Last weekend Sam and I decided to go on a mini-vacation. We figure it might be a while before just the two of us get to go somewhere. Sam looked at the map and thought that Kalmar would be a good idea since he has never been there. At first we thought we should visit Gothenburg but quickly realized that all the hotels were booked for “the boss” concert. Yes Springsteen celebrated 4th of July in Sweden!
I know I must have been in Kalmar but I can´t remember since I was a little kid. You have to go through the city in order to cross the long bridge to the summer island of Öland. On our way there we made a stop in the “province of glass”. It is one of the things Småland is known for and there are glass blowing all along the way towards Kalmar. We made the mistake in stopping at the largest tourist trap store instead of the smaller a little less known places.
Kalmar was beautiful the Saturday we got there. We walked around a lot! We had booked a nice 4 star hotel in the center of town. BAD idea! We were all happy until about 11 pm when we realized that our window was not insulated well enough to keep the loud drunks screaming and singing out. I think I finally fell asleep at 4 am. I tried to contact the receptionist but there were none there! 4 star! I wonder what criteria they are using.
On Sunday we took a tour at the castle which was a short walk from our hotel. Kalmar was not as beautiful on Sunday, maybe because of how tired I was and grumpy at the hotel. If you go to Kalmar, don´t stay at “Frimurarhotellet” (yes, the freemason hotel). It might look amazing at first, but don´t be fooled!
Emily said,
July 12, 2008 at 5:03 am
Glad you guys got to go somewhere together. What a tricky 4 star hotel! Jan and I surely know these moments too. I remember after we both got done with the marathon, the next day the hotel people in Berlin woke us up for breakfast at 8am. What kind of hotel does that? Who decides when we eat? Oh well.
Take it easy, you guys are in our prayers. We are so excited for you!
- Emily
Johanna said,
July 13, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I hope that your little get-away had a few pleasant moments too in spite of the hotel misfortune. It looks like you had great weather and beautiful scenery!
Come to think of it, perhaps you should look at the trip as a training experience… With your little new baby coming I don’t think I’m too way off to imagine that you probably have a bunch of noisy nights to look forward to in the near future!
Irish said,
July 18, 2008 at 7:38 am
Smart to take a little holiday now. Too bad about the hotel. Looks like there were good times, too. Thinking of you and will be interested to hear all about the new family member to come.