Norway!

Dave was invited to be the “Opponent” for a Ph.D. defense at NTNU, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. So we headed to Norway……. in December…… when it’s both dark and cold, but beautiful.

First stop was Gjovik for the defense. Gjovik is a nice little town about 2 hours north of Oslo, on the banks of Lake Mjosa. It’s about 25 miles south of Lillehammer, where the 1994 Winter Olympics were held. The blue dot is approximately Gjovik:

While in Gjovik, we joined a Music Bingo pub game! Unfortunately, we’re not very knowledgable about Norwegian pop music so didn’t do too well…….

Then it was off to Oslo by train through the woods and the scenic countryside!

Oslo was all decked out for Christmas with a great Christmas Marketplace right in the center of the city: the Vinterland!

Oslo is a beautiful old Scandinavian city with a vibrant downtown!

This is the Royal Palace right downtown:

And this is the Parliament building:

Next we went to the Edvard Munch Museum to see his famous painting of “The Scream”, among his other works:

And Deb couldn’t resist herself!

We were going to go see the Nobel Peace Center, but it was closed as they were actually awarding the Peace Prize that Sunday. The Viking Ship Museum was also closed for renovations. But we noticed a bunch of people wearing two distinct colors of football (i.e., soccer) scarves. A little Google research told us that the Norwegian Football Federation Cup Final was that day between Bodo / Glimt and Molde. So we bought tickets and went to the Cup Final!

It was a bit cold and snowed a little…..

But that didn’t stop the fans from coming out and singing during the entire game!

Seated in front of us was a Dad with two young sons – a Norwegian house with divided loyalties!

And also while in Norway, we found this statue without a plaque, but we’re pretty certain it commemorates the Great Herring War!

If you’re not familiar with the Great Herring War, click the link below and Rose Nylund will explain!