36.5 degrees Celsius, sun, just warm wind, and pure sweat. These are good enough reasons to leave Switzerland for a week. A quick temperature check for Reykjavik, Gothenburg, and Stockholm, and our destination ends up being Gothenburg. The reason: it's our favorite city, and the temperature is roughly the same at all three destinations. So, on Friday afternoon, we spontaneously decide to fly to Sweden on Sunday. Our Sweden Summer Holiday Trip can begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Die Koffer sind schnell gepackt: Kleider, Hygienezeugs und unser Grill. Alles andere kaufen wir dort. Wir kommen erst abends in G\u00f6teborg an und checken daher erstmal im Ghotia Towers ein. In einem der Sky Rooms im 27. Stock ist die Aussicht grandios. Man sieht auf den Freizeitpark Liseberg, der die groesste Freizeitattraktion Skandinaviens ist. Schon lustig, wenn man den schreienden Menschen auf der Achterbahn von oben zusehen kann. Kurzer Zimmercheck, Bett super, Wellnessdusche vorhanden, Minibar gefuellt und alle Filme gratis. Tiptop. Wir entscheiden uns zu einem gesunden Dinner im TwentyFourSeven, Groundfloor. Dort gibt es frische Saefte und Smoothies. Zum z’Nacht genehmige ich mir einen Quinoasalat. Yummy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The absolute highlight the next morning: we dine at Imagine, which is on the 29th floor, two floors above our room. So the view is even more magnificent. The breakfast room is exactly 100 meters high. Very nice! After a hearty breakfast, we check out and drive to Naturkompaniet, a well-stocked sports store in the center, where we buy a waterproof tent as rain is forecast for the next few days. Of course, that doesn't stop us from camping. By the way, Sweden is one of the best countries for wild camping. Because of the rain, we buy a tarp to put up as a roof between a few trees. After completing our equipment with chairs, dishes and all sorts of stuff, we drive up the west coast to Smoegen in our Golf Station Wagon. (Editor's note: The Driver Assistant in the Golf is great fun. Rear-end collisions are no longer possible because the car constantly keeps its distance from the car in front. Great thing!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We spend the first night in our tent at an almost empty campsite, right by the sea. It's extremely windy here, and thankfully we get help setting up the tent. Two Swedes from V\u00e4ster\u00e5s join us, and our sleeping quarters are set up in just a few minutes. Afterwards, we walk across the island and watch the sunset. During the night, our tent passes its first test. We survive an extremely stormy night \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next morning, there is breakfast on a farm with fresh strawberries and delicious coffee. We need this refreshment, as we will be spending the next few hours in Norden’s Ark<\/a> verbringen. Hier k\u00fcmmert man sich um aussterbende Tierarten aus der ganzen Welt. So sieht man hier keine Elefanten oder Gireffen, sondern Pudus, Red Pandas und Schneeleoparden. Der Park ist riesig und zum groessten Teil „natuerlich“ in den Wald gebaut. Ein Highlight ist der Picknickraum, der halb im Wolfsgehege liegt. Ich kenne den Park schon seit 2007 und endlich hat man diesen Raum mal bewirtet. Es gibt leckere Salate dort, mit Schafskaese. I like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now we're heading east. Our destination today is Silver Lake in the Dalsland region. We were there in 2013 and know that it's a great place to camp. On the way, however, we'll stop at an outlet first. Wild camping doesn't stand a chance against an outlet, of course. Finally arriving at Silver Lake, we walk to our island, where we've camped before. The great thing about it is that it's absolutely silent there. You're out of sight of the Silver Lake campsite, but can still make use of their facilities after a ten-minute walk across the countryside through the forest =)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just in time for the approaching rain, we set up our tent and, above all, the tarp, and the embers are already perfectly ready for placing. The second test was successfully passed that night. Our tent is waterproof; it rained all night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the morning, we first went to the German baker, who has his shop in Gustavsfors. After a delicious breakfast and coffee all you can drink, as is customary in Sweden, we continued on the 172 towards T\u00f6cksfors, where