Gothenberg, Sweden: The Lights are Low and Mellow

We arrived in Gothenberg Sweden today, pretty jetlagged and happy to dive into our soft down beds at the Elite Hotel in the center of this seaside city. On the plane I was briefly thrilled to be able to get on the Internet using the soon-to-be-discontinued Connextion service by Boeing. It cut out after just a little while. Here, the place to get email is 7-11, where I bought a 3-hour card for nine bucks.

We got up and walked around this city that is lit up with candles and lights for Christmas. Outside of many shops there are little candles burning and in most windows are the upside down V shape of candle lights. We ducked into one of the thousands of cafes and had a creamy latte, the place was so packed, people here really really love their coffee!

Our first impression of this Sweden’s second largest city is that is is cozy. Cozy and warm, the lighting is the main thing you notice. Inside stores, cafes and even the airport, there is this very mellow overhead lighting, halogen spotlights, no where do you see America’s famous flourescent floods. No, here along with the wood floors (especially cool in the airport!) it is all very ambient, low light. I never knew what a difference that makes but the effect is to make each cafe or store look cozy and inviting.

We walked a big loop around the city and came to a park where there were four iron firepits with blazing logs, and kids skating on a little pond. It got dark about 4 or so, same as at home, so far we are not experiencing the long long darkness we expected.