Midsommar i New York

Grand Central

Dave and I took the train from Riverside (very handy and within walking distance from our house) and 45 minutes later we were in New York. What luxury to have such a cool city so close. But I suppose they pay for it too, the people in Greenwich. I haven't seen any house for sale for under 2,5 million dollars... Anyway, we arrived at Grand Central Station - this beautiful, classic building as seen in so many movies.

My favourite - the Chrysler Building

The weather was good, not too warm (but almost) and luckily not that sunny. The day before, Greenwich had turned into the Sahara, but Friday was a bit cooler. We decided we're gonna go back and forth a few times to New York while we're here so that we can explore the city and really take our time. So today we didn't have any plans, just walked around, up from Grand Central to Central Park and then down again to Times Square.

LOVE (and a bit of rain) is in the air.

My Converses felt at home

Alex thought the M&M building in Times Square was the coolest thing ever. Dave got tired of it fairly quickly.

At Times Square, we took the subway all the way down to the tip of Manhattan and Battery Park. That's where all the swedish New Yorkers celebrate Midsummer's Eve...

Småland, Sweden? No, New York!

Arranged by the Swedish Consulate, the festivities had a maypole, a good crowd, sill but no snaps (herring but no shots). You are not supposed to drink in public places in America, so the Swedes politely drank their rose wine with discretion, hiding behind someone else.

... So we hid our beer in a sock.

We hooked up with Dave's friend Ben and his little daughter Mikaela who was practising the traditional "little frogs" dance.

Definitely not Småland.

Of course, it had to rain a little bit on Midsummer's Eve as it always does in Sweden, so just before the festivities were starting up Dave and I felt one drop of rain and decided to look for shelter. We walked to a tent and waited there. Two minutes later hell broke loose. The rain started lashing down and all the swedes in their pretty, summery dresses and white shirts ran for their life and joined us in the tent. But after fifteen minutes the sun was out again and the show could go on. Alex joined in with the dancers around the pole and enjoyed her favourite songs "Vi äro musikanter" and "Räven raskar".

All good again.

Tired, but happy we took the train back to Greenwich and decided to do the remaining 98% of New York some other day.