17 Mai

Goodnight, from Oslo!

Can you spot me in this photo? There are some Russ kids too!

Adorable little girls!

Jeremy + Me + Palace

Me, near the Palace, looking back down Karl Johans Gate

Jeremy, near the Palace, looking back down Karl Johans Gate

A view over looking just one of the many streets filled with people

A crowd of people gathered around to listen to a men's choir perform

A view of Karl Johans Gate, the parade was to the left of the photo, the Palace is straight ahead

A fun site to see on Mai 17, people dressed in traditional Bunad, people dressed in their everyday clothes and of course, someone eating ice cream

Another one of my favorite sites to see, the children that were dressed up really were too cute for words!

Can you find me in this picture?

You can see the King and Queen at the Palace in this photo

Holy Moly! What a day. I had seen a ton of pictures of Oslo on the 17th of Mai but to be here and experience was amazing. We finally left the hotel around noon and headed over to Karl Johhans Gate to watch the childrens parade. This is the largest Constitution Day Parade in Norway, 100 schools participate and 100,000 people attend the all day events! All the schools march up the street till they reach the palace where the King and Queen wave hello to them then they loop around and head to the City Hall Square. We got stuck in the crowd of people walking up the sidewalk towards the palace so we ducked back a couple of streets and headed up a back way. Everywhere you look there are people of all ages dress up. They were dressed up in traditional Bunad costumes or dressed up like it was a Saturday night and the Graduating students, the Russ, of course were running around in there red and blue overalls. The view from the palace was crazy, people crowded Karl Johans Gate and then just spread through out the city like ants that got off of their trail. We tried to get some good pictures that could capture how impressive it was. We headed away from from the main street and ended up at an Italian restaurant that became PACKED right after we were seated. After some delicious pasta, pizza, espresso and beer we were off. I was a little bummend out because the whole time we have been here I have been obsessed with the graduating students here. They are called Russ and they are amazingly funny! On the 1st of May, to start the celebration of finally finishing years and years of school, they throw on Red...Blue...and sometimes black overalls and start right in with the hi-jinx. They were supposed to of had a parade but we either could not find it or they did not have it, I was very sad. : ( We walked around town for a bit and just people watched. To say there were people everywhere just doesn't really explain what was going on around Oslo. We stopped in at Elm Street and had a beer, it was pretty quite in their, which was nice. We were feeling a bit tired from lunch so we went back to the hotel for a nap and by the time we went out later there were still people dressed in their Bunad and still eating ice cream, drinking and eating hot dogs. We were on the hunt for cheap hot dogs so we headed towards Aker Brygge. The street performers were out in full force. There was a man signing Johnny Cash playing a guitar, there was a girl with a terrible voice playing some tiny guitar with a crappy little amp and then there was just a man, holding a Norwegian flag, singing acappella, belting out traditional Norwegians songs. FUN! There were no cheap hot dogs at Aker Brygge so we made our way back to Karl Johans to find my favorite hot dog stand that has yummy hamburger dressing for their french fries. We sat outside and finished our delicious dinner and decided to call it a night. Unfortunately we were the only ones who felt that way...there were drunk people on the street below till at least 4:30am. Once again I have to compare Oslo to either Disney Land or a land of Magic. This time it's becuase, well, one, the outfits we saw. Everyone was in character although to them it really meant something...the other reason is because how filthy the city became on the 17th from all the silly string, candy wrappers, and garbage all around, but the city workers worked through out the night and the next morning the city was spotless again. Hooray for the 17th of May!