Monday, September 29, 2008
Hiking is Fun
Which is good, because most of the time there's not a whole lot else to do in Hamar. I pretty much walked in the same area twice last week for a few hours each time, so that was fun. This is also important to do, because exercise does not come naturally in the course of my normal life in Hamar. I don't know what it is, but back in the States I feel like I just randomly end up doing physically active things at least on occasion. In Norway that hasn't really been the case. So hiking's been a good thing in that when I do go outside at least it's for a long time and I feel like I'm not completely the laziest person of all time. And I shouldn't really put that much emphasis on hiking, but more on walking when we travel places. Copenhagen is one example, but there was also a lot of walking involved in our Northern excursion and when Hamar was still new and unfamiliar there was a lot of walking then too. I'm a little worried that when it actually gets cold around here I won't ever leave the apartment, but I guess I'll just have to make an effort to go out and ice fish or something. I don't know. But for now, hiking's still a good pasttime and I could always pump up my bike tires and see how far this trail I found goes around the lake. Sorry the travelogue was more of a bore-alogue today, but there will be plenty in about 2 weeks when I return from Europe. Just a preview: Berlin, Munich, Salzburg, Bern, Brussels, Amsterdam.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Roller Coasters, Free Travel, and Lots of Walking
All of this occurred, at least to me, over the course of Curt, Kelley and my weekend trip to Copenhagen. These are the types of trips that I think would be really fun to continue over the course of the semester, but this one specifically definitely took a physical toll. The first point by any standard was our 5:15 train departure. This lasted 10+ hours, and though it involved a lot of sleeping it still seemed like an eternity. Then. Then we saw the hostel. It was a bit sketchy, I guess, but it was cheap. Maybe a picture here:
I mean, it wasn't as bad as that picture makes it look. But it wasn't the Radisson. Or the Motel 6 for that matter. Nonetheless, that night we had kind of a lame moment where we realized that the one place we wanted to eat at more than any other place was the Hard Rock Cafe. I'm not exactly sure why; I guess maybe it's part missing that fantastic American culture and part missing burgers. Normally, I would absolutely scoff at the Hard Rock but this meal was one of the greatest things in my life. Sad. But I promise I won't start frequenting McDonald's or anything. The rest of that evening was taken up with exploring Copenhagen by the evening light. We caught our first glimpse of Tivoli, where we would spend the next night, and we got to see a guy pee right in front of City Hall. Somewhat of a strange night when I put it that way. We went back to the hostel relatively early that night to retire to our blanketless beds and my 10 kroner pillow. It had 36 beds, I think, and an atmosphere that could best be described by "graffiti". Once again, I'm exaggerating, but not much. The next day was the most walking without rest I've ever done in my life, and I've done a lot of walking in my life. We visited a botanical garden first thing in the morning. Well, first thing after delicious cheap chocolate croissants from a nearby bakery. I'm in a picture-like mood, so here's another:
Following this exhilirating expedition, we paid a visit to the palace which I know only as the fairy-tale palace. I'm guessing that's not Danish, and it didn't really look like it was from fairy tales at all, so I don't know what that was about. The King's Gardens surrounded this fairy taleish building, and they featured some pleasantly weird sculptures. Like this one:
Then it was back to the botanical garden to visit the inconveniently open from 10 AM Palm House. It was worth the wait, if for nothing else than to get out of the rain. It was somewhat wet outside, as the pictures don't accurately portray. I was kind of soaked. Then the hourlong walk to the Carlsberg Brewery. It was an hour long, and then we went and learned about beer making. Then we drank some for free. I feel that poetic language would be misused on such an experience. We then traveled something like 4 km to the northeast to visit the Marble Church, the royal residences, a huge epic fountain, and the Little Mermaid statue. These made good tourist stops, and the Queen was in so we were more or less in the presence of royalty. Times like this, it's kind of fun to just walk and experience the city. Of course I liked Copenhagen. I'm not picky after all, but the city felt different enough from Norway and the places I've visited in Europe that it was a way different experience for me. The easy way to put it is that it's the bridge culturally between Norway and Europe, but I get the feeling it's really it's own separate entity too. There were bikes EVERYWHERE, there was a great deal of water, and there was a great deal of history. Those are the first 3 things that popped out to me, but eclecticism was something that became apparent later. So many different kinds of restaurants and stores. This separates it from Norway in that it seemed to value consumerism or whatever. I can't really make a judgment based on one full day, but it was a lot of fun to be there. Oh, and the Little Mermaid statue was small. I think that's something that one returning from Copenhagen. So I said it. That night, as previously foreshadowed, we visited Tivoli where we yet again spent an exorbitant amount of money on dinner and enjoyed what was basically an amusement park. I say that it was an amusement park, but it was way classier than your Disneylands, Magic Mountains, Knott's Berry Farms etc. It was nicely lit, there were fancy restaurants everywhere,
and then there were rollercoasters. And crazy ones, too. We rode one rollercoaster that was definitely world-class. I'll just say I didn't expect that to be something I could say upon returning from Scandinavia, but I will.
