Norway Part Three-The Wharf in Bergen

Monday 3/30/15

After sleeping in we walked along the wharf, named Bryggen. It is famous for its vividly colored houses that are now restaurants and shops. Along the water is the Bryggenhus fortress. 

Next we went to the Bryggen Museum. It has Norway's largest rune collection. Small pieces of wood with runic script on them were used in early Bergen for just about everything-love notes, business, daily notes and small passages of literature. The museum is also built around the oldest ruins in Bergen dating back to 12th century. 

                               

Sculpture Safari Bergen edition

Adam and Kyle checking out a canon at the fortress

Panorama atop the fortress

Adam, Kyle and Sidney at the fortress

Reconstruction of a part of an old 13th century ship at the Bryggen Museum. Trade, especially in dried fish, was extremely important for the city of Bergen. 

Old runic message with Latin love poem

Adam plus Alexa in runic script (except X doesn't exist so I just used X)

Paper Art by Norwegian native Karen Bit Vejle. It is officially called psaligraphy or art of drawing with scissors. 

Adam and I at the wharf

All of us on the fortress

Norway Part Two-Norway in a Nutshell

Sunday 3/29/15

We traveled all day to Bergen on the west coast of Norway on the Norway in a Nutshell Tour. We took trains, a boat and a bus. It was unbelievably beautiful. I'll let the pictures speak for this one.

So much snow! Cross country skiers were everywhere

Well…its a gushing waterfall in the summer

Sidney on the Flam Railway

Motorcycle for the train tracks

Prepackaged lefsa! Only in Norway

Aurlandsfjord

Adam and Kyle on the ship. 

Nærøyfjord-complete with Rainbow and the Norweigan flag

Real life Narnia

 Welcome to Bergen!

Norway Part One-Welcome to Oslo

Saturday 3/28/15

Spring break! Saturday morning Sidney and I went to the airport. Adam and Kyle landed at the Stockholm airport at 7:20AM. We were flying to Oslo with them at 8:30AM. They announced last call and Adam and Kyle were nowhere to be seen! Sidney boarded but I couldn't leave without them! Sidney said she would see me in Oslo and they shut the door to the plane. I was running back and forth from the counter to the hallway asking the lady to page them and looking for the boys. Turns out they were stuck in a huge security line. I think my distress was convincing because when they showed up at 8:35 the plane was still there and we were able to load!!

After the dramatics we were on our way to Norway. I was so excited to see Adam and that we made our flight! When we arrived in Oslo we walked to our hostel. There was confusion about our reservations. We left our bags in their luggage room and went out to sight see. The rooming was all figured out when we got back. My reservation ended up begin for the hotel next door. It was luxury after the last two months. The bed came pre made and I didn't have to clean my room when I left.

We went to the Akershus Fortress and Castle. It was built in 1290 and was the house for royalty during the middle ages. It was built to protect the capital of Norway.

Afterwards we went to the nearby Norwegian WWII Resistance/Home-front Museum or Norges Hjemmefront Museum. Norway and Denmark declared neutrality during WWII but Germany disregarded this. April 9, 1940 the Nazis invaded. Denmark surrendered but did not join the axis cause. Norway however had just finally gained its independence from Sweden in 1905 so they did not feel like losing their freedom again. They fought fiercely and this museum tells the history.

We ended the day with the Nobel Peace Center. They had the outfit Malala Yousafzai was wearing when she was shot in the head by the Taliban. She won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her fight for women's education against the beliefs of the Taliban in her home country, Pakistan.

Atop the rampart

Adam, Kyle and Sidney in the castle 

Castle Tower

Stockholm Part Nio

Torsdag 3/26/15

On Thursday morning we had a tour of The Royal Armory by the curator. It is held in the old cellars the palace. The armory is one of the oldest museums in Sweden but has only been in its current location since 1978. All of the artifacts in the collection were donated by previous kings and queens for the purpose of displaying.

There was children's section in the armory so obviously we dressed up! Here is Pat knighting Zach. 

Kenzie on her valiant stead. 

Kenzie, Laura, Me, Pat, Paget, Sidney

Me and Thumper. One thing that makes this armory unique in Europe is its huge collection of clothes and costumes. Sweden royalty and nobility loved luxury and France was the capital of clothing. Therefore this armory has one of the best collections of French clothing from this time period. 

This is the actual stuffed horse of Gustavus Adolphus, which he rode during the battle he died from. His death was a tragedy to his country. The living nobility stuffed and displayed his horse as a propaganda tool. Sweden was fighting Poland for control of all the Baltic Sea. Men were suppose to go to the palace, see the horse minus its rider and be inspired to donate to the war cause. 

Here are two outfits of Gustavus Adolphus. The left has a bullet hole in the trouser where Gustavus was shot in the butt cheek. The right has a blood on the front from where he was shot in the shoulder. Gustavus sent these back home from Poland to be displayed. The idea was that his friends and enemies would see these outfits as proof that Gustavus was shot twice and still survived. He must be protected by God. 

Sid with a replica sword

The curator was showing Signey, my professor's daughter, how to long thrust with the sword. I caught the exact moment he jabbed next to Sidney's, the enemy's, face. Her expression is priceless. 

Next we went to the Royal Coin cabinet. There were so many coins and bills! Below are some Roman and Greek coins found in southern Sweden.

Sweden made the first banknote, pictured above.

Lastly, we went to the Nobel Museum. Below is a picture of Alfred Nobel's will. He gave most of his estate in to a foundation to reward exceptional individuals in Chemistry, Physics, Medicine, Peace and Literature. Alfred Nobel made his money from stabilizing dynamite. Now there is a sixth prize handed out at the same time. It is the Economics prize in honor of Alfred Nobel with money from the Swedish Bank. 

