Something I thought of doing a while ago!

If you visit Oslo, you must...

• Have a kebab. And not just any kebab, but a kebab from the Majorstuen Kebab Shop. Hint hint: you get off the T-bane at Majorstuen to get there. ;D
• Visit Holmenkollen and admire the view of the fjord! It's beautiful in every season.
• Eat at least once at Peppe's Pizza. Pizza, if you didn't know, is actually more "traditionally Norwegian" these days than reindeer steak or whale meat.
• Walk the length of Akerselva--though I'd suggest doing that when the weather is relatively warm, otherwise you won't see much.
• Visit the harbor and admire the cross-eyed statue of FDR leading up to Akerslott.
• ...visit Akerslott!
• Go to either Waldemar's or the Evergreen for a night of drunken shenanigans with good friends, and on your way back home...
• ...stop by a Narvesen--Norway's answer to the 7/11--and have yourself a baconpølse. Honestly, those things will never taste quite as grand as they do while you're drunk.
• Get up early at least once and walk around Sognsvann lake before the sun has properly come up. You'll appreciate the view.
• Snakk litt norsk!

If you visit Huntsville, you must...

• Visit the Space & Rocket Center. Seriously, it's our main tourist attraction, you must go at least once!
• Wander up Monte Sano and spend an afternoon just exploring the trails. And, of course, visit the overlook.
• Go to Jamo's and enjoy a delicious gyro wrap!
• Buy very lousy ice cream at the floating kiosk at Ditto Landing by the Tennessee River.
• Head up to Burritt on the Mountain (the Burritt Museum) and admire our house composed entirely of straw! ...well, sort of. It's gorgeous, and if you're here during the summer, you should check the museum's schedule and see when/if there are any Shakespeare productions going on.
• Go on the Ghost Walk around downtown, I've heard it can be pretty creepy.
• ...actually, just go anywhere downtown. Especially to the historic district, just to admire the old antebellum houses and Constitution Village. If it's a hot summer afternoon, pop into Sam & Greg's for some pizza made from local Alabama ingredients and some gelato.
• And, since you're in the area, head down to Big Spring Park and enjoy the cherry blossoms if they're in bloom, or just entertain yourself staring at the horrifyingly gigantic koi in the pond.

Oslo and Huntsville folks, have I forgotten anything? :) Chime in!

Nå skal jeg "norske" for deg!

Hei, og god morgen! I dag skal jeg snakke litt om byen min.

Jeg kommer fra USA og bor i Nord-Alabama. Byen min er Huntsville, og det ligger bare sør for Tennessee. Det er hjem for meg. :) Universitetet mitt er også i Huntsville. Det heter "UAHuntsville." Der studerer jeg historie og engelsk litteratur, og også litt fransk. UAHuntsville er ikke så stort. Det har bare 7,400 studenter, og fikk i 1950.

Huntsville har en oppnavn! Det heter "Rocket City" på engelsk, fordi det har museet heter "U.S. Space and Rocket Center." Vi er kjempestolt av det! Også i Huntsville er en militaerbase heter "Redstone Arsenal." Vi har mange soldater i byen min.

I Huntsville er det mange steder å spise. Liker du indisk og gresk mat? Huntsville har mange indisk og gresk restauranter--og også meksikansk, naturlig. Faren min og jeg spiser meksikansk ofte. Favoritt restauranten vår er "El Mariachi." Mat deres are kjempegodt!

Liker du filmer? Huntsville har fem kinoer. Der kan du se mange filmen sammen med venner.

Liker du naturen? Du kan gå på Monte Sano, eller svømme i Tennessee elva. Vi også har mange byenparker hvor barna å spille.

Huntsville er veldig hyggelig byen. Hvis du reiser til USA, du må besøke byen min--og spiser mye meksikanskmat, selvfølgelig.

Takk skal du ha, vi ses!

--

(This is the very tidy version of what I will be reading out loud for my oral exam. Here's hoping I hit all my talking points!)

The Sunday excursion, plus some other travel-related thoughts.

Stavkirken at the Norwegian Folk museum! This was the main attraction of our Sunday excursion, and I'm glad I was able to take some shots of the exterior, as well as some of the interior even though they didn't turn out that well. We actually spent Sunday morning prior to this adventure at Sogn student residence with Damon and his crew, enjoying a delicious Hong Kong style breakfast and chatting together. And, in fact, the evening ended in a very similar fashion, with a German film called "Lola rennt" that lacked English subtitles. That was okay with me, however, because I could actually understand the Norwegian subtitles passably well. I'm getting better! ...sort of!

