Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

Royal preparations

@brittarnhild

The Danish King Frederik X and his wife Queen Mary arrived in Oslo this morning. Terje and I were on our way to the National Art Museum and had to pass the harbour where they would arrive. We had planned to have a coffee before the museum, instead we stopped, watching the royal preparations.

Well, royal preparations are not quite like other preparations.......

The Norwegian King´s Guard were there,

The police were there.

King Frederik X and his Queen arrived by boat, to be greeted by our Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit. Our King Olav and his Queen Sonja were there also, but from where we stood, it was hard for use to see them, impossible to get pictures.

 

When the nights are filled with daylight

@brittarnhild

Terje met a childhood friend today and had lunch with him. I have spent the day with some of my old colleagues, from the time when I worked in the Church of Norway. We met some time during dinner, and then went for a long walk.

After a rather cold spring so far in Oslo, summer temperatures have finally arrived and "everybody" are outdoors enjoying.

Baby geese are busy eating their first meals on their own,

swans have arrived for the summer season,

and we enjoy this rather "new" area of the city, Bjørvika.
Here you see the new Munch Museum and the amazing sculpture Mother by the British artist Tracey Emin.

A few days in Oslo

@brittarnhild

Terje and I took the train south to Oslo this morning. Early breakfast, 7+ hours on the train, arriving in time for coffee, a long lovely walk, early dinner and a concert in the Operahouse.

The photo above is from the park surrounding the Royal Castle, "Slottsparken", slott is the Norwegian word for castle. Tomorrow the new King of Denmark and his wife will visit Oslo, today the slottet was empty.

The cherries are in bloom. Here is a statue of the late Crown Princess Märta welcoming them. Märta was married to Olav, our previous king. She died young though.

Since our oldest son, Torgeir, moved to Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, more than 7 years ago, we have fallen in love with that city. But coming to Oslo is always a treat. Especially when the weather is as beautiful as it was today.

 

The Gigantic Spider in the Palace Park

@brittarnhild

Two days ago this gigantic spider was unveiled in the Palace Park in Oslo. The spider, which has the name Maman, is 9 meter high and is made by the late French-American artist Lousie Bourgeois (1911-2010) The National Gallery in Oslo/Norway, will host an exhibition with Bourgeois´s work later this year, and Maman is part of this.

Queen Sonja and Crown Princess Mette-Marit were in the park on Monday for the unveiling. I was not able to be here then, but all the same, I met the queen in the park today, in this statue. Our queen loves mountain hiking, as you can tell from the statue.

I have had a great day in Oslo today. I met a friend for morning coffee and chatting, I have been walking a lot, I have been shopping books and cloths, I had bacalao for lunch.......and now I am on the train back home to Trondheim.

 

The Iron Rose Memorial, and A Sea of Poppies

@brittarnhild

The main reason for travelling these days was to meet up with a small group of old colleagues from dioceses in Norway. Which I did today, in Oslo. We had all day together, ending with an early dinner, and after saying goodbye I had time for a walk in Oslo.

Outside the Oslo Cathedral I found the Iron Rose Memorial, with this text:

On 22 July 2011, an act of terrorism
ended the lives of 77 persons in
Norway. In a spontaneous act of 
solidarity, thousands of people laid
down roses in front of Oslo
Cathedral. Inspired by this sea of
roses, artists Tobbe Malm and Tone
Karlsrud initiated a project in which
smiths from all over the world,
survivors and others affected by the
attack were invited to forge roses
from iron 

 

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Back in September 2014 I visited the Sea of Poppies outside Tower of London.
Here is my post from then:

If you visit Tower of London this autumn you will find a sea of glass poppies flowing out from the tower, filling the lawn. Making it look like blood.

Blood from 888.246 men, many of them pure boys only, who died during WWI.

WWI started in November 1914, and the poppies are Tower of London´s way to remember.

Volunteers are putting up the glass poppies, the last one will be up on November 11th, 100 years after the bloody war started.

I had seen photos both on facebook and on instagram showing these poppies before coming to London. Still I was unprepared of my own reaction. Suddenly I found myself crying. Crying for all the lost lives. For all the bloody wars.

You can read more about Tower of London´s Poppie Project here.

 

 

 

 

Opera Night

@brittarnhild

Friday Night was the night for our babysitting, Saturday night was our night off, and we had tickets for the opera. Not Swan Lake (which is a ballet by the way) as you might be led to believe from this picture, lol, but Georges Bizet Carmen. May be to most well known by all operas.

The National Opera and Ballet in Oslo is beautiful, situated down by the Oslo fjord. Terje and I have been to one opera performance here before, years ago, so coming here again was a very special treat for us.

We started with dinner in the opera restaurant, and then walking right into the concert hall and three hours with dramatic music, love and death.

With little Vida to the Royal Castle

@brittarnhild

Our little princess walking though the rainbow, into the Princess Ingrid Alexandra Sculpture Park.

It took us about 20 minutes to walk from our AirB&B down to the Royal Castle and its surrounding park. Oslo has had a problem with droughts this spring, with prohibitions concerning watering gardens and parks. But, lucky for us, and for everybody else I guess, rain came a few days ago. Still no water in the fountains around the city, but the parks are green and flowering.

Here is a huge rhododendron in front of a statue of Camilla Collett, an early female Norwegian author.

Look at the beauty of this rhododendron. I wish I had one in our garden, but as we live further up north I doubt it would give much flowers there.

The first image in this post was from Princess Ingrid Alexandra's Sculpture Garden. The rest from The Queens Garden, just behind the castle.

 

From the Food Court

@brittarnhild

A few years ago Oslo Food Court opened. I have wanted to go there ever since I first heard about it, and this weekend we are lucky to stay in an AirB&B just about 500 meters from the court. Last night I walked there with my daughter in law to buy a take away dinner from the four of us. Tonight our son and daughter in law are attending a wedding and we are babysitting our granddaughter Vida. We have been out for a long walk with her, and on our way home we again stopped at the food court.

Food is not cheap there, and if we had lived close bay it would be terrible for our finances. But two nights in a row, well, we can afford that.

Bread, olives, different types of cheese, salami and ham.......

.......and after Vida had gone to sleep we really had a feast.

 

A few days in Oslo

@brittarnhild

We are in Oslo for a few days together with our son Øystein, his wife to be (in a month) Silje, and their little adorable Vida, our granddaughter. Øystein and Silje are going to a wedding tomorrow, so we are here mainly to babysit Vida, but also find time in between for long walks, coffee and exploring more of the city.

After we arrived today Terje and I had a long hike, or rather walk. I love hiking in nature, but I also love urban hikes walks where you can stop for lunch, for coffee, for selfies, or just to sit down and watch life.

We stay in a beautiful AirB&B flat, not far from Oslo's great food court. My daughter in law and I walked over there this afternoon to buy dinner for all of us, ending up with dishes from all over the world.

The weeding is tomorrow night, which means that Terje and I will be homebound with Vida. I think I will go back to the food court for cheese, salamis and ham, olives and a million other goodies, making us a tapas night.

 

Autumn flowers in Oslo

@brittarnhild

Early flight down. Late flight back home again. A day meeting in Oslo, and time for a walk in the city to enjoy the beautiful autumn flowers.

I left the Trondheim rain, I came back to the Trondheim rain, but in between I could enjoy the autumn sun and the blue sky in Oslo.

And parks and statues and flowers,

most of all flowers.

 

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My blogworld today:

Britt Arnhilds dagboksblader, my online journal

Med bøker på menyen, my reading journal