NOT sliding on a shrimp sandwich

 

To pick up on a Swedish idiom I first heard on Graham Norton by Gothenburg actor Alicia Vikander.  You have to earn your privileges, travel is a privilege, and we do I feel work for our time to invest in that as our chosen reward.  Admittedly it does become more chosen and special as we get older, we travelled up to Reading last night for a Premier Inn launch to the airport this morning.  And our lastminute destination of Gothenburg chosen as one of the good deals in the recent BA Sale. So its prawn cocktail sandwich at best, and one we have carefully selected. I am going to have a shrimp one before I leave, they are promoted everywhere in Gothenburg.

We had the timewarped experience of Heathrow Terminal 3 this morning. Old school parking, bit of a walk to departures, but pretty smooth from there on in.  The Club Lounge was quiet (most of BA in Terminal 5) and it was lovely and relaxing. A window seat to watch the planes take off and land. To think as a kid I loved to visit airports for the occasional balcony view of this. Now I could do so with full English and a Bloody Mary.

Some pleasant service on the flight, was trying to avoid too much of the free booze, but champagne and salmon mid morning just feels part of the experience. Flight shy of a couple of hours so managed to listen to a football podcast and part of a downloaded Good Girls Guide to Murder episode. A reminder of my old traveller Carys who had become quite an expert in that space, having set up her own very popular non official fan account. 

Gothenburg airport nice and homely, provincial feel but enough 'difference' to feel abroad. The home of Volvo immediately apparent with a new model on the luggage carousel. We couldn't take it off though.  Instead we took our own gear and out onto a prebooked 30 minute bus in the centre of Gothenburg, leaving every 20 minutes and sorted last night. Easy.

From the drop off point it was 500m on google maps (bus wifi got us started) to the Radisson Blu, a swanky hotel that smelt of Vegas, If you know, you know.  Massive Atrium it even had the feel of one of those resort hotels and our room is mahoosive. Dumped our stuff and went out to explore.

A biting wind but we just had about enough layers although Chrissi regretting regularly her choice not to have a winter coat. That was a decision mind, we also forgot a few things in our 10 minute pack before we left last night. I'll mention what they are if / when pertinent.  We are completely cashless on this trip for the first time ever, my tradition of picking up local currency for emergencies disappeared yesterday when Tesco had no Swedish Krona.

Walked through the city parks, and past various artwork, some taking us on a journey through Gothenburg history, a good way to learn.  It feels a newish city which is true, a few hundred years, but settlements go back a long way.  And it has burnt down a lot so perhaps that also makes it feel quite fresh.

We did find its oldest quarter, dating back to 1645, called the Haga.  A long street under an old defence position.  Lots of quirky shops and cafes in this day and age. Meant we could sample our first Fika, coffee and cake, and wi fi. Avoided a shower too.

The defence position gave us the opportunity for a walk up a hill with a view. Skanesen Kronan presumably a good place to see Danish invaders back in the day, houses and modern architecture was our vista. Plenty of time on feet for the day after walking back to the hotel and didn't want too much more with a run tomorrow.  A bit more modern art and architecture to sample en route though.

We enjoyed a couple of drinks in the Atrium in the Radisson and then popped out for a burger. Not any old burger, I had done my research here, another Scandinavian establishment based around the word Bastard was our goal. A meaty bastard for me and vegi bastard for Chrissi, simple food, basic burgers, Shake Shack type of establishment but all that was needed after a long day, and with a busy morning tomorrow.  So back to room, Sweden playing Slovakia, kept Bryn updated, he returned the favour with the Iceland v Wales match ... not on out here ....