Last weekend Becca and I met up with our favorite Swedes and went to Gothenburg, Sweden. Not only was Gothenburg hosting a whisky and beer festival but Anders and Anna are from that area so we knew that there would be plenty to see and talk about.
To get to Oslo we took a one hour flight from Trondheim. We had a few hours to kill in Oslo so Anders and I found some free wifi and purchased concert tickets for my mom as soon as they went on sale. Then we
went to a grocery store and bought supplies for the bus ride before
sitting down in a really cool bar.
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| The fellowship (from left): Anders, Bjorn, Anna, Becca, Daniel |
To get from Oslo to Gothenburg we took a 3.5 hour ride on a really fancy bus. The bus had decent wifi and big, comfy, leather seats. In Oslo we checked into our hotel and were delighted to find out that the hotel was obsessed with feng shui in a modern, tacky, Scandinavian way: shag carpet trim, indoor water features, peep holes in the bathroom doors, and randomly-placed, expensive, Swedish furniture (art?).
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| Shag carpet: OK on the floor but not on the ladies |
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| Feng Shui is Chinese for 'no privacy' |
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On the first night we went to the Swedish liquor store and purchased our quotas of cheap(er) beer. We also visited a really nice beer bar that had signs for Caldera Brewing (Ashland, Oregon) on the wall. Then we went out to a fancy dinner at a traditional restaurant and ate Swedish food including pickled fish and stuffed cabbage.
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| Beer in Sweden is significantly cheaper than in Norway |
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| Four types of delicious, pickled herring |
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The festival itself had capacity problems on Friday night that prevented hundreds of people from getting in: thankfully, our tickets were for Saturday. Anders watched the line forming in front the building on Saturday via a webcam and we went and stood in line when we could see people starting to pile up. We got in without any issues and had a great time. We even managed to try a very rare beer and escape with extra tasting glasses to bring home!
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| You can tell that it's Swedish by looking at all of the dots above the letters |
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| One excellent strawberry-flavored beverage |
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| A beer with 32% ABV and a silly name |
After the festival we went out to dinner and then sat down for coffee. The coffee shop had cigars for sale so we spent $10 to support the communists. That night we walked around to a couple of more pubs but turned in fairly early because we are old folks.
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| Cuban cigar with my cappuccino? Yes, please. |
On Sunday we finished exploring Gothenburg and had gyros for lunch. Becca found a geocache and we took photos to use for her CV.
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| Dear Sir or Madame, I feel I am qualified for the position of ferry boat captain because of my many years of practice as helmswoman of giant, decorative, steering wheels as well as my affinity for spinach. |
Finally, we hopped on the train back to Oslo. In Oslo we transferred to a train with two-person sleeping cabins at 10pm and woke up back in Trondheim at 7am on Monday morning. Overall, the trip was incredible and left us with an appreciation for Swedish furniture.
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| The expensive, Swedish chair in the hotel |
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