There are lots of cars “In Motion” around this roundabout in Lisbon, Portugal, which I thought made this a good choice for PhotoFriday this week.
Tag Archives: europe
Texture
Oslo
I Have really fond memories of summer 1994 when I did a summer job in Ipswich. (Yes, I’m talking about Ipswich in a blog entitled “Oslo.” Bear with me.) Now Suffolk isn’t a glamorous location necessarily but it was a good time for me and it was a great, hot summer. A few years ago I stopped back in the town on the way back from a wedding. I really wish I hadn’t. Maybe it was the grey and the rain or maybe the years had not been kind, but Ipswich just wasn’t what I remembered.
As I went back to Oslo after a decade away I hoped that the same thing wouldn’t happen. I’d spent ten months working there mainly because everyone else in the office preferred to be in exciting cities like New York and I was the only one willing to go. It was, perhaps, an inauspicious start, but I enjoyed my stay there. The combination of the facilities of a capital city and the proximity to the water and nature were appealing. Even the weather wasn’t as bad as I had been expecting.
The last time I arrived I had turned up with only a rucksack. This time I stayed only for a week but turned up with a suitcase, my wife and my seven month old son. My life has changed a lot in ten years but, it turns out, Oslo hasn’t. I mean that in a good way.
The main difference I noticed this time was not a specific sight or location but the prices. Last time it didn’t hit me. I’m not sure whether things have really become relatively more expensive or whether the expenses deal I was on skewed my perception or even whether my lifestyle at the time just cost less, but I noticed this year. I had sticker shock with almost every purchase and you have to remember that I live in one of the most expensive cities in the world already!
After a while part of me just resigned myself to spending money like it was going out of fashion but the other part couldn’t quite get used to it.
Still, by staying in a serviced apartment rather than a hotel, eating in most nights and steering clear of alcohol most of the time I made it merely expensive rather than pushing me close to bankrupsy.
I spent most of the early week re-visiting some of my favourite sites. We walked down the main street, saw the palace (currently being renovated and seemingly wearing a hat), the Stortinget (parliament building), Akershus Festning (from a distance), Vigeland Sculpture Park and Aker Brygge (shopping complex).
Ten years ago I didn’t have Internet access at “home,” but this time I was able to find out that the National Gallery was free on Sunday’s, so we went for a quick look around. The exhibition that everyone comes for Edvard Munch was well hidden but I didn’t let them win. I didn’t know much about him, but what I did learn in that room was that I didn’t think that The Scream was his best work.
Mid-week we decided to go to the Holmenkollen ski jump and from there, the end of the T-Bane line at Frognerseteren where there are lots of lakes and country-side walks only twenty minutes outside the city centre. It’s one of the things I loved about staying in Oslo.
But things didn’t entirely go to plan. When we got up to the ski jump, not only could you not look down the hill and see Oslo, but you could barely see the jump itself, even though it was right in front of us.
Then it started to rain.
We skipped the walk.
One new thing that I almost missed is the Opera House. I had read about a few years ago and, I think, I’d internally registered it as the new National Theatre. When we passed the “old” theatre my brain hadn’t connected the two concepts. It was only when leaving Akershus Festinig that we glanced a large, white… thing in the distance. It needed to be investigated.
It was totally worth it, even though it involved pushing the pram up almost vertical inclines. (Okay, I exaggerate. But only slightly.)
On the last full day we decided to head to Bygdøy, a peninsula just outside Oslo city centre where there are a number of museums. Previously I’d walked there but only got as far as the Folk museum. With a baby walking wasn’t really an option, so instead we took the bus and popped into both the Kon-Tiki and the Viking Ship Museum.
While I associated “Kon-Tiki” with the Pacific I knew nothing about the journeys that this museum was about. In short, the main protagonist wanted to prove that it was possible to get to some Pacific Islands from the mainland using nothing more than a raft. Even coming from zero background knowledge it was interesting.
The next stop was the Viking Ship Museum. This was much more familiar territory, but no less fascinating for it. There were three big ships and what was left of their cargoes. The panels described how the ships had been reconstructed from the fragments that had been found. I couldn’t help but think that it would be like finding a Lego set without the instructions. While they made a ship with the parts, they might just have easily made a space port, a house or a scene from the Harry Potter movies. You’ll have to trust them that they built the correct thing.
