McAleese and her husband Martin are spending three days in Norway this week, starting with all the ceremonial splendour accorded such occasions. King Harald and Queen Sonja are the official host and hostess during the visit, and greeted their guests at the Royal Palace Tuesday morning.
From there the couple headed downtown for meetings with the president of Norway's parliament, Thorbjørn Jagland, and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.
As usual the prime minister showed off the view from his 17th floor office and then discussed both the current financial crisis and climate issues with McAleese.
The Irish president, age 57, has been her country's head of state since 1997 and is a member of the republican party Fianna Fail. She was re-elected to a seven-year term in 2004.
The couple were invited to stay at the Royal Palace in Oslo on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday they'll head north to Trondheim, where they'll be guests at a major energy conference and visit a coastal museum at Stadsbygd.
