Gardens in Gothenburg

Diane and I departed the Dungeon early this morning to go to Alingsas one last time to see Anders. We arrived at 10:30 and made a few stops on our way into Gothenburg. We spent about a half hour at the house of a friend of Anders's, and we enjoyed morning fika. After that, Anders took us to the Masthuggskyrkan, a church that has a great view of Gothenburg. The colors of the buildings splayed before us were amazing, but my favorite thing on the skyline was a statue of a woman, looking out over the harbor, waiting for her sailor husband to return.

At this point, it was already 12:30, so we went hunting for lunch. And we ended up at a McDonald's, haha. I don't think I've commented on European McDonald's before, but they are way classier here, and a lot more expensive! It's hard to spend less than $10 at a fast food restaurant, perhaps explaining the American obesity epidemic?
We then headed to the main destination of the day: the Botanic Gardens. I didn't have very high hopes for the place, but I really wanted to see them and they definitely surpassed my expectations. There was a really awesome green house at the beginning that housed more than 4000 species too delicate for cultivation outside. Other attractions in the garden included the Perennial Borders, which was a strip of lots of different kinds of flowers and plants, the Rhododendron Valley, the Rock Garden, (funniest part of the trip was when Diane asked Anders, "How do you saw rock in Swedish?" and his response was simply, "Rock."), and the Japanese Glade. The whole botanic garden had more of an amusement park feel because of how many things there were to see, but obviously there was more of an emphasis on nature.

To follow up this trip to the garden, we went to another garden in the middle of town. This was the Tradgardsforeningen, and the main attraction there was a gorgeous green house that comprised on a main section with several wings. There was a tropical room that was so humid that my camera lens instantly fogged over. It was also very beautiful.

At this point, it started to rain, so Anders drove us through a few other parts of Gothenburg to show us around and then we went back to Alingsas. There, he treated us to the canned plums that I loved so much from last time, (turns out they are soaking in brandy!), and then he made us Swedish pancakes for dessert. He really knows that the way to my heart is through my stomach, haha! We concluded the night with some polka dancing so I could show Diane what I learned, and she got a few lessons of her own. Anders revealed the dancing shoes that he found for me, but I left them there with the promise to return one day to dance again, (and also because I know I'll have very little space in my luggage!).