A quick 20 minute ride from the airport had us in downtown Gothenburg and we checked into the Radisson Blu. The hotel is under major renovations, but we ended up in an updated room.
We laughed because this was totally a MsFlamingo approved room with pink pastels as the primary accent colors.
Typical Euro dual twin bed setup.
And a little work area that was useful for me to know work out during the day when MsFlamingo was in meetings.
Well actually, this lounge chair ended up getting used a bit more for work and reading.
Right after we checked in, MsFlamingo had to go meet colleagues for dinner, and I met up with a friend who was also on a business trip, for dinner. My friend had heard through a colleague to check out a Turkish restaurant and we headed there for a casual meal. Check out the Gothenburg restaurants post here for casual meals.
The next morning, I bid adieu to MsFlamingo and I had some time to do a little exploring.
It's a beautiful city, obviously clean, well put together, and not too crowded.
Walking past one of the parks on the other side of the river.
And past what I at first thought was the concert hall, but is a university library.
Then I stumbled across the fish market or the Feskekörka.
Check out the Gothenburg food post for more about there and the amazing restaurant I had lunch at, Restaurant Gabriel - absolutely stunning food!
After the fantastic lunch, it was definitely time to walk it off and then find a coffee shop to post up and work from.
Heading past a church in the middle of town.
Then doing a loop around the outer area of the city.
I love how European countries can somehow have an exhaust tower right next to beautiful buildings and make it work.
With the sun setting, beautiful scenery.
Making my way back towards the hotel later in the day.
And hilariously enough, from our alma-mater, a Tesla store right smack in the middle of town.
That evening we went out to a Mexican restaurant of all things and had a fantastic meal - that one is in the casual food post. We love how seriously all the restaurants in Gothenburg take their craft.
On one of the days, I was able to finagle a tour of the Volvo factory. On the way into the area, past the Polestar building.
And official HQ.
And the factory!
Entrance to the delivery center.
The delivery center was large and beautiful. It's everything you'd imagine Volvo or any Swedish company to be.
A configuration station, hopefully no buyer's remorse if you're already at the delivery center picking up a car lol
The gift shop was cool, love the style, I'd say they're right up there with Porsche Design apparel.
This is the actual delivery center where new owners get to know their car.
And a VR station, unfortunately I didn't have time to check it out. The tour started after that, but no pictures in the factory. We had a fantastic tour guide who was informative and engaging. I've toured a lot of factories from cars to electronics - this was definitely one of the better ones.
On Friday of the week, we joined a group of MsFlamingo's colleagues who had us go to a restaurant called Project, it turned out to be amazing! See the link here.
On the Saturday, MsFlamingo and I wandered around Gothenburg, walking out to check out the museum and aquarium. There's an amusement park next to it, but we didn't end up going.
The natural history museum was awesome and is multiple layers. They have people start at the top and work your way down. We started with the bird and some aquatic exhibits.
Two rays/sting rays.
Then down below into the bigger aquariums with plenty of fish and a few sharks.
This guy with the wild scissor snout.
Then down into the rainforest - quite a huge change in temps!
One colorful fellow!
One exhibit with a sloth, doing what they do best.
And an exhibit with toucans!
We finished at the bottom and headed back into the center of town, down the beautiful walkway.
That evening, MsFlamingo and I had a date night and tried a restaurant within the Dorsia Hotel. The atmosphere was awesome, the food fine, but not great like Project was. Would recommend it more for drinks. Check out the post about Dorsia here.
The next day, MsFlamingo needed to work, so my friend and I headed out to a nearby kart track and spent several hours with the rental karts.
It was an absolute blast and after a few sessions weren't far off the pace. It was really fun and we had some good battles with the locals!
So much fun and would love to drive a shifter or even TaG kart around this track.
After a fun day of karting, back into town.
Then off to get a late lunch at The Barn, a recommendation that turned out to be awesome with fantastic burgers and cocktails. Check that out in the casual foods post here.
After our late lunch, we met up with MsFlamingo to join her checking out the shopping scene.
Wandering around at sunset, the place was beautiful and we got lucky with the weather.
Gothenburg exceeded both of our expectations. It turned out to be beautiful with historic charm, have fantastic restaurants and cocktails, and friendly people. MsFlamingo will definitely be back and I'd be happy to tag along if it could work out like this trip did.
We headed to Stockholm after this part of the trip, check that out below.
Trip links:
- Project
- Dorsia
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