Blogs from Gothenburg, Västra Götaland County, Sweden, Europe - page 6

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Today we leave behind Norway and travel to Gothenburg, Sweden, the 2nd largest city in Sweden and the 5thlargest in the Nordic countries. We arrived in Gothenburg by noon which gave us the rest of the day to explore. Our tour guide, Birgitte, gave us some suggestions of things to do in the city and once our luggage arrived in our rooms, we were off. We only had a few hours as this was another 1 night stay and dinner was going to be at 7:00. There were Botanical Gardens, shopping centers, an amusement park, harbor cruise, a park, and Haga, an old town housing estate. We decided to forego the harbor cruise at least until later and walk through the park to Haga. Haga traces its origins back to the middle of the 17th Century ... read more

So, today's chapter happens to focus on Western Sweden, and more specifically the city of Gothenburg, Sweden's second largest city, and home to a fair few vital reference points. The city's superlatives which the title refers too happen to be the fact that this is the location of Scandinavia's largest shopping mall (Nordstan), largest amusement park (Liseberg), and Sweden's largest student population. You are probably getting the message already that this is a city with a fair degree of youthful zest, and the wealth of attractions crammed herein warrant a purchase of a 'Gothenburg city card', which is a passport to a plethora of museums and tourist-oriented activities, not to mention a means of getting around endlessly by public transport within the ticket's valid time frame. On the public transport theme, trams here are... read more

"You Moved Here From Hawaii!?! Haahaha" - Dentist Nils Andersson (January, 2013 - 35° F & Rainy) Yes, its true. As most, if not all of you know, Adina and I indeed moved to Sweden from Hawaii one and half years ago in our return to academics. And yes, the words above were truly uttered by my Swedish dentist on a particularly cold, gray and rainy day last year. A nice guy, but his laugh was Dr. Evil-ish in this instance. Especially during the short days of the winter months, this has been a common response when this has come up in conversation. But yes, its true, and Sweden is treating us well. Indeed I've been lazy in updating you all of our on-goings over the past year and a half and the adventures and challenges ... read more

We are staying in a huge accommodation complex of owner occupier apartments. Masthugget is its name and around 6000 people live here in well spaced out multi-storey blocks separated by gardens, kids play areas, child care centres, and open spaces. Raymond and My are about 200 metres away from Lyn and my digs and we trundle up to their place for breakfasts. Gavin and Heather are staying at R & M's. Raymond has organised a busy programme for us for our short stay here. Today we were going out to the archipelago and spending the day on an island, swimming and picnicking. So, a tram out to Saltshomen to catch a ferry. We sailed past starkly beautiful, rounded, glaciated rocky islets and islands peaked low above the sea. Some had straggly trees eking out an existence ... read more