchange phone numbers - so I had to send Emma a message on Facebook and hope that she would see it before I left town in a couple of days! And even worse than the fact that I didn't get to see the girls that night, was that I completely forgot about the first semi-final of Euro2008 between Germany and Turkey (which incidentally the Germans won 2-1) - what a disaster!!!
My second day in Växjö
Fairy-tale castle
Teleborg Slott, near Växjö I once again hired a pushbike and rode to the nearby Teleborg Slott - which unlike some of the other castles I have seen so far actually looked like one of those fairy-tale castles that you always see in the movies! No sooner had I gotten back to Växjö than it started raining, so not for the first time I found myself killing time in a typical Swedish 'internet cafe' - which is more like a gaming parlour full of nerds with nothing better to do than play computer games all day! Thankfully while I was there I got a text message from Emma saying that she and Charlotte would come to Växjö to see me - which was just as well since by this time the seat on my bike had broken off and I didn't fancy riding twenty kilometres to Alvesta on a bike without any seat!
Unfortunately though the girls only had a couple of hours to spare between Charlotte finishing work and Emma starting work, so we only had time for a quick round of mini-golf(!) at my hostel, and a takeaway meal of meatballs and mashed potatoes with lingonberry jam - quite the Swedish
delicacy! By the time the girls left the sun had come out again, so after swapping bikes I rode alongside the Helgasjön (Lake Helga) to the Kronoberg Slott ruins, which are set on a small island in the lake connected to the land by a footbridge. Then it was a race against time back to the hostel to grab a seat in the tv room for the second Euro2008 semi-final - where Russia's golden run finally came to an end at the hands of Spain, 3-nil.
Friday started out with a bus into town, another bus to another town called Lesebo, then yet another bus to yet another town called Kosta - which is famous for it's glass-making - to have a look around the glassworks and pick up a gift for a friend of mine that I hope to meet up with in Austria. From there it was another bus back to Lesebo and finally a train to Kalmar - which is a picturesque little town spread across a number of small islands on the east coast; and which is linked to a much larger island named Öland by a six-klometre long bridge (the Ölandsbrön) that used to
be the longest in Europe - they sure know how to build a bridge, these Swedes! Kalmar Slott is another town landmark that was built over six hundred years ago and is surrounded by a moat - just like all good castles should be!
And so having caught a bus one hour north to Oskarshamn, I have a couple of hours to wait for a ferry to take me across to the Baltic Sea island of Gotland; where another ex-PJ's stunner named Nina has invited me to stay with her for as long as I like - so obviously I'm quite looking forward to the next week or so...
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