So, I took the long long ride to the west coast of Sweden, as documented with iPhone screenshots in my last post...
Capri (destination) is a small resort/nature reserve in Strömstad, Sweden. It has maybe 30 cabin-style houses for rent throughout the year, along with a beach, dock, tennis courts, pool, and small shop. Fredrik's parents started renting out week 25 (midsummer week) back in 1978, when Capri opened!
Hopefully by now you've seen the pictures from my trip.
If not,
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4960340499725.1073741827.1635420126&type=1&l=a0342f6a2b
Fredrik drove me 'into town' and we checked out a fish market, some shops, and of course had fika. We went for two short hikes in the nature reserve, and Fredrik did some 'creative' pathfinding (disaster) so it took a loooot longer than expected. We swam in the pool, and Fredrik decided to swim in the ocean just to say he did... after three seconds, he comes out with a bloody hand, scraped on a mussel or something. That was the end of that.
We had a little celebration of Alva's 3rd birthday, where Fredrik's god parents Krister and Kristina and their grandson Oscar joined us. They rent a cabin on Sydlångö (south-long-island) just 10 minute boat ride from the dock at Capri, and have done so since the 70's as well.
On midsommarafton (the holiday day) the 'young ones' packed up rain gear and took the little boat out to Sydlångö. It was cloudy but very warm. Alva was NOT happy about taking the boat. But we made it alive. Sydlångö (sude long uh) has its own little midsummer celebration, and the people renting on the island get together to make a maypole. At 2pm the kids get in a cart of some kind, right now a cart pulled by ATV, and the parents follow behind. They go to the far side of the island to pick wildflowers, some of which go onto the maypole and the rest go into the girls' flowery crowns. I managed to step in two separate ant hills while flower-picking... apparently they have biting ants in Sweden. I did not know this. Somewhere on Karl's camera is a picture of me jumping around literally with ants in my pants... I squashed some of them but they're like full mosquitoes (blood spatters) so I had to shower after that lovely experience. My feet are still covered in red itchy spots...
Anyway, 3pm everyone met by the pole so that the men could carry the maypole into the hole, while the ladies sang something wordless (I have a video somewhere). Then it was time for the songs. I had my lovely flower crown made by Kristina (I had no idea what I was doing). The song part was quite short, it varies from place to place, anywhere from 10 minutes to 1h depending on what people want. More 'traditional' celebrations, in Dalarna for example at the old historical villages, where people all dress in traditional Swedish costume, would last at least that long. Ours was only about 7 songs, but Fredrik said we hit all the main points. I didn't take any videos because I was of course forced to participate!
Here are some different perspectives of midsummer:
(ridiculous) German IKEA commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWU0CGfj-SU
General funny explanation of traditions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ZLpGOOA1Q
After the dancing and singing around the maypole, we had dinner with schnapps, played minigolf, and ran through the now torrential rain back to the boat. A little bit of rest and drying off, then it was time for seafood. Crabs bought the day before, and crayfish & shrimps with bread and mayonnaise. Can't say I like crab but the shrimpy things were tasty!
The next day it was time to go home. We packed up everything from both the rented cabins (we were too many to fit in just one) and drove 4 hours to Örebro, where the Wäganders' summer house is. Fredrik and I were supposed to watch a football game on Sunday, so no point driving all the way home then all the way back to Stockholm. We stayed overnight there with Gudmund and Vickan, and then watched the last-ever Hammarby football game at the South Stadium (has been running since 1967). Now they have a fresh new Tele2 arena, but a lot of fans were quite emotional about the stadium closing. Everyone went down onto the pitch after the game, and people were taking pieces of grass, net, chairs, posters, all kinds of things. Hammarby is famous for its fan following... at least half the 13,000 fans were wearing green and white (team colours) and singing cheers and songs through the whole game. Especially for that night they even had some green flares... fun but very smoky...
I was reminded that most Swedish sports cheers consist of the team name. Most of the cheers were something like:
Hammarby! Hammarby! Hammarby hammarby hammarby! Hammarby... hammarby.... hamma hamma hammarbyyyy!
They also have a swedish translation of the 'soccer song',
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlvIG09pIh8
Bajen is another name for Hammarby, which apparently was born decades ago when they played an English team, that pronounced it Hammar-bye instead of Hammar-bi. Bye became Bajen... so, "Bajen is the name, football is their game..." etc ;)
Better pictures from my camera will come later. Some fun videos too... of Fredrik screaming a LOT.
x
Capri (destination) is a small resort/nature reserve in Strömstad, Sweden. It has maybe 30 cabin-style houses for rent throughout the year, along with a beach, dock, tennis courts, pool, and small shop. Fredrik's parents started renting out week 25 (midsummer week) back in 1978, when Capri opened!
