Week Three!

Week three!

Day 15: June 9th
As today was a holiday (still don't know why, and I have asked some of the family and neither they knew) Jon Andreas (my second uncle) invited me to a Barbecue with the Lange's. It was the first time I had red meat since I arrived in Norway. First my uncle took me for a little sight-seeing through...... We had a very nice time though I felt kind of guilty that everyone has to speak English around me (although, English isn't my first language either).

Writing last week's post.

Day 16: June 10th
Today I met a friend of my mother's who invited me for dinner with her husband, son and her. It was also the first time I took a tram in Norway, because we took one to her home. We met at a Tram stop and waited a couple of minutes for her son to arrive. We had a nice dinner of "sushi" (actually just fish with soy sauce and wasabi).

On my way to the Tram Station I saw this competition of Cross-country skiing (with roller blades). The Norwegians are eager for Winter to start Cross-country skiing (with skis) again.

Day 17: June 11th
Helped Tore on the construction of Gleden.

The progress.

And then he took me to see a sailing competition and we were supposed to cheer for one of Tore's friends, but we couldn't find him with all the sailing boats there.

Some of the sailing boats at the competition.

Day 18: June 12th
Today was the first day of the World Cup! Excited? And what better teams to start it off than Brazil and ...Croatia? Ok, to be fair, they scored the first goal. Anyway, in downtown Oslo they are having this Fotballfesten (translation: "Football Festival") where they have this giant screen and benches to watch the Cup. So I decided to go and check it out. But what I didn't expect was a line two block long of people waiting to get in and see the match. I looked around to see if any relative where in line so I could scoot in, but no. So I thought it would be better to just go home and see the match from there. But on my way to my bike I see that a little bar had a screen outside for people to watch and I stayed there until Croatia shot the first goal and went back home.

Day 19: Friday the 13th!
During the day I help Tore with the construction of the catamaran and at 22:30 I left the house/boat to go see the football match between Chile and Australia in downtown Oslo with started at midnight, but I had to get there an hour early to get in line to go see it. I didn't know that there are so many Chileans in Oslo, because this place was packed with 98% Chileans and 2% Australians. I stayed there until halftime and decided to go home to see the rest.

At the Fotballfesten one hour before the match. Many Chileans as you can see.

They have a good sense of humor at the Fotballfesten.

The Chileans are already chanting for their team even before the match started.

Full moon on Friday the 13th. Coincidence? I think not!

 Day 20: June 14th
I arrived home to see the last 30 minutes of the match and, of course, Chile won.

Around 11 we went on a trip to Holmen on the most beautiful boat I've ever seen (I have to tell Eline and Tore that the Levebåten Marie is actually the most beautiful so I can keep living here). It took the owner 18 years to rebuild since he rescued it from the ocean floor (and it paid off). Since we arrived in Holmen every single person over there looked at the boat in amazement and asked the owners if they could come aboard and touch it.
We stayed there for about 5 hours and then we returned in Raskesara (a sporty-type boat Eline and Tore have). During the trip back, Tore realized that one of the flappers that balance the boat was broken. At 8 o'clock Tore and Eline left to go to a dinner they were invited to. So I just watched some TV and read my book.

Day 21: June 15th
Today Eline and I visited some relatives that invited us for lunch (all of my relatives in Norway are either my second or third uncles/aunts or cousins). We had a time and I was glad to meet new relatives.
Eline let me drive her car (yeah!), so it was the first time I drove an automatic (easy).
After the lunch with the relatives, Eline got the nice idea to go the famous park called "Frogner Park", although the section we visited is know as "Vigelandsanlegget" (translation: "Vigeland installation") which is a big tourist attraction in Oslo. Inside the park there are many sculptures made my Gustav Vigeland and it is the world's largest sculpture park made by a single artist.

Vigeland's Park. You can see many of the scultures and the "Monolitt" (the pillar in the back). 

Week 2: The Journey Continues

Sorry I didn't upload this post on time. Due to low Internet connectivity it wouldn't let my publish it.

Second week in beautiful Norway. Lovely weather except for a couple of days (I'll get into detail about that). This week was the first time I went to downtown Oslo and actually became a "tourist".

Day 8: mandag
Today I mostly helped Tore with the construction of "Gleden" (translation: "happiness"). This time I took pictures.

Gleden under construction.

Day 9: tirsdag
First day as an official tourist in Oslo! I woke up early so that I could catch a ride downtown with Eline, who was going to work. They left me off about 10 blocks north-east of the rådhus (translation: "City Hall"). So my first thought was to go to the rådhus, but on my way there I saw signs for the Opera House, which Eline told me was a beautiful piece of architecture.

