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Tag: oslo 2014

  • Pictures from May 17 in Oslo

    I’m so incredibly late with this – but here are some pictures from my May 17 celebration in Oslo:

    I didn’t discover until way too late that you had to have tickets (free tickets, but still you had to apply to get them) to stand in the area just in front of the palace.

    That’s why the royals are just tiny stick figures on my pictures. I could see them quite well, and spotted Princess Astrid sitting in the window next to the balcony. Queen Margrethe also made an appearance in that window at some point.

    But I figure that the rest of the day was pretty good despite that. We were fortunate enough to have amazing weather. I got sunburned. I ate ice cream. A pretty good day.

    The day before I was kind of bummed that I hadn’t brought my national costume with me to Oslo when I returned from Easter Break, but the heat of the day and given the fact that my national costume is wool and linen and heavy and black…  I was super happy to be rocking a light summer dress instead.

    It was a good national day, and it was a nice celebration of the bicentenary of the Norwegian constitution.

  • National gallery

    National gallery

    20140216-180503.jpgIn my journey to explore Oslo – the time has come to the National Gallery. Oddly enough,as I was walking through the rooms, I was very much reminded of the National Gallery in London. The strong colours of the walls, the placement of the sitting benches in the middle of the room, the ceilings – very similar.

    The art is pretty great. They have a temporary exhibition on the first floor dedicated to the bicentenary of the Norwegian constitution – and the Norwegian landscape. On the second floor are the more permanent exhibitions, the Munch pictures, the van Gogh, the Dégas and so on.

    It is free on Sundays – otherwise it is 50 kr. Unlike the ski museum, I think this would be worth full price, but I am still so cheap that when it is free one day of the week, it feels like a waste to pay money for it – even if it is just a symbolic amount.

    It is well worth the visit.

  • WordCamp Norway

    WordCamp Norway

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    Last weekend I hung out at WordCamp Norway. Something I would not have done if I wasn’t in Oslo this year. So much fun!

  • The Ski Museum

    20140118-161742.jpgOn Saturday, when the majority of people on the Frognerseteren metro-line were heading up to ski, I was heading up for the Ski Museum.

    If I had been a bit smarter about this – I would have realized that the Ski Museum is really a better place to visit if a) you have your own transportation or b) in the summertime.

    Walking uphill in the snow and freezing temperature from the metro stop to the Holmenkollen ski jump, and the Ski Museum which lie beneath it – a less than pleasant experience.

    The return walk to the metro stop was actually fun, and you get an amazing view of Oslo from the top.

    But back to the actual museum.

    20140118-161806.jpg It is dedicated to the history of skiing.

    It includes skis. Ski producers. I  can well understand the kid who kept tugging at his parents – “can we move on?” because although the exhibitions might be interesting to adults who can read, old skis can’t be much fun to look at.

    I couldn’t get the lift to the top of the ski jump tower to work, but it might have been worth the visit on its own merit even without the museum.

    And then there were the royal connections.

    King Haakon’s ski coat and skis. Queen Maud’s skis.

    From the first skis of King Olav to the outfit he wore while attending the Olympic games in Sarajevo. (I was slightly reminded of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne.)

    Some of the trophies Crown Prince Olav won while ski jumping.

     

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    They also included the metro bench he sat on when he insisted on paying for his own ticket during the oil crisis in the 70s.

    Overall, I felt like it was an interesting visit, but I wish I had done it on a different day. Also, I got a GroupOn deal on of it, so I paid significantly less  than the original ticket price.

    I don’t think it would have been worth the full price.

  • Munch museum

    20140115-103353.jpg The next step in my Oslo exploration was a trip to the Munch museum. I walked down to it in the snow.

    Considering that I came in from the chill, the museum felt overly warm. Probably better to visit when the temperatures are better outside.

    The collection at the Munch museum is actually more extensive than I thought – and I spent more time on the lesser known pictures than the Scream and the other famous ones.

    Incidentally, the Scream at the Munch museum is a bit like the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. Everyone wants to see it, but in the end it is smaller than you’d think – and not nearly as impressive.

    It was a fun museum to visit.

  • Vigelandsparken

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    I moved to Oslo last week. It’s a temporary move, six months. Unlike when I lived in Copenhagen, I am going to be a tourist here as well as living here.

    Which means, try to get in a museum or something fun or cultural (or both) every week.

    My first week was a trip to Vigelandsparken. And a trip to my local library.