Sweden - Day 1

Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Goteborg, Sweden

Discovered when we got back to the Nice Hotel (honest - that's its name!) that there is wireless internet access here at the hotel so I'll expand a little on our email sent earlier this evening.

When we arrived at Syracuse airport we were subjected, because of the recent changes in our tickets, to a VERY thorough security search. Then when we got to the gate they informed us that the Syracuse-NY flight was overbooked and all they could do was change our itinerary so we would not fly out until 7:30 p.m. (instead of 2:30) and then fly to Chicago, then Frankfurt, then Goteborg. With no alternative, we agreed. In return, United offered us each a return ticket anywhere in the continental US. Then, 10 minutes before our original flight left, it was determined that there were, in fact, 4 seats on that flight so we were very quickly booked on that flight, back on our original Copenhagen-Gothenburg flights and had the Chicago-Frankfurt foolishness cancelled. So we flew here on our expected flights, but it was not easy.

As I said, the Hotel Nice is spartan but clean and comfortable. We picked up the rental car (a Volkswagen Passat) and did some driving around the city, finding our hotels, the arena, etc. We investigated the dining room at the hotel Charles will stay at next week and gave up the notion due to a lack of cash - pretty pricey!! We ate, instead, at a little Greek restaurant about a block from Charles hotel and a couple of doors from the hotel we're in now.

We're going to pick up some groceries tomorrow morning and then head out for Oslo. The city driving has not been fun - partly because the laptop can't be used in the car once its battery runs down. Neither of the car-chargers we brought will work. The GPS was a tremendous help while it was working, but once the laptop dies the driving is very difficult.

The countryside driving should be easier, though and we're expecting to see some very interesting sights tomorrow.