Last of the snow pics, I promise

More stunning views. It would take about 40 minutes from our apartment to get to this area to ski. Hard to pass up. After a good ski (down to that lake in the previous post), we might head for our favorite bakery and some hot chocolate. And then a long - very long- rest because we would find ourselves wiped out for the rest of the day!



























Yes, you're eyes do not decieve you - there are a number of trails that are lit at night and the little eateries stay open late as well (there were stua - restaurant type places to ski to and eat). We did this twice - mostly at dusk. I prefered going uphill in the dark for obvious reasons. Still- it was an experience and quite magical.














Oh, yes, I do know what to do with the skis - falling down is only one option!

Not done yet with the snow

It was winter after all.













This is a lake (Sognsvann) that I like to walk around. They plow the trail around it so you can walk all year. However, once the temps got above freezing during the day and below at night... icy.










This is at a different train stop - actually the end of the line. See the kids on the sled? From this particualr stop there was a section of trail (all downhill) that troops of sledders would do. You end up at a different stop (a few down the hill) and you hop back on the train to the top and do it again!













Amazing! And yes that is me with the skis - I know that isn't how you are supposed to use them!

More Snow

Here is the view out our kitchen window at the icicles an snow on the rooves. When the temperature starte to get above freezing during the day - the icicles and snow mounds on the rooves began to slide off. THere were signs and warning posts all over warning people about fall icicles and snow. I do know that there were some people who ended up being hit and having to go to the hospital.












Here is a view of campus and the hills and trees covered in snow - pretty.
This is at the University of Oslo. Just see how much snow we had!











This is the David's building. Sure makes it look like it was sunny all the time, doesn't it. It wasn't

Snow, Sno, Snow

I am lumping a bunch of pictures taken from January through March around Oslo. This first one is at one of the rail stops almost at the end of the subway line, from which you can ski. It is sunny - but that was not usual. The trails here were much harder than any we had done before and there are no signs on them telling you how hard they are. On our first time out the trail we took had a hill that we labeled the worst. By the end of the season, it wasn't so bad as we had skied down harder ones.
This photos is overlooking the train tracks. The trees were covered in snow like this for most of a month and the temperature down where we lived didn't go above freezing for at least that long as well.













Here is David - looking like he is having fun - and he is. We took a few movies of our skiing - they are kind of slow and funny to watch.















One Sunday we went out and the trails were so crowded that if you got out of the track to rest, you might have to wait a bit to get back in. This was tough on me as I always wanted there to be no one coming up or going down a steep hill when it was my turn. BUt this was virtually impossible. I was afraid (at least at first) that I would not be able to stop or get out of anyone's way (or go around someone). What I had failed to understand was that any adult Norwegian who was skiing, was really good and could stop on a dime and ski around me as if I wasn't there. And often did. I tended to go down hills very slowly (and up hills pretty slowly, too, come to think of it.) Even the little kids often went down the hills in a tuck so that they could go fast. Here is picture of the trail on that most crowded day.

Halloween

Well, Norwegians don't appear to celebrate Halloween, but we did get our first snowfall on that day.

We left Norway for the US on the 4th of November - arriving in LA and to our hotel just in time to watch the returns from the presidential election. Very exciting. Althoughit was all I could do to stay up until 9 pm LA time - I kept dozing dring Obama's acceptance speech.

We then began what was the most hectic and stressful traveling. We arrived in LA for a meeting that did not happen. So we went to San Francisco to visit for a couple of days with David's family. We then had to go back to LA to take our scheduled flights - I was off to Austin to attend a casting class with Linda Ethier. David went on to Tallahassee for a few days, traveling to Philadelphia to give a talk and then returning to Tallahassee. I returned to Tallahassee and then a less than a week later we loaded up our van and drove to Durham, North Carolina where we were to stay for a month (mini sabbatical research position.
We then drove to NY for Thanksgiving. Back to Tallahassee around the 20th of December and then off to California again to visit. Then it was back to NY for me and North Carolina for David. Then we met in NY to take a flight back to Oslo in early January. We were tired and tired of lugging around allour luggage - but happy to have seen as many friends and family as we had.
This is the clay model for a cast piece I made in my class. Unfortunately, the finished piece is in Tallahassee and I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it before I left.












This is Linda Ethier, our instructor. It was a great class - very intense.

