Last night I was invited around to a home cooked meal. My hostess said she wasn´t sure how traditionally Swedish the fare was, but it was what she cooked. It was certainly nothing I´d had before so I´m inclined to think it quite Swedish. It was also incredibly tasty. We had fish in a tangy yet brothy yet cheesy sauce, with potatoes and a salad (again quite tangy with greens and sprouts). All very yummy, especially the fish. Göteborg is a port town after all, so the fish should not come as a surprise.
By the way, I am enjoying making easy use of the "ö" key on the local keyboard, although the awkwardness of apostrophes and "@" signs still wear at me--at least I know how to make them now! (For reference, you press Alt Gr + 2 for @).
Today I did more wandering. The very first day I was here I noticed a small octagon-shaped fortress -looking building at the crown of a hill. I was far too tired to even walk the extra half-block to the base of the hill to read the sign about it. I would have been disappointed had I done so at that point; the sign was in Swedish (though I was able to pick out a few things, not least the dates, but the phrase "defensive battery" is cognate enough in Swedish to be recognizable. Today I decided to explore it. My legs barely wanted to move and my feet hate my guts, but it´s my last day in Göteborg, so if I was going to satisfy my curiosity about the odd structure, it had to be today. So up I went...or tried to anyway. My hostel is on the opposite side of the hill from where I first saw it. The distinctive stone building with it´s golden crown on top is a good landmark, visible from all sides. So I just walked over to the hill and saw two paths leading up. I picked one and began ascending...the path was old and overgrown, the steps--sometimes wooden sometimes stone--were rickety or crumbling, and it opened onto a glass-strewn clearing with a metal drum cut in half lengthways probably for a firepit. Further exploration showed a smaller even more overgrown path leading off into the trees and bushes...I retraced my steps part way and joined with the other path I had seen...that one got me higher before ending at a rockface. I could see the fort just above me. I had no idea how to reach it. This time I went all the way down the hill and walked around it till I reached the original sign (thus discovering it was in Swedish). I pondered the wider paved but steep path switchbacking up through the overgrowth...I was very tired by now and this was just the start of the day. One more try, I thought. Well this time it worked; I got right to the top and found the fort, Skansen Kronan. First built in the late 17th century, the present octagon (or square with cut-off corners) fort was built in the 18th century. There were even old canons showing where the defensive battery I had successfully translated would have been. There was also an English version of the sign below. It is apparently now a military museum but I was not fortunate enough to have stumbled onto during one of the four hours per week it is open! (Through some irony, I believe it was open when I first saw it. But no matter. I sat in the shade on the grassy hard won summit and read for a while.
This was, to some extent, to form the pattern of my day: pick a place on the map that looked like it might be interesting, walk there and whenever I found myself tiring, plonk down on one of the blessedly frequent park benches and read for a while. Quite enjoyable. So, I have pretty much done with exploring and I did not go to a single museum. (I went to what I thought would be a museum but disappointingly turned out to be a sports arena instead. There wasn´t even a park, forcing me to backtrack. Most vexing. ;) But no matter. I am beginning to think that the measure of a city is its green spaces, and in that department Göteborg rates highly. It also gets high marks for cobbled streets, lovely architecture (one or two breathtakingly beautiful ones; if only my camera were working, but I´m not sure a picture would capture it well anyway). They do very nice brickwork--that doesn´t really do justice to it. And of course the bike lanes and ease of walking paths continues to impress me. I also successfully negotiated the trams yesterday, though the payment method is not convenient to outsiders, they are indeed quite frequent and well connected.
There is so much more I could say. How weird it is that there are Seven-Elevens everywhere, but few other US chains. The tastiness of strawberry-lime which they seem fond of. The fact they sell cactus (kaktus) flavored water (in the 7-11s of course!). The way the university is scattered all over town. How some of the architecture looks like it would be right at home in the US but which I´ve never seen in the UK (influence of Swedish immigrants perhaps?). The disgust and bemusement at Hollywood depictions of Swedes (blond with braids? I´ve never known anyone named "Inga", etc.). But now I am tired, and the end of my book beckons. I shall be left with only non-fiction for my flight home, but I don´t really care.
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