WWF Earth Hour 2010 takes place today, Saturday the 27th of March at 8.30pm (local time). A global call to action to every individual, every business and every community throughout the country and the rest of the world. Norway will give it our full support.
It works if we work it! One thing is clear after the climate summit in Copenhagen: The need for cooperation and action against climate change has never been more important. Let’s show the top leaders that the world can work together – especially in Blogspher – and make the biggest climate change campaign today! Cities, municipalities, businesses, organizations and individuals around the world will turn off their lights one hour for the climate. Let us all send a clear message: The need for climate continues – and we are all part of the solution.
Norway results from 2009:
Some results for a survey by WWF after last years campaign in Norway:
* 46% = 1.8 million Norwegians said it helped to promote the climate issue
* 29% = 800 000 believe that it helped to increase their commitment to climate question
* the decline in Norway’s electricity consumption was about 200 MW during the hour – equivalent to 5 million 40-watt light bulbs.
The goal for 2010:
In 2009 the number of participants was close to one billion, spread over more than 4,000 cities in 88 countries. This year the goal is to top the one billion threshold, and increase the number of participating cities to 6000 World Cities like Seoul, Hong Kong, Rio de Janeiro, Rome and Moscow are already registered, and iconic buildings such as New York’s Empire State Building and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge will be dark. In Norway, large employee and labour organizations as well as the government and public sector have gotten behind the campaign.
Update after 9:30PM – My wife and I had a romantic seafood dinner during Earth Hour:
RennyBA’s Earth Hour 2010 Link Love Chain:
For those of you who make a post about this, please let me know in comments and I’ll update this post with a link to yours. Let’s make a Link Love Chain to show the world that Bloggers Care for The Earth too!
The Oslo Blog Gathering in Norway in August was presented as a Social Media adventure at the VisitOSLO Conference this year. That gave me the chance to talk about the idea of the gathering for a wide range of representatives from the tourism industry in Norway. Even more; I got the chance for a little chat with the Mayor of Oslo, Fabian Stang, who has invited all OsloBG participants for a reception in the Town Hall. The Mayor said it was kind of an unconventional reason to invite for a reception, but because of it’s uniqueness he is sure looking forward to greeting bloggers from all over the world:
The idea of the conference was for VisitOSLO (the city’s tourist marketing and service institution) to present some highlights from Oslo’s happenings this year and how they will contribute for the best of the city’s travel trade and commerce. Let me give you some ideas:
The Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo 2010:
This has become the worlds biggest live TV Show and responsible for the broadcast is NRK, Norway’s major broadcasting institution and largest media house. Their General Manager, Hans-Tore Bjerkaas, was there to present their way of making this a magic moment for the viewers under the theme; “Share the Moment”:
Bjerkaas emphasized that they want to share the Eurovision Song Contest, rather than just broadcast it. One particular thing that makes this such a unique event is the fact that it’s the only time of the year in Europe that some 125 million people are doing exactly the same thing, at exactly the same time – whether in Iceland or in Armenia, in Portugal or in Finland – or here in Oslo.
VisitOSLO’s contribution:
Their dedicated project manager, Frode Vollan, presented how they would take care of the almost 4000 accredited delegates and singers from about 30 countries and provide them with information about Oslo and Norway:
The Oslo Pass to the accredited delicates:
The delegates which would be in Oslo for about two weeks during the contest will be given the Oslo Pass as a gift from VisitOslo: The easiest and most inexpensive way to experience Oslo as it provides free travel on all public transportation as well as free admission to museums and sights. As a symbolic gesture, a super-size version was presented to the Mayor of Oslo as the host of the Eurovision Song Contest (click pics to bigify and enjoy!): Mind you folks: The Program fee for the Oslo Blog Gathering includes this Oslo Pass!
The Oslo Blog Gathering:
In the end of the conference, I had the privilege of presenting the gathering for which I am the host: RennyBA presenting OsloBG2010 at VisitOslo Conference.
