Jackson introduced us to Marina, who introduced us to Eva, who invited Erik (and Caroline and I), who invited Tobias & Hannah to come climb with them. It’s amazing (1) how fast networks of climbing friends come together, and (2) how fast you can get to climbing areas from the city–just a 20 minute bus ride and a 10 minute hike.
This is the view of the nearby town from the top of one of the giant ridges that we hiked up, rappelled down, crack-climbed back up, and rappelled down again!
We missed our tram… and two more came within 6 minutes! Public transportation here is incredibly thorough and helpful.
From a sustainability perspective, the public transportation and vegetarian options are excellent. For some reason, however, the recycling collection is scarce and compost collection is virtually nonexistent.
This is the entrance to Hammarkullen (which other posts have described in some detail). Hammarkullen has an interesting history–it was developed with a ton of high-quality, high-density housing in response to a population boom. The rapid growth of central Gothenburg was expected to reach Hammarkullen but it never did, leaving miles of near empty land between them. When refugee populations and other immigrants from Chile, Somalia, etc. arrived in need of housing, they moved in to the nice, inexpensive, but rather isolated housing there. Fixoteket is, in part, a way to reinvigorate the community and help make it a more vibrant place to live.
Anna & Caroline took a break to enjoy some of the playground for the kids of Hammarkullen.
[Left] Joined our friend Jackson and his friends for a rooftop barbecue and met up with Team Växthus. We got to try Anamma Formbar Färs burgers–the tastiest soy burger I’ve ever had! (PC Jackson/Harrison)
[Middle] Went indoor rock climbing at the Klätterlabbet with Caroline and new friends, Marina, Eva, and Pär. Klätterlabbet has the highest lead climbing wall I’ve ever seen! It’s like a vertical marathon climbing four stories in an old high voltage electrical lab turned climbing gym.
[Right] Worked on job applications on the dock (where our houseboat’s wifi extended) until 1 AM. There was still enough light to walk around, and the photo there was taken around 12:30 AM, showing the light of a Scandinavian sunset.
Day 1 in Gothenburg – checking in to our AirBnB houseboat! We’re filling the AirBnB to capacity (3 people, two beds and a couch), which means we’re sharing a set reservoir of water and energy. Though it should be enough to last us the week and can be replenished, the idea of shared, somewhat-off-the-grid living makes for a pretty cool way to spend our time here, and hopefully will facilitate low energy use, low water waste lifestyles like the communities aim for here in Sweden!