11 Jun 2012 – 59°54′35″N 10°43′36″E

Aker Brygge is a popular meeting place for shopping, dining, and entertainment. As many as 12mil visitors a year find their way here, making it Norway’s biggest destination. Memories from 1967 – shipyards and engineering industry area where no one would think of going there unless it is your work place. Like many water front transformations, this also has become another trendy and in-place!

The tram stop was opened in 1995. Today there are app 6,000 people working here and app 900 people have their homes in an area of 260,000sq m. With banks, cinema, shops, benches to sit on and 35 places you can choose to have a bite or drink, MacD$ – Onda$$$$$, a place within your taste and budget 🙂

Summer is the time to visit when it is vibrant with the local sun worshippers and tourists. Just sitting on the water front or on a bench or lawn watching life goes by is quite relaxing and entertaining. A picnic basket is perfect when the weather permits especially with the beautiful view of Akershus fortress & castle with a cruise ship – old and new side by side 🙂 🙂

A comment from May is that Aker Brygge is like ghost town in the winters and it is no wonder, considering the cold harsh climates. Having lived over 10yrs in this beautiful country, memories of winters are still chilling and slipping down the bones. But these old bones and joints are not as flexible, thus usually visit in the summer nowadays 🙂 🙂 🙂

Each day learn something new, and just as important, relearn something old – Robert Brault

9 Jun 2012 – Happy 3rd Bday to grand-daughter Sophie

Pix taken during various walks in town: Barrett Due/Music School 1927

Fagerborg Church/1903

Pilestredet Park 7: was OBGYN ward for the old Rikshospital, used as a radio transmission station during the 2nd WW.

St Olav’s Plass, Universitetsgate, Rosenkrantz gata 

Oslo Rådhuset/OSL City Hall from different angles.

Rådhusplassen/City Hall’s Park

And a fantastic view of this area is from the fortress. Oh, the Places you’ll Go – Dr Seuss for Magnus, a charming young gentleman who took time for this grandmother of 6! Wishing him good health and the very best of luck for his future.

Oh, the Places You’ll Go – Dr Seuss

You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go…

… And will you succeed? Yes!

You will indeed! (98 and 3/4 percent garanteed!)
KID YOU’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!
So… be your name
Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ali Van Alenn O’Shea
You’re off to Great Places!
Your mountain is waiting.
So… get on your way!

8 Jun 2012 – A Seafood Festival

Thu: good salad lunch at Baker Hansen*** (Norway’s oldest bakery/1861) with Kay Hannestad. Good to get caught with her life. The last time we met was in Tromsø  over 30yrs ago! K is from Seattle, WA/USA but has live in Norway since she married her Norwegian husband, Christian. Both K&C retired some years ago and they have 2 sons and 3 grandchildren.

Carl, their first son used to play the French Horn during the Tromsø teaching days and accompanied him on the piano a couple of times. Today he teaches Norwegian to foreigners. Must try to catch up with him too. Fredrik, their second son is an actor and famous director in the Nordic skuespillerkollektivet.

Another beautiful day and walk into the center of town to complete more paper works and red tapes. Was told that it would take from 2-3months due to the summer holidays and the strike, but nice to see people out enjoying this lovely weather at Aker Bygge, a trendy and expensive seafront shops, eateries, apartments, etc.

Seafood festival for the weekend looks tempting and yummy but did not want to be in the crowd and in a tent!

Bought some fresh shrimps from the fishing boat, met up with Magnus, a delightful young man who was studying a semester in SIN and we met during an outing at the Forest Adventure. It is refreshing to listen to his hopes, dreams, etc ie an unchartered terrority for him to explore! Had peel and eat shrimps in Akershus festning/fortress and had command of the whole Oslofjord with a Japanese film crew.

http://amylamsg.com/2012/03/25/what-an-adventure/

http://amylamsg.com/2008/07/16/akershus-castle-and-fortress/

Pub crawled back towards town… 🙂 Thanks to Kay & Magnus for taking time to meet.

A tavern is a place where madness is sold by the bottle – Jonathan Swift

7 Jun 2012 – Jessheim 60°8′33511″N 11°10′25115″Ø

Wed: visited Kari, app 45mins on the local train from Nationaltheatret or 10mins drive from the airport is Jessheim in the Ullensaker municipality in Akershus. Located 35km from OSL or 8km from the airport with a pop of 20,000, Jessheim is the center for commerce and regional service functions around the airport and a shopping centre with rather unusual lamps.

Surprisingly there is an Asian grocery store there with a decent choice for sauces and fresh produce in this small community. Today was quite a catch up day with news from Dublin days as to who is where! Bjørn who studied medicine in Dublin with L&M’s father knows a number of the other doctors and their where abouts. Sad to hear of 2 people who are no longer in this world.

