Ride

A day fully packed with new experiences. In early February, when a friend of mine celebrated his 70th birthday, he got a "surprise present" to collect on the 26th of June. We managed to keep the secret and he (and his wife) was duly surprised when unwrapping it step by step during the day. The present contained; a Camel-ride ( yes you can get those on Öland), outdoor arabic meal with free wine and whatever, overnight in a posh flat next to a public bath in the sound. 

The beauty in the photo is "my" Camel, I had an idea in my head that we were going on a hike for some twenty minutes on Alvaret (the big plain) but in reality it resembled a pony-ride, but for grownups, where we were led on an oval path in the grass, lasting maybe five minutes. It's nevertheless my first ever camel ride and we got along fine, even though her(?) back was harder than expected (Im glad it wasn't a long ride on Alvaret after all). First extra are "The three wise men".

The meal became a huge success, there were twelve of us and everyone contributed in some way with something. Apart for food, we also had a water pipe (hookah) present, arabian coffee and guitar music towards sunset (me). Second extra shows the terrace, part of an ancient quarry facing the sound between Öland and the mainland, third extra, part of the food table and last, the sunset I was playing for.

We were extremely lucky with the weather, usually it's very dubious to plan any outdoor activity in advance in Sweden, let alone planning it in February.