Dreaming of Freedom

So firstly, out of context and belatedly a big hugs and kisses congratulations to Will and Ella!

Secondly you all need to be buying Now or Never because it’s as irreverent and hilarious as ever. Although it’s been out for ages I’ve only just seen it so you’re getting this sales pitch now.

And thirdly why is it either boiling sunburning hot or blooming raining in Sweden?

Apart from the last gripe the love affair with Sweden is continuing. I’ve spent several days with Ellie exploring the city and convincing her that Gothenburg is the best place in the world. We’ve been to the now completely open Art Museum, the library (which I have now joined), Gunnebo House, Klippan, The Botanical Gardens, Lindholmen on the ferry, the coast, all the other museums, several parks, and all the nice little streets and churches hidden away. We’re now both convinced that it’s just much much nicer than England. I think it’s the sensible attitude here - communal heating systems and laundry rooms, recycling, a interest in healthy lifestyle, the cleanliness and quietness, the efficiency, the general politeness, and perhaps the fact that we live in the city centre and can walk and cycle everywhere and have no need for a car but have the option of using a good transport infrastructure if we want.

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We’ve had several days of boiling hot sun drenched days. Unlike the avid sun tanners I am hiding inside and wisely refusing to go out until early evening just in case I droop, burn or perspire to death in the heat.

Mum is spending some time here with us in Sweden and she is cheerfully brazing the heat and whizzing about on one of the bikes. In braver moments I have accompanied her on exploratory journeys around the city and we’ve been to the city museum and taken advantage of their free city tour and the museum tour. Both highly recommended. We’ve also been to look at the reconstruction of a viking ship at Klippan. It looked surprisingly like other boats.

Last night we cycled down to the coast in time to watch the sunset on the water. It really is the most beautiful coastline and tonight we’re going to go back and will perhaps just perhaps go swimming. We’re a little scared of all the jellyfish.

In keeping with our low impact environmental lifestyle we have introduced Mum to Swedish recycling and she really getting into the swing of it. She particularly loves the recycling facilities at supermarkets where you get cash back for empty cans and bottles.

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I’ve been spending yet more time in the Stadsmuseum and am looking forward to going back tomorrow. I’ve also had a look in the neo-classical Gustavi Cathedral which is breathtakingly decked out in gold and white, as well as the German Church on Norra Hamngatan. Museums and churches haven’t been my only taste of Swedish culture I’ve also been watching Sweden on the small screen including an Ingmar Bergman film (wild strawberries) and their beautiful wizz in the kitchen Leila Lindholm. Searching for the spirit of real culture I did attempt to go on Gothenburg’s Critical Mass this evening but sadly no-one else came.

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The other day K and I cycled down to Röda Sten(Red Stone). It’s an art gallery down on the water front. Unlike the places I usually frequent it isn’t free, in fact it costs 40ske in to get in. It was worth it as there was some interesting art work there, including an instillation created by Anna Sandgren called The Game.

Today I wandered down to the centre and discovered that there are
free tours at the Stadmuseum. Free city tours Wednesday-Friday 2pm and tours of the museum Saturday and Sunday 2pm.

Tomorrow is the last Friday of the month which means it’s the Critical Mass here in Gothenburg. I haven’t yet been on one but here are some pictures of previous ones.

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I cycled up to the Konstmuseum today. Most of the place is still being renovated but the 5th floor is due to open again on the 25th June and the 6th floor on the 2nd July so I’m getting quite excited about that. Meanwhile downstairs there is a good exhibition of Thomas Zornat’s work which I took to. He has a great style and I loved his misty window raindrop pictures.
I also went into the Konsthallen to look at the new exhibition entitled Tomorrow Always Belongs To Us. It’s pretty hardcore modern art but they’ve produced a great little booklet that explains where the artists are coming from and what inspires them, which really helps if you’re a modern art novice like me.

Meanwhile Gothenburg is grey and drizzly. Outside the seagulls are calling to each other and the elderflower are just going off and if I’m going to make another batch of elderflower cordial I had better go out to pick some.

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I went back to the Röhsska Museum today and wandered around looking at the beautiful objects. It’s such a nice little museum and it always makes me want to study art and design which is all the more tantalizing because the building is opposite the School of Design and Craft.
Afterwards I cycled around Gothenburg in the sunshine and popped into the famous fish market. From the outside it looks like a long low church. Inside the walls are lined with stalls selling everything from shrimps to scary looking fish. Apart from stopping to listen to a three man band do a rendition of the Beatles song - Can’t Buy Me Love - I cycled non stop along the beautiful cycle paths back home and discovered that the Esperanto Centre for Gothenburg is located really close to my flat.

