posted on 31st March 2011 under OsloBG, Travel Norway
Social Media like Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, LinkedIn etc connecting people and brought 30 participants from all over the world to the Oslo Blog Gathering in August 2010. A lot more would have loved to join us and some promised to come later to explore and have a taste of Oslo and Norway; our culture, history, traditions and habits. Two of them have taken our word for it – Blog friends are always welcome to meet up with us in Oslo – Ginnie and Astrid from the Netherlands arrives tonight! We are all very excited: My wife and me as well as Tor and his wife Anna!
In Soul – Ginnie’s blog:
I met Ginnie in Blogsphere almost 6 years ago. Actually it was through ExpatTravels -From Switzerland to Canada, one of my very first blog friend. I know they have met some years ago in Canada when Ginnie still lived in her homeland; Georgia, US. Now it’s our turn and we can always hope that our next visitors in Oslo will be ET, her husband and new born baby : -)
I’m happy I met Ginnie of course, but sorry it was just a couple of months after she had have a short cruise landing in Oslo. Already when we blog met, she promised to come back to visit us and tonight, tonight it’ll happens!
What to explore for 4 days in Oslo?
There are plenty of options of course and we have had some mail exchange about our suggestions and their interests. One of theirs are the Mini Cruise on the Oslo Fjord:
Left: The Town Hall – Right: Fram & the Maritime Museum at Bygdøy island.
I had planned to tell about all the other options, but now it’s time to go to Oslo Central Station to pick them up from the Airport Express train : -)
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posted on 26th March 2011 under Habits
The 4th annual Earth Hour at 8:30PM local time on March 26 will bring people together to peacefully promote and encourage sustainability efforts. 1 billion people in 128 countries and territories participated in 2010. In this global movement and landmarks such as the New Opera House & City Hall in Oslo, Sydney Harbour Bridge, CN Tower in Toronto, Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Coliseum along with 50 million people in 128 countries have darkened their lights as a symbol of solidarity in the fight against climate change.
Norway grows in contribution:
Last year, electricity consumption in Norway went down by 250 million watts during Earth Hour, which means 6 million light bulbs went dark. This is more than one for every citizen of Norway. This year it has drawn even more participants: 170 Norwegian municipalities have signed up, joining about 300 companies and almost 100 organizations.
Oslo New Opera House
This dedication means that Norwegian landmarks such as this Opera House, the City Hall, the Oslo Stock Exchange and the Court House will go dark during Earth Hour.
Twitter Application by Norwegians:
Fredrik, son of Edgar Valdmanis, a co-worker of mine at the Norwegian Computer Society, has made a Twitter Application. This is a good way to show your support! Just click the banner below and register and at 8:30 your local time, your profile pic will change to dark and an Earth Hour support tweet will set off from your account. Go for it:
How about you and your country? What effect has earth hour had in your homeland? Check out the results from last year and make it even better this year. Let’s dance in the dark for Earth Hour 2011!
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posted on 21st March 2011 under Culture, Habits, Spring
Vernal Equinox, when day and night are of equal length all over the world and the first day of spring in northern hemisphere, is another important milestone and significant change in our four seasons. In Oslo, Norway (60°North) our days are 6 hours longer than at winter solstice and get longer every day – to even another 6 hours more at summer solstice. In addition, the temperature change from -25C (-13F) in Dec/Jan to +25C (77F) in Jul/Aug. I guess you agree that 12 more hours of daylight and 50C (90F) degrees difference in temperature are significant and of course influence our history, culture, traditions and habits.
