Do you believe in the commoner, the young man winning the princess and half the kingdom? Well, even if you don’t, it just happened. On June 19th, Crown princess Victoria married her Daniel, who after saying yes was turned into Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland. The wedding was a great piece of theater, a spectacle set to the beauty of Stockholm. The Royal Palace and it harbor, the Old Town and Storkyrkan as back drop, carriage procession and a trip across the waters ont he Royal Barge Vasaordern (there are still two of them still in use in the world, in Sweden and in Thailand). The wedding was in many aspects ”low-voiced”, carried a very Swedish ”lagom” touch, meaning ”not to much, not to little”. Prince Daniel’s emotional speech was cheered by the guests, not the least when he jokingling said: ” “Once upon a time the young man was… perhaps not a frog, in the beginning of the fairytale, as in the story first told by the Grimm brothers. But he was certainly not a prince.”

The couple will move into the Haga castle located in the Haga Park close to the campus area.  The park is a favorite place for many Stockholmers, and some are quite upset as the area around the castle will be restricted. King Gustaf III, also know as the Theater King took the initiative to creat the park, even made sketches himself. Sadly he was assasinated at the Opera during a masquerade ball. The park is quite big and have many extraordinary buildings. Among the Copper Tents. The king commissioned a French architect Louis Jean Desprez. The tents were to house the kings honor guard and their horses, and took three years to complete (1787-1790).

Spring, Summer and Fall: the park is a fabulous place to spend time in, walking, running, playing games, having a pic-nic, or just a nice cup of coffee.

Summer is probably the most important period for Swedes. It is the time of vacation, never ending nights, nature, beeches and summer houses far out in the country side, or as many Stockholmer’s in the Archipelago. The almost 30,000 islands makes the Archipelago to a sailing paradise. So far the summer has been absolutely wonderful. With tempratures around 90°F across the country. My hope is it will be just as great when the Fall semester starts, so all the new students may experience the cray fish parties in a perfect setting.