pics | apts | books
Saturday, 14. October 2006, 11:15:48
I uploaded some Oslo pics, some new and some from my summer trip, into an album called, obviously enough, 'oslo'.
Go to the 'Photos' tab to check it out. There's not many but a nice shot of my spacious office and my not so spacious temporary apartment and even a somewhat blurry picture of SmartCar for Charles who loves them and Phyllis who hadn't seen one before.
My plan today is to head to the open air antique market in Majorstuen and maybe even see if I can arrange an apartment visning on my own. Sadly, we had to say "no thanks" to a flat with lots of character and a modern kitchen because I discovered on a midnight walkabout that the street is loud with traffic and drunks and taxis on a weekend and always right above a tram line. Sigh.
And so for all the same reasons that we gave up our older house by the university in Austin, we pre-emptively said 'no thanks' to this one even though it was right by the design college, museums, and the palace. The hard thing about this is that there are so few good available apartments, especially that accept dogs, that it's hard to give up one in the hand.
Last night Hans took one of our Japanese sales guys and me to a really good local restaurant, Ketopa. It was built in an old pharmacy (Ketopa is Apotek backwards) and had high ceilings with rosettes, old dark wood accents and bar, and was filled with chatting patrons in large groups making the kind of loud but cosy noise you only find busy cafes. The food is Middle Eastern/Mediteranean, very good and quite reasonable. It was only about 21 USD for a big dinner of chicken kebab, salad, yoghurt sauce, and draft beer. About what I'd expect to pay after tip in the US.
Hans just returned to Norway after living in Japan for 3 years where he worked for Opera and completed his studies. Hans and Tomohiro(?) and I had all read Murakami and that was nice to have some common points of reference. I'm a fairly big Haruki Murakami fan although I haven't read his most famous novel, "Wind-Up Bird Chronicle". Hans said the book about the '95 Aum Shinrikyo subway gas attack was really quite amazing. Naturally "Norwegian Wood" came up given where we are.
Speaking of "Norwegian Wood", I think the Japanese meme of falling into a well or hole is interesting. I remember reading about this when the original version of "The Ring" movie came out and thinking that this also appears in both "Norwegian Wood" and at least one short story in, perhaps, "The Elephant Vanishes". Anyway, I think these sort of historical cultural touchstones are facinating. That for the Japanese reader, there is a kind familiarity and connotation around the falling-into-well, a resonance from other long told stories, that we can't quite share.
While we were talking about books, Hans also said that Roald Amundsen's book about taking the South Pole is a truly amazing read, in part because it demonstrates what a completely messed up sociopath he must have been. Un-relentingly focussed on his quest without regard for the lives of his dogs or crew.
Go to the 'Photos' tab to check it out. There's not many but a nice shot of my spacious office and my not so spacious temporary apartment and even a somewhat blurry picture of SmartCar for Charles who loves them and Phyllis who hadn't seen one before.
My plan today is to head to the open air antique market in Majorstuen and maybe even see if I can arrange an apartment visning on my own. Sadly, we had to say "no thanks" to a flat with lots of character and a modern kitchen because I discovered on a midnight walkabout that the street is loud with traffic and drunks and taxis on a weekend and always right above a tram line. Sigh.
And so for all the same reasons that we gave up our older house by the university in Austin, we pre-emptively said 'no thanks' to this one even though it was right by the design college, museums, and the palace. The hard thing about this is that there are so few good available apartments, especially that accept dogs, that it's hard to give up one in the hand.
Last night Hans took one of our Japanese sales guys and me to a really good local restaurant, Ketopa. It was built in an old pharmacy (Ketopa is Apotek backwards) and had high ceilings with rosettes, old dark wood accents and bar, and was filled with chatting patrons in large groups making the kind of loud but cosy noise you only find busy cafes. The food is Middle Eastern/Mediteranean, very good and quite reasonable. It was only about 21 USD for a big dinner of chicken kebab, salad, yoghurt sauce, and draft beer. About what I'd expect to pay after tip in the US.
Hans just returned to Norway after living in Japan for 3 years where he worked for Opera and completed his studies. Hans and Tomohiro(?) and I had all read Murakami and that was nice to have some common points of reference. I'm a fairly big Haruki Murakami fan although I haven't read his most famous novel, "Wind-Up Bird Chronicle". Hans said the book about the '95 Aum Shinrikyo subway gas attack was really quite amazing. Naturally "Norwegian Wood" came up given where we are.
Speaking of "Norwegian Wood", I think the Japanese meme of falling into a well or hole is interesting. I remember reading about this when the original version of "The Ring" movie came out and thinking that this also appears in both "Norwegian Wood" and at least one short story in, perhaps, "The Elephant Vanishes". Anyway, I think these sort of historical cultural touchstones are facinating. That for the Japanese reader, there is a kind familiarity and connotation around the falling-into-well, a resonance from other long told stories, that we can't quite share.
While we were talking about books, Hans also said that Roald Amundsen's book about taking the South Pole is a truly amazing read, in part because it demonstrates what a completely messed up sociopath he must have been. Un-relentingly focussed on his quest without regard for the lives of his dogs or crew.
I like the Ice Hotels pix
By anonymous user, # 16. October 2006, 20:48:26