Oslo, Norway

We are back from a quick trip to Oslo, Norway. We had a great time.  We bought the Oslo Pass for 24 hours and rode the buses, boats and went to several museums. Just a few pictures to give you an idea.

 The countryside is so green and lots of water.

 Central station

 Such interesting buildings and architecture....crazy windows

 The Kon Tiki ..the actual balsam raft that sailed from Peru to the South Seas Islands to prove it could be done.

 
 Oslo is a fairly walkable street and we found this great historic neighborhood.

 The Palace where the Royals lives.  They doesn't accept visitors until July....

Oslo's "Ny Havn". A lovely place on the harbor to eat and watch the boats and enjoy the sun and water.

Royal Wedding

Saturday the Carl Philip, Crown Prince of Sweden was married to Sophie.  It was broadcast on the TV all afternoon. I caught these shots.

 The march in with all the fabulous dresses was spectacular.

 The bride and groom.  It was a religious ceremony with hymns and some soft rock entertainment....

 The Danish royalty were there including Fredrik and Mary (3rd from the right on the first row) and Margarethe in the bright red dress.

 I don't know who was in yellow, but it was very yellow.

 Note the flowers on all the pews

The only royal grandchild belonging to the groom's youngest sister and her American husband. The surprise of the day was when the combo struck up "Joyful,Joyful" and everyone clapped along and moved with the rhythm as the bride and groom walked out.  It made for a pretty cheery atmosphere.

Super Swedish Saturday

The Swedes come en mass about every 6 weeks and it is always such a good day.  Today we were full in all ordinance areas including three sealing sessions, plus youth and new members in the baptism.  One sister, 62, who looks like she is 40- the perfect Swedish skin, was just baptized about a month ago.  She loved the temple and said it felt like home, just as church did the first time she came.  She has had "nudges" from the other side to get her interested in geneology, which she loves. She's on the right with the suitcase.

Knitting

Knitting or strikning as it is called here, is a very popular handicraft - not a surprise.  I picked up a kit at Aldi (my neighborhood grocery store, of course) to make a cute little shell to wear at the temple.  I have had to restart 3 times and once again need to undo a few rows.

 Fortunately Lis Steffensen Andersen is kind enough to help.  If it ever gets done, I will be sure to post.

Birthdays

 On June 10th  our family has three birthdays: Jim's, our oldest son's Chris and his oldest son's, Jake.  It was fun to Face time and have "Happy Birthday" sung all around.
 In Denmark, people customarily throw their own birthday parties or at least take a treat to work.

The remnants of the cake we took to the temple.

Silver Weddings

AT 7:00 AM this morning, we were standing in front of the Bjerrums' Apartment singing them "awake." 

 This is the traditional Silver Wedding celebration.  We sang three songs, they came out "surprised to be awakened" and invited us all in for breakfast.

Breakfast was in the cellar of the apartment,  The halls are lined with storage units for the residents.

 The entertainment room is the converted coal bin from yesteryears and worked very nicely.

A lovely frokost and a delightful morning.

Swan Update

I biked by the Lakes on Saturday and again today to check on the swans.  Saturday there were two swans, which I figured were the parents, put as I watched there was quite a disagreement between them and one was driven off.  I talked to a lady also watching and she said that the father apparently died of something in his throat. We figured the second swan was trying to either take one of the swans to mother or trying to do some courting and she definitely wasn't interested.

 Today they were just coming back to the nest from bathing.  Well at least the mother had a nice dunk and came back to fluff her feathers.  The little ones were fluffing their fluff.