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| The Angry Baby in Vigeland Park is very popular and has been rubbed shiny in many spots. No wonder he's angry. |
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| Random boat on the Oslo Fjord |
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| Lighthouse in the Oslo Fjord |
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| Oslo sun and sky |
1) Life is Fantastic! We
got home from our trip to Norway around 8pm last night. Today I feel like I’ve been hit by a
semi-truck. Such is the nature of jet
lag. I think one more night of sleep and
I will be right as rain. It was a
wonderful trip and Norway didn’t disappoint for fabulous scenery and lively,
friendly people. All our travel
arrangements were just right. The sign I
posted above is on the train station in Oslo.
When you leave the station if you happen to glance back, that is what
you see. I think that might say it all
about Norway and Norwegians.
2) Oslo is a city of about 620,000 with a total urban population of
around 950,000. It’s situated on the
Oslo Fjord and is a modern city in every way with nicely preserved old
buildings peppering the downtown. We
found that Oslo has a terrific public transportation system and we took full
advantage of it. We had no problem
finding our way around even though we are Americans with no knowledge of the
Norwegian language. English is widely
spoken and used in the museums, on most menus and in other signage.
3) One thing that you might want to beware of if you decide to
go there for a visit: Everything is very
expensive. I think as long as you know
that ahead of time, you can prepare for it.
Of course, the prices fund the socialist way of life the Norwegians
enjoy. And it must work for the
Norwegians. According to CNN Travel,
Norway is the happiest country in the world with a life expectancy at birth of
81.1 years and an average income of $47,557 USD per person. The USA is listed as the fourth happiest, by the way.
4) Over the two weeks we were there, we only experienced two
days of rain. The weather was pretty
much a delight. Cool and breezy. I could go for a summer like that every year.
5) Today (or maybe tomorrow) I am going to get some photos together to
start my 365 project on Flickr. I
decided to start on my 60th birthday and document my 61st
year. I know there will be days when I
just don’t want to lift my camera, but I am hoping that this project will help
me grow as a photographer. On my
birthday, which was the 25th of June, I found that I was fairly
overwhelmed with the feeling of how quickly time has passed. Maybe the occasional tedium of having to come
up with yet another photo will help slow time down.
