Blogs from Sweden, Europe - page 175

We arrived safely yesterday afternoon, a bit weary, but very excited to be here! Nolan keeps saying over and over "I can't believe we're in Sweden!" We had a wonderful meal here last night...my aunt is famous for her meatballs. Nolan slept for 12 hours straight, and we awoke this morning to a beautiful blue sky and a wonderful Swedish morning. Today we are off for a few little excursions around the area where they live here outside of Gothenburg. We are closest to Marstrand which is a wonderful old community we will reach by ferry, and we hope to visit the old fort in Kungelv which was used to protect the Swedes from those terrible Norwegians back in the day. No photos yet....need a shower first!... read more

Die Fahrt nach Stockholm war anstrengend, die Strecke teilweise nur einspurig und die Höchstgeschwindigkeit zwischen 90 und 110km/h. Viele Radargeräte hindern am Rasen!! Stockholm ist traumhaft schön, leider hat das Wetter nur nicht ganz mitgespielt - wir hatten bisher ziemliches Glück! Das Nachtleben hat uns auch nicht umgehauen, so dass wir nach einem Tag Stockholm mit intensivem Sightseeing kurzerhand entschliessen nach Gotheburg weiterzuziehen. Die Fahrt dorthin war deutlich angenehmer, was aber nicht an der Strecke oder den Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzungen lag, sondern an einem vor uns rasenden Schweden und unserem Entschluss uns bei ihm hinten ranzuhängen. Die 470 km haben wir in deutlich schneller als 4 Stunden hinter uns gebracht. Durchschnittsgeschwindigkeit 125km/h heißt schon was auf der Strecke!! Der Schwede scheint die Strecke gut zu kennen, denn auch bei Blitzern sind wir oh... read more

For some reason our train to Gothenburg terminated one station before the main terminal which meant we all had to transfer into buses for the last 15 minutes into the town centre. Once in Gothenberg we walked to what we thought was going to be a hotel but turned out to be a hotel on a boat! It looked a bit strange from the outside, but didn't really seem any different on the inside. We only had the one night in Gothenburg so we didn't really have that much time to look around. However Ross was impressed that there appeared to be four different types of trams in service on the network within the city all in a blue and white livery. We walked up and down the main street where we had dinner at one ... read more

Hey all! So, with my class officially over, my paper and final turned in, I have left the Folkhögskola and moved down the road to the Sigtunastiftelsen. It is a very peacefull and well kept hotel. A wholy different experience then the dorm-life of the last month. After completing our papers, finals, and parting dinner, the group (sans professor) headed out for a final glorious night of drinking and revelry in Stockholm. I did some research and came up with a highly recomended brew-pub called Akkurat. It was awesome. Just the right atmosphere, not so loud that we couldn't talk to eachother and locals we were sitting next to. I had a pint of Guiness, of course, and then some great Heffewizens. After the bar we headed back to central station to catch the bus back ... read more

Still at home, but it finally feels like the most important around-the-world-trip preparations are done ! Destinations, flight tickets, international drivers license, visas, guide books, safety bank account, dentist, insurance etc. But it hasn't been all hard work. I got to relax from preparations and feel very calm by visiting two places: A small warming-up-trip to Gotland which was not as sunny as the sunniest place in Sweden should be (about last 3 hours were sunny). It was very nice though even with all the tourists which still feels like less crowded then Malmö on a normal day. Four days of fur trading, raining, antiqueing, raining, walking, raining, pancakes, politicians and a small test of climbing with a rope. Don't know why, but I slept like a baby including afternoon naps :) Last week I went ... read more