How cool is it that I am meeting all these people from all around the world and learning more about their culture than I would in books. There's a big difference between reading about something and actually doing it. Midsömmer is a festival in Sweden that celebrates the longest day of the year. We met up with Mikaela, Viktoria, Dennis and some of their friends at Parque Retiro in order to celebrate. I love hanging out with these people. I'm going to miss them so much when I leave, they're just so much fun. Dennis was wearing a Swedish flag around his shoulders like a cape, and they had a roller-suitcase packed full of Swedish food.
We hung out with them for awhile and then Viktoria tried to teach us a Swedish drinking song. She eventually gave up and said "all the Swedes who are here right now gather round." And they all sang it together. Before the song they had filled some glasses with Swedish Snaps which is a popular drink there. The last line of the song translates to "now empty your cup and drink up."
The drink was 38 proof. Needless to say I was a bit drunk for awhile. I thought it tasted good but had I known it was 38 proof I wouldn't have asked for the other little bit. Then we walked to the metro to catch a train to Chueca where Mikaela and Viktoria had bought some flower crowns that look like the ones they have at the Renaissance Festival in Minnesota. They were so Beautiful, as you can see below:
After we picked up our crowns we dashed home, had dinner at Manuela's and then went back to Retiro for more celebration.
When we got there we danced around a tree since they couldn't find a pole at Ikea that day, and sang a song about frogs, and pigs. It was so silly but so much fun. We sang a couple more songs, and hung out for awhile and then the sky opened up and it totally down poured! I was pretty popular because I had my umbrella with me. I think there were about 5 of us under it at one point. Good times.
They all said that we had the total experience of Midsömmer. I guess it always rains when they have the festival in Sweden. I wouldn't mind going to the real thing one day. I think that would be a very cool thing...and hey I already have some built-in tour guides.
I'll make it there when I have some money if that's okay with you all?We left about midnight so that we could get some sleep before we left for Barcelona the next day.
Until next time,
Avery
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