Visiting Oslo

As almost normal during the summertime we have visitors staying with us for a short time, and we experience Oslo city together. This summer we even visited some "tourist places" that was new even for us. However, as urban citizen I also use this blogpost to show you some of the attractions our city can present.

As some times posted earlier the new part of Oslo; Sørenga, has ben developed with spectacular buildings like the new city library, the Munch museum the Opera and public condominiums. This area was visited together with my sister Brit (here at our Balcony).

Another visitor was our grand daughter Helene from England.

Beeing a Norwegian living and going to school in England means that our common history is relevant. Here is Helene at our Vikingmuseum

Seeing the over thousand years Vikingship; Osebergskipet found in burial mound is great also for me. My first visit although I have been living in Oslo more than 50 years.

From Sunmøre and back to Oslo vs Geiranger and Valdresflya

I forgot to show a photo from Ålesund and my sisters in my last blogpost, so here we are gathered at restaurant Sjøbua for a great dinner. Recommended.

We have presently a large debate in Norway regarding road pricing and toll roads. At the western part of Norway the people are well known to obstacles when driving from A to B; The ferry crossing the fjords are one of these obsticals that require "extra" paying. 

Well over the fjord we once more climb up and down on hairpin curves. From Ørnevegen we can see Geiranger in the bottom of the fjord.

After passing Geiranger at the fjord we once more are climbing on narrow roads up to about 1000 meters. Ørnevegen can be seen to the right.

There are many places to stop and catch photos, but it is not necessity to do risky climbings.

Once again the valley brings us down to Lom with beautiful waterfalls before we again climb up to Valdresflye.

At "Flya" we can see into Jotunheimen (a mountainous area of roughly 3,500 km²) with mountain tops over 2000 m over sea level

The highest mountain plateau on "Flya" is 1389 m above sea level

Visiting Ålesund and Tafjord

On the road to Ålesund for a short visit to my sisters, we went down the spactacular 60 km valley Romsdalen with the fantastic mountain walls close to the road.

This is the well known "Trollveggen / Troll Wall" where base hoppers and clifhangers are doing extreme sport.

In Tafjord we went by car up to the end of the road in Øvste-Rødalen. A beautiful area with high peaks and waterfalls.

On the way up to the mountains we passed the large dam called Zakariasdammen with a water magasin volume of 70 mill cubic.

From the valley belove we see the dam which is 96 meter high.

On 7 April 1934, a rockslide of about 2,000,000 cubic metres (2,600,000 cu yd) of rock fell off the mountain Langhamaren from a height of about 700 metres (2,300 ft). The rock landed in the Tafjorden which created a local tsunami which killed 40 people living on the shore of the fjord. The waves reached a height of 62 metres (203 ft) near the landslide,

Summer in the city and the Heat is on

This week the heat over most of Europe has reached new records. In Norway we are talking about over 30C from the southern areas (ab 58 degrees north) to the the top of the world at 71 degrees north. It is Summer in the city and the heat is also influencing my artistic exprtession.

This painting I call "On the edge" showing a mountain farm high above the fjord. On the edge is also a way to call upon the possible disaster the environment is facing

It is Summer in the City and the Heat is making problems with the sleeping hours. This painting is therefore called "The heat is on" remembering Glenn Freys music from the Beverly Hills Cop

This last painting this month is called "Acopalypse", and taking the two other paintings into account the end of ........... is near.

July paintings

JULY is a period when the weather conditions are perfect for making paintings at my balcony. Not too much wind and not too hot in my corner where the easel are located.

 The first painting is an imagination of a small island along the Norwegian coast where people spend their holidays. I called it The summer island.

 The next painting is a detail from the island but just a snapshot taken from the car window called From the car window.

 The wild flowers close to the coastline are very  beautiful
Here I have used a painting knife to make the colours express the Northern light in the fields of flower

The same technique I have used in the above painting. Because the rain is coming before you notice, the dark shade is all over the painting, although the yellow grass remind me that the return of the sun is just around the corner.

Costa del Sol June 2019

 Due to the cold wind that we had during our winter/spring stay at Costa del Sol, we decided to spend some more weeks in Fuengirola before the summer season starts in Norway. Hopefully you can see that the smiles are wide and the feelings are well this time.

 One of our new bars are top of the hotel Puerto. From here you see more of Fuengirola in all directions as here towards east with the fishing post 10 flors below.

 A tripp to Malaga city is mandatory and due to the temperature Calle Larios was not so crowded as normal

 We also perform the tradisional walk along the path at Costa Mijas. Recommended.

 From the Aqua Bar at our hotel the sunset colors are magnificant and a bottle of Verdejo to share makes the afternoons great.

 Even in the shadow I am well dressed with long sleves and hat for the protection against skin cancer

 In the evening the full moon of June and the newly cutted palms make a nice image

 We also celebrated San Juan (St Hans in Norway) together with lots of people at the beach. Very few small fires this year, but the mood was high.