Monday morning I did, unfortunately, have to take Jennifer back to central station to see her off back to Germany, but I'm so glad she was able to visit even if only for a weekend. And it seems like my luck where visitors are concerned is only getting better, since at the beginning of June I am going to have a visit from my dear friend Vonnie as well! I mentioned her back at the start of my trip when I was stranded in Glasgow, since she very kindly offered to phone me and keep me company for a little bit as I was quite lonely (and cold). It will be very nice to show my other BFF around my favorite corner of Scandinavia.

Barring any day excursions into the fjord that my friends and I might make, I have at last planned out the rest of my adventures here in Europe. On 11 June (after Vonnie's visit), Mike, Tim and I are taking the train from Oslo S. to Bergen, where we will stay until the 14th, before presumably coming back to Kringsjå. I've even gone so far as to book my flight to England for 4 July, where I will spend some time with my family and friends before going back to America.

At the moment, my scheduled departure from the UK is still the 31st of July, which I have contemplated moving up some since that is an awful long time to be in England, but at the same time I wouldn't mind taking the opportunity to do some traveling within the country; I haven't done that in a proper way since I graduated high school and spent my summer at Cambridge in 2005. I'd love to go back to Cambridge for an afternoon perhaps and visit all my old haunts, or take the opportunity to travel up to Scotland and give Edinburgh a chance to properly repair my image of Scotland; my one and only visit there was pretty awful, though those were special circumstances, weren't they? If I have the time, I would also like very much to visit my Aunt Sylvie and cousin Michaela--and her daughter Toriah!--in France as well, and visit the Basque region. I'd be there in July, in time for perfect weather and glorious sunshine--and I would have the chance to practice my French again!

Sometimes I feel like I've been in this country for years rather than just months, and I mean that in a good way. My friends here are all remarkable and wonderful people who made this experience the gem that it is for me, and I'll never forget the memories we've created together. Man, listen to me, getting all sentimental while I've still got two months left to spend with them, and three months left before I go back to America. I should just enjoy the time I have left!

Jeg hadde ei Jennifer!

I'm sure my Norwegian is wrong there, but oh well. :) As usual, you can go here for more pictures.

My dear friend Jennifer visited me this past weekend, and this morning I had to escort her to Oslo S. so that she could make her flight back to Germany, but that certainly didn't stop us from having one wild and crazy time! Well, certainly crazy. ...perhaps nerdy and snarky are better words. We're not exactly the wild or crazy type.

We started off the adventure at Waldemar's on Friday night, mine, Tim and Mike's favorite pub, but the real adventuring started on Saturday morning when we hurried to make the T-bane up to Holmenkollen. Tim served as our adventuring compatriot for the day, and he very kindly took most of the pictures of Jen and me together so that we wouldn't have to go pestering complete strangers. As you can see from this photo, the view of the fjord is just as spectacular during spring as it is during the winter, and I am delighted to say that my good friend seemed to enjoy this first adventure into Oslo immensely.

I do have to say, however, that this Saturday was the single most bizarre day I've spent in Oslo yet, and I've been here for four months now. For one thing, the russes were out in abundance.

I'm not sure if you're familiar with russ tradition, but Wikipedia actually dedicates a pretty detailed article to this particular aspect of Norwegian society. Russes are Norwegian high schoolers (videregående skole is their equivalent to high school, I believe) weeks away from graduation, who partake in an excessive amount of partying and general silly behavior traditionally from May 1st through 17th until their exams. The red (and blue) overalls are apparently a requirement, and they aren't supposed to wash or remove them except for sleeping purposes. Sounds a bit, uh, scary. For some reason they're out rather early this year, but I managed to snap lots of pictures of them.

Here we spy the russ in their natural habitat, sporting their bright scarlet seasonal plumage.

