Hurrah, I got my Russian visa. I was going to jump off a cliff if it got denied, because an awful lot of money went into getting it. I got my invitation through a travel service this time after learning my lesson not to get a visa through an employer, at least not if your employer is a shady Russian language school. So I had to pay for the invitation, but it’s worth it to know that my legal status will be in my own hands, not those of an incompetent person working under an evil person.

 Today I tried out one of these free city bikes programs. This one wasn’t exactly free, but 10 kronor isn’t bad for 10 hours of bike use. You sign up at this website, and you can look there to see where the bikes are parked, or just find them on the street somewhere. When you find the bike, you send an SMS to book it, and they send you back the code for the lock. Then when you’re finished you send another SMS saying where you’re leaving the bike. It’s a great system which was working quite well until I got a flat tire, which ruined my plan for the afternoon of exploring Gothenburg on bike. When it happened I was in the middle of a sort of industrial zone which was far from anything interesting and equidistant from the two main bridges connecting back to central Gothenburg. The best option was to walk the bike back the way I came. A bit of a disappointment, but it was an adventure anyway. 

So now I’m back in the lovely public library amusing myself until it’s time to catch my train.