Hadeland and Oslo

I just though that this was an amusing photo of my brother and David.












This is close to our house and gives a nice view of the fall colors. Seems so long ago....












On our second outing we visited 2 art/craft venues. This is a photo from Hadeland which is a famous glassworks not far from Oslo. They have a very nice museum and demonstration area where we watched this man make a large plate. We bought a small piece (to replace a glass bowl of our landlady's that we broke). There are a number of 'outlets' for glass and other kinds of stuff at the Hadeland complex which we didn't find very interesting (it was very crowded). But the drive there and back was great - beautiful hills and yellow birches all along the way. Just like I remember fall from growing up in NY.

Oslo Fjord - West side

Here we are again. It was a bit windy, but the light was lovely and it was a dramatic walk out to the end. Or where the rocks gave out and open water began














This is an elegant bridge to take you out to the rocks facing the open water. One thing I must say is that many of the bridges I have seen in Norway are beautiful and both whimsical and elegant in design.











Yeah, it was windy.

















My brother and I on the bridge. We saw jellyfish in the clear water from that bridge, but they proved hard to take pictures of.

Fall in Oslo and Surrounds

Fall came and it was beautiful. The days did get shorter and shorter, but the beauty of the plants put the thoughts of cold and dark out of our minds (sort of). Although we did notice that the height of the sun was pretty low most of the time and that was a little worrisome.

This red plant is, believe it or not, Virginia creeper. Who knew? It covers many buildings and turns a blood red at the height of its fall color. There is an Edvard Munch series of paintings depicting a yellow house (common color of buildings and houses in Norway) that has this blood red color dripping, as it were, all over the house. When we first saw the painting we thought of blood and how many of Munch's works seem so sad and full of grief. But, it turns out, this is how Oslo looks in the fall.


















In October my brother Andy came for a visit and we took him to Vigeland park just after a rain storm (note the rainbow). We have managed to go to this park in all seasons and it still impresses us. This winter we managed to finally get to the museum that is at one end of the park and houses much more of Vigeland's work (it was his studio).







We took a couple of day trips outside of Oslo with my brother. We visited some viking mounds and yes that is just what they were - mounds of earth that were high, and presumably someone was buried in them. There looked to be an interesting museum, but of course, since it was Saturday, it was closed.

We continued our outing down the west side of the Oslo Fjord. This lighthouse (literally) was at a place ont he fjord that you could see open water. It was spectacular. A rocky outcropping at the edge of the water. The area is quite popular in the summer for swimming. More photos on the next post.

Prekistolen

OK - this is where we were headed. Yes, it is a rock that looks like it ought to, and probably someday will, fall into the fjord. Yes, that is the Lysefjord there in the background and stunning views all around.















This is taken from the top. Breathtaking. When we arrived at the top the sun came out and lit up all the tops of the hills and glinted off the water. Just stunning.












It looks like we are just on the edge, but we are a couple of feet (at least) in from the edge. I couldn't get close to the edge at all. David laid down to get close, but found he just couldn't put his head over the side. Ann managed to do that. Brave soul.








Here are some other brave ones (or are they crazy?) laying down to look over the edge. There were some who were able to sit with their legs hanging off. Not me.

Southwestern Norway

After Bergen we rented a car and drove to Stavanger (also on the coast) taking a ferry and numerous bridges to get there. We rented a cottage and toured around looking for good birds. It is a vvery pretty area with lots of farms and a lot flatter than other parts of Norway that we have visited. Many of the farms were surrounded by stone walls like this one - very different than the ones I grew up with in NY.







This was a path down to the ocean behind our cottage. The grass was very thick and lush. The owner of our cottage told us that Eric the Red was supposed to have lived there before going off to Greenland (and Iceland, too, I think).






This is our cottage. It is a traditional building used for storage and called a stolpa bue (not sure now of the spelling). This one was renovated to sleep many people with something like 4 double beds upstairs in a large open space. Very cozy it was.
















On our last day in the area we went to the Prekistolen - a rock that looks like it couldn't possibly be there. It was about a 2 1/2 hour climb up (and a 2 1/2 hour climb down) and was one of the best hikes I have ever been on. In this picture we are looking at people standing on th Prekistolen and, as you can tell from my face, I am not too sure about this....More coming...