Wednesday morning in Gothenburg. The weather was looking like it was going to hold so I made the most of being outside. I caught the bus to the botanic gardens and had a good walk around there. They have wayyyyy too many plant labels but there was a “wild” section with big rocks and a great view. It was also connected to a nature reserve with a lake (and ducklings) but I didn’t have too much time to explore as I had a meeting online at 11. That was fun. Sitting outside in Gothenburg “working” while it’s rainy and dark in Perth. The client back in Perth was very envious.

From there I caught the bus up to the Paddan Tour landing dock to meet Glen and Ravinder. We went for lunch first in Saluhallen then caught the boat tour, which was really great. I love a boat tour. You see things, you keep moving, you get a potted history of the place, and it’s usually lovely. Lots of bridges and interesting sites too.

After that we went to Haga and had a giant cinnamon scroll — the thing to do — and so big that there was still a decent sized, large cinnamon roll left at the end of it. We walked through the old town and then I said goodbye to them before going into the Gothenburg Museum, which had excellent interpretation about Gothenburg’s 400-year history. 

Then into a chocolate shop and bought a few bits of chocolate out of guilt for the owner’s struggles. It rained. I went to the Rohhska Art and Design museum, some nice pieces there, then headed home. That was plenty. 

Dinner with Glen, Ravinder and Narelle at a Japanese restaurant, and we had Teppanyaki, so it went for a while.

Thursday I went to the Universaeum which was part cience museum, part indoor zoo. Some really good displays and their snakes were awesome. I even saw a king cobra drinking water! Stunning colours on some reptiles too. There were lots of aquaria but also an indoor four-storey rainforest with free-ranging birds, as well as monkeys. Unfortunately there were also a lot of children.

After that, went to World of Volvo where I really showed my age. The guide said I could buy the ticket online or from the counter (heavily encouraging me to use the online system). I asked if there was a difference in price and as there wasn’t I opted for a person at the counter. I couldn’t be arsed entering my details online and it’s been hit an miss whether the webpages allow access to preloaded credit card information or incorporate ApplePay. Thinking I’d avoid some hassle, I went to the counter.

I asked for a ticket and then was asked for my email address as they don’t like printing tickets…presumably under the pretence of “environmentalism”. A car company… I hate my email address as it’s not intuitive and a faff to spell so I overrode the drive to acquiesce and asked for a printed ticket instead. 

Then they asked me first name and surname… Not sure why they need this. I started to spell my surname but it’s also complicated and the person behind the counter stumbled on the letters (not her fault) so I said gave Glen’s surname instead which is only two letters long. I was eventually given my ticket.

Ironically, the whole of the interpretation in the exhibition is about people being at the centre of what Volvo does…and yet, the entry experience was full of friction. Subsequently, it took a long time for me to feel level again…not helped when the first display asks “How are you feeling today?” 

Not good, Volvo, but thanks for asking.

Despite this less than optimal entry, there were some really cool displays. One about balance, one about emotions (and how they affect your driving), a rally-car racing interactive, a wind machine, a digger for picking up balls, and then lots of cars of various models.

I stopped there for buffet lunch, then walked up the Museum of Art, saw some great Picasso, Van Gogh and Rembrandt paintings, then, finished up and walked in the rain back to the hotel where i had a glass of wine and did some work. We had hoped to go to Liseberg theme park in the afternoon, but the weather was atrocious so we all relaxed. 

On Friday, our last day in Goteborg, we took our time getting ready in the morning. I’d initially wanted to go to the aquarium and one more museum (to squeeze more value out of the Gothenburg Go City pass), but Ravinder was keen to go check out the little islands, which seemed like a much better idea. 

Once packed and checked out, we caught public transport out to the docks then caught the ferry over to Brännö. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to go the other bigger islands so instead took the first available ferry and armed with advice from the lady at the ticket counter set off for Brännö.

The ferry ride was short and pleasant. The islands, from the water, looked like small lumps of rock with cottages on them. When we got onto the island, you can see that there are a lot more people living there. We walked for a while and went to the restaurant in the middle of the island for a decent lunch and relaxed, before heading back. 

I thought we could do a shortcut through the nature reserve but it ended up taking longer than expected and further off-track (not to mention getting eaten alive by mosquitoes) so we backtracked and got to the ferry in time, then took public transport back as we were unable to get an Uber.

Back at the hotel we collected our bags and said goodbye to Ravinder as she bussed off to the airport. With nothing else to do, Glen and I caught an Uber to the airport, only to find out that we couldn’t check our bags for another two hours. By the time we did get through, a storm had rolled in and, thanks to the lightning, grounded the airport with Ravinder having to wait two hours on the tarmac. We got into the lounge for about 25 minutes before it closed, and our flight was delayed about an hour, but once we’d taken off it was quick, and got us into Heathrow sometime around 11.