The government buildings that were ripped open in last July's bombing are still cordoned in Oslo. Nearby Utoya, the island where the bomber then slaughtered scores of children, remains riddled with hundreds of hollow point bullet holes. The scars of a devastating terrorist attack are fresh on the Norwegian landscape.
They're also fresh on the Norwegian national psyche. "We haven't got to the stage where people have gotten mad yet," said Norway's king Harald in a rare interview. "I think we'll go through that as well. That has to come and go before we finish with this. And we have to let that happen."
According to the New York Times, King Harald is widely percieved by his nominal subjects to have performed adaquately in the aftermath of the attack, giving a moving speech on television, and weeping at the national memorial service for the 77 victims Norway's homegrown, right wing Christian terrorist.
His Majesty referred to the attack, predictably, as Norway's 9/11.
King Harald, the first native born Norwegian king since the 14th century, is scheduled to arrive in these United States later this year, with his wife, Queen Sonja. The royal couple will visit Manhattan's ground zero for a second time, before heading off to Minnesota to address the American Scandinavian Foundation.
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