Today is the last day of summer 2021. Kids are back in school. My daily Corona walks are back on. It has been great to unplug and spend some quality time with the family. Kids are 6 and 9, you have to enjoy the brief moment in time when they want to play with you.
Öland
For this year’s home-cation, we visited Öland, the large island in the Baltic Sea south east of the main land that you can drive to from the main land. A four hours drive from Stockholm. We rented a cottage in the south end of the island and stayed for a week.
We had a great week visiting castles and beaches and taking in the landscape. Something about the place reminded me about Denmark, at the same time Öland has many unique features, like Stora Alvaret. Perhaps it’s the view of the coastline across open fields.
Time slows down when you cross the bridge from the main land as a father of my daughter’s playmate said. Exactly what you need in the summer break.
On the way back we stopped at The World of Astrid Lindgren, a five star theme park even in times of social distancing. Highly recommended with kids.
Stevns
We also made it to Denmark this summer, all of us. While not super practical with a summer house 8 hours drive from home, it’s a nice base for visits to my Danish relatives, and we have strong affection for the place, as I took my wife there when we were dating, and as we put a new house on the lot in 2014.
We rent out the summer house so other people can enjoy the place (and it helps pay the bills). This also means there is work in keeping the place to high standards, so I’ve travelled down there alone several times during the pandemic. But this time we went there all of us, and with only a few things on the todo list, we had some time to relax and enjoy the area.
Gustav III
Inspired by a game, I read up on Swedish 18th century history, in particular the events leading up to the assassination of King Gustav III. Seriously, you can’t make up this stuff.
King Gustav III took power in 1772 with a coup. While initially very popular, at least among some (Bellman composed a song celebrating the king), he made enemies among the nobles. The king introduced opera in Sweden. With appropriate dramatic irony, he was shot inside the opera house after attending an opera in 1792. Yes, this is the event that inspired the opera by Verdi.
Recovery
Unfortunately, I also came down with covid again this summer, in spite of having got a first vaccine shot. The PCR test was negative, but I know how a flu feels like and this wasn’t it…
I knew I was recovering when my brain started working on a game design again.