Swedish Dreamin'

  As many of you may know August is *the* month of vacation in France.  Paris empties out and restaurants close.  Families go on 4 week vacations; J and I are left in the city, empty as it could ever be.  Well, we decided we should take a trip ourselves.  Yet, only for 4 days, not 4 weeks! We learned four Swedish phrases (more than enough), hopped on my new favorite airline (Ryanair), and headed to Goteborg, Sweden.

View of Sweden from the plane.

  Goteborg was an amazing trip. The people were so nice; they reminded us of our fellow Mid-westerners.  For example, we popped into a small convenience store and asked the clerk if she had advil for sale.  Unfortunately, the store didn't carry advil, but the clerk offered us one straight out of her purse.  Now, I love Paris, but that would NEVER happen here, especially to two strangers.  Overall, the vibe was exactly what we were looking for on short vacation; laid back, friendly, slightly hipster.

 If you are anything like J and I, then you have probably never heard of Goteborg!  We didn't really know what to expect by going there, other than a new experience.  Goteborg is actually Sweden's second largest city after Stockholm.  It's located on their southwest coast, and it has many archipelagos to explore nearby .  Even though it is a big city, there is still a neighborhood feel.  This neighborhood sense might have had something to do with the fact that we arrived during one of their largest festivals, Kulturkalas (CultureFest).  There were slightly-odd performers sprinkled around the city playing their slight-odd music.  Also, there were DIY booths for kids (everything from metalworking to weaving) and hand crafts for sale.  It was a really great way to get a feel for their culture, for sure!  We had a great first day wandering through the city, sampling local beers, and enjoying the festivities.

Weird Swedish performance group.

Culture fest fun.

Our hotel had a fun surprise for us, as wll.  For the most part, when J and I travel we use the Ibis (Accor) hotel chain.  The rooms are always clean and a good value.  So, not straying from our norm, we booked the local Ibis.  Well, surprise!  It's on a large boat.  Staying on the water was great, and it offered us a great deck to relax on at night and enjoy the sunsets.

  In truth though, our favorite part was exploring the small islands and archipelagos in the nearby towns.  The public transportation was easy enough to figure out with a little help from the uncommonly friendly information desk. So, out we went!  We picked Marstrand island for our first island adventure.  The island has the Carlsten Fortress remaining from the 17th century.  The fortress was cool, though we didn't tour the inside.  The best part though was hiking around and exploring the island.  It was small enough that we actually walked around the entire thing!  It was also full of geochaches, so we had a blast finding them.  The island was mostly rocky, but there were some small forest areas too.  We even got to see a sailboat race finish!  So much fun!!

Looking down on the town from the island.

Can you spy the geocache?

Sailboat race in progress!

  My biggest regret on this trip was that it was not long enough!  The Swedish landscape and people really made an impression on J and me.  We are already making plans to go back.  Really people, if you ever have a chance, go to Sweden, you will not be disappointed! 

Seriously, visit Sweden!!  

xo, L