And here we find even more russ doing nothing particularly useful in Vigelandsparken. But even more peculiar than red-clad Norwegian teenagers chilling on sculptures of oddly positioned naked people was, well, this:

Why yes, those are Danish flags billowing in the breeze in front of Rådhuset! Why were there Danish flags everywhere? I don't know, but I blame the gigantic, 30 meter tall lego statue. It seemed quite suspicious to me. Actually, these peculiarities just made the day all the more exciting for us, and I'm delighted Jen was able to see such eccentric aspects of my favorite little European metropolis. I'll write another entry detailing our adventures on Sunday; I just wanted to touch on the highlights of Saturday for now.

Hadet!

A Deutschlander decides a bit of Norsking is on the agenda!

Tomorrow, I get one of these!

A Jen! Assuming all goes swimmingly at the airport, of course. Iceland, no more vomiting up ash and volcano, at least not until Monday evening, svp.

I've got a general idea of what we'll get up to during her visit. Friday night, we will introduce her to Uglebo, the student pub lurking beneath Sophus Bugge on Blindern campus, and then afterwards scoot along to mine and Tim's favorite haunt these days, Waldemar's. Saturday morning we'll head up to the end of Holmenkolbanen (line 1) via both T-bane and bus so that we can get some gorgeous shots of the fjord in spring time, and also spend an insane amount of kroner on the reindeer steak that I still have yet to eat in this country. I figure we can make good use of the rest of the afternoon by visiting the Munch museum, then perhaps taking the ferry across to Bygdøy so she can explore Kon-Tiki and the Norwegian folk museum. Maybe the Viking ship museum, too. Sunday will probably be a little more chill after walking our feet off on Saturday, and then on Monday, alas, I will have to ship her back to Germay. ): Sad day, sad day.

It has come to the point in my trip where I need to look at planning out the rest of my travels instead of just saying, "Oh, I'll do that later." It's a little bittersweet for me to realize that I'll need to start planning out when I will be flying to London, and from there back home to Huntsville, but I've done a lot of traveling over the last four months and should probably cut myself some slack in that regard. And who's to say my traveling will necessarily come to an end once I'm in America again? After all, there are still quite a few Canadian provinces I haven't seen, and I still haven't gone to Mexico.

Ahh, the possibilities!

Oh yeah!

It's been a while since I spammed my loyal readers with some music to enjoy, much less anything Nordic in nature. I think everyone knows of my infatuation with Sigur Ros, but one of my favorite Icelandic artists right now is Mugison. He's got an impressive range and plays a cool combination of blues + indie.

Enjoy!

So, that volcano.

I guess I can't really make an entry about my travels abroad without making note of this darling little event. This entry serves mainly to put my concerned relatives (hi, Dad) at ease about whether or not I'm choking on molten, volcanic ash. (Hint hint: I'm not.)

For those of you who don't pay much attention to international news, Eyjafjallajoekull, a volcano in Iceland, began erupting last Wednesday--something that no one here in Norway really noticed at first unless they were traveling or trying to travel, because the weather has, in fact, been glorious for the past two weeks. Aside from one or two days where certain parts of the city reported a bit of accumulated ash (I personally have seen none), Oslo itself seems to have been spared the irritation of volcanic particles building up on our windowsills or making travel between cities a hassle. The rest of Europe, I'm afraid, has been thrown into total chaos; I've been keeping close tabs on all developments via the BBC, who have been extraordinary about writing detailed articles every day. My main concern at this juncture is whether or not all of these delays will prevent my friend Jennifer from visiting me from Germany. As I understand it, mainland Europe is in a bit of a tighter spot where all of these travel restrictions are concerned. :/ I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.

As you can see, the amoebic ash cloud of doom is making its wandering way just south of us. It's all sunshine and blue skies here; nothing dramatic at all.

Really, that was my only reason for writing this update, so that all of you back home know what the status quo is here at the moment. Rest assured that I'll update this further with more details if they become relevant.

Hadet. <3

Fredrikstad!

"Gamle Fredrikstad" ("Old Fredrikstad") is the charming, historical section of present day Fredrikstad, which is located about an hour and a half of Oslo by bus or train. Originally we were supposed to take the train down, but NSB canceled our train for some reason; still, they helpfully put us on a bus for no charge, and we were able to take the train back at the end of the day. And this, dear readers, is where we spent essentially the entirety of Friday--and it was beautiful.

