Potato week: the overview.

Last week was a national school holiday in Denmark called Potato Week. I think it stems from the traditional timing of the potato harvest, but it seems that no one is picking patatos around here.. Instead, it is the fall break for Danes, and they head abroad to any number of foreign lands. we followed suit, rented a car (Peugeot 308 - nice car), and headed north to Sweden.

sweden (click for more)

But before getting to Sweden, we stopped on the Danish Island of Mon, which is famous for its white chalk cliffs. We ended spending a day and a half there as it is very nice. we explored old castles grounds, the cliffs themselves, and gathered some fossils. In the early afternoon we left for Sweden, and by 3 pm we were headed across the Baltic sea and into a new country.

Our first afternoon was uneventful, and we ended up in the sleepy town of Solvesborg for the night. The hotel (Hotell Edgar) was not super modern, but was nice enough. The owners were a Swedish woman and her Canadian husband. We were about the only guests, and they gave us a lot of tips on places to go and things to see.

Denmark is as small as Sweden is big. And this size was a bit of a shock after traveling around Germany and especially Denmark. Once we realized this, we had to reframe our expectations, and see fewer things. Oh well, we cannot have it all, eh? First we went through the Swedish glass blowing area (miles of mixed coniferous and deciduous forest), stopping by Orrefors. This was fun because I always like to see glass blowing and the countryside was beautiful with the fall colors. It is not so new though (the country) as it reminds me a lot of Maine.

We ended the day in the old city of Kalmar. The next day we toured Kalmar and included a visit to the museum. After the museum we enjoyed the sunny afternoon playing "Andy Goldsworthy" in the city park. That evening we headed north to Oskarshamn to catch the 9:10 ferry to the Island of Gotland. Oskarshamn is dead, but has a restaurant or two, and so we ate dinner while we waited. It also has some swarming birds:



We watched them until they landed. It was wild. Then we boarded the ferry (that's a big ferry) and headed on, arriving at the hotel on Gotland just after midnight. The following 2 and a half days we spent on the beautiful island of Gotland. We toured the ancient city Visby and then spent some time going around the island. At points I had the feeling, "wow, we are nowhere." And then that was that. Back onto the ferry, a night in Oskarshamn, and back to our little place in Denmark. We saw a lot, laughed a lot, and had a great trip.