I left my heart in Gothenburg

So I’ve been travelling again. This time it was a week long trip with work to Gothenburg! It’s on the middle of the west coast of the country, and is our second largest after Stockholm. It was my first time there, and let me tell you… I’m in love. <3

View over the amusement park Liseberg. That tower thingy is AtmosFear, the tallest free fall attractions in Europe. They put you in a basket, lift you up to the top, and then drop you.
I didn’t go on that monster, just looking on from the ground was more than enough, but I did ride one of the roller coasters.

The hotel next to Liseberg had a glass elevator on the outside of the building. And also an outdoor pool. Also on the outside of the building.
It seems beyond creepy to be swimming in a glass jar 16 stories up in the air… We’ve already decided that next time we’re in town we’re going for a swim in that pool, as a dare. :P

Down by the harbour lies an old barque from 1909. It’s sailing days are over and it now serves as a floating hotel. It’s very pretty, and huge!

There’s also the Swedish war ship HMS Småland from 1952. She was nowhere near as big as the HMS Belfast that I visited in London, but it’s still an impressive ship.
Just like Belfast, Småland has been retired and turned into a museum. We were allowed to explore it from top to bottom, all the way from the captain’s quarters to the machine room. Even if you’re not into military history, it’s still pretty cool to see how the ship worked and how people lived on it.
And it’s quite the workout too… climbing all those steps and ladders and whatnot is not for the lazy.

One of the most beautiful areas has to be Slottskogen, a large park close to the city centre. The landscape is hilly, just as the rest of Gothenburg, with massive leafy trees and lots of little ponds and rivers.

The park is home to many farm animals (they have a petting zoo for the children… and for certain adults who doesn’t have children but still want to pet baby goats) and even some deer. On the top of the highest hill they have a moose pen, but moose are common where I live so we didn’t bother going up there. We see enough of them on the roads here. :P

A bit more interesting were the harbor seals and the Humboldt penguins. The seals were super cute! They looked so soft and round, I imagine petting one of them would be like petting a hairy balloon.
Lucky for me, the penguins were all gathered inside their house so I got to see them real close. Now I know they look just as adorkable and awkward irl as they do on TV. ^_^

Apparently you can’t come here without seeing at least one concert, so Friday night we went to see Blind Guardian playing. The band was amazing and the audience was engaged and energetic, it was magical! Unfortunately I was too excited to remember to take pictures though…

Gothenburg is a great place to be if you like alternative music. The genre of melodic death metal was largely developed there, and people still talk about the “Gothenburg sound”. A whole lot of metal music in general is coming from Gothenburg.

After the concert we popped into one of the many rock n’ roll themed bars to round off the evening. That alone seems amazing, that there isn’t just one but multiple places to go if you want to listen to metal! :D

Stockholm is perhaps more beautiful in general, with the castle and Old Town and the water right in the middle of town, but Gothenburg is a lot more… charming. I think that’s the word. Charming, and artsy, and a bit weird.

The cold winds coming in from the sea, the trams rattling along their tracks, quirky little shops in winding alleys, beautiful old houses clinging to the rocky hills, and hundreds of voices chanting “Valhalla” in a darkened room…

We’re going there again in late September, and I can hardly wait! Next to London, I think this is my new favourite city in the world.