|
After four weeks at Haringey Council, I left work early on Waitangi Day
to head out to Stansted airport, to take a 1p RyanAir flight to Goteburg, Sweden with Megan, Laura and Jen. We arrived at
the most basic airport (it wouldn't look out of place as a wool shed in NZ) and headed off to find our hotel. Which was on
a ship - The Viking! Megan and I shared a small cabin with fold out bunk beds and we felt like we were really about to
set sail.
|
| Megan, Jen and Laura, my swedish travel partners |
|
| Megan in our cabin with a port hole |
After rugging up in thermals for the 2'C night, we headed into town to see where the action was. And there
wasn't any. It was 9pm on a Friday night and there didn't seem to be anybody about. We found a pub though and had a meal and
some expensive drinks before heading back to our ship for a night on the water.
Saturday morning we thoroughly enjoyed the complimentary breakfast (although we didn't try the herrings) before
we set out into the overcast day.
|
| The Opera House on the habour edge, just across from our viking ship |
|
| Cycling seemed to be a popular method of transport! |
Not far from our viking ship was a covered walkway to a large mall
which led us into the centre of town. Once outside, it was bitterly cold, but in a fresh, crisp way that was not entirely
unpleasant. We bought a tourist pass and decided to get our bearings by taking a guided bus tour of the city.
It was good timing as it just started to rain as we boarded the bus with our enormous chocolate muffins. From the bus
we picked out a few sites we thought it would be worth going back to.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Jen tries out the hockey gear at the universeum |
|
| Megan decends into the rainforest |
The Universeum is a huge, modern museum including a large collection
of animals in an aquarium, a rainforest, an indoor nature scene and in tanks. We started by taking a funicular
to the top of the building where we found ourselves in an indoor mini-Sweden, starting at the top of the country.
As we walked down the country, we learnt about reindeer, the nomadic laplander people, moose, fish life in Sweden's rivers
and bird life.
|
| A snake says hello |
We then walked straight into the "beautiful but deadly" section where I was reluctant to admit the snakes and spiders were
beautiful! There was an aquarium with sharks and stingrays and a touch tank. Then on to the rainforest section where butterflies
and birds flew free. It was a fascinating way to spend an afternoon, even if it wasn't entirely a swedish experience.
A highlight had to be the cartoons in the toilets - the universeum recycles urine and uses it to feed the fish! The toilet
bowls were specially designed to collect your pee directly and the cartoon on the wall showed you what to do!!
|
| The cartoon... |
|
| ...and the explanation. |
|
|
|
|
|
