Norge

Congratulations to Mrs. David, my sweet elementary school music teacher, for winning the 2nd Anniversary Gruenhunstrasse Challenge!

 

 

Your victory package is prepared and will be shipping out this week!  Enjoy!  Thanks for playing!

 

And welcome to today's blog post, which is in Norway!

 

"Norge" means Norway in Norwegian!

 

The second half of our cruise this summer was all ports of call in Norway.

 

Our first stop was Oslo, the capitol city.  Here is the town hall.

 

 

Tada!  There you have it.

 

And here is the National Theater.

 

We did our own walking tour of Oslo...

 

Past the Norwegian National Palace (nothing too fancy here...just the usual man on a horse statue, pillars...etc.)

 

 

 There is a surprising lack of water features here....Although we did see guards in special guard boxes.  (Notice this guard is rocking that pony-tail.) 

 

Back side of palace.  No comment.

 

 

Our final destination for our walk in Oslo was the Vigeland Park.  This is a park where there are 212 sculptures all by the same Norwegian artist, Gustav Vigeland.  It took him over 20 years to make them them all.

 

 

It was a lot of people.  Real ones and sculpture ones.  First you walk down a big aisle with statues on either side (and real people walking down the middle).  They are all people at different stages of life. (Both real and sculptures.)

 

They are all the kind of poses that you see in every day life...except that no one is ever wearing any clothes....the statues, that is.

 

At the end of the "boulevard" you come to a big fountain surrounded by weird fairies falling through the trees.

 

No, I'm serious.  Look.  What the heck is that?

 

Right, so moving on...

 

Past the fountain you come to a huge circle of statues with one big pillar made out of people...I guess...(you'll see...)

 

As you work your way around the circle, the people progressively get older.

 

It starts with sculptures of babies and kids...

 

moving to adults...

 

and finally the elderly...

And at the very end, I saw this life-like airborne sculpture.  I wonder how he did that?

 

Here's the full view with the "people pillar" in the middle.

 

Even the wrought iron gates were designed by Vigeland.

 

Yay!

 

After the park, we walked back through Oslo.  Here's a random fruit stand.

 

And a random church.

 

And, finally, before heading back to our cruise ship, we explored the old fortress of Akershus.

 

 

 

It is pretty much right on the coast.  Like, we could blow their cannons straight into our room on the cruise ship.  BOOM!  Here is the view of our cruise ship from the top of the wall at Akershus.

 

Here is the view of Akershus from our cruise ship. 

 

Another stop on our cruise was the second largest city in Norway (after Oslo) called Stavanger.  While we were there we went to an Oil Museum.  Oil Museum, you say?  That must be pretty freaking boring....But actually....

 

We controlled everying.  (Not really...but we got to pretend we did.)

 

And here is the awesome video to prove it.

 

 

 

All along the coast they have these real life oil rigs that you can't control...unless, you know, you are an oil rig operator.  But I mean, how many people are oil rig operators?  Right?

 

 

Slot, Slott

"Slot" means "palace" in Danish.  And "Slott" means "palace" in Swedish!

 

A Very Palatial Happy Anniversary to Me!

 

I'm six days late, but posting a pre-anniversary blog would be bad luck (I decided.)

 

This year marks two years of blogging and this will be my 81st blog post!

 

In honor of my anniversary, at the end of this post you will find the "2nd Anniversary Gruenhundstrasse Challenge." 

 

Last year was a corny anniversary.  This year will be a Palatial Anniversary. 

 

It has come to my attention after two years of visiting many, many palaces that there are certain requirements for palaces that you just have to have. 

 

And so, if you are thinking about building your own palace, here are my guidelines to you.  As examples, I will show you the palaces of the royalty of Denmark and Sweden, specifically, Frederiksborg Slot in Denmark, and Drottningholm Slott in Sweden.

 

First let us take a look at Drottningholm. 

 

If you have a palace, it's good to have guards.  That way you can be guarded.

 

Water features with confusing statues are a must.

 

Just water in general is good.

 

Vast expanses of gardens.....with benches....are nice.

 

Next tip: Have a gardener.  (Trust me, you don't want to mow all those lawns by yourself.)

 

Make sure your gardener knows how to trim the hedges in funky shapes.

 

So - about the palace.  You should have a flag on top.  And paint it a nice color.  Make sure to have lots of windows.

 

Make sure you have special fancy boxes so your guards can stand in, in case it rains.

 

Make sure there is adequate space for tourists to take their photo with the guards.

 

Big clocks are important.  So you can tell the time.

 

Again, water is good.  It's always prudent to surround yourself with a large body of water. 

 

 

That way, people have to take a boat to get there.

 

Example Number two: Fredericksborg Slot in Denmark. 

 

Again, we observe the strange statue in the middle of a water feature.

 

If you are building your own palace, it's always nice to go ahead and just build your own chapel inside.  Makes going to church easier.

 

Once again, a big clock.  This one not only measures time, but also space and the mysteries of the universe.  Always a handy feature.

 

Again, surround yourself in water.  It makes all the pictures taken of your palace look more epic.

 

Did I say water, or did I say water?

 

Looks like those gardeners have been at work here, too.  Make sure your hedges look like something interesting from above.

 

Make sure to have lots of extra pathways for strolling.  You might not use them, but the tourists will.

 

Notice how the hedge-work is perfect.  Don't let them get overgrown!

 

Sometimes combining water and hedge-work is a nice touch.

 

And don't forget flowers.

Please be sure to send me pictures of your own palace once it is built.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for....I give you.....



 

 

The Second Anniversary Gruenhundstrasse Challenge!

 

The first three people who answer all the questions correctly will receive a tasty box full of authentic German candy. (Sorry, no Kinder Eggs.  They are illegal.) 

 

Entries are due by October 18th, and winners will be announced in the October 19th blog post.

 

All answers will be found in the previous twelve months of blog posts (starting from last year's Corny Anniversary Post.)  Good luck!

 

1. Where did we see this adorable horse?  (You love him too, right?)

 

 

2. What is the number 1 thing you should remember when eating a Kinder Egg or Kinder Maxi? 

 

3. Who is Krampus, and where did we see him?

 

4. Where did we see floating shoes?

 

5. Which flavor of English crisps should you NOT eat? (Very bad.)

 

6. In the Von Trapp Family portrait, I am Liesl.  Who is Kieran?

 

7. Where did we see a carved wooden llama cat?

 

8. How many pictures of Stonehenge did my dad take? (Well, at least how many are posted on my blog?  He took more than that...)

 

9. Where should you take caution because people are levitating on stairs?

 

10. What do you say to make a camel dromedary go?  Also - If I had a dromedary, what would I name him?

 

11. Where are Pixie Puffs part of this complete breakfast?

 

12. On what date will you find pictures of Snortopolis?

 

 

And, if that's not exciting enough - I have a great challenge for you.

 

The STATUE OF A MAN ON A HORSE BONUS CHALLENGE!

 

If you can identify the locations of the following men on horses (and tell me which one is my favorite), you will receive a souvenir from the next place I visit.

 

1.

 

2.

 

3.

 

4.

 

5.

 

And if you want to know where the next place I am visiting is, I will give you a clue.

 

It's someplace we have already been, and it's where we saw a cell-iano.