Day out at the Universeum in Gothenburg

The Meek Family

We arrived 20 minutes early and sat twiddling our thumbs excitedly in the car park, waiting for the doors to open at 10 o'clock. We'd seen the posters and leaflets displayed around the city and spotted the building peering down at us in the tram as we'd travelled into Gothenburg city centre. Our curiosity got the better of us and we went onto the website to find out more. It wasn't long until we decided, yes, it was somewhere we definitely wanted to see - the Universeum.

 

We skipped down the road and through the glass revolving doors at ten o'clock, joining the other excited families and couples that were queueing to get in. After getting our tickets, we then took the recommended route through the building, which is split into two halves: the cliff and the wooden nave. As new visitors to the attraction, we were told to take the furnicular from level 1 up to the level 7 at the top of the cliff section and work our way down through the Waters Way, Ocean Zone, Deadly Beauties and the Rainforest before moving across to the wooden nave to explore the other exhibitions.  

 

Water's Way

This first exhibition takes you into the natural environment of Sweden and its numerous lakes, recreating the homes and habitats of the many animals and plants found in these areas from lynxes, owls, snakes and frogs to the various fish and plant life. It's easy to forget you're indoors when there is so much of the outdoors around you!

 

Ocean Zone

From the native fish found in Swedish lakes, you then progress into one of Europe's largest aquariums, housing shark, rays, corals and range of fish. The staff here are extremely knowledgeable. They give talks during the day but these are in Swedish. Since we weren't able to understand, we approached one of the staff members afterwards and he was able to answer various questions we had, showing us examples of shark teeth, eggs and samples of skin.

 

Deadly Beauties

This is a smaller section off the aquarium and displays tanks containing lizards and some the world's deadliest spiders and snakes - a chilling read and sight.

 

The Rainforest

This exhibition recently opened in June and is on four different levels. You enter at the top and follow the wooden planks and rope bridges through plants and mist, looking out for exotic birds and tamarinds that roam and fly around freely, as well as stopping to admire the resident sloths and tree frogs.

This is an amazing section of the Universeum. You feel totally immersed in the rainforest environment. Information boards display text in Swedish and English about the flora and fauna that surrounds you as well as some environmental tips and considerations.

 

After exiting the cliff section of the building we stopped to eat sandwiches in one of the many seating areas. There are two floors dedicated to cafes, restaurants and a shop but we brought along our own picnic to munch on.

 

With full stomachs we headed off to see the other half of the Universeum. There's a lift or stairs, centrally located, that take you up to any of the four levels in the wooden nave. At the top there is a Mammoth section, a dedicated exhibition to life during the Ice Age with a mammoth, sabre-toothed tiger and wooly rhino.

 

Space and technology were the two areas covered on level 3. Space is one of Amy's passions and she was very excited to head over to this section. Here there was information about life as an astronaut on the ISS and you can find how much you weigh on each of the planets. The following technology section varies and has revolving workshops; there was a straw building sessions taking place during our visit.

 

The next floor had two great hands-on areas entitled Health and Explorer. We all got very involved with the mini challenges within the Health section, trying out our balance on a slack line, seeing how flexible we were or how strong, learning about how much sugar is in some of the foods that we eat and creating our own front cover for a Health magazine. This area appealed to all ages and we could see adults and children getting involved. The Explorer section was another popular area in which kids and adults were actively taking part, riding a horse simulation, saving virtual goals, memorising patterns, creating bubbles and testing their reactions.

 

At the bottom of the building there is an area dedicated to younger children. The theme is jobs and provides many interactive areas in which to explore and really get hands-on.

 

The Universeum is open from 10am - 6pm and you can easily spend most of the day here - we did! There is a lot to do and see (then see again!). We are glad we dedicated a day to visiting the here; we learnt lots and had a great time.