[OT] Fun in Norway and Denmark?

[Arthur Tealeaf]

If you stay in Oslo, visit Vigelandsparken (a park) because there are some great statues there. If you have the time of course.

Yes!

And how about bringing some of your D&D books with you on a trip to Tønsberg, and maybe donate a few of them to this poor kid I know - Christian Loennechen is his name!

Other than that, Norway kicks ass! In the summer at least...

 

[Pielorinho]

Copenhagen has some interesting places. The most noteworthy, and the place that most tourists visit, is Christania, which is a self-governed city within Copenhagen, remnants of old occupiers that have made a living for themselves. Its like a miniature Amsterdam, with hash-cafees and things (and you dont have to be a pot-head to enjoy it, I dont touch the stuff and still find the place amusing).

Very itneresting -- I'll look into it.

Nice try, Arthur, on the books . But I think this is going to be two weeks of game-free honeymooning, just mea nd my new wife. I'll definitely look for those statues, though!

Daniel

 

[Psionicist]

Oh, and here's an obscure question: will June be chanterelle season over there? I'm an amateur mushroom-hunter, and I don't trust my identification of just about any gilled mushroom, but chanterelles are distinctive enough (and, in my uninformed impression, common enough) in Europe that I might be able to snag a few. What about wild berries -- will any be in season in early June? There are few joys in life greater than picking one's own dinner.

Daniel

Berries... check.
LOTS of Berries... check.
Mushrooms... If you are lucky.

 

[Illuminae]

go to a Tristania concert while in Norway...



AND SCREAM MY NAME OUT LOUD FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!


MAURICIO!!!!!!!!!!!!

MAURICIO!!!!!!!!!!!!



/cries for not being able to go to their concert in Brasil in 2001....

 

[møgøre]

If you are around Roskilde, Denmark you should not miss the Lejre Experimental Center .

If you come to Copenhagen then do not bother to take a look at the Little Mermaid, it's not worth the trouble.

 

[Mark]

Congrats Daniel!

 

[Zander]

If you stay in Oslo, visit Vigelandsparken (a park) because there are some great statues there.

If that's the park I'm thinking of, there are two statues in particular you shouldn't miss. One is of a male demon seducing a woman and the other is a female demon (a succubus?) seducing a man. They're great! They look like they came right out of a fantasy novel or D&D game.

 

[Ziggy]

You guys have got us pegged! The Oslo-Bergen rail line comes highly recommended wherever I look, so we're definitely going to make reservations for that (someone told us that June is prime tourist season in Norway, so we should make reservations for some things). The fjords are probably the major draw to Norway for us: we're both fairly outdoorsy, and the fjords sound fantastic. And while the descriptions of Norwegian food in general scare me, some of the seafood sounds sublime (although I'll take a pass on the fermented trout, thank you very much).

The rail is a good idea. Usually you can get tickets for that without a reservations. But June is pretty touristy, and the good (and chaep) hotels often fill weeks in advance.

And seriously, the fermented trout is fantastic, you should try it. Apart from that, the seafood is indeed very good, but also expensive. You'll pay betwen 30 and 50$ (per person) for a meal at a good restaurant, double that if you want wine. And a warning, the cheap places are often pretty bad, I recommend making your own food if you are on budget.

Ziggy, that Roman Camp thing sounds very cool Is the Hjemsted Oldtidspark what you're talking about?

Yep. However it is a fair bit from Copenhagen, and probably not worth the detour if you only got two weeks.

Sadly, due to the relatively short length of our trip (2 weeks), we'll probably not make it to northern Norway -- trying to do so would just mean packing too much stuff into the trip, even though the far north sounds really interesting. Are the stav churches primarily in the north, or do they exist in southern Norway as well?

The stave churches are found in the south and west of the country. Some more links:

General link to several churches

Borgund Stavkirke, Lærdal

Fantoft stavkirke, near Bergen

.Ziggy

 

[Ziggy]

Thanks! I think I've got a good 'un.

Because of the cost of Norway and the beauty of the natural landscape, we'll probably spend at least some time camping. My understanding is that Norway is actually a fairly popular vacation spot for poor Russians, because if you camp and bring your own food, it's very cheap. Does this sound correct? We figure we'll find a good area for doing the cottage-camping thang (trails with little cabins along them for hikers), and do that for a few days.

Camping is good (and cheap). We also got a wide and varied amount of mountain trails and tracks, with manned and unmanned cabins along the routes. If you got a minimum of stamina it's recommended if you want nature up and close. The tourist office can help you with details here. Don't forget to bring good footwear. Mind you, the best routes can be a bit crowded in June.

Oh, and here's an obscure question: will June be chanterelle season over there? I'm an amateur mushroom-hunter, and I don't trust my identification of just about any gilled mushroom, but chanterelles are distinctive enough (and, in my uninformed impression, common enough) in Europe that I might be able to snag a few. What about wild berries -- will any be in season in early June? There are few joys in life greater than picking one's own dinner.

Chanterelles (Kantarell in norwegian) is common here, but not usually until July/August. You might get lucky, but I doubt it. You'll find wild strawberies (Yum!) and raspberries in season in early and late June, but it is still too early for most other berries.

.Ziggy (Not associated with the Norwegian tourist board )

 

[Pielorinho]

Ziggy, you rock my world. Thanks for all the information!

It's sad about the chanterelles, but so it goes. They'll probably be getting into season around here around the time when I get home (although curiously, the only chanterelles I've found in North Carolina are about the size of my pinky -- you have to gather dozens upon dozens for a single meal). Maybe I'll see if the boletes are happening yet.

Or maybe I'll just have to content myself with wild strawberries and raspberries. I suppose, if I think really really hard, I can come up with a worse fate .

Daniel

PS I just realized that I've been half-waiting for somebody to come into the thread and caution me against eating wild mushrooms, tell me that there are old mushroom eaters and bold mushroom eaters but no old bold mushroom eaters. But then I remembered: I'm talking to a bunch of Europeans, and (from what I've read) hunting wild mushrooms is practically a national pasttime in most Scandinavian countries. How cool is that? 'Round these parts, tell folks you pick your own mushrooms, they're practically on the phone with an ambulance before you finish the sentence.