We had a very nice adventurous day, and are now parked at the most southern tip of the island. Unfortunatley not very good connection, and I do have some stuff to tell,  but Mom don't feel like helping me, (she's in the middle of a really good book) This video is all from me today................wet kisses.

Waking up to a rainy chilly day, good thing Adrienne has heat, and a roof to keep us dry. At the moment we are at Sweden's second largest island called Öland. We got here over a long bridge, that was inaugurated September 1972. The bridge is almost 4 miles long and have a clearance of 118 ft..

But now I’m getting ahead of myself, last night we stayed at the harbor on the main land. We took a long walk to explore the grounds of the castle where one of the most significant political events took place in 1397. 

It was The Kalmar union which was the personal union between the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Also included was Finland that was a part of Sweden (until 1809) Iceland, Greenland, the Faroes and the Shetland archipelago, belonging to Norway, meaning that the union encompassed all of the Nordic countries.

The union’s centre of power was located in Denmark, but all the countries were principally ruled according to their own laws and traditions. The union was, with short breaks, maintained from 1397 to 1448. Following this, only the personal union with Norway – with a few interruptions – remained in effect (until 1814), while the Danish kings only managed to rule in Sweden for brief periods until Sweden definitively seceded by proclaiming Gustav Vasa king of Sweden in 1523

a real draw bridge and a moat................so much exciting stuff to explore, sure wish that stupid lead could come off for good............love the canons...........yeah Mom says, if one of those would go boom, you go boom under your tail............don’t embarrass me I say.....

On the way out these wooden people were standing, not sure what their purpose was, other than decoration

in the middle of all this historic interesting well build stuff, some new fancy architect has put up this black ugly cube ............ Mom hates it, and I tend to agree

this is one strange looking tree.................

this town had palm trees, planted in pots so they can be moved indoors for the winter month. Makes me long for my Florida home and real heat

I had no clue chestnuts grew in clusters like this ? and they have tails ?

This is a memorial statue of Kalmar Nyckel that was constructed in about 1625 and was of a design called a pinnace. The ship was named after the city of Kalmar, which purchased the ship in 1628 as its contribution to the Royal Swedish Navy. When Sweden decided to establish a trading colony in the New World  the Kalmar Nyckel was chosen for the voyage, and sailed up Delaware river to Wilmington.

The ships sailed from Gothenburg in December 1637, but encountered a severe storm in the North Sea and had to divert to the Netherlands for repairs. They departed on New Year's Day 1638, arriving in North America in March 1638.

A second voyage, which departed on February 7, 1640, and arrived at Fort Christina on April 17, brought additional settlers for New Sweden.  Kalmar Nyckel made four successive round trips from Sweden, a record unchallenged by any other colonial vessel. She later served the Royal Swedish Navy in the Swedish-Danish War, then was used as a merchant ship. She was lost at sea in the late 17th century. There are conflicting reports on where she was lost. One says she sank off the coast of the city of Kalmar, while another says she was lost in the North Sea.

 In 1986, a group of citizens of Wilmington, Delaware, established the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, whose primary source of funding is from the taxpayers , plus donations from corporations and individuals. The foundation designed, built, and launched a replica of the Kalmar Nyckel. The modern ship, designed by naval architects Thomas C Gillmer, Melbourne Smith, Joel Welter, and Ken Court, was built at a shipyard in Wilmington on the Christina River  near the original 1638 Swedish settlers' landing site at Fort Christina. She was launched on September 28, 1997, and commissioned on May 9, 1998. The re-creation measures 94 feet (29 m) on deck and 131 feet (40 m) overall, with a 25-foot (7.6 m) beam, a 12-foot (3.7 m) draft, and a displacementt of 300 tons.

Mom boarded her at a tall ship regatta in New York, and at the time not all the wood carvings weren’t finished still very impressive..............this is a borrowed picture of the replica

Once again we were up early watching the hustle in the harbour as people were heading for work. After a short bathroom run, we made it over the bridge to yet another castle, but I'll tell you more about that tomorrow........

wet kisses to you all................miss you..................