Valborg is one of the most important festivities in Sweden, although it’s common to plenty Centro-European and Nordic countries. It is commonly known as Valpurgis Night in English speaking countries.

The festivity and its name comes from Saint Walpurga and its canonization in May 1, ca. 870. She was born un the United Kingdom, and greatly helped to evangelize the Germans.

In Uppsala, the common celebration is to go raftin in the Fyris river with funny homemade while having a light breakfast of strawberries and champagne. After that, there are gatherings in parks with music and a lot of party.

In Stockholm, probably the most famous way to celebrate it is to go to Skansen (an open air museum and zoo), to a day of concerts and live music from different choirs and orchestras of the city, and to end everything with a huge bonfire.

Well, the bonfires are not only from Skansen, and neither only from Stockholm or Sweden, as probably it’s the most common way to celebrate Walpurgis Night everywhere. Kind of similar to how the Noche de San Juan is celebrated in Spain.

Related links:

• Wikipedia: Walpurgis Night.
• Wikipedia: Saint Walpurga.

During April 10 and 11, and for the second year in a row (although I wasn’t here last year to check it, hehe) in Kungsträdgården Park, it was celebrated the Stockholm’s Medieval Market (Medeltidsmarknad).

Although the park itself is quite big, the area occupied by the Medieval Market was not very extensive. Anyway, there was a stage for live music, an archery field, a dozen shops of medieval-related stuff and a craftsmen shop in which they were forging metal, a guy with a horse on which children could ride, etc.

But the most important thing was, of course, the atmosphere, which was great, as it was full of people with costumes, some even with armors, making it very easy for people to get in the medieval mood.

Also, I have to say that it this event really marked the coming of the good weather… finally! :D

Related links:

• Official site: Medeltidsmarknad.

Maybe, one of the few things you don’t want to hear while traveling to Stockholm, is “Mr. Hernandez your luggage is at Amsterdam”. Anyway, this kind of things happens sometimes, and you have to cope with them.

While hearing this, I was also handed a survival kit from the Stockholm-Arlanda Airport. By the way, I don’t think I’m as big as for getting a XXL t-shirt, but…

The kit contains the following:

• A blue bag containing the rest or the items.
• A white t-shirt.
• A pair of blue socks.
• A comb.
• A safety razor.
• Shaving cream.
• Moisturiser.
• A tooth brush.
• Tooth paste.
• Deodorant.
• Make-up remover.
• Laundry washing liquid.

It surprises me that the pack doesn’t include any kind of briefs. But at least it has the nice detail of including liquid for doing the laundry.

Fortunately in my hand luggage I was carrying clothes for 2 days (like always) and anyway, they brought my luggage from the airport to my new home that same night, at 23:00.

Maybe soon, I’ll explain also how to deal with a completely unusable bed. It was like that when I arrived, I promise, it has nothing to do with the XXL t-shirt :D

By the way, I’m already in Stockholm… neat beginning, eh? :P

Well, this is not the only video I recorded from Amsterdam , but also the only one from my trip to the Netherlands, so, enjoy this not at all unique view from that country :P

The video was recorded, as its name says, in the Dam Square , where the Royal Palace and the National Monument -built to memorialize the victims of World War II- can be found.

Amsterdam Impressions:

• mrithail.com: Amsterdam: Impressions.
• mrithail.com videolog: Dam Square, Amsterdam.

Last update: 2009-08-14

Fast forwarding since the last trip, I arrived to the Netherlands to visit my friend Craig (the author of the Espanish Tribute, which was created during these days), who showed me some cities of that marvelous country.

Amsterdam is located in the west of the Netherlands, on the shore of river Amstel. Aside from being the capital of the country, it’s also the largest city, with a population a little bit over 750,000 inhabitants. In it, you can find the oldest stock exchange in the world.

The first settlement in the area appeared around the 13th century, as a fishing village that grew around a dam that was built across river Dam. Since then, the city became more and more important in time. It even became the wealthiest city in the world during the 17 century.

The houses of Amsterdam reminded me a lot of the ones you can find in the downtown of Copenhagen (Denmark), with plenty buildings with just 3 or 4 stories, very colorful and a typical architecture you can find in the north of Europe.

