SWEFIN Day 2 - Gothenburg
Barry here - Today was a theme park day so while we would have loved a lie-in we were up bright and early for our hotel breakfast before heading out to Liseberg. The main reason for our prompt start was that we only had an hour’s window on the forecast before the heavens opened and stayed that way through to 9pm, so we wanted to make the most of the day before we got too sodden.
The breakfast selection was varied and contained plenty of traditional options as well as more specifically Swedish fare (we both passed at the Pickled Herring). I was particularly taken by the scrambled eggs which were some of the best I’ve ever tasted. Poor Ellie hates eggs so much she cringes at the word and had to suffer as I continually praised their eggsellence throughout the day.
A couple of quick and efficient trams later and we were outside the gates of Liseberg ready for opening. Every city should have a light rail system in my opinion, if it works well then people will use it and Gothenburg had virtually no traffic in the city centre as a result. Liseberg follows the Scandinavian tradition of putting a theme park inside a series of gardens in the middle of the city (Tivoli in Copenhagen is very similar) but has a distinct look with many of the buildings painted in the same shades of pastel pink and green, and also had some truly odd green bunnies as their official mascots/characters to meet.
We’d pre-ordered wristbands which we collected and were swiftly through the gates to our first ride of the day. This was Helix, a large coaster built around the hill that comprises the western edge of Liseberg and requires an escalator to the top to reach the station. As the ride was at the top of the hill there was no lift required for the train to begin as you tumbled straight into a drop and half loop instead! From there it was a series of launches into steep hills and drops, and as there were minimal restraints you really feel ‘out of control’ in the best way possible (if you’re lucky enough to have ridden Velocicoaster in Florida, it was very similar).
From there we headed to Balder, which while being a wooden coaster was very new and extremely positively rated. I honestly cannot praise this ride highly enough, Ellie was in tears of laughter at just how wild it was from the word go (the first drop has to be seen to be believed) and as we were lucky enough to snag the back row we were really whipped around. Definitely the highlight of the day.
Our luck seemed to be holding with the weather at this point so we rode a few of the other lesser coasters as well as ‘Underlandet’, a pleasingly odd dark ride showing the adventures of Liseberg’s rabbit mascots. I couldn’t tell you much about the plot but there were an awful lot of carrots involved. We’d been intending to avoid the log flume as it was cool as well as potentially rainy but I had a rush of blood to the head and suggested we ride anyway. I even volunteered to sit at the front to take the brunt of any splash. Well it was a great ride but I came off looking like I’d been dunked under the water while Eleanor was bone dry. Still, as long as she doesn’t run off with a 6’5 Swede named Sven between now and the end of the trip I’ve given myself a fair chance of winning the ‘Boyfriend of the Holiday’ trophy.
We grabbed some falafel wraps for lunch and took shelter while the promised rain finally fell. Being brave soldiers we decided to continue with our plan of getting the tram to Slottskogen to visit the free zoo. This was set within a large park so armed with our umbrellas we followed the walking trail and saw seals, reindeer and most impressively of all the majestic moose! Their enclosure came with an amazing description of the year in the life of a moose, I’m not sure if it was just the way it was translated into English but we were amazed to hear that September is the month for Moose Weddings and in Spring mother moose abandon their calves who instantly and without fail become ‘completely lost’.
After this it was back to the hotel for a well deserved rest before heading back to Liseberg for the evening. We headed for some dinner as soon as we arrived, however had forgotten that the Swedes tend to eat very early and our arrival into a restaurant at the apparently outrageous time of 7:50pm caused great consternation and a waitress having to check with the chef that they could still serve us. Thankfully we were allowed to fuel up and then head out for a few more rides (mostly redoing Balder if I’m honest) until it was time to head home for the night. Stockholm awaits tomorrow!
Fun fact: Did you know that a moose will almost always give birth to twins?
Have you ever met a moose?
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