New Holmenkollen ski jump

Happy Easter to everyone!

The weather here in Oslo has been lovely all Easter, and according to yr.no's weather forecast, we'll continue to have sunny and warm weather in the coming days.

Today's photo is of the new Holmenkollen ski jump. You can see what the old ski jump looked like here.

Photo taken by: Lothiane's son

Evening in Karl Johan

From 23 February The Nordic World Ski Championship has been held in Oslo. All the events is held at Holmenkollen’s new National Arena, which includes the new spectacular Holmenkollen hill and the naturally beautiful Midtstuen hill. During the WSC there have also been public and cultural events at Holmenkollen and activities especially for children.
 
The medal ceremonies has taken place in the University Square in downtown Oslo. There has been stage shows and a free concert every night, a separate mingling area, an exhibition of ice  sculptures inspired by Edvard Munch and much more. Everything needed to create amajor celebration in Oslo. Both the competitions and the ceremonies have been enormously popular. 50 000 to over 100 000 people have gathered downtown every night!!

Todays picture is of one of the ice sculptures downtown, inspired by (I think) the painting "Evening in Karl Johan" of Edvard Munch. 

The Cross-Country 50 km for men on Sunday will be the last competition in Ski-VM 2011. See more pictures from the championship at Ski-VM 2011's public gallery.

Photo by: Stormel 

New Holmenkollen

Do you remember what it looked like after they tore down the old Holmenkollen ski jump? They have been working on the site for a long time now, and just recently I could see this new construction. Still a long way to go, but at least more visible progression now. :-)

About Holmenkollen ski jump.

Holmenkollen today

This is all that is left of Holmenkollen. The ski jumping arena has turned into a huge construction site.

Photo by: Stormel

Isn't this sad?

A while back we told you they are tearing down the skijump Holmenkollen, and this is what it looks like now. Not much left, just these sad parts. To the left you can see the Holmenkollen Park Hotel, a beautiful wooden building.

Photo by: Lothiane

Something missing

Another picture of Holmenkollen after they started to tear down the ski jump.

A friend of mine, André, took this picture. :o)

The end of Holmenkollen

This is the end of the old ski jump, Holmenkollen. They are planning to build a new ski jump and yesterday they started removing this famous landmark. It's sad, but nothing we can do about it. Here's a link to a video presentation of how they are going to tear it down.

We've showed you several photos from Holmenkollen and the area before on this blog. Please visit again. And in a couple of years we'll be able to show you photos of the new ski jump. It's supposed to be ready in 2010.



Photos by: Lothiane

The Holmenkollen Troll

At Gratishaugen near Holmenkollen, you'll find this huge troll. It's 6,7 meters tall according to this webpage.

Photo by: Mark Wilkinson

Grassy roofs

These are modern houses, but built to look old. Grassy roofs were quite common in the old days, especially in the countryside. This picture was taken near Holmenkollen, an area where people usually are quite wealthy.

Photo by: Mark Wilkinson

Frognerseteren

This is Frognerseteren, an old building from the 1890's, built in the Dragon style of the époque. There is a restaurant/café there, and the building is used for weddings and parties. Lots of tourists visit to see the fantastic view over Oslo. Frognerseteren is on top of Holmenkollen, 435 meters above the city.


The first photo: Lothiane
Second photo: Mark Wilkinson

A bird's-eye view of Holmenkollen

We've showed you lots of pictures of the ski jump, Holmenkollen, and the surrounding area. But this is the first time we show you an aerial view of this famous place.

Thanks to Mark Wilkinson who took a lot of really nice photos when his plane passed over Oslo on his way home to the UK.

Holmenkollen Park Hotel

This beautiful building is Holmenkollen Park Hotel. It is located close to the skijumping arena.

Photo: by Stormel

Fridtjof Nansen II

Another view of Fridtjof Nansen and Holmenkollen.

Photo: by Stormel

Fridtjof Nansen

This is a statue of Fridtjof Nansen, standing right next to the Holmenkollen ski jump. Fridtjof Nansen was an Norwegian explorer, scientist and diplomat living from 1861-1930. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Price in 1922 for his work as a League of Nations High Commissioner.

Holmenkollen by night

Supposedly, they're going to tear down Holmenkollen ski jump in order