The presence of water in this city is quite important, and you can see plenty of channels spreading from the main river that crosses Amsterdam from one side to the other.

The weather I could find in there during my stay (in mid January) was quite irregular. Some times you could find the sun shining, and five minutes later a heavy rain. Anyway, most of the time it was cloudy, and not as cold as I was expecting it to be.

The people in there was nice, although I didn’t get to talk too much with people born in Amsterdam (I’m sorry Craig, but you are from Scotland :P ). As far as I’ve been told they’re kind and helpful… let’s check next time :D

I liked the nightlife and the party places. But surprisingly, most of the ones we found were closing really early… at least for my standards, but you know, I’m from Spain :P

I think that Amsterdam is a really interesting city, with plenty of places to discover and to enjoy, and for sure it’s worth a visit. I just hope that the next one (because there will be a next one :D ) I can stay longer.

P.S.: I’m having a problem uploading pictures to flickr… I’ll hope to be able to post pics both from Milan and from Amsterdam soon.

Update 2009-08-14: Finally I managed to upload the pictures from Milan and Amsterdam :D

Amsterdam Impressions:

• mrithail.com: Amsterdam: Impressions.
• mrithail.com videolog: Dam Square, Amsterdam.

Related links:

• Wikipedia: Amsterdam.
• Official site: Amsterdam.

And now, for all of you to feel a little bit how is a New Year’s Eve in Milan , I recorded this video:

The video was recorded in Piazza Duomo , the heart of the city. And well, it was recorded in two parts, the first one being after the second one, but I liked it more this way.

Enjoy it! :P

P.S.: CH, after this video do you still think that I’m scary? :D

Milan Impressions:

• mrithail.com: Milan: Impressions.
• mrithail.com videolog: New Year’s Eve in Milano.

Last update: 2009-08-14

Finally, with this post I finish with the trips I did during 2008, and at the same time, begin with the ones I’m doing in 2009. How can that be? Well, because I went to Milan , Italy, with the sole purpose of celebrating New Year’s Eve in there!

Milan is in the north of Italy. It’s the second most populated city of Italy, with about 1,300,000 inhabitants; but it’s metropolitan area is by far the largest in the country, with approximately 7,400,000 inhabitants. Also, it’s known as one of the world capitals of design and fashion.

The first settlement to appear in the area of Milan was around 400 BC, and under the Roman regime it got the name of Mediolanum. Since then it has been under control of other countries like Spain, France and Austria between others, before becoming definitely Italian again.

The downtown of Milan is a nice example of Gothic architecture, but that area is very small. For the rest of the city, the predominant architecture you can find is tall and grey concrete buildings. The streets are usually wide, but unfortunately, I don’t really know why, I feel them dirty.

The climate is very constant, and in December is really cold and wet. It rains a lot and it’s not strange to find snow covering parks and streets. But the snow makes a beautiful view for places like Sforza Castle

I find the people from Milan a little bit weird sometimes. Usually they are open and talkative, but sometimes during the night (and the parties) it’s hard to see them in an open mood. I remember being with my friends shouting “Buon anno” (Happy New Year) and greeting everyone on the streets, and people were really reluctant to say anything back.

Nightlife in Milan is good, but maybe too expensive. For me it is complicated to imagine myself partying regularly in pubs or discos in there. Or at least buying all the drinks in there.

I enjoyed my time in there, but there’s not really much to see in Milan, and in just one day you can calmly visit everything. I’ve already been there twice, and I don’t really think I would go back there if I have the chance to visit other places.

I would like to post pictures, but right now I’m away on a trip. I wrote this picture before leaving, but I forgot to upload the pictures, so… you’ll have them when I get back to Madrid.

Update 2009-08-14: Finally, I managed to upload the pictures :D

Milan Impressions:

• mrithail.com: Milan: Impressions.
• mrithail.com videolog: New Year’s Eve in Milano.

Related links:

• Wikipedia: Milan.
• Official site: Milano.

Last year (yes, this trip is still from 2008… you see how lazy I’m becoming about writing in here!) on the second time I visited Macedonia, I decided to make a short stop in Sofia (София) , Bulgaria.

