Day 17 - I bought a scarf in August

After my slight wobble last night, the hotel clearly did its best to make me feel at home this morning - cornflakes and digestive biscuits (I did not have the latter for breakfast, but I appreciated their presence!). Sadly the weather also wanted to make me feel at home, and it was definitely soggy.

Given the weather, I decided that I would take the tram to the Universeum - Gothenburg’s science museum. The best laid plans did not quite pan out though, as with all the construction work going on, the trams were not running that way today. I tried to take the advice of a very lovely man (who knew a LOT about the Lionesses - for the record, he thinks Millie Bright is key to England’s success at the World Cup in two years!), but ultimately resigned myself to the walk in the rain.

As I walked, I passed one of the two big sports stadia in the city, and was inspired to check again to see if there were any tickets for tonight’s IFK Gothenburg game. There were not, but I saw online that it was recommended that I visit the club shop… so I walked there…. But it wasn’t open for another half an hour. I decided to get a drink in the restaurant nearby and wait. Once the club shop opened, they told me that they didn’t have any tickets, but that more might be available online later.

By this point, the cricket was about to start, so I walked to the Universeum listening to TMS. By the time I got there, England were eight down. By the time I had got to the first exhibit, Woakes was coming in….. A few balls more…. And I lost internet! By the time I got signal back, it was all over. It was starting to feel like it might be one of those days.

But then I properly started to explore the Universeum, and it was wonderful! The top floors had lots of exhibitions focusing on different climates. I enjoyed the ocean section the most (and yes, as I always try to, found Nemo!)

*Note - not a real polar bear, but a very real snake!

The coolest bit was to come though - a rainforest with amazing birds AND A SLOTH! 🦥

After a quick snack, I then enjoyed the VisLab exhibit (where I played with lots of interactive things on the Sustainable Development Goals), the section on the human body (where I was able to inform Dr Lizzy, who was on call at the hospital and obviously in need of a distraction, that humans produce 0.5 to 1.5 litres of saliva a day), and the Mathrix section (where I enjoyed using set theory on some interactive exhibits). I hope that Miles and my other maths teacher friends are proud!

During this time, I took another look at the football tickets, and was in luck - managing to get a ticket. Huzzah.

I planned my walk back to the hotel to take in a number of geocaches (including one very old one from 2001) and the Poseidon statue.

I had an hour back at the hotel to have a rest and put on some dry socks before then going out to the football.

On my way into the ground, I treated myself to an IFK scarf - a decision that was excellent today, but might be a cause of regret when I am carrying it about in sunnier climes!

The atmosphere in the stadium was insane. A sell-out crowd of around 16,000 made a LOT of noise. It turns out that Swedish football fans have learnt from fans in southern Europe and there are a lot of fan groups and the like. In the words of Paul via WhatsApp - ‘I think they’re quite football firmy, right? Lots of fights?’

I am pleased to report that there were no fights, but one of Degerfors players was sent off for two yellow cards within four minutes, which was actually kind of impressive! IFK were the favourites before that, and although it took half an hour for them to score, they were 2-0 up at half time - one headed goal and one a massive deflection. Degerfors nearly pulled one back before half time, but had two shots cleared off the line. IFK controlled the second half and ultimately won 3-0.

Photos cannot really do justice to the atmosphere. I’ll post a couple of videos on insta (for the young people. Dad - you can have WhatsApp!) but even they don’t get close to the wall of noise. There were cheer-leaders in the crowd (men with megaphones rather than any pom-poms and acrobatics) which helped the noise, but I’m not sure how much football they could see!

I particularly enjoyed all the scarf waving - at the start and after every goal. Please remind me of how much I enjoyed waving my scarf when I am questioning why I am carrying it around Europe later!

I am writing this now back in the dry of the hotel again. I’m increasingly enjoying the cosy feel - it feels a bit like staying over with Grandpa and Grandma back in the day! I’m not sure how popular I am here now though, as my tea making did result in quite a bit of spilled milk. I did try to clear it up (I nearly found a use for the scarf)…. And know that one is not supposed to cry over such things!

I know the Volvo fans reading this will be concerned that I did not make it to the World of Volvo today. Fear not - I’ve still got two more days in Gothenburg. Watch this space….