[roy_libran]

Is Norway really as beautiful as the pictures make out to be? Wow! Lucky Chap!

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by ampere

So which were from Nex and which were from the DSLR? Was it just Norway? And how long did it last ? The Fjords for sure are a sight to behold.

All 3:2 and similar are D7000. 16:9. most are from nex, some from D7000 after cropping.
That said, On nex I used
8mm fisheye and 18-200 tamron
On D7000 I used 11-16 mostly at 11mm, so now you can do the figuring out

[sameerg001]

WoW just awesome. The starting post, the pics, the narration everything is just perfect. Never knew that, norway is such a beautiful place. Now, please don't make us wait more, post soon please

Rated this thread, a well deserved 5 star.

[tsk1979]

European cities are a delight.
And yet they are a pain.

Delight because there is so much too. So much history, so much architecture. Pain because they can make your intense gym session feel like lazing on the couch.

Thankfully Oslo is not your typical mainland European city. Sure its got its museums, and over a 1000 years of heritage, but for non history buffs like us, there are just a handful of attractions.

Lemme tell you a secret. We hadn't even researched Oslo. Sonanta Europa was both a city and a countryside trip, where we skinned every statue and every monument. This was going to be about the countryside.

Neverthless, we weren't going to simply stay the whole day in the hotel room. But at the same time, no getting up at 5am and rushing out.
So the day began quietly. We had slept early, so 7am did not seem too early. Moreover it was 10:30am in India, and that by all means, in all weather, a delightful time to wake up.

Those who tell you the joys of getting up before the first rays of the Sun, have obviously never felt the joy of a nice comfortable bed at 11am in the morning.

First thing was breakfast. How about Parontha with cheese and breadspread. Yup, we had already made paronthas in India, some 10+ of them. There is a certain recipe, which allows you to cook paronthas, and keep them fine for a week as long as you have a cool place.
And we had the damned refridgerator here.
Breakfast done, we now had to figure out what to do. After all we had absolutely zilch idea about what to see.

Nothing to fret, the internet came to our rescue, and within minutes the day was planned.

There was the matter of lunch too. And for that we packed our Sandwitches. Two each. Do you know how much do 4 packets of bread weigh. 2.2kg. Yes, out of our 22kg of food, 2.2kg was bread. Yay!
But little did we know, that the wild lady of Scandanavia had an even more special treat for us lined up. But more on that later.


The hotel reception staff were friendly, and offered us tips about getting our day pass (80NOk/PP) and what tram and bus numbers to catch.

Unlike the vast and wide vienna, or the humongous budapest, all we needed to see here was quick. Trams were frequent, and most buses originated at the central station, and from there countless options took us to our hotel.

It was cold, but at 10 degrees, fully manageable.

But before we stepped out, there was the matter of the "Joker" supermarket right in our apartment complex. Why would somebody call their supermarket Joker? Too much batman?

Supermarket raid is a must do for kitchen travelers. A day will come when we get bored of maggi and top ramen and MTR etc., and we will pick up groceries. So it makes sense to get an idea about which is the cheapest chain.

Any supermarket which is 24/7 is a bad idea. In places where labor is expensive, it means prices will be high. So no Narvassem or 7/11. Joker however was among the cheaper ones, along with RIMI or Coop you find all over Europe.

Our first stop was the veggie stall. 7 NOK/kg onion. That is 77/kg. Heck, I should have imported a truckload to Delhi and made a killing on the profit.
Cabbage is again, 6NOK/kg. 66 INR!
And they say Norway is expensive.

Potatoes at 10NOK/kg werent bad either. So mix veg parontha was surely an option. But we were looking for Eggs. And they were expensive. 40NOK/dozen. Thats quite a bit. This was a big worrisome. You see, we can forgo meat(if we join some Zen class on self control), but eggs? Even meditating on the top of a himalayan peak for 20 years will not give us enough self control to avoid eggs.
I literally had to grab my hand from grabbing the carton on the shelf

mussssst.... ressssiiiiiiissst my preciousssssssss eggggggssssss...

Two days of self control is the promise.
And before I break the resolve, we run out.
We decide to check out milk too. Thats almost 200 INR a liter. With so much cows you would imagine it would be cheaper.

I kicked myself for not learning how to milk cows in our village. If I had done so, it would have been just a matter of running into some field and grabbing hold of one by her horns.. err udders or whatever.

Before I get lost in eggs milk and udders, let me talk about Oslo itself.
WE get our passes at a corner shop(most shops sell day passes at same price as the ticket machines), and we are ready to go to the Frogner Park.

Yup, the most touristy and popular destination in all of Oslo the great Frogner Park.
It was time for Statue hunting

[jacs]

Wow! Beautiful pictures and captions.

Again your long exposures have come out well as always, hope they are from your DSLR.

Loved the Mini but thinking if it was more colorful considering its driven by a photographer.

