The next morning, I repacked, had a last snuggle with the animals, said goodbye to Giorgia and headed to Borås to return the rental car. It was a beautiful, relaxing drive. I think knowing I only had one hour left of having to drive during the trip made it feel even more relaxed. I’m definitely looking forward to getting around on trains and buses where other people can do the driving for me. I got a ride to the train station from the friendly car rental guy who told me about his trip to San Francisco, LA and Las Vegas when he was 21, so cute! He told me that it was about the same driving distance from one end of Sweden to the other as it is from Gothenburg to Paris. I picked up a delicious premade chicken pesto salad with day-old chocolate croissants that cost me $.50 US! (Croissants, not the salad.) It was an hours train ride to Gothenburg, most of it going through wild parts of the country, full of trees and lakes. It was heaven just to sit and look out the window. I liked that there were electrical outlets and garbage bags available at each sitting area. At one point an older woman got on with her dog, I realized then that I was in the car that dogs were allowed to be in. He perched very attentively on her lap as she looked out the window, it was adorable. There’s a real variety of folks taking the train – moms in headscarves with their kids, old men napping, young women in their 20s dressed up to head into the big city, teenage boys staring at their phones.
In Gothenburg I left the train and checked out the storage lockers, thinking I might put my stuff in a storage locker fora couple of hours and have a little walk around. When I saw that it cost seven dollars an hour I decided that money would be better sent spent on Fika in one of the cafés at the train station, and that thought was reinforced when I looked out the doors and saw rain pouring down outside. I took a chance and headed up to the lounge of the Hyatt hotel that is above the train station. There were plenty of comfortable seats available, which I’m sure I could have probably just sat in without buying anything, but since it was still early afternoon, and I had a couple of hours before my train up north left, I decided to treat myself to an Irish coffee, perfect for a rainy afternoon. I got a little area all to myself with a couch and view of the station concourse below. Heaven! There were 3 girls playing rhyming hand games at a table nearby- that brought back memories.
Picked up some dinner food- a ‘small’ hot dog and a meatball and beet sandwich along with a chocolate ball for dessert. When I was standing near the train departure schedule I was approached by a guy trying to get people to donate to an environmental organization. When I told him I didn’t speak Swedish he asked where I was from and what brought me to Sweden. We had a great conversation about the people who have immigrated from Sweden over the last 150 years, what led to it etc. According to him the second most common language spoken by people on the Titanic was Swedish (English was the first). I had no idea.
My train to Stockholm was delayed about 1/2 hour due to some work on the track. Once we finally got going it was a lovely journey. I had treated myself to a first class seat- larger with more legroom and a single seat next to the window. It only cost about $10 more, well with it for a 4 hour train ride. The car was less than half full, so it was lovely and quiet while enjoying the gorgeous views. This is the way to travel!