 Private parties at the Chirringitos with the long lightline of equal arrangements towards Benalmadena

 Our favorite restaurant is of course La Farola and the food wine and hosting family makes every dinner at their venue an experience og greatest pleasure.

 An example of the wine list (Tinto de Ribera del Duero) that makes my mood even better

 At Plaza de los Chinorros the restaurants are so tight that guests sometimes goes to the wrong bathrooms and makes orders at wrong servents. Normally we visit this square every day.

 At last in this blogpost from Andalucia a photo from our local tv (CSN) telling that in Andalucia 90% of the families say YES to Organd donation, and that that the hospital Reine Sofia in Cordoba is leading professions in that area. Felicidades.

Syttende Mai er vi så glad i

Norwegian Constitution Day is the national day of Norway and is an official public holiday observed on May 17 each year. Among Norwegians, the day is referred to simply as syttende mai (lit. "seventeenth May")

 The Constitution of Norway was signed at Eidsvoll on May 17 in the year 1814. The constitution declared Norway to be an independent kingdom in an attempt to avoid being ceded to Sweden after Denmark–Norway's devastating defeat in the Napoleonic Wars.
After 1864 the day became more established when the first children's parade was launched in Christiania, at first consisting only of boys. It was only in 1899 that girls were allowed to join in the parade for the first time.
Today we celebrate "syttende mai with breakfast consisting of Norwegian food, dress up in national costumes, participate in the children parade, eat ice cream and sausages during the day and have great times with friends.

This year the gods gave us beautiful warm weather almost all over the country.
Here you se Tullen and myself dressed in our national costumes. Both originating from my home district NorthWest of Norway; Sunmøre.

The royal guard is approaching the royal castle after their impressive drill in front of the old university. That is the only military apparence during the day. In Norway the day is dedicated to school children.

Our national flag and "bunader" are all over the city, and in the parade the different schools are waiving their banner.

Two of our grandchildren Mari and Maja are playing in their school brass band, and thus carrying the bans´s uniform in the parade.

A third grandchild living in England, Hedda, is also celebrating 17.mai with her flag on the way to school.

This year even the ice cream were covered with national cotumes. ( sorry about the comercial display of one brand )

Springtime in Oslo 2019

 Back in Norway and we experience springtime in Oslo. The blossom at our "local" Tekethopa is awesome every year, but last unfortuneatly only a few days.

 For many years we spent a lot of time and work during spring to prepare our summerhouse for the summer season. Now our daughter has taken on the responsibility, but we are still sometimes invited for a bbq sausage lunch

 The outdoor activity in the afternoons has moved from the cottage to the bacony at our apartment, but there we have a shorter distance to the Carlos Primero

 Springtime in Oslo are full of different competitions for those who love running.

This is from the dance display performed by one of our grandchildren. The children are good.

Photos from the last weeks at Costa del Sol this spring

After a more than normal cold and windy Winter and Spring-time this year at Costa del Sol we are back in Norway for some weeks before we once more turn our faces to the lovely Spain, the beautiful Mediterranean and hotel Myramar; our second home.

However, there is a lot of images at my iPhone not presented in earlier blogposts, so here I will give you a brief documentation of our last weeks in this long stay periode.

As previously mentioned Malaga City is a place that we visit many times during our stay at CdS; normally every 10th days. This time we spend some hours guiding our friends Anton and Grethe around in the historic city, and as everybody else a photo at the main street Calle Marques de Larios is a must for us

We found also time for a second tour along the path from Calahonda to Cala de Mijas. Something chilly, but lovely. A lot of pitstops are open for guests, so take your time.

Easter is a very interesting time in Spain. During our last visit to Malaga city this time we also entered some of the churches, looking at the heavy thrones people are carrying every day at Semana Santa. The prosessions have we seen earlier but never before been so close to the spectacular "Tronos"

Of course I eat lamb in Easter, and the "Pierna de Cordero" at La Farola is highly recommended.

In Malaga the exhibition "Mujeres Fatales en el Arte Moderno" (Perversidad) takes place at Museo Carmen Thyssen between 30.Mar - 8.Sep this year. An intriguing and spectacular visit this time.

This beautiful landscape painting is from the permanent exhibition at the gallery / museum showing the Bay of Estepona and Gibraltar late 1800.

We have always something to celebrate in Spain. This time we celebrated our 42 years of living together and had a great dinner at La Farola with their fantastic Chateaubriand and a good Ribera del Duero

One of our newly discovered cocktail bars in Fuengirola is the SkyBar at Hotel Puerto.

The view from the SkyBar at 10th floor is great, and gives a different expression of the beaches

So it is time to say Goodby and Gracias to Myramar. The sunbeds are ready for new guests, but we will return later this year. Hasta Luego.