May 17th

May 17th is the Norwegian national holiday celebrating the signing of their constitution.  We were lucky enough to have Jean's Uncle Johnny and his friend Mitchell visit us for 3 days before hand and join in the celebration with us.

After showing them around town we took them to the Holmenkollen Ski jump, unfortunately the summit was closed but we we all road the ski jump simulator.  On May 17th we got up early to have a large breakfast (in keeping with Norwegian tradition) before heading downtown to see the parade.  We watch the parade at a few places,  enjoying the crowd atmosphere and costumes as much as the parade.  Before heading to the main viewing area in front of the palace.  We found seats on bleachers directly in front of the palace and kept moving closer and closer as people left until eventually we had the seats front and center with a great view of the Royal Family!  The parade was filled with children and bands from all the local school and everyone (including the crowd) was wearing the traditional Bunad clothing or dressed up in suits and dresses.

Eventually we left the parade and walked towards the Cathedral, it was closed so we stopped for ice cream and went to an outdoor festival with beer and music.  We had a good time there along with our friend Christine and her visiting friend who we met during the parade. After a few round we said goodbye to Christine and went to our dinner reservation on Aker Brygge.  It was a great dinner and a perfect way to close the day.

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Prague, Vienna, Budapest April 30 - May 9, 2011

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After Sarah came to Norway, we traveled to meet her friend Adeline in Prague.  We had lots of fun.  Sights included: Prague Castle, Cathedral, Zoo, Pilsner Urquell brewery, and the 5 story dance club.  We all agreed that our favorite thing was having a picnic on a hill overlooking the city. 

Pilsner Urquell Brewery

Our Picnic

 After Prague, we traveled to Vienna.  The highlight was definitely seeing the Opera Don Giovanni for only 3 euros for standing room tickets!  It was an amazing experience.  The cathedral, palace, and palace grounds were also great.

At the Opera

Schönbrunn Palace

  









After Vienna was Budapest where we meet up with Lucas.  We did a great walking tour, sunset cruise, Turkish baths, and a wine tasting.

Wine Tasting

Sunset Cruise

Turkish Baths

   

Sarah Clark Visits Norway and We go to the Fjords

Sarah (Jean's sister) visited Oslo April 26 - 30, 2011.  It was her first time in Europe and she really enjoyed herself, it helped that the weather was great the entire time.  We had fun exploring Oslo, playing games, and seeing the fjords.  It was both of our first time seeing the fjords and going to Bergen.  It was beautiful. To see more photos, click here.

Vigeland Park	Fjord	Icebar

Greece April 16 to 25, 2011

Even though Norwegians are not very religious, they get a lot of religious holidays off including 3 days for Easter.  So we took advantage of this and did a 9 day trip to Greece.  We spent 5 days in Athen, including 2 day trips to Mycenea and Delphi, and then a 3 day Greek Islands cruise.  The cruise took us to Mykonos, Kusadasi (Turkey), Patmos, Heraklion (Crete), and Santorini.  During the trip, Lucas rediscovered backgammon and became so obsessed that he bought a set in Patmos.


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Partheon

Mykonos

Santorini

Gressholmen Island

Some of Lucas's coworkers came to town April 11-15, 2011.  One of them bought his wife, Jessica, and Jean hung out with her during the week.  One of the days, they decided to go to Gressholmen, an island in the Oslo Fjord with an interesting history.  The story goes that some one didn't want their bunnies anymore, so they took them to Gressholmen and left them there.  The population ended up getting out of control.  Sometime during the last few years, the rabbits were euthanized (supposedly humanly) due to destroy the rare plant life on the island.

 

Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina April 6 - 10, 2011

After a visit with Matt and Renee in Oslo we traveled to Croatia. Upon arrival we drove down the coast to Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik was beautiful with lots of places to wander around. The next day we drove into Montenegro.  The bay of Kotor was very nice but slippery. Driving up the mountain was a little nauseous but enjoyable.

