Haga

The last day of Sue & John's visit was here, the sun was shining and we wanted to make the most of the short time left together. Gothenburg has a good tram system and a line ran close to where we were parked, through to their hotel. Unfortunately we spent almost the entire journey trying to get the ticket machine to accept our bank cards because it didn't take cash!

Making our way to the Trädgårdsföreningen park we passed yet more students celebrating their graduation, dressed smartly and in high spirits, blowing horns and whistles. Once in the park we followed the river and came to a rose garden and cafe. Wooden chairs and tables were set up amongst the flowers, sparrows and ducks hopping and waddling close by in hope of crumbs. It was a peaceful place to spend 20minutes with a drink and a cake.

Close by were the glasshouses, with yet more tables and chairs beside the exotic palms, mosses and climbers. People had brought a packed lunch or a book and were able to take time out and relax in the warm for free. What a fantastic facility! For us however, time was ticking on, so we marched off towards our next port of call; the Fish Church. This fish market by the river is so called because of its close resemblance to a place of worship (see photo). On our way we were approached by a guy with a packed lunch in hand, wanting to ask us a question. Considering the number of street sellers we've encountered, using a range of different techniques we were wary to begin with but he said he thought we'd been emailing him and introduced himself as Jandi, a coordinator of WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) in Sweden. We have signed up to stay and work at a farm at the end of August, via this organisation which is based in Gothenburg. Jandi had been eating lunch on the riverside when he'd seen us pass by and recognised us from our profile photo!

Our last sight to see was a hill top fort, we didn't get time to climb up to it and explore but we got to see it in all its glory from the street below. The fort may have been built to defend the town from invaders, but the locals couldn't have been more helpful to us foreigners, with two different people asking if we needed help or directions (in English) when we weren't looking sure where we were going.

To minimise the risk of any delay getting to the airport we drove out of the city to a lakeside layby Will had found on Park4Night. We loaded up one of the stone tables with food and enjoyed a last picnic with Poppy in the sun and wind before laying back on a wooden jetty being gently rocked by the waves.

The time had finally come to say goodbye to Sue and John. We'd been looking forward to their visit since they booked it back in October and it certainly hadn't disappointed. Being just 3 nights we had managed to pack the time full of activities without ending up exhausted. It had been wonderful spending time with family and we were a little tearful when we left them at the airport, but we kept in mind that we were well and truly past the half way point of our first stint living on the continent and only had 5 and a half months to go before we would return to the UK and see lots of people back home!Read more