Norwegian quilt

I haven't come up with a design yet for a quilt with a Norwegian influence.  I wish I had gone to the Museum of Decorative Arts in Trondheim.  Oh well, that is just another reason I will have to go back to Norway.

But, here are some fabrics that I am considering using for the quilt.  I think the fabric below looks a lot like the intricate carving from the Norwegian stave churches.

 I love these three batik fabrics.

I think this pattern is reminiscent of runic writing.

I would love to back the quilt with minky if I could find it in an fur-like pattern or something similar.  I need to get my creative inspiration going!

Norway Rocks!

That just about sums it up.  These are the rocks I found on my walk around the Nidelva.  I was getting a bit worried that I wasn't going to find just the perfect rocks, but I think I did.  I call them on my Norway zen rocks and when I light a candle and put them there I remember the peace and serenity I felt when I was in Norway.

Trondheim, Part Three

So, as I had been criss-crossing Trondheim Torg, near my hotel, they had been setting up for a concert all day.  The Torg is plaza with a granite column with a statue of Olaf Tryggvason, the Viking founder of Trondheim.  I asked someone who seemed to be  part of the setting up, what was up?  Well, it seems that they had been having the world orienteering games all week around Trondheim and this was to be the medal ceremony.  And, afterwards, there would be a concert by some local bands.  The speech making and awards would take about an hour.  I asked if the bands were good and she thought they were very good and to come back later.

I returned just a bit before the ceremonies were over.  Here they are, the medal winners.  The Norwegian won first place, of course!

Then, the bands started.  I thought this artist had a bit of promise.  Don't know his name, but he is a student at the same college in England that one of the Beatles had gone to.

Oh, this singer had quite an enthusiastic following.  I couldn't get a photo of her without the two gentlemen in the foreground.

This guy was pretty good.  He had been touring Europe as a tribute artist to Jerry Lee Lewis.  Had a pretty good rendition of Great Balls of Fire.

Oh, and I really liked the shoes this lady was wearing but before I could find out where to buy them, she left.  Darn!  Well, if anyone knows, please let me know!

Trondheim, Part Two

Who couldn't love this face? This is the Vitenskaps Museum on Erling Skakkes Gate in Trondheim (and just who is Erling Skakke)? I was drawn to this place like a moth to a flame. The Vitenskap. As far as I can tell, vitenskap means science. I know, it's kinda cheesy, nevertheless, I had to resist the urge to smooth his whiskers back and scratch him behind the ears.

This reminded me so much of the Museum of Natural History in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. As a small child, my parents would take us there on Sundays (my dad later confessed that we went there on Sundays because it and the Steinhart Aquarium were free that day!) There, my mom would hold my hand as I walked down this ginormous hall with dioramas of stuffed animals from Africa. I would stare wide-eyed at these dead and stuffed animals and I could not image why in the world anyone would want to kill animals, stuff them and display them in fake "natural" scenes behind glass.


There was a lot of interesting stuff in the Vitenskaps museet, including a pretty decent American Indian section. I went to look at Viking treasure bling, ever in search of design inspiration. I can't say I found inspiration there but doesn't 14 look a lot like a chopping board? Well, I guess chopping boards been around a long time.

Here is a lovely statue. It was rather peaceful. The statue is called An-Magritt of Hovistuten a character in a novel by Johan Falkbergets and erected in his memory. The work is by Kristofer Leirdal who just passed away in July at the age of 95. I like the simpleness, straightforwardness and power of the statue.

It is in front of the Ilen church or kirke. I liked the tile patterns on the church's roof.


Oh, here is the beautiful Nidelva or Nid river. Elva means river in Norwegian and I think I prefer to say, the Nidelva because it suits the river better.


I had been searching for a few pebbles to bring back with me as a memory of Norway but hadn't seen anything visually appealing. That is what I say when someone asks me why I chose to collect certain stones. I can't always explain why I pick one rock over another except that I find it more visually appealing. Anyhoo, I was explaining my dilemma to the hotel clerk and asked him where I might find such appealing little stones and asking him to forgive my weirdness. But not to worry, he said he did the same thing himself on vacation. So, he drew a path on my map and this is where it led.

I thought the undulating balconies of these apartments where very appealing plus all of the flowers!

More lovely homes!

I had to photograph this climbing hydrangea. I couldn't believe a hydrangea could grow this far north and survive the winters.

