Long fangirl weekend in Oslo
Ever since I got back from the fangirl-get-together in Oslo with bflyw (N) and sillie82 (S), it's been crazy busy at work and I needed all my weekendtime to recharge. So it took me a while before I had some energy left to go through all my photos and make a selection to spam you with:) Once again I failed in keeping it small (99 photos!) and once again there are artsy nudes, which may not be safe to watch in company if they can't handle marble, granite or bronze boobs and peens. Oh, also: selfies (all clothed;). You have been warned. ENJOY!
Friday July 4, 2014 - Flying from Amsterdam to Oslo
Hi! This is me; parking my bike at the station with my travelcard in my mouth
and in the mirror on the elevator to the platform with my backpack and my bag:)
A photo from the train, crossing the river IJssel,
mainly taken for N., so I could show her how flat The Netherlands is/are:)
Due to a truck getting stuck on the track to the airport, I had to make a detour by bus, thus arriving outside of the airport. I found S. and her parents waiting inside; I was an hour later than planned, but since we had calculated plenty of check-in time, we were still on time \o/
See? S. and me happily smiling on the plane.
Apparently not everyone on this flight is as excited as we are. Huh.
The trainstation of Oslo airport, isn't it gorgeous? N. and her daughter picked us up at the arrival gate and together we got on a train to Lillestrøm...
Yay! Happy fangirls! Squeeeeeeeee. From here we took a local bus to N's house.
S. and I got our own rooms! Clearly I got the best one: look at all the gorgeous SPN-people on the wall. I sure had sweet dreams:)
Saturday July 5, 2014 - Operahouse, Vikingmuseum, Ferry
Early morning: having breakfast and reading fanfic on the front balcony
with a splendid view of the mountains hills. (I will keep calling them mountains;)
Waiting at the busstop for the bus to Oslo (about 20 minutes!)
The harbour. This pic is probably only funny for my Dutch friends, because of the Sukkerbiten (sugarbeets).
Art installation in front of the operahouse. The pink building in the background is a hotel. (right, bflyw?)
Same art, different angle, with Hovadøya island in the background.
I love how the light reflects of the glass.
Interior of the Operahouse.
Happy fangirls in front of Operahouse:)
The Operahouse in all its glory. It's huge and you can even climb on top of it, which we did:)
Walking across a construction area I saw this immense statue.
Cornerbuilding of Karls Johans gate, the main shopping street of Oslo. I was so obsessed by the wooden structures on the wall, I completely missed the gorgeous clock on the side. You can find a great photo of that in sillie82 journal, see links below!
We didn't go shopping, but got on a buss to the Bygdøy peninsula where all the museums are.
Vikingship! One of the three that were discovered and recovered as burial ships. But they were actually build and used as regular ships in the 800-900s (if I remember correctly)
A close up of the nails to remind myself these were also all handmade. History is cool.
You can take a ferry in between musea and back to the mainland.
Not made by vikings, but -hey!- in the Netherlands, haha!
View on Akershus Castle & Fortress from ferry
View on sky.
View on me! Made by bflyw;) (For more of her point of view, check out the link below!)
A selfie; watching cityhall in the distance
Back on the city-side. I love this statue. What a woman.
We took the bus back to N's and did groceries in the nearby supermarket: Yippee, Norwegian strawberries! (which may or may not be even better than Dutch strawberries;)
Sunday July 6, 2014 - Telthusbakken, Gamle Aker Kirke, Vigeland
Had seen it from the bus the day before, had to take a picture:) Moose-warning! (Didn't see any though *pouts*)
Dude on shopfront of men's clothing store.
Meet the other photographers:)
We walked through climbed up Telthusbakken, the oldest street in Oslo. Adorable little houses and flowergardens. (I made these photos for my mom:)
See? So pretty.
At the top of the mountain hill stands the oldest church in Oslo.
The Gamle Aker Kirke (Old Aker Church) was build around 1100 and was the place where the first parlement got together.
It's a gorgeous building.
With a great view of the city.
Peek-a-boo:)
From here, Nina took us to a very cool and artsy part of town to show us the awesome murals in 'nothing-alley'.
Very colourful designs...
but also freaky black and whites!
A funky chandelier and jumping goat on the wall in the alley.
And also... this lovely sight.
Yes, that's right: a penis swan. Hello Oslo.