K crossed my path in Dublin/early 1970s when she was dating B who was in med school then. Our first child, Linn born 18 Mar and Thomas 19 Mar 1974 are both born in Dublin. Today K&B have 3 children and 5 grandchildren + 1 town-house in Jessheim, 1 beach-house at Filtvet (app 1hr drive south of OSL), 1 mountain-house at Trysil and 1 Arctic-house in Rypefjørd… as far as beach or mountain cabins are concerned, they are no longer cabins where there are no out-house 🙂

Appreciations to K, a positive and charming lady who has taken the time for our friendship over nearly 4 decades!

A house in the country is not the same as a country house – Gertrude Stein

5 Jun 2012 – A Student Again…

Today Olai is 9 months and such a delightful baby with cheerful morning smiles to start the day. Within the month since arrival he now crawls over everywhere making the cutest sounds, ie when not crying 🙂

20mins walk to UiO/Blindern campus was tempting me to go back to be a student again, but, ah there is always a but and in this case the but means having to stay put. Until when there are Us where transferable credits are possible, then student life will have to wait till life’s journey crosses a path with less mobility 🙂 🙂

Lovely walk thru’ the campus with much greenery and a mixture of old and new buildings. Colourful tree trunk with paper cranes but no one was around and could not ask what it was all about??

The heart of the social campus life with cafe, grocery, post-office, shops etc..

The doms look inviting enough!

Physics department with an unusual fountain in the courtyard.

This study hall looks like it is on display and quite tastefully designed sticking out of a brick building. Theology department will not be my choice but one never know. Managed to capture the Vestre Aker Church in the background. Pretty wall mural…

Pretty in pink – a Vesper, the best means of transport for student life! To use these bicycles across the road, you will need an electronic subscription card. Such can be purchased for a low price and is valid for one year at a time. OSL has more than 1,200 bicycles and charges NOK 60/S$12 for the annual subscription card. A red trailer (belonging to someone) to hook on to the bicycle when transporting the kid to nursery school.

Neighbourhood library, Majorstuen branch is the second largest public Deichman library in OSL. This is conveniently located on Harald Hårfagres gate 2, less than 5mins walk from the flat. It cost NOR2/S$0.45 for a copy of print-out in the public libraries here,

A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library – Shelby Foote

3 Jun 2012 -More Absurdity & Reality

Thoughts etc are still similar to that of this nearly 4yrs old posting, even more so now after the 2011 tragic bombing and shootings here.

Today another shooting and cousin Yun reminded me that I was at the same mall during the visit in 2008 Toronto/Canada. None of the family and friends were near the location today but sadly there were people injured and killed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18312636

2 Jun 2012 – Happy Bday Kenson

The old pix (1954-55)  was taken at the old IslandClub, today SIN Island Country Club/SICC. Being the youngest, seems like all my other 6 sublings had better things to do and not in the pix! Peggy was then the only child but today she is the eldest of 4. Kenson, the youngest of 3. KK&PP go way back to nearly 60yrs ago. Our parents were good friends and now only auntie Kwok is still alive. PP is actually very distantly related, her father being the nephew of 4th uncle who is married to mother’s older sister.

Uncle Leung (sun-glasses), PP’s father was an importer of fresh produces and we were fortunate to get good fresh non-local fruits and veggies in my childhood. Was introduced to fresh asparagus, cherries, oysters and strawberries at a young age when we first learnt to appreciate good food. It was also uncle Leung who introduced the yummy Shanghainese eel, my favourite eel dish.

Uncle Kwok (hidden face), KK’s father was a distinguished and quiet gentleman who reminded me a bit of father (faded out). Both in the banking business and men of few words! Their three wives, ie mother (first left), auntie June (second left)  & auntie Kwok (sun-glasses)  got along well and seemed to be doing most of the talking as far as the memory can stretched 🙂

Today KK, PP & her husband Ian and I do try to meet once a year. So far we have managed in 2009/Australia, 2010/Croatia, and this year, KK&PP will catch up with me in Sep at Lofoten/Northern Norway. Looking forward to that. They are the longest friends I have and hope that the friendship will stay until life’s journey ends…

The best things in life come in threes, like friends, dreams, and memories –

1 Jun – Happy Bday Morten HALD

2 Jun – Happy Bday Kenson KWOK & Richard LEE

4 Jun – Happy Bday Erik KORKOWSKI

6 Jun – Happy Bdays Dika LAM & Harry CHAN

9 Jun – Happy Bday Sophie HALL

14 Jun – Happy Bday Anne WONG-HOLLOWAY

15 Jun – Happy Bdays to my father LAM Tin Yue and my children’s grandfather John HALD Sr (both not with us any longer but the two men I have most respect and admiration for). Happy Bday Amy JENSEN

