The Swedish national day

Today it was the Swedish national day!

We dressed Julie in a Swedish top, ate Kalles Caviar and sang the national hymn. The great sunny weather that we've previously enjoyed was unfortunately gone so we stayed at home... and spoke about how good the weather was last year on the same day when we had Maman et N here with us and all the great things we did together. That day it was 28 degrees and we took the ferry from Slussen till Djurgården, ate soft ice cream with sprinkles, waved to the king and queen after the national day concert at the city zoo called Skansen, walked back along the harbor to Kungsträdgården and ate dinner at A taste of Stockholm which is a food festival. Today we lived on those memories ;-)!

The tradition of celebrating this date began 1916 in honour of the election of King Gustav Vasa in 1523, as this was considered the foundation of modern Sweden.

In 2005 it became an official Swedish public holiday!, taking that honour from Whit Monday. This change led to fewer days off from work (more working-days) as the 6th of June will periodically fall on the weekend, unlike Whit Monday, which was always celebrated on a Monday. This has in turn led to complaints from some Swedish unions.