The 17th of May, otherwise known as syttende mai (May seventeenth) in Norway, is a national holiday celebrating the adoption of the constitution in 1814. Every year on this day Norwegians fill the streets with traditional dress and parades, all the while enjoying endless amounts of ice-cream and hot dogs. For me, the 17th of May was one of the best days of my time here and brought out several unique cultural aspects of Norway.
For many skiers this time of year the months of April and May are a time to travel, relax (a little bit), and enjoy time in the sun. Recently, my exploration has included a trip to Prague (Praha in Norwegian), Russefeiring (I’ll explain later), and a triathlon called Villmannen (“The Wild Man”).
To start out, the city of Prague gave me a taste of the big city life in Europe and the best part was not dealing with the hours of travel and jet-lag—Prague is only a two-hour flight from Oslo. So, for the first time in a while, I felt like an actual tourist. The closest thing of comparison from back home might be a trip from Minnesota to Florida in spring—obviously with more of a historic European feel. What I’m trying to say is that everything was green! All the flowers were in bloom and temperatures were in the 70s during the day. The trip gave me a chance to see Prague castle, walk across Charles Bridge, and gawk at the architecture of the ctiy. In addition, and more importantly, was the opportunity to taste some true Czech pilsner and Budweiser… mmm
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