20120622 Friday (Midsommardag celebration in Sweden)
The cabin lights came on at midnight EDT, 0600 CEST (Central Europe Standard Time). I got about 3.5 hrs of sleep on the fairly comfortable sleep-seat.
We had breakfast with clouds under us but when we got over Oslo, the clouds cleared and it turned into a very nice day. We cleared immigration and customs without problem, then caught the bus to the car rental. We were given a little VW Golf by Europcar and we also rented a GPS. We cleared the lot, but found the GPS was talking to us in German and the manual was in Swedish, so we returned to have it reset to English.
Then we took off for Lindesberg (where we will be staying) and Kopparberg (where my dad’s parents emigrated from). South on E4 toward Stockholm, then west on 267 to E18. Most of that was four-lane interstate-type road, but some was two-lane with frequent passing areas. We went past the town of Västerås, where our son Bill worked for two of weeks several years ago.
We turned north on 249 through Fellingsbro to Lindesberg. We checked in at Lindesberg Stadtshotell in the center of town. Small room, goofy bathroom, but it will do. There are some Irish workers and various-nationality kids staying here as well. The hotel is closing the doors (our key will let us in) at 1500 today so everyone can do midsommardag (mid-summer day), as are most businesses. It’s a big thing here.
We partly unpacked, changed clothes, rested a bit, and then drove the 34km to Kopparberg, arriving there at 1300. We walked part of the town then went into the ca-1635 church. It’s all wood and very well kept up. The baptismal font is dated 1644; we took pictures of it, and found that someone had put a small toy mouse in it looking out. Then we saw toy mice all over the back of the church, so we figured the kids had fun. We took more pictures of the features of the place, then went outside and took pictures of the bell tower - a separate small building. My father’s parents would have been familiar with this church before they left Sweden.
We walked down to a pizzeria and had a coke, then walked up the street toward the church, passing in front of the tourist bureau (in the old courthouse (Tinghuset)) built in 1641. Again, the folks would have known it.
We wandered some more, then took our places on a bench overlooking a large grassy area with a maypole lying down on the ground. Gradually, more people joined us on benches, or their own chairs, or blankets, till there were about 500 people (lots of kids, none of the black or muslim people we saw around town).
At 1500, a procession led by a man carrying the Swedish flag went down the main street behind us, around the buildings to our right, and entered the area from there. There were a dozen people in costumes of past times. A string orchestra took the stand. The pole was raised by a traditional method. Then the orchestra (guitar, upright bass, three fiddles, and an nyckelharpa) played Swedish folk dance music while costumed people did the dance. After each dance, the orchestra would play a selection to give the dancers a break, then they’d do another dance. After nearly an hour, that ended.
Then the people in the crowd with their kids formed circles around the maypole and did kid-type round dances to a guitar player/singer. Very nice, lots of people involved with the kids. After a bit, the crowd began drifting away, so we walked through the supermarket and bought a few goodies for the room refrigerator. We drove back to LIndesberg; D is napping, then we’ll go out to dinner.
The day was only partly cloudy but somewhat breezy, so the mid-60’s temperature could feel cool out of the sun and in the wind. Otherwise, it was a beautiful day.
The area here is very much like Wisconsin or Minnesota. Rolling hills, some rock, lots of streams and lakes. Trees include alders, birch, and pine. Of course, the architecture of the buildings is quite different. And all the barns & farm buildings and most farm houses are painted in the dark red paint they make here from the iron-rich soil.
Picture LInk - OPicture Link - D 1of 2Picture Link - D 2 of 2Video Link (15 minutes, “.mp4”) showing the erection of the pole and the dancing, including the Frog dance for the kids.
Later on 6/22: When we rose to go to dinner, we found that all the restaurants in town were closed for the Midsommar holiday. Finally we found a little pizzeria and had fish & chips. We strolled the (very dead) town and looked in storefronts. Then back to the room to sleep and get into CEST (Central European Standard Time).
