Day 6

Drammen


Song of the river.



The river Drammenselva is one of the largest rivers in Norway, with a drainage basin of about 17,000 square kilometers and a flow rate of 300 cubic meters per second. The river has an average discharge of about 300 m3 / s. Drammen River's total length is 308 km making it the 5th longest river in Norway. It is a staple of life and transportation in central Norway.

Along the river there are these huge metallic orbs called river harps. These cool sound sculptures are set into the pedestrian Ypsilon bridge with two large silver balls, one on either side of the river. The music is created by variations in water flow and bridge oscillations.

Be careful though, the Drammen River is home to Nøkken, a water spirit in Norwegian folklore who lures people into the water with his beautiful music!!

Spiralen


This tunnel is the start of 8 tight spirals that take you up to the top of the mountain! It is all completely enclosed and completely dizzying!!!!!!


We also met a few locals at the top(a father and his son) where aunt Kat proceeded to tell them that I am single?! Unfortunately for the son, his father would not allow him to go to Alaska, even for a visit, as he was needed to stay in Norway to run the family business. Darn, he was cute too ;)



Then we went to a family house and Aunt Kat found something a bit more appealing than that kitty cat to bring back to Alaska as a souvenir. Though the mother of the baby made it quite clear (even though she also said she knew minimal English) that Aunt Kat should "go ahead and just try." Then Aunt Kat understood that you don't always need English to convey a protective maternal "look".

Once again the weather has been marvelous and hot.

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Location:Drammen and Krokstadelva

Day 4

Today we ventured to the opera house!


The roof of the building is built out of granite and marble and designed to make it seem like the opera house is rising out of the water like a song!


This house was designed and completed in 2008. Very trendy and very modern and you can walk on the roof!


Unfortunately everything playing here is strictly outside of our current budget, so walking around the lobby, gazing at the art, and using the ultra modern bathrooms was well worth the visit!!!!!

In fact, a bit later we were in sentral station and needed to use the ladies room again- but when we realized at the station that they were going to charge us 10 kroner, we decide to scamper back over to the opera house, where the toalettes were clean and most importantly- FREE!!


Here we be, walking down a street that is beginning to seem familiar, only to leave the sentral station in a direction we hope leads North to the botanical gardens only to find ourselves back on the street called Storgata that our hostel we are staying in is on!? Yep, 2 Alaskans in a big city is still who we are!


But finally we made our way to the botanical gardens. Refreshing!





And even did our good deed of this day: as we were walking here we see a poster...... Of a missing CAT! And can you believe it, we see a cat just like the one that is in the poster getting a drink of water!?


Turns out this cat is super friendly!


So friendly that I think aunt Kat may have wanted to bring it back to the hostel with us. Or perhaps even back to Alaska?


Turns out it is not the same kitty, though markings are very similar!!
And so we left it there to enjoy the lovely botanical gardens on it's own....for now....

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Location:Oslo

Day 3

Wow, you thought yesterday was a big day? Well get ready for this one!

First we took the 10 minute public ferry ride over to Bygdoy peninsula (please don't make me try to pronounce this one again, it sounds nothing like it's spelled, and I completely slaughtered it *grimace*) and here we found the: VIKING SHIP MUSEUM!!!!! I was excited for this one if you cannot tell!


These are the 3 best preserved Viking ships discovered in burial mounds where they had been buried to serve as vessels for their wealthy owners final journey into the realm of the dead.



The ships were laid with food, jewels, and (supposedly live)servants and horses to aid in the passage of the journey.


Look at the detail work! Research shows that this was all carved between 820-900 AD!



There are about 5 animal head posts displayed here that were found on one of the ships of a very powerful woman.




What a shot without a body in it?! Well, the body of the man that was found in this ship has long since been removed, I meant no "tourists" in this shot! This was one of the first vessels to be discovered in the Oslo area!



The only thing that was terrible about this museum, were the hoards of people who were also excited to see it just as much as we were.

