Eldership Sweden Mission - Commander Down!

Crisis struck in the form of Wife breaking her foot.

On Wednesday, we were taking a train from Gothenburg south to the city of Malmo where the #3's currently reside. We got to the station with plenty of time, went to the track that had our train number on it, and boarded the train. Once the train departed, we realized that it was not our train but and earlier one. Now a bit of panic ensued. We got off at the first stop which was not very long and looked for a train to take us back to Gothenburg. That train came much sooner that we expected. We were putting jackets into our suitcase because of the warmth. In the rush to get on the train, I hit Wife in the foot and she fell down. 

The train car had almost no one on it. Two young men hopped up to help Wife up but her left foot was killing her. It was just a short trip back to the Gothenburg Station where the young men helped us find the right track again for our train. The three hour train ride was not too bad for Wife mainly because she wasn't putting any weight on her foot. However, once we arrived and had to walk through the station to catch a taxi, it was much worse. 

Unfortunately, #3's house is multilevel so it requires going up and down stairs. It was clear that Wife's foot had some kind of issue.  In the morning, #3 insisted she would take Wife to the Urgent Care shooing 3A and I off with the grandkids as "there is no reason we should all be miserable at the hospital." There ensued the usual 6-7 hour period of long waits, triage, x-rays, finally seeing the doctor and getting a final prognosis. She had broken three large bones in her foot (the bad news), however, they were all still in correct position so no surgery was called for (the good news). 

She's in a boot as a cast would make her ineligible to fly home. We thought about returning home early. However, the apartment we have in Gothenburg has an elevator and is on one floor. We had a teleconference with our doctor who agreed with this assessment. I've rented a car so we can go out some by car during the last week or so we are here. 

Frustrating but really glad we had family around (THANK YOU #3) to help us through.

Eldership Sweden Mission - The Jamtorget Operation

Ensign Almada's Personal Log:

With yours truly to do most of the shit jobs, my beloved Senior Officers, Captain de-I and Commander Wife have been doing all the fun exploration on Gothenburg World. I was pretty excited though when Captain de-I asked if I'd like to go 'shooting' with them. AND I wouldn't have to wear a red tunic! OMG. Let get my phasers armed and ready. Let's see what those what those Nordic aliens have when faced with the daughter of Salarian Warriors (Well okay, that's a bit of stretch. The warriors in my family are about 30 generations ago. My parents owned a tailoring shop.)

I showed up at the shuttle bay with my phasers, projectile weapons, knives, etc., only to have Wife and de-I look at me like I was a lunatic. 

"What in the name of the aging bureaucracy are you doing Almada?" de-I said incredulously.

"Here. Give me those things before you get someone killed," Wife said disdain dripping from her voice. "And take these."

I looked at them with disbelief.

"Commander, these are camera bags."

"Of course, de-I and I love old school photography. We're going down to shoot photos. Now be a dear and bring all this gear down. We'll let you know what we need, when we need it."

"Moan," Why didn't I think to come down with the near terminal hangnail!

Jamtorget Place and the Fountain of the Five Continents and Five Oceans

 Street Scenes

 

 

 

 

The Haga District 

WELL written up in all the tourist information. We think Haga is the Swedish word for Tourist Trap

Fika

Fika is both a noun and a verb. Fika is coffee and cake and is a BIG deal in Sweden. There is both a cinnamon and a cardamon roll below

According to Almada, these looked like some very tempting Salarian foodstuffs. Wife had to physically stop her from eating them.

The Oscar Fredrichs Kyrka

(One freaking awesome church)

Neo-Gothic Style - Built at the end of the 19th century

 

The Goteburg Power Plant

Mid-20th Century Industrial School

The Stansen Kronan

Large Tower with reputed best view of the city but which we were too tired to mount after going up to the Church. Reputed to have been build by the famous Viking warrior Kronan the Barbarian.

The National Fish

What sadly Gothenburg shows as laundry art

How a Swede reacts when he finds out his supermarket is devoid, completely devoid of mayonnaise based salads

 

Scaffolding

Clocks

THE TASTE SENSATION OF THE TRIP SO FAR!

Kebab Meat Pizza with Kebab Sauce

 

 

Eldership Sweden Mission - Serious Shooting Continues

Wife and I (to use a Viking type analogy) are fully in photographic Berserker mode. After breakfasting, making our sacrifices to F-Stop (the photographic equivalent of the Norse God Odin), and buying our tram pass, it was back to the City Center to continue the pursuit of great photos (or in my case relatively decent photos).

Today (in Norse terms) it was a BEAUTIFUL SPRING DAY. People were out in droves. It was 52 degrees, windy. Wife and I had our winter jackets, scarves, layers and other accoutrements to keep warm on this BEAUTIFUL SPRING DAY. (Side Note: #3 has decided she really loves this climate. I mean she moved FURTHER NORTH from the Netherlands to get MORE COLD AND DARK. Where did we go wrong as parents?)

It was way sunnier today so the conditions for shooting were way better...assuming you could feel you fingers on the camera.

This city has a 'thing' for clocks on buildings. They are Everywhere

 

 

 On the water front

Epic building I could not for the life of me find the name of

 Houseboats for rent

 Gothenburg Opera House

Looks like a tall ship...is actually a hotel now

Viking Wannabe

Looking across the water

Street Art

 

 Cityscapes

 

 

 



 

Our First Fika (Swedish custom of coffee and cake)

Famous Architecture that is Meh...a Theatre

 Sculpture

Knife Fight...this guy looks really confident

 If you look at his hand/arm angle trying to fend off his opponent, I'd say he's up Shit's Creek

Which came first...the statue

 Or the Restaurant

 The 'Famous' Neptune Statue at the Gotaplatsen

 

 

 The general consensus review from my art loving daughters was 'nice cheeks'

High Society

At the Gotaplatsen is a concert hall. Something was going on and people were dressed to the hilt...especially the men!

 

These four people were there next to this bicycle built for four the whole time just standing there. For what reason? Who knows.