Yay Tivoli! It even sounds fantastic. Much more so than Magic Mountain. Tivoli is much more magical. So that's it, except the 10 hr. train ride back, of course. P.S. please forgive the highlighting at the beginning of this entry. I don't know how it happened and I can't get rid of it.
I mean, it wasn't as bad as that picture makes it look. But it wasn't the Radisson. Or the Motel 6 for that matter. Nonetheless, that night we had kind of a lame moment where we realized that the one place we wanted to eat at more than any other place was the Hard Rock Cafe. I'm not exactly sure why; I guess maybe it's part missing that fantastic American culture and part missing burgers. Normally, I would absolutely scoff at the Hard Rock but this meal was one of the greatest things in my life. Sad. But I promise I won't start frequenting McDonald's or anything. The rest of that evening was taken up with exploring Copenhagen by the evening light. We caught our first glimpse of Tivoli, where we would spend the next night, and we got to see a guy pee right in front of City Hall. Somewhat of a strange night when I put it that way. We went back to the hostel relatively early that night to retire to our blanketless beds and my 10 kroner pillow. It had 36 beds, I think, and an atmosphere that could best be described by "graffiti". Once again, I'm exaggerating, but not much. The next day was the most walking without rest I've ever done in my life, and I've done a lot of walking in my life. We visited a botanical garden first thing in the morning. Well, first thing after delicious cheap chocolate croissants from a nearby bakery. I'm in a picture-like mood, so here's another:
Following this exhilirating expedition, we paid a visit to the palace which I know only as the fairy-tale palace. I'm guessing that's not Danish, and it didn't really look like it was from fairy tales at all, so I don't know what that was about. The King's Gardens surrounded this fairy taleish building, and they featured some pleasantly weird sculptures. Like this one:
Then it was back to the botanical garden to visit the inconveniently open from 10 AM Palm House. It was worth the wait, if for nothing else than to get out of the rain. It was somewhat wet outside, as the pictures don't accurately portray. I was kind of soaked. Then the hourlong walk to the Carlsberg Brewery. It was an hour long, and then we went and learned about beer making. Then we drank some for free. I feel that poetic language would be misused on such an experience. We then traveled something like 4 km to the northeast to visit the Marble Church, the royal residences, a huge epic fountain, and the Little Mermaid statue. These made good tourist stops, and the Queen was in so we were more or less in the presence of royalty. Times like this, it's kind of fun to just walk and experience the city. Of course I liked Copenhagen. I'm not picky after all, but the city felt different enough from Norway and the places I've visited in Europe that it was a way different experience for me. The easy way to put it is that it's the bridge culturally between Norway and Europe, but I get the feeling it's really it's own separate entity too. There were bikes EVERYWHERE, there was a great deal of water, and there was a great deal of history. Those are the first 3 things that popped out to me, but eclecticism was something that became apparent later. So many different kinds of restaurants and stores. This separates it from Norway in that it seemed to value consumerism or whatever. I can't really make a judgment based on one full day, but it was a lot of fun to be there. Oh, and the Little Mermaid statue was small. I think that's something that one returning from Copenhagen. So I said it. That night, as previously foreshadowed, we visited Tivoli where we yet again spent an exorbitant amount of money on dinner and enjoyed what was basically an amusement park. I say that it was an amusement park, but it was way classier than your Disneylands, Magic Mountains, Knott's Berry Farms etc. It was nicely lit, there were fancy restaurants everywhere,
and then there were rollercoasters. And crazy ones, too. We rode one rollercoaster that was definitely world-class. I'll just say I didn't expect that to be something I could say upon returning from Scandinavia, but I will.
