Hi! :)
This will be a totally non-serious blog entry. I will not discuss either drug policy, politics in general, human rights or terror. Yay!
Anyway, this year our Christmas celebrations are supposed to be at my house. My parents are moving, and as such their place is an unholy mess right now. Unfortunately, so is mine, despite my having lived here for over 4 years. So, my plan for today was to tidy and clean my apartment. Now, there are few things I dislike more than cleaning and tidying (don’t get me wrong, I like living in tidy, non-health-hazardous conditions, but I detest having to be the one responsible for creating said conditions). So, what better time to procrastinate by blogging?
Amanda!
Nevertheless, when I am off work, I tend to go for fairly long walks with my dog Amanda. Amanda is a chubby little mixed breed; she’s a weirdo with 6 toes on her hind-legs and an intense dislike for skateboards, rain and dogs larger than herself. (I can relate; I am not crazy about skateboarders, rain or very tall people either). Anyway; when we go for walks, I occasionally see things I find interesting. Some are interesting because they strike me as unusual, others are pieces of art whom I may or may not understand, and others again are just curious or just plain dumb things (<– in my opinion. They may make perfect sense to others). So, I have a massive number of photos stored on my phone. And as I have this blog, I may as well post them :)
Here are some of the photos I’ve recently taken, I hope you enjoy them :)
These are statues in front of the area called “barcode” in downtown Oslo. Notice the buildings in the background? They are of dissimilar size and design, hence the name “barcode”. Most find them to be architecturally interesting, but I find them annoying, as I much prefer symmetry.
Ekeberg
There’s a lovely park in the midst of Oslo (you’ll get there by bus 34 or 74) at a place called Ekeberg. I have written about it earlier, but most of you probably have not read the previous post, so I’ll write another entry about this wonderful place. It is a great place to bring kids, there is no traffic/cars, and there’s a farm where your children can get to pet sheep, cows, chicken and geese and ride ponies for a small fee.
In the forest surrounding Ekeberg, there’s a sculpture park, and following are a few of those sculptures:
Ekeberg-park is not nearly as well-known as “Vigelandsparken/Frognerparken” but it is far more interesting and beautiful in my opinion. Some of the sculptures are somewhat creepy (like this one) and some are wonderful :) (Vigelandsparken can be seen here: http://www.vigeland.museum.no/en/vigeland-park).
This George Cutts piece is called “the dance”; it moves.
This is art I don’t understand.. This is a light-post that “talks”. I have never stood around long enough to hear the entire monologue, but there is a speaker attached that goes on a lengthy weird existentialist-type talk, and it never fails to creep me out.
This installation is called “The couple” and it is one of my favourites :)
This is called “Konkavt ansikt” an optical illusion will make it appear as though it is not carved into the rock. It is another piece I really like.
Art by Damian Hirst. I lovelovelove this piece. I’m not going to describe exactly why I love it, cause I’d most likely sound pretty dumb (“intestines are neat!”) or pretentious (“Angel or human, we are all fundamentally the same”). Nevertheless, it is fantastic! :)
Another angle.
Here’s another piece of art that I do not understand. As you can see, it is a woman squatting, with her pants around her knees. When you walk by, a sensor is triggered and she appears to pee… :/ I am too prudish for such art, but my friend Lidia pointed out that there certainly exists figures of males peeing, so why not a woman? This is probably a feminist statement, and also a symbol of how weird Norway can be at times.
Another note-worthy aspect of Ekeberg is its’ history. Humans have lived there since 8000 B.C, and considering that Norway was probably a pile of frozen rocks back then, it is surprising that anyone chose to actually travel to and settle in this region.
People back then were (unsurprisingly) hunter/gatherers.
In more recent times, the area has seen war. There is a field called “Svenskesletta” where a battle was fought between Norwegian and Swedish forces in 1567. The field is currenly a dog-park. As you may well know, German troops occupied Norway in World War 2, and Ekeberg was an important area. The Germans planted 5000 mines in the area, and it was also chosen as the location for a grave-yard for falled German soldiers.
View from the ‘Scream-bridge’.
See this view? It is probably the best in Oslo, and it is also the background of one of the most famous paintings of all time; Edvard Munch’s “Skrik” (the Scream)
That’s all for now, I might add another picture-post shortly, thanks for reading :)