Constitution Day!
Norwegian Constitution Day is the day Norway celebrates becoming an independent country. The Norwegian Constitution was signed on May 17th, 1814. Students were the original celebrators of the holiday.
As I said yesterday, the high school seniors kick things off with a noise making parade at 07:30. Their parade started with cannon fire. We did not get up to see the students' parade. We wandered out for the main parade. Unfortunately it was raining on and off and a bit chilly.
I'm not actually sure what is going on in most of these photos, so I will do my best to explain, or make things up.
Oh no! This zebra lost its bottom!
Oh good it's all better now. We never saw the zebra again.
I guess we are a bit early. People seem to still be gathering and getting to places.
This flag needs tethers.
Old timey fire truck.
Bronze hedgehog, because, why not?
I liked all the traditional outfits.
I think this is the official start? Maybe? He seems official.
Firemen!
Old timey fire truck more officially.
Yay. We're in the Navy. We're so excited.
We may not be excited, but we're not a dreary as the other guys.
Giant shiny thing!
That may be the Ark of the Covenant.
The green kids' soccer team. They all had lollypops to keep them quiet.
The....sailing club?
The youth hockey club.
.....Jet-ski club?
Youth dance club? The boy in black in the front was REALLY into it.
The Buddy Lloyd Wannabees. They also danced.
Dentists of Bergen?
Masons of Bergen.
Yes they are building walls while being in a parade.
I think anyone could just wander into the parade and be a part of it.
.....and a bagpipe band?
Yup. Highland Bagpipe Band.
Actually we saw a few Scots amongst the crowd.
This lady's umbrella matched her outfit.
Happy Constitution Day Norway!
Glad we could be there with you!
We left the parade early as festivities weren't supposed to finish until 15:00 and my flight was at 16:00. This caused some interesting logistics for us as we originally thought we'd just take the same bus we took from the airport back to the airport. This wasn't possible as all of downtown Bergen was blocked off for the parade.
We ended up wandering through crowds and around the parade to the main bus terminal.
Crowds and parade.
We made it to the bus terminal and found the correct bus which got us to the airport in plenty of time. Maybe too much time.
Views from the bus:
We had left over Norwegian Krone, so I purchased some books and a bunch of unknown candy.
Candy!
I had a different flight out from Dan. I had a layover in Copenhagen, Denmark and I think Dan went through Germany.
Views from the plane:
Leaving Norway.
Arriving in Denmark.
Leaving Denmark.
This concludes our adventure in Bergen, Norway.