This is the Opera House. A very modern piece of Architecture. You can walk or take your bike on the roof

View from the roof of the Operahus. Isn't Oslo pretty?

So I went there and walked of the roof, which is one of the many amazing things about this building and saw the sunrise (well, actually the sun never set, so technically, I just saw the sun rise). After that I walked west a little bit and ended up in the Akershus Festning (translation: Akershus Fortress). This fortress has successfully survived all sieges, primarily by Swedish forces. So it did what it was supposed to do. Inside the fortress there is a museum called Norway's Resistance Museum and I was interested in going but opens at 10 o'clock and it was only 8:30. So, instead I continued my walk through the fortress and after a while I found an exit that was close to the rådhus. Before entering the city hall they have some wooden frescos showing some important figures of the Norse Mythology, like Thor and the Valkyries.

View of Oslo from the Akershus Fortress. The building on the right is the rådhus. 

Inside, the Oslo City Hall looks amazing with beautiful paintings and marble floor and mosaics. There they had free water and by that time I was very thirsty, so...
After my visit to the rådhus I went to my aunts workplace to have lunch there. On my way there an American tourist asked me for directions to somewhere, but I told him I was also a tourist. So after lunch I resumed my tourist day and decided to go to the Resistance Museum, but it was full of tourists so I couldn't get in. I decided to go back to the Operahus where they had free wifi and stayed there till 3 o'clock where I had to go back to my aunts work where we were picked up by Tore.

The rådhus from the side facing the Sea.

Main entrance to the City Hall. You can see an astronomical clock on the center right. 

One of the wooden frescos on the main entrance to the rådhus. This one is of Thor riding his chariot through the sky. 

Main hall of the rådhus. Very pretty with nice paintings.

This is a moisac in the main hall. The picture above this one was taken where these stairs lead to.

During my tourist day I saw this and I found it pretty :)

Downtown close to were my aunt works.

After arriving home I could't help Tore with the boat, because I was too tired.

Day 10: onsdag
RAIN! First day of rain. A lot of rain, so I was stranded inside the house/boat and didn't do much. (Well, I can't complain much, in Chile they were having one of their worst storms). The first week I was here everyone was telling me that the weather, been so nice as it was, wasn't normal for Norway; they were expecting this rain to come.

First day of mayor rain. You can see the rain drops on the water.

Day 11: torsdag
MORE RAIN! Something happened to the Internet since the storm of Tuesday; it has been going very slow. So slow that sometimes I can't even send an e-mail.
Once again, I didn't do much.

Nugatti, Norwegian version of Nutella (P.S: Nutella is better. Don't tell that to a Norwegian.)

Day 12: fredag
Sun! Again a nice day, but there where still some gray clouds in the sky. Today we continued on the building of Gleden.

Cleaning the deck of Levebåten Marie.

Eline and I.

Day 13: lørdag
In downtown Oslo today there was a Musikkfest (translation: "Music Festival") where they placed a lot of mini stadiums (I think 30 in total) and many Norwegian bands (none that I knew) played for a couple of hours. There was a great variety of genres to pick from. The transportation method I used to get downtown was using a bicycle instead of car like last time (here bicycles are one of the most used ways to get from A to B). It's only about 6km form the Levebåten so in less than half an hour I was there. The first band I listened to (shown in the picture below) were a folk-rock band which I didn't catch their name (or I forgot) and played in a stadium in Eidsvolls plass (translation: "Eidsvolls park"). I stayed there for a couple of minutes and then moved on to the band that was playing in front of the rådhus. For some reason I can remember what they were playing (18 years old and already with memory problems). Moving on, I saw other 3 bands downtown, all of which were playing rock songs (one of them made some great Led Zeppelin cover songs).

One of the many bands playing that day in downtown Oslo. This one was the one playing Led Zeppelin covers.

Around 4 o'clock I decided to go back home. Where I'm living it's kind of a gated community and the only way to get to the Levebåten is by a boat that takes you to the island Killigen where all the boats are docked, or by a key to open a gate (or by swimming, but I didn't want to do that). SO, when I arrived there no was home, therefore no one could pick me up. To kill some time I decided to bicycle around Bygdøy. I took a very nice path that borders the Fjord. After about 20 minutes I turned around and went back home. Guess what, still no one home, but after waiting for about 10 minutes a neighbours sees me and gives me a lift.
That was about it for today.

Photo of Killigen (left) from Bygdøy. You might be able to see Levebåten Marie from here.

