Greetings Ya’ll from Oslo.. Today is halloween.. and it’s the least Halloweenish Halloween I’ve had since….. hm… maybe 1979. No trick or treating.. no peanut butter cups.. no kids.. but.. it’s been fun anyway..   It’s so nice having Diane here ..   Today, The Weather has turned to grey drizzle.. which is sort of what we expected.. but we’re greatful for three beutifull fall days here. We have really enjoyed seeing this beautiful city ! It’s now back to work. I have a big talk tomorrow morning (wish me luck) and soem media stuff tomorrow. ..

here’s a quick rundown of the day

we went for a nice run along the river this morning.. then moved out of our wonderful aribnb..and moved to teh business hotel in Fontebu .

our hotel had a nice set of jackalanterns to greet us.

we dropped our stuff and caught a buss back to the  viking museum

 

there were three pretty well preserved viking boats from around 900 BCE that had been iused for burials.

they’d been unearthed between 1856 and the early 1900’s 

 

here’s how it looked whenitwasunearthed

 

imagne30rowers,no seats in the open ovean.. yuck !

 

here’s the least preserved boat undergoign3D canning

somesmaller boats found nearby

 

and the best preserved boat..

 

they had a cool demo of making iron from rust deposits and making it into a broad axe .. pretty cool !

 

from there we walked over to the very interesting.. if soemwhat depressing Fram museum.. It was all about artic explorres and the hardships they faced.

 

we saw englsh explores,canaian explores.. and of course.. norwegian explorers.. We heard stories of sail boats ice breakers, sled dogs, dirgibls and planes.. all very well displayed ..

 

here’s a small ice breaker used in the quest for a north west passage

 

it’s generator

 

and its chocloate milk!

 

 

there was a lot of wall space.. and movie space given to the story of Sir Earnest Shackelton.. and his and his means ordeal of 2 years stcuk in antartica and surrounding islands. Shakleton died at age 47 without ever achiving his maing goals.  We found this picuttre of his grave on St. george island.. Tehre are soem cool SamStone stories from there . See it here

 

 

 

we lalso earned ofFranklinsill fated trip

 

we then wentover and saw the “Fram’ a wooden icebraker that helped find a northwest passage to alaska

 

here were the sleds they used

4 cylander 200 horesposer enging.. let it go about 6 knots

 

here’s an image of their famous cook !

 

the doctors stuff .. ewwwwww

 

fun on bord

 

big anchor winch !

 

creepy eskimo !

 

the Fram’s Prop/

 

by the time to leave the museum, it was raining pretty har.. We took the bis to the shopping center near our hotel and had a late lunch/early dinner.. really. really nice sush1 !

 

then soem window shopping for halloween costums

 

finally a wet walk back to the hotel.. very differnt landscape here than others we saw in the city .

 

just got backform talk rehersal.s.. hopign to find food.. Resturauntswaslaredy close.. thankgoodness we picked this up fom the store because of the creepy kid picture..

oh.. just looked it up. it’s liverwirst.. ick !

 

ok.. big talk tomorrow. so better sleep. more tomorrow !

nite all. nite sam

-me

We had another really wonderful day together explorign this beautiful city. First thing we did was walk to the Munch Museam.

It was another beutiful day !

 

 

check out this gnarled tree !

 

I’ve always loved Munch’s art…  it was greatto be able to see such a large collection in one place.

Much willed all this work to the city when he died in the 40’s.

 

there were soem pieces I’ve seen all my life ..i am particualry drawn to his ‘madonna’s’

 

who doesn’t like vampires ?!?!

theis was my favorite of them all. I once baught my mom a print of this

 

jealosy

 

and who doesn’t know this one.. this is a woodcut.. we saw the original in NY four  years ago. (how can it be so long ago ?!?)

 

angst

 

and this one called  the immagrants .. same motif

 

Girls on the beach

 

children on the street

 

moonlight

draw your own !

 

from there we walked back through the botanical gardens.. not too botanical this time of year.. but very nice

 

 

on the way home I noticed this marker of a deported Jew killed at Auschwitz.. I had forgotten that Norway had been occupied.

It shook me  to see this

 

right after that we saw a bridge with love locks..

what a contrast ..

 

we stopped at home to take our clothes out of the wash.. then walked across town to the Vigeland statue park where we met my freind and coworker EInar.

 

that was such a wonderful expereince. over 200 beutiful bronze and stone statues ..

and it was great gettign to spend time with Einar and catch up as we did it.

 

 

this one.. the’angry baby” is one of the most popular in the park.. !

 

Einar was then kind enough  to drive  us down to see the Kon TIki museum.. (the viking ship museum had just closed)

 

it was great walkign along the fjord.. and lookign around.. THis is a momunment donated by teh Candians..

 

ahh.. here’s a picture of Einar.. such a great guy !.. We so appreciated him spending time with us.. 

 

the view across the Fjord.

 

soem cool boats.. not as old as they look.. but quite old noteheless. 

 

Norway loves it’s polar explorers !

