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Norwegian National Day again here yesterday (May 17th). This is probably the most important day of the year in Norway, and for anyone who hasn't experienced one of these it is difficult to describe the scale of the celebration. The day begins with brass bands marching around all the residential areas at 06:30 to wake everyone up, then the flags all go up at around 7am. When i say "all", i mean pretty much every house in the city. There are some wreath laying ceremonies and such after that, and then 2 parades: One comprising all the schools in the city, the second comprising any clubs, societies, unions and social organisations that want to march. After that there are concerts, social gatherings etc well into the evening. Now this probably sounds pretty much like every other national- / independence- / saints- day, but in my (admittedly limited) experience the two things set the Norwegian version apart: The first is the sheer scale of the event, that in a city of around 160k here probably 100k+ people ventured into the city centre at some point yesterday, all dressed up smart and a large proportion in national dress. The second is that there is no military aspect to the day at all.
For us, it is Junior's first year at school, and so her first parade:
#1 - Overcoming your fears
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3780/8750126874_97ed5ea754_b.jpg
#2 - Actually enjoying yourself
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7371/8749002755_429e4e7421_b.jpg
#3 & #4 - Forming up the procession
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2880/8749220793_27221e20eb_b.jpg
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3706/8749002819_b7ece5bcb0_b.jpg
All with 5D, #1) and #4) with Samyang 85mm f/1.4, #2) with 70-200mm f/2.8 non-IS, #3) with 17-40mm f/4L
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