When I was in Sweden earlier this year (in April '11 that is, readers of the blog wouldn't know about it though because, of course, I am so far behind I haven't posted about it yet..) my friends there convinced me to come back to celebrate Midsummer.. which, contrary to what you may think from the name, is a celebration of the start of summer (opposed to the middle of it...). Have a read if you're interested in more about the history of Midsummer in Sweden...
Anyhoo, after much to-ing and fro-ing about it, I finally bit the bullet and bought the tickets to fly into Copenhagen on June 23rd, the nearest airport to Malmo where the party was, and make plans to be there for the much hailed "Party of the Year"... and I tell you what, I must admit, after the 2 epic motorbike legs, overnight ferry trip spent sleeping on the floor, 3 buses, an overnight stay in the airport, 2 planes, and a train to get here, I was thinking "this better be good"!
Well, let me just say... Worth. Every. Bit. I had so much fun!! It was even fun helping Matias and Isabelle, my gracious hosts for the weekend and party organisers, get the house ready for the night to come...
The Swedes really know how to celebrate in quasi-traditional style! The traditional dancing around the "maypole" like a frog, and singing Swedish songs around the dinner table mixed incredibly well with the, shall we say, less-than-traditional see-if-you-can-dangle-a-tampon-strapped-around-your-waist-into-a-glass-beer-bottle-half-filled-with-water-and-run-back-with-it-between-your-legs game... and that was all whilst it was still light outside...
Although actually, it seems like at this time of year it's pretty much always light outside!! It only gets dark for about 3 hours between sometime after midnight, and sometime around 3am.. otherwise it's pretty much perpetually daylight.. nice when you want to party and play... less fun when it's sleeping time!! And I can only imagine, the trade-off for only 3 hours of daylight during the winter surely must be hard to swallow! It makes sense why they're so excited for the summer, that's for sure!! I wish I had more photos of the party, but I got far too carried away enjoying myself.. sorry about that!
^^ That's 10pm by the way... see how light it still is?!
The next morning after finishing festivities at sometime around 4am, and having to get up only a few hours later, I was on the train to Stockholm... having been to Malmo before, I figured it would be a good opportunity to see Stockholm instead... so a 4 hour train trip later, and I was there. Stockholm is definitely a cool city, and very different to Malmo, but it was SO quiet that weekend because everyone leaves and closes their shops and bars and restaurants for midsummer celebrations in their forest lodges!! Damnit!! Still had a ball though, and met a couple of cool lads from London and hung out with them before heading off to meet up with another friend, Leigh who I met in April, and her boyfriend and family for a BBQ and chilled out night in the 'burbs of Stockholm. Had an awesome night listening to Axel (her bf) and his brothers and friends playing music and then enjoyed some fine whiskey whilst talking about the world and politics and sex and all sorts of fun things well into the night.. good times, thanks guys! I owe you one when you're back on Oz... ;)
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