A Weekend in Gothenburg, Sweden

The weekend in Gothenburg was a nice mix of being out-and-about and relaxing in Kat's cozy apartment.

Kat lives in a condemned building, which is quite beautiful. It is historic and the owners chose to not sell it to the government when many buildings were torn down and newer buildings were put up. These older, more traditional buildings have been named as historical buildings now and restorations cannot be made. It's interesting. There are two apartments on Kat's floor and the two tenants share a toilet, which is in a small closet in the stairwell. The shower is in the basement and is shared by everyone in the building.

My first full day was quite rainy, so a trip to a museum was the perfect activity. Kat took me to the Sjofarts Museum (Sjofartsmuseet Akvariet). The museum was originally the maritime museum and is in an old shipyard, along the wharf. Many of the immigrants that left Sweden for America left from the port in Gothenburg. There is currently an exhibition called The American Line, which shows and tells people's stories of immigration.

The museum also contains an aquarium! I really liked the guy shown below... it's like he's giving Swedish fish kisses! Ha! (...mostly in reference to Swedish fish, the candies, which I love, and fish lips.)

I found Nemo!

Cute street decorated for the holidays.

The buildings along this street were very beautiful too - old and traditional.

We went up to the 23rd floor of one of the Gothia Towers for an incredible view of the city (and the Liseberg Amusement Park!). There is a restaurant as well as a bar on the floor and there is almost a 360-degree view. Beautiful.   : )

Liseberg Amusement Park

Fun reflection:

I had a 4-hour layover in the Paris airport:

Visiting Kat - Gothenburg, Sweden

For the Thanksgiving weekend, I went to see my friend Kat in Gothenburg, Sweden! It was a GREAT weekend.

Kat is a friend of mine from my time in Saigon, Vietnam. She moved to Florence during my first winter in Milan and stayed with me for a weekend when she first arrived. I then went to visit her in Florence that spring! This is the first time I've seen her since then. (Funny enough, looking at the two blog posts that I wrote about these visits with Kat in Italy, linked above, the first photo of each is very similar to one another -- if I had realized that before seeing her in Gothenburg, I would have made sure to have taken a third!)

It was so nice to see Kat again and have a weekend to catch up and hang out. I really enjoyed seeing Gothenburg. I like what I know of the Nordic countries... and I love their concept of 'cozy'.

My first evening, we went to see a friend of Kat's play in a show. 

I really enjoyed it! The venue was small and beautiful and the band was great!

Easy October

I liked this message on the baggage claim belt:

The perfect reading afternoon.

Rainy outside, cozy and festive inside.

The cute Kat, knitting while we had a cozy, rainy afternoon  : )

Coffee time with the Moomin mugs.  : )

Moomin is a comic book character in a Finnish cartoon. After my trip to Copenhagen last year, I purchased some of the Moomin books for my school library -- they've been very popular! The mugs are expensive but a very cute collectible.

Dinner my last night was a yummy schmorgesborg (there's a Swedish word for you!) of holiday treats. We had ginger snaps, gummy/marshmallow Santas, and traditional bread rolls. We also had a special holiday drink called Christmas Must, which is similar to Coca Cola but has a more flavorful taste (and is only sold around the winter holidays!).

that weekend in Milan when Kat visited...

Last weekend I took a train to Florence to see my good friend Kat! We met in Vietnam and spent two years hanging out, laughing, drinking tea, talking about boys, and sipping many lattes! Pretty amazing/weird/awesome that we both ended up in Italy this year.

When Kat moved from Saigon to Florence... she came by way of Milan and spent a weekend with me!

Below are some photos from that weekend here in the city:

The lovely Kat with a morning cappuccino and brioche at my favorite cafe in Opera:

Not sure what this white sofa is doing in the Navigli Canal... but I like it!

KATtack along the Navigli

We had a snack while waiting at Centrale for Kat's train to Florence... and some pigeons decided to join us in the restaurant... Uhhhhhhh. Yeah.

quick trip to FLORENCE!

A good friend of mine from Vietnam - Kat - now lives in Florence! ...Of all places... I have moved from Saigon to Milan and she moves from Saigon to Florence. We are less than 2 hours away from one another by train. I love it.

Kat is from Sweden and moved to Saigon when she was the fabrics manager for Sweden's biggest shoe company. All-in-all... she is now taking a shoemaking course in Florence! Very cool!

When Kat first made the move, she came by way of Milan and stayed with me for a weekend! (I will post pictures of that visit after posts for this past weekend in Florence with her.) It's been great to be able to catch up and enjoy time together...

Basically - since we are both going home (me to the States and her to Sweden) for the summer holiday, I figured I had better get to see her sooner rather than later! June has completely snuck up on me... so a couple weeks ago, I bought train tickets and stayed with Kat in her lovely apartment for two nights.

KATtack!

Walking around the city makes for a lovely Saturday...

It was fun to have a relaxing weekend of chats, coffees, shopping, walking...

...and also meeting some of Kat's friends! My last evening in Florence, we ended up having an impromptu girls' night... sitting on the steps of an old church in a square... with Prosecco and plastic cups. I love moments like this. One of Kat's roommates was there (a girl from Sweden), as well as a girl from Norway (in the city as an apprentice making cermaics), another girl from Sweden (in a painting course within Kat's same school), and a girl from England, who is in Kat's same course. Living abroad... and the connections that a person can make with people from all over the world, still amazes me.

AND... to top it off... the trip from Milan to Florence is an easy, direct train ride that is 1 hour, 40 minutes long... AND there is free Wifi on the train! Allllllright!