:: Thursday, June 23, 2005 ::

Days of light

The summer solstice has come and gone, which means that here in Sweden it will actually start getting dark at night, a little bit at a time. It truly is the Land of the Midnight Sun. Although Falun is a little south for true midnight sun, the sun doesn't really set until about 11 pm, with dusky twilight until about 1 am or so, a little bit of almost-darkness (though not enough for the stars to come out), before it starts getting light again around 2 am, with the sun finally rising somewhere around 3 or 3:30. It's actually quite crazy, but fun too.

Last night I went with some friends down to the nearby lake where we built a fire and roasted hot dogs and sausages, watched the sun set over the lake, just hanging out and talking until the fire finally burned itself out around 1:30 am. At which point we walked back home, and of course, it never got completely dark the whole time we were out there. It was nice sitting outside through the whole progression of it, though, and it's one of the things I really like about Sweden. Surprisingly, the extra light doesn't really seem to affect my sleep, but I chalk that up to my blinds and blackout shades. And of course, the flip side of it is that in winter you have even less light, from like 9 am to 3 pm or so. But even that's not too bad, and you always have the summer to look forward to.

Tomorrow is the official Swedish midsummer day, and I'm planning on heading to the town of Leksand on Lake Siljan with some friends to see the traditional festivities there like the raising of the maypole, folklore dances, etc. So Happy Midsummer to everyone, even if you reside in a place that doesn't celebrate old pagan festivals any more.

And just in case you're interested, I've added a few more blog links on the side. Just a few I've started to read recently - we'll see if they keep my interest in the long run. And last but not least, my Polka dot just started her own blog as well. Brush up on your bi-lingual Polish at Strawberry Fields!

:: posted by Rob 12:00 PM [+] ::

3 Comments:

Did you have to do it?

By  Anonymous, at 12:20 PM  

No I didn't have to do it. I wanted to. Should I remove it?

By  Rob, at 12:23 PM  

No.

By  Anonymous, at 11:07 AM  

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