Karlskrona part 2

The next day we all went to see glass blowing. We never got the chance to see glass blowing in Sweden when we were here 9 years ago, and it really is a revelation. The artist Malin, had remodelled an old water tower into her studio with a take no prisoners oven. In fact several ovens at different temperatures so the glass doesn't cool down too slowly. It was particularly impressive to see her transform a blob of molten glass into a delightful glass flower. We were all enthralled.

We had a smorgasbord lunch (appropriate) at the the local Marine Museum. Karlskrona used to be the main shipping port and naval base for Sweden for several hundred years. We had a look at the museum after lunch exploring diving bells and all things naval. The museum even had 3 old naval ships we could explore. This proved very popular with Ben and Finley. There was a canon that we could fire and sink a Danish ship. Glass blowing in the morning and blowing things up in the afternoon.

The last day we headed out to another town Torhamn where nearby there were stone age engravings in some rocks. Quite extraordinary as we walked through the forest to suddenly come upon amazing engravings from the Bronze age. 

Then after looking at them for a while we spent half an hour picking wild blueberries in the surrounding forest reliving a childhood memory for Delia. 

Then lunch in the seaside village of Torhamn looking out at the beautiful Karlskrona coast. Home again for the afternoon. Whilst we'd been in Karlskrona they'd been preparing for their annual festival and one of the activities was Pirate Land. You bewdy! Pirates all 3 of them.

The next day Stig drove us up to the train that would take us to Stockholm and on the way we passed through Vaxjo, where Delia was born. We had a coffee there and of all the cafes to go to we just happened to go to one with an Australian working there. He was only about 20 but had upped stumps several years ago because he just didn't like Sydney. Big call for a young fella.

It was wonderful to spend time with Stig and for him to spend time with the little ones. It got pretty emotional saying goodbye at the train station.