So I arrived a day early for ICSE for a few reasons. Given the day to kill, though, I found a bicycle tour online and then decided to just walk the same route. It was a 10km route; it ended up as a 16km walk, though, as I wandered to see some extra places (e.g., the center of Gothenburg, and much more of the city park).
Here's the route I walked (my hotel is the farthest right most point...):
I started on the Trädgårdsföreningen grounds. This is the Gothenburg Garden Society. It was about 8am on a Saturday morning, on a beautiful day, and the place was mostly deserted. This is the palm house. It wasn't open yet, so I didn't go inside...
These flowering shrubs are everywhere. I do not know what they are, but they make Gothenburg smell fantastic!
The palm house again:
I went in a side entrance of the gardens and out the main entrance. This lovely statue and tulips greet visitors at the main entrance:
The entrance itself.
Across the street from the gardens is the Stora Teatern (Grand Theater). The entire tour I followed was on the "outside" of the city's moat; the theater sits in the gardens that line the moat. When it was built in the 1800's, it was considered way out of town to the point of being potentially dangerous to venture that far. Today, it's apparently adjacent to the city center. In its early years, Gothenburg was heavily fortified. The ramparts are mostly gone today, but the moat remains, separating the main city center from the "suburbs". Most of the architecture in the city is from the 18th century onward; earlier buildings were built from wood and have since disappeared. Many buildings, like the theater, are from the 19th century.
Walking along the moat. I don't know anything about the curious statue with a pyramid for a head. But I thought it was interesting.
Pyramid-headed statue again... this time with a reflection...
This is a typical view of a street in the Haga suburb. Historically, this was a working class neighborhood where the low-storeyed buildings were built primarily from wood. It has been rejuvenated and is apparently somewhat trendy these days.
This is Oscar Fredriks Församling Church, of the Church of Sweden. I had a coffee across the street...
As an add on to the bike tour, I headed up the hill to Skansen Kronan, which is a piece of the old fortifications of Gothenburg. This was the park keeper's house in the early 20th century:
The view from the top of the hill:
Skansen Kronan itself:
From here, I headed into Slottsskogen, which I think literally translates to castle garden. There's no castle, but the park is super lovely. I happened upon this adorable lake and then accidentally noticed the baby geese.
There were, obviously, penguins in the park:
And some nice views from up on hilltops in the park:
Back down in the city, I headed for Gothenburg's city center, passing a nice view of Skansen Kronan:
In the plaza outside of Haga Church, there is this monument to Raoul Wallenberg, who I had not heard of but have now read about (thanks,
Wikipedia!). He was a Swedish businessman and diplomat, who played a key humanitarian role in WWII. He was sent by Sweden on a diplomatic mission to Hungary to provide support for Jewish Hungarians. He issued protective Swedish passports and ultimately set up properties in Budapest as Swedish territory that could offer protected living spaces to Jews who would otherwise be "deported" (sent to concentration camps). The Wikipedia article is very interesting; I recommend its reading.
Here's the Haga Church.
At this point, I hadn't been into the center of Gothenburg yet, so I decided to jaunt across the moat to check it out. It was teeming with people... all out shopping and chatting. I wandered up to the cathedral:
The inside was equally unremarkable.
Back on the other side of the moat, I happened past Vasa Chirch, which I found more attractive:
Then I headed over to the city's main thoroughfare, Kungsportsavenyen, which dead ends at this statue of Poseidon and the Gothenburg Art Museum.
Outside the art museum, there's also this lovely statue of Victor Hasselblad. He's another famous Swede I hadn't heard of. Hasselblad is a famous camera maker. I include a few stories for you (not all on the Wikipedia page, so you can thank me for expanding your knowledge). Hasselblad liked to test out his new camera models by photographing birds, which is what you see him doing here.
Two of the most memorable historic events photographed with a Hasselblad are
this one and
this one. Take a look at my photo again... notice the boot print at the bottom of the statue?
After this, I was pleasantly surprised to find out I was only a few blocks from the hotel. There was some construction that forced me through this lovely green space on the way:
