Sweden in Midsommar: From traditional to contemporary

by Grant Martin on

Our hearts are still in Stockholm this week, neck deep in the celebration of one of Scandinavia’s biggest holidays: Midsommar. In case you missed it earlier, Midsommar is the celebration of the longest day of the year in these high latitudes, a time when the sun only sets for three hours a night and when Stockholm is most appreciable.

From a local’s perspective, Midsommar is often spent with the family and friends, most often in a small beach house in the outskirts of Stockholm or out in the geologically diverse archipelago.

Some of those that remain in the city pilgrimage to Skansen for Midsommar Eve, an open air museum not unlike Greenfield Village or Colonial Williamsburg. Hosting a full range of historical Swedish architecture, characters and foodstuffs, Skansen throws the biggest celebration in the city during the day of Midsommar Eve, all culminating in the traditional hoisting of the maypole around which thousands of visitors can dance. Admission is around 18USD.

In parallel, guests can roam the sprawling museum campus, picking flowers for Midsommar garlands, gobbling up meatballs and herring or gawking at the hundreds of traditionally dressed workers strolling about. Family time is important at Skansen, and the hours spent here learning about Swedish culture and tradition are an excellent way to spend the day, regardless of the holiday.

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As with any social experience, drinks and dancing also have a special role in Midsommar festivities. On the eve of the holiday when the children have gone to bed and the sun is still out, adults drink late into the night, fortifying themselves for a long weekend of family fun and socialization.

For those that have gone into the islands to party, Sandhamn is the place to be. A few hours by ferry outside of Stockholm, the island is a nexus for young Swedes in full-on celebration mode for the long weekend. As the population balloons, many choose to camp on the beach after all night festivities, and the air takes on a buzz of drunken, joyous happiness similar to the full moon parties well known in Thailand.

The party rages forth in Stockholm as well, with many social circles hosting private parties at decked out residences across the city. Many clubs and restaurants stay open for the holiday, and one of the biggest places to celebrate is in the Berns Hotel Salon, just next to and behind the Grand Hotel in the center of Stockholm. With a tall, vaulted ceiling, a huge dining area and several outdoor terraces, Berns is one of the places to be on Midsommar Eve (and they know it,) so get here early and be prepared to spend a few extra dollars for drinks. Though it’ll be expensive, the scenery and the setting are worth every crown.

Traditional as it might be, Midsommar thus has a streak of unbridled celebration that any common visitor can daftly take part in. For a first time visitor, Skansen is a good bet for a crash course in traditional culture, eating and drinking. If your budget and schedule don’t match up though, a good bottle of whiskey and a few new friends out on the sunny streets of Stockholm will do the trick.

Note, some logistical help in executing this trip came from the Sweden tourism board. Itineraries and adventures were our own creation.

From the Shores of Louisiana — Crane Rescue

by Jon Bowermaster on

Barataria Bay, Louisiana – 6:50 a.m.: We’d been on the water for more than two hours already and had seen a particularly haunting sunrise thanks to a partial lunar eclipse by the time we reached the edge of Cat Island.

Marsh grass covers the muddy island, located about fifteen miles west of Sulphur Grove in Plaquemine Parish. The island is nearly identical to a couple hundred other unoccupied islands in the bay, except for the thousands of birds that call it home these days, the height of breeding season. As we watch from the opposite side of a pair of orange and yellow booms that circle the island, attempting to keep the oil sloshing around the bay from reaching its edges, terns and egrets, herons and cranes fly on and off the island noisily.

Minus the ongoing oil-gusher this would have been an idyllic early-morning bird watching event. Instead, binoculars and cameras are trained on the birds, trying to identify just how oil-soaked they are. Chicks are just being born and the adults spend their days flying out to pick up food; every time they dive they are at risk of an oil soaking.

“See that egret balanced on the top of the grass?” asks P.J. Hahn. “The one that looks grey? That’s a white egret. It is supposed to be all-white, not muddy brown. That bird is oil soaked.” His sun-streaked blonde hair make Hahn look more California surfer than Louisiana politico, but every weekend since the gushing began he’s been out on and above the bays, collecting data and images. Director of the Plaquemines Parish Coastal Zone Management Department his deep tan has been earned from long days patrolling on the bay.

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07:10 a.m.: We have been trolling around the island slowly, looking for evidence of oil on the island or birds when just behind us a scrawny looking bird emerges as if from the deep, his beak and feet clawing for purchase on the boom. He’s oil-soaked – the worst we’ve seen — and struggling to get to the other side of the boom and to the island.