[Joe M]

Awesome pictures and super cool write-up. Couldn't stop reading once started with the first post. Thanks for sharing. Travel more, click more and write more!! Cheers!

[teemus]

Beautiful pictures and so very well written!!
I always wanted to go and see tha aurora, too much fascinated by it, but due to your write-up I want to do it sooner. Thanks!

[kaushik_ak]

The flow of the Travelogue is amazing!! Excellent write up. It would be great if you could share as to how you would choose from the 100s of pictures you have in your album, the right ones at that, and give such amazing quotes consecutively one after the other. Its a visual treat.

Definitely inspires me to go on one such holiday now.

[tsk1979]

Who is Gustav Vigeland? Even if you have never head of this sculptor, you would find the name familiar. Before you run to Wikipedia, dig deeper. And deeper. Yes, its on the back of your mind, its coming..... Got it?

Well go to Wikepedia.
Or let me tell you here. He's the guy who designed the medal for nobel peace prize.
He was a Norwegian sculptor, and the interesting bit is, the country told him. Give us all your works for free, or we will burn your house down, and hang you upside down from the mast of a Viking Ship.

Okay I made up the part about the hanging , but thats about it.

The Frogner park is a huge park in Oslo, in the middle of which likes the Vigeland Sculpture arrangement.
Now, these sculptures are fairly typical, but atypical.
They are all nude. No big deal, many European cities have nude guys and gals, sculptures or otherwise hanging around.
But unlike many other cities, you have to look at the entire park as a whole, and not as individual sculptures. Many guidebooks, and internet articles, talk about the angry boy sculpture. I did not even click it.

They miss they point. The point is not the individual sculpture, but the "human condition".
Before I go all freud about his thoughts and feelings, lets go to the park and see what he drew.

Any sculpture which forces you to take out a camera and click has lost its purpose. Not here.

This is the first one we saw. And saw. And saw again. What could say struggle better?


Would you call this a dance? Or perhaps two marching at gunpoint. Interpret


Life? Bounding you in its boundaries? Want to be free?


Dandruff problem?


Had too many kids and now wonder why no contraceptive?


And then this


This is a square, and around this sculptures show birth to death to ashes, and to new life rising again.

Its quite facination, that every culture, no matter how far away, has the circle of life and death as an integral part of its theology. Where do we go. What rises from the Ashes. Dust to Dust...

Thankfully, not all are so heavy. Some are easier to interpret


Gustav never interpreted these for us. Many do. But its best to draw your own conclusions


Today being a sunday, you can see quite a few people. But honestly, one thing I realized, there are very few people in Norway. Unlike the central and eastern Europe where its a "mela" every day, Oslo is lonely, and Norway truly alone, yet content.
The weather is turning, but it won't rain. yr.no said so, and guess what I realized. These blokes were never wrong. Right to the very hour by hour forecast!


We roamed around the park, looking at some statues. On some we climbed. Trust me it was tough. Before you gasp at an almost 90kg homo sapien climing statues, do not worry. Its not uncommon to see people climbing statues in Europe. However, here it was quite common. Esp the Granite ones.
Good climbing practice

Done with the statues, I guess it was time to turn our attention to the living things.

[14000rpm]

Originally Posted by roy_libran

Is Norway really as beautiful as the pictures make out to be? Wow! Lucky Chap!

yes it is. I am right now in Norway for day long meetings. I use a ferry on the fjords every time I have to go to my clients place. The beauty is enchanting.

Tanveer's excellent photography do good justice.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by 14000rpm

yes it is. I am right now in Norway for day long meetings. I use a ferry on the fjords every time I have to go to my clients place. The beauty is enchanting.

Tanveer's excellent photography do good justice.

Wow, you are truly lucky!
Where in Norway? Bergen area?
Fjord norway is truly extraordinary

[KrishD]

Beautifully put together. Norway is beautiful I am sure. But your photographs and commentary make it come across as truly enchanted. A wonderful piece. The initial bit is poetic!

[madhav14]

"WHAT A HAIR STANDING NARRATION SIRJEE"

Awesome man. I wondered that I was getting continuous goosebumps while reading your travelogue, especially while going through the initial pictures. The way of describing, and the narration was simply fantastic.

And on the other hand, the pictures are mind blowing. One of the best travelogues I had ever come across.

[ganeshtvpm]

Breath taking pictures dude. Why are most of the places deserted. A quick check in wikipedia revealed that it was the second least densely populated country in Europe. No wonder these places are pristine. Some of the snaps reminded me of our own Leh. I wish I could visit this place very soon.

[neofromcapone]

Tanveer, I used to enjoy going through only Sam's t-logs.
And today I have realized the torch has been passed on, excellent pics, and more than the pics I wanted to read the caption to the next one. Can you believe I wanted to pass over the pics just to read what you wrote. Rated a well deserved 5 stars

Mesmerizing. May you have a holiday every month, provided you put it up here like this one.

Godspeed.