Happy Midsummer!
This Friday we celebrated Midsummer in Sweden. It is a very traditional festivity in Sweden, and you celebrate the summer solstice. You dance around the Maypole (if you have the energy to make one) which is a wooden pole you decorate with leaves and flowers. You eat very traditional food; herring, salmon, new potatoes and strawberries for dessert. You also have to drink “snaps”, basically flavoured vodka. Swedes tend to retreat to the countryside and various archipelagos to celebrate, no one wants to be in the cities 🙂
It is the one day a year where everyone wishes the weather is nice so you can be outside all day. Unfortunately this year the weather was quite bad. It rained heavily in the morning and mid-day and it wasn’t until the evening it got better.
We went down to Skåne to visit my parents and brother and to see my sister and Tommy. On Friday we ate a traditional Midsummer’s Eve lunch and then my parents and brother went to see friends and we stayed at the house and had a nice barbecue (once the sun came out – Jason and Tommy even made the most of it and went for a paddle on the lake while the food was cooking). In the evening we played games and just hung out 🙂 A very nice Midsummer! Since Jason is not Swedish he doesn’t really care what we do. There are few things that are more Swedish than Midsummer though, and I love the food you eat! (Note: Not vegetarian – Jason had special food for him. 😉 )
On Saturday me and Jason had a very nice, long ride to Båstad (which is on the west coast of Sweden) where we ate lunch and then we cycled back over Hallandsåsen (a ridge that goes across Skåne and Halland). The weather was perfect! And there is nothing better than spending hours outside on the bike with my love ❤
We cycled 120 km and then Jason had a swim in the lake 🙂
My ride, Jason’s ride.
In the evening we just had a nice dinner (made pizzas!) and cleaned our bikes. One person very meticulously and another one less so 🙂 We then watched the sun set across the lake my parents live next to. It was a beautiful evening.
Today Jason drove back to Gothenburg and I am staying behind for a day to go to Malmö tomorrow and have dinner with my friends that live down here!
Have a great week everyone,
/Sofi and Jason