After dropping off a bunch of postcards at the postoffice, I walked
back to the Helsfyr hotel to get my bags and head back downtown to
the City Centre area. I saw Daryl was loading things in a cab headed
to the same area, so we shared the ride. While downtown, we saw several
groups of people walking around in traditional Norwegian clothing. I
took a few pictures of that, trying not to be too obnoxious.
After checking into the the CityBox hotel which is very close to the
train station, I wandered around town a bit, by the Bjørvika and
Sørenga sjøbad area, and elsewhere.
The next day I checked out of the hotel but stored my bags there as I
would be taking a 4pm train from the train station to the airport. I
explored Grøenland, where there are many immigrants and a variety of
food, and then followed the Aker river along a path that took me to
the hipper region of Grünerløkka and ran into Daryl. We wandered around
the area a bit until I had to head back to catch my train to the airport.
It was nice to explore areas of Oslo that were new to me.
Saturday April 27 - Sunday 28, 2019.
000-DSC_3532-header: Traditional Norwegian Clothing
000-DSC_3532-headertext:
While walking in downtown Oslo on Saturday, I saw a few groups of people
dressed in traditional Norwegian clothing. Daryl asked a man on the street
about them, and he said that they're typically worn for weddings, National
Day (May 17th), or similar occasions. Each region has a distinctive style
and they can cost thousands of dollars. Turns out the guy was also a gun
nut and expressed quite a bit of hatred towards Democrats in the US and
their "fucking religion." It's also possible he might not have
been well informed of all of the details of US politics and policies.
I also saw people dressed as runners and streets blocked off because
there was a race going on downtown, sponsored by Ascis. I can no
longer find any information on it, nor do I really care.
000-DSC_3532: Norwegians in traditional clothing across the street in Oslo.
001-DSC_3533: Norwegians in traditional clothing across the street in Oslo.
002-DSC_3534: Another group are on the far side of the crosswalk.
003-DSC_3536: More traditional Norwegian clothing.
004-DSC_3537: Traditional Norwegian dress.
005-DSC_3538: Runners for the Asic sponsored race in Oslo.
006-DSC_3541-header: Bjørvika area in Oslo
006-DSC_3541-headertext:
006-DSC_3541: Kayakers in the Bjørvika. 007-DSC_3542: A mini-crusie ship ferry in the Bjørvika. 008-DSC_3543: The ferry heads out. 009-DSC_3546: Watching the ship leave from the end of the Sørenga sjøbad pier. 009-oslo_harbor_Panorama: Panorama of the Bjørvika from the Sørenga sjøbad pier. 010-DSC_3547: 011-DSC_3552: 012-DSC_3553: 013-DSC_3554: 014-DSC_3555: 015-DSC_3556: 016-DSC_3557: 017-DSC_3558: 019-DSC_3561: 020-DSC_3563: I like the House of Guarantees, sounds like a comic book title or TV show. 021-DSC_3565: The sign says "fart" heh heh heh... 022-DSC_3566: The Sound of Music and Chess, playing at The Folketeateret (People's Theater). 023-DSC_3567: Outland, a game store in Oslo. 024-DSC_3568: A cool D&D poster outside of a game store in Oslo. 025-DSC_3569: An antique store that has lots of old postcards. 026-DSC_3570-header: Grøenland 026-DSC_3570-headertext:
Grøenland is a fairly lively place, with a strong influence of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean immigrants. There's art and some parks as well. I walked around the area, had lunch at a Turkish restaurant, then eventually found a trail that followed the Akerselva. 026-DSC_3570: The Akerselva River going through downtown Oslo. 027-DSC_3571: Rainbow metal pipes on an overpass, some sort of art thing. 028-DSC_3572: Barbershop and prices, like for Skin Fade. What the fuck?!? 029-DSC_3573: I think that tower with the crescent moon on top is part of a mosque. 030-DSC_3574: A streetmap mural, on Grønlandsleiret just past Tøyengata. 030a-DSC_3559: Priest murual by Dolk from 2009. 031-DSC_3575: Children's playground with a cool space-ball-thingy. 032-DSC_3576: I think this is a pun as gate is street in Norwegian. 033-DSC_3577: A weird metal piece sculture, the center says "Offline." 034-DSC_3579: "Don't feed the birds here otherwise the birds become rat-meat." 035-DSC_3583: Some fun decorations at the middle eastern restaurant where I had lunch. 036-DSC_3585: It included turkish tea in a cool cup. 037-DSC_3587: Vaterlandsparken. The moral of the story: Don't fuck with the Queen. 038-DSC_3590: Scuba divers sculpture by Akersevla near Vaterlandsparken. 039-DSC_3591: The divers, by Nylandsveien overpass wtih Radison Blu in the background. 040-DSC_3592: Support for the flying divers sculpture. 041-DSC_3593-header: Walking Along the Akerselva River 041-DSC_3593-headertext:
I followed a pedestrian trail north as it went along the Aker River
(Akerselva) beyond Grøenland. It's a really pretty area and is easy
to forget that you're in the middle of Oslo, the capital city of Norway.
There were a good number of people on the trail, but it wasn't
really crowded even though it was a weekend. There were a few bridges
that let major roads cross the river.
The Ankerbrua (Anker bridge) has sculptures on the 4 corners of it,
each one showing a different folk hero from Norwegian fairy tales.
Per Gynt might be the most well known. Edvard Grieg's musical
piece "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is from the opera "Per Gynt".
He has many adventures in his life. Kari Trestakk (Katie
Woodencloak) is a sort of Cinderella fairy tale.
Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon (White Bear King Valemon) is a "lost husband"
fairytale of a man who was turned into a bear by an evil witch and then
there are kind of creepy things that I don't feel like going into.
Veslefrikk med fela (Little frikk with the fiddle) is a tale
of a small child who earns 3 coins (after working for 3 years I think)
and then on his way into the town gives them away to three strangers
who ask him for help. He realizes they are worse off then he is, and
gives each one a coin in turn, forgoing his own needs. The last stranger
tells Frikk that all the strangers were him in disguise, and because
of his generosity and willingness to help those in need, he will grant
Frikk 3 wishes. Unlike some of the aspects of the other stories that
might be viewed less positively in "these modern times" the moral here
is "you really should do the right thing and help others, even if it
means you're going to sacrifice a little." It seems like a very Norwegian
philosophy (read: a good moral compass).
Note that I did not dig very
deeply into these folk tales, so I could have missed some important bits.
In the last picture (the bridge), at high full resolution there are two
kids sitting by the base of the bridge on the bottom. They're looking right
at me and one is giving the peace sign. This was a wide-anle lens, not
telephoto, so I didn't notice it at the time.
OK, one more detail: the picture I did not take. A woman sat
down on a rock or something by the trail just past the bridge after
I walked by it. She had long blonde hair and the sun was behind her
making it fucking glow, like she was some sort of Valkyrie.
Of course she was stunningly beautiful, it's Norway. With my wide-angle
lens, the only way I could have taken a picture of her would be if I
stood about 3 feet away from her. And I wouldn't do that without
permission, and it felt like it'd be too creepy and rude to ask a
stranger like that who just wants to sit down and enjoy a nice day
without being harassed. Maybe it'd be a compliment, but it didn't
feel right.
"And join with us please
Valkyrie maidens ride
empty-handed on the cold wind to Valhalla."
-- Jethro Tull, Cold Wind to Valhalla,
MINSTREL IN THE GALLERY.
041-DSC_3593: The Aker River and Anker Hotel and Trondheimsveien bridge in the
distance.
042-DSC_3594:
043-DSC_3595: The Trondheimsveien bridge over the Aker River (Akerselva).
044-DSC_3597: Looking north from the Anerbrua over Akerselva in Oslo.
045-DSC_3598: The Ankerbrua bridge over the Aker river (Akerselva).
It's called the Fairytale Bridge (Eventyrbrua) because of the 4
sculptures of folk heroes from Norwegian folktales.
046-DSC_3599: Sculpture of
Kari Trestakk
(Katie Woodencloak) on the Ankerbrua bridge.
047-DSC_3600: Kari escaped her evil step- mother (naked, I guess) on
the back of a blue ox.
048-DSC_3601: Per Gynt deer hunter and Norway's Huckleberry Finn
(also bangs sexy trolls).
049-DSC_3602: The Aker river (Akerselva) in Oslo.
050-DSC_3603:
Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon is very messed up (horny were-bear).
051-DSC_3604: Veslefrikk med fela, about a boy who gets 3 wishes
from a troll.
052-DSC_3605: The Ankerbrua bridge over Akerselva and someone
giving me the peace sign.
053-DSC_3606-header: Grünerløkka: The Hip Part of Oslo
053-DSC_3606-headertext:
In the walking tour of Oslo, even though we only covered the places
near the City Centre, the tour guide mentioend a few other places,
including Grünerløkka, which is the new, popular, young, trendy,
hip area. My friend Faith commented, "It's Oslo's Brooklyn." I wasn't
planning to go there, since I didn't remember the name, I didn't really
know where it was, nor did I know exactly where I was. I just
wanted to explore an area of Oslo that was new to me on my last day of
the trip, and walk along the river since it was such a nice day.
It became pretty clear where I was. There was cool, artsy graffiti on
some of the buildings, lots of "the young people&qout; out doing
their thing, there were flea markets, and a swan boat that was floating
in the Aker River tied to a bridge. Taking a second look at it, I realized
it was a penis boat. Welcome to Grünerløkka.
I was walking around a fle-market (the one with the chandelier hanging
between two buildings (I think it was a proper chandelier), when I heard
someone say, "Frank!" I turned and saw Daryl was there. Once
again, I am in a foreign city and run into the one person I know there.
She was taking a day or two off after the DFRWS conference before heading
out. We hung out for an hour or so as she was looking for miscellaneous
things that caught her eye, and then I headed back to begin the journey
home. Fortunately, all I had to do was follow the path by the river
and it would take me right by Oslo S and my hotel was two blocks from that.
053-DSC_3606: The Office for Contemporary Arts Norway (OCA) and the bridge
goes to Nedre Gate.
054-DSC_3607: The steps are just past Østre Elvebakke by Ankerselva.
055-DSC_3608: Colorful graffiti with weird triangle creatures.
056-DSC_3610: Yes, it's a floating, penis-swan. Welcome to Grünerløkka,
Viking Brooklyn.
057-DSC_3611: A cool, hip, flea-market place. Notice the outdoor chandelier
and the Homer Simpson on the van. This is where ran into Daryl.
058-DSC_3612: A little restaurant on the far side of the Akerselva River.
Neat statue too.
059-DSC_3613: Zed1: My Gallery Is The Street from 2013.
060-DSC_3614: Weird rubber-armed cat mural.
061-DSC_3615: Still more rubbery cat mural.
062-DSC_3616: Something we all can use more of these days...
063-DSC_3617: Daryl holding a troll doll at a flea market in Grünerløkka,
Oslo.
064-DSC_3618: A muppet-like thing for sale at a flea market.
065-DSC_3619: mmmMMMmmm.... salt skum, a Norwegian treat! (Med ammonia!)
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