Adventures in Europe - 30th September

Today we got to go to Gothenburg at last! 

We got up a bit earlier than normal. OK so I was up at 5am, I was having problems sleeping. 

We had a breakfast of Swedish Sausage (Korv) its like a smoky sausage, its great! Will do a blog about it. We also had bacon as well, with some bread. 

Once we had breakfast we got ready and made our way. Gothenburg is about an hour and a half away, I managed to fall asleep and woke up just as we were on the outskirts of town! Typical for me! 

We arrived there at around 13:00, we made our way to park at Nordstan, which is a big shopping mall. We had a wonder around there for a little while, then headed outside for a bit more of a wonder. We found the tourist information center and got a map of the town. 

Once we knew where we were going, we headed towards their indoor market, which I wish I got photos of, the counters where filled with fresh meats, fruits, vegetables, cheeses, olives all sorts of different foods. There were also small cafe's dotted all over the place, which were crammed as it was lunch time. 

The pair of us started to feel a bit peckish, and decided to find somewhere for lunch, Mag wanted to head back to Nordstan as upstairs has lots of restaurants and cafe. We went and had a look around twice, first of all we saw a Chinese buffet restaurant, we then saw another buffet which had pizza and stuff. Nothing traditional!! 

Mag couldn't make up his mind, so in the end we went back to the Chinese. It was 80 kroner each, which works out at £8 for an all you can eat buffet, with a free drink. So it was good value. 

My first plate I had salad with some chicken and noodles and stuff. The photo below is my 2nd plate. Our only complaint is that the chicken ball things were 1% chicken and 99% dough LOL.

Once we had dined, (I only managed 1 plate and a little bit) we headed off back outside, to walk off dinner. We stopped and had a look in a few shops, I found a perfume shop as I am after a new Escada perfume, it was more expensive than on the overnight ferry, so might just wait till Saturday and buy it then. 

Just as we were about to leave the shop after I doused myself in the perfume I love, I saw out the corner of my eye that they do nail varnish. They had a massive OPI counter, so mag and I had a good look. I decided to get 1 varnish as they were a little expensive but I have not seen this type in the UK yet. 

So after much delerbration, we went for the OPI gold sand. Photos below of what it looks like. 

Its a really nice gold color, and it feels so strange on your fingers! 

We then carried on some more, and went down a side street again and out the corner of my eye I spotted a shop window full of rings and necklaces! One of the main things I want to get out here was a new ring for my thumb. I tried it on and it fitted perfectly! I was so happy. It was supposed to be 350 kroner, but they were having a sale day so it was 25% off making it 262 kroner, £26! It's sterling sliver as well. Below are some photos. They gave me an awesome orange velvet bag, not sure why though as I wore the thing out the shop! I absolutely love the ring, and it fits so well. 

After this we wondered more down side streets and moved away from the main hustle and bustle, we sat down and people watched for a little while but moved on when we saw a beggar going up to people and asking for money, he was being rather forceful, it looked like he had a curvature of his spine, and was quite bent over, meaning he could tug at peoples legs and harass them some more. 

I did notice that there are a large number of homeless people and beggars in Gothenburg compared to all the other towns we have visited. I guess that's due to the fact there are a lot more people in Gothenburg. There was also a lot more rubbish around, which again I think is down to the large amount of people they have coming in and out. It does ruin it some what. 

We walked to the tourist information center again, as when we were their earlier I saw some shot glassed I liked the look of. ( I collect them) they also had lot of other little bits and bobs which were made locally. I was going to get one of the famous wooden horses but I looked a the price, the smallest were about £25! Bit to expensive for me! So in the end I settled on this hand made shot glass. For me it ticks all the boxes, its hand made, has a moose on it and has Sweden on it too! 

After this it started to get a lot cooler and the sun started to go down, so mag decided to head home since the drive was fairly long. We needed some fuel and I thought I saw a petrol station, unfortunately once we got there we found out it was for auto gas only. Boy did I feel daft! 

