Sunday, we explored Oslo museums

content/blog/wk8day6.md

@@ -1,7 +1,106 @@
 ---
-title: "Week 8, Saturday:"
+title: "Week 8, Saturday: Trip to Christiania"
 date: 2024-09-21T21:55:00+02:00
-draft: true
 ---
 
-{{< image frame="true" width="17em" float="right" src="/img/headline/todo.png" alt="Credit: " >}}
+{{< image frame="true" width="17em" float="right" src="/img/headline/kirin.png" alt="Credit: Kirin, YouTube" >}}
+
+A tiny little bit of padding happened today. Our flight to Oslo is at 10:50am, and boarding starts
+at 10:25, which means 'we' want to be at the gate at 10:00, and because security at Zurich airport
+takes only ten minutes on average, 'we' need to be at security at 09:30, and because the bus takes
+only thirty minutes or so, 'we' really do need to have the bus at 08:30, and because I need about ten
+minutes to get up and brush my teeth, 'we' must absolutely get up at 07:00. I am very fond of
+Marina, but this obsession with 'padding just in case' means we arrive at the _gate-side_ of the
+airport at **08:52am**, a good **two full hours** before our flight. Sigh.
+
+Because our gate will only be assigned at 09:30, we start by having a spot of breakfast. We both
+settle on brie sandwich and a juice. This goes down pretty well, for airport food that is. Our gate
+is assigned as A54, and this is a section of the airport that I have never, in my eighteen years of
+flying out of Zurich Airport, have been. We walk over there and it's quiet in this part! I buy
+myself a pair of earbuds from JBL, and I start editing and compiling my video clip from
+[[yesterday]({{< ref wk8day5.md >}})].
+
+Time quickly passes in this activity, and we board our Embraer E190 flying LX1210 to Oslo. The
+flight is smooth as butter, we have a little drink, and I play a game on the iPhone called
+[[Thimbleweed Park](https://thimbleweedpark.com/)] some old pixelart crimi game. It reminded me
+somehow of the old Police Quest, Space Quest, Hero's Quest and then ultimately if the [[Bard's
+Tale](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6iqsGM9sVI)], a game that I have played until the floppies no
+longer could be read!
+
+Alright, we land in Gardermoen, Norway at around 13:15 and make our way by train to Oslo, which is a
+super relaxed trainride and it plops us at _Sentralstasjon_ (English: main station) at about 14:00.
+It's a good time for some lunch, which we take at O'Leary's in the station itself. It's surprisingly
+good. Marina orders a _quesadilla_ and I order babyback ribs, which are excellent. To wash them
+down, I welcome myself to Oslo with a hobby local brew. 
+
+We walk from the train station to our hotel Thon Astoria, and the checkin is quick. We orient
+ourselves and make a plan for the rest of the afternoon. First, we visit a reptile museum which has
+our favorite zero- and four-legged friends, and Marina's not-so-favorite eight-legged friends. The
+Danger Noodles are fun to see, as are the Skinks, Geckos, Crocs, Turtles and Tortoises (hey Fikes, I
+thought of you!!), and my favorite: the Axolotl. Marina quite enjoyed seeing a fully grown man cower
+behind his wife, as his eight year old daughter handled the Danger Noodle. Some men, am I right?!
+
+From here we made the walk to the Royal Palace, where we look at the kids-designed art in the back
+yard. I was here in 2022 with WEiRD and I remember having taken a _halfie_ (a Selfie with the camera
+on uptra wide angle). So, I do that again, and send both pics to WEiRD. He of course remembers this!
+My favorite is still the mouth with feet, but we also both enjoy the facetted orange fox.
+
+As we walk through town, we constantly trip over thousands and thousands of runners. There are
+jogger people but also hard core runners; and one of the things we really like is there's a bunch of
+pacers with a big flag on their back saying "1h50m" or "2h10m" and we think they are running the
+pace for the half-marathon. But, we soon find out today is the [[Oslo
+Marathon](https://oslomaraton.no/en/)], which is actually just a half-marathon and for those who are
+a bit more cray-cray, two of them back-to-back.