The light takes over the darkness; the sun grows ever stronger, and under its light the nature starts waking up from hibernation. In our neighbourhood we have to be a bit patient this year as we’ve had a good old fashioned winter (rather cold and a lot of snow). This panoramic photo, taken with my Nokia N8, is at sunset – then 6PM – a few days ago:
Talking about significant change: here are photo from the same spot taken in earlier years:
Spring 2009 – 17th of May
Left: Fall 2009 – Right: Winter 2009
Fertility celebration and basis of when Easter comes:
This is a fertility festival time in name, soil fertility and our fruitful projects. In newer times, the official vernal equinox on the 21 of March is the basis of when Easter comes in different years: Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon after 21 March (leap year by March 20). It is associated with many pagan customs of the spring equinox, and was probably the period leading up to Easter as a fertility celebration. In Denmark at the time of around the spring equinox there were ritual battles between groups of riders. One was equipped with ice and snowballs the other with fire and glowing coal. Sword Dancing was also widespread in Europe, which has survived in the English Morris Dancers, who still dances for fertility at Vernal Equinox.
Today’s carnival parties are probably the remains of these parties. Another tradition we have in our family is the Easter bunny egg hunt in the forest. Again the rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility. Eggs, like rabbits and hares, are fertility symbols of antiquity. Since birds lay eggs and rabbits and hares give birth to large litters in the early spring, these became symbols of the rising fertility of the earth at the Vernal Equinox. Here are a couple of photos from our hunt in earlier years:
Click to read one of my post about this: “Family Easter Bunny Egg hunt in Norway”
Do you see why and how the change of seasons and the coming of spring influence our culture and traditions? : -)
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posted on 19th March 2011 under Food, Habits, Travel Abroad, Winter
Restoran Korsaar by the Old Town Square in Tallinn, Estonia, has a stunning pirate-themed design in a spectacular location and serves traditional Creole cuisine with an Estonian touch in a relaxed and informal environment with an emphasis on flavour. It’s a restaurant of Chefs where every client is tended personally by one of them. Attendants` friendly and professional attention makes every visit to this place enjoyable from the beginning to the end.
If you’ve ever dreamed of running away to become a pirate or a wench, now is your chance. This spectacular pirate-style restaurant goes way beyond anything we’ve ever seen in terms of attention to detail and authenticity. From gangplanks to shark tanks, this subterranean grotto has everything covered:
Panoramic Nokia N8 photo
The interior design has been finished to the smallest detail. The dining room is divided into three separate areas, the Bridge, the Shark’s Hall and the Eastern Corner, seating in total up to 72 guests. To evoke the atmosphere of the seven seas there is a pool of turtles and exotic fish and a beautifully crafted fish tank containing three small sharks in the dining room:
As you see from my photos, the interior is inspired by pirate ships and is tastefully and carefully crafted, with every element, from the furniture to the cutlery and glasses, having been custom-made by hand. Let me give you a couple more examples:
The Cocktail: “Bloody Frogs Eye” – Interesting ash trays in the smoking room
True feast for all senses!
Korsaar offers an a la carte menu, an excellent selection of wines and highly professional service. This was the way they made our aperitif “Elixir Bloody Frog Eye” (in the pic above) in front of our table: No frogs were harmed in this process!!
Their international food is fantastic, with leanings on the creoles and seafood side of the port bow. Even more, said before: it’s a restaurant of chefs who accepts the orders from the clients personally and we had an interesting discussion with him; the awarded Mr. Jaak Hiibus, to decide our dinner. When telling him we were from Norway and that I had caught King Crabs in the Barents Sea, this became our menu:
Left, starter: King Crab salad – Right, main course: Grilled Patagonian toothfish steak with mango béarnaise
No, I have not forgotten the dessert, but take this opportunity to example the personal and professional service. You see, I like coffee to go with dessert and we got Turkish coffee – the Korsaar way: Fresh milled coffee corns that are pieced up from ferocious plantations of Cuba are turned into a great hearted aromatic drink. First they boil it on hot sand twice and the process ended at our table boiled one last time before our eyes:
Left: one of our Waitresses serving coffee – Right: dessert: Dark chocolate fondant.