Since we were already over here and wanted to make the most out of our ferry ticket (as there are 4 really good museums on the peninsula) but not as excited about another tourist trap, we trudged our way over to:


The Norsk Folk Museum. And am I so glad we did!






Authentic Gol stave church from 1200 AD.



Look! Kathy is in fengsel- AGAIN!!!!

The open air museum was well worth it and spread out enough that we didnt feel rushed or crowded! On our exploration we even did our good deed of the day (we have a limit on our doings of good deeds you know) by finding and turning in a cell phone we found laying on the path. It started ringing and we were too chicken to answer it thinking we would not understand the Norsk on the other end so we turned it in as quickly as we could!

Farmsteads, shops and buildings shown through the years of Norway throughout it's development. Hundreds of years all within walking distance!! What a great beginning to our trip of this country!







Even our feet got thirsty! We could have spent 8 hours here alone, but as we were exhausted we decided to only visit a select few of the indoor exhibits. I still cannot believe how beautiful the weather has been for us!

Sun every day so far, we are going to come home tanned and nobody will believe us when we say it happened while in Norway!! We walked nearly 12 miles today, its now time for a well earned rest!

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Location:Oslo

Day 2 (yes again, this was a BIG day)

My first glimpse of Vigeland Park. Amazing.


And what's more amazing, it was raining when we arrived so I was able to take many photos of the first statues with not too many people around!









This statue has been stolen a number of times (sawed off at the foot nonetheless) really? Who would do this to a baby statue? Now everyone rubs his hand, which is why it is shiny, most likely it is made of copper and so it naturally tarnishes over time.

But then (really how unfortunate) the sun came out again, and so did the people....












We will be spending more time here. Love it!

Prepare yourselves for a spew of words as I could not force myself to sleep last night, so I played catch up on blogs. Yet I need to space them out as I need to fine tune them (as I find while traveling I leave SO much out!)

Don't miss the previous post (below) of day 2!!

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Location:Vigeland park, Oslo

Day 2

We are getting to know this city. Its large but user friendly!

Where to find coffee(unfortunatly there is NO caffeine free for Kathy!) but you do get to play with espresso/kaffe/latte/chocolate machine so you can make it different each and every day!!! And we are coming up with some happy concoctions that are decent and always cost the same based on the size of cup you grab (around $4.47 for the large but we just figured out the punch card system for a free one after buying 5!)


Coffee!


The Mela festivalen was going to be a 4 day music and dancing festival but because of the events of last week, it was reduced to just one night. Sad face, but....


After the attacks in Oslo I was told that there were over 200,000 people that each brought in 1 rose to the center to commemorate the lives that were lost.There are even more types of flowers throughout the city. It is for sure a difficult time to be here. The energy is heavy yet completely solid.





These people are so compassionate and definately know how to stand united.

More soon!


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Location:Oslo

Day 1 Oslo

I still don't know if I've beaten jet leg......again, I did not sleep even a wink on our +10 hour total flight. I fell asleep last night at around let's say: 19:30 Norway time and was awake by the time Aunt Kat was up getting ready for the day and going down to breakfast which is served from 7:30-9:30. I tell her I will go too (I don't wanna miss breakfast!!!!) but have to take my insulin etc. Only I stumble downstairs of the hostel and she is stumbling back upstairs to tell me its only 5am and breakfast is not ready! WHAT?! Time to change our clocks to the current local time.......


So I guess my first day in a foreign country and I've managed to take my medication early, better than taking it late I suppose. And I've managed to wake up early, this people, is probably a first for me as I love to sleep in! I feel good though! So maybe those crazy few days of getting up at midnight are actually paying off.


Too much walking already, 7 miles yesterday, and my pedometer that I am wearing for a work exercise will not roll over for another 4 hours because it is(and will stay) on Alaska time. It'll average out...



Was HOT (well 70 degrees) when we deplaned, and clear and sunny. Within 5 hours of getting here and we were picking up a few groceries in a busy little oriental feeling market and it began raining! Not just raining, I swear it was like October in Alaska, pouring buckets!!!! I am reading a book called the art of racing in the rain, well we can surely relate today. And our coats were, of course at the hostel.

