Gothenburg - Day 1

It's time to leave Stockholm, sadly. We've a very early start of 4:20am. We say our goodbyes and hop in an Uber to the train station. We farewell Stella who is going back to Manchester and hop on our 5:35am train to Gothenburg, a 3 hour train ride south-west from Sweden. It feels like a quick ride as there are minimal stops and great views of the Swedish country side. Lush green trees, grass, red barns and lakes.

We arrive to a very sunny day in Gothenburg, Sweden's second largest city. We've been sent a lot of good weather on this trip so far. It's about a 5 minute walk from the station to our hotel. It's too early for us to check in but we drop our bags and head out to find somewhere for breakfast.

We love bread and cheese, but we're gagging for more of an eggy breakfast so we head for a cafe serving up American type breakfasts, naturally. We gorge on scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, maple syrup, toast and coffee. We're now ready to take on Gothenburg. After we've bought some sunscreen, as this European spring sun is getting us good.

We booked into a Paddan Boat tour over breakfast, so we head to the canal. We figure this is a good way to see and find out about Gothenburg and it is. The tour guide is great, alternating between Swedish and English. We do a loop that takes us through the canal which used to be the mote of the city in the 17th and 18th century, then out into the harbour and back down the canal to the starting point. About 50 minutes baking in the sun, but well worth it.

We go back to the hotel to pester them again about an early check in and we're in luck! We're staying at the Royal Hotel which is the oldest hotel in Gothenburg! It's so very charming and quaint and we're absolutely cheering at the opulence of our room. It has windows! Room to move! We drop our bags in the room and then head out to find a laundromat. There is only two in Gothenburg so we take it to the closest one who does it for you. We don't ask or read the price, but how much can a load of washing cost? Stay tuned.

We head back to the hotel to shower and change, ready for an arvo/night on the town. We wander over to Haga through some light drizzle. Haga is an area of the city with cobble stone streets and wood houses. We have a beer at a bar that is showcasing local beers. We compliment the bar tender on his Millencolin hat (cool Swedish punk band) and find out that one of the guys from the band has his own brewery called Duckpond in Gothenburg! He doesn't have his own location unfortunately as he brews out of other breweries, so we can't go and harass him. As we sit and watch the locals go by we can't help but notice that the people here seem a bit more alternative and chill than in Stockholm.

Our next stop is a bar called Hops where we sit outside for another beer. We sit under cover as the rain pours down. It's lovely and not cold at least. Beers and rain finished, we head to a brewery called Stigbergets Bryggeri. Now we are definitely not in Stockholm. In fact, we could be at brewery in the inner-west. It is effortlessly cool. We actually mistook it for something else at first, like a community club or something. There is a reading on to tonight so we can only get a seat at the side of the bar which is fine by us. We order a beer and watch the chefs at work behind the bar. Good vibes all round.

We can't drink beer all night (LOL) so we find a pub to eat that is serving some local fare. Courts orders the beef brisket with the mashed potato border and Jeff gets a burger. Not bad. We head back the way we came as we noticed there was a bar doing an open mic night. We order one more beer (and note that there are buns for sale at the bar. So Sweden) and grab a table.

All of the banter between songs and from the host is in Swedish, but all the lyrics are in English. We watch about 5 different acts. Some are quite good singers, some seem like they have been through some shit and some are just....not good (Travis Barker is safe from competition for a bit longer). But at least they are giving it a go.

It's been another big day, we head back to the hotel for bed.