Hipp hipp hurra

Its 17 of May -Norway's independence day. I remember being almost as excited about this day as chirstmas. I used to wake up early and tie old cans to my bike and then bike up and down the street to wake up my neigbours. When I become older I was part of a gang who would drive around with music blasting to wake people up - Dont ask me why we did this, it was part of the tradition and I dont think anyone really know why.

When I started University I moved to Oslo and after have celebrated 17of May there one year I always wanted to be in Oslo on 17 of May. The streets are filled with people, there are music and games everywhere. hotdog and icecream is sold on every corner - and of course the king! The king (and the rest of the royal family) would stay on their blacony and greet all the children walking in the parade. As Oslo is a fairly large city and has a few schools the parade would usually take between 3-4 hours. Yet the King would have a smile and a wave for every single one.

I have not celebrated 17 of May since 2002 and I actually almost forgot about it this year (I should have gotten some clue from my newspaper running lots of stories about national dresses..) Anyway, celebrating here in Australia, but i did start this morning singing the national athem and hopefully in not to many years we will be able to celebrate 17 of May in Oslo.