17 Jun – Happy Father’s Day

25 Jun – Happy Bdays John LAM, Clement LAM & HUANG

28 Jun – Happy Bdays Jeff HALL, John WILSON & Adriane HENSON

30 Jun – Happy Bdays LAM JenMun &  Annie KOH-LAM

31 May 2012 – sounds cool but what does it mean??

Have been fascinated with this word MEME for a while. According to

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Meme?s=t

an idea or element of social behaviour passed on through generations in a culture, esp by imitation

Information around the web for the term MEME:

• An idea that, like a gene, can replicate and evolve.
• A unit of cultural information that represents a basic idea that can be transferred from one individual to another, and subjected to mutation, crossover and adaptation.
• A cultural unit (an idea or value or pattern of behavior) that is passed from one generation to another by nongenetic means (as by imitation); memes are the cultural counterpart of genes.

To be honest, still does not make any sense to me (probably just stupid), will be most grateful if anyone can explain MEME in simple layman language the meaning of MEME! And how do you construct a sentence with the word MEME!! When did such a simple looking word become so complicated??

A posting where I have NO idea what it is about, not even the quote below. With this it is goodbye to the month of May and welcome Jun. Summer has now officially started. Memorial Day marks the start of summer while Labour Day marks the start of autumn.

It does not matter what MEME means as long as you all have a wonderful summer 🙂 🙂 🙂

Certainly almost everything we do and think is colored in some way by memes, but it is important to realize that not everything we experience is a meme. If I walk down the street and see a tree, the basic perception that’s going on is not memetic – Susan Blackmore

29 May 2012 – Without Decoys!

Mon: app over an hour drive south of OSL towards Drammen is the peninsula between Oslofjord and Drammensfjord where the community of Hurum, a municipality in Buskerud county is located. The Old Norse form of the name was Húðrimar. The meaning of the first element (Húð) is unknown and the last element is the plural form of rimi which means ‘ridge’. 156 sq km(60 sq mi) in area with a pop of app 8,000+

First stop was Sand Gård, a farm where lamas grazed. For sale were fresh-baked buns and the biggest skolebrød/School Bread filled with rich vanilla cream or vanilla pudding is a special treat to include in children’s lunches or to prepare for a special school gathering. Delightful outing day for the family and even Olai enjoyed his avocado lunch with the fresh air and the change of scenery. Kayak on the lake paddling by peacefully…

With its rolling hills landscape, it is ideal for the deer hunters to sit on the higher grounds and wait patiently for their preys! Not being a hunter, thus unable to understand the sport of hunting but do agree with controlled and humane hunting, ie when the animals are counted and tagged and only a certain numbers of animals can be hunted every season. In that way, there is a balance with the food-chain in the wild!

Somewhere in this area B has bought deer hunting rights from Aug-Sep. Have not tasted Bambi yet but am told that it is tasty and not as gamely as reindeer. Looking forward to tasting it.

Some interesting overhead bridges, Bærum Rådhus/City Hall and Høvik Church by highway/E6 on the way home. Quite a contrast from the hunting grounds!!!

Balance is so important in our lives. In our busy world, we can give ourselves balance between thinking and feeling – Yakov Smirnoff

27 May 2012 – On the street where I am!

Jakob Aall ( 1773-1844) was a Norwegian historian and statesman, published entitled Present and Past, a redaction of his own numerous magazine articles on the history of the antiquities of Norway. Also a chain of restaurants and bar with that name in Bergen, Fredrikstad, Lillestrøm and two in OSL. Sorry, no ratings, have not been to any fo them! Considering that when living in this country from 1974-1985, can count the number of times on one hand where eating in a restaurant was concerned 🙂

Here in Majorstuen, Jacob Aalls gate is a street parallel to the main drag Kirkevien and a quiet charming residential area, well at least many parts of it! Starting with #1 not so interesting but as you walk on it gets greener. Like nummer does not mean the Like as in FB but you can still like the pix here! Means even numbers and for those who are just out of bed this Pentecost and Memorial Day weekend, even as in 2, 4, 6, etc 🙂 🙂

Wish there is a law here to do away with the beggars who are infesting OSL on the main streets corners, this was not so during my stay here in the 70s & 80s. Rather disturbing and an unbecoming sight. At least the Salvation Army was across the road with some life music to save their souls 🙂 🙂 🙂

Olai got his first portable swimming pool here and loves the water. Linn & family bought their first kayak and are cruising on Lake Murray/SC. Serene neighbourhood shop, green patches with the sunrays in between, little kid learning thrash-can etiquette is the only way to stroll down Lala Land on a blissful day in life’s journey 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Have a blissful and wonderful time on this Pentecost and Memorial Day Weekend!

I’m a believer in Ignorance is bliss – Julianna Margulies