May 16, 2012 - Gothenburg, Sweden - Day 8

Today we took the tram up to the University of Gothenburg. We were greeted by Patrik Aronsson and Tove Hedenrud who showed us around the campus and educated us on the pharmacy program at the Sahlgrenska Academy. Presentations included an overview of the campuses curriculum as well as background information on how pharmacies in the country of Sweden operate. The school has roughly 80 students enrolled per year and includes many similarities to our own school of pharmacy at the University of Florida such as practice experience and a firm...

Sep 8, 2011 - Four ferries in one day

One recurring feature of this trip has been that whenever I commit to reaching somewhere by a particular day, something happens to cause my plan to fail, or at least to jeopardise it. The last thing I did before leaving Moss was to use the dodgy wifi (for which of course I'd paid extra) to book a hotel in Gothenburg. I'd checked some the night before and already by morning the cheap options had disappeared, so I thought it best to book ahead, and took the cheaper 'no refund' deal. It surely would be easy enough to get there in three 70 mile...

Aug 30, 2010 - Goteborg - August 27-30

August 27, 2010 When we woke up this morning I noticed that the crazy old lady was still asleep. It was almost 9am and everyone else in our room had left except us two and the nutcase. Give “quiet time”, which she obviously sets her watch by, was over at 7am, I put the TV on and I deliberately put it on loudly solely to disturb the crazy old lady. I wasn’t even watching it! When she went out of the room a short while later she gave me an evil look and then she left the door wide open. After she had gone out I closed it – it is an 8-bed dorm...

Jun 10, 2010 - Gothenburg, Sweden

Wednesday 9th – overcast, cool. 4.47am – 10.32pm Day at Sea Slept till 9.30. Went to a ‘detox for health and weightloss’. Paul not convinced! Went to the movie room to see ‘the informant’. Was pretty good. Went for 1 drink (paul non-alcoholic in the atrium then tea. Watched “to Russia with love” on TV. Went up on deck 13 at 10pm to watch us go under the longest suspension bridge span; we just fitted under! Was dark even tho the sun hadn’t gone down. Thursday 10th – overcast, cool 4.13am – 10.10pm Gothenburg, Sweden Caught a shuttle $9 ea/ea...

Jan 19, 2010 - Sweden, Norway and Sweden again

Been a tad airborne the last week and a half, having scampered merrily around bits of Sweden and Norway in a kinda funky order. So for the sake of my sanity, the top ten lessons to be learned are: 1) Never trust a Norwegian when he says *This beer won't give you a hangover.* 2) When skipping merrily into the woods at 12.30 at night with a bottle of vodka, a camera, and a couple of torches be aware that you may not return till 2am. 3) When clubbing in Stockholm, it's advisable to travel with a brunette, so you can find them easily in the...

Aug 25, 2009 - Göteborg

I've had a relaxing last few days in Göteborg, hanging out with Stig and not doing much else. He's been busy with work, which was good as it gave me a chance to get some work done too, as well as do a bit of exploring on my own. After finishing 2 weeks of research in Denmark, running from one tourist site to the next, I wasn't really into seeing a bunch of museums or tourist areas. Instead, I just walked around the central part of town, going to cafes and hanging out. We took Stig's sailboat out Sunday and had a relaxing day sailing around...

May 19, 2009 - Gothenburg

I have been staying with my friend, Finn in Gothenburg. He and his girls have recently stayed with me in Sydney. Finn is another sailor whom I met on Jennifer! Gothenburg is the largest city on the west coast of Sweden. One of the highlights of the week in Gothenburg was the Christening party we had for Freya. Another sailing friend, Malcolm has just bought a 50ft boat very similar to Jennifer. He wanted to rename the boat so we decided on a renaming ceremony followed by a lovely dinner at Finn's place. What fun. Malcolm had looked up the...

Jul 25, 2007 - Gothenburg, Sweden

On the spur of the moment I am visiting Sweden as quite a few of the people I met on Jennifer were Swedish and they invited me to visit. So I flew into Gottenburg on the west coast and Finn picked me up. We spent the day wandering around downtown and visiting the large amusement park, Liseberg in the heart of the city. Finn used to manage most of the restaurants there. Finn's partner Charlotte came back from a trip to Italy and we had a lovely day which included going out on their power boat with both Finn's two girls, Hannah and Sarah and...

Nov 21, 2006 - Swedish Ties

Coming to Sweden was a destination that I had planned early when organizing my trip. However no one expected me to go when it was winter over there. Often I would get remarks like, "Michael, your crazy, its the wrong season, it will be cold then". Well answer this then, how come last thursday it was 10 degrees in Sweden and 2 Degrees in Australia, I even read that it snowed in some parts, so who is a fool now. But to get back to a more serious note, the reason the destination was chosen in the first place is because I have family in Sweden...

Sep 1, 2006 - Guteborg - Vibrant and young

Goteborg is the second city of Sweden but seems like a provincial town to me. The tram network is excellent and frequent though as this makes moving around the city straight forward and painless. Goteborg is a 'founded' city built after other local settlements were repeatedly destroyed in those interminable Scandinavian wars of the 17th century. There is a zigzagging canal belt which serves to give a boundary to the old city. Much of the communication canals within the town have been filled in leaving wide boulevards with large stores and a...

Aug 31, 2006 - Goteborg

We have an interesting start to our train journey to Goteborg, scheduled to depart at 10:15 am. We arrive at Stockholm Central Station about 9:45 and wait on platform 10. Sign (electronic) says next train is to Goteborg and main board confirms train is on time. At 10:10 the sign changes to a different destination. The main board now shows that the Goteborg train has been delayed until 10:35. No problem so back to the platform in time to see a train pulling in. However the carriage indicator signs on the side of the carriages (car #s) say...

Jun 12, 2006 - day two in göteborg

Hyvaa päivää...it is now Monday morning in Göteborg. I slept like a rock, even though the sun probably didn't go down until 11 or so last night, and I can't say for sure...but I think it was up by 4 or 5 this morning? My sleeping mask came in handy, I'm very glad I put that in my carry-on. I only wish I would have remembered to bring a spare set of clothes in my carry-on, because my bag is just now only in Stockholm, so it will probably be this afternoon before I get it, crap. Right now I am borrowing clothes so I am at the height of...