Friday
was Midsummer Eve. Back in the 1990s when my children were young, that was the
day when we used to drive through Sweden.
The
night before, I and their father would start our 4-week annual holiday. We
would take the night ferry to Stockholm arriving in the morning and, after
some 12 hours of driving, overnight in Denmark or somewhere in northern
Germany.
On
Midsummer Day, we would continue on the fast motorways of Germany down to
France where we would stay another night somewhere around Strasbourg or
thereabouts. The next day, we would head down to the south of France and the
Mediterranean.
We
would arrive at our holiday destination on Sunday evening being numb and
half-dead because of sitting such a long time practically motionless in the
car. Nevertheless, our feeling of happiness about the sweet caress of the heat and the certainty
that the weather would stay warm throughout the holiday would overrun the
discomfort tenfold.
Depending
on how our Nordic midsummer or St John’s Day was placed – by us it always falls
on a Saturday between June 20 and 26 – we had often times settled down in our
rented apartment well before the locals would start celebrating their Fête de la Saint-Jean on June 24.
Especially
in the Nordic countries and the Baltics, the feast that elsewhere commemorates
the birth of St John the Baptist is primarily a festival of the summer
solstice. The tradition to celebrate the longest day of the year dates back to pre-Christian times.
This
June, we have had such cold and rainy weather you could hardly have guessed
this weekend saw the shortest night of the year. At a time like this I do miss the
Mediterranean summer. Even if it is hot and sticky it would be so wonderful not to have
to sit under a blanket by a fireplace when watching the FIFA World Cup from
Brazil.
All the photos of this post were taken not in the department of Var, where we used to stay, but in Nice and the surrounding towns and villages on our latest trip to the region two years ago in early August.
Voi mitä ihania kuvia ihanista taloista ja maisemista. Kuulosti tutulta reittinne ja ajelunne0 halki euroopan. Ollaan ajett kerran omalla autolla Barcelonan lähelle Castelldefels (toivottavasti tuli kylän nimi oikein)-nimiseen paikkaan ja toisen kerran Italiaan . Paljon näkee, mutta pitkät ajomatkan voivat olla stressaavia.
ReplyDeleteMe olimme useamman kerran liikkeellä ystäväperheen kanssa, jolloin porukan sai jaettua esim. naisten ja miesten autoihin. Silloin voi lapsiakin jakaa sopuisampiin kokoonpanoihin, ja matka taittui rattoisammin. Jos taas olimme liikkeellä vain oman perheen voimin, takapenkillä pääsi välistä kehittymään aikamoista kahinaa.
DeleteOI mikä pläjäys mahtavia kuvia! Tykkään kovasti tuosta seitsemännestä, jossa mies katsoo ikkunasta suoraan kameraan. Ja ensimmäisen kuvan kivitalot ovat niin kauniita. Ja tuota Välimeren välkettä en tietenkään kyllästy koskaan katsomaan. Oikeastaan mikä tahansa veden välke auringossa riittää tekemään onnelliseksi.
ReplyDeleteTotta puhut! Pikku hiljaa alkaa harmittaa tämä kurja kesä ja miehen asettama matkustuskielto, mutta kunhan eräs iso asia on saatu pois päiväjärjestyksestä, Välimeri kutsuu.
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