There's Nowhere like Norway

Berries

2009-08-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

In autumn Norwegians go into the forest and pick berries. Well, some people do. I can't really say I'm one of them. There are lots of bushes everywhere so even if you don't really go into the forest, you can find berries, granted no one has already picked them. There were not that many berries left, but we picked some raspberries and the cowberries (in the picture above), but there were no blueberries around. Blueberries are nearly as good as raspberries, but not quite.

Election

2009-08-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

So the election is coming up in three weeks time, and along the main street in Oslo there are lots of stands. It being Sunday, they were all closed, but I thought this was the coolest stand so I took a picture of it. The text in the picture says "Vote Red" and who knows, I might, but I doubt it. As long as it isn't FRP who wins...

And As We Spoke of Many Things, Fools and Kings

2009-08-19T13:21:00.000-07:00

I was on my way home and had a few minutes to wait for the metro, so I just went and snapped this photo of the royal palace. I wish I had had more time to take a better photo. Anyway, it's the only real palace we have in Norway, and it was built by (the Swedish) King Carl Johan III and was finished in 1849. When the royal flag is put up, the king is at home.

City Bicycles

2009-08-12T06:33:00.000-07:00

In some cities in Norway (at least Oslo, Trondheim, and Drammen), there are so called "bysykler" or "city bicycles" that you can use to get from A to B. They're in certain racks and you need to purchase a user card. As you can see in the picutre, they're not always taken good care of and finding one can be a problem. I think it's a good project to limit emission of gasses, even though I've personally never used one (I use my own or public transportation. I can't drive).

Manholes

2009-08-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, I confess. I am fascinated by manholes. When I was in Germany and South Korea I took a lot of pictures of different kinds of manholes, and I've started doing the same here in Norway. There are different kinds of manholes here, but usually some of them have the municipal's coat of arms on them. Wikipedia informs me that it used to be frowned upon, but that it's become an accepted practice. I wish I could take pictures of all the different coat of arms that are found on manholes in Norway, but considering there are 430 municipalities, and that Norway isn't small (in geographical terms at least), it would take considerable time, effort, and money. ^^

Wooden Houses

2009-08-05T06:28:00.000-07:00

In Norway there's, among other things, a lot of wood. Lots of wood means lots of wooden houses. These days detached houses are still generally made out of wood, while larger buildings are made out of concrete, steal and glass.