Ein fiffig blanding: May 2006

Vorspiel

My Tante Eli flew in on the 16th of May to visit for a few days and see syttende mai in Norway. It was so wonderful to see her after five months and we had a great time prepping for the next day.

Tommy and Terje are looking dubious as they are engaged in conversation with Eli.

Tommy and Eli and I.

Bunad sølv.

Tommy and I were also engaged while Eli ironed our shirts and the flags in preparation for syttende mai.

Hurrah for Syttende Mai!

So here they are: pictures from Norway's National Day. It has taken me a while to put them up-they were taken on May 17th. I have no excuse except for laziness. It was a great day though. I will never forget the huge crowds of bunad-clad folk. It was quite the sight to see. I felt a ton of pride also when I first donned my bunad and very lucky as well to get the chance. After a champagne breakfast (we had food as well) and the childrens' parade in Eiksmarka, Tante Eli and I headed downtown to see the celebrations. There were masses of people, many wearing bunads, and also people with other cultural backgrounds wearing their traditional dress as well. Syttende mai is primarily a day for kids so there were tons of childrens groups in the parades. It is also important to get your fill of ice cream and hot dogs. You wouldn't believe it by looking at them but Norwegians consume some of the most sweets per capita compared to the rest of the world. And I am doing my best to honor this fine tradition;)

Here we are enjoying the tradional Syttende Mai breakfast. Apparently champagne with breakfast is mandatory. I love this country!

Barna tog i Eiksmarka.

If you ignore the huge glaring Burger King sign you can see the gorgeous Bunad straight ahead.

The four tiny figures up on the balcony of the Palace are Kong Harald, Dronning Sonja, Kronprins Haakon, and Kronprinses Mette Marit. They say hi:)

BBQs and Tur til Kolsas

Barbequeing in the ruins of a 11th century church.

Ana desecrating the ruins;)

My name written in Viking runes, compliments of Ana.

Barbeque on Akerselva.

About a 25 minute subway ride outside of downtown is a huge rock-er...structure for lack of a better term-named Kolsas. I was hiking there on Saturday. It was really nice with beautiful views of the Oslo fjord and city.

Vaaren har sprunget!

Where else in the world can you do this? Last week I was running around Songsvann, a lake very much like Greenlake in Seattle except that it is in a forrested area. Halfway around I walked out into a dock to rest. Because of the heat, I was only wearing a t-shirt and rolled up pants. I sat on the edge of the dock and rested my feet on the ice of the still-frozen water! So groovy! It took about two days for the ice to completely melt in Sognsvann. The weather is so perfect right now: twenty degrees over the last week and the sun sets at about 10:00 only to rise again at about 4:30 the next day. I have been to three barbeques since last weekend and I spend most of the days outside now so I am getting quite tan. Life is good in old country.