Day 14: søndag
The last day of Week 2 was the day I finally swam in the Fjords. "The temperature is warm" they said. "It's nice" they said. The second I jumped into the water (other than thinking that was a good idea) I completely forgot that the Fjords are salt water, so I was kind of lost when I my lips felt salty when I was underwater.
Also, today we were visited by one of the neighbours and his girlfriend who is Chinese and she prepared some amazing food. So we talked and ate for a long time and before we knew it, it was bed time.

First swim in the Fjords (cold!)

Also, first time having to peel a shrimp.

Week 1: The Beginning ...of the end (not really)

This is the first post of this blog in which I will tell my "journey" (get it... Because of the title...) though Norway, a mystical land that the vikings used to call "home"; now a beautiful country home of >5 million people.

I'm going to post a post (duh...) each week, as a summary of what I experienced those 7 days.

I'm writing this blog for my family, so they know of my journey though Norway, but anyone who wants to read it, feel free to do so as this is a blog, and that is what blogs are for.

Day 1: Monday
After ~14 hours of flying on Airfrance (btw, great service... and I'm not paid to say that) from Santiago to Paris, and a 2 hours layover, and a 2 and a half hours flight from there to Oslo, and an hour on train from the airport (which is not even near the city) my aunt picks me up from the train station and takes to her house, which, by the way, is a boat (very common here in Norway to have a boat as your house). When I arrived at her houseboat a got a very warm welcome (that's very typical in Norway) from she and her husband. As I mentioned, they live in a boat, more specifically a Catamaran, so my bedroom is in one of the hulls (cosy). After having pasta with salmon for dinner and a little chat I fell asleep quickly after 30 hours awake (you know it's impossible to sleep on the plane).

This is the houseboat I was taking about. It is very known here in the Norwegian Fjord, it has appeared in many commercials.

Day 2: Tuesday
13hrs, late start (well for me it was only 7 in the morning), sun high in the sky. After having some break/lunch, Tore, my aunt's husband, asked me if I could help him with the construction of his boat (another Catamaran, smaller that the "Levebåten" (translated: "Life boat")) I didn't take any picture of the construction that day, so then you can see the progress we have made. And for dinner they took me to what is known as a "Brun Kaffe (translated: "brown coffee") which is like a a little restaurant that is only accessible by boat. I had pasta with a white sauce that had bits of salmon. I still have to get used to eating dinner at 5 o'clock, instead of 8 or 9 like in Chile. 
At around 19:30 I looked at the sun and thought: "Maybe one hour or two of sun left". Later that day I see that the sun is setting, so I said: "It must be like 9 o'clo... nope, it's 11 o'clock." So at midnight I took a picture of the setting sun.

Midnight and there is still natural light, more like Midday, amiright?

Me driving a little boat they use for short travels called "September"

A very good friend of Tore and Eline (not in the picture) invited us for dinner one night.

Day 3: Wednesday
Woke up early to help Tore with the boat. Had breakfast, lunch and dinner... 
I talked to many of the neighbors and all of them seem like nice people.
And, no, I didn't have pasta with salmon today.

Tore and I working on Gleden.

Day 4: Thursday
What? You expected something else for yesterday? 
Anyway, today, Eline (my aunt) and I went to Telemark (Norwegian county) because her sister invited us. We were six people there, Eline's two sisters (with also are my aunts) with their husbands, Eline and I. The first day we didn't do much, we just looked around at the nature and at the beautiful summer house we stayed in.

Nice summer house, eh?

We had food outside (pasta with salmon again) until 11 o'clock.

View from my aunt's summer house of Telemark

Day 5: Friday
Today we went on a boat trip through the Telemarkkanalen. We boarded the MS Henrik Ibsen, one of the two boats that take tourist through the canal (the other one is MS Victoria (the MS Henrik Ibsen is better)).
To pass the canals uneven heights, the boats have to pass through a series of locks that rise the boats and helps them continue the journey. This canal was seen as "the eighth wonder" at the time it was finished.

MS Henrik Ibsen is diesel-powered ship from 1907. It sails on the Telemarkkanalen between Skien and Dalen in the summer.

Henrik Ibsen climbing the Vrangfoss staircase locks. The total height it is lifted is 23 meters and it takes about 1 hour to do so.

 

Picture of some houses along the Telemarkkanalen. Ain't it beautiful?

After the trip we went back to the summer house and played a match of croquet (I got second). With that and a nice afternoon dinner concludes this day.

Day 6: Saturday
Today we came back from Telemark and when we arrived home we chatted with more neighbors and that...

Another sunny day in Oslo.

Day 7: Sunday
Last day of this post. Today was my Grandfather's brother's birthday so I was invited to the party. After many years without seeing or talking to many relatives I finally had the possibility. It was fun to finally see them after so long.

Picture taken at the party. Left to right: My uncle, me and my granduncle.

See you next week of another post :)