Göteborg (Gothenburg)

Learning from my mistakes I took very few pictures in Gothenburg. A bit too few. Ill try to land somewhere in between the amount taken in Berlin and this on my next trip.

My first hours in Gothenburg were mostly spent worrying since I didn’t know when my planned host would arrive. I couldn’t get in contact with him and (as I later found out) his train was severely delayed.
Luckily I had been in contact with Joel who, like me, had hosted a hitchhiker named Roi. When Roi found out that I was going to Gothenburg he told me that I simply HAD to meet Joel.
Sometime after 6 pm I sent Joel a message asking if he knew if and when we could meet. I also mentioned that I was worried that my host had disappeared. He answered almost immediately and wondered if he should come pick me up. I am really grateful to him for taking me in on absolutely no notice at all, and I ended up having a great time the days I stayed at his place.
We went out to a pub with his friends, transported a massage bench through half of Gothenburg, went to the museum of world culture, looked through second hand stores and just in general had a very nice time.

I also got to spend a night in Trollhättan where Marita, a woman from A Feminist Initiative, lives. We arrived late and I had to leave early so I didn’t see much of the place. Everyone says there really isn’t anything to see though.
It was really nice to be able to spend a whole night with Marita just talking about all and nothing. I rarely find the time to do that with people I do political work with.

The weekend was spent discussing politics and sleeping in a very nice hotel with Linnéa, but that’s not really of interest to this blog (I think).

Sweden is a very modern country sometimes

And sometimes not.

We still use these to stamp tickets with time and date.

In Germany (and Finland I hear) they’re considered collectors items.

Berlin pictures and all – Just a Friday

I spent half a day at the Jewish museum. The entrance looks like the security check at an airport (unfortunately you aren’t allowed to take pictures in that area), and after having had all your things scanned and passed the metal detector you have to check in your jacket.
According to Judith this is perfectly normal since this place is related to Jews. For a Swedish person it’s strange and a bit distressing.

The architecture of the museum was just as interesting as (and a part of) the exhibit.

The yellow stars the Jewish population had to wear during the Nazi ruling.

“Feminist prayer bookIn this prayer book God is not addressed as a male but as the ‘source of life’.”

Fore some reason the "Not Kosher" section interested me more than the "Kosher" section that mainly contained farm animals.

I never thought hyenas where that big. They’re huge!

Bugs aren’t Kosher so you should make sure not to eat any. A light board helps you check everything thoroughly (personally I just rinse my lettuce).Might be a good thing for vegetarians too I guess.

Gummi bears is something I strongly connect to Germany (I blame Hedwig and the angry inch) so I just had to buy some from this really cool vending machine. This is not for vegetarians though. They use fish gelatine.

I remember that they also had an Einstein action figure.

Stairs.
In Berlin there are stairs everywhere, but not that many escalators and elevators. I would be much more fit if things where the same in Stockholm…

There was October fest theme at the Ackerkeller and one of Judith’s friends had dug up a Dirndl (traditional Bavarian costume) for her.

I think most people have heard of Lederhosen (traditional Bavarian costume for men).

Blonds DO have more fun!

The party girls behind the bar!

Me and Judith somewhere between The Ackerkeller and SchwuZ.

At the end of the evening (or at about the time I usually get up in the morning) things got a bit blurry and cameras a bit unsteady.

So what conclusions about Denmark and Sweden did Ida and I come to that night? Well, we decided that Sweden is somewhere in the middle, that Swedes in general doesn’t understand Danish, that Danes in general understand Swedish and that the Danish “Ris a la Mande” is much better then the Swedish “Ris ala Malta”.

Berlin pictures and all (The Elin and Eiko part of the week)

I left Stockholm very early in the morning. It was raining and it was cold.

The first thing that met me after taking the train from Schönefelt to Hauptbahnhof was the logo of a Swedish company. (I actually surprised someone a few days later by pronouncing and translating it. It IS a real word and it means waterfall)

Desperately looking for something that didn’t resemble Sweden I focused on the sign on the train telling you where to get on with a bicycle.

The weather wasn’t the best so Elin and I decided to climb the big staircase going nowhere another day. That day never came though.

Elin have found a lot of people in the cities she’s visited through CouchSurfing (.org). We actually found the page independent of each other. I have been a big fan of CS ever since I joined, but this was my first time using it as a guest. Eiko was my first host and even though he was quite busy he made it a great experience.

Eiko did a bit of studying in the Couch, surrounded by our things.

Elin and I wandered about Berlin a lot the days she was there and this is a short summary:

A church we never looked closer at.

Another church, but we had a look inside this one.

We decided that Hitler makes a nice Lego character.

Elin.

The Tele tower sometime during the 60;s?

Me by a fountain.

Elin found a girlfriend. But as we all know she’s not always that well mannered. They did make up quite fast again though.

The Central Station in Stockholm has nothing on the Hauptbahnhof. This picture is taken from the middle floor.

What’s the time where you are now?

The compulsory Berlin picture

I asked the guide what the thing with the boats was all about. She said she didn’t know, but said that there had been a big anchor in the middle of the square the week earlier.

We did some American things too. Like Dunkin Donuts and KFC…

Der Reichstag. You can get up to the very top of the glass roof. When the politicians forget whom there representing, all they have to do is look up.

Propaganda

A huge reminder of the people who died due to the ethnic cleansing during the Second World War.

Now days the ruins of the wall is protected by… a wall.

The stones are placed all along the line where the wall once stood. Sometimes they disappear into a bush or something, but there always there.

The old East Berlin Ampelmann (now all over town ^.^)

“Trains to Life, Trains to Death”
Someone had put fresh flowers in the hands of the statues.

These pumps are all over Berlin. And they work!

Just a bunch of nice buildings and a painted wall (you don’t find that in Stockholm):

In Sweden we put a sign on the door saying “No commercial!!!! on it. I like this better. The mailbox simply says “Letters and papers”.

Eiko’s eggcups suited nicely for eggnog.

Very late on Elin’s last night in Berlin we decided to go out. At Kottbusser Tor we found an almost empty place with music we liked.



We realized that two nice drinks could be bought for less than a cheap drink in Sweden.












But the beer was equally cheap. (or maybe it’s Sweden that’s expensive…)