Don and Lee - Our Travels: Sweden

Sweden / Norway

Nya Varvet, Gothenburg, Sweden

We arrived in London after an 8 hr flight without sleep, caught a bus from Gatwick airport to Heathrow airport and then had a wait of several hours before the airline would take our suitcases off our hands and allow us to roam free. I think that is the hardest part - stuck with heavy suitcases and hard airport seats (when you can find one).

The flight to Gothenburg, Sweden was a short quick hop and beautiful scenery - we arrived about 8pm and had a 30 km trip to our hotel. Don had researched our hotel on the internet - it was beautiful, by the water with a small marina next door. (The area where the hotel and office for Don's work used to be a Naval Base and had beautiful grounds.) Notice I said "was" well the hotel also has student type accommodation a reasonable walk from the hotel proper - so off we walked with our bags in tow. Our room was upstairs, so Don took the first bag up and came back with a sad face - the room was a single tiny room with a bed sized for an Ethiopian and just enough room to move around it. Now when in your early 20's a single bed for 2 may seem attractive but not in your 50's !!! Don went back to reception and obtained another room with 2 single beds - definitely student accommodation :-)

The temperature here is perfect - about 20C. The air is clean and fresh and the area is very quiet. I was told a lot of people here would speak English but I have not found anyone except the receptionist at the hotel - she will be seeing a lot of me when I get lonely.

I have been for a few bush walks and braved a trip into the city - the train was easy and I didn't get lost - well not really lost, I just ended up in a different place than I had intended !!!

I was chased into the ladies toilets by a man - it wasn't my fault - or at least not all my fault !!! I found the bathrooms in the train station and being a thoughtful person I held the door for a lady with a suitcase - she went through then stood in front of a mirror instead of continuing through the next door where the toilet booths were - that should have given me a hint but another lady was coming out of the second door and held it open for me - the next thing I know a male is yelling and walking through the toilet area - I ignored him and prepared to enter a booth - he prevented me, yelled at me in Swedish and eventually I followed him to see what the problem was - well when the lady stood in front of the mirror she covered up the tiny opening which is where you deposit your 10 krona - the fee for using the bathroom !!!

During my next trip into town I walked until I was lost then decided it was time to head back - eventually I found the tram line but couldn't decide which platform I needed to be on to go south - after missing 2 trains (one either way) I made up my mind to simply get on the next train and see where it took me. While waiting an intoxicated man decided to sit next to me and chat. When I could get a word in I explained that I could not understand Swedish, I don't think it really mattered as he was in a world of his own. He sung 4 love songs to me in English, loudly, with intense feeling and a lot of pawing then thank goodness his train came - he hung out the train entrance holding onto the boarding handle with one leg strung out into the air and yelled how much he loved me - just like in the movies :-( I definitely need an escort on these forays.

My goodness this country is beautiful - mountainous, cool/cold - we had snow whilst driving on an elevated road yesterday but the down side is it is very expensive. The Big Mac Index is an index that compares the costs of McDonald’s hamburgers all over the world as a way of comparing one countries economy to another - a Big Mac costs the most in Venezuela, then Norway, Sweden and followed by Brazil.

Don’s job was supposedly for 6 weeks but finished after 2 when the normal workers returned from holidays. We decided to visit Norway whilst we were so close.

We left Gothenburg in Sweden and drove to Oslo, the capital of Norway. Our guest house accommodation was close to the city and we trained in that night to have a look at the historic buildings The next day we drove to a town close to Trondheim, this is the closest we will get to the Arctic Circle. I expected Trondheim to be a tiny outback town with a few huts, seals and the northern lights but it was the third biggest city in Norway - how disappointing when I thought we were driving into the back of beyond. Hey they have trolls here - this is their birthplace !!!

Accommodation here is not easy to find mainly because it is very expensive and a lot of the places are closed for the season - summer is almost finished and school resumes in the next few days. After searching for 2.5hrs for a hotel or hostel we finally banged on the door of a big Hotel which looked closed - no one answered so we skyped the number on the door - a very cold elderly lady came rushing up the hill to greet us, I felt terribly guilty as we had been sitting in our warm vehicle while she trudged up the hill in boots, a heavy woollen brown coat, scarf, hat and still looked frozen. She greeted us like long lost friends. We were the only guests in a huge hotel - very spooky - we went for a walk around praying not to see any ghosts. The sitting room was large with a piano, organ, many different seating arrangements as you expect in a gentleman’s bridge club - very beautiful but spooky – I warned Don “if that piano plays a tune at midnight I am out of here” too many horror movies!!! Dinner was unusual – too cold to venture out in the hope of finding an open restaurant, we ate baby carrots, cheese, rye biscuits and icy cold spaghetti & meatballs :-).