Fun In Gothenburg

We arrived in Gothenburg September 15. Accommodations in Sweden are expensive so we opted to stay in a hostel. This meant it was back to bunk beds, and yes this was the entire room. Think of a prison cell designed by Ikea.

Even though the quarters were tight we stayed in the hostel the entire evening because I was booking the last of the accommodations for our trip.

September 16 we went on a canal cruise. The water level was so high that for part of the tour we had to sit on the floor, otherwise we would hit our heads on the bridges. Kind of looks like the hostel, doesn't it?

The tour was very informative and a good way to see the city. Here is a picture of the 'fish church'. It was built to be a fish market, but the only experience the architect had was with building churches.

A pretty picture from the cruise.

Since we went to the amusement park in Copenhagen we thought that one amusement park was enough. We were wrong. When we were looking at things to do in Gothenburg we discovered that the amusement park had 3 rollercoasters, one of which was wooden, so we had to go.

Here is the wooden rollercoaster, 'Balder', the best rollercoaster I have ever been on.

The park from above.

This rollercoaster was really cool because it shot you out of the gate (0 to 75 km/h in 2 seconds) and the momentum carries you through the whole ride.

This is the other half of the park where the 3rd rollercoaster is, as well as a ride that shoots you up really fast, one that shoots you down really fast, and a giant 'big kid swing'.

The amusement park was AMAZING! It was the best park we have been to and it was especially good because there were no line-ups the entire time we were there. Plus neither of us felt sick from the rides!

September 17 we went to 'Universeum', which was similar to our science center. We had so much fun, but once again it seemed that we didn't quite fit in. For some reason there were a bunch of kids!!

Here is Andrew and his 'new friends' making bubbles.

I WAS making bubbles, but some stupid kid (the one across from Andrew in the green) kept popping my bubbles so I left. Where are the parents of these savages?

Then we found puzzles!

Puzzles done... except the one I'm working on. I'm sure it was the hardest puzzle.

Finally done!

Then Andrew found the neatest thing. It was a room with a bunch of lasers running from wall to wall.  The objective was for you to go from one side of the room to the other without touching them (like in the movie Entrapment). Here I am going across the room.

Andrew's turn. He 'danced' through it. Unfortunately the video didn't turn out. Here he is about to jump over a few lasers.

We had so much fun in Gothenburg. Hopefully we will have as much fun in Stockholm.

Copenhagen: Jazz, Amusement Parks & Free-Town

We arrived in Copenhagen September 11. We went for an evening stroll and found a live jazz band on a floating stage. We had planned on walking further but they were too good, so we sat on a bench across the canal and enjoyed the music for quite a while.

September 12 we went to see the city. We found a small canal lined with colourful buildings, which Andrew fell in love with.

Next we walked to the palace of the royal family and then to a popular city park. In the park there was a small church beside a famous fountain. It was beautiful.

September 13 was a big day for us because we went to the amusement park called Tivoli Gardens (the second oldest amusement park in the world; the oldest one is nearby in a suburb of Copenhagen). Not only does this park have beautiful grounds,

but it has crazy rides. There is a roller coaster, a 'drop of doom' type ride,

and something we hadn't seen before, an airplane ride.

The plane rotates around backwards or forwards,  spins you in 3 different directions, and speeds up to 100km an hour (subjecting us to 5Gs we're told).

Unfortunately Andrew and I are babies because we weren't feeling good after multiple back-to-back rides. We decided it was best to take it easy, so we went on a kid ride, the boats.

We went back at night to go on the rides again and because the park was lit up, and our nausea had subsided.

We went for another boat ride too.

September 14 we went to Free-Town Christiania, which is a self-proclaimed autonomous neighbourhood/commune in which the cannabis trade is tolerated. There were signs up everywhere that asked for no pictures to be taken, which is unfortunate because it was a very interesting area, to say the least. There were small carts selling varieties of hash, picnic tables with many people playing backgammon, and many run down houses.

After, we went back to the canal that Andrew liked for a few more pictures.

On to Gothenburg Sweden.