We take a break: Getting down and low in Goteborg

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Getting down and low in Goteborg

After Stockholm, we visited Goteborg, which was a much smaller city and felt a lot friendlier.

We arrived in the evening, checked into our costly, out of town guesthouse and proceeded to hunt for dinner in town. Mostly places were closed or closing and luckily we found a small place recommended on the web. CS ordered fish balls (yes, swedish fishballs). I had the traditional swedish meatballs with lingonberries. These lingonberries are wonderful, CS describes them as "little sweet explosions in your mouth", nothing like the terrible cranberry sauce you get in the Singapore Ikea cafe.

Fishballs. Tasty but not like Fei Siong (Singaporean brand)

Meatballs and little explosions

The next morning, visited the Rohsska Museum, Sweden’s only design and crafts museum. They had a selection of Chinese art from 2000BC to 1900s as well as 18^th century furniture and objects. The museum is attached to a university (I think) and we were wandering around for a while before we found the entrance. It was a rather small and cozy museum and it was fun to walk around looking at the various exhibits and how things have changed and yet remained the same throughout the years. The iPhone as well as a Nokia phone (can't remember the model now) were also part of the exhibits to showcase modern design aesthetics.

We then had a quick lunch at a very local restaurant eating their famous herring and did a boat tour, which was rather fun. During the tour, we went under 20 bridges and also out to the harbour. Luckily the weather was rather good otherwise we would have both frozen to death. One of the bridges (Osthyveln) was so low, I was kind of afraid my head would get chopped off. Our guide was also really lovely and told us some interesting facts like how Swedes are the biggest consumers of bananas worldwide! Bet you never knew that, did ya.

Only in Sweden

We also visited the Universeum, which is the National Science Discovery Centre. It’s kind of like Singapore Science Centre but way bigger with lots more interesting and educational exhibits. There are a total of 7 main exhibits with themes such as Ocean Zone, Rainforest, Deadly Beauties etc. The temporary exhibition was about solving criminal mysteries and discovering modern forensics, which made me think of my BFF who works in HSA. It was rather fun and we had quite a few laughs playing with the exhibits. There was also a section about learning new things and we couldn't solve one of the puzzles even after pondering over it for the longest time ever. Though the place is targeted for children, we had loads of fun there as well.