Scandinavia 12 Göteborg

  Found our hotel okay, dropped off our luggage (too early to check in), and headed for a boat tour of town. Interesting walk through town—old buildings and squares. The boat tour was excellent! (What we wanted in Stockholm, and didn’t get.) We were on a canal boat with a live narrator, who did the whole tour in English because everyone was comfortable with that. There were many very low bridges.
  We also went out into the harbor and saw the shipyards that flourished after WWII and have since all closed (the last one in 2014). She told us some about the history of the city and showed us some of the remaining walls of the city. The boat was open air so pictures were possible, and the motor was quiet so we could hear the guide.
After the tour, we got lunch at a Spanish restaurant nearby, then decided to walk back toward the hotel through a canal-side park.
  But, what was this? Police closing a street? What is happening? A festival, a parade, a “pride parade.” We have just attended our first gay pride parade. There were a lot of people lining the streets to watch, so we joined them. People marched past us for 30 minutes—a lot of people, many waving rainbow flags, some dressed to shock, most pretty ordinary. So we went to sit down for a while, when we realized the parade was not over—there was just a gap.
(to be continued)

Scandinavia 11 Aquaria water museum

  After a few hours there, we moved on to the Aquaria water museum, which was small, but had some interesting fish. The “ocean” tank had some small rays and sharks, and colorful tropical fish, crayfish, anemones, and corals. They had a seahorse exhibit, and they breed “salmon trout.” The rainforest exhibit had a very large peculiar-looking fish (not identified) and a couple of fresh-water rays with round disc-shaped bodies.
There were a lot of people waiting for the return ferry, and it took a while to get on, but the ferry itself was not crowded. This was the day and about the time of the wedding of the prince (his older sister Victoria is the heir). So some streets were blocked off, and there were police around. Back in Gamla Stan, we returned to the cafe where we ate the day before. Larry got lasagna, and I had a salmon and spinach quiche. Both were good, but neither of us were able to finish.
 We walked back through Gamla Stan and along the waterfront to our hotel, and collapsed for a couple of hours, then packed for an early departure.
Got up at 6:30 and left the hotel shortly after 7. Too early for breakfast at the hotel, but our train was at 8:22. We walked the 2 km from the hotel to the train station. Along the way, police on motorcycles blocked a couple of intersections, and we saw a short motorcade coming from the directions of the castle. Other than police cars, there were 3 matching (!) cars and one other in the motorcade.
Got to the station before 8 and bought muffins and coffee for breakfast on the train. Southern Sweden seems to be forest and fields, with an occasional small town thrown in. We did see a deer running through one of the fields. Our train trip was blessedly uneventful this time.
(to be continued)