Gothenburg: That's the Way I Roll

We went to Sweden this weekend to pick up our new Volvo from the the factory. What's ironic is that we flew from Germany to Sweden even though our car was built in Belgium and shipped to Sweden...just so that we could pick it up there and drive home. Gotta love international manufacturing practices.

What's Swedish for "Old School"?

RRR can't wait to get on the road

In preparation, we had to get our German license plates packed into our luggage (easier said than done with carry-on baggage). We already had our international drivers licenses in order to drive in Germany, so that saved some paperwork.

We got a tour of the Volvo facility near Gothenburg, where we learned that "volvo" is derived from the Latin "I roll". You'd think that Volvo would have a Swedish origin, but no.

Let's Roll!

Feskekörka (Fish Church)

During the trip we ate at a couple of restaurants that were quite nice. I, however, totally screwed up the conversion rate from US dollars to Euros to Krona. I think I multiplied when I should have divided. While I don't know the exact rates at the time, let's say $1=0.75 Euro (or 1 Euro = $1.32) and 1 Swedish Krona=0.113 Euro (8.84 Swedish Krona=1 Euro). Using an online currency converter (which I forgot to use before the trip), this means 6.69 Swedish Krona = $1 (or 1 Swedish Krona=$0.15). Long story short: what I though was an $80 meal turned out to be in the $200 ballpark when we got our credit card bill the next month. And I think this happened twice. Ouch.

It's a Viking ship.

RRR caught a Swedish fish

But one place, Räken, we had dinner was really fun. The tables were adjacent to a large aquarium. The waiters would place our food on remote control boats sitting in the "harbor" near the kitchen and we self-delivered our dinner using the remote controls.

RRR navigates the inner harbour

The drive back was interesting, as we were so far north that the GPS signal was a little patchy. But by following the coastline south, we made it to the bridge to Denmark.