+
+The weather is great for running! We, however, are merely hoofing it. We cross over the runners a
+few times, and make our way to the old [[Akershus
+Fortress](https://kultur.forsvaret.no/festninger/akershus-festning)]. From here, we have a nice view
+of the bay, of the _Pipervika_ harbour, of _Tjuvholmen_ with its nice [[Astrup
+Fearnley](https://www.afmuseet.no/)] museum, and behind that the typical high roof houses of
+[[Fram](https://frammuseum.no/)] museum. We think we'll take a look there tomorrow, but for now,
+time is running low. We mosy back through the city to our hotel, and underway we pop by
+[[Hansken](http://www.brasseriehansken.no/)] brasserie to make a reservation for later today.
+
+Back at the hotel, I finish my journal for yesterday. Then we both take a shower and lounge in the
+room a little bit. I bump into _Svampbob Firkant_, the name of which I ab-so-lutely adore. Those who
+know me, know I am an enormous fan of Spongebob, and I watch a full three episodes in Norwegian,
+Swedish and Danish respectively. So much fun :)
+
+I am happy with my decision for dinner. The Brasserie is superb, and we are offered a table which
+looks directly into the half-open kitchen. We see dozens of dishes come and go, and they are each
+very meticulously plated by the staff. Our waitress is very cute. We order four courses: First, we
+enjoy a fennel salami and a truffle salami. Then, we go to sardines (in the tin!) and scallops. For
+our mains, Marina takes _Moules-Frites_ and I nom on two _Langoustines_, and we sip on a
+_Pouilly-Fus&eacute;e_ white wine. For desert, we take a selection of cheeses. It's devine, and we
+leave the resto at about 22:30.
+
+On the way back to the hotel, we bump into this rather t&oslash;ll lady. She makes Marina look tiny
+in comparison. Back at the hotel, we quickly fall asleep. Tomorrow, we go museum-hunting!
+
+## Pictures of the Day
+
+{{< gallery-category >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1419.JPG" caption="Marina and I are in the bus at an ungodly hour. Padding, much?" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1422.JPG" caption="Zurich over the left wing of our Embraer E190 that takes us to Oslo" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1424.JPG" caption="Welcome to OSLO - I have a local brewery beer with your ribs." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1428.JPG" caption="Tigeren på Jernbanetorget at Oslo main station" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1435.JPG" caption="The pair of Axolotls at the riptile museum" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1439.JPG" caption="The Karl Johan-monument at the royal palace" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1441.JPG" caption="An overview / wideangle shot of the royal palace" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1446.JPG" caption="Marina and I take a halfie under the rainbow in the kids-art section of the gardens" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1447.JPG" caption="My favorite statue: the mouth with feet" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1448.JPG" caption="Marina's favorite statue: the facetted orange fox" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1449.JPG" caption="We see the first 'hint' of what all these runners are doing in Oslo" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/halfmarathon.png" caption="The map of the half-marathon that all these fine sporty folks were traversing" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1455.JPG" caption="I saw an Audi with license place 'EE 1' which I thought was kind of special" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1457.JPG" caption="Overview of the harbour from the Akershus Fortress" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1460.JPG" caption="A statue of Christian IV's glove, near Brasserie Hansken" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1462.JPG" caption="I watch Sponge^W Svampbob Firkant. I love the name, and I love the series" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1468.JPG" caption="My delicious Langoustine at Hansken" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1469.JPG" caption="Marina's dish for the evening: Moule-Frietes" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1473.JPG" caption="The kitchen is squeaky clean and very well run at Brasserie Hansken" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-21/IMG_1477.JPG" caption="Marina poses with this wooden statue of a woman" >}}
+{{< /gallery-category >}}
+
+{{< gallery-modal >}}
+{{< gallery-script >}}

content/blog/wk8day7.md

@@ -1,7 +1,104 @@
 ---
-title: "Week 8, Sunday:"
+title: "Week 8, Sunday: Oslo Museum Reviews"
 date: 2024-09-22T21:55:00+02:00
-draft: true
 ---
 
-{{< image frame="true" width="17em" float="right" src="/img/headline/todo.png" alt="Credit: " >}}
+{{< image frame="true" width="17em" float="right" src="/img/headline/pordan.png" alt="Credit: Pordán Krisztián, YouTube" >}}
+
+The average Norwegian hotel really, really likes their breakfast. This morning I did not put on an
+alarmclock, because today is "our" cultural day, in which we take a good look at the museums in and
+around Oslo. Visiting museusms is best done on a full stomach. I eat some bread with soft-boiled
+eggs, sausages and bacon. The Thon hotel also has _Nespresso_ coffee, which is great! A few eggs and
+bacon later, I'm ready to _pwn_ this city. We splurge on a 24h public transit pass, so that we won't
+have to think about tickets for the rest of the day.
