Western Bay

The ride to Västervik was very comfortable, but also a bit slow, due to mild wind. Just when we arrived at the harbour, the wind sped up to 20 knots and made parking very challenging. Eventually, we were able to avoid buoy parking lots and managed to dock on a finger pier without damaging anything *relief*

The church had a nice kids‘ corner: a carpet with huge stuffed animals and balls.

Our city highlight was a large playground landscape in the city park with all gadgets kids could wish for: so many different kinds of swings and slides, seesaws, rockers, obstacle courses, climbing nets and frames, a zip line…, also a section with muscle training gadgets for „big kids“…

The next day, after grocery shopping, we had breakfast on the large play park.

In the afternoon, we explored an outdoor museum on a peninsula in the North of Västervik. Alan could touch the ceiling with his short hair and even I – a dwarf like me! – felt confined. Just 200 years ago, people were so much smaller?! *unbelievable*

On the museum grounds, we also got to nibble black and red currents *mmhhh* The girls were given an animal-shaped badge each: Magda picked an owl, Erna a heron *nice*

Afterwards, we explored a castle ruin.

Photo shooting with Magda:

The marina in Västervik was very nice and clean with music, golden stools, and big chairs with cosy pillows.

We discovered a sporty version of nevermind – ideal not only for kids but also for people who like playing board games but don’t want to miss out on their daily workout ;oP

Today, we went to the maritime museum (on the same peninsula like yesterday) although the lady at the tourist info had told us it would not be suitable for kids.

We ended up doing nothing but kids‘ activities in this museum ;oP We went on a picture hunt, matching the displays with photos in our little booklet. We built a word out of letters that were hidden throughout the exhibition hall. We coloured boats or knight, did a big puzzle, and fished golden coins out of a big pool, using a magnetic fishing line *fun*

As museum desert, we picked blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries in the surrounding forest and meadow.

In the restroom, Magda accidentally sneezed onto Erna. Erna: „Don‘t give me the virus! Magda just put the virus on my ear!“ Magda: „Sorry, I couldn’t use my elbow. I need my arms to hold myself on the toilet. And the disease stays in the family anyway!“ ;oP

Because of THE (corona) virus, we couldn‘t visit the Astrid Lindgren park in the nearby Vimmerby. It‘s closed for this year.

Instead, we hiked to Gränsö island, north of Västervik. The summery weather let us enjoy some time at a rock beach.

When we wanted to walk back through the forest, we stumbled right into a blueberry paradise: we have never seen so many and so big wild blueberries!

Mama Jenny: „Do you think we can go on?“ Magda: „Nooooo, I will stay here until all the berries are finished, until tonight!“ *cute*

We only had to pay the mosquitoes some blood for the berry loads *oh* We couldn’t deny what we had been doing. Our purple mouths, fingers, and some stains on our clothes spoke volumes =oD