Happy Independence Day!!

Happy fourth of july, everyone!! I hope you all enjoyed some fireworks and hot dogs. If you had been lucky enough to be in Oslo for the 4th, you could have enjoyed and ex-patriot gathering with special guest Walter Mondale. Not so much for those of us in Trondheim, but we enjoyed our little celebration all the same, even sans fireworks. We bought a couple of mini-grills, which are extremely popular around here. Basically they are just a small aluminum pans with some charcoal thrown in and a thin sheet of lighter fluid infused paper over it and a grate for your food. Most people take these along with them to any spot of green grass they can find to sunbathe in. Wayne and I wanted to celebrate by having an all-american meal on the grill - steak, veggies, potato salad, cobbler, and of course, beer. I forgot the fact that we are in norway, where herds of cattle are a little hard to keep on the mountainside.... That's ok, because good celebrations call for some sacrifices - I ended up walking two miles to a "walmart" type grocery store in Lade, the next town over, in order to find a random (and only) cut of steak available. Who cares if it ends up being intenstine? it's COW!!! yay!! Truly American. :)
Other highlights of the day - annoying the neighbors with wayne's randition of Lee Greenwood's "I'm Proud to be an American" (which, folks, i caught on video, but i am forbidden from posting on the internet, sorry!), and lots of bluegrass. okay, so maybe "erdinger" and "dahls" aren't the most "american" of beers to be drinking on the fourth, but neither bud nor PBR was readily available.
Sunday we took the city tram out to Lian and did some hiking. The Bymarka nature area is around that area, although we never could figure out exactly where we were.. It was really beautiful out there. we were surrounded by mountains and there was a pretty lake that was popular with locals. It was a great sunshiney day and all the kids were out in the water. Lots of wildflowers in bloom, too. Next time we go though, we hope to be armed with a better trail map...
Next Friday we leave on our trip to Tromso!!! I am super excited. For those of you who don't know, Tromso is the biggest city inside the Artic circle. Because it is so far north, we should be able to see true midnight sun. Here in Trondheim, the sun dips beneath the horizon from about 11 pm- 2 am, although it never really gets dark. In Tromso, the sun doesn't set at all. There are all kinds of programs in the summer set up to celebrate the midnight sun, like the Midnight marathon and the midnight organ perfomances at the Artic Cathedral. I did check the weather for the weekend.... rainy and cloudy... I am hoping that may change through the week so i can get my peek at midnight sun!!!