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A very empty Parade street This is what the parade street up to the Palace looks like an early Easter morning. Hard to believe it will be absolutely crammed with people wearing their best suits, loud brass bands and singing children in only 17 days from now. We have had some nice weather the past few days, and the leaves are appearing on the trees in a light shade of green that is typical for May 17th. Baby green leaves, flags and music (and sunny weather if we're lucky) and a very crowded parade street. This is the place to be on May 17th!

Another certain sign of spring is the cleaning of the streets, removing all gravel and filth from wintertime. All streets are to be swept clean before the National day. Some of the street lights also get a fresh coat of paint. Some years ago they painted the benches outside of the old university near the palace, but the weather (or possibly the quality of paint - or the benches) caused the paint to dry very slowly, resulting in nice dark green stripes on the bottoms of whoever was lucky enough to get a seat. So watch out where you sit!

Media coverage is a big thing on May 17th. Most Norwegian channels broadcast from nation-wide celebrations all day, from the snowy north to the rainy west, looking also at whatever the royal family does on this day (because they are important symbols on this day, despite the fact that they are descentants of the Danish royal family with an unusual lot (for a royal family I mean) of fresh common blood. The programs are filled with celebreties, politicians, children and sprinkled with odd or cute stories from outlying places. Short reports from Norwegians celebrating the national day all over the world are also shown.

Take a look at this photo gallery with old May 17th photos from Aftenposten, Norway's biggest newspaper to get in the May 17th mood!