Hej hej!

"Hej hej" is pretty much Swedish for "hello" and it's so entertaining going around saying "hey hey" to everyone. I liked it and hope it catches on globally.

A quick trip to Gothenburg, Sweden was our first foray into weekend trips around Europe and I would rate it as a success. Do not worry though, we managed to continue on our life streak of learning everything the hard way and blew the budget before even leaving London.

A few tips when flying with Ryanair:

1. The tiny little sentence on your email confirmation that says to print your boarding pass before going to the airport is not to be taken as a mere suggestion or gentle nudge, PRINT YOUR F*#($*% BOARDING PASS BEFORE GOING TO THE AIRPORT AND DO SO AT LEAST TWO HOURS BEFORE YOUR FLIGHT LEAVES!!!! There is a SEVENTY POUND charge to print it at one of their kiosks!!! PER PERSON!!!!! It is absolutely outrageous and may have caused a few tears (rage combined with lack of sleep at 5 am is not a good combo.) Even if you don't own a printer it is still cheaper to go out and buy a printer specifically to print the boarding passes. I've had a few days to recover from this incident and it's still causing minor black out rage.

2. Non-EU citizens must do a "passport check" at the bag drop counter. Otherwise, the not-very-friendly gate agent will lecture you in front of everyone about holding up the entire flight. Even though you're about to go stand on the tarmac for 15 minutes to wait for everyone in front of you to board...

3. Be prepared for the relentless sales pitches from the salespeople thinly disguised as flight attendants for the entire duration of the flight. Buy a magazine, buy a newspaper, buy a scratch ticket, buy duty free... It's constant.

Other than a few not-so minor issues, the flights with Ryanair weren't actually that bad. The flight from London Stansted to Gothenburg was only about 1.5 hours and before we knew it we were back in Canada!!

What majestic creatures.

 

We had about 24 hours in Gothenburg which ended up being almost the perfect amount of time to explore the city. Pat was disappointed that we didn't make it to the Aerospace Museum over an hour outside of the city... I was not so disappointed. Nevertheless it's a very walkable city and the trams are super efficient.

While waiting until check-in time at the hostel, we decided to take a guided boat tour around the canal system and into the main harbour to orient ourselves a bit. Gothenburg has several canal systems that give easy reference points when you're trying to navigate your way around the city. The boat ride was not too exciting except for the parts where everyone on the boat had to lie down on the floor to avoid being a victim of the "cheese grater bridge." Unfortunately I have no pictures of this as we were trying to avert being beheaded while crouched on the floor of a wet boat. It was pretty cool!

Downtown Gothenburg

The "fishmarket" where all of the dishes looked straight out of an Ikea restaurant.

After the boat ride we were (I was) pretty hungry and we found a taco truck lurking along the shores of the canal. It ended up being a really long wait but was hands down the most delicious and most fresh fish tacos I've ever had in my entire life. I again failed to take a picture due to the life or death situation involving who got the third taco. If you are ever in Gothenburg you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO find Mi Taquito. It was life-changing.

Mi Taquito's truck

We checked in at the hostel, Göteborgs vandrarhem, and ditched our overnight bags before heading out for the evening. The hostel was fine, we booked the day before so they only had bunks in the girls' & boys' dorms available but for how long we actually spent there it was okay. The only real complaint I had was that they charged an extra ~$10/per person for sheets. If they are going to charge extras like this it should really be more clear on the hostelworld.com bookings page or in the email confirmation they send. It was also about a 5-10 minute tram ride outside of the downtown core, but the trams went by so frequently it was not a big deal. I also can't blame the hostel for putting me in the room with a girl who I'm pretty sure had Ebola. I am most definitely not a germophobe but I can still hear her hacking and wheezing in my nightmares.

Saturday evening meals seem to be a big deal in Gothenburg so I would recommend booking reservations ahead of time. We wandered from place to place hoping to find a table and eventually ended up just waiting for 45 minutes at one restaurant. We ended up at The Rover - I think Pat was just searching for "beer" and managed to find this restaurant. It was absolutely delicious however and I did not resent his choice. We each tried a few of the FORTY BEERS ON TAP!!! and then shared a meat platter that included fall-off-the-bone ribs, chorizo and brisket. It was so so so good.

So many options, so little time.

                                                 

Especially enjoyed the cutlery presentation.

 

I heart Sweden.

 

I'll skip over the rest of the evening where Pat dragged us on a wild goose chase around Gothenburg in search of a local brewery called the "Bearded Rabbit." Long story short - the "brewery" is someone's homebrewing operation in their apartment. Not open to the public. Especially not on Saturday nights.

The next day was a little rainier so we spent some time at the City Museum. They had a really interesting exhibit on the Roma population in Scandinavia and we were also able to brush up a bit on our Viking history. The Design Museum was not as impressive but it was free with the City Museum entry so we gave it a go. The Design Museum did have several original mid-century modern pieces of furniture though so it was pretty cool to see them instead of their Ikea remakes!!

An original Eames chair!!!

 

We finished up our time in Gothenburg with a bit of shopping and then hit the road for the trip back to London.

I really liked Sweden - it has a good vibe and we hope to make it back again soon!