Tag Archives: Malmö

Day 4 – Malmö

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.

The Agent of Entropy on the bus ride home

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.

Malmö manhole cover

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.

The Gothic interior of the pharmacy

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.

  • The big trampolin! You can jump so high!
  • The pirate ship in the background was also great for the kids
  • Excited hoobits for the bus ride into Malmö
  • The Agent of Entropy on the bus ride home
  • We got off at a square with a little market. It also had a weird statue
  • Om nom, watermelon!
  • Number 3 got a piece of watermelon for free, exactly as at home 🙂
  • Artsy bench in the background
  • Lunch at Smak
  • Salmon and tomato soup
  • Energized after lunch, Number 3 was up for some play time at the fountain
  • Touch the water but don’t get wet!
  • Climbing through the spirale at the playground
  • Looking through
  • Looking along the canal
  • In Malmö’s old town
  • We bought a souvenir for Opa
  • All over town were decorations for Pride Month
  • Malmö manhole cover
  • Even Flo is warming to the Swedish sweets culture
  • Kids Cappuchino for Number 3
  • Once again, he walked the whole lot
  • Really cool inerior for an Pharmamcy
  • The Gothic interior of the pharmacy
  • Looking at another fountain
  • Flo took a liking to the old advertisement on the wall
  • Flo inspecting a random globe?
  • The eye of a tiger XD
  • Climbing exercise
  • Number 3 was ecstatic to go on the flying dumbo ride!
  • And up!
  • A unicorn on a heart for Pride?
  • Waiting for the bus home to the campground
  • Yippie! Our bus! 100% electric!
  • Number 3 loved the ferry boat on the crazy golf parkour. He just moved across without ever playing
  • Showers and sinks in three different heights
  • The Agent needed a bath as well
  • Both kids done and doing silly things with the sink
  • Öresund bridge under the moon

Day 3 – Crossing over

At last, a normal day! At least a normal travel day that is. Just over 220km to our first camp in Sweden. The weather forecast held true and we were greeted by the early morning sun. Time to dry for a change.

Happy child running

Number 3 had an enormous breakfast of two full helpings of porridge – maybe because he had plans for the morning. He got his wishes anyway and we spend another good while down at the beach throwing rocks, exploring the pier and scaring away crabs. He was so happy!

The opposite could be said of our daughter. Still very much opposed to the wellingtons, her preferred state of being was suckerfish to mama-shark. Not the best conditions for a speedy packing up. Regardless, we managed to leave at a respectable 10.15am.

With the motorway quite empty and no traffic jam in sight, we managed to make it to Copenhagen just a hair after our preferred lunch time. Both kids were asleep most of the way (even missed the first big bridge crossing), though – so we even opted against a brief charge stop – and why would we: We were heading for a charge point in Copenhagen anyway, right?

Smorrebrod with shrimps

Well – it turns out: Copenhagen really has a lot of charge points all over town, but unfortunately they are not reserved for charging EV. So there was little chance of finding a free one, competing with the stinkers for the precious few parking spots. This felt somehow worse than no chargers at all – we could see them, all free (also teasing us as free in the apps), but inaccessible due to parking stinkers. It might make sense to the Danes, but I hated it. With lunchtime already gone past, we opted to skip the charge this time and just find something to eat. After a mad dash to the loo, of course…

The spot we aimed for repaid us a little for the failed charger hunt: Refurbished market halls now a fancy hybrid between fresh food marked and foody hangout with heaps of great things to pick up on the go and devour at one of the provided tables. Number 3 was quite adamant about wanting “a whole fish”. So the three of us carnivores got in line at the Smørrebrød stall while Nina got herself a freshly made pizza. I might have gone overboard with three different sandwiches, but it turned out Number 3 really meant it and continued his hungry streak by almost finishing the fried fish Smørrebrød while the Agent of Entropy took a liking to the shrimp salad one.

Number 3 checking out the dead fishies

It was quite late by now and we were good to move on. After all, Sweden is the destination for this trip – Copenhagen can wait for another day. Now it was time to tackle the øresundbron. On the way, I tried to find out if my campground reservation went through all right last night (spoiler, it didn’t). And just like that, by 3.30pm, we were in Sweden. We even had some treats for coffee time on board (which Nina insisted on buying at the patissierie stall in the market halls).

That is when things got a bit annoying, unfortunately. The reservation did not go through, but we were lucking in getting the very last spot with electricity available – even though it was as far away from anything as possible. Two trips to the reception later, everything was set up and Puru Hiko was charging. And then I got a phone call: If I could get back to reception, I got the wrong information, I could in fact not charge the EV, no matter how slowly. This is the first time that happened in 20+ nights with Puru Hiko, and just when we would really have needed it, too. Now we have to start the tour on Friday with an immediate stop at the charger.

I tried my best not to get hung up too much and cook some nice dinner from our spoils at the fresh food market in Copenhagen: Fresh Tagiatelle with creamy Gorgonzola sauce. 

  • Right after breakfast Number 3 started asking when we’ll go down to the beach again. Unfortunately, we also had to pack so he had to wait a little
  • Cuddle mode: enganged
  • Finally, back to throwing stones 🙂
  • Good posture for throwing. Could be shot put
  • The Agent looking unhappy even at the beach. Or at least, sceptical.
  • Comforting the Agent
  • Flo and Number 3 got some time to explore the pier while the Agent got more cuddles in the tent
  • Almost there
  • Epic shot from Number 3 on the pier
  • Happy child running
  • Long Agent is looooooooong
  • Copenhagen market halls. Are you shocked yet?
  • Smorrebrod stall in the market halls
  • Window shopping for smorrebrod
  • Smorrebrod with shrimps
  • The Agent took a liking to Flo’s shrimp smorrebrod…even if it doesn’t look like it
  • “A whole fish! For me”
  • Unhappy child: He spilled his lemonade on his shirt and pants
  • We actually bought fresh tagliatelle for dinner
  • Close up of the seafood
  • Number 3 checking out the dead fishies
  • Colourful tomatoes
  • My favourite market hall….sweet treats and desserts
  • Öresund bridge at sunset