+
+The game plan is to go up to _Frogner_ park, where the [[Bymuseet](http://www.oslomuseum.no/)] opens
+at 11:00. Before going there, we stroll through the park in a drizzle of rain to look at Vigeland's
+statues. He made hundreds of statues out of bronze and stone, and the theme is all human bodies in
+all sorts of configurations. Babies, toddlers (including the famous _Angry Boy_), girls and boys,
+men and women, elderly, and sometimes some stranger things like lizards and monsters. The statues
+are all _au naturelle_ (which is to say: naked). I really really like how precise they model the
+human anatomy. At the North-West end of the park, _The Wheel Of Life_ is a magnificent three meter
+bronze ring-formed statue. The _Monolith_ is a twenty meter high column of human bodies in stone. Mr
+_Vigeland_ also made a large bowl held up by four men. My personal favorite is the bridge lined with
+bronze larger-than-life statues. 
+
+We arrived at 11:15 at the Oslo Museum, which is for the best because our coats are starting to get
+heavy with rain. The museum tells us the story of Oslo and Christiania, the big fire of 1624, the
+contrasts between the working class and the upper class in Christiania, the trade of timber and
+other stories of the city as it formed into what we are visiting today. There's also a few really
+nice paintings in an adjacent building. There's very finely detailed oil on canvas, a few less tidy
+sketches and a few more random ones in acryllic. 
+
+From the Oslo Museum, we walk through the park -- still in the rain -- to the Vigeland museum, which
+is free of charge. We learn all about this artist, and how he was able to make such a vast
+assortment of statues (spoiler: he had a crew!). I also see how his style changed over the years,
+some more realistic, some more grandiose, and some more bizarre, but always depicting the human
+form. My favorite is the one with the young girls (see below); they look cheeky as if they have a
+secret to hide, and they ain't telling, nuh-uhh!
+
+After we leave the Vigeland museum, we grab the bus line 30 to Bygd&oslash;y, which has a few more
+museums to enjoy: Fram, the Norwegian Maritime, and the Kon-Tiki museums. We buy a ticket for all
+three, and read all about the expeditions to the South Pole, the North Pole, including the epic race
+between Amundsen and Scott at the South Pole. I never knew this: that Nansen and his crew
+used the _Fram_ to proove a theory: that they could let the _Fram_ freeze itself into the ice, and
+travel on a drift on the underlying ocean currents. The original ship was preserved and this museum
+was built _around it_. We walked through the inside of the ship and saw how the crew lived during
+their three to five year expeditions.
+
+Just across the road, the Maritime museum shows stories of boat-making and sailing the high seas. We
+saw a copy of the Royal Caribbean _* of the seas_ cruise ships, which we have sailed on before.
+There's also a set of stories on how the vikings used to make their boats. Overall, there's a lot of
+technical detail and stats about the various boats and ships and the history of sea-faring.
