Happy Birthday, Norway

   The Independence parade in Trondheim today was a serious event, the whole city must have been there and everyone was dressed up with nearly half the crowd in traditional outfits. The morning paraders were kids with their school classes. There's an afternoon parade too, of adults.

   You could tell the people were very proud of their country. Norway got it's independence in 1814 as the result of a treaty that ended one of the Napoleanic wars. During the war, Norway belonged to Denmark who supported the French side. When the war ended, Denmark had to give up Norway to Sweden and Norway immediately declared independence. Sweden being a good neighbor, recognized their constitutional independence and they both lived happily ever after.

   The cathedral in town was built starting around 1050 and took 200 years to complete. It was dedicated to its patron, St Olav who was buried there as a Catholic. The state religion eventually became Lutheran, as it is now. The cathederal burned down and was rebuilt a number of times since the beginning but it's now fully restored using much of the original materials. It's huge and dark inside, the stained glass was particularly beautiful, and wish I could have shown you a picture of it. But since photos weren't allowed inside, I have just an outside view to show.
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'   Weather was beautiful, and we leave Trondheim about 1:00 pm.