Gothenburg

Gemma and I bid a temporary farewell to Clare and Malmo in order to head up the coast to the city of Gothenburg, Swedens' second city. Because Scandinavia, trains were frequent and quick. Three point five hours later, we arrived, eventually making our way across the Gota River, which feeds into an arm of the North Sea. Trade's the thing in this city and ships, cargo cranes and docks dotted the waterway. Frequent daylight- only ferry boats take pedestrians across the water for free and one happened to be right outside our hotel. 

Our hotel also boasted a series of rooftop views and hot tubs, both in and out of doors. Pretty stunning place to perch overall:

The weather was cold but not bitterly so and so we wandered to see the excitement of Gothenberg's various areas. I mean, excitement was muted but took the form of book shops, craft shops and odd statues including one very unimpressed man:

As we wandered, the city seemed to be moving between work and fika and home. And so made our way to the Haga district of town, home to what we hoped would become The Ultimate Fika. As we searched, items of coziness found us:

And given more sun/warm weather/sunshine, I reckon the cobbled pavement would be lined with pets, people and their paraphernalia.  

        

The perk of shortened daylight hours seemed to be the onset of happy hour. We'd been recommended Gothenburg's local Steampunk Bar, called, in fact, Steampunk Bar. We were not disappointed. From the decor, to the friendly multilingual hipster bartenders, to the tragically hip 500-gins gin menu, we spent several hours nattering away.

 

 I mean, it wasn't cheap. Or remotely cheap. But dry ice in your cocktail is good medicine. And so, several gins in, we stumbled slowly home, trying to navigate where to buy bus tickets and not quite succeeding. But no one stopped us and so we enjoyed a free ride back to our little hotel perch.