In the afternoon N. left S and me with instructions to get to Vigelandpark, the must-see destination in Oslo. Come with us? (FYI all photos are clickable to a larger size)
Saw this bear while walking from the tramstop to the park. Love it.
Statue of Sonja Henie by Per Ung in front of Frogner Stadium.
She was a Norwegian figure skater and film star.
Detail of the entrance of Vigeland park.
This is a statue of Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943), he was a Norwegian sculptor who made a deal with the Oslo citycouncil; in return for giving him room to work, his massive sculpture installation would be donated to the city.
And thus Vigeland park was created. This is the bridge, with loads of statues of all kinds of (anonymous) people. It's such fun to walk through. I'll just let you enjoy it in silence. Feel free to touch the art!
S. with her creative hairdo, me with my messy bun:)
The Monolith (121 figures, made from one piece of granite). I could stare at this all day. Definitely need to go back with more time! (We only spent about an hour and a half in the park)
This angry toddler is seen on all the souvenirs, but we had a hard time finding it; it's hidden behind one of the pilars on the bridge!
My favorite pieces are however the struggling monsters on the huge pilars on the four sides of the bridge.
The stairs to the busterminal, where we got on a bus back home to N. (all by ourselves!)
Monday July 7, 2014 - Akershus Slott og Festning
Another sign I had my eyes on since the first day into town. Finally managed to capture it, yay!
We start today's explorations with a walk through the main shopping street.
Never forget to look down once in a while: the city's seal!
And suddenly a wild Pan appears! Hel-lo. (My apologies to the lady in the middle for that unfortunate shot)
FYI: God of Nature, the Wild, Shepherds, Flocks, Goats, etc. (often associated with fertility/sex, I wonder why;)
The National Theater always has a play of Ibsen in production.
On our way to the Akershus Fortress & Castle, it started to rain and rain and rain.
And rain some more. But we persevered and walked to our destination anyway. Here we pass cityhall.
Statue on the side of cityhall. I bet it's an ancient king;)
View on the harbour (with my back to cityhall)
Welcome to the fortress!
There was also an outdoors exhibition of modern art, a lovely contrast with the old buildings.
A sign explained this was a mix of an elephant and a bird. It won a competition.
Still raining!
This is pillowman. So you never have to feel alone when sitting on a bench:)
Because of the rain, we decided to not explore the grounds, but we did check out the Information Center, where we learned about the long history of the fortress.
Cannons! Castle! Rain!
We walked back to the trainstation, this mural is on the corner of the main square.
*growls*
Back home, N. baked me moose-burgers. They were delicious. Mmmm, moose.
For dessert we had Norwegian waffles (with cherries and strawberry-jam, nom)
Tuesday July 8, 2014 - Traveling home
On our final day I made a quick trip to the supermarket for some souvenir snacks.
I love Norwegian; reading it is quite complicated, but once we figured out how to pronounce things,
some words sound suspiciously Dutch. (kjøkkenredskap = keukengereedschap = kitchentools:)
Byeeeeeeeee! N. accompanied us to the busstop of the airportshuttlebus.
Flybussekspressen = flightbusexpress:)
Oslo airport Gardermoen. Love that sculpture.
Glorious tower.
Another one for the Dutch folks; remember when they tried to simplify our written language in the seventies? This is what it would look like:)
Our plane!
Be prepared for all the plane-pics. I love flying and I had a windowseat this time *grins*
Bye rainy Oslo!
Look: mountains!
No really, compare that to the photos below of our flat country, and you'll understand.
I just love how organised my country is.
Touch down! The flight went ahead as scheduled and we arrived in Amsterdam on time (21:10) \o/
I said goodbye to S. who was being picked up from the airport and I went to the station for my train home.
Because of reconstruction of the tracks after that accident with the truck four days ago, the 22:03 train from Schiphol was cancelled "rijdt niet", BUT! The 21:33 had a 15 minute delay and I managed to catch that one after all (even though it was rerouted because of another break down *sighs*)
Me and one of my snack-souvenirs: a chocolate covered licorice. Not recommended. If only I had been able to bring some moose burgers....
The end.
