Norway Day, 17th May II

 Peoplewatching people watching the parade.

 Volleyball club

 Amazing nurses

 My mum, dancing with her dance club (wearing my sister's Tromsbunad)

 Tromsø Fire and Rescue

 Just hanging around this old fire...waggon? What ever do you call it?

 I want to be this kid.

 Hellooo Red Cross again

 I don't know why, but there was a tiny pony there and it needed documenting

Caught up with this beautiful person after a whole day of

"yeah, we'll meet there. No, there, ah, well, we'll bump into each other".

So that was Norway day, y'all, until I ran home and got changed and jumped on a plane to Oslo and stayed with Maja and went to England the next day! Photos sooooon.

Norway Day, 17th May I

 Britt Cristine at the Red Cross house, with a more northern bunad

 Tromsø main street, I just noticed my sort-of-godmother Eva in the middle there,

didn't see her when I took the photo or on the day...

 Ingrid and Christine

 Bruno (France), Carlos, Ingrid, Christine and Xiomara (you know my Colombians by now, I'm sure)

 I get to be in the photo as well, happy days.

Ingrid wears the country-Nordlandsbunad (green), while Christine and I have the coast version (blue).

 Now: The Citizen's Parade, where all the local societies show off.

Here it's the Hurtigruta cruise ship I think, with lots of German and English tourists who look confused.

 This is the banner of the gymnastics society (?), probably a very old one as well.

 Theatre for children and young people

People with instruments...

I don't actually know, I just wanted to photograph the man wheeling the massive cello (?).

Nordlandsbunad

 Beautiful shirt which I wish I could wear daily

 Flowers, not sure whether we have these flowers in the north, but oh well

Little odd purse that fits almost nothing, but it's pretty and full of embroidery and silver

Finally got my bunad to my flat - this will be the first year I attempt to put it on without my mother around, and I'm scared I'll get it wrong. There are all sorts of silver brooches to be put on, and since this is a traditional national costume, there are different versions with different clasps in different places, and I can never seem to get it a) right and b) logical and c) nice-looking. Will try.

Mine is a Nordlandsbunad, meaning it's from Nordland, the county south of Troms (yes, it means north-land, and no, it makes no sense that it's south of the two northern-most counties). There is a Tromsbunad as well, but it's very recent, and a lot of Troms/Tromsø inhabitants use the Nordland - on Norway Day in Tromsø I will blend in like an American wearing stars-and-stripes-clothes on July 4th. I also have the blue, which is supposed to be the coast version, while my friend Ingrid has the green inland version.

I love my national costume. My mother got married in hers (which is Follo, which is near Oslo, and very different). I got mine for my confirmation, which is very common. I never took it to England because it's worth way too much, so this will be the first time I wear it on Norway Day since 2007. Looking forward to it!