We had made it to Sweden yesterday. So today, we had a full day to spend in Malmö. Our campground had not much going for it (for us at least) apart from being right next to the bus station which brought you into the city center of Malmö within 30 minutes.

We packed all our gear for a city trip and then decided to spend some time on the blog so the kids could play on the fantastic playground. Unfortunately, we don’t even have a single picture. Number 3 even went up to some other kids with trucks in the sand pit and asked politely if he could play with some of the trucks. I was so proud of him for doing that. J

Finally, we went on the bus which took us to Malmö. We got off a little before the city center as Flo, who directed this part of the journey, wanted us in easy walking distance to the chocolate factory I wanted to visit. Once we were there, we realized it was closed. I mean, they are still making chocolates there, just the whole shop and touring for the public got cancelled due to corona. What a pity! I love touring chocolate factories.

From there, it was a good 20 minute walk into the old town. While walking we came across an art exhibition in the Malmö Konsthall and the cafe Smak in the same building. It was just about lunch time for us and we grabbed a bit to eat before looking at a small side exhibition on the anti-racist gaze.

Further on our way, we crossed the canal Rörsjökanalen around the old town which had paddling boats on it, marking it in our minds as a fun activity for later. Number 3 was quite upset that we didn’t stay at a playground for him to explore everything. It was the first time that we realized not having a lunch nap today might be a problem.

In the old town, we made our way through the alleys and lanes into the direction of Lilla Kafferosteriet. Number 3 complained about the walking…but got better again when I went into a tourist shop with a colourful horse on the sign and he got to pick souvenirs for himself and Opa. J

The cafe turned out to be lovely. The Agent who had kept me up almost the entire night (I am exaggerating but we didn’t have long between breaks) slept through the entire affair.

Gamla Staden, the old civic square, was still on my list. The oldest pharmacy is on the square which the Agent of Entropy gave us an excellent excuse to enter: We NEEDED teething gel!

The square was one big temptation for Number 3 with a ferris wheel, a carussell with horses, big balloons and other things. The tantrum of not being allowed to go on any of these accompanied us on our way back towards the canal. Flo was smart enough to indicate that we would not tell Number 3 about our plan to go on the paddling boats until we were certain that it would work. However, he himself broke that smart plan by telling Number 3 what we were queuing for only to realize that we would have to wait for an hour for a free boat which we would then hire for an hour. Two more hours in Malmö was just too long to go. Number 3 was rightly disappointed.

As a way to make up for it or have him experience one of the things he wanted, we let him ride the “flying dumbo” carussell. Just one time. All alone. It worked brilliantly. He had so much fun and he was so proud.

It failed in getting him distracted from the boat disaster though. He screamed all the way back to the bus and then fell asleep on the ride home. Uff. Malmö, I don’t think you worked out too well for us today. But then maybe, we are primed for a bit of Swedish space and wilderness. Not another European city.

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