Yay Tivoli! It even sounds fantastic. Much more so than Magic Mountain. Tivoli is much more magical. So that's it, except the 10 hr. train ride back, of course. P.S. please forgive the highlighting at the beginning of this entry. I don't know how it happened and I can't get rid of it.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
It was much hotter in Northern Norway than I thought it would be
However, it was also just about as fantastic as I hoped it would be too. A general overview of the weeklong trip that our class took as a sort of field trip: We visited Roros, Trondheim, and Kristiansund to try to learn more about Norwegian society and culture. What ended up happening included a lot of hiking and sightseeing, but also a lot of meetings with local politicians and oil infrastructure executives. Once again, I'll reference Kelley's Picasa website because her photos serve as a far more specific document than I have space to make right here. I also am going to steal a couple of her pictures in this entry. But I do want to talk about the things that I found really cool, so I will do that right now. Roros was notable for its age; the city was founded in the early 1600s and large parts of it remain unchanged because it's a UNESCO world heritage site now. This not only means that the buildings are protected by law, but also that people who buy property there have to live on that property year-round and they can't change the exterior or interior design of their house. So basically you can't paint your house and you can't tear down walls between your kitchen and your living room if you live in Roros. That was kind of interesting, but not as interesting as the random desert in the middle of the city. Don't know how to explain this, because all the interpretive signs were in Norwegian, but it was definitely a desert. Just a really, really small one. Here's a picture:
I don't really even know what to say about that; it was just kind of weird. Good view from the top, though. It wasn't hot at this desert, but this would be the only time for the rest of the trip that I wouldn't at least be uncomfortably warm. The train that night took us to Trondheim, which is more or less the last big city as you go north in Norway. From a political standpoint, it's interesting for its leftist policies, even by Norway's standards. We talked with a member of the Labour Party our first morning who talked to us surprisingly directly about rifts within the Labour Party, about the success and failure of certain policies, and about the way politics works in Norway. This was interesting enough to me that I actually stayed awake for the whole hour he talked (even on 5 hours of sleep). I guess I've never heard a politician really speak honestly and/or give such an insider's account. Trondheim also happens to be a big city, and we walked around it a lot. And by a lot, I mean like a lot. It seems like that's all we did for the 2 days we were there. Luckily, this allowed for a pretty comprehensive look at the city, including the largest unversity and the 2nd-largest cathedral in Norway. But (and I don't mean this to be a slight against Trondheim because it was a really neat city) the best part of Trondheim was leaving. The only reason for this is because the boat ride from Trondheim to Kristiansund was absolutely awesome. It's one of those situations where transportation really should be billed as a tourist attraction, and though I understand that there's fjord boat tours in places like Bergen, the ride through the fjord and out into the North Sea on this commuter vessel would be pretty tough to top on any sightseeing boat. The walls of the fjord were sometimes populated by small villages, sometimes by sheep, sometimes by strawberry fields, and sometimes just by trees, but the view was consistently beautiful. To think that this is the trip that oil tankers and commuters make (who apparently live in Trondheim and work in Kristiansund) seemed to me to a be a point of envy. But it would be too tough to get work in Norway, even though they need plenty of oil employees. All because I'm not an EU citizen and I don't speak Norwegian. What a shame. Because I would definitely live and work in Kristiansund if they would have me. The town is an interesting mixture of industry and scenery. For a person who tends to equate oil drilling and all that with deserts and wastelands, (e.g. large parts of Nevada) it was somewhat eye-opening. Also interesting was what we learned about the relationship between government and oil over the course of our stay in Kristiansund. The government in Norway would be considered extremely liberal on the American political spectrum, and in the current American political debate liberal=no offshore drilling. But let's just say that the Norwegian government is pro-offshore drilling in a big way. It's the reason that they're one of the richest countries in the world (they tax oil companies 80% of the revenue and that's not a typo) and the citizens of Norway have what seems to be a relatively trustful and positive relationship with the oil companies. This all seems really foreign from my point of view, but that's probably because it is. But my experience of Kristiansund was more about enjoying hikes and walks through the surrounding area, which can't really be described without pictures. So as I (finally) wrap this entry up, I'll just say that Northern Norway is an outdoor socialist's paradise, but it's a bit hotter than you'd expect it to be in September. Especially that bus ride home. Man, that was miserable. Here's a final picture of Kristiansund- Beaches by evening light make good pictures I think:
I don't really even know what to say about that; it was just kind of weird. Good view from the top, though. It wasn't hot at this desert, but this would be the only time for the rest of the trip that I wouldn't at least be uncomfortably warm. The train that night took us to Trondheim, which is more or less the last big city as you go north in Norway. From a political standpoint, it's interesting for its leftist policies, even by Norway's standards. We talked with a member of the Labour Party our first morning who talked to us surprisingly directly about rifts within the Labour Party, about the success and failure of certain policies, and about the way politics works in Norway. This was interesting enough to me that I actually stayed awake for the whole hour he talked (even on 5 hours of sleep). I guess I've never heard a politician really speak honestly and/or give such an insider's account. Trondheim also happens to be a big city, and we walked around it a lot. And by a lot, I mean like a lot. It seems like that's all we did for the 2 days we were there. Luckily, this allowed for a pretty comprehensive look at the city, including the largest unversity and the 2nd-largest cathedral in Norway. But (and I don't mean this to be a slight against Trondheim because it was a really neat city) the best part of Trondheim was leaving. The only reason for this is because the boat ride from Trondheim to Kristiansund was absolutely awesome. It's one of those situations where transportation really should be billed as a tourist attraction, and though I understand that there's fjord boat tours in places like Bergen, the ride through the fjord and out into the North Sea on this commuter vessel would be pretty tough to top on any sightseeing boat. The walls of the fjord were sometimes populated by small villages, sometimes by sheep, sometimes by strawberry fields, and sometimes just by trees, but the view was consistently beautiful. To think that this is the trip that oil tankers and commuters make (who apparently live in Trondheim and work in Kristiansund) seemed to me to a be a point of envy. But it would be too tough to get work in Norway, even though they need plenty of oil employees. All because I'm not an EU citizen and I don't speak Norwegian. What a shame. Because I would definitely live and work in Kristiansund if they would have me. The town is an interesting mixture of industry and scenery. For a person who tends to equate oil drilling and all that with deserts and wastelands, (e.g. large parts of Nevada) it was somewhat eye-opening. Also interesting was what we learned about the relationship between government and oil over the course of our stay in Kristiansund. The government in Norway would be considered extremely liberal on the American political spectrum, and in the current American political debate liberal=no offshore drilling. But let's just say that the Norwegian government is pro-offshore drilling in a big way. It's the reason that they're one of the richest countries in the world (they tax oil companies 80% of the revenue and that's not a typo) and the citizens of Norway have what seems to be a relatively trustful and positive relationship with the oil companies. This all seems really foreign from my point of view, but that's probably because it is. But my experience of Kristiansund was more about enjoying hikes and walks through the surrounding area, which can't really be described without pictures. So as I (finally) wrap this entry up, I'll just say that Northern Norway is an outdoor socialist's paradise, but it's a bit hotter than you'd expect it to be in September. Especially that bus ride home. Man, that was miserable. Here's a final picture of Kristiansund- Beaches by evening light make good pictures I think:
Friday, September 5, 2008
At nights, it tends to be loud here
People are always partying in the streets. And when I say always, I mean every single night. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and especially Thursday. The weekend is a given. Curt and my bedroom is fairly close to the main centre-type thing of Hamar, so as my title suggests, it tends to be loud here. My favorite is the singing. I don't think I hear enough drunken singing in the States, because I love to hear the drunken songs of Norway. In other news, our class departs on a weeklong "excursion" next week to 3 northern cities: Roros, Trondheim, and Kristiansund. So I'll be writing about that when I get back because I'm pretty sure it's going to be the greatest week ever.
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