The decision to make this trip was more or less impromptu; Thursday night found Tim and I trying to sort out what to do with our Friday morning and afternoon assuming the weather cooperated, and we eventually decided on this small town. I got the general impression, after we arrived, that this was the sort of place where everyone knew everyone else, their business, and their cousins' businesses, so I expect we stood out a bit as tourists. The gorgeous sunshine and relatively gentle cool breeze had everyone outdoors enjoying themselves, us included. We took tea (and coffee) at the adorable (and expensive) café across the street from this one, before popping over to the bakery for the best baguette I've eaten in my entire life.

The whole day was a series of "bests" to be honest. The best weather, the best baguette, the best rosé wine, etc. For a day excursion, I don't think we could possibly have done better if we tried, because so many different factors lined up to make the day fulfilling and relaxing in all regards. I even enjoyed "Gamlebyen"'s small museum and its exhibit on travel, which actually provided a pretty cool interactive element. On a flat map of the world was printed one question: "Hvor er det beste stedet du har vaert? Merk av på kartet." To translate, roughly, "Where are the best places that you've been? Mark them on the map." To my astonishment, someone had actually marked the area around Tuscaloosa in Alabama already--so I did my bit and planted a shiny green pin in Huntsville. :) It seemed only right, after all.

I must have a soft spot in my heart for small towns the world over, because whenever I travel it is always these smaller towns or communities that most leave an impression on me. Actually, I suppose that isn't a fair statement to make. I don't think any European city has gotten to me quite the same way Oslo has, since I've called it home for the past three months, and Oslo is definitely not a small town. But Fredrikstad possesses an incredible amount of personality and individuality that extends even to the small cemetery we found time to visit. (I've got a thing for grave photography, I guess. Maybe I'm too morbid for my own good.) I think I spend more time wandering around cemeteries than most people my age, save for perhaps my dear friend Joseph, and even though I always love my jaunts through Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville, even the oldest headstones there don't have the same personal touch as the stones I wandered past. (Also, I didn't know this before I looked him up online, but Ragnar "Joker" Pedersen was actually a fairly well known Norwegian cartoonist who lived and worked in Fredrikstad, and even has his own Wikipedia article. På norsk, selvfølgelig. ;D)

Overall, one of the most delightful discoveries while planning this trip was how comparatively affordable it was--aside from one cringe-worthy moment where we discovered that a glass of Borg costed us a whopping 63 kroner. ..I'm glad I went for the rosé wine instead. Anyway, given how close the cities within the fjord are to Oslo, I expect we'll be heading off on more weekend trips like this in the future. Next time, perhaps Halden?

Oh yeah, and one more highlight:

The Google Earth car drove past us! Who knows, you might see me featured in Fredrikstad if you ever need to find your way along Kirkengaten, someday.

Hadet. <3

Coming soon...

Our first real adventure along the fjord! This update, when I'm not exhausted, sunburnt, and still catching up on homework.

Hadet. <3

Hallo hallo

Mostly written at the behest of my father, who is eager to see what I've been up to these past few days since my last update.

I don't have much to report unfortunately, though that doesn't mean I've done nothing. The weather has been deliriously beautiful here since Friday, so whenever possible I've been outside enjoying the sunshine--that and writing a 2,300 word qualifier for my konservasjon class, which I thankfully turned in two days ago. Monday gave us such good weather that Tim and I decided to walk home from Blindern to Kringsjå--detouring by Ullevål stadion so I could buy a Vålerenga scarf, and so we could pop into the wine shop. We watched football Monday afternoon, it was quite nice. Yesterday we gave a small dinner party on our floor; it was wonderful just to sit around a dinner table sharing good food and wine with such lovely friends.

Today I've done nothing but homework, unfortunately, which seems like such a pity given how sunny it is outside. ): But hopefully this coming Friday, Tim and I will take the ferry down the fjord to a neighboring city for an afternoon. I just hope the weather stays this marvelous.

Brief hiatus.

As with most students around here, I fell far behind on my studies over the two week påskeferien, meaning now I've got to play catch-up on all manner of assignments--and, of course, begin studying for my final exams. I almost can't believe that they're looming ahead of me, but I've still got a handful of months left here to enjoy my last semester as an undergrad student.

Friday was glorious weather, and so Mike, Tim, Damon and I set out into the city to enjoy the balmy 10C weather and dazzling sunshine. We even took the ferry out into the fjord for a brief ride; nothing glamorous, but absolutely worth it.

Jeg elsker deg, Oslo. <3

It is impossible to live in Europe and not become infatuated with football.

At least, it feels that way!

