Why won't they leave us alone? (Stockholm to Gothenburg, Sweden)

And so, dear reader, it was with fear and trepidation we departed Stockholm and dragged our bags towards Central Station. We had selected a smoother route, one that limited the cobblestones and small pavers. We made the station in good time and loitered near the platform from which our train would be departing. Seating was at a premium and if you got up to stretch your legs it was likely your spot would be taken before you had walked a few metres. Thankfully I like to roam around so, once Jayne was seated with our bags, I went in search of the mysterious platform 9. No luck. It remains a mystery.

Our train arrived on time, but it required cleaning for the next leg of the journey. We were, therefore, 20 minutes late leaving. While that was not a concern for us - we couldn't get into the hotel until 3pm anyway, there were plenty of people with connecting trains at Gothenburg that would be inconvenienced.

The high speed trains are fabulous and I still can't understand why Australia has not gone down this path. The thing of note on the journey was the guy across the aisle with his headphones on singing to himself. Funny. And annoying.

Gothenburg or Göteborg is another university town and is Sweden's second largest city. We are here for three days because I wanted to break up the journey from Stockholm to Copenhagen. Given the speed of the trains it probably wasn't necessary. In an ironic twist, we will need to change trains on the way to Copenhagen and the connecting train commenced its journey in Stockholm.

Interesting architecture everywhere.

We are staying in a hotel, the Radisson Blu Scandinavia. It is a popular chain over here and is also directly opposite central station. Despite Declan, our GPS, wanting to walk us down one side of the canal to turn and retrace our steps, I cleverly noted the hotel sign emblazoned in 3 metre high blue neon and headed directly there. I had decided to upgrade to a suite, given our baggage. Good decision.

Systembolaget

There is a lot to like about Sweden. Bottle shop or Systembolaget opening hours is not on the list. We dropped our bags, unpacked a few things, checked the map, grabbed the backpack and headed for the bottle shop. Should you ever travel this way, dear reader, and are in search of take home alcohol, the term to Google is 'liquor store'. Cheers America.

An insect hotel near the bottle shop.

Anyway the systembolaget was less than 10 minutes walk from the hotel through the Inner City past numerous shops, cafés and restaurants. The weather was predicted to be fine and we wandered our new locale, taking in the sights as we went. Sadly, there were KFC and McDonalds amongst the more interesting eateries.

As we passed the local market, noted for a later visit, it began to rain. Not heavily. Just enough to be annoying and ensure you would be uncomfortable. Not to worry, our destination was nearby and we could shelter there making our wine choices.

Good try. Fail. The bottle shop had closed at 3pm, as it was Saturday, and wouldn't reopen until Monday morning. I am uncertain if this is some puritanical religious bent tied to decades past or a clever ploy to get the locals out to eat and drink on weekends. If the latter, it worked for us.

Dinner 

A restaurant had already been selected prior to leaving the hotel so we navigated our way there. It was Italian of course. I have never seen so many Italian restaurants, with the possible exception of Italy. The rain had stopped, we arrived at the restaurant and were shown to our table by a delightful young woman who chatted to us about Gothenburg and things we could do. Especially as Sunday is a day when many places are closed.

The restaurant was one of those order at the table places that popped up everywhere during COVID in Australia. In Sweden they are going completely cashless and most places accept card only. Wouldn't that cause Bob Katter and Barnaby Joyce to have an apoplexy? Be worth it for that alone.

So we decided a long lunch drifting into dinner was required. We began with olives and wine and the order went through without a problem. We sat and chatted and watched people coming and going. Later I ordered our mains and the system would not accept my card. Curious. It worked an hour ago. Over to the counter to speak to the people. It wouldn't work manually either.

They didn't take Amex so we were limited in what we could do. Jayne came over and attempted to pay with her card. Also rejected. About 8 times just to reinforce the point. Back at the table I tried again using Apple Pay. Success! Who knows why or how. Dinner was on its way.

And when it finally arrived, disappointment. My pizza was OK. Uncut, but OK. What is with that? Jayne's carbonara was swimming in egg wash. Disgusting.

Day 2

When you're travelling overseas, dear reader, there are many ways to start a day badly. One is to open your email and discover your VISA card has been suspended due to suspicious activity. For perspective, we have been away for a month and although it's not my main card, it gets used where Amex is not accepted. It has, therefore, been used in England and Norway, but apparently Sweden is a totally sus country and it was is now locked.

The only solution? Phone Australia. Do not respond to the email. Phone. The sim card I purchased is data only and I've tried making calls over the net but it doesn't work. Thankfully Jayne's phone did and I called HSBC in Sydney, well it was a Sydney number. After the usual 10 minutes on hold, I got to discuss the issue with someone in the fraud team. 