Hopefully by now you've seen the pictures from my trip.
If not,
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4960340499725.1073741827.1635420126&type=1&l=a0342f6a2b
Fredrik drove me 'into town' and we checked out a fish market, some shops, and of course had fika. We went for two short hikes in the nature reserve, and Fredrik did some 'creative' pathfinding (disaster) so it took a loooot longer than expected. We swam in the pool, and Fredrik decided to swim in the ocean just to say he did... after three seconds, he comes out with a bloody hand, scraped on a mussel or something. That was the end of that.
We had a little celebration of Alva's 3rd birthday, where Fredrik's god parents Krister and Kristina and their grandson Oscar joined us. They rent a cabin on Sydlångö (south-long-island) just 10 minute boat ride from the dock at Capri, and have done so since the 70's as well.
On midsommarafton (the holiday day) the 'young ones' packed up rain gear and took the little boat out to Sydlångö. It was cloudy but very warm. Alva was NOT happy about taking the boat. But we made it alive. Sydlångö (sude long uh) has its own little midsummer celebration, and the people renting on the island get together to make a maypole. At 2pm the kids get in a cart of some kind, right now a cart pulled by ATV, and the parents follow behind. They go to the far side of the island to pick wildflowers, some of which go onto the maypole and the rest go into the girls' flowery crowns. I managed to step in two separate ant hills while flower-picking... apparently they have biting ants in Sweden. I did not know this. Somewhere on Karl's camera is a picture of me jumping around literally with ants in my pants... I squashed some of them but they're like full mosquitoes (blood spatters) so I had to shower after that lovely experience. My feet are still covered in red itchy spots...
Anyway, 3pm everyone met by the pole so that the men could carry the maypole into the hole, while the ladies sang something wordless (I have a video somewhere). Then it was time for the songs. I had my lovely flower crown made by Kristina (I had no idea what I was doing). The song part was quite short, it varies from place to place, anywhere from 10 minutes to 1h depending on what people want. More 'traditional' celebrations, in Dalarna for example at the old historical villages, where people all dress in traditional Swedish costume, would last at least that long. Ours was only about 7 songs, but Fredrik said we hit all the main points. I didn't take any videos because I was of course forced to participate!
Here are some different perspectives of midsummer:
(ridiculous) German IKEA commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWU0CGfj-SU
General funny explanation of traditions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ZLpGOOA1Q
After the dancing and singing around the maypole, we had dinner with schnapps, played minigolf, and ran through the now torrential rain back to the boat. A little bit of rest and drying off, then it was time for seafood. Crabs bought the day before, and crayfish & shrimps with bread and mayonnaise. Can't say I like crab but the shrimpy things were tasty!
The next day it was time to go home. We packed up everything from both the rented cabins (we were too many to fit in just one) and drove 4 hours to Örebro, where the Wäganders' summer house is. Fredrik and I were supposed to watch a football game on Sunday, so no point driving all the way home then all the way back to Stockholm. We stayed overnight there with Gudmund and Vickan, and then watched the last-ever Hammarby football game at the South Stadium (has been running since 1967). Now they have a fresh new Tele2 arena, but a lot of fans were quite emotional about the stadium closing. Everyone went down onto the pitch after the game, and people were taking pieces of grass, net, chairs, posters, all kinds of things. Hammarby is famous for its fan following... at least half the 13,000 fans were wearing green and white (team colours) and singing cheers and songs through the whole game. Especially for that night they even had some green flares... fun but very smoky...
I was reminded that most Swedish sports cheers consist of the team name. Most of the cheers were something like:
Hammarby! Hammarby! Hammarby hammarby hammarby! Hammarby... hammarby.... hamma hamma hammarbyyyy!
They also have a swedish translation of the 'soccer song',
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlvIG09pIh8
Bajen is another name for Hammarby, which apparently was born decades ago when they played an English team, that pronounced it Hammar-bye instead of Hammar-bi. Bye became Bajen... so, "Bajen is the name, football is their game..." etc ;)
 |
| "Long live the southern stadium!" |
Super warm here now. Sunny sunny sunny and I got a burn from doing homework outside today... oops.
 |
| Grill time! Got this grill for $20 at ICA and it works perfectly for hanging in the park with some marinated pork and veggie kebabs. mmmmm |
x
Mmmmmmmmmm pork kebabs mmmmmmmm :-p
ReplyDelete