Trondheim was full of surprises including this classic, Chevy Nova. Look at that wax job! I couldn't resist taking a photo! Evidently, there is an American muscle car club in Trondheim. I could hear them revving their engines and pealing out from my hotel room on my first night in Trondheim. Then, they were busy cruising the streets the next day. As you might imagine, the drivers of these cars are not teenagers! Well, they might have been when these cars were new!

I came out to this really, quaint group of buildings. Trondheim was full of surprises but more were yet to come!

Nidaros Cathedral Trondheim

People ask me why I went to Trondheim. I don't know why that is a question that crosses their mind when I think that Trondheim may be the most beautiful Norwegian city that I visited. Yes, Oslo and Bergen are nice and I didn't make it to Ålesund, a city rebuilt in the art nouveau style after it burnt down. But, Trondheim has a transcendental,almost ethereal feeling. Like magic (cue Abba, even though they are Swedish). The cathedral is made out of this blue gray stone. I am sure that it is quarried locally. The photos are not adjusted for color. This is it.


The west wall. If you want to see the window from the inside, click here. As, I bypassed the cathedral to go somewhere else, I didn't see it from the inside. I planned on returning later, to go inside and see the bishops palace, however, I didn't check the hours of opening and they closed just as I got there.


Oh, my, heads on a platter. Evidently, these poor fellows were decapitated and their uncle, the bishop found them.

Jesus on the cross. I'm not sure who the knight shaking his fist at Jesus is, a Knight Templar?

Adam and Eve. They don't look that embarrassed to be naked. We are in Scandinavia, after all.

I just love the gargoyle rain spouts. Wish I had them on my rain gutters.

Norway in a Nutshell

This is one of the many waterfalls I saw on the "Norway in a Nutshell" tour of the Sognefjord area. The maiden in the red dress is supposed to be a huldra, a creature of Scandinavian folklore.

Unfortunately, I messed up a bit in my travel arrangements and had to backtrack from Bergen. If I had been smart, I would have gotten off the train from Oslo at Myrdal like 95% of the people on the train to catch the Flåmsbana or Flåm Railroad down to the town, then taken the bus to Voss, then the train onto Bergen. But, in my defense, I couldn't figure out the freakin' bus schedule from here and I didn't want to be dragging my luggage around while on tour. And, I booked a RIB or rigid inflatable boat tour (think rubber raft with a motor) to go out into the UNESCO World Heritage site Nœrøyfjord and it was a blast! I got off at Gudvangen and the tour had a van waiting to take us to Voss (something else I couldn't figure out from the States). However, some folks did go back to Flåm. This is the stave church in Voss.

As we had missed our scheduled train back to Bergen because of mechanical problems with the van, I had some time to photograph it while nervously waiting for the next one and trying to figure out just how much time I would have to get to the airport when we got back to Bergen. When I had tried to book a train ticket to Trondheim in Bergen, I was told there wasn't one. You get spoiled travelling in Europe. You just assume that there is a train going everywhere especially to the third largest city in a country. Wrong. (Actually, there is a train to Trondheim but I would have to go back to Oslo.) So I had my choice of getting to Trondheim by bus or plane. And, I had to get to Trondheim because I was flying out to Berlin from there and had already booked my ticket in Oslo. This is why I think the name "Norway in a Nutshell" is so appropriate for this part of Norway because a nutshell is hard to crack!

Lovely, lovely Bergen

The view from the train.

So, I left on the early morning train for Bergen from Oslo. Just as a note for those who ever go to Norway. Norway is a land of rivers and fjords. What does this mean for a traveller? Lovely landscapes? Yes. Scenic vistas? Yes. Difficulty in getting from Point A to Point B? Yes. But, not quite yet. Here is old, downtown Bergen, a UNESCO world heritage site. At the top of the photo, you can just see where the scenic vista from Mount Fløyen is and the funicular.

Here is one of the quaint buildings.

Eventually, I rode up the funicular to look down on Bergen. They asked me when I purchased my ticket whether I wanted a round trip ticket or was I going to walk down? So, I asked how long it would take to walk down and they said about 45 minutes. Of course, if you ask a Norwegian, those are 45 Norwegian minutes. So, I figured, no problem, I would walk down even though it was about 7 ish pm in the evening.

Looking down at Bergen from one of the trails on Mount Fløyen.

