Getting Around

 I can't really say why but I really like trams and one of the things that I enjoyed about my road trip back in 2018 was the number of cities that had tram systems, some of them really old such as these in Prague and Vienna, also in Gothenburg but I don't have any pictures ready to upload and others like in Copenhagen which were super modern and fully automated. Amsterdam has a mix of old and new and somehow they fit with the city which is itself a mix of old and new.

As I say, I am not really sure what the appeal is, maybe it is the mixture of sounds; the rumble along the tracks, the electric buzz or the clanging bells but whatever it is there is something special about this form of transport.

Of course driving around these cities and having to negotiate the trams can be a bit of a challenge given that there are so few cities in the UK that have tram systems. In some places there are dedicated tam lanes and in others cars and trams share the same streets and so extra vigilance is needed.

Criss Cross

Every city that we have visited so far on our roadtrip has had a really good public transport system with trams, buses and metro (with driverless trains) which has been great as it means I haven't had to navigate round the cities in my car.

The tram system in Gothenburg is quite old and you will see from my post yesterday that the rolling stock is fairly dated.

In places the roads and tramlines are separated by kerbs or barriers but at larger junctions it is much less clear, at least to a visitor like me who has to constantly remember to look left instead of right  before stepping off the kerb.

At some junctions the tramlines criss cross in a confusing jumble as you can see from today's picture. I had to stand in the middle of the junction to get this shot, assisted by my son who was keeping an eye on the traffic and listening out for the warning bells of approaching trams. I like this picture so it was worth the risk...

I'm writing this during a pause in our journey to Malmö from where we will be taking the overnight ferry to Germany. We have a good day planned for tomorrow so hopefully I will have something interesting to share with you tomorrow evening.