Sofia is located in the West of Bulgaria, just near Mount Vitosha, and it’s the heart of the country in many aspects, such as administration, cultural, economy, and education. It has a population of almost 1,500,000 inhabitants, being the 12th largest city by population in the European Union.

It’s one of the oldest cities in Europe, and its origins can be traced back about 7000 years, and before being known as Sofia, it had other names such as Serdica and Sredets. Due to its location, during history it has been conquered by several empires, such as the Roman, the Byzantine or the Ottoman.

I don’t know why, but to tell the truth, while I was in Sofia, it reminded me a lot of Madrid . Maybe it was because of the mixture in its architecture, and how the downtown is distributed, but I can’t say it for sure.

During the time I was there, and taking into account that it was in November, the weather was a little bit cold, wet and foggy; but never to the level of being uncomfortable. So, nothing strange given the dates and the location of Sofia.

I can’t really say much about the nightlife, as my only experience in that was waiting for the bus at the central bus station. And neither about the people, as I didn’t really spoke with any natives aside from for buying things.

So, for the little time I spent in Sofia (just 8 hours), I can say that I liked the city, and I would really like to go back to be able to enjoy it more. Also… come on, they use the Cyrillic alphabet (like in Macedonia, although in here it’s a slightly different version), which of course, gives the city some nice extra points, at least for me :D

Related links:

• Wikipedia: Sofia.
• Official site: Sofia.

With this video from Louvain-la-Neuve I’m done with this series of posts about Belgium… I just hope I can go back soon, you know, to be able to write some more, hehehe.

I don’t really know where were we exactly, so in the mrithail.com map I just picked a random place in Louvain-la-Neuve to place the mark. It was amazing to arrive to a party in the middle of nowhere, and see people as far as the lights allowed you to see… thousands of bodies jumping at the rhythm of the music. Just great!

And I’m sorry that my last 2 videos were so similar… just darkness, electronic music and plenty of people dancing… but hey, not everything is going to be cultural tourism, right? :D

Louvain-la-Neuve Impressions:

• mrithail.com: Louvain-la-Neuve: Impressions.
• mrithail.com videolog: Partying in Louvain-la-Neuve.

The last destination of my trip around Belgium was Louvain-la-Neuve , one of the youngest cities in Belgium, which hosts the the successor of the oldest university in Belgium.

Louvain-la-Neuve is located in the Walloon Region (that is, the French speaking part of the country), just 30 Km to the southeast of Brussels and its population is about 30,000 inhabitants, the vast majority of them being university students.

This city began to be built in 1969, and its first inhabitants arrived in 1972. The sole purpose of creating this city, was for it to host the Université Catholique de Louvain, which appeared after the split up of Catholic University of Leuven into a French and a Dutch speaking universities.

As it’s a university oriented city, Louvain-la-Neuve is full of life during the weekdays, but almost empty during the weekends, as the students take advantage of those days to get back home and visit their families.

Anyway, several new constructions, such as an exhibition center, a shopping complex and an auditorium, are destined to attract more permanent inhabitants, so the city doesn’t become so dependent from the temporary students.

One of the main points of Louvain-la-Neuve is that it is people oriented instead of automobile oriented, so the city has two different levels, being the upper one completely pedestrian; and the underground one, destined to diverse kind of automobiles.

Being the city as it is, the nightlife is great (but remember, only during the weekdays), being full of student organizations that rule dozens of bars and pubs. Also, it’s quite interesting to see the initiation rites to join those organizations.

And it’s really interesting to know that Louvain-la-Neuve hosts the biggest student party in Belgium, which is called 24 heures vélo (24 hour cycle), drawing more than 100,000 students. It’s held from 13 pm Wednesday to 13 pm Thursday usually during the fourth week of October.

So, summing up, I can say that it’s a great idea to spend a day or two during weekdays, and only for partying as much as you can, as, aside from the two-leveled streets, there’s not really much more to see. Anyway, an interesting place.

Louvain-la-Neuve Impressions:

• mrithail.com: Louvain-la-Neuve: Impressions.
• mrithail.com videolog: Partying in Louvain-la-Neuve.

Related links:

• Wikipedia: Louvain-la-Neuve.