Göta Kanal - Sweden

Rose and I had the most fantastic and satisfactory six-day event when we traversed Sweden from east to the west on Göta Kanal, first built in 1803 and fully connected in 1843, only a few years before the trains took over.

We lived in all the splendor of the 19th century with uniformed waiters serving us only Swedish food on white table cloths. 

Rose did not "love" the many varieties of pickled herring nor the crayfish, but everything else was fine.

We all had small cabins with bunk beds. The ship offered four toilets with showers for the 37 passengers, the height of comfort when the ship was commissioned in 1932.

The 74 locks, maximum elevation 92 m above sealevel, took some time to travel through. Some days we walked as much as 12,000 steps, visiting castles and forts.

The Danes had had a bad habit, for a long time, of burning down any fort or castle they came across in Sweden. That didn't stop until King Gustav Vasa put a halt on that in 1532.

We were filled with history and pleasant sights. The country side was so quiet near the canal that you could even hear the mosquitos...(!)

The many cows and sheep were unaffected by us, you could have reached out over the railing and patted their heads, had you been been so inclined. The deer we saw scampered away if you moved on deck.

There were seven nationalities on board. All services were trilingual with, sometimes, a little additional fill-in in French. I practiced the four languages I know reasonably well... Confusing.

Rose became annoyed when I spoke to her in Swedish and in another language to the other person. ... Who was confused?

We had beautiful weather, 22 - 27 C and sun every single day.

Also, not shown in the pictures, we met a plethora of my relatives and old friends who entertained us royally, both before and after our canal trip.

We travelled by train, subway, ferry, streetcar and bus, all swiftly paid for by our Swedish transit cards.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/jY9UBQzsUxjn7uvp9

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