Happy Midsummer or Summer Solstice time! Throughout Europe there are many fine and wonderful celebrations at this time when the days are long and the nights are short. Indeed, it’s a little disconcerting that it still is very bright light out at around 10 in the evening, and the sun rises around 4:00am.
The day included
finishing laundry which we need to do before heading off on our cruise and also
having some lovely time together with Lars and Julie.
The bright blue
sunny sky just called for us to join Lars and Julie at their local Copenhagen
Zoo. This zoo is just a couple blocks from their house, but has a world-class
collection of animals.
Most exciting is the recent addition of two pandas on loan from China. Dick and Patti are very familiar with pandas from our own home zoo in San Diego, where our pandas were recently returned to China. Only a few rare zoos around the world are granted the right to have pandas. We have seen them in Mexico City, San Diego, and Dick has seen them in Washington DC, and Beijing China, and now in Copenhagen.
Most exciting is the recent addition of two pandas on loan from China. Dick and Patti are very familiar with pandas from our own home zoo in San Diego, where our pandas were recently returned to China. Only a few rare zoos around the world are granted the right to have pandas. We have seen them in Mexico City, San Diego, and Dick has seen them in Washington DC, and Beijing China, and now in Copenhagen.
The zoo is very
modern with lovely large enclosures. We especially enjoyed the polar bears,
kangaroos, elephants and giraffes. It was a picture-perfect day to be together
with cousins and enjoying the animals.
We were so
pleased to be invited along to a Midsummer party with their friends. This
included lots of amazing food and drink, and music and a bonfire which was
highly important to the event. We had been disappointed that we were missing the
Midsummer celebration in Barcelona, but thrilled that we would be able to enjoy
it with family in Copenhagen. These were some of Lars' oldest friends (and also
Julie’s friends for many years), and were delightful, funny, great cooks and
were so welcoming to us. Lots of English was spoken to include us Americans. The bonfire was impressive, in honor of St. John the Baptist ‘s birthday. The
festival in Denmark is called “Sankt
Hans”.
Lars and Henrick played in their sax and keyboard, and Patti got into the act with a version of the traditional American story “Who’s Got My Golden Arm?”
Lars and Henrick played in their sax and keyboard, and Patti got into the act with a version of the traditional American story “Who’s Got My Golden Arm?”
Here is a bit of
a description of a Midsummer celebration in Denmark.
The party went on
until after 11:00, and as we drove home in the twilight, we thought, “We are
much farther North than San Diego!” Happy Midsummer to you all.
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