Let Freedom Ring in Stockholm!!!

Blake- the biggest patriot I know- had been planning a 4th of July celebration for months. Unfortunately, the weather did not RSVP. First off, weather forecasting apparently does not exist in Stockholm. I mean, they have it, but you can check 3 different websites and get 3 different forecasts. And all of them somehow all manage to be wrong. Anyways, back to the story- the weather had been fantastic for the past week and a half right up until the day before our big 4th of July picnic- which was planned to be outside. So Blake kept an eye on the weather (as best as he could) and sure enough- 2 hours before the big party- it started downpouring. So we made an executive decision to nix the bar-b-q part, host the party at our place, and hopefully move to a park around 10 to watch the show. That was fun, but we were all ready to watch the big show:

So we rounded everyone up and hopped on the bus to go to a park where we thought it may be possible to set off fireworks.


We were a little worried that it wouldnt be dark enough since this is what the sky looked like at 10:30:

Luckily it was dark-ish by the time we got to the park:

We had asked around and tried to look online to see if setting off fireworks in the middle of the city was actually legal. We still arent exactly sure what the ruling is. Some people said no- it is only legal on New Year's Eve. Some would say no- because it is a fire hazard. Some would say no- since it was in the city. Hmmm... I just now realized that most people said no- it was not legal.

Well Swedish laws were not about to stop us, but we were a little worried when someone informed us that the Police station was 2 block away, and then even more so when a fire truck drove by:

But the show must go on!

Well, that is until the police did actually show up. They drove by once, slowed down, but didnt stop. Then drove back past us, then finally backed up and got out of the car. We charmed them over though and it was cool. Ha- actually we just said we were Americans and that it was the 4th of July. He said, "Well, I'm not going to tell you to set them off, but, um, just think about the fire-hazard." To which I replied, "Well it just rained a few hours ago, so we are good! Thanks!" But we did promise that it was the last one. So here is our last one (well last big one):

After the show, we were just standing around in the park when some random drunk guy came up and started chatting with Blake and Henning. He was weird. And racist.

And then the rave started. Well actually, Oskar (now known as the Firestarter) was lighting some mini-fireworks that were very strobe-lightish, and it got funnier and funnier:

So the moral of the story is- Dont mess with America! Take that Sweden! Courtney out.