Yesterday we spent the morning at a Botanical Garden. I didn’t expect much and so was pleasantly surprised – in fact, really impressed. They had several sections: a Japanese garden, a formal garden, a rocky viewpoint area over some Greek statues
The Main Beach
where we took some great photos of the kids, a “garden of the senses” which really could have been better, but it was all beautiful and there was a couple there getting their wedding photos taken.
Then, in the afternoon, it actually warmed up enough to go to the beach and, as I guessed, it was packed. You had to pick your way through (everybody here has these tent-peg and cloth dividers that they wrap around their party, partly to block out wind but also, I guess, for a bit of privacy) to get to the beach.
This morning was foggy and my wife suggested more touristy sight seeing, which I was for, but the kids were screaming for an immediate return to the beach. We gave in, but I suggested that instead of walking straight down to the beach, we walk through the forest for about 20 minutes or so first, to get to a less crowded spot. Of course, that idea was met with wailing and arguments, but my wife backed me up and we prevailed, sort of. The kids started whining after about 5 minutes and I said give it at least 10 minutes more and then the path led down to the beach anyway.
We’d only gone a couple of hundred meters, but it was noticeably less crowded. We managed to plant our towel close enough to the sea that there was nobody between us and Sweden and we built an awesome sand castle. One other thing – as I looked around the beach yesterday I thought “My god, what a bunch of old, fat, horribly unattractive people.” (admission: I’m no spring chicken myself, and noticeably on the chubby side) I didn’t see more than two or three reasonably attractive women all day.
Today was quite different. I’m not sure if it’s just because all the old folks won’t walk more than the minimum distance or if it’s because further down the beach is next to the campsites, which is a different demographic than the hotels in town, but it was noticeable. Oh boy, was it noticeable.
It reminded me a bit of our trip to the Grand Canyon, when I was 16. Me and two of my brothers walked down to the bottom. I noticed when we got down there that there were no wrinkly, fat old people with their trailers and their lawn chairs and their TVs, who were so much a part of the campsite along the rim.
I guess there’s nothing wrong with that. But it’s a big, big world with lots of empty space in it and sometimes all you have to do to get away from the crowd is to walk a bit further down the beach.
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