Back in 1989 when I was pregnant with Irene, and Ingvild wasn't even a twinkle in her mother's eye, the children's father and I took the boys, then 3 and 1 1/2 years old to experience Constitution Day in Oslo. Since Husband had never been to the Capitol for May 17th we decided to go this year.
The early train that we took from Ski was already filled to the brim with people in bunad (national costume) or their Sunday best, on their way to the city. One couple carried a basket containing a bottle of champagne, glasses, a table cloth and napkins. I assume they were planning to picnic in the park after the parade.
Karl Johann, the pedestrian street, and main shopping thoroughfare that leads up to the royal palace, was decorated with flags on both sides all the way up. Walking up this street, before long we came upon the police corps band marching up and playing my favorite Sousa marches. Right then my day was made, and the trip to the city made worthwhile!
When they had finished playing they marched up toward the palace, preceeded by the 3 horses. The middle horse practically danced in time to the music and the drumming. It was fantastic to see!
Along the way we passed...
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| A clown making balloon animals |
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| People swimming in a fountain |
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| Red Cross volunteers ready to help in an emergency. |
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| A gypsy band, playing lively dance music. |
Finally we found a place along the railing from which to watch the parade:
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| The police corps band marching up to the palace. |
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| A wagon containing musicians playing for a folk dancing troupe. |
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| Folk dancers |
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| His Majesties Guard. |
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| The childrens parade comming up Karl Johann. (photo from www.vg.no) |
It was amazing to see the approaching children's parade approaching, like a mist of red white and blue as far as the eye could see, punctuated with the banners that preceeded each school and marching band. Almost every school had a band and the city was filled with music. We stayed and watched for about 45 minutes (the whole parade lasts for 3 hours) then began wandering back toward the train station. We met the parade again in several places, always with music. On the way we stopped at Oslo's best italian ice cream place, run by Italians, for coffee and tiramisu.
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| Royal Family: Crown Princess Mette Marit, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, Crown Prince Håkon, Prince Sverre Magnus, Queen Sonja and King Harald waving to the crowd from the balcony of the royal palace. (Foto from www.vg.no) |
We could see the royal family on the balcony, though so far away, that all we really saw was 2 black figures (the King and Crown Prince), a red hat (the queen) and a light grey figure (the Crown Princess). The royal family has stood on the balcony to wave to the passing children every year (with very few exceptions) since 1906 when the first king was brought to the newly independent Kingdom of Norway from Denmark. Below I link to a video report of the whole parade.
Love it! I've never been in Oslo for constitution day either, gotta get that ticked off eventually :) Glad you had such a good time. Love <3
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