It was quite a lovely walk down. Very wooded and peaceful, although I passed lots of people walking and running down, or rather, they passed me.

This pergola was quite lovely. This was taken about 10 pm in the evening. Due to the midnight sun, the days are long in the summer, and it doesn't really quite get dark at night. I could so live in Norway. In the summer.

Oslo - good stuff for science nerds, too!

Argh!!! This sexy guy was at the University of Oslo Paleontological Museum.
He kind of has attitude, don't ya think?



I thought this guy was kinda cute with that smirky grin. He doesn't look nearly as frightening as the T-Rex above, but somehow I think that he had a pretty good bite, too, with his almost beak-like mouth and jaw...



And speaking of birds, here is a lovely fossil archaeopteryx, the evolutionary bridge between dinosaurs and birds, but I'm not sure if he isn't a cast of the original one in Berlin. But more so, I'm sure that birds definitely evolved from dinosaurs.



I love what this is called in Norwegian, glimmer!



Here is another mica called muscovite, in english.



It's good to be a science nerd in Norway! So, three days in Oslo (the first day was kind of a bust because that was the day I arrived and I didn't get much done). But, I made up for it on the second day and by the third I really came to love Oslo and hated to leave. But leave I did to head towards the beautiful town of Bergen and the fjords.



One last photo from the botanical garden near the Paleo Museum.

Oslo Grand Prix or even more fun in Oslo

First of all, I don't relax on vacation. That doesn't happen when you're with me. I don't eat, I don't rest. I must see everything. I am obsessive. Obsessive compulsive. After spending all day walking, first to the Frogner Park, taking in the Historical Museum and Oslo Cathedral, then walking downtown to catch the ferry to the Viking Ship Museum, then going to the Akershus Festning (fortress and royal residence), walking around taking photos (i.e. being lost), I decided to see if I could squeeze in the National Gallery. They have lovely paintings of Norwegian landscapes and the Scream by Edvard Munch.

Yes, I have seen the Scream! I have felt the Scream deeply in my soul, particularly in the winter time here in the Central Valley when it is possible to not see the sun for weeks on end because it is foggy and you are forced to paint something in an extremely bright color or lose your mind, but, I digress. So, I came out of the National Gallery to find a bike race going on. At first, it was leetle kids, so cute. Then they seemed to grow a bit with each lap. I couldn't believe how seriously Norwegians take sport activities because there were camera crews and big screen TV's set up.



Then, I decided the races might be over and I should start walking to my hotel in time to get lost and eat dinner. Much to my surprise, I asked a Norwegian if the little kids bike races were over and he said yes but now it was the adults who would be racing. In fact, a professional bike race with no less than riders from the Tour de France was up next! So, I found myself a spot and I had a great time even though I didn't know a soul here. And, the crowd was fantastic! They clapped and sang to music, they did the wave (and everyone did it). They were having a blast, me included! And, that was before the race even started. Oh, and here they are,

Edvald Boasson Hagen, the Norwegian National Time Trial Champion, riding for Team Sky


Andy Schleck, the White Jersey winner and second place from the Tour de France riding for Saxo Bank but next year they will be riding for a team from Luxembourg and who was recently kicked out of the Tour of Spain for drinking, naughty boy.



Here are the main protagonists, front row from left to right, Thor (i.e., the God of Thunder) Hushovd (Cervelo Test Team and the Norwegian National Road Race Champion), Andy Schleck, Kurt Asle Arvesen (Team Sky) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (he has the yellow shoes). Okay 3 of the 4 guys are Norwegians so maybe it isn't a surprise that they are riding in the Oslo Grand Prix.



And then they were off!



They went round and round ...



My camera (or was it the photographer?) was having difficulty capturing the fast action. My new girlfriend (no, not that kind of girlfriend) standing next to me and I decided that we had somehow gotten the best spot in the whole race to take pictures of the riders. In fact, a very tall professional photographer (waaay bigger camera than my Nikon D70) was taking shots over my head of the action.



Somehow, near the end of the race, the main protagonist were back together. Who would win?



EBH won! I think that Andy was a little dizzy from doing all of those short laps and he was second. The God of Thunder was third. A fairy tale ending for cycling fans. (Post TDF races are kind of like this, the favs tend to win.)



They were all smiles and congratulations at the end! And me? I was blissfully happy in my own dreamy Norwegian landscape! End of day two of vacation.