Statues everywhere..... Off on another day to go take more photos!!!!

- Posted from Oslo using BlogPress from my iPad

Staying awake about jet lag

Hello!

Its that time again for me to warm up my writing pencil and get into a good habit to blog about my and Aunt Kats upcoming trip to.....(if you dont already know since I have been talking of nothing else)....NORWAY!!!!

Once again I will not be sending out individual emails. (Of course I will respond if you just want to say hello!) But if you want to keep track of where we are and how we are doing I recommend checking out: http://sitkakoala.blogspot.com/ every couple of days, as I will be blogging regularly and posting when I can find internet connection and using my fabulous new ipad! Or at least posting some pictures as we go....

This year I have come to the conclusion that I need need NEED to beat jet lag!!!! Last year when I flew to Greece I had jet lag baaaaadddd.....I swear the locals thought I was a zombie from the last frontier! Does anyone know why jet lag is worse when you fly West to East vs the return trip? And what are some things that you have tried to beat your own jet lag?!

The time adjustment from Alaska to Norway is +10 hours. Today it is tomorrow in Norway(or at least dinner time if you are reading this in the morning ;)

4pm Alaska= 2am in Norway
7am Alaska= 5pm in Norway
7am Norway= 9pm in Alaska

So I will be taking my insulin at 12am beginning Friday the 22, and none that morning. This will be easier to control and fix on my home turf versus in a foreign country where there too many distractions! So that when arrive at my +10 hour destination I can set my alarm and take my insulin at 8am "Norway time" for the remainder of the trip.

Dont worry folks, I will be testing my blood glucose and taking fast acting insulin humalog on Friday to compensate as needed throughout the day. I will also be sleeping a bit during normal waking hours and not eating so much so I can confuse my sleep/food schedule before hand, maybe it will then be less of a shock to my system once we arrive in Norway. (nothing is to be missed on this adventure!!!!!)

To Do List 1 week before trip:

1. Adjust insulin so body is not going through blood sugar changes AND city disorientation!
2. Stay up ALL night 5 nights in a row before flight (sleep right after work 4pm-12am-sorry social life I will be back in September) this will also help me sleep ON the plane (at least I hope)
3. Eat ALL meals during the night: breakfast @12am, lunch @7am and dinner @around 12pm.
4. Eat less (or nothing) during the day to trick my body into changing its meal time pattern.
5. Pack light!

Except this packing light technique is unavoidable when you have to pack water resistant items + a jacket!! Why did I pick a place so similar to where I live year round?!

And oh boy, Monday and Tuesday at work should be tricky...... when you read the next post it will be coming from Oslo!

Skoal!!

Aerophobia..... or is it?

Aerophobia: a fear of flying.

But research is proving that there are many "phobias" that fit into this category and I am learning about myself that I am totally a combo! (For those of you who dont know me really well I tend to get some anxiety before *and embarrassingly at times* during flights) There is such a thing as aeronausiphobia: fear of embarrassing onself via vomiting/panic attacks. Sigh. So many phobias, so little time......

Im not entirely scared of flying/planes. It surely has something to do with being a bit claustrophobic; but only where other people are involved!

For example: I am not claustrophobic in elevators, tiny rooms, confined boat cabins....unless these places happen to be occupied by many people...and I mean a lot of other people. 3 other people in an elevator is not going to stress me out, well, actually I take the stairs ALL the time so maybe this is not a very good example(maybe I better test that out)!!!! Long story short I suppose I sort of have a small side of anthrophobia in social situations too, which does not help flying anxieties any.

*acrophobia- fear of heights
*agoraphobia- fear of open spaces
*anthropophobia- fear of people
*claustrophobia - fear of enclosed spaces

Good thing I do not have enetophobia: fear of needles!

As for the update for the high school reunion, which ALSO fits into the social phobia category, I chose not to attend. For many reasons. And I do not regret that I didnt go. The end. (haha still analyzing this one....)

As for Norway....16 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Did I mention to Aunt Kat about my flying anxiety?!