Mag stopped to get fuel and also stopped to get a loaf of bread. We had a little walk around a town and got some photos of the sunset. I am uploading those tomorrow they are still on the camera!

We got home and heated up some leftover soup for dinner from yesterday, it was beef and vegetable. Very nice. 

Well that's it I guess for today. We are going back to Ikea and the A6 center to get some bits we saw. 

TTFN 

Thank you for reading 

Adventures in Europe - 29th September

We did nothing, nothing at all! We didn't even leave the house! It was a day of rest and nothingness. Due to this here is a photo of an Elk drunk stuck in a tree! 

Adventures in Europe - 28th September - Photo Heavy

Hi Vikx here again 

Trying to get two blog posts up today! All the writing! 

So as normal we got up had breakfast, we had an extra big one since we were going out. Pastry's and a bacon sandwich! Great way to start the day. The weather was a bit dull and overcast. 

We kind of took longer than we expected to get ready, we got side tracked by watching Pawn Stars on TV. Watch it if you get the chance its awesome. 

I had noticed on Hal (My nexus tablet) that it was showing me via google now, a zoo which was roughly 40 minutes away. I mentioned this to mag, and we looked up their website. http://www.boraszoo.se/ 

We went to Boras earlier in the week so knew it was not that far away. Also the ticket price was not to bad either. 

Below are some of the photos I took during the day. I am still getting used to my camera and Im learning to change the ISO and stuff so some are a little off. 

After walking around for just under 4 hours, and not killing screaming children! I felt a bit sick and needed a drink, so we headed to our number one place Maxi ICA!! Yes you guessed it another supermarket!

We got another wrap each and something to drink, and then headed home! 

We had meatballs and sauce for dinner, and have just chilled out watching TV. Not sure what we are doing tomorrow though. The weather is supposed to be raining. 

Adventures in Europe - 27th September

Hi Vikx here, 

So yesterday we had the normal chilled out morning, breakfast, update blog and stuff. We didn't know what we were going to do for the day or where we were going to go. 

Mag had a look online and decided to take me to Falkoping. Mag had never been there before so it was somewhere new for the pair of us to visit. 

I fell asleep for most of the drive over, been feeling really tired a lot recently. I woke up just as mag was looking for some where to park. (good timing eh) 

Once parked we decided to have a wonder in to town and see what was there. 

The town is small, we managed to walk around pretty much all the town square and the side streets in 30 minutes! 

I wanted to sit down and people watch for a little while, we sat down on a bench in the town square in the sun. I noticed a gentleman in a wheelchair who I think may have been drunk, he was on his own and propelling the chair with his feet, sort of like being on a swing. 

We then noticed a gentleman by the fountain, who was staggering a bit. He had a can of I think it was cider in his hands. We watched him for a little while, then I noticed it looked like he was walking over towards us. I freaked out as I didn't want him to come over to us. Thankfully he started to stagger away, stood in a shop door way and threw up. Lovely. At that point mag said "right we are leaving!" 

So off we went, we stopped at another ICA as well we always have to go and check them out! 

Then we headed home. Nothing overly exciting I know. 

We took a long route to drive home. Mag wanted to go via a lake, but sadly we couldn't find the turn off. 

When we got close to Gallstad we saw a car stopped at the side of the road, I thought they had either broken down OR there was a moose! 

Guess what, there was a moose! We think it was a female, as it had no horns. I wanted to take some photos so once the other car had driven away, mag pulled over in to a lay-by and I got the camera out the boot, jumped out and took some photos. 

 

For dinner  I wanted pizza, so mag went out and got dinner while I stayed and updated the blog. 

This time we got the correct ones! I had ham and pineapple and mag tired the chicken curry pizza! Sounds gross but tastes pretty good! 

 The photo above its mags pizza. Followed by my ham and pineapple.

Above is their version of coleslaw. Its lovely! I had to tubs of it! Your supposed to cover your pizza in it and eat them together! 

