A day at the port of Gothenburg, not planned, but sometimes it all works out for the best. We certainly did not have a boring day. And we made it to the Volvo Museum.
Before I continue, I must return to the weekend, Midsummer celebrations. Very important in Sweden. The main celebration takes place on the 19th June. A public holiday, I think. But the celebrations continued for the remainder of the weekend. And everything closed, even restaurants. Luckily we were not in Gothenburg.
Back to today. The weather was glorious this morning, and we ventured out without jackets. Our destination was the port, from where we could take a boat to the Volvo Museum. We walked along the seafront, lots of boat excursions, but no signs for the Volvo Museum. But plenty to look at though, so we were not feeling too desperate at this state.
We did wonder why people were heading towards the edge of the port, where there appeared to be small boat races taking place. Pink SCA signs everywhere, and also painted on the footpath, free ferry to the Volvo Ocean Race. Meant nothing to us. Talk about being ignorant.
We turned towards the shopping centre, where we knew there was a Tourist Centre. A shopping centre with a difference. Instead of knocking down buildings to build a shopping centre, they have pedestrianised streets, and then covered them over, so the street signs are still there, but people are protected from the weather, while they shop. Very clever.
After being directed back down to the port, we found that we had actually walked past the very small sign earlier on. A confusion then occurred over the tickets, and we realised that we needed to buy tickets which included the Maritime Museum as well.
At long last, after two hours of accidental port sightseeing, we finally boarded an old excursion boat, part of the museum, which was run by two very friendly people.
I look happy, and no wonder. A lovely comfortable seat at the front of the boat.
The old port of Gothenburg used to be a major port. I wonder how often these cranes are used now?
A port side view of the power station, we think.
The ferry to Denmark, which we will take on Wednesday.
And what was this? Yes, the end of the Volvo Ocean Race. The winner of this section of the race, together with the flotilla of small boats, accompanying it into the harbour. And we had a perfect view from our boat. It was exciting.
Of course, we had no idea, until we had asked one of the ferry staff earlier on, about why so many people were lining the side of the port, and carrying pink flags.
The next three yachts appeared closely behind the winner, but the flotilla of supporting boats had mostly left. The wake from the large number of boats made our boat really rock around. A little scary.
The cruise took one hour, which left us with an hour to visit the Volvo Museum, and to catch a glimpse of an important Swedish icon, the Volvo car, the car built for people who wished to have a 'safe' car. As well as learning about how the Volvo became the car with the 'safe' repetution, we also learnt that Volvo was now owned by a Chinese company, obviously the only people with money to do so. I hope they keep up the 'safe car' standard.
The first Volvo, built about 1925.
There was a very large hall, devoted to the Volvo Ocean Race, which was once called the Whitbread Ocean Race, before Volvo took the race over. The yacht race, a world wide one, takes nine months, and covers 39,000 nautical miles, visiting quite a few countries along the way. Auckland being one of them, but nowhere in Australia. A tough race. Goteborg was the final destination, and celebrations have been planned for this week.
We spent such a long time looking at the exhibition about the Volvo Ocean Race, that we had to skim over the rest of the Volvo Museum, which was a pity as the truck section was especially good.
The classic Volvo estate car, circa early 1970s.
The white Volvo used in the television series, the Saint. Only us oldies will remember the series.
Another hour on the water, but no more yachts, just plenty of naval and police boats, plus one or two pleasure yachts waiting on yet another yacht to appear. The people waiting on the sides of the port had all disappeared, even though the Swedish yacht had not arrived.
As we now had tickets for the Maritime Museum, by default, we visited the collection of old naval boats, a merchant boat, a tug and a fire boat, all joined together, with gangplanks between each boat.
This photograph was taken earlier in the day, when the sun was shining.
By 3 p.m. it was threatening rain, and it certainly did so, when we were on this warship. The guns on it looked very nasty.
Walter sheltering under this sunshade, and trying to look cheerful, even though it was raining heavily.
The models were decidedly spooky. I jumped when I looked into a window and saw this sailor. Was he dead? No just a wax model dressed in a sailor's uniform.
Walter down in the engine room. Very steep ladders. But lovely and warm, and dry.
All in all it was a really interesting museum to visit, and we actually enjoyed it, despite the cold and wet weather.
We had an excellent view of the finishing line for the Volvo Ocean Race. The Swedish yacht finally made it across the line, to much fanfare. I did not have time to get my camera out, but it had pink sails.
I managed to capture this yacht, with full sails.
After such an interesting and busy day, we stopped for a cup of coffee and then headed home, first on a tram, and then on a bus.
Tomorrow we must remember to take our coats, even if the sun is shining.
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