We had a fancy dinner with the president, Tom Young and other special guests. We ate delicious Swedish meatball. Pat was laughing to hard to smile for this picture. We think it looks like he is ugly crying :)

Stockholm Part Åtta

Onsdag 3/25/15

Today we dressed our best. We began with a tour of the Royal Palace. First we were let into a board room where a close colleague of the King gave us a lecture on the Royal Family and the palaces. His job has several facets including finances of the palaces, private finances of the royal family and managing of charity foundations. The palace in Stockholm, pictured below, is essentially the office of the King and Crown Princess. King Carl drives his ferrari or Lamborghini right into the central courtyard. At this palace he also receives ambassadors and other heads of state.

My freshman year of college the King and Queen actually visited Gustavus. I attended a seminar of the environment which his advisor spoke at and he sat in the audience. Unfortunately he is self conscious about his speech so he declined to actually talk during the seminar.

The palace was originally built in the 13th century. It burned down on May 7, 1697 and what is seen now is the baroque style palace built on top of the ruins. It is called the Three Crowns Castle. The three crowns is a prominent symbol of Sweden and is also the symbol of Gustavus Adolphus College. No one really knows the origin of the symbol. One theory is that it stands for Sweden, Norway and Denmark when they were a union. Or the Swedish King that came from France brought it over. He is the heir of the current royal family, The Bernadottes. 

The palace is in the shape of a Roman Villa. It is square with a square courtyard in the middle. It is built to be a city palace so it is pretty and approachable from all sides. The side in this picture has gardens and is the feminine side. The opposite side has statues of soldiers and is the masculine side. 

Next we got a special tour of the rooms. We walked through the old king and queen chambers. Some fun facts…the royal bedroom was not actually slept in. It was too large and had a window so it was hard to heat. However, the king would invite special guests to have the honor of watching him dress in that room in the morning. The really special guests were allowed to help. There are several apartments in the palace. One royal family built a whole apartment for their 8 year old son. Guess it was time for him to move out on his own. 

We also went into the large hall where business was traditionally done by the king when he held all the power. In this room is a silver crown that was made for Princess Christina, pictured above. A recreation was made for a hollywood movie about Christina. A director was looking for a thrown for a bad guy. The Swedish silver throne can be seen in the 1989 Batman movie with Jack Nicholson sitting on it as The Joker.

There are royal banquets held in the palace as well. Our former Gustavus president Jack Ohle attended one. The King and Queen are always served first and when they are done eating the food is taking away. So you better eat fast! The current king is aware of how silly this so he tries to eat slow. Several hundred years ago dinner guests would just stand and watch the king eat.

The current king is Carl pictured with his german wife on the left. The next in line is Princess Victoria. When she was a toddler the line of descent for the throne changed to include women. She then became the heir instead of her brother. Princess Victoria is married to a common Swede who was her personal trainer while she was in America recovering from a eating disorder. The family also has another daughter.

Then we went around the corner to The Swedish Academy. It was founded in 1786 by King Gustavus III. They are said to be the defenders of the Swedish language. There are 18 members that serve for a lifetime. They are chosen by the current members and must be Swedish citizens. Many members are professors or authors. Since 1901 the Swedish Academy has been charged with deciding the Nobel laureate for literature every year. The Chief of Staff, named Odd, explained to us the detailed process of selecting. We even got to sit in the chairs in the special session room where they make their decisions. We also sat in the room where the name of the the winner is announced to the whole world.

We finished the day with a visit to a donor. We met with his son and thanked his family for their contribution. They make the semester in Sweden affordable. The family has a variety of business dealings including water bubblers and metal springs! 

Stockholm Part Sju

Tisdag 3/24/15

"Mackenzmeow and Thumper's Sculpture Safari with special guest Wally the Wallaby" This is the title the sculpture walk we went on Tuesday morning. As I mentioned earlier, Thumper is Hannah and Wally is Sidney. We walked around central Stockholm imitating old statues.

Mackenzie our tour guide in Hell Alley in Gamla Stan

Me with a hair beard..

 Sidney had actually bought a fake sword at the Medieval Museum and we DIDN'T bring it on our safari. It would have come in so handy, as would a cloak have. 

 Sid and I

 Pat, Zach and Sid as an actor

 Pat and Zach, boy with eagle

 We ran into President Bergman and Tom Young. They enthusiastically participated in our safari :)

 Pat, Zach and Hannah outside the royal palace

 Pat, Sid and Zach recreating St. George and the dragon

 Hannah

 Paget

 Paget and Kenzie with my shoe. We had quite an audience for this one.

 Sid. She had to do this in front of a group of about 30 tourists. 

 Kenzie and Paget

 Stoic Zach

Thumper and Pat

Sidney, Hannah and Kenzie trekking 

The crew enjoying the sun after our safari

CITY HALL TOUR

Next we went on a tour of city hall, which was built in the early 1900s. 

In the covered courtyard every year a dinner is held for the Nobel conference with the laureates and royalty attending. This is the staircase they enter in by. It is perfectly designed for a lady to walk down elegantly in a long gown. They do not need to look down but instead at a star on the opposite wall that ensures good posture.

This is the room where city council meets.

This is the ceiling of the city council meeting room. It is called vindögra or wind eye. Old viking houses did not have windows but an opening in the ceiling. This ceiling is meant to invoke viking culture and remind the council of the viking legacy of democracy. 

The Gold Room. The Nobel dance is held in this room. Every wall is covered in small tile mosaic in the sandwich technique. A drop of gold was put in-between two clear glass tiles. It is decorated in the Byzantine style and celebrates Swedish history. The Swedes at the time found it excessive and too exotic but it is widely celebrated now. 

Sidney and I enjoying the sun in our shorts :)

Delicious Korean food for dinner!