When it comes to Pizza, the Swedish have got it down! Their bases are thin and crispy and the toppings are fresh, not greasy in the slightest. Also they do not make you feel overly full. I wish we could get them back home. 

After dinner we chilled and watched TV again. It seems we are getting in to a pattern when we get home!

Tomorrow we might be going to a zoo to see some animals! 

Moose - Watch - An important update

We did it! We saw an Elk (moose) we were driving home this evening, it was just starting to get dark and noticed a car parked up at the side of the road. 

I thought they had either broken down OR there had to be a moose in the area! I was right! 

I got a few photos. I couldn't get too close as they are a tad aggressive! Here's hoping we see many more! 

The photos im uploading are ones from my phone. 

Adventures in Europe - 26th September

Mag here again, yesterday was an off day for Vikx, so we had a bit of a chilled out lazy day. 

We chilled out in the house until about 15:00 watching TV and writing the blog and bits Vikx had a snooze on the sofa.

We decided to go down to the local town and get a few bit and pieces and look round the factory shops. later in the afternoon. We made our way to Lidi and got some pastries and Croissants then we went for walk round ICA and get the rest of the bits we wanted. We needed some lunch so chose a wrap after the success of the first wrap we tried from ICA. It wasn't as nice as the previous day but was not horrible. Vikx had been wanting some of their chicken and bacon salad/sandwich filling, since trying the wrap as it was fantastic, we managed to find a small tub to take home. She wanted to have it with dinner. 

In her excitement she opened it while we drove to Gallstad all I could hear was that it tasted funny this was when she discovered it had mushrooms it it Vikx doesn't do mushrooms. She started to read ingredients and it turns out that it has more mushroom 17%  than bacon 12%. This did not go down well, and she went on a little rant about mushrooms and how they are the spawn of the devil. 

We then headed to Gallstad to check out some more of the factory shops there, as we didn't look at all of them the other day. Plus it was nice just to have a wonder. Really there is not much there and we think you can walk around the whole town in about 15 - 20 minutes! 

We walked up to Lager 157 and had a wonder around they have loads of clothes and fashion.

Vikx has been looking for a military style jacket for ages and we found one it is a short bomber style jacket with a couple of pockets and a Velcro patch on it with some stars on. We then wandered around some more and saw some other bits and pieces sadly nothing seemed to fit right, we think the sizes over here are a lot smaller than we are used to. We headed over to the tills when we noticed some scarves and hats we had a look and spotted a scarf with skulls on. Vikx really liked it so decided to get that too. It was the first proper few bits Vikx decided to get for herself since we got here. 

We went  down and wandered around some of the other shops, we went in several but saw nothing worth blogging about. We did however end up in our favorite t-shirt shop. Vikx found some more tops.  

We then decided to have pizza for dinner from the local pizzeria called the Pizza palace. I opted for a Gallstad special and Vikx for a Hawaiian the pizzas come with a sort of  local specialty salad which is like a  coleslaw that has no mayo or carrot in. When we got home and checked the pizza we think we got one which was someone else as instead of the Hawaiian. Vikx opened the box and found it was covered in mushrooms and ham, as previously explained she doesn't do mushrooms at all.  

Vikx did manage to get a rubbish photo of the menu! Lots of choice. 

We swapped Pizzas I took the chilies from the Special and we tucked in. Vikx was a bit skeptical about the pizza to start with but tucked in and it all went :) They were both really nice but we forgot to get any photos to show you guys so it means we will just have to have another one!

So we just chilled out for the rest of the night  playing  some animal  crossing new leaf and  watching TV.

Adventures in Europe - 25th September

Mag here, Vikx is having an relax and letting me take control of today's post  :) 

So yesterday started much like the past couple of days we updated the blog and  got ready for the day ahead. We both woke early and decide to get up and do stuff , we had breakfast. I had the Swedish staple of  Muesli and  milk with pouring yogurt that we got the other day, we chose banana and vanilla falvour which we should probably do a food  blog about Swedish  pouring yogurts, then we both had bacon sandwiches Scandinavian  bacon is not much  like bacon in the UK  the closest  thing is   Oscar Myers  bacon   to  my mind  which  is a streaky  bacon  they don't  do  back Bacon, we then got packed and went out for the day. 

