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...

In September David's sister Ann came to Oslo to visit and the three of us went to the west coast of Norway for sightseeing and some birdwatching. We took an overnight train to Bergen, the second largest city in Norway. We thought the compartment had room for 4 to sleep, but there were only 2 narrow bunks and barely room for our luggage. You can see the three of us in this picture. David and I had to sleep head to toe and wake each other up whenever we needed to turn over. We won't make that mistake again!
Bergen is a beautiful city (with a reputation for having lousy weather). We had sun and warmth. This photo is from the top of one of the peaks (we took a funicular to get there). The oldest part of the city is made up of very narrow wooden buildings. As you go up the hill, there are narrow cobbled streets and pretty houses clinging to the hillside.
And of course there are elves, gnomes and moose everywhere!

Hanko, Norway

We visited Hanko an island in the Oslo fjord in late September (I think). THis is where the royals have a 'cottage.' It is a very pretty island dotted with summer cottages and pretty rocky harbors with boats. The group that David works for had a retreat here. This amounted to more than 100 people (only a few spouses came along). Pictured (from left) is Oystein (don't know his last name), Thomas Hansen, Don Griffin (David's student), me, Arnaud. I did see a few birds, but mostly it was too windy.

The retreat included 2 very formal dinners that began with a wine social and then a dinner that lasted for 3 1/2 hours (at least). There were 3 courses each served with a diiferent wine. Toasts and speeches were made. Seating arrangements were designed to separate people who would normally sit together (at the first dinner) so that the group would get to know people in areas other than their own. Awkward for me. But interesting.
















There are many paths on the island and some refer to sunken roads (from Viking era, I believe). Perhaps this is one?

Sonia Henie's Tutu

This is for all those Car Talk fans who have heard them mention Sonia Henie's tutu (the famous figure skater from Norway for those who don't know her) when sounding incredulous. These are the door handles at the Henie-Onstad Art Museum in Oslo. She and her husband collected art and built this museum. It is mostly modern art and it was a treat to visit. And yes, they have one of her tutus on display.





This is a portion of the Akerselva - the river that runs through Oslo. It has many pretty waterfalls and is green and pretty, but not very birdy as it runs through the middle of town.

Trondheim, Norway

Well, it seems I have forgotten all my formating tricks, but so be it. This is the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. It is quite old and was once one of the 4 holiest sites in Europe. Most of it was destroyed during the reformation and rebuilt during the late 19th century. Still, it was magnificent.








This, believe it or not was a 'tram' for bicycles. It was an exceptionally steep hill. At the bottom a rider puts his foot onto a moving foot holder and then takes a ride up the hill (not for free, of course). First of its kind.















Trondheim is on the water in Western Norway - far inland and quite picturesque (as are most places in Norway are).
















OK - it was a first for us, but we missed our flight out of Trondheim to Oslo. Now we both check the ticket to confirm the time of departure. As a result we had to stay an extra night in Trondheim and this is the hotel we stayed at. Hell in Norwegian refers means luck, but we weren't feeling lucky.

Oops!

OK, so I haven't been very good at keeping up -I see that my last post was last September. I thought I had done more than that. Well, I am going to try and post more photos and commentary. It will take a while to catch up, but I have a feeling that this will mostly be for my benefit so that I can fix what we have done during our year here in my own mind. And that would be a good thing.