Gnomadic

August 8, 2007
I arrived in Oslo and my host, Ann, picked me up. She was pretty busy, and I was tired, so we agreed just to relax at home for a day. She had a surprise for me - my cousin and his wife were visiting, too! We had a great time, and watched a bit of TV before we turned in for the night.

August 9, 2007

Ann’s brother-in-law Petter and his significant other, Eva, stopped by and stayed the night. The weather was good, so we enjoyed some German beer on the terrace (Petter and Eva had just come back from a roadtrip through Germany and Denmark).

August 10, 2007

My host had to work - she’s the head of the music department at the Oslo Public Library, so she made sure I got a borrower’s card, and helped me check out a CD.

No visit to a library would be complete without saying hello to the person in charge of Macs. We stopped by Trine’s office, got to help her set up an iMac, and took a look at older models destined for the computer graveyard.

August 11, 2007

It started off pouring rain today, but as soon as it let up, we were off to explore the town. First off was the parliament building

Then I got to do the sound check for a band preparing to hold an outdoor concert.

Then we stopped off at the National Theater. I was hoping to see an Ibsen play, but no luck.

We walked up Karl Johans gate to the castle (where I got yelled at for posing in the guard’s little house thingy - you can see him marching away in one of the pics, right after he shouted at me).

You can’t see me here, but this give you a little bit more of the castle.

We rounded off the day at the famous sculpture park, Frognerparken. Fellow tourists from China and somewhere in Eastern Europe posed with me in a couple of the shots.

This is one of the most famous statues - Sinnatagen. It’s been stolen and vandalised through the years, but it’s still there, and is a big attraction. I had to wait in line to get a shot of myself with it!

Here you can see the famous monolith in the background.

I certainly hope this sculpture isn’t an example of Norwegian childcare!

I’m not in this one - it was taken as we were leaving the park. Gives you an idea of the feeling of the place.

On our way back to the subway, I saw a statue of one of my heroines - SONJA HENIE! Ann was tired at this point, I think she just wanted to get home. But she good-naturedly agreed to take a pic of me with Sonja.

When we got home, I fed a piece of watermelon to Monster the Guinea pig.

August 12, 2007

The last sight I had to see in Oslo was the Holmenkollen ski jump. It’s going to be torn down, they’ll be building another one. It costs an arm and a leg to get in, so we decided to find a nice scenic spot and get a pic of me with the impressive jump in the background.

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