there is a shopping mall. The town is just before the Norwegian border, and consequently, there are mostly Norwegians here \ud83d\ude42 We stocked up here with barbecue supplies and enough food for the next few days. We don't know yet how long we will stay at Silverlake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back at camp, we're having a delicious smoothie first. We bought a practical Blender 2 Go. This thing is really great for on the go. We had a smoothie with mango, parsley, and cucumber. Very tasty and full of vitamins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We'll spend the remaining days on our island reading, barbecuing, and chilling. Sometimes in the rain, sometimes in the sun. It's now only 11 degrees Celsius during the day, which is 24 degrees colder than a few days ago in Switzerland. Yay!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We've decided to drive back to Gothenburg on Friday afternoon and are booking another Sky Room at Gothia Towers. I like the contrast between camping and communal showers to a pool on the 18th floor and breakfast on the 29th. \ud83d\ude09 Now, the views aren't really comparable. Both a tranquil lake at sunrise and the cozy city of Gothenburg at sunset are absolutely top-notch!<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the morning, we actually got the chance to pack up our tent while it was dry. Thanks, weather god, LOL, because rain was actually predicted. So we were able to check out of our private island around 11 AM and head south. On the 172, we'll drive via Bengtsfors and Uddevalla to Tj\u00f6rn<\/a>. On this island there is a cozy hotel called Salt & Sill<\/a>. We're stopping here and having a shrimp sandwich for lunch, which is naturally local food in Sweden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After a short break, we're continuing on to Gothenburg, where we'll check into the hotel in the afternoon. The service and the people here are super friendly. The lady even remembers us, even though it's been almost a week and the hotel has 1200 rooms. Anyway, finally a good shower, and it's warm too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the late afternoon, we head to Liseberg, which is just across the street. Convenient! We could already observe the screaming people well from the room. Now we'll take a closer look. After we're about 40 CHF poorer from gambling our money away there, we go into the city for some retail therapy to cheer ourselves up \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the evening, we'll wind down the day with a healthy dinner at the hotel. The food here is really great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Samstags steht ein Sightseeing- und H\u00e4ngetag an. Ich f\u00fchle mich ja in G\u00f6teborg jedesmal wieder daheim und dennoch gibt es etwas, das ich hier noch nie gemacht habe. Eine Stadtrundfahrt mit dem Boot, \u00fcber die Kan\u00e4le durch die Altstadt und zum Hafen. So let’s do that. Danach treffen wir uns mit Freunden zum Lunch bei Eva’s Paley, direkt an der Kungsportsavenyn, the place to be for tourists hehe. Es gibt hier nat\u00fcrlich wieder ein Shrimpsandwich und einen Salat….mit Shrimps. Shrimps en mass quasi, sodass unser Shrimpbedarf bis auf Weiteres gedeckt ist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gothenburg on a sunny day is great. The 1000 green parks and innumerable small, lovely cafes invite you to relax. We'll be doing plenty of that today. At least in Sweden, the coffee is very good almost everywhere. Back in the hotel, we use the room service, which is practically free of charge with our VIP package. We are definitely too tired to go out again. Since the movies are also free, we make ourselves comfortable for the rest of the evening in the room and eat with a breathtaking view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Sundays, we check out after a delicious breakfast and spend the afternoon at Universeum<\/a>. There's a rainforest where you really work up a sweat, and in Sweden, no less. The little monkeys and the many colorful birds that roam and fly around freely are amusing. By the way, my buddy told us the day before that a toucan was stolen there last year. Gothenburg Daily<\/a> reported on it. Poor Georgina =). Who steals a bird like that? Unbelievable. Anyway, if you're ever in Gothenburg, you should definitely go to Universeum. It's really worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\nGothenburg City Card<\/h2>\n\n\n\n