Peace and Oslo

-
In Oslo, part of the streets have snowflakes in them! 
Since I was on høstferie (fall break) this week, I was able to go to Oslo. I visited Oslo in January during my trip to Norway, but it was the coldest day during my stay, it was dark and I was freezing so bad I was beginning to feel very unwell. I had the chance to go back to Oslo and experience a few of the things we didn't get to do earlier in the year.  It was still cold, of course, but hey, it's Norway and I don't think there's really any escaping the cold.

First stop (other than IKEA) was the Nobel Peace Center. Norway is a rather peaceful country though they're not a neutral country. I think that's a common misconception. Global Peace Index <---This year, Norway is in 18th place which has put them back several spaces in former years, but generally they usually fall under the top 10 if not top 5 most peaceful countries. However, they are responsible for handling the Nobel Peace Prize.

Arild in front of the building. 
What I find interesting about this is Alfred Nobel, the man who decided to acknowledge "noble" people worldwide in Nobel Prize ceremonies, was Swedish, but he thought Norway was more peaceful and thus decided to let Norway be in charge of the Peace Prize.

In the Peace Museum, we can "walk for peace" and will be placed on a screen.
I think we look like the walking dead. 
Currently in the Nobel Peace Center there is an exhibition on Gandhi. Who surprisingly was nominated 5 times for the peace prize, but never won it. Top 10 People Robbed of the Nobel Peace Prize 

Something else I found from the same site concerning the Peace Prize was this ----> Top 10 Controversial Nobel Peace Prize Winners.

A garden of peace prize winners. 
While Norway is not a member of the EU, just yesterday, the 2012 Peace Prize Winner was announced as the European Union for uniting Europe and working together. Wars have broken out between different European countries for years. As one of the Norwegian Nobel Committee members stated, "Today, war between Germany and France is unthinkable." EU Peace Prize

Parliament Building and The Grand Hotel. After the Peace Prize
ceremony, the winner will greet people on the balcony of the Grand Hotel.
I've provided a link below for you to see last year's winners at the Grand Hotel.
Grand Hotel Speech
In one of the Alt for Norge episodes, on syttende mai (17th of May)
their competition was to go around Oslo and take pictures of famous
monuments. One of them was this tiger. 
The Oslo fjord from the Opera House. 
And here we are approaching the Opera House. 
Overlooking the city from a top the Opera House.

Comments

Julie said…
great read, thanks
January 7, 2013 at 2:17 PM
Albert Jackson said…
Beautiful photos of Oslo, which camera you used?
BTW Thanks for sharing your experience :)
November 22, 2013 at 5:56 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Expat Life

-
I've finally begun reading a book that has been in my reading list for a few years now; Norwegian By Night by Derek B. Miller. The author is actually an American man from Boston living in Oslo. Although it's a thriller, the expatriation of the main character is relatable. Sheldon Horowitz, a Marine, relocates to Oslo with his granddaughter, an American married to a Norwegian man. One particular quote, or paragraph rather, stood out to me, "Lars, being Lars, was overjoyed and encouraging and optimistic about her ability to adapt and join the pod. Norwegians, true to their nature, prefer to spawn in their own waters. Consequently Oslo is peopled by Norwegians married to a shadow population of displaced souls who all carry the look of tourists being led like children through the House of Wax." According to Wikipedia  16.8% of Norway's population is made up of immigrants. Granted this number also includes children born to immigrants regardless of being born in Norwa
Read more

The Dyne

-
Image
Separate dyne!  On beds a dyne (duvet) is used and you purchase covers in many prints and different types of fabrics. These are a pain in the butt to put over the duvet, but we manage. Many people have a duvet for summer months and a duvet for winter months. Oh, and the most common thing is for each person to have their own duvet. Moving to Norway as a newlywed, I wanted to have one duvet that we shared on our bed thinking it would be extra cozy and we'd cuddle more. Newlyweds are hilariously idealistic though! This lasted only a few months before we surrendered with white flags in the war zone that was our sleeping quarters. Turns out, I'm quite territorial over the duvet. I hear a lot of women are like this. I freeze easier than my husband so I was often less comfortable than I wanted to be and he's a night owl who goes to bed later than I do which means every time he lifted the duvet, a gush of cold air would follow him waking me. We gave up with our idealism o
Read more

Movie Title Translations

-
Watching TV earlier, I noticed some movies are given different titles translated into Norwegian. I believe the movie being advertised on TV was Couples Retreat, but being translated into something different it was something like Trøbbel i paradiset. Translated it would be Trouble in the Paradise - you can see the similarities in the language in that title. All original English speaking movies are still spoken in English with no voice overs, but they are shown in Norwegian subtitles. There is an exception to this with children's movies and TV programs which do have Norwegian voice overs. I asked Arild why some movie titles are in English, some are translated, and some are translated into names completely different. He said he really didn't know and thought of a coffee table book he has which has a list of the most off-titled movie translations. He pulled out Typisk Norsk from under the coffee table and started reading these to me: I'll do the correct English title, t
Read more