07:20 a.m.: We manage to reach the bird before it can clear the boom and P.J. grips it behind the wings to keep it from flying off. A couple weeks before he’d been out with National Geographic photographer Joel Satore and had a similar wrestling match with an oil-soaked pelican, a much bigger and stronger bird.

This one – a young heron or crane, so badly oiled it’s impossible to tell for sure – is lucky that we got him. If he’d made to the other side of the boom he’d be a goner; there’d be no rescuing and he’d quickly die from oil suffocation. I ask P.J. what we can do with the frightened bird now that we’ve got him. Bird in one hand, cell phone in the other, he calls the personal number of a friend who works with the Louisiana Fish and Wildlife Department, the agency charged with overseeing oiled critters. No answer.

“It’s too early on a Saturday morning. I’ll wait until eight o’clock and try him again.”

08:05: P.J.’s not having any luck reaching his friend, so we motor up to a nearby boat full of workers laying boom. They shout out the toll free number they’d been given for wildlife rescue — 866.557.1401.

P.J. punches in the number and the phone rings for a full minute, answered by a woman … in Houston.

“Yes, ma’am, I’m P.J. Hahn, calling from the Plaquemines Parish government, to report that we’ve found an oil-soaked bird and would like to turn it over to the proper authorities.”

“Yes, P.J., like pajamas, yes, that’s right, ma’am.”

What ensues is a ten-minute long conversation; he fills us in on her side as she puts him repeatedly on hold to ask questions of a manager. He explains repeatedly that he’s calling from Louisiana, that we’re in the middle of a bay, in a boat, and that we’ve got a badly injured bird that needs help.

He repeats our GPS coordinates to her, two, three, four times.

“Yes ma’am, I’m calling from Louisiana.”

Covering the mouthpiece with his hand, he explains that she’s just asked him if there is a restaurant nearby that might serve as a meeting with wildlife experts. “Ma’am, there is no Burger King, no McDonald’s out here in the middle of the bay,” he explains, his frustration growing. Captain Sal Gagliano, who’s driving the boat this morning, says he was out a week earlier with officials from the National Wildlife Federation who placed a similar call and were asked for the closest “cross street.”

08:20 a.m.: “Now she’s advising me to note our location and put the bird back in the water. What is she thinking? That bird will be dead in a couple hours.”

08:25: Unconvinced the telephone operator has understood where we are, or even exactly what we’re calling about, P.J. suggests we head towards Grand Isle where an onshore rescue station is set up. He’s stunned by what he perceives to be the inefficiency of the reporting system. “I should be able to call a local number and get someone on the line who knows the area,” he says. “Can you believe she wanted to know the nearest restaurant? This is supposed to be a specific ‘oil spill’ response number. Maybe they need to buy some maps!”

We coax the scared bird into the boat’s empty cooler for the ride, propping it’s clear top open to give it fresh air.

08:55 a.m.: Just as we pull near shore north of the town of Grand Isle P.J. is able to reach his friend who works with LDFW, who gives him a local number to call.

Within five minutes from around the tip of the island we make out an official boat speeding towards us, the spray off its bow backlit by the climbing sun.

09:10 a.m.: The boat, captained by Fred Wirstrom, carries a pair of LDFW employees and a half-dozen empty cat boxes. Apparently the call to the toll-free number had eventually been forwarded to them; they knew we were out here somewhere with an injured bird but our GPS coordinates had proven evasive.

As he slides into a zippered white hazmat suit and blue latex gloves LDFW ranger Tim Kimmel lectures P.J., even though he’s identified himself as a representative of the local government. “Next time it would be best if you left the bird where you found it and called us in to do the rescue,” he explains, slipping on blue latex gloves (P.J.’d handled the bird bare-handed.)

“Yes sir, I understand,” says P.J., his southern politeness overcoming a burning desire to be less so. “But if we hadn’t picked that bird up when we did, if it had cleared the boom and headed into the marsh, it would have never survived.”

“I understand,” says Kimmel, as the two men pass the still-panicked bird from boat to boat. “But we really can’t have just anyone picking up injured animals. It’s not good for the animals.”

“Yes sir, next time, yes sir, I understand,” says P.J.

Once the bird is stuffed into the cat box and the official boat is zipping away towards Grand Isle, P.J. is still muttering. “Can you believe she wanted to know the name of the nearest restaurant?”

