Hot Summer Days

I never thought that I would be able to do this in Sweden and actually enjoy it. I went swimming in the lake over the weekend.

I've always thought that it is too cold in the lake for me to ever swim but it has been very very warm (in Swedish standards around 27 degrees) the past few days which has helped to warm up the usually icy cold water. I love going out on picnics with husband dear when it's so warm and today was no exception. It was simply too hot in the apartment to eat lunch so we packed up a picnic basket, gathered up some pillows and a blanket and headed down the street to the lake.

The ducks sitting there got very interested with us when we started settling down under a shady tree just by the water and they literally got up and started walking straight towards us which kinda freaked me out. They looked like they were on a war path, so determined their walk was. But it turned out that they weren't really coming at us but rather making their way to the water for a swim.

Hee hee...paiseh..

It's so nice to just enjoy the quiet, the lovely scenery, the great company and food and read a little. The ducks don't really bother us. As a matter of fact, they tend to come and sit close by but it almost feels like they are keeping us company instead of bothering us so one feels peace of mind. It was in the midst of all this peacefulness that I suddely got the urge to feel the water. That was when we realised that the water wasn't too bad at all!

So we packed up, went home to change and made our way to the small island near the harbour in town which is called 'Barnens Egen Ö' which means The Children's Own Island. It's a very very small island connected to town by a bridge which also happens to be a docking site for boats, like a parking lot for boats. So as we crossed the bridge, we passed boat after boat, pretending one of them was ours and if that were true, which boat would we own. We've decided a fairly sized motorboat with roomy seating at the front and back (what do u call it in sea terms? Starboard side?) and a nice roof over oh and a large bottle of sunblock cos I hate to tan.

The island has a nice small beach that has a very gradual gradient so one can walk very far out into the lake, which can be quite dangerous since there are so many boats, canoes, jetskies and even wakeboarders passing by at high speed. It took me a while and very small steps but I finally did end up in thigh high water before taking a deep cleansing breath and diving right into the cold cold water. Brrr.....

But the sun was beating down and the water had warm spots so I managed to cling onto husband dear while he transported me around until we ended up sitting on a huge rock that juts out from the shallow waters. So there I was sitting on the rock, with the sun shining into my eyes, alternating between pretending to be the little mermaid and a sexy siren calling to unsuspecting sailors. The husband found it all very amusing.

So there it was, my first experience of swimming in Sweden and of ever swimming in a lake, the 2nd largest lake in Sweden, the beautiful lake Vättern. What a great experience to swim in non salty water while still feeling like I'm swimming in the ocean.