Gothenburg is the second largest city in Sweden (after Stockholm). The city received its town privileges from King Gustaf II Adolf in 1621. The town was planned according to Dutch concepts, with canals and fortifications. Gothenburg was from the very beginning an international town; the first council was made up of 10 Dutchmen, 7 Swedes and a Scot. Gothenburg quickly grew into an important seafaring and mercantile city. The early 1900s saw the beginnings of Gothenburg’s shipbuilding industry as well as the creation of small local companies that are now multinational giants such as Volvo (their first car was produced in 1927).

We found consumerism to be alive and well in Gothenburg as of June, 2001 when we visited. Many of the streets in the shopping area are pedestrianized so we had a very pleasant stroll through town. There are blocks and blocks of stores and all of them seemingly doing a brisk business. Then we found the mall. The mall is huge and bills itself as the largest in Sweden. It is somewhat different as it is blocks and block of shops along the streets, but with the streets covered so it is all enclosed. The signs for the stores that were in place before the streets were covered are still posted on the building walls. We imagine this is wonderful during the winter.

Pictured below right is one of the many canals in town, Hamn Canal At right is the administrative and political center of Gothenburg, including the City Hall, Town Hall, German church, and Exchange. We walked down to the port area where we spotted a 45 foot sailing yacht from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We are not the only ones traveling around the world! Pictured above, left is the tall ship Barken Viking currently in use as a hotel and restaurant. It was built as a training ship and has sailed all over the world.

We think the red and white building in the background has has won some awards for innovative architecture but are not positive about this. Can anyone who knows what this is send us an e-mail and enlighten us?

We managed to arrive the week of the EU summit but opted to get out of town before the summit convened not wanting to be in town when Shrub arrived.

We returned in August 2002 to visit our friend Matz and managed to land in town during the Gothenburg Festival. The entire town was buzzing with actiity. Food vendors, beer halls and live music seemed to be everywhere. We joined the throngs Saturday evening on the waterfront and had a good time. Verna remarked to Matz that this wasn’t anything like our tourbook said about the Swedes keeping to themselves and not being sociable. His reply: “Ya, but you’re in Gothenburg!”

Matz took us for a quick tour of the coastal area north of Gothenburg one day and we stopped in the little fishing village (above, right) for lunch. The pleasure boaters semed to have taken over. There were some lovely places in the area and it was a great ride.

We have seen more 1950’s and 60’s American cars in pristine condition in Sweden than we have anywhere. Jim thinks that the Thunderbird pictured at left is a 1957 model but is not sure.

Now we know what these boys do during those long dark winters. Seems it is common for several people to form a group and rent an old factory building and use that for their workshop. We think that the same thing must exist for the boating enthusiasts because we have never seen so many wood boats in such good condition anywhere we have been. Verna did got the picture at left of this Royal Enfield while we were at the Monday night outing for the local Swedish BMW Club; never did find the owner to get the specifics about the bike. Below are our host, Matz Rosenquist (at right) and Lennart Jansson modeliing the new Europrez T-shirts that they picked up while they were in Germany last month attending the EP 7 meeting.

Thanks Matz for giving us a place to stay in your home, making all the arrangements for our new tires, providing laundry facilities, being the master bar-b-que chef and being our tour guide while we were in Gothenburg. This was three days that we will always remember.

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