And Now, The Rest of The Story

In an earlier post, we mentioned the planned trip to the United States involving the Royal Couple from Norway. The latest Viking magazine has now published the itinerary of King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway as they tour the United States, helping Scandinavian-Americans celebrate 100 years of AFS's accomplishments. .

From Oct 11 to 22, Harald V and Queen Sonja will be visiting various colleges and locations in the Midwest.They will first visit Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, October 13th.

Luther was founded in 1861 by a group of Norwegian immigrants, some of which were educated in Oslo, Norway This year marks Luther College's 150th anniversary with the Norwegian royal couple in attendance. Luther is the oldest Scandinavian-American college in the US. After a visit to the famous Scandinavian Vesterheim Museum, it's on to the next site.

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Oct 14th, finds the king and queen in Northfield, Minnesota. St. Olaf College was named after King Olav II Haraldsson ,who ruled Norway from 1016-1030. St. Olaf has a long history of Norwegian royal visitors. At this one, the king and queen will be sitting in on a Norwegian language class. (A bit of pressure on the prof, maybe??)

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Then, it's on to Minneapolis. October 16th finds the visitors at Augsburg College. Augsburg was founded in 1869. The college's first two teachers were from Norway and designed courses to develope the school's mission as a seminary. after attending a worship service at Augsburg's Hoversten Chapel, the royal couple will hold a brief reception on campus.

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Then, it's north to Duluth, Minnesota. October 17th finds the travellers at a re-dedication ceremony as King Harald follows his father's footsteps in Northern Minnesota. Duluth is home to many Norwegian imigrants. In Duluth, they will help re-dedicate a five-story tower that was built overlooking Lake Superior . The tower was erected to honor the relationship between Duluth and Norway.

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Before leaving the Midwest, the king and queen will take part in the October 21st opening of an exhibition at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The exhibit honors the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his expedition to the South Pole. This is an "invitation only" event sponsored by The Sons of Norway to provide the king and queen an opportunity to interact with members.

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Then, it's off the the East Coast and New York City for the celebration. This year marks the centennial celebration of the American-Scandinavian foundation, an organization that promotes international and cultural exchanges for students and adults involving over 30,000 citizens in exchange programs.Representatives from all five Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland,Iceland and Sweden will join the Norwegian royal couple as they celebrate an elegant evening of dining and dancing.