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Göteborg, Sweden (Post #32)

Sunday, July 31st, 2005

On Sunday July 31st, Mike (with Michele’s supervision) writes…

So, after taking the Bergen-Oslo train back to Oslo, staying way out in the suburbs of Oslo at the Rönningen Hostel and taking another train 2 days later, we are now in Göteborg, Sweden. Actually, this is our third night consecutive night in Sweden but we did have to leave Göteborg for one night and go to Varberg, a small coastal town, because every form of accommodation we checked was booked for the night of Friday the 29th. Apparently this was due to the fact that some band called U2 was playing a large show here that night. I think this band pretty much took over the city because about 1 out of 2 people seemed to be wearing a U2 shirt. Our hostel experience in Varberg was good and bad. It was very interesting because it was located inside a medieval fortress but it was bad because we had to sleep with the light on to keep the silverfish away and because my bed (Mike’s) was on a slope. Every few hours i would wake up to find that my sheets had slid most of the way off the bed. So, this place currently ranks in second (worst) behind the Fit Hostel in Iceland.

Anyway… Our first night in Göteborg, we went to a bar i found on metaltravelguide.com, called Rock Baren. While we had a great time there and met a couple of friendly headbangers who bought us a round of beer it certainly was not as cool as the times we had in Trondheim, Norway. However, the music being played, as opposed to what we were hearing on the CD player before the show at Rock City (Trondheim) was true metal (Sepultura, Nightwish…) not hard rock (Motley Crue, Kiss…). Some of the people we met encouraged us to go to a local metal fest called MetalTown ,while others suggested we go to something called Metal Meet (which was apparently also to include some “pro-wrestling” ??!!). We opted to go to neither after discovering the price for MetalTown was about 75USD and because we are not that fond of Entombed (the headliner for Metal Meet). It is worth mentioning that there is some anti-American sentiment here(mostly directed at George Bush). I hope America’s reputation will eventually recover.

Right now we are about to walk out the hotel door to check out Slottsskogsparken where the natural history museum and botanical garden are located.

Tomorrow, Monday August 1, we will take a train to Ystad, a very small town in southern Sweden, where we will check out the Swedish version of Stonehenge, “Ales Stenar”.

We love blog comments but if for some reason you want to say something to us more directly, please email us — mikeandmichelertw at hotmail dot com (appropriate punctuation changes will be required of course).

NSB Napkin (Post #31)

Thursday, July 28th, 2005

Mike writes…
I was sitting on an NSB train on the way from Bergen to Oslo (both Norwegian cities) just after consuming a rather mediocre Crispo chocolate bar when my right hand touched a napkin on my left leg. I picked it up and wiped the corners of my mouth. “Huh. This doesn’t feel like a normal napkin. It feels a bit more like a dried out wet-wipe,” i thought. I looked at it as i pulled it away from my face and saw
[read on]

Norway – Photos (Post #30)

Monday, July 25th, 2005
Hey everyone, Michele here...today is Monday, July 25th. I just uploaded a bunch of photos from the second part of our Norway trip. Have a look by clicking here . Tomorrow we are off ... [Continue reading this entry]

Norway – The Fjords (Post #29)

Sunday, July 24th, 2005
Hi again! Michele here...we are still in Bergen, Norway today (Sunday, July 24th). I am just doing a quick post before checking on train and bus schedules. Today we got up early, made our breakfast, and left ... [Continue reading this entry]

Norway – Bergen (Post #28)

Saturday, July 23rd, 2005
Hi friends! This is Michele...today is Saturday, July 23rd and I am sitting in a bar typing this and drinking incredibly cheap beer - $4.50 each - a super bargain here in Norway. At 10:00pm (in about 30 minutes) the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Norway – Trondheim, Oslo (Post #27)

Wednesday, July 20th, 2005
Hei hei, (casual greeting people use in Norway - pronounced "hey hey") This is Michele...today is Wednesday, July 20th. Since our last blog, we have had some wonderful experiences! While in Trondheim we went to a local record shop called Apocalyptic Empire ... [Continue reading this entry]

We went through Hell to get to Trondheim (Post #26)

Friday, July 15th, 2005
Mike writes... We did indeed go through hell to get to Trondheim (in more ways than one) but first i have to take a moment to thank our very nice friend from the Kabelvåg summer hotel reception desk, Nadja, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Norway – Svolvaer, Kabelvag (Post #25)

Tuesday, July 12th, 2005
Hello world! Michele here....Today is Tuesday, July 12th. Thanks to everyone who gives us the updates on what is happening back there. Mike and I are currently in the Lofoton Islands in Northern Norway, above the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Norway – Narvik (Post #24)

Sunday, July 10th, 2005
Hi friends! Michele here.... Today is Sunday, July 10th and we are 6 hours ahead of east coast time and 9 hours ahead of west coast time. We are quite a bit above the artic circle in a ... [Continue reading this entry]

Estonia (Post #23)

Wednesday, July 6th, 2005
Hello again...this is Michele. At the last minute we decided to go to Tallinn, Estonia. We read in the Lonely Planet book that this was a "must see" day trip from Helsinki. So, on July 5th we ... [Continue reading this entry]