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May 7, 2002 ::
Wandering around the local shopping center, I took a few pictures... this one of the lights in the ceiling on the
way up the escalator or rulletrap (rolling stairs).
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The display at the Glasmagasinet, where they sell
mainly expensive kitchen/dining things.
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and the Norwegian flags all ready for the Constitution
Day parades (17. Mai tog). Last year Sigurd and I went into the city (along with a zillion other people all
dressed up in their national costumes :: bunader) and saw the royal family waving to the children marching
past the castle. I'll post some pictures from this years activities and last closer to the big day.
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April 13, 2002 :: The Moose and the Dog. This was
one of the first landmarks I was aware of in Oslo, because it's along one of the roads we frequently
take into the city.
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Divers. I want to get underneath these guys and take
a picture looking up...
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Deichmanske Biblioteket. HUGE library. Can't
wait to go inside...
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Grand Cafe. Where for many years, playwright Henrik Ibsen sat at his regular
table every day at noon...
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Stortinget :: lit. "The Big
Thing" =
Parliment. |
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... Sigurd took this one. It's
the post terminal. I'm struck everytime we drive by here how incredibly
green the light is in this building. Don't the workers go insane?
(Yes, yes they do.) |
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And another green light. |
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These are two of my favorite statues
from the Vigeland park in Oslo. There are 212 bronze sculptures by Gustav Vigeland in a park of
maple trees, rose bushes, fountains, ponds (complete with ducks to feed) and nice large flat lawns.
You can see more of these sculptures here and at the
the official site.
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... it's hard to say exactly why, but these
two particularly touch me. |
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April 5, 2002 :: Two more driving around pictures. A green bus...
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... and a rundkjøring (roundabout) sign.
Roundabouts are one of the things that took a while to get used to regarding driving in this country. If you want to go
straight through one of these, you stay to the inside, unless there is an exit to the left, in which case you stay to
the right (towards the outside). This is a rule that would work exceedingly well, but since it is not widely
grasped, leads to quite a lot of feeling like you're going to get side-swiped. When I was learning to navigate these,
Sigurd spent about half the time saying "What are you waiting for?!" and about half the time saying
"Stop!!" :O) His point being: "You either stop or you don't."
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March 30, 2002 :: Sigurd and I drove to the model-airplane field with fully charged
batteries in the camera. This is one (one many) of the moose warning signs that are on the roads and highways
of Norway. The Norwegian word for moose is, confusingly, elg. (Elk are hjort.)
Sometimes the signs say Stor Fare (big danger) and sometimes they say Særlig Stor Fare,
(especially big danger). Makes it seem like something out of one of the Airplane! movies. Once upon a time the moose were
all facing left on the signs, like this fellow, but apparently motorists therefore assumed the moose would only be coming from the
left side of the road, so the signs now have moose coming, as they likely do in nature, from both sides of the road.
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After watching some truly spectacular crashes,
we took the long way home and I took these next pictures around an stone church that dates from the middle ages.
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Sign pointing the way to an air-raid shelter.
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Nitelva unfreezing.
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Norway's "reverse slotmachine." These cameras sit unassumingly by the side of the road,
snap a picture of unsuspecting motorists who are speeding by and before you can say "cheese" you
receive a speeding ticket in the mail. It's totally arbitrary who recieves the tickets as
the cameras only hold one roll of film, and only catch the first 24 or 36 speeders that pass.
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They're everywhere.
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I just like this bridge.
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Ok. fart = speed dempere = something like "decreasers" ...
So this sign refers to the
speed bumps. But that, of course, is not what I get when I read this sign.
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