Gothenburg, Sweden

24 (Sat) - 25 (Sun) Mar 2012

Lodging: STF Vandrarhem Stigbergsliden

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Day 1

Göteborg C (Gothenburg Central Station)

3 is not quite a good number in terms of travelling together - you usually find a 4 bed dorm instead of 3, and we paid more for transport each person because (a duo ticket and an adult ticket)/3 is greater than 2 duo tickets.
Ok anyway, by some randomness, 3 of us spent that weekend in Gothenburg, the 2nd largest city in Sweden.

Good thing about taking train - no luggage weight and size limits, but we brought only backpacks because it's just a one night trip.

We reached Gothenburg train station at 12:20pm. It's cold because it's still Sweden and it's further north. But thank God since Gothenburg is still within Sweden, I could use the 3G to navigate. It's practically an unplanned trip and I was asked to navigate the route so before that I roughly listed down some attractions of Gothenburg which are reasonably reachable from the city center and then route using my iPhone by picking destinations.

Nordstan

Nordstan, one of the largest shopping centres in Scandinavia is merely a minute walk away from the station.

Well at least you won't see this kind of multi-storey shopping centre in Lund.

We did nothing particularly there but Min Khai bought a backpack for the upcoming mega break trip.

Gothenburg Cathedral / Gustavi Cathedral

We had our lunch down the streets at Kungsgatan 19 Restaurang & Pizzeria.

Kycklingrulle

I was navigating them southwards to one of the main attractions (although it's just a statue) of Gothenburg - Götaplatsen, and here are some places that we passed by.

Faculty of Education, University of Gothenburg



Do you see what Min Khai's doing? Not a very courteous act though.


University of Gothenburg

Götaplatsen

And this is the statue I was talking about earlier.

Yup, so it's just an ordinary green statue of a naked fisherman. And so we furthered our journey towards the east before making a turn back north.

Universeum

Liseberg is one of the most visited amusement park in Scandinavia, according to Wikipedia. Unfortunately it's closed at that time. Sienz... Saving money again...

It's time to get to the north to our hostel and deposit our stuffs first.

Our hostel is STF Vandrarhem Stigbergsliden, not very near from city center but I've tried to find a reasonably walkable accommodation at a reasonable fee. Apology to Min Khai and Yiting.

Frederikshavn

Due north there's a canal flowing towards the west, and along it we're walking towards the east to the Gothenburg Opera and casino. Whoohoa!!

Casino Cosmopol Göteborg

Nevertheless, 'wonderful' things happened again. We need our passports to enter the casino, and I FORGOT TO BRING MY PASSPORT!!! It's not left in the hostel, it's left in Lund! Lol~ Who knows I need passport even I was travelling within Sweden.

Not the end yet. the next magnificent thing is I didn't bring my Malaysian IC. I left it in Lund as well. I kept showing my Singapore student pass to the receptionists and telling them that it should be a valid identification but they rejected. NO~~~

I knew I'm gonna be left alone, but anyway, we went to take some slow shutter speed shots at the Gothenburg Opera before going back to the casino.


Gothenburg Opera

And Happy Meal @ SEK30 at McDonald's, Nordstan for dinner

Then there they go, they paid SEK30 and entered the casino while I walked my own way back to the hostel. T_T (And they got net gain!)

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Day 2

STF Vandrarhem Stigbergsliden

Checked out at around 11am.

Today's attraction will be the Gothenburg Botanical Garden in the south, and it's a long way to walk.

Oscar Fredrik Church, Oscar Fredriks Kyrkogata 1 A

Gothenburg Botanical Garden

And here we are!

I don't know but for me, I think nature promises better relaxation and it's eye soothing even for travelling.

There're greenhouses in the botanical garden and after entering, whoa, you're back to Malaysia or Singapore - hot!

Can you resemble these Nepenthes to a Pokémon?
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Yes, it's Victreebels!!! LOL~


Whoa, there're really 'food' in the mouth of this carnivorous Nepenthes.



Oh, I love this butterfly, it just rested against the bricks even when I drew really near.

Skansen Lejonet

It's 1:15pm and it's time to leave, means we're gonna walk back north to the train station, which was another long walking journey for the thrifty (or rather stingy) us.

In conclusion, unlike others, we didn't find this 2nd largest city in Sweden really attractive and extraordinary, perhaps it's because of the way we traveled around the city. And again, sorry for making Min Khai and Yiting walking the long distances.
Yiting sometimes asked, "Javin, are we going to reach soon?" and luckily we're usually close to our destination whenever she asked that question which was so stressful to answer.

For more photos, please check out my photo album Gothenburg, Sweden on Facebook.