So, today, May 17. is Norway’s National day, celebrating our constitution which dates from May 17. 1814. It is a day everybody celebrates here, there are parades everywhere, where particularly children take part. People tend to start the day early with big breakfasts together with family and friends. In Oslo, the parade passing by the royal castle, where the king and queen wawe from their balcony, is made up of about 100 different schools with about 30.000 children in all. Here in Bergen, so the saying goes, the main parade in town consists of half the city’s population, with the other half watching. With a population of about 250.000 people, this isn’t entirely true, but the parade is still absolutely massive!
Not so this year, though. The whole country is still affected by the partial lockdown, and most people stay at home. The only parades this year are motorcades. Everything is broadcast on tv, so people can still take part from home.
At exactly 13.00. today, the national broadcast company hosted a «singalong» where everyone was asked to go outside their houses and sing the national anthem together. Thousands of people did, and it was quite moving, really.
Like most people, I’m at home with the family. We had a nice breakfast og smoked trout, scrambled eggs, local cheeses and freshly baked bagels. Later today I’m going to chuck some nice free-range chicken breasts, ribeye steaks and sausages on the barbecue and wash it down with some of my beer. Right now I’m sipping a G&T made from the locally made Bareksten gin. Too bad I have to work tomorrow...
View attachment 43462
