King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway visited Minnesota this weekend, causing anybody living in a small town over the age of 50 to go completely ape shit.
King Harald of Norway
After arriving on the shore of Lake Superior
The Royal Transport
they were greeted by representatives of the Norse Cultural Society of Minnesota.
Traditional Norwegian garb
As is custom, apologies were made by all parties present for 20 full minutes. After the traditional telling of the Ole and Lena joke, the king and queen were treated to Norwegian foods such as –
Fiskepudding (fish pudding)
Poteboller (potato balls)
Fiskesalat (fish salad)
Lompe (potato pancake bread)
Fiskesuppe (fish soup)
Fiskepote (fish potatoes)
Fiske Fiske (fish in fish)
Lutefisk (poison fish)
After dinner the king and queen delighted Minnesotans with interesting facts about Norway such as –
1. Norway is a monarchy.
2. The chef from The Muppets is from Sweden.
After dinner and a visit to each of the 5,000 towns in Minnesota with a Scandanavian name, the royal couple mounted the eight legged horse, Sleipnir and rode the rainbow bridge back to Valhalla. Governor Dayton bid them farewell covered in Lingonberries (as is tradition).
This has been the first time a foreign head of state has visited Minnesota since 2009 when the Prime Minister of Japan flew in on a giant robot.