Ölmönger: Ölmönger Special: Sober June 2017 – Diary, Part IV, Days 18-23

The days you’re about to read of now were planned to be the days of our holiday family trip to Askersund, Sweden. What happened? The trip happened. Read more about it below.

Sunday started with birds singing on a cloudy morning. And of course, kids waking up, making a hell of a noise covering the quite sounds of nature. Well, there ain’t a start of the day that coffee can’t cure. Slow and peaceful first half day with delicious lunch and nice afternoon coffee break.

The day also brought the start of the family holiday trip. Left the solitude of the countryside on the afternoon and headed to Turku. In Turku harbor, after couple of hours’ waiting drove the car inside the cruise ship Viking Grace. The ship was to carry us to Stockholm, Sweden. Short visit in the tax free shop delayed buying my own souvenirs until the cruise back – nothing too exciting. From the start I realized that cruise ships aren’t made for sober people. Too much crowd, too much noise.

A lot of driving today. Woke up at 5.30 local time and drove the car off the ferry in Stockholm at 6.30. Stopped for a one-hour coffee break in Södertälje at 7.30. Got into the Kolmården zoo at 10. And stopped there for a little over six hours. From 4.30 to 6.30 p.m. made our way from the zoo to a small town of Askersund in the north shore of Vättern lake.

Absolutely amazing day. Dead tired from walking and driving around the whole day. No time to think about having a beer. Still, checked out from the net he Swedish goods the local Systembolaget offers to a beer enthusiast for souvenirs. Pretty decent.

After a well slept night we headed from our cabin to Örebro. Target was at Gustavsvik water world an aquapark called Lost City. Ran around with kids in water slides of many kind and relaxed in a whirlpool for four hours. Finished the day at Örebro by eating good food in Burger Love. I had even a chance to visit Systembolaget and pick some hopefully great Swedish beer- of course as souvenirs for myself.

Second fantastic day on a family holiday without beer in a row. Should I be worried?

Craving for a beer: 2 (just because visited Systembolaget)

Today it was a day in Motala, somewhat slower day than the couple before. Visited Vätternakvariet, a local fish exhibition/aquarium that shows the fish living in Lake Vättern. Without asking got some special guidance on catching and feeding the fish from the caretaker. The kids spent time in the nearby play park. Otherwise the day was just wandering around with some sightseeing near the lake.

Back at the cabin started cleaning and packing, since tomorrow we’ll start our way home. Had time to go for a short run. Intentionally the route went by the local pub O’Leary’s – seeing people on the terrace reminded me that there’s a little over a week of draught left.

Craving for a beer: 3 (after the run something was clearly missing)

Bye, bye, Askersund! Stopped shortly at the local chocolate shop before heading for the first and only pit stop in Örebro. Lek & Buslandet is an indoor amusement park for children. For me, the great part is that adults get in free. The reason is that parents should look after their kids by themselves. But why settle for that? Parenthood isn’t the excuse to stop playing – parenthood is the key to more awesome playgrounds. So it was excellent fun for us big people, too.

On the way to the harbour got lost in Stockholm. After collecting the nerves from the floor everything ended fine: got our vehicle inside Viking Amorella. Also found some additional souvenirs from the tax free shop. All in all, one more day of total fun for our journey.

Craving for a beer: 4 (getting lost in Stockholm doesn’t suit the early planner)

Midsummer Eve. In Finland the day traditionally includes burning bonfires, overconsumption of alcohol and drowning in the nearest body of water. For us the day was about finishing the trip, leaving the kids with their cousins to Grandpa’s house and unpacking the luggage at home. For me it was something completely different from usual behavior and fitting the souvenirs inside the beer cabinet that had shrunken during our holiday. Today the temptation to open up one of the souvenir bottles nearly got too big. In the end, it was just a matter of self-control. “Just.”

Craving for a beer: 7 (Those damn souvenir bottles!)

Of course, there would have been the classic George Gershwin’s song of the same name. But since it’s way too slow to match the trip’s general mood, I pick this one from the start of Will Smith’s “musical” career.

From the 1991 album Homebase, the song has samples from Kool & The Gang’s Summer Madness.