Scandinavia in the Fall: Gothenburg, Sweden

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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 Gothenburg's Horticultural Garden, labeled on the maps as Trädgårdsföreningen. Admission was free at the time that we were there. Even in the rain and clearly past the peak of its season it made for a lovely stroll. There were still plants in bloom and some of the trees were changing colors. The kids found snails.

We exited the garden at what I believe was Nya allén, a busy road but nice for its tree-lined sidewalks. The trees here were beginning to turn yellow. I spent time lamenting that we weren't visiting later in the season when we would get the full impact of the color change, but I got over this as we made our way into the Norwegian fjords a few days later.

We wandered to where we hoped there would be shops and restaraunts, and we were not disappointed. Unfortunately, my new shoes did not take to the cobblestone so well, and I fell and cut myself. Finding a restaurant became urgent, and we found ourselves at Ristorante La Gondola, where I was quickly ushered to a restroom. After we were seated, I was offered some bandages, as well. The staff was wonderful and the food was good, but perhaps if we had known how much Italian food lay ahead of us in Scandinavia we would have chosen differently! We were well-fed and happy and very, very tired (my daughter fell asleep on me in the restaraunt!) and it was time to go to the hotel and rest.

My husband and the kids ventured out in the evening to see if they could find something yummy to bring back, but they were unsuccessful. On Sundays the city largely shuts down by 4:00 p.m. (16:00 by Scandinavian reckoning), so we missed out on a lot of Gothenburg.

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