And I didn't even share pictures of the fangirling in between the touristy trips! It was a blast to finally be able to sit down together for some good old CSI and squee about Nick & Greg. Of course there was also plenty of chatting about Supernatural and life in general. I had a brilliant time, ladies. Thank you, bflyw for taking such good care of us. *smishes*
Want more? Check these out:
BflyW's photos Oslo - Sillie82's Oslo picspams 1 - 2 and 3!
Friday July 4, 2014 - Flying from Amsterdam to Oslo
Hi! This is me; parking my bike at the station with my travelcard in my mouth
and in the mirror on the elevator to the platform with my backpack and my bag:)
A photo from the train, crossing the river IJssel,
mainly taken for N., so I could show her how flat The Netherlands is/are:)
Due to a truck getting stuck on the track to the airport, I had to make a detour by bus, thus arriving outside of the airport. I found S. and her parents waiting inside; I was an hour later than planned, but since we had calculated plenty of check-in time, we were still on time \o/
See? S. and me happily smiling on the plane.
Apparently not everyone on this flight is as excited as we are. Huh.
The trainstation of Oslo airport, isn't it gorgeous? N. and her daughter picked us up at the arrival gate and together we got on a train to Lillestrøm...
Yay! Happy fangirls! Squeeeeeeeee. From here we took a local bus to N's house.
S. and I got our own rooms! Clearly I got the best one: look at all the gorgeous SPN-people on the wall. I sure had sweet dreams:)
Saturday July 5, 2014 - Operahouse, Vikingmuseum, Ferry
Early morning: having breakfast and reading fanfic on the front balcony
with a splendid view of the mountains hills. (I will keep calling them mountains;)
Waiting at the busstop for the bus to Oslo (about 20 minutes!)
The harbour. This pic is probably only funny for my Dutch friends, because of the Sukkerbiten (sugarbeets).
Art installation in front of the operahouse. The pink building in the background is a hotel. (right, bflyw?)
Same art, different angle, with Hovadøya island in the background.
I love how the light reflects of the glass.
Interior of the Operahouse.
Happy fangirls in front of Operahouse:)
The Operahouse in all its glory. It's huge and you can even climb on top of it, which we did:)
Walking across a construction area I saw this immense statue.
Cornerbuilding of Karls Johans gate, the main shopping street of Oslo. I was so obsessed by the wooden structures on the wall, I completely missed the gorgeous clock on the side. You can find a great photo of that in sillie82 journal, see links below!
We didn't go shopping, but got on a buss to the Bygdøy peninsula where all the museums are.
Vikingship! One of the three that were discovered and recovered as burial ships. But they were actually build and used as regular ships in the 800-900s (if I remember correctly)
A close up of the nails to remind myself these were also all handmade. History is cool.
You can take a ferry in between musea and back to the mainland.
Not made by vikings, but -hey!- in the Netherlands, haha!
View on Akershus Castle & Fortress from ferry
View on sky.
View on me! Made by bflyw;) (For more of her point of view, check out the link below!)
A selfie; watching cityhall in the distance
Back on the city-side. I love this statue. What a woman.
We took the bus back to N's and did groceries in the nearby supermarket: Yippee, Norwegian strawberries! (which may or may not be even better than Dutch strawberries;)
Sunday July 6, 2014 - Telthusbakken, Gamle Aker Kirke, Vigeland
Had seen it from the bus the day before, had to take a picture:) Moose-warning! (Didn't see any though *pouts*)
Dude on shopfront of men's clothing store.
Meet the other photographers:)
We walked through climbed up Telthusbakken, the oldest street in Oslo. Adorable little houses and flowergardens. (I made these photos for my mom:)
See? So pretty.
At the top of the mountain hill stands the oldest church in Oslo.
The Gamle Aker Kirke (Old Aker Church) was build around 1100 and was the place where the first parlement got together.
It's a gorgeous building.
With a great view of the city.
Peek-a-boo:)
From here, Nina took us to a very cool and artsy part of town to show us the awesome murals in 'nothing-alley'.
Very colourful designs...
but also freaky black and whites!
A funky chandelier and jumping goat on the wall in the alley.
And also... this lovely sight.
Yes, that's right: a penis swan. Hello Oslo.
In the afternoon N. left S and me with instructions to get to Vigelandpark, the must-see destination in Oslo. Come with us? (FYI all photos are clickable to a larger size)
Saw this bear while walking from the tramstop to the park. Love it.