It's a school. Not Hogwarts.

She asked me if I authorised a purchase for $181AUD and provided the trading name. Really? Trading names are not generally the name of the establishment where you spent the money. I told her I bought dinner at an Italian restaurant in Sweden and named the two amounts spent in SEK. "Oh," she said, "You're in Sweden." This woman's progeny will never work on rockets.

Anyway, card restored it was time to search for breakfast. A potential challenge on a Sunday so we headed for Haga, a tourist area.

Haga

It was still early by Swedish standards and even the tourist area was quiet. There were a few cafés open and all were well patronised, as if to prove to the authorities that Sunday trading would be a beneficial move.

Reflective.

Finally we found a table in the third café and joined the queue to order. We tend not to eat much when we travel, a light breakfast and one meal usually suffices. The usual double espressos, a croissant and Jayne had something sweet, I can't remember the name. 

We didn't stay to explore Haga because we were returning the next day. Today we were going to the Museum of Natural History. Why? Because museums are open on Sundays, unlike the rest of Sweden and closed on Mondays.

It looked harmless enough from below.

Museum of Natural History

Admittedly it is a while since I've been to a museum of this sort. It is also billed as a museum of taxidermy. Their big claim to fame? A stuffed blue whale. I kid you not. Now I'm no taxidermist, so I'm not really in a position to criticise, but ... well, you'll see from the pictures.

The walk to museum passed the Skansen Kronan, a 17th century fortress. It is on top a hill of course with a great view. It can wait till the walk home.

The Skansen Kronan.

Walking through the doors of the museum was akin to wandering into a day care centre. It was all light and movement and screaming children and ambivalent parents. It appears museums are very popular on Sunday.

The magpies are really colourful.

The lockers were all taken which meant carrying our bags and coats. We climbed the spiral staircase to the top floor to work our way back down. In short, it is the museum of taxidermy. There were a few skeletons and some hands-on explanatory displays for kids. Otherwise it was stuffed animals.

Even the bear is looking away.

Stuffed birds, mammals, fish, assorted sea creatures, you get the idea. The museum, the oldest in Gothenburg, opened in 1905 and some of the exhibits looked like they were original. Particularly the birds, losing feathers, faded colour and a generally moth-eaten appearance.

The two floors of exhibits generated that wonderful echo sound that little children so enjoy to make. Some so much, they had what looked and sounded like a 'scream off' with other children. Yes, this was fun, dear reader.

An anorexic giraffe looking in a mirror.

And then the whale, the prize exhibit. I photographed it from above as well as from ground level. The lines on the side of the whale turned out be where it was cut open. To reseal it they used screws. It's head had three very large hinges. I assume this is for educational purposes so you can look inside. I thought it was just weird and unattractive and ultimately it didn't look real. Which also brings us to the title of this post, Why won't they leave us alone that timeless 1986 classic from Dot and the Whale. Do yourself a favour.

Hinges and screws.

After passing through the mammal exhibit, replete with a giraffe, elephant, moose, buffalo, bear and Australian marsupials. We exited to take a wander in the adjacent perimeter of the botanic garden.  The gardens would no doubt look far more impressive in the summer and the scale of the space seems akin to our national parks as there is 360 kms of cycling track within its precinct.

Skansen Kronan

Our return journey took us back to the fortress, built in 1687-9, that lies in the heart of the city. It is perched on a hilltop, accessible by a zig-zag pathway. It is steep to access on one side and there is a more meandering path on the other. The view from the top was overrated. It looked across the city towards the storm clouds in the distance. 

Nice day for a walk.

There were many locals out walking their pets and not all of them were dogs. We were amazed to see people walking their cats, not on a leash. It was tempting to stay and watch what was about to unfold because two dogs were waiting around the next bend in the path.

Cat walking. No leash.

We turned for Norstad, the large shopping mall near the hotel in search of the yellow all weather coat I didn't buy in Tromsø. Once again to no avail. We found a Pandora store although Jayne didn't like the specifically Swedish offering so there was no purchase.

Mini golf. No nerds out today.

Back at the hotel our room hadn't been serviced so we adjourned to the bar with the computer to sort out our last leg of unbooked travel, Prague to Vienna. After considerable research looking at the two different train companies and whether it was better to book through Prague or Vienna, I finally made a decision. I booked through the Czechia site because it allowed you to select seats where the Austrian site did not and the private train company couldn't guarantee us seats together. Stressful, but done.

Retiring for the evening we discovered our room had been ignored and had not been serviced. Oh, well, we'll discuss that on the way tomorrow.

Until next time.