20230623 Koster Islands

The next morning we had a large breakfast of bread, toast, and crackers, fish paste, liver pate, tomatoes and cucumbers

The kid was zonked. Ja said he didn't sleep for most of the night and they were both exhausted. After breakfast he laid down on the deck and passed out. To keep him from getting sunburned we constructed a fort over him with chairs and blankets.

We left Lukas sleeping with Sigurd and drove out to the local grocery store. It was larger and had a greater selection than every grocery store we saw in Norway and everything was selling for about half the price so we splurged, buying tea, raisins, and food for the evening.

Afterwards we went to the candy shop next door. It was glorious. They had huge troughs of candy all marked for $0.70/100g. We grabbed bags and went around choosing a little of everything. Amanda concentrated on the chocolates and I worked on the gummis, jellybeans, and licorice. I avoided the hard candies, suckers, and wrapped sweets. When Ja came up holding a heavy bag and pointed out he'd paid less than $10 for it I went back for seconds. I haven't felt as buzzed and excited about a candy store since I was a little kid.

That evening I nearly made myself sick by eating candy but I soon determined the types I liked and we planned to return before we left Sweden to stock up on the things we liked.

My list of favorite candy:

skole-kridt - translation: 'school chalk' - black licorice tubes with a soft candy filling coated in a mint candy shell),
banana candy - a yellow, vaguely banana shaped soft candy like a jellybean coating over a banana flavored marshmallow
stale strawberry marshmallows
black licorice boats

Kari warned us the store would only be open for 7 hours the following day and I took careful note of this in my book.

Back at the house we packed up our swimming gear and walked down to the dockyard to get onto Sigurd's boat. We assembled on the dock as he pulled off the cover and then loaded up and drove off. We put a life vest on Lukas and Amanda and I wore our own in sympathy. We drove out to Nord Koster and moored in the perfect parking spot right next to a kitschy store for lunch.

We'd expected a light lunch but the portions were huge. While we waited for our food I spent some time wandering through the building taking pictures of all the knick knacks on sale. We didn't buy anything but I was sorely tempted by the seagulls with human legs. Even the bathroom was stuffed with knick-knacks on sale.

After lunch we walked across the island to a small beach. I'd planned on getting in but as we arrived the wind came up and some clouds rolled over and I changed my mind. Lukas stripped naked and splashed around before becoming mesmerized by a group of men playing volleyball. I saw him later on a rock climbing expedition. Amanda went off into the trees chasing birds and I followed her, finding a potential rock to take home before deciding it was too heavy.

Back at the beach I spent some time collecting bright yellow snail shells. It seemed there was 1 yellow shell for every 1000 black ones but the shore was littered with so many I soon had a hand full.

When we returned to the boat the docks were crowded and we drove away from the north Koster island around the southern island to the Ursholmens fyrplats. It was a long boat trip out to the point and we had to take it slow because the kid got freaked out when we bounced over the waves. He wasn't comfortable enough to recognize the seals resting on the rocks when we pointed them out.

We had to cut the motor to fit through the narrow harbor entrance and we made a mess trying to tie off the boat close enough to the rocks we could climb out but far enough away it wouldn't bottom out when we got out or were out exploring. The island held a half dozen shacks and two lighthouses, but only one had been completed. The nearby shack had been turned into a museum with all the old food containers, charts, and pictures out in the open and growing mildewy in the damp.

While walking back down from the lighthouse Amanda exclaimed, "Oh shit!" and we all turned to see what was the matter. She'd caught a couple having sex on the top of the hill across the bay through her binoculars. In the bay the water was warmer and we spent some time jumping off the dock. Lukas was delighted to see us swimming and tried counting to five for people to jump. While we were gathered there a woman came up to bathe looking embarrassed. She jumped in and then soaped up standing on the ladder. Kari said a lot of Norwegians bathe this way while on vacation.

We saw more seals on the way back and the kid finally noticed. He pointed out that we were on a boat and there were boats driving around us. On a rock in the harbor was a little tableau with some toy houses and laundry on the line.

Back at Strömstad we left Sigurd to lock up the boat and walked back into town following the stream from the lake. Along the way Amanda stopped to take pictures of a moorhen and her chicks.

Lukas spent his time doing spiderman shots at me as we walked and was astonished when I fired my own spiderman shot back.

With our stock of chicken, cheese, and eggs, we decided to make a frittata, and bought a few vegetables to add the stir-fry. We fried everything in two pans and combined them all into a giant cake pan before baking.

Ja and the kid went to bed early and Kari, Sigurd, Amanda, and I stayed up having a chocolate tasting party.