I was invited to tell how Social Media has become a new an important marketing channel for tourism and of course it gave me a great chance to inform a wide range of representatives in the tourism industry that lots of crazy bloggers will be here this summer. It was also a great opportunity for me to show my thanks to VisitOSLO and all their staff how much I appreciate their support to make this gathering a once in a life time experience for the participants from all over the world. You should visit their website to get the best out of a stay in Oslo and I advice you to become a fan of their Facebook group. Another good idea is to follow the Manager of their Tourist Information Centres, Katrine Mosfjeld at Twitter.
Presenting the Oslo Blog Gathering for this group was a lot of fun, and created a lot of interest. Some of the representatives have really caught on to the idea of social media, while others are shockingly behind the times. It was exciting to show them how blogging is connecting people, and social media is a whole new way of getting information before people travel. It is important for the travel industry to understand the power of blogging and social media, and of course to give us a good experience worth writing about. Personal experience can’t be bought, but good friendly service and a positive environment will be remembered by most of us for many years to come. The slides from my presentation is to be seen here.
Time is running out to join the blog gathering, so for those who have not booked yet; go and read the Official Program site and get the program fee!
The St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Oslo, arranged by The Norwegian Irish Society, has become a big event. St. Patrick died on 17 March (c. 387 – 493), after being Christianized Ireland. The day is celebrated all over the world where you find Irishmen – Oslo in Norway included of course – in a parade the Saturday before. This year’s Grand Marshal was Johnny Logan, who also performed at the end of the parade. Here you see him walking with the Ambassador of Ireland, Gerald F. Ansbro:
Before the parade started, I had a nice chat with the Ambassador about Norwegians established some of Ireland’s most important towns and cities (in 800-900). In Dublin, one of the world’s largest Viking museums, and both Cork and Waterford were founded by the Vikings So the Ambassador and I agreed to that The Viking era was undoubtedly the beginning of cultural exchange and trade between the two countries. Situated on the fringes of Europe with small populations and long coastlines, Ireland and Norway share many features. Moreover, both countries have developed from being poor agrarian nations to become among the richest and most modern societies in the world today. Both countries are also well known for their strong engagement in peace and reconciliation activities worldwide and for promoting UN’s role as a cornerstone for an international legal order and worldwide security system.
Enough history – lets get back to the parade last Saturday, where I went crazy with my new Canon G11 camera (click to bigify and enjoy!): From Oslo Central Station up Karl Johan, the city’s main street.
To set the right mood and an Irish atmosphere, like every other year, The Oslo Caledonian Pipe Band was playing and I shot this vid while walking among them – enjoy:
Another performance in the parade came from the girls in The Sound Irish Dance Factory and I made a movie – admit they are cute:
After the parade, there was speeches held and Jonny Logan gave a mini concert: Speeches, performers and spectators – all in the Irish spirit!
The Parade in Oslo is attractive and even people travel from Ireland to support and participate in this event. Some think the parade in Dublin has become too big and also there might be other things attracting – like to meet Mr. Logan or some real Vikings:
Tonight my wife and I will meet up with some Irish friends at The Dubliner Folk Pub in Oslo. Some from the supporting team of the Oslo Blog Gathering will be there too – so stay tuned! Here are my posts from my last two years parades in Oslo:
FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2011 will be in Oslo, Norway at Holmenkollen Ski Jump – the fifth time these championships have been hosted in Oslo (prev.: in 1930, the 1952 Winter Olympics, 1966, and 1982). The games will coincide with the Holmenkollen Ski Festival which for 2010 took place last weekend. I was there with my wife, DianeCA and we gladly take you along:
Holmenkollen Ski Jump is the oldest in the world, built in 1892 and expanded 18 times since then. Recently the jump was demolished and totally rebuilt for the OSL2011 (taking place 22 February – 6 March, 2011), having a less steep in-run, artificial refrigeration of the in-run, a reconstructed lower part of the jump to the end of the outrun, lights for evening jumps, a new elevator for the jumpers, and wind protection measures for the jumpers. These modifications included new spectator grand stands, an improved loudspeaker system, and a new scoreboard – even free WiFi, so I uploaded a couple of pics that day from my mobile phone to my Flickr account!