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I spend some time in the Stadsmuseum on Wednesday was I was really impressed at the layout and design of the museum. A lot of the subject matter has explanations in English which is really nice if you’re incapable of speaking Swedish like me. A lot of time and thought has gone into creating the museum and it’s not at all boring or overwhelming like some. There is the most fantastic area for children to play in at the top of the museum which has to be seen to be believed - it includes recreations of rooms to play in. There seems to be a really sensible approach to children here in Sweden - you often find great play areas for them. In one of our local supermarkets there is a wooden boat for them to sit in and watch a tv showing children’s films. Outside most of the flats I’ve seen there are areas of grass and playgrounds for children. It’s as if children playing is a part of life here and not condemned to a designated area that you have to make a special journey to. I would recommend Gothenburg to anyone who has kids and is looking for a place to take them on holiday.

The Stadsmuseum is large and takes some time to go round so a couple of visits there seems to be the way to approach it. The is the fifth and final museum I have got into with my 40 kroner ticket (about £3.40). It’s ridiculously cheap - not just that it gets you into 5 museums with their free toilets and great displays but it lasts for a whole year.

Yesterday Keyvan and I spent the day in the Botanical Gardens eating a picnic and soaking up the sun - it’s the most gorgeous place in Gothenburg and I just can’t get enough of the place. It is as I suspected a lot quieter during the week and the only downfall is it’s lack of really nice toilets and a cute cafe - but then there are plenty of those to be found in other places - the closest possibly being the Natural History Museum.

This morning I have been negotiating the washing machine facilities here at our flats - it’s an incredibly interesting system - each day of the month has 4 time slots and using your special key you can move your designated lock to a free time slot. There is a host of washing machines and drying facilities all for free use of the occupants of this block. I’m dreaming of a day when we have something so sensible in England.

I put some pictures up yesterday from the last week or so but I have to say they are just snap shots because it’s hard to capture the feel of the place with just a camera.

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It’s been so cold here that I’ve spent at least a couple of days wearing jumpers and shivering. We had lunch with Swedish friends on Sunday and over the moose and potatoes they told us about Swedish weather and how there was snow in the middle of Sweden. Apparently the changeable nature of it is to be expected. If it’s this cold in summer I can’t even imagine what winter would be like.

Staying in the Swedish vibe I went to the Maritime Museum and Aquarium today. It’s a great place to take kids as there are lots of models of ships, a fun pirate ship area to play in and tables to eat a picnic on. There is also an aquarium with lots of fishes, coral and sea horses. It feels cruel to look at them in their glass cages but fascinating nonetheless.

Rachel emailed about her time in South America checking out the biofuels situation there. It’s an informative read if you have time.

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I finally went to the design museum here it’s called the Röhsska Museet and it has an interesting collection of stuff from the last 3 hundred years. I spent a good hour or so wandering round and got a chance to watch some of the film Surplus: Terrorized Into Being Consumers which was showing. Somehow just going to the museum made me come home and spend a few hours on my novel. I also felt creative enough to put up my new Gothenburg page

Today we’re going to see an exhibition of some art and design work by first year students today which should be interesting. I’m also hoping to nip into
the Maritime Museum and Aquarium - which is supposed to be Gothenburg’s most popular museum.

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Those of you who take an active interest in such things will have noticed that I’ve been learning some CSS in order to make my website look a little better. Under K’s kind tuition I feel I have made some headway and although the website isn’t radically different it’s a little improved.

There has been more glorious weather in Gothenburg and we’ve just been out flat viewing. If you’re looking for places in Sweden then Blocket is the website to go to it’s the equivalent of gumtree and you can find everything for sale or rent on there. The flat was near Liseberg the big theme park here - we’re saving our trip there for another day so we sat outside on a little white bench underneath a very old tree and breathed in the scent of the hyacinth which was very nice.

On the way back I stopped off in Götaplatsen to go to Konstmuseum although as it’s undergoing renovation there isn’t much to see. I nipped next door to Konsthall only to find out that I’d been in the other day by waling through from Konstmuseum.

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