View out of our cabin window in the port area of Gothenburg

Heading south from Gothenburg to Germany. 5 June 2014, Thursday

The weather gods have smiled on us just a little bit, athough rain did meet us as we arrived before breakfast in Gothenburg from Oslo. It cleared as we made our way to a group bus for a tour of part of the coast of Sweden north of the industrial city, the second largest city in Sweden.

If our guide is to be believed, the city was the home of Volvo and Ikea and perhaps even Abba. I may have misunderstood her claims - her accent, although gentle, did lead to some funny interpretations.  We particularly liked her pronunciation of 'biscuit' and 'vegetables'. Biscuit turned into "bisquit", and vegetables into "veggie-tables".

When writing about the seaside towns and and coastal villages of Scandanavia, it's hard to avoid words like charming, picturesque and quaint, because they are all of those.

Today's excursion, instead of driving through the town area of Gothenburg, took us north, through several of these villages and across a few of the islands and the bridges which link them. 

above: waterfront houses in Kladesholmen, where I'm told houses sell in the $1.5-$2 million price range

right; the church on a hill in Skarham

The houses here are nearly all wooden houses - timber is cheap and plentiful, but in recent years brick houses are starting to make an appearance, which, from a visual point of view, is a pity.  The houses are nearly all painted red or white.  We were told that the red colour came from a by-product of some mining process, and then white became a status symbol, as white paint was more expensive.

One other structure which was a little intriguing - a hotel floating on a pontoon (right).  It didn't look so enticing that I'd want to stay there!

It was only a short stop-over in Gothenburg - just for the morning and by 2pm, Royal Princess was under way.   With an enforced afternoon of rest, I treated myself to a manicure at the beauty salon and spa. The salon is in big demand - they have 37 women/girls working there as hairdressers, beauticians etc - and one lone male! 

We've now threaded our way down the west coast of Sweden, and are slipping between islands to the east of the Jutland Peninsula. Storm clouds and bright sunlight have accompanied us south, but no dramas so far.

 Our overnight destination is the German port of Warnemunde, which the cruise company promotes as a "day trip to Berlin".  We've opted out of that - it's a three hour train ride each way, and having been to Berlin once before, I reckon it's worth more than a few hours snatched out of the middle of a long day.   

Next: Rostock, a port in the former East Germany