Kalmar

Hello from Kalmar, Sweden. We have been having a great time and really packing a lot of activity into a short time here. Kalmar is on the Baltic Sea and is a very quaint city (the part that we are staying in). Here's a picture of the Slottshotellet where we are staying. Slotts is Swedish for castle and....
right across the street is an old castle. It was from the 1500s and has been used for different things throughout the years but was very neat. There is a moat around it and many restored areas. We toured the castle this morning and then drove to the Island of Oland. Mom had the names of three great grandparents that were from this Island.
Oland has many windmills and has a very formidable terrain. Farmers have to contend with rocky soil and not much vegetation. The southern part that we visited is mostly a nature area for bird watchers and botanists. I thought of Jim a lot. Because of the acid soil, it is a great place for orchids......so I read.
Kris said that every blog needs an outhouse picture.....so here is ours. This was available as a wayside stop.
And here it is, the picture of the day! We went to a bronze age ruin and there was this sign that Kris thought said "Don't eat us!" Ha, ha! When she looked it up later, she decided it said, "Don't feed us!" There were the cutest little pigs that are an heirloom breed of ancient Sweden. I guess they get as big as 400 kilograms. When you scratch their belly they flop over. So Cute!

The piggies are in the foreground in this picture.

Tomorrow we leave bright and early to drive North eight hours to Darlarna province. We are anxious to visit Carl Larsson's home and see this beautiful part of the country. Much love to all, Kay