The next day we finished up touring Dubrovnik before driving to Mostar, Bosnia.  The whole trip was amazing but Mostar was a surprise.  The whole town was wonderful and the reconstructed old bridge was great. We enjoyed a wonderful cheap meal by the bridge (everything was super cheap).

The next day we drove to Plitevice national park where we took a long hike before returning to Zadar for one final night before returning to Oslo.

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Fram Ship Museum, Norwegian Maritime Museum, Kon-Tiki Museum, Viking Ship Museum, Ski Museum

On Sunday April 3, 2011 we all visited Bygdoy:

FRAM is the strongest wooden ship ever built and still holds the records for sailing farthest north and farthest south. The ship is there and we explored it.  We read how crew and their dogs lived and managed to survive in the coldest and most dangerous places on earth - the Arctic and the Antarctic.

 

The Norwegian Maritime Museum smells like cabbage and you can see fascinating environmental exhibitions about fishing, ship building, shipping, marine archeology and impressive collections of boat models and marine paintings. The museum's supervideograph presents Maritime Norway, a unique and fascinating panoramic view of maritime Norway. 

The Kon-Tiki Musuem is about Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002) who gained worldwide fame when he crossed the Pacific Ocean on Kon-Tiki in 1947. He followed this up with spectacular expeditions on the reed boats Ra and Tigris. His recreations of prehistoric voyages showed that early man had mastered sailing before the saddle and wheel were invented.

 

 The Viking Ship Museum presents great Viking ship discoveries from Gokstad, Oseberg and Tune as well as other finds from Viking tombs around the Oslo Fjord.  The world's two best-preserved wooden Viking ships built in the 9th century. Small boats, sledges, cart with exceptional ornamentation. Implements, tools, harness, textiles and household utensils.

Holmenkollen Ski Museum and Tower a historic landmark in the Norwegian consciousness, Holmenkollen embodies more than a century of skiing tradition.  Inside the actual ski jump is the Holmenkollen Ski Museum, the world's oldest museum specialising in skis and 4,000 years of skiing history.  The observation  deck on top of the jump tower offers panoramic views of Oslo, of course when we where there it was  covered in a cloud and you couldn't see anything.

Parliament, Akershus Castle, Norwegian Resistance Museum, Nobel Peace Center

We've been out of commission for a while traveling and hosting visitors but we're going to try and get caught up. On April 1, 2011 Lucas's brother and sister-in-law came to Oslo. They were eager to see as much as possible so we used to opportunity to visit many sights in Oslo with them. First we took a tour of the Parliament building.

The Norwegian Parliament building was built in 1850.  It is where the 165 members of the Norwegian legislature work and debate the laws of the land.

Next, onto Akershus Fortress and Castle, first built in 1299.  This medieval castle and royal residence developed into a fortress in 1592, after which it was rebuilt into a renaissance castle 1637-1648.

Next to the castle is the Norwegian Resistance Museum which shows the five years of the Nazi's occupation of Norway from invasion to liberation.

Nearby is the Nobel Peace Center, it had an interesting exhibit on the most recent winner as well as information on all the previous winners. The Center seeks to promote popular interest in issues relating to war, peace and conflict resolution - in Norway as well as abroad.

Freia Chocolate Tour and Nighthawk Diner

Today, March 22, Jean and members from ICON went to the Freia chocolate factory. There was a short tour, chocolate samples, and we got to "make" our own chocolate. This involved taking a plastic mold and pulling down a lever until you heard a puff of air. It tasted like regular chocolate after it cooled down. After the tour, we went to Nighthawk Diner for lunch. This is basically an American diner in Oslo. Food was good and it was nice to hang out with friends.

Kayte Gut Visits Oslo and We Go To Paris

Kayte Gut (a friend from Houston) visited last week for her spring break.  She came to Oslo for 3 days and enjoyed it.  The weather was gorgeous and it was comfortable to be outside without a parka.  Kayte and Jean went to Paris for 3 days after that.  They had a great time seeing all the site and enjoying the delicious French food!  Jean throughly enjoyed having her Nikon SLR in Paris and took lots of photos!  To see them, click HERE.