scan|design trip to norway

as an end-of-the semester treat, scan|design arranged a trip to norway for us (‘thank you, scan|design!’). we took the ferry (= cruise ship) from copenhagen to oslo, and then marianne, our intrepid mentor, showed us around lillehammer and and the capital for three days. our trip coincided with norway’s national day, may 17, so we got to see traditional costumes, parades, and lots of other celebratory goings-on. in lillehammer, we got to visit maihaugen, an open-air museum that had an exhibit on norwegian history as well as several examples of traditional wooden buildings. after our day in lillehammer, we took the train back to oslo, where we visited the vigeland sculpture park (which i visited last november and love) and the newly opened operahuset, which was fantastic (and i have to say better than copenhagen’s…particularly in a roof-to-roof comparison). we had a great time, ate some delicious lefse, sampled different foods-in-a-tube (including, yes, the always-wonderful nugatti), and enjoyed some blueberry muffin ice cream at anker brygge, oslo’s new harbourfront development/restored warehouse district. having visited norway once in the winter, it was really nice to be able to see what the landscape, and oslo, were like in the spring. i was really impressed with the city – and got to see many places that i hadn’t visited before. it was also nice to be there for the national day and to learn a bit about norway’s historical ties to denmark. so again, ‘thanks, scan|design…!’

may day in dk

in denmark, may day is more of a political holiday than it is a day for making paper baskets and leaving them on your neighbors’ doorstep filled with flowers (which is what i remember doing on may 1 as a child). here’s the wiki-info i was able to dig up: “Left-wing policial day. Many people try to get a day off this day, and some even have it in their employment contract. A few people attend political meetings, though many – especially young people – meet at the sites of the political meetings to drink beer and other alcoholic beverages. Copenhagen’s Fælledparken is well known for its annual May 1st gathering. This is a full holiday for blue collar workers, but not for white collar workers.” we decided to check out the activities at fælledparken (which were crazy – lots of music, political speeches, LOTS of people, tons of beer). we international students celebrated in our own way with a picnic featuring delicious sandwiches engineered by cat and a fantastic ‘apple sand’ cake that laura got from lagkagehuset (my favorite, favorite copenhagen bakery!) in honor of cathrine’s birthday.

sandwich detail – there’s pesto in there!/klaus and cathrine enjoying the picnic goodness

happy birthday to the queen!

april 16 is the birthday of queen margrethe ii of denmark, and is recognized as a special day. at noon on her birthday, the queen appears on the balcony of amalienborg palace (her residence in copenhagen) to wave to her subjects and admirers as they wish her a happy birthday. this year, queen margrethe turned 68, and appeared on the balcony with her husband (or “prince consort,” as is his official title), henrik, as well as her younger son, prince joachim, his two sons, nikolai and felix, and his fiancée, marie cavallier. the royal family smiled and waved from the balcony for a few moments as the royal guard music corps played birthday songs before retreating back into the palace – but not without two further appearance “encores,” which were met with much cheering and flag-waving. : )

the crowd gathering in the amalienborg palace courtyard as the royal guard marches past

queen margrethe appeared solo first before being joined on the balcony by her family

many people were waving the danish flag (or dannebrog) to celebrate the queen’s birthday

the royal guard music corps playing birthday and other celebratory tunes

no royal danish celebration would be complete without a changing of the guard – because this is a special day, they were wearing their dressy red uniforms

many of the danish kids were really into the celebration (love the tiny soldier outfit) – it seemed that there were many groups of schoolchildren in the crowd, and lots of grandchildren on grandparents’ shoulders : )

bike bucket full of tiny celebrants/i think my favorite was the group of kids wearing little crowns : )  happy birthday, queen margrethe!