On the way  to our destination for the day we needed to get fuel the first time since we left the UK. 

We had done 520 miles when we filled up and we had  another  50 or 60 miles to go. Petrol out here is mostly from self service that are automated which I have to admit is intimidating when you don't speak the language. 

I had to make a phone call to my Parents to guide me though  the process  but  I managed it  and  we left the station having topped up with fuel and made our way along the back roads to Borås  taking us  through some  very  pretty  country side. We arrived in  Borås about 12:00 o'clock  and parked near the Textile Museum  which I would have loved to take Vikx round it but it is closed for Refurb at the moment. 

We wandered around the  center of Borås exploring what is to  see we had limited  parking time.  After a little while we found  a nice quiet  spot next to river which had  a couple of  benches and a cool sculpture set in to the water which  vikx took  some pics off see below .

Funny fact about Borås is that it is know as one of the most boring towns in Sweden. Yay. 

Once we finished our walk and returned to the car we headed out to Kannleland  which is a shopping complex on the out skirts of Boras. We had a wander round and explored the shops, we didn't spend much and wandered around mostly.

We left  Boras  via  the maxi  ICA  where we picked up some fresh bread  and  bits and piece we need but then we had the  best surprise when wandering the  fruit and veg section we found a Starfruit which vikx has been pining for ages. We have not been able find these in the UK.

We have a Food Blog in The works describing the the awesomeness of the wraps we had for lunch. 

Just been  reminded that i got a bit lost while exiting Boras we ended up near the horse training school!   We got  turned round and then  found our way to the supermarket. we then had and uneventful  trip home. 

When we got home  we had a relax, watched  some Family Guy  and  simpsons  on TV  and had a sauna  one of the benefits of being in  Sweden  :)   After the sauna we had dinner and then chilled out some more. We watched naked and afriad, first time we have managed to watch this as we do not have sky at home. Was rather amusing. 

Moose (Elk)  Watch  - Zero although we came close when we saw a plastic one in a toy shop. (does that count?!) 

lots of other wild life seen though  

See you Tomorrow   

Adventures in Europe - 24th September

Took it slow this morning, had breakfast Swedish bacon sandwich. Wrote the blog then mag told me to go get ready. 

I would need walking boots, thick socks, warm clothes, hat and other bits. Turns out we were going out for a mini hike around a nature reserve. 

We took a drive which was about 40 minutes and ended up in a place called Komosse. I got a photo of the main board which tells you about the area. I also got a photo of the bit in English for us to enjoy! Sadly that was the only part of the whole walk which was in English all the other signs were in Swedish. 

With the area being mainly bog, they have made a wooded foot path which you can follow, the clever thing is in winter, they use the boards to ski on. I thought it was clever, it saves damaging the natural area and the wildlife. 

We took my camera along for its first real test drive, not really had chance up until now. 

Il put some of the photos I took at the end of this post. 

Overall the walk took roughly 3 hours, the weather was pretty good, sunny in parts very windy in parts but dry! The rain held off the whole time we were out. 

We were hoping to see some of the local wildlife, but we think we have just come at the wrong time of year. We did get to see dragonflies, some birds but that was about it. 

After the walk we headed home to have lunch, same as always bread, cheese and other Swedish nibbles. We then chilled and watched TV till dinner time. 

Dinner was great, proper Swedish meatballs with gravy. Loved it. I think we have enough left over for today and I think tomorrow too! Ha

Off in to Broas today (25th) to have a wonder around the town and see whats there, we are then off to a shopping area called kannaland (i have no idea if this is the correct spelling)

Hoping we get to see some nice bits, as to date the only thing I have gotten is a Tshirt and some cake lolz