(For a video account of P.J.’s morning, go to nola.com)

Unconventional travel tips to ensure a great vacation

by Gadling Staff on

You know the basics: Don’t forget your I.D., pack your 3-1-1 bags, always bring a spare set of clothes, and make sure to charge your cell phone before setting off on your adventure. But how about trying something a little different? Here are some not-so-typical things that can make a vacation fun

Don’t book a hotel before venturing off to your destination. Take a chance and go to your destination without pre-booking your hotel room. The fun of not knowing where you are going to stay heightens the excitement of the trip. Not only will you be able to see the hotel up-close-and-personal but you might be lucky enough to find a hotel at a cheap rate.

Forget the web. Spontaneity helps keep the fun in relationships, so why not be spontaneous when it come to your vacation activities? Forget researching the web before you go. Get there and explore — you will have the insider’s guide as you explore your surroundings and check with the locals to find the destination’s hidden treasures.

Become your own tour guide. Take a walk around town with others and see what you see. Talk to locals about the town’s history; you are more likely to find secrets and additional information from them than with a tour guide.Cash out. Budgets are extremely important but splurging on something worthwhile can add to the fun of vacationing. You worked hard to be able to go on vacation, so why not treat yourself while you’re there? Whether it is a five-course meal at a high-end restaurant, a pricey souvenir that you are sure to never forget, or VIP seating at the hottest local club, you are sure to have a blast breaking the bank.

Re-introduce yourself to entertainment. Leave the electronics at home. You do not want to be distracted by portable DVD players and iPhones when you are visiting the Grand Canyon for the first time, or climbing Mt. Washington. Re-introduce yourself to entertainment from before it was electronic (i.e., nature, reading, walks and sunsets.)

Pack only what you need. Over-packing can actually save you in the long run. Imagine not having your sneakers on a vacation to the beach. You want to visit the boardwalk and ride the rides, but all you brought were a pair of flip-flops. Nothing brings your mood down like not being able to do what you want to do because you packed lightly.

Antoinette Francis is a Seed.com writer.

100 year-old whiskey frozen in Antarctic being thawed out

by Sean McLachlan on

Earlier this year we reported how the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust retrieved some whiskey left behind by explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and his team after on unsuccessful attempt to make it to the South Pole in 1907-1909. Now curators at Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, New Zealand, are thawing out one of the crates.

The Nimrod Expedition ran low on supplies only 97 miles from the South Pole and had to beat a hasty retreat. They ditched much of their equipment, including several cases of whiskey that they left under a hut they had built. The subzero temperatures and ice preserved the whiskey.

At least that’s what the museum folks hope. They’re slowly raising the temperature of the crate day by day. The crate bears the label Mackinlay’s, a defunct brand owned by Whyte & Mackay, who are hoping to analyze the whiskey, reconstruct the recipe, and reissue it.

The museum has started a blog called The Great Whiskey Crate Thaw so you can follow their progress.

While the Nimrod Expedition didn’t make it to the South Pole, it did have some successes–mapping large stretches of previously unknown land, making it to the south magnetic pole, and being the first to test a car in the Antarctic. They were even the first to publish a book in the Antarctic, using a printing press they brought along and using candles to keep the ink from freezing! Check out the Trust’s excellent account of the Nimrod Expedition.


Photo courtesy New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust.

Mysterious monument found next to Stonehenge

by Sean McLachlan on

Britain’s most interesting monument just got a whole lot more interesting.

Archaeologists using subsurface imaging have discovered evidence of a circle of wooden posts about the same size as Stonehenge and just 900 meters (2,950 feet) away from it.

The Stonehenge Hidden Landscape Project plans to map features hidden under the surface in an area totaling 14 square kilometers (8.7 sq miles) around the famous monument. The mysterious feature was found only two weeks into the three-year survey.

The team picked up traces of postholes, where heavy wooden poles had once been sunk into the earth. The soil in these holes is of a different density than the undisturbed soil around them and show up on the subsurface imaging. The ring of posts appears to have had two openings opposite one another and was encircled by a ring of pits a meter wide. Archaeologists say it was built about 2,500 BC, about the same time that the builders of Stonehenge switched from using timber to using stone.

Project leader Professor Vince Gaffney of the University of Birmingham said, “When you see that as an archaeologist, you just look at it and think, ‘that’s a henge monument’ – it’s a timber equivalent to Stonehenge. The monument is one of the most studied monuments on Earth but this demonstrates that there is still much more to be found. The presumption was this was just an empty field – now you’ve got a major ceremonial monument looking at Stonehenge”.

The BBC has an interview with Prof. Gaffney and a computer reconstruction of the monument here. His team’s discovery comes just weeks after the start of excavations at Marden Henge, a stone circle ten times bigger than Stonehenge. It’s shaping up to be a good summer for archaeologists!


Image courtesy user Nachosan via Gadling’s flickr pool.