Göteborg/Gothenburg, May 8-9

After our course was over, we decided to take Jordan up on a suggestion of coming to Göteborg (Gothenburg) along with him. I ended up spending some nice quality time in Strömstad before taking the train down, and I documented this time with a series of lovely photos. In that time, Cascade, Althea and Kylla had gotten a ride down with Jordan and Valerio, dropped Valerio off to look at an apartment, sold Jordan’s car, and Althea and Kylla had headed off to Copenhagen. Jordan, Linus and Cascade picked me up and we headed back to Linus’ apartment overlooking the city.

Linus is a fisheries biologist (and fly fisherman) in Göteborg, and a great friend of Jordan. He was awesome—invited us to stay with him in his 1-bedroom apartment, along with his mom and Jordan, who were already planning to stay. And, it was his birthday! Jordan cooked a delicious dinner and we hung out watching YouTube videos (best Ikea commercial ever: search for Ikea Midsummer) and had some beers and Irish coffee that Linus made to perfection. We were also introduced to the Finnish mint liquor, which was so sweet and smooth. We headed out to a club to dance, which was so fun! Four hours on the dance floor passed like nothing and it was cool to come out of the club to see the sunrise (which happens before 5am).

On Sunday we had a delicious breakfast (breads, cheese, yogurts and coffee) and headed downtown to walk around. Jordan and Linus gave an amazing tour around the town: we covered so much ground and got the insiders’ view, wonderful. Linus has lived there for 7 years, and Jordan lived there as well for quite some time. We walked along the harbor and through Haga, this wonderful pedestrian cobble-stoned area with little shops and cafes. An incredible detail that I noticed in Haga, and then in many other parts of Sweden: outdoor cafés provide blankets for you so you can sit outside in the fresh air but still be cozy. I’ll do that in my café someday :)

We went up to the Forkets hus, the tower that gives a really lovely view of the whole city, across all the red roofs. We went to Slottsskogsparken, a big beautiful space with hills of granite and grassy areas. There is also a zoo in one area where we saw moose, peacocks and seals (in different sections). We rounded about the Feskekörka, the “fish church” (fish market). Unfortunately it was closed on Sundays but it was neat to peak in and see all the stalls and image what it was like on a busy morning. The building was beautiful: it looked like a little snow-covered church right along the water. We did a little window shopping and a little real shopping at some of the stores that were open in the center before heading to the train station. Very cool design shop too.

Along our walk I decided to take Jordan and Valerio up on the offer to go join them in Lysekil (pronounced Lisa-shiel). Valerio had headed home to Lysekil after leaving Göteborg the day before and Jordan was going there for a day to work with him on some fisheries discard data. So at the bus station we parted ways with Cascade and I went with Jordan to Lysekil. This was one of the coolest split-second decisions ever.