As earlier indicated, you can stumble into unusual sights when hiking in Bymarka. Usually, I run into a moose or a beaver when I see something out of the ordinary. But today, I met someone slightly more unexpected!
It happened during a jogging trip together with a friend earlier this morning. At Lian, we met the Crown Princess, the Crown Prince and Jonas Gahr Støre, the Foreign Minister! They were walking the Pilgrim Trail from Skaun, enjoying the sun and mentally preparing for the conversation Mette-Marit and Jonas Gahr Støre are having tonight in Nidaros Cathedral. It´s related to Olavfestdagene, which started today.
We stopped at the top of the hill, where they were taking a rest and had some lunch. It was amazing! During a ten minute long conversation, we spoke about lots of things. Starting with the weather (universal icebreaker), we moved on to exercising, work and education. When I said I´m planning to study energy and environment at NTNU, the topic quickly moved on to environmental issues. I was completely taken aback when the Crown Prince said he´d heard about me because of my climate blog! I´d never expected such a level of up-datedness. How fantastic isn´t that?
It´s brilliant that they were so genuinely interested! I´ve kept my eyes open, and both the Crown Princess and Jonas Gahr Støre are very updated with excellent knowledge of environmental issues.
I have the utmost respect for the Foreign Minister, who is one of Norway´s best known politicians. I can understand why only by the firmness of his handshake and the sincere presence in his eyes. The same applies to the Crown Princess and the Crown Prince. They were just as warm, friendly and interested as I´d gotten the impression of! Norway couldn´t have had better representatives for the monarchy.
It´s great to have prominent people in key positions showing that they care about fellow human beings and the society. Not only locally, but globally as well. That´s what it´s all about. Caring means you think about others, and act accordingly. From an environmental angle; our shared environment and climate is essential for everyone´s survival. Therefore, I think taking care of the environment is a good place to begin.
