Cheryl Marie Cordeiro _7058a 598

Eriksbergshallen, at Quality Hotel 11.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2014

Summer is here and I don’t think any form of soft or coercive persuasion would keep Swedes on office grounds unless absolutely necessary. My years working in executive education also taught me that holding organisational seminars outside of office grounds could prove more productive for project work. The change of environment provides a welcome break in everyday routine that encourages the workings of the creative. It was for this reason that I found myself standing in the lobby of Quality Hotel 11 at Eriksbergshallen this morning, looking to congregate with the rest of my colleagues whose main focus is research in the European context.

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro 7067 598

Walking towards the entrance to the lobby of the hotel, “I suppose you know about the pun on the names for Hotel 11?” came the question to me.

I looked up at the name of the hotel spelled across the arch of the entrance, “Actually, no, not quite.”

“It’s a pun in Swedish,” he said, “Especially the Gothenburg pronunciation of Göta Älv, elva, eleven.”

I smiled then.

With sunshine outdoors and cirrus clouds set in horizon against the ultramarine blue of the sea, the day looked promising.

IMG_7036a 598

No seminar is complete without its Swedish fika sessions.
A braided cinnamon loaf, sprinkled generously with pearl sugar complements the small fika buffet.

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro _7084a 598

IMG_7037a 598

Eriksbergshallen, outdoors.

IMG_7051 598

A stroke of genius that certainly enlivened the working atmosphere today was this help-yourself soft serve ice-cream machine. Laid out in condiments to the side are all sorts of rainbow, chocolate and liquorice sprinkles.

IMG_7052 598

Twirls of vanilla ice-cream, topped with chocolate sprinkles with a side of chocolate chip cookie.

IMG_7046 598

Formerly a shipyard engine building facility, these large halls in Eriksbergshallen have been known to accommodate a double ship engine. The pulley system is still in place, hanging from the ceilings of this hall. Outside the window, the quayside comes into view with the masts of the Swedish East Indiaman Gotheborg III visible.

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro _7108a 598

With the Swedish East Indiaman Gotheborg III in the background and smaller sailing yachts in the neighbouring docks, the wooden decks at Eriksberg were basking in pure sunshine.