Ceské Fun Zona

As said, I went to Prague to attend to this expo and meet friends. But there was soooo much more going on at the same time. On the week I was there, they had also kind of City Festival with lots of activities going on and this United Islands Open Air concert festival. So there definitely was something for everybody.

Me and my friends went to see whats cooking on that Open Air Festival. It was great, they had set up various stages on these little islands on the river and everything was free entry. From the line-up I didn't recognize one single band, but the ones I saw actually delivered pretty entertaining show.

United Islands World Stage

I was really surprised about the atmosphere on this festival. There was loads of people, but everything and everybody seemed to be really laid-back and realxed. No rushing or elbowing anywhere while lining up for your beer, food or toilet. I guess that more or less Ilosaari in Joensuu is the only Finnish festival that has bit of this hippie / family mood going on. Elsewhere in Finland, according to my experience, the audience just tends to get too drunk and agitated. But I might have this all wrong, since it's been ages since I went to an open air in Finland. Correct me, if the code of conduct has changed since nineties.

Can U Feeeestival?!

I especially liked this Catalonian / Spanish band called La Troba Kung-fu. They were very lively and funny and got the audience really dancing. I wanted to attach a video of the band, that would show the energy they had on stage, but I didn't quite find a good one. From the following example, you can hopefully get some droplets of it.

Midsummer's dream

The traditional Finnish midsummer "Juhannus" is always on Saturday that lands between 20.-26. of June. It is a very special and well liked public holiday. Everybody who has a chance heads out from the city somewhere on the countryside, to spend this weekend on a summer cottage by the water.

The tradition also claims Juhannus to be a magically romantic time, since all the singles are supposed to dream about their future spouses on the midsummer nigh. To achieve that, one needs to collect seven different flowers and put them under one's pillow. Or go dancing naked on a field at exact hour of midnight.

Midsummer night - flowers on a windowsill of Ujezd bar.

"Kokko" -a bonfire, is also an essential part of the festivities on midsummer's eve. In Finland you see these fires everywhere along the lakes when the twilight starts to sneak in. In the pagan days these fires were burned to honor a god called "Ukko" who was the deity responsible of bringing good harvest later in the autumn.

So it was only natural that the Finns in Prague would gather together and make party on this special time. We had this nice barbecue and lots of booze, and we all had the best of time. Absolutely everybody showed up and I got to exchange latest news with so many people I hadn't seen in ages. Just brilliant!

This time events rolled out less eventfully than four years ago, we just stuck on conversating and hanging out in a garden of one house. No flower picking or dancing around butt-naked. Very sophisticated... Last time we were on a picnic in Letna Park and as a closure to a perfect evening we decided to make a bonfire. Because what is Juhannus without one? The local police was not quite as enthusiastic about this as we were. Hey c'mon, it was only a very small one and in a safe place? And anyhow, no nakedness was involved that time either.

The evening ended in this very nice bar called "Ujezd" at Mala Strana.