The cemetery of Caye Caulker, Belize

One of the smallest cemeteries I have ever encountered. Caye Caulker can be reached by a 45 minutes' trip by boat from Belize City. I spent 2-3 nights at the small island in the early fall of 2003.

Updated on Tuesday 13 April 2001 at 19.45.

A cemetery in Tangier, Morocco

I paid Tangier, Morocco, a short visit in early October 2008. The cemetery I came across was not too well kept...

King Harald V's condolences to the Marshal of the Sejm

The President of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, his wife as well as several top military officials were killed in a plane crash in Russia early on Saturday 10 April 2010. The King of Norway has offered his condolences in a letter to the The Marshal of the Sejm (President of Parliament), Mr. Bronislaw Komorowski, who is now president ad interim:

HE Mr. Bronislaw Komorowski

Speaker of the Parliament
Warsaw

Your Excellency,

I was shocked and saddened by the news of the terrible plane-accident today that caused the death of your president HE Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and so many persons from Poland’s public life and other citizens of Poland.

On behalf of myself and the Norwegian people, I wish to convey to you and to the people of Poland my heartfelt sympathy and deepest condolences.

Harald R

(Source: The Norwegian Royal Court.)

See also the Official Website of the President of the Republic of Poland.

«Alt for Norge» – «All for Norway»

The first episode of the reality show «Alt for Norge» («All for Norway») was shown on TVNorge tonight. Ten Norwegian-Americans arrived in Norway last year to participate in a not too serious fight to determine which member of the group was «the most Norwegian». The winner would eventually meet his Norwegian relatives for a family reunion. And win 50.000 dollars in addition.

The participants come from all over the United States: the health care worker Matthew Lovik from Santa Cruz in California descends from Stord in Western Norway; the actress Signe Harriday of Harlem, New York (Steinkjer, county of Nord-Trøndelag); the opera singer Maia Surace from Chicago, Illinois (Austre Moland outside Arendal, county of Aust-Agder); the performance artist Kari Trauring from Minneapolis Minnesota (Gudvangen, Aurland municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane); the security guard (but also a part-time professional wrestler!) Joseph Ruud from Long Lake, Minnesota (Nannestad, county of Akershus); the pastor Grant Aaseng from Alexandria, Minnesota (Vågå in Gudbrandsdalen, county of Oppland); the personal shopper Flannery Good of Fresno, California (Åsnes/Våler in the county of Hedmark); the laboratory manager Doug Miner of Seattle (Helleland, county of Rogaland), the insurance agent Deborah Breberg from Dawson, Minnesota (Tuddal, Hjartdal in the county of Telemark) and finally the photographer Clinton Admire from Forth Worth, Texas (Haugesund in the county of Rogaland). Except for Lovik I have put the place of origin in Norway in parenthesis. Henriette Bruusgaard hosted the show.

The episode started at Prekestolen («The Pulpit Rock») in Forsand, Rogaland where they were challenged to hike down to Prekestolshytta. Other challenges were peparing a matpakke (lunch packet) before heading for a short introduction of the Norwegian language and etiquette. Later they received a list written in Norwegian of things they needed for dinner, which was to be served outdoors at Sverd i fjell in Hafrsfjord, Stavanger. It caused some trouble to find out what the Norwegian words meant and how to find the various stuff in downtown Stavanger. No, duk was not a duck, but a table cloth! And what was served for dinner? Not everyone was happy about the main course: grilled whale!

No-one was eliminated tonight, but in the next episode the real fight starts! During the show the Norwegian-Americans will among others compete in tractor racing, cow collecting, dog slade racing and 17th of May (National Day) celebration. Obviously a «feel good» show, quite entertaining with very charming and sympathetic participants. I already look forward to the next episode.

Lots of research has been done in advance, among others in order to find the relatives of all the participants. Norsk Slektshistorisk Forening (the Norwegian Genealogical Society) and DIS-Norge (Genealogy Society of Norway-DIS) were given the task and have done a great job. I joined the board of the Norwegian Genealogical Society as a deputy member after the research was done, so I will not take any credit for this... :-)

Photo: © TVNorge (published here by permission).

Updated Friday 9 April 2010 at 11.25.

Sarah, Duchess of York to appear on Skavlan TV show

Sarah, Duchess of York, the former wife of HRH The Duke of York, will be a guest at the Swedish-Norwegian TV show «Skavlan» on Friday 9 April, the Norwegian media reports today. The TV show is hosted by the Norwegian Fredrik Skavlan.

I don't know why the former Duchess has been found interesting enough to get invited to the show, but Marianne Torp, a member of the Skavlan staff, says she is going to «fortelle litt om livet hun lever nå, rollen hennes som hertuginne [!!!], og hva hun er opptatt av» («tell a little about the life she is leading now, her role as a Duchess [!!!], and what she is engaged in»). Could someone please tell Ms. Torp that Sarah is not a Duchess anylonger? If NRK.no's headline today, «Adelig besøk hos «Skavlan»» («Noble visit at «Skavlan»»), is anything to go by, I really fear for the level of the show.

(Just for the record: when Sarah was married to HRH The Duke of York, she was titled/styled HRH The Duchess of York. After the divorce, she is styled as Sarah, Duchess of York.)

Other guests are the British pop singer, model and TV personality Cheryl Cole, the Norwegian comedian and football fanatic Bård Tufte Johansen, the Swedish actor, TV host and stand up comedian Magnus Härenstam and the Norwegian social anthropologist Thomas Hylland Eriksen. The latter is according to NRK.no going to talk about why feelings explode at football matches. Bård Tufte Johansen is currently involved with the TV documentary «Fotballkrigen» («The Football War») and has in this connection travelled around the world to watch famous derbies and football wars, including Fenerbahce vs. Galatasary of Turkey and Rangers and Celtic of Scotland.

«Skavlan» is a talk show broadcasted on the Norwegian channel NRK and the Swedish channel STV. The show is this spring produced by NRK, while STV was responsible for the programs last fall.


Updated on Thursday 8 April 2010 at 06.40.

Sweden: Sky-high rents await royal wedding tourists

There are many ways to make money out of the forthcoming royal wedding in Sweden. If you wish to rent an apartment for the week of the royal wedding in June this year, you must expect to empty your pocket:

Sky-high rents await royal wedding tourists

(The Local 6 April 2010)

Sweden: Royal wedding quiz

The Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter has made a quiz about Crown Princess Victoria and her fiancé, Daniel Westling. What do you know about the couple, their background and relations? If you understand Swedish, why don't you give the quiz a try?

http://www.dn.se/livsstil/2.1950/dn-test-kronprinsessbrollopet-1.1071172