What a wonderful weekend we've had in Uppsala! Friday night we joined a group of Tyson's colleagues at work for a going-away party. It was held at an Irish bar called Buddy's here in Uppsala, and we were excited to enjoy not only being able to read the menu (which was in English) and understand the waiters (who spoke English with an Irish accent), but also enjoy more "normal" food such as a hamburger, fries, fish & chips.
Saturday we attended another organ concert at the Cathedral. It was supposed to be Jul (Christmas) music, but we only caught a stanza of Silent Night that sounded familiar. But the cathedral was beautiful with two huge trees in front. It's always an amazing place to be.
Today we capitalized on the Lucia events. Two weeks ago the Lucia coronation and fireworks show was cancelled because of the wind, but today they both went off without a hitch. We saw the Lucia coronation ceremony in the city center (downtown), which was really interesting. There were about 12 Lucia ladies, only one of which was crowned Uppsala's Lucia. Each town in Sweden selects their own Lucia for the Advent season. After she was crowned, they sang several songs. While we don't know what the criteria are for being chosen Lucia, we're pretty sure there's no swimsuit competition ;-) Here's a video of one of their songs:
At 4:30 this afternoon in 28 degree weather, we attended the Advent fireworks show. The fireworks were shot off inside the botanical gardens, and the crowd covered the hillside across the street leading up to Uppsala Castle. This fireworks show was by far the best we have ever seen! They coordinated 3 songs to the fireworks and it was timed brilliantly! There were several levels of fireworks and some types that we have never seen before that twirled and made curly-cues. It was amazing and we're already looking forward to it next year. Here are two videos of the fireworks:
After the fireworks, we attended a Lucia concert performed by the Frida Björks Chamber Choir and children's choir. It was wonderful! Frida is the conductor and arranged most of the pieces. Her group is certainly one we're going to follow and attend as many concerts as we can.
More pictures can be viewed here: https://picasaweb.google.com/101852905683847445633/SwedenDecember02?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIyI1PCiiobWbw&feat=directlink
Have a good week!
Tyson and Julie: we haven't been able to view any of the pictures from the links you have been providing. Even Vivian is unable to on her windows machine. It says: '403. That’s an error.
ReplyDeleteWe're sorry, but you do not have access to this page. That’s all we know."
Any thoughts to help us?
Julie, Not sure what I am doing but hope you receive this message. Really enjoy your blog. I do not want to use annymous but do not know what the other crteria is and how to access. Candy and Loren
ReplyDeleteI loved the Lucia video. The song they are singing is called "Sankta Lucia" or "Saint Lucia" in English. It tells the story of Lucia coming to a house in the early morning with lights in her hair. It's very magical. We just celebrated Lucia in Iowa City with the Swedish club here.
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