And that was about all for our trip around the Norwegian capital. But Oslo had one last reminder for me. One of the things I liked about many of Norwegians I worked with: their matter of factness (if that’s a word). On boarding the airport bus I noticed that it had a sign saying that they accepted American Express. Once I inside I proffered my card. The driver said “We don’t take Amex.” I noted the sign on the door. He said, “Yes it does say that. But we don’t. They’ve not updated the label yet.” I know it’s only a small thing but it amused me.
(There are a few more pictures on my Flickr stream if you’re interested.)
Countryside
The difficulty with this weeks challenge, “Countryside,” was which picture to use? I’m not really patient enough to be a great landscape photographer but I’ve got lucky a few times, including this time in Ireland.
I’ve not posted an entry for the last week or two, so there’s no suggestion to vote for my entry this week!
Geometric
Having spent a little time in Jordan, Egypt and Moorish Spain, the word “Geometric,” this weeks PhotoFriday theme, says “Islamic architecture.” The above picture was taken in the Muhammad Ali Mosque in Cairo.
Please also vote for my entry in last weeks challenge, “Grandeur.” I’m entry number 118.
Lake District
There are no guarantees when travelling in the UK. Even in May the weather can be all over the place, beautiful, bright and sunny one minute, drab, grey and miserable the next.
There are no guarantees when travelling with a five month old baby. They can be bright and cheery and laughing one minute and crying and screaming the next.
Both of these things made my trip to the Lake District rather different to most of the travel I’ve ever done. Except when I travel with a tour group, I normally have a pretty relaxed schedule. That was more-or-less mandated this time!
But despite my worries, including less than ideal weather, things worked out well. Junior travelled like a champ, sleeping through the boring bits, thoroughly enjoying himself or just not noticing any of the changes.
It’s fair to say that we saw less than we would have done if travelling alone, but we still managed to cram quite a lot of sight-seeing in.
We stayed half way between Windermere and Bowness, a short walk to either town. Or a long walk if it was raining. So on the first day we checked out both towns and went down to the lake front.
That first time by the water it was so windy that we almost got blown off our feet. I took a few pictures and gave up, heading back into Bowness. Here the wind quickly died down but just as quickly turned into rain. I ducked into a cafe. Too late for the cream scone it turns out, but just in time to avoid the rain and drink a quick latte.
The next day I drove by the side of the lake north to Ambleside and then back down the west side of the lake a little for a walk to a waterfall.
At least that was the idea.
We ended up doing a very pleasant walk by the side of a river up to a small town, but not a waterfall. That will teach us to rely on Google Maps and some vague directions. (We later found that we’d not been patient enough. A couple of miles further down the road would have got us to the right path.)
The forecast for the next day was worse, so we decided to spend more of it in the car and head up to Cockermouth, to the north west of the Lakes.
Sure is was grey and miserable outside, but the scenery was still undeniably beautiful. It’s crazy to think that it was my first time in the area.
Once in Cockermouth we walked around in circles, as we tend to do when visiting new places. We started without a real plan. Then, since we were with a baby, thought that maybe we should visit the toy museum. We found the brewery that was, according to the map, just past it but not the museum itself. Later we found that some of the signs were blacked out; presumably it closed at some point.
We had better luck with lunch. On our aimless walking earlier we had passed a number of pubs that looked worthy of further attention. Based more on the name than anything more scientific we ended up in The Bitter End, which turned out to be a good choice. You can’t go wrong with a pint and a pie…
On the way back to Windermere we stopped in a few places, included Grassmere for some gingerbread and some services for a loo (though they had been closed for some time, with the windows boarded up).
But this was to be our last full day in the Lakes.
We took our time heading back home. We stopped in Kendle for some mint-cake. And I found a new word that sounds like it’s swearing but isn’t: finkle. (If you don’t think it sounds rude, you can finkle off.) And we stopped in Settle for some lunch at “Ye Olde Naked Man Cafe” for some Yorkshire pudding and Cumberland Sausages. May seemed like the wrong time of year for such stodge but a quick look out the window confirmed that it was very suitable.
So even with the baby and the weather, we still managed to see quite a lot in only a few days. I find it difficult to believe that this was the first time I’ve visited. But I’m sure it won’t be the last time.