Holmenkollen Ski Festival:
Foremost this is a Folk Festival. At the Olympics in 1952 there were 120 000 spectators – last weekend it was 25 000 and at OSL2011 there will for sure be more than the double that. Norwegians love to be outdoors in the winter time you know and with the right clothes and equipment, they have a blast of a party together with foreign spectators – cheering the ski jumpers and making a magical winter sport atmosphere (click all pics to bigify & enjoy):
Spectators enjoying the nature as well as the sun, the company and competition
A cultural high point:
Holmenkollen Ski Jump is just a 25 minute spectacular ride by public transportations from down town up in the Oslo Mountains (417 metres above sea level). You don’t use a car, as building up the atmosphere in anticipation, starts with the trolley or bus ride in itself. Besides for such a special day the roads are closed to all but public transportation to hinder traffic problems. The last hundred meters from the end stop to the ski jump, spectators were welcomed with an artistic presentation of mythical folklore:
Some cultural adventures along the way
The Ski Jump competition:
Of course I have not forgotten the sport in this brand new ski jump with a spectacular construction. In a competition, almost 200 architecture firms from about 30 different countries have placed bids on the new hill. The project was estimated to cost NOK 1000 mill (125 Mill € or 170 Mill $) and the winner with the concept named “The New Holmenkollen Lighthouse” was JDS Architects (Danish/Belgian architects firm). I took quite a lot of photos from the competition trying to show you the construction and the jumpers (hope you can spot them) from full zoom to full view:
Enjoy the architecture and the ski jump!
Explore yourself at the Oslo Blog Gathering:
Holmenkollen Ski Jump is the most visited tourist attraction in Norway with about 1 Mill visitors in August last year. The construction is impressive all year round (click to see it all from my summer post: Holmenkollen a cultural high point! Beside the jump at the top of the hill is the national ski museum (admission is free with the OsloPass). Holmenkollen is included on the Oslo Bus tour. So if you are joining us for the Oslo Blog Gathering you can start looking forward to this already as you will see it from all angles, and from the bottom to the top! So hop on board (click for the Official Program site!!!
Café Tekethopa in Oslo is the old state hospital’s apothecary (pharmacy) from 1872 which was converted to a trendy restaurant in 1997. It’s a three-story mansion, originally with the pharmacy on the first floor and two apartments on the two above. Today it also houses Restaurant Ylajali and Bar Babylon in the courtyard (click all pics to enlarge and enjoy!):
The name Tekethopa comes from the Norwegian word for pharmacy/apothecary which is Apotheket. The first years the café was called Apotheket until the cities pharmacies objected and said that it might confuse people.
Therefore they just twisted the Norwegian word for it, it is simply spelled backwards. In the left photo, you see their logo etched in the window from the inside and it should explain it all
Most of the walls, floor and ceiling are original and retain the stucco, plaster ornamentation, with large windows that let in much light. They have matched the interior with the old style – quite cosy I would say. I was there for Sunday lunch with my wife DianeCA (her favourite Café) some weeks ago, and gladly take you along:
From the charming and cosy interior.
To capture the atmosphere and remind you of that you are in an old pharmacy, they have e.g. restored the original ceiling paintings and kept some equipment in glass cases:
The service and food is both nice and here are some examples from the menu which my wife and I had: Left: Chèvre salad with honey, mustard and cashew – Right: Chili marinaded shrimp salad
This is just an example of many cafés or restaurants in old buildings renovated and decorated to take care of and preserve the original architecture. Instead of tearing down these beautiful old buildings Oslo is interested in taking care of the history, culture and traditions. This also makes Oslo a lovely city as many areas are well maintained from the era they were built. That’s also an example of what you can experience together with bloggers from all over the world, if you meet up with us at the Oslo Blog Gathering in August (click to see the official program site!).
One thing is clear after the climate summit in Copenhagen: The need for cooperation and action against climate change has never been more important. Let’s show the top leaders that the world can work together – especially in Blogspher – and make the biggest climate change campaign today! Cities, municipalities, businesses, organizations and individuals around the world will turn off their lights one hour for the climate. Let us all send a clear message: The need for climate continues – and we are all part of the solution.
