every year, as a sort of celebration of summer & all things fun, norrköping holds it’s augustifesten (the august festival) smack in the middle of downtown. or actually all over downtown. for all you ashevillians, think “bele chere”, only bigger. it’s a four day street festival, a fair with rides, a market, outdoor concerts, and four nights of fireworks. in other words, F.U.N. and even better when the weather is summer-y & rain-free, which it was this year.
we didn’t go crazy with all things “augustifesten”, but we did see & do the most important parts: walked the market crammed with people, observed the same stuff (crap) being sold over & over at different stands all the way down the street, discovered a new second-hand store & perused their antique goodies, watched some outdoor concerts, had fika(s), enjoyed a pub or two, visited the fairs, hung out with friends, ooo-ed & aaahhh-ed at the fireworks every night. i gotta say a few words about the fireworks: we live one block from the river where the fireworks were shot off. needless to say, it took 2 minutes to walk from our apartment to the river’s edge to watch the fireworks directly over our heads. a.w.e.s.o.m.e. poor zola greeted us from under the bed every night when we came home. cutie.
as if the august festival wasn’t enough, our german friend, G, came back home to norrköping after 2 weeks visiting her real home in germany. we missed her so much that we decided to have a sleep over this weekend, and she stayed with us. well, actually her apartment here in town wasn’t ready until today, so she needed a place to crash for 2 nights. it was a perfect excuse for a slumber party weekend. happy dance.
well, enough talk. i’ve got pictures to show you, as you can see. so, here’s a peek into our little end-of-summer festivities (no one has officially declared it an end-of-summer ritual, though. ok i just declared it so.).
wednesday
fika in the sun.
thursday
friday
saturday
now it’s sunday & i’m spending spending the day relaxing at home, getting myself ready for a week of work, and looking forward to a visit from another friend next weekend, and then our trip to ireland in a week & a half!! so much to do! and the time is flying by. before ya know it, it’ll be december & we’ll be heading to the states for 3 and a half weeks!!! ok. back to reality, back to today…
gonna sip my afternoon coffee & catch up on some reading now. hope you guys have had a great weekend and enjoyed a few moments or days of rest & fun.
wishing you days filled with balloons, sunshine, fireworks, good friends & peace.
Beautiful pictures! It looks like a great time. At the same time, though, it makes me a little sad. A year ago right now, I was in Norrköping with you all!!! Sigh. I’m looking forward to the next time I can be back there, whenever that is.
I can’t believe it’s been a year! Wow. I hope that y’all can make it back here sometime soon. You’re always welcome!
Well Liz,
All I can say is: you’re a very fortunate woman. But, of course, you know this?
A successful move, to live with/marry same-sex, to be accepted as resident, to be able to partake in your new land so easily…I know you’re aware of just how rare this is? To be able to walk, hand-in-hand with your love. To be able to take her as your legal wife…wow.
I am so happy for the two of you. Proof-positive that love prevails & that the definition of family is whatever you make it.
Cheers! 🙂
Tracy, you are so right. I most definitely wake up every morning (and multiple times throughout the day) and give thanks for the love that I have in my life. I am completely aware of how blessed I am and how most people spend their lives searching for this kind of love, this kind of life… or they give up searching. I am truly humbled by my life, and my amazing love.
Thank you for this comment. xo