Göteborg is beautiful but...

I took a train to Göteborg (Gothenburg) this morning as I had a free day to kill before heading to Stockholm. The city is quite nice - I have decided that I definitely want to live somewhere with either a Tube/Metro/Subway or a tram system - so much more convenient than trains and buses. This afternoon I visited their Science Center Museum thingy, which was really cool. Disaster struck when I got back to the dorm room though...

The window was wide open and the whole room smelled strange. Later, there was a very old woman using a walking frame walking through the lounge/eating area in her underwear... we later discovered that she had wet the bed, hence the stench. After complaints I was moved to a smaller room with 4 beds (and 3 other fellow complainers), but no window. Luckily I'm only here for one night - this woman just trails stink whereever she goes, so I threw away half of the dinner I cooked (the first non-pasta and sauce meal since I went on holidays) due to increasing nausea.

Tomorrow it's off to Stockholm. Göteborg is a really nice place, but seriously...

Photos from Copenhagen...

I visited the Danish Design Museum which was a big disappointment - half about fashion and half about this random display of empty containers saying various things like "sustainable innovation", "renewable energy" and "time for family and friends". I think the idea was that you're encouraging the virtues you want to see in future products by buying these empty containers (yes, you could buy them).

I went to the "Oldest Cake Shop in Copenhagen" and paid a large amount of money for a substandard hot chocolate and a piece of cake made mostly of cream. Tasty, but sickening after a while.

Today I went to Elsinor Castle (the Hamlet Castle), which was beautiful, and nice to get out of the city for a change. The whole castle (officially named Kronberg) was in the shape of a giant crown.

One of their old globes showed "New Holland". Obviously they hadn't discovered the best bits yet...

That's Sweden, across the harbour. They used to collect "Sound Dues" (toll) here from the ships that passed, firing on them if they didn't pay with these cannons - difficult to avoid because the passage is so narrow. The Danish flag with the tails is only allowed to be used by the Royal Family.

Tomorrow I have a spare day before my hostel booking in Stockholm, so I'm probably heading to Malmo in Sweden for a night. Word on the street is that Sweden is even more expensive than Denmark - oh dear.

Angry Onions...

I told you the Germans were always angry about everything...

Photos from the Netherlands...

Visiting the Escher Museum in Den Haag...

World's strangest chandelier...

In the Netherlands, everyone gets around on bikes.

Goddag from København...

7pm Tuesday night I boarded a train in Utrecht which went to a town called Duisberg, which is in Western Germany, where I hung out for nearly 3 hours in a Burger King waiting for my night train to Copenhagen. They are having some sort of promotion for an "Angry Whopper", which I found highly amusing considering where I was.

I booked a 2nd class sleeper for the night train, which turned out to be a bed in a room of 6 bunks (top middle and bottom on each side), with barely enough room for one person to stand up between them. I guess it was good to avoid accommodation costs for the evening, but still...

So here I am in Copenhagen. The hostel I'm in is pretty terrible for the price they're charging (most expensive hostel in the guide book at 165DKK a night - the rooms aren't clean, the self-catering kitchen is this tiny room in the basement that looks like it hasn't been cleaned in years (the fridge certainly hasn't been emptied in a month), and you must eat your food in that room rather than out in the bar with the people who paid for hostel meals - thus the dubbing of the Kitchen of Shame.

Internet time is about to run out, more later.

Non-member commenting now allowed...

I have enabled non-member comments on the blog so that people don't have to set up an account if they want to say something - sorry I didn't do it sooner, I didn't know. Please tell me who you are when you write though :)

Goedendag from Zeist in the Netherlands...

Quick post to say that I am currently visiting Stephen's Opa and Oma in Zeist, which is about an hour from Amsterdam. Today we went to Utrecht, which is an old Dutch city, and I climbed the Dom Tower (all 465 stairs or 95m of it), reminding me once again about how much I hate heights. Utrecht's other claim to fame is that the creator of Miffy is from there, so I bought a very touristy Dutch clog with a picture of Miffy on the front (turned into a moneybox).

Tomorrow morning I am visiting Amsterdam to see Anne Frank House, before catching a night train to Copenhagen.

Pictures from Paris...

Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland :)
Obligatory faux-arty photo of the Eiffel Tower

You'd think they'd need a bigger moving truck for such a big palace...

Tourist trap?

The Moulin Rouge... cut off there to keep this blog family/work safe...

Pictures from Edinburgh...

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh skyline from Edinburgh - cool houses and the Firth of Forth in the background

Picture from Yorkshire...

Unfortunately no panorama as I can't work out how to stitch pictures on this Dutch OS :) (Real Usability is when you can still use a program when you can't read any of the text.)