In The Summertime

...when the weather is hot, you can stretch right up and touch the sky.

Yep, that definitely got me singing. 

Living in a country where it is cold most of the year, summer time is very much appreciated. 

Almost everyone books a cruise that goes to the different islands in Sweden. Internationally, cruises can also be made to Helsinki in Finland, St. Petersburg in Russia, or Tallinn in Estonia. People ready their luggages to travel somewhere, or just plan how to spend several days on the beach, climb a mountain, take that long drive to a cabin by the lake, and disconnect from the busy world.

The summer weather in Sweden starts around late May to the middle of August. Students end their vacation in June, and those who have jobs start their vacations at about the same time.

Those who hold permanent jobs here in Sweden have a mandatory one-month leave annually, that's excluding offset hours you have from working overtime during weekdays and weekends. In total, Swedes are only allowed to work 11 months in a year, that's the law. It's to give the body the amount of time it needs to rest and recuperate.

Some have their vacations for the entire month of June or July, and others start in the middle of a month counting four weeks into the next month. This is within the months of June, July, and August.

THAT is how Swedes spend the summer time here in Sweden. 

How about the sunrise and the sunset? It almost never gets dark here during the summer. The sun just sets low in the horizon. So, by the time the sun officially sets a little before midnight, it's already dawn at around 2 o'clock in the morning.

Your insomnia [if you have it] would get worse here during this time of the year. This is why black rolling curtains are needed to keep the room dark at night during this season, to help one sleep.

Either that or just enjoy spending those long summer nights drinking beer while watching the sunset at about 11 o'clock in the evening.

That's summer in Sweden for you, and I will try to post as many as I could about it.

As for the recurring tune that is probably playing now in your head...