+
+Then, just next to the Fram museum is yet another cool story telling muesum: the Kon-Tiki is a
+**raft** built from balsawood and twine/rope, which Heyerdahl built as he was interested in
+demonstrating the possibility that ancient people from the Americas could have colonized Polynesia.
+He built this raft and in 101 days, used the ocean currents and trade winds to sail from Peru to
+Polynesia in the 1940s. What a story! We sit down in the video room and I'm blown away by the
+narration -- of Thor Heyerdahl himself! -- on how they made the trek. Unfortunately, our video
+watching is interrupted at 16:52 because the museum is about to close. `trombone.wav`, we'll have to
+finish this another time!
+
+We make our way back to the hotel, where we try to decide what to eat. We're both a bit peckish, but
+we spend waaaaay too long deciding. Finally, I let Marina choose one-of-three: 1) Sato Japanese
+noodle house, 2) Chez Colin frenchie, or 3) Posthallen, a steakhouse around the corner. "Not Steak"
+is quickly muttered, after which the menu for Soto and Chez Colin is inspected. "Noodles it is". We
+make our way to Soto, who inform us that we will need to wait 45min and order at the counter. That's
+a bit too rigid for me, and I decide to bounce.
+
+It so happens that just across the street, there's an indian place called _Natraj Tandoori_ and we
+beg for a table. It's fabulous food, where we eat Naan, Papadum, shrimp, lamb and chicken. The
+dishes are really good. And it's funny how we spent 45min thinking really hard about where to go,
+but we could just as well just walk into a place, too. We should do that more often :)
+
+Back at the hotel at 21:00, we lazily watch Tom Cruise in Maverick, while I write up the journal for
+today and yesterday. Tomorrow I'll go find Ole Tr&oslash;an and we will have lunch together, maybe
+hang out a bit in the city. I'm glad that he's coming to NONOG too, because that way I can make him
+answer any gnarly VPP questions :-)
+
+## Pictures of the Day
+
+{{< gallery-category >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-22/IMG_1479.JPG" caption="One of Vigeland's statues in Frogner Park" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-22/IMG_1481.JPG" caption="The statue of the men holding a huge fountain bowl at Frogner Park" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-22/IMG_1483.JPG" caption="An overview of Frogner park" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-22/oslomuseum.png" caption="The Oslo city museum called Bymuseet" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-22/IMG_1489.JPG" caption="Vigeland's earlier work - very realistic statue of two old men" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-22/IMG_1491.JPG" caption="An overview of Vigeland's stone statues, the ones that have been recast into bronze in Frogner park we just visited earlier" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-22/IMG_1492.JPG" caption="One of my favorites - these cheeky girls are hiding a secret, but what is it?" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-22/IMG_1493.JPG" caption="The monolith statue in a scaled down sketch" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-22/IMG_1495.JPG" caption="An overvierw of the bay from Bygd&oslash;y's Fram museum" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-22/IMG_1497.JPG" caption="Fram museum. This building was built around the original expedition ship Fram" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-22/IMG_1500.JPG" caption="A maquette of the Fram captured in ice, floating along the ocean currents in the artic" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-22/IMG_1502.JPG" caption="The ships in those days were pretty low. Marina just fits under the beams, and I just fit under the ceiling." >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-22/IMG_1503.JPG" caption="The original Kon-Tiki raft made out of twine and balsa wood. It crossed the pacific from Peru to Polynesia!" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-22/IMG_1504.JPG" caption="Another raft, which unfortunately we could not explore because the museum closed and we got kicked out!" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-22/IMG_1506.JPG" caption="We are treated to a feast of food from the Tandoor; prawns, lamb and chicken" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-22/IMG_1507.JPG" caption="The Ruter clock at Oslo Sentralstasjon, at night it's nicely lit" >}}
+  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-09-22/IMG_1508.JPG" caption="We write Quinn a postcard and Marina dutifully puts it in the mail. If it doesn't arrive, here's proof that we at least tried!" >}}
+{{< /gallery-category >}}
+
+{{< gallery-modal >}}
+{{< gallery-script >}}
+