 

next we visted the Kon Tiki museam. THor Hyerdahl was quite an interesting guy. he built several primative boats andsailed them to between continents to show that it was possible.. he did this even though he was afraid of the water, couldn’t swim and never learned to sail !  (and from this manequin.. looks like he was a snappy dresser too !)

 

THerewere two boats at the museum . the smaller of the two was the Ra II.. a ratan boat that Hyerdahl built to show that he could float from barbados to Africa.. it was try two.. the first Ra got water loggged and had to be abandaned..

 

the main attractionat the museum was the ‘KonTiki’ a balsa raft that Hyerdahl sailed from Norway to Fiji !

 

here’s an actual color picture of the thing at sea 

 

Hyerdahl actually won and Emmy for the movie he made !

 

he had soem cool radio equipment including a coopy of the ARRL Radio ameturs handbook. I had one of my own from 1973. 

 

After the museum,  Einar offered to drive us up on the East side of town to see the city from that side..

what a beutiful view !

 

 

by that time we were all pretty sleepy (at 6pm 🙂 .. .. Einar dropped us off near ‘home’.. it was so great gettign to hang out with him.. He really helped us see more of the city.. Always so great to have a native guide !

 

ok.. It’s 8PM.. and we’re about to fall asleep 🙂  Vacations are good things..

It’s so mch fun being here with Diane !

 

nite all, nite sam

-me

I woke up to full sun.. albiet slanty sun.. Diane was just waking up, too .. We’d slept until 10 AM !!!! that was about 11 hours. Guess we both needed it ! We gathered our stuff and set out for an explore.. we Uber’ed up to Sognsvann Lake.. and started hiking . It was about noon.. but the sun made it look like about 4PM sun at home.. golden and slanty with long shadows … ….. and it stayed that way until about 5:30 !  We’d expected instant dark around 4.. but nothing like that.. it was still soemwhat light at 6pm.

for example. here’s the sun at noon in the busy parkign lot of Sognsvann…

I was a little worried about the crowds.. but they soon thined out as we veered off into the woods.

 

it wasn’t that cold.. .. maybe mid 40’s… but there was ice in the shadows.. Interestingly this place doeasn’t get anywhere near as cold as home.. it just gets cold earlier. (I just looked up, the average low for Oslo in Jan is 25 degrees F, At home it’s 7 degrees F)

 

 

here’s my slanty sunned cuty

a quick view back over Oslo .. these forests are close.. only a 20 minute tram ride.. but you can really get deep in the woods quickly

 

we hiked through muddy and rocky trails to Frognerseteren.. which was a nice little cross county ski center that was crawling with locals up visiting the cafes there.

 

soem pretty cool snacks… not all for us.. (Minky whale burger ? Elk patties ? )

 

we chose lox sandwhich and this yummy looking (accent on ‘looking’) cake.. 

it was filling and wierd.. what more could you ask for ?

 

then we kiked back to Sagnsvann lake a differnt and longer route.. soem really nice deep woods trails with no people at all.

 

my vaforite eskimo

 

we were still up for hiking so we decided to find the headwaters of the little river near our house. Our AirBnB guy Thomas had stold us you could hike up to another lake (lake Maridalsvannet) just by fallowing that river….

so.. we hiked back through Norwegen suburbia… it could have been anywhere.. 

 

well.. except for the ten or so Tesla’s we saw.. for soem reason this city is full of them..

 

we were starving by that point.. so luckily we’d broguth provisions (thank you Sho !!!!) 

 

we followed my GPS to try and find the river.. we found it.. but it was 60 feet below the bridge we were on..

time for a little bushwacking !

 

here was the trail !

 

here’s the climb down

 

note.. it’s about 5:30 here

 

check out the fancy public bathroom !

 

we came across a drone being flown around

 

found this guy too.. and left a samstone

 

All in all wewalked more than 10 and a hlaf miles.. Such a beutiful place !!!!

 

more from here tomorrow !

nite all, nite sam !

-me

Hello from Oslo.. Diane met me in Munich this morning and we flew together to Oslo for a few days of vacation together.. We rented an Airbnb near Grunnerlokka (think if Brooklyn were in Norway).. Great hipster vibe..  We took off for an explore of the city in the late afternoon. I was so surprised it was still light even near 6PM.. It’s such a beutiful city.. much bigger than I remember (we were last here in 1985 !) ..

 

amazingly our two checked bags came out together even thugh dianes was checekign in BTV and mine in munich. We’re made to be together 🙂

Our apartment is in a very urban area, but this is just a few meters from our front door. We follwed this river all the way down to the ocean and back..

we made it down to the waterfront and we’re amzed at the number of construction cranes..

 

 

 

 

 

we made it down to the stunning Oslo opera house just before sunset.

\

 

it was getting dark as we walked back. the city is very alive

 

 

and musch more multicultural than I expected !

 

we walked back along the river.. and ducked down soem of the more hippster streets.. some very cool artwork in there. 

 

then home for an early take out sushi dinner.. we’re both very sleepy.. dianes jetlagged.. and I had 3 hours sleep last night..

 

more from norway tomorow !

nite all. nite sam