Statue of Sonja Henie by Per Ung in front of Frogner Stadium.
She was a Norwegian figure skater and film star.
Detail of the entrance of Vigeland park.
This is a statue of Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943), he was a Norwegian sculptor who made a deal with the Oslo citycouncil; in return for giving him room to work, his massive sculpture installation would be donated to the city.
And thus Vigeland park was created. This is the bridge, with loads of statues of all kinds of (anonymous) people. It's such fun to walk through. I'll just let you enjoy it in silence. Feel free to touch the art!
S. with her creative hairdo, me with my messy bun:)
The Monolith (121 figures, made from one piece of granite). I could stare at this all day. Definitely need to go back with more time! (We only spent about an hour and a half in the park)
This angry toddler is seen on all the souvenirs, but we had a hard time finding it; it's hidden behind one of the pilars on the bridge!
My favorite pieces are however the struggling monsters on the huge pilars on the four sides of the bridge.
The stairs to the busterminal, where we got on a bus back home to N. (all by ourselves!)
Monday July 7, 2014 - Akershus Slott og Festning
Another sign I had my eyes on since the first day into town. Finally managed to capture it, yay!
We start today's explorations with a walk through the main shopping street.
Never forget to look down once in a while: the city's seal!
And suddenly a wild Pan appears! Hel-lo. (My apologies to the lady in the middle for that unfortunate shot)
FYI: God of Nature, the Wild, Shepherds, Flocks, Goats, etc. (often associated with fertility/sex, I wonder why;)
The National Theater always has a play of Ibsen in production.
On our way to the Akershus Fortress & Castle, it started to rain and rain and rain.
And rain some more. But we persevered and walked to our destination anyway. Here we pass cityhall.
Statue on the side of cityhall. I bet it's an ancient king;)
View on the harbour (with my back to cityhall)
Welcome to the fortress!
There was also an outdoors exhibition of modern art, a lovely contrast with the old buildings.
A sign explained this was a mix of an elephant and a bird. It won a competition.
Still raining!
This is pillowman. So you never have to feel alone when sitting on a bench:)
Because of the rain, we decided to not explore the grounds, but we did check out the Information Center, where we learned about the long history of the fortress.
Cannons! Castle! Rain!
We walked back to the trainstation, this mural is on the corner of the main square.
*growls*
Back home, N. baked me moose-burgers. They were delicious. Mmmm, moose.
For dessert we had Norwegian waffles (with cherries and strawberry-jam, nom)
Tuesday July 8, 2014 - Traveling home
On our final day I made a quick trip to the supermarket for some souvenir snacks.
I love Norwegian; reading it is quite complicated, but once we figured out how to pronounce things,
some words sound suspiciously Dutch. (kjøkkenredskap = keukengereedschap = kitchentools:)
Byeeeeeeeee! N. accompanied us to the busstop of the airportshuttlebus.
Flybussekspressen = flightbusexpress:)
Oslo airport Gardermoen. Love that sculpture.
Glorious tower.
Another one for the Dutch folks; remember when they tried to simplify our written language in the seventies? This is what it would look like:)
Our plane!
Be prepared for all the plane-pics. I love flying and I had a windowseat this time *grins*
Bye rainy Oslo!
Look: mountains!
No really, compare that to the photos below of our flat country, and you'll understand.
I just love how organised my country is.
Touch down! The flight went ahead as scheduled and we arrived in Amsterdam on time (21:10) \o/
I said goodbye to S. who was being picked up from the airport and I went to the station for my train home.
Because of reconstruction of the tracks after that accident with the truck four days ago, the 22:03 train from Schiphol was cancelled "rijdt niet", BUT! The 21:33 had a 15 minute delay and I managed to catch that one after all (even though it was rerouted because of another break down *sighs*)
Me and one of my snack-souvenirs: a chocolate covered licorice. Not recommended. If only I had been able to bring some moose burgers....
The end.
And I didn't even share pictures of the fangirling in between the touristy trips! It was a blast to finally be able to sit down together for some good old CSI and squee about Nick & Greg. Of course there was also plenty of chatting about Supernatural and life in general. I had a brilliant time, ladies. Thank you, bflyw for taking such good care of us. *smishes*
Want more? Check these out:
BflyW's photos Oslo - Sillie82's Oslo picspams 1 - 2 and 3!