Meet real-life Elsa in Arendal (Arendelle)

Linda from Arendal is Elsa from Frozen's lookalike

If you are a true «Frozen» fan, you might know that Arendelle got its name from the Norwegian city Arendal in Southern Norway. And as it turns out, the city even has its own Elsa look-alike. Dance teacher Linda Thommesen is often stopped on the street by people who tell her that she looks like the Disney princess from «Frozen». 

Original text & photos: Linda Dyrholm, Arendals Tidende

Linda often wears her hair braided like Elsa. She often gets stares and people commenting on the resemblance. People sometimes even come up to her to take photos. 

"I was sitting at a local café in Arendal when I noticed a family staring at me. They smiled and waved, so at first I thought it was someone I knew, but after a while they came over. It was a family from Germany on holiday in Norway for the first time. They told me I looked so much like Elsa, they just had to come over. The daughter in the family was a «Frozen» fan. She was wearing an Elsa sweater and also had her hair braided like Elsa. They were so happy when I agreed to have my photo taken with them, and the little girl was smiling and blushing. Right there I felt like a real life tourist attraction."

But this was not the first time someone noticed the blonde Norwegian on the street. 

"Last year I went on holiday to New York. As I was walking down the street in a blue dress, lots of people approached me and exclaimed “Oh my God, it’s Elsa!”. I did a lot of photos with «Frozen» fans in New York. It was so much fun."

"As a dance teacher I teach small children, and the girls are really into «Frozen». They dance in ballet clothes with «Frozen» prints and has their hair braided like Elsa and Anna. I think we have to do a «Frozen» show soon."

"Maybe I can do stunts here in Arendal, especially when the cruise ships are arriving. I can perhaps dance like Elsa in the harbour as the passengers embark the ships and do photoshoots with them," Linda suggests.

The cruise representative Gordon Fuglestad in Arendal harbour has thought of the same: 

"As of today, there is no castle in Arendal, so people get a bit disappointed when it doesn’t look like it does in the movie. We dream about a castle to make the city even more appealing to the families who visit."