Good evening! Hope you've all been enjoying Christmas Day. I had previously written on here about the Gävle Goat http://europecrazy.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/heres-christmas-tradition-youve-goat-to.html
His Twitter profile says: "I'm the biggest straw goat in the world, follow my struggle to survive arson attacks". Well, I thought I'd pass on the good news that our big Swedish straw friend has made it to Christmas Day.
This screenshot was taken from the live webcam from 20 minutes ago - and he's still standing, yeah yeah yeah!
By the way it's not too late to follow his royal goatiness on Twitter: @Gavlebocken
It's been great fun following this Twitter account this year, even if I can't quite believe this is what my life has come to, tweeting messages to a straw goat :))))
I love finding out about the various Christmas traditions across Europe. One of these is the Gävlebocken - the Gävle goat - which is a very famous attraction in Sweden. It's a giant version of the the traditional Swedish 'yule goat', made of straw, and it's erected every year in the Swedish town. Sadly it's become a target for arson over the years and it's even treated with a flame-retardant substance to stop it going up in flames. Here's hoping that it survives until Christmas :)
You can find more information on Wikipedia about the history of the Gävle goat. Check out the live webcam at http://www.visitgavle.se/sv/gavlebocken
The goat also has its very own Twitter account! Follow it at https://twitter.com/Gavlebocken
(picture courtesy of Prolineserver 2010, Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons)
I'm not a royalist by any means, but I've always been fascinated by the Swedish Royal Family for some reason. So needless to say I was very interested in the recent Swedish royal wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling, which took place on 19th June in Stockholm.
In the lead-up to the wedding, the Love Stockholm 2010 festival took place in the Swedish capital, which featured a number of events and free concerts all over the city, featuring some of the country's top musical artists. The event attracted 2 million people and guess whose concert attracted the biggest crowd (10,000)??
Given the country's strong musical heritage, the royal family have always been linked with Swedish music: top Swedish artists appear at the annual Victoriadagen concert every year, for example. On the night before the wedding, a gala concert took place in the Stockholm Konserthuset, attended by all the royalty and dignitaries in Stockholm for the wedding, and the guests of honour were of course Victoria and Daniel themselves. The concert featured Malena Ernman, Magnus Uggla, Helen Sjöholm, Peter Jöback, and a reunited Roxette singing ‘The Look’
But the best thing about it all? This song, specially written and performed for the happy couple...
As for the wedding itself, it was a natural and joyous occasion. Victoria, in a simple but classy dress, was a happy and serene bride, and Daniel had that usual facial mix of admiration and embarrassment going on (!). Unlike many royal weddings, where the spouses are headhunted for the sole purpose of an "heir and a spare" with no consideration whatsoever given to, well, love, at least Victoria dug her heels in and made sure she actually married someone she loved, rather than someone she was told to marry. I hope they have a long and happy married life together.
On a final musical note, two of Sweden's biggest musical stars, past and present - Agnes and Björn Skifs - got together to perform a specially written song at the wedding ceremony. Here's "When You Tell The World You're Mine" which has remained at the top of the Swedish singles chart since the wedding.