Yesterday evening, Tim, Mike, Damon and I went to Waldemar's and ended up watching a fantastic football match between Bayern München and Manchester United. Anyone who knows anything about me knows who I was pulling for, and so I was overjoyed when Bayern defeated Manchester and went through in the Champion's League. :D Seeing the match reminded me of my time in Munich with Jennifer in 2008, and the addictive energy that one invariably picks up just being near football fans. It is interesting to me that I don't feel the same kind of excitement over American football matches, but I suppose I feel that American football is too exclusive; the rest of the world can't participate in our silly Super Bowl or Iron Bowl madness, whereas last night I got to watch a football match that was undoubtedly an international experience. The players weren't just from Germany or Great Britain, but from Brazil, Portugal, Holland (as Tim frequently reminded us :P)--everywhere in the world. Maybe if American football felt less like a defensive assertion of "Americanness" and more like something to be shared with our neighbors, I'd enjoy it more.

Of Easter eggs and other silly things.

Two blog updates in one day! An unprecedented event, to be sure, but one that is absolutely necessary if I want to avoid falling behind on my blogging--again, not that I expect many people aside from my dear father and a few other loyal readers might notice. You all get cookies when I get home, but only if you start commenting. :P ...seriously, I will distribute cookies. I might even bake them myself.

Saturday morning after our return to Oslo started off with a bang, since the fire alarm went off and woke us up far too early, but aside from that momentary hiccup, it was a very pleasing day. Tim and I walked down to Sogn again to paint easter eggs with Damon and a few of his friends and classmates, and we even improvised on making a very delicious chocolate cake essentially out of nothing. We also watched a very odd Norwegian film called "Budbringeren," a story about a very bizarre (and unhygienic) postman infatuated with a woman involved in some sort of illicit dealings in Oslo's darker side. Actually, that was a detail that we all spent most of our time chuckling over and scratching our heads, because really, I hardly recognized the Oslo in this film at all. I always feel safe in this city almost without exception, and yet the Oslo of "Budbringeren" made me wonder if I shouldn't be more careful when waiting at the T-bane stations late at night.

Sunday morning was Easter, of course, and I finally made the venture down to St. Edmund's Anglican Church, which is actually close to Grunnerløkka and thus very near to Blå. Mike accompanied me, and I have to say, the Easter service was very upbeat and exciting, incorporating a lot of African musical elements right alongside the more traditional, subdued English standard. I introduced myself to Rev. Janet after the service and have officially become a St. Edmund's volunteer, something I'm quite excited about since I was starting to feel a bit guilty about not going to church on Sundays; and really, I don't do anything on Sunday mornings except sleep in. I'll be distributing tea and coffee to thirsty patrons after Sunday service from now on, and hopefully will do a bit of networking within the English speaking community of Oslo. If I decide to stay here after my program ends, it will be nice to have some friends outside of UiO since I am already a bit depressed by the thought of being here by myself without Tim and Mike to keep me company. Anyway, that evening we (myself, Tim and Mike) had a lovely dinner at our friend Patricia's flat, then spent the rest of the night chatting away and blaring our own music in Velferden. A grand way to end Easter if I don't say so myself!

I passed Monday in a rather lethargic fashion that doesn't bear much remarking; Tim and I went over to Mike's with every intention of watching the Vålerenga match, only to discover that it wasn't televised! ): It's for the best, since they lost, so we ended up going back early to cook dinner and watch a hilarious boy band parody film leant to me by Damon called "Boyzvoiced." I was actually impressed by how catchy some of the songs actually were! But most of it was a spoof documentary, and this was one of the funnier exchanges:

I didn't realize comprehension of English was a desirable quality in Norwegian men. The more you know~

Probably my favorite song from the whole documentary, and it is, delightfully enough, the first one you hear!

Today was an unexpected adventure, actually. I met up with Tim and Damon at Forskningsparken and took the tram into Grunnarløkka again, where I found Le Palais des Thés, a tea shop recommended to me some time ago that I've only just now got round to visiting. I ended up buying a lovely package of chai tea, along with some peach tea... and then, apparently, we decided to head over to IKEA again, mainly for the Swedish meatballs you can buy in the cafeteria there. Second silly purchase of the day: a plant I have affectionately named Halliburton 2, successor to Halliburton 1, a plant that may or may not be dying in Ray's flat, I'm not sure. Anyway, H2 is currently sunning herself (yes, it is a she I have decided) beneath my lamp, and I just hope I won't kill her before it's time to fly home. ): I suppose at that point I'll donate her to someone else who plans on sticking around for a while.

