Exploring Göteborg

Today I took the train to Gothenburg for the first time! It was a lot of fun and very exciting, but also a tad challenging as everything was in Swedish. Not to worry I made it there and back in one piece.

The trains are a lot like the ones in America, except maybe a tad narrower. It was a short ride, only 40 minutes, and it went by very quickly because I got to see a lot of beautiful Swedish landscape along the way.

Gothenburg itself is truly a stunning city. Unlike Americas cities that have huge sky scrapers and lots of taxis, big cities in the Scandinavian countries are much more quaint. The buildings are a lot shorter and have much more color and detailing giving the cities more life. The people do not swarm the streets – practically running to wherever they may be going like in Chicago or New York. Perhaps the best part was the city transportation, or lack there of for that matter. There were next to no cars in the city! The streets were almost empty, I was amazed. In order to get around people used a subway like system that was above ground.

The shopping was lovely, although in the end I did not end up buying much and did a whole lot more exploring. Not to worry though I will be back to do some serious retail damage another day. The stores are a lot different here. While I did see some that I recognized from America like Topshop, Zara, and H&M, there are a lot of stores that are very different which was nice.

Once home again, I went with Bea to the opening of her friends Cuban art exhibit at a local Cuban Hotel called Havana which is quite famous actually. I understand why too because it is gorgeous on the inside. The halls are decorated with ethnic pictures, colorful rugs line the floors, and it overall just has a very cool vibe.

Here are some pictures from my day.

Swedish Word of the Day: verb – “Jumpa” This word is local to Varberg and means to put ones foot in water with their shoes on.