Gott nytt år!
One of the reasons I particularly liked the idea of getting to Sweden on New Years Eve was that it's one of the main times for fireworks over here. A was a bit concerned that I wouldn't be up for going out to see them at midnight after my trip, but I figured we could just wait and see.
Well, Lund didn't wait... We started seeing the occasional firework go up outside as early as 7 or 8 pm. They appeared to drop off significantly before long, though, so we figure it was probably just parents wanting to shoot something off before putting their kids to bed.
There's a decent-size hill behind our building here, so we'd decided to head up there at midnight to see the fireworks. When we went out at quarter-to, there were already a fair number of rockets being shot off and it quickly became apparent that some were coming from that hill. We got up there to find a group of probably about 30 people standing at the top and occasionally launching something, but there were also bursts above all of Lund.
Given my life as an American, my expectation of "major fireworks holiday" was something like Independence Day celebrations - a few governments or other large organizations hiring pyrotechnicians to put together massive localized displays, and maybe a few individuals with cheap consumer-grade rockets and ground effects of their own.
Lund's ideas on the matter were rather different. There was no evidence of any centrally-organized show, just everyone firing off whatever they wanted to and could get their hands on. And they could get their hands on a lot. I did see a little bit of the low-end stuff that you can buy over the counter in Minnesota in early July, but most of it was the big stuff. Rockets that travel a few hundred feet (hopefully upwards!) and then go off in large, elaborate patterns. 95+% of the stuff I've seen in professional fireworks shows in Minnesota, I saw shot off last night.
But it was everywhere, all around, and it just kept going and going and going...
As I said, people were already launching well before midnight and it picked up considerably as midnight approached. From midnight until about 25 past, it was simply insane, with a constant barrage of dozens of bursts visible along the skyline at any moment and leaving a visible gunpowder haze over the entire area. We stayed out until around 1am, when it had dropped off to allowing several seconds between launches.
And that still wasn't the end... Oh, no. It's just past 9pm on the 1st now and, while typing this, I've heard a few fireworks going off.
New Years Eve is a damn fine time to be in Sweden.
Well, Lund didn't wait... We started seeing the occasional firework go up outside as early as 7 or 8 pm. They appeared to drop off significantly before long, though, so we figure it was probably just parents wanting to shoot something off before putting their kids to bed.
There's a decent-size hill behind our building here, so we'd decided to head up there at midnight to see the fireworks. When we went out at quarter-to, there were already a fair number of rockets being shot off and it quickly became apparent that some were coming from that hill. We got up there to find a group of probably about 30 people standing at the top and occasionally launching something, but there were also bursts above all of Lund.
Given my life as an American, my expectation of "major fireworks holiday" was something like Independence Day celebrations - a few governments or other large organizations hiring pyrotechnicians to put together massive localized displays, and maybe a few individuals with cheap consumer-grade rockets and ground effects of their own.
Lund's ideas on the matter were rather different. There was no evidence of any centrally-organized show, just everyone firing off whatever they wanted to and could get their hands on. And they could get their hands on a lot. I did see a little bit of the low-end stuff that you can buy over the counter in Minnesota in early July, but most of it was the big stuff. Rockets that travel a few hundred feet (hopefully upwards!) and then go off in large, elaborate patterns. 95+% of the stuff I've seen in professional fireworks shows in Minnesota, I saw shot off last night.
But it was everywhere, all around, and it just kept going and going and going...
As I said, people were already launching well before midnight and it picked up considerably as midnight approached. From midnight until about 25 past, it was simply insane, with a constant barrage of dozens of bursts visible along the skyline at any moment and leaving a visible gunpowder haze over the entire area. We stayed out until around 1am, when it had dropped off to allowing several seconds between launches.
And that still wasn't the end... Oh, no. It's just past 9pm on the 1st now and, while typing this, I've heard a few fireworks going off.
New Years Eve is a damn fine time to be in Sweden.