Social Media recommendation:
My regular readers know I am above average active in Social Media and this trip to Tallinn in Estonia was of course announced at my TripIt account and fed to my Facebook wall. The post was commented by a friend of mine Robert Henry T from UK, saying: “I got back from Tallinn on Monday. Incredible place (although freezing!). Check out the German Beer hall just off the main square and definitely eat there”. We did and had a jolly good time:
The charming waiters at The Beer House – Dinner: Duck Confit
When I told the Manager the reason why we paid them a visit, she insisted that we came with her for a guided tour downstairs: The Korsaar Restaurant, and we ordered a table for the next day – from where you now know the whole story : -)
We found both restaurants very nice, and the staff was professional, friendly and last but not least, fun. The next time you are in Tallinn we recommend you check these two restaurants out!
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posted on 15th March 2011 under Culture, History, Travel Abroad
The historic city Tallinn, capital of Estonia, dates back to the medieval times although the first fortress was built on the hill of Toompea in 1050. The lower town spreads out from the foot of the hill, still protected by the remnants of a city wall and around the city wall is a series of well-maintained green parks, great for strolling.
Tallinn was the first marked on the global map by the Arab cartographer al-Idrisi in 1154 and the old town was added to Unesco’s World Heritage List in 1997, acknowledging its unique value as it has been astonishingly well preserved.
Nokia N8 Panoramic photo
Invited by Baltic Computer Systems and the Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications to give a presentation on EUCIP for Competence and Career planning, my wife and I have been here for some days, combining business with pleasure. As we love to learn about others history, culture and traditions, Tallinn has truly won our hearts in several ways. Although it is a bustling town of 400,000 it keeps its heart alive in the old town section, here are some examples:
The charming old town:
Estonia considers itself a Northern European/Scandinavian country, with very close ties to Finland (ethnic, linguistic, and cultural), and visiting Tallinn you will find a mix of at least three architectures in this very visual city – old Europe (the city walls and rustic buildings), Soviet brutalism (crumbling apartment blocks), and modern Europe (click pics to bigify & enjoy):
Tallinn retains an inner charm seldom found anywhere else
The Town Hall Square:
Raekoja plats , has been the centre of this city’s life since markets began here probably in the 11th century.
It’s dominated by the only surviving Gothic town hall in northern Europe, and faced by pretty, pastel buildings from the 15th to the 17th centuries:
The Medieval Hanseatic Period:
By the mid-14th century, when the Danes sold Northern Estonia to the Teutonic Order, Tallinn was a major Hanseatic town with about 4000 people. A conflict of interest with the knights and bishop on Toompea led the mainly German artisans and merchants in the Lower Town to build a fortified wall to separate themselves from Toompea. However, Tallinn still prospered and became one of northern Europe’s biggest towns.
We found the Hanseatic period history and architecture especially interesting as Bergen in Norway is also a Hansa town. The Hanseatic league was a primarily German trade organisation in the middle ages. They used a network of shipping towns to exchange goods between the different countries with different resources.
Hansa’s major trade item in the trade with Norway was dried cod fish which could easily be shipped in barrels and ended for example in Portugal where they made their national dish of it; Baccalao. The Hanseatic League was an economical superpower in medieval Northern Europe and had a great influence in the development of their trading port towns. The Hanseatic League also traded in towns along the Baltic, for example Tallinn, and left a German influence on the town’s history.
We were fascinated by the architecture in the old town. Hansa warft in Bergen (click to read my post about it) is lined with historical houses which look just like the colourful old houses found in the Old Tallinn center. They truly look like sister cities.
The German name, Reval, coexisted with the local name until 1918:
In 1219, the city was conquered by Valdemar II of Denmark, but it was soon sold to the Hanseatic League in 1285. The city, known as Reval at the time, prospered as a trading town in the 14th century, and much of Tallinn’s historic center was built at this time. Talking about that, as a coincidence: we had our lunch one day at Reval Café:
The changing governments and occupation of Germany and then Russia has left its imprint on the Estonian people, making them fiercely independent today and proud of their national heritage. We have had an interesting visit to Tallinn and met many nice helpful people. They are friendly people who are happy to share their history and national pride with us. Stay tuned for more highlights from this special tour.
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