Whew! That was a lot of writing. Hopefully that brings me up to speed on all of my adventures since leaving for Copenhagen. Hadet!

København--The Rest of My Excellent Adventure

Day Two, continued!

As usual, go here for more pictures.

The Icelandic embassy is the loneliest embassy of all, located in one of the bleakest, most depressing little corners of Copenhagen near the harbor. I don't think I've ever seen such a neglected looking representative of a foreign nation before in my life. I sort of wanted to hug it.

Anyway, the reason why I ended up moseying my way past the Icelandic embassy in the first place is because my intrepid travel companions and I were in pursuit of that most elusive of structural entities, the Copenhagen opera house. Okay, so it wasn't exactly elusive: the thing looms like a giant eyesore opposite Frederiks Kirke on the other side of the canal. I thought it was pretty ugly in comparison to Oslo's opera house, which has lots of asymmetrical angles and disappears prettily into the waters of the fjord. Copenhagen's, in comparison, is... well, I just didn't like it as much. You can compare them and decide for yourselves: Copenhagen's, or Oslo's? To help your decision-making process, keep in mind that you get to enjoy this view of Oslofjorden from the top of Oslo's opera house. :D

Day Three

Day Three started with soft, gorgeous morning light, which made taking photographs nearly a tangible joy after we checked out of our hostel and set out into the city again. We only had half a day available to us for proper adventuring, but made the very best of it, to my reckoning. Our list of visited locations was rather short this time: the Round Tower and the Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek, but as far as I'm concerned, these were easily two of the best places we could have visited, and so I'm glad they both made it onto the list.

The Round Tower itself is attached to a church that still holds regular services, but has been sectioned off so that the tramping feet of many an errant tourist don't disturb the patrons as they enjoy Sunday service, or just some quiet prayer time. (Pictured at the right isn't the Round Tower, by the way; you can see that here instead. It got a bit gloomy outside by the time we got there, unfortunately.) There's no elevator or quick way up to the top of the tower, so we hoofed it up to the very top and enjoyed one pretty darn fantastic view of the whole city spread out around us.

I came to this conclusion about Copenhagen during my short stay: there is so, so, so much to see, so many friendly complete strangers willing to chat with you about the oddest things at the most absurd moments (e.g., the ferryman who seemed perfectly happy to discuss Humbolt University in California with me, nevermind the queue of passengers waiting to board the ferry behind me)--but I wouldn't want to live there. When I think of Copenhagen, I think of a really fantastic vacation destination; having breakfast in Ny Havn was a glorious indulgence, but something I wouldn't be able to do every day. The public transit system is very large and exceedingly complicated to such a degree that most of the time, we just didn't bother with it. In contrast, I don't think I would ever recommend Oslo as a vacation destination to anyone hoping to explore the finer aspects of Scandinavia--but this is a great place to live. Just enough museums to keep life fascinating, beautiful wilderness only a ten-minute walk from my front door, and an incredibly easy to navigate public transit system that only took me a few rides to sort out. I feel comfortable in Oslo; it's home to me, even if it isn't the most exciting city in Europe.

But I'm getting ahead of myself!

The Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek had many fantastic attractions, but I gravitated towards all of the ancient Greek and Roman sculptures, their collection of which was MASSIVE and EXTRAORDINARY. Yes, the capslock abuse is absolutely necessary to aid in expressing my delirious joy. When you invariably browse through my photo galleries on Facebook, you'll discover that I took the most photos of my entire trip inside this place--mostly of nude Greek and Roman dead guys, of course. ;)

Herakles, pictured to your left, was a very popular subject of course, though I was pleased to discover several other notable names in and amongst their collection. I'm not sure what I was expecting to discover inside the Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek when I decided to venture inside of it, but this collection totally blew me away by its sheer quantity of gorgeous sculptures. I nearly wept openly when I found this beautiful bust of Alexander the Great kept in almost pristine condition. Alexander the Great was one of my earliest obsessions as a history major, thanks in part to Mary Renault's historical fiction as well as her introspective analysis of his character in The Nature of Alexander. Anyway, seeing that bust had me walking on clouds for the rest of the afternoon.

But of course, all good things must come to their inevitable ends, and we did eventually have to board the bus to begin our trip home. The conclusion of our visit to Copenhagen didn't prevent me from snapping some shots of the wind turbines jutting up out of the water between Denmark and Sweden, of course.

And that, as they say, was that! :)

Not the rest of my Copenhagen update, but...

Your moment of me, right in time for Easter! :D

God påske! <3

København--A Recap of Days One and Two

I don't even know where to begin describing this fantastic, walking-intensive three day adventure, but I do know that you should all go here, here, and here to look at the well over 600 photos I took of this extraordinary maritime city. I'll try to keep this entry from wandering all over the place by describing only a few things, and letting the photographs do the rest of the talking for me since I've labeled the majority of them fairly specifically.

Day One

We traveled to Copenhagen by bus as opposed to the ferry in order to cut costs, and that was definitely one of the more unpleasant commutes I've ever experienced seeing as the stranger I sat beside decided I was the perfect size to be used as his personal arm rest while he putzed around on his computer. But once we got to the city, I quickly forgot the awful commute because there's just something about the energy of trains rumbling into central stations the world over that fills me with anticipation. I feel it when I'm here in Oslo S. looking at all the clusters of people with their luggage ready to go on their respective adventures, however small, and in a place like Copenhagen that feeling is a certainty.

We checked our luggage at the station and spent the morning and afternoon (from about 6am 'til 2pm or so) just exploring the city in as much detail as we could; we hit up the National Museum, Rosenborg Castle and gardens, Ny Havn and the canals (pictured left), and even Christiania before Day One was even over. Not that the day ended with sight-seeing, of course. Our hostel (Danhostel Copenhagen City Downtown, for the curious) also contains a very cozy South African pub with some very comfy chairs and sofas that felt fantastic after a very, very, very long day on our feet. We drank a few rounds of beer, watched football (European, of course) on the television, and played several rounds of Presidents and Assholes, the only card game I can play at all successfully.

Day Two

Day Two started with this outstanding meal for breakfast at a cafe in Ny Havn: flavorful fried eggs, crisp bacon, juicy sausage, the best strawberry I've eaten all year, smoked salmon, and a few very thin slices of ham--and, of course, a delicious cup of tea. (I took an artsier shot of breakfast here.) The weather that morning was unbelievably fine, and the first time this year that I've felt I was truly experiencing spring; having breakfast outside with the sun on my face and the sound of seagulls in my ears put me in the best mood imaginable--but the weather on Wednesday was very erratic, and during the course of the day we soldiered on through rain showers, rumbles of thunder, and even a rather unexpected hailstorm while crossing a bridge over one of the canals. All the same, Day Two proved to be as successful as Day One, if not moreso since we now had a decent night's rest as opposed to a night spent tossing and turning on a cramped bus.

After brunch, our first stop was Frederiks Kirke, and while I got some beautiful photos of the outside, I'm very glad I decided to record video footage of the interior, since that does it much better justice than anything my poor camera can manage:

The outside, featuring the stunning copper dome and gilding work on the marble.

A detailed shot of some artwork inside the church.

The video footage, featuring a few cameos of my travel companions.

The next stop on the journey was the Museum of the Danish Resistance, a subject known to be near and dear to my heart, and I wasn't disappointed by the contents of the relatively humble-looking building. The exhibits were laid out chronologically from the start of the occupation through to its conclusion, and on display were various artifacts and documents from each year, including personal belongings of both Danish and German soldiers, letters written from frightened relatives to their imprisoned loved ones in concentration camps, and, of course, a massive collection of information and artifacts from the activities of the resistance participants themselves. I was most impressed by the collection of homemade weapons used within the city of Copenhagen itself; resistance activity didn't receive much outside support from Allied Europe during the war, so resistance members had to do a lot of improvisation--which included smuggling these peculiar weapons to each other in crates of Carlsberg beer. I wasn't a bit fan of Carlsberg beer before, but I'll certainly drink it with fondness now. :D (Pictured to the left, by the way, are the identity papers of Werner Best, a particularly vile character responsible for issuing the order to deport Denmark's Jews.)

To prevent this entry from getting any longer, I'll hold off on describing the rest of Day Two and Day Three until later. Hopefully this will keep you entertained for now!