Great fun in Gothenburg

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Here we are in Gothenburg. Such a delight to meet the new granddaughter and catch up with the 3 year old grandson too. It’s only our first few days here and already we have been walking, swimming, meeting up with the extended family over delicious dinners - and of course we had to visit the tap room at Beerbliotek.

Getting around Gothenburg is easy once you get the hang of traveling by tram, bus or boat. Buy a tram card, top up with SEK (Swedish Kronor), download the Reseplanerare app (Vastraffik) and plan each step of your journey. It even estimates the time needed to walk to the tram or bus stop. Senior Tip: If you walk slower than our speedy (fit ) Swedish family members, allow yourself more time for the walking part!

In Gothenburg there are so many boat harbours to wander around for those exhibiting boat envy. I find the fishing huts so cute and picturesque, there is always another photo opportunity.

Visiting Liseberg, the largest amusement park in Scandinavia, was a highlight for me especially as it was the first visit for both myself and the 3 year old grandson. To watch the joy on his face as he sampled a few of the rides was a treat. Nice to see these experiences through the eyes of a young child. Roller coasters, spinning carousels and all kinds of flying machines - enough to make your head spin and twirl, and that is just watching from below. Slow rides, fast rides and really scary ones too, Such a busy pace with lots of variety and whilst there were crowds everywhere, there seemed to be plenty of room for all, except for the queues which were rather long. I tried but never did win one of those enormous chocolate bars - and I so wanted to win the giant Toblerone. I was more than happy to just watch those brave enough to tackle the roller coasters and flume rides. Screams and shouts of joy (or was that terror?) heard everywhere. Camera at the ready to capture the moments and impressions, it was a great place to people-watch too.

Dinner at the top of Gothia Towers was an interesting experience. Well known for its specialty 'shrimp sandwich', we supped on a very nice Riesling and enjoyed lively conversations. Looking out over the Liseberg amusement park dressed up in its night lights was very cool. It was scary to see a glass swimming pool suspended out from the building at a great height, although amazingly there were people swimming in the sky. It was enough excitement for me to ride the 'great glass elevator' and think of Charlie's adventures. (Roald Dahl)

At the EuroPride/Gothenburg Kultural festival there was a wide variety of music to listen to whilst munching on bratwurst, churros and of course the gelato. It was quite hot here too so a little ice-cream treat was well deserved after walking the hot cobblestones for a few hours. The gardens in Gothenburg are so colourfully decked out in their summer flowers -everywhere there are people strolling through and enjoying the relaxed atmosphere. I noticed several 'selfie portraits' being taken in all manner of poses. If only they realised how funny they look. People-watching - such a great pastime.

Having spent a couple of delightful weeks here, we are taking a brief trip to Berlin and Prague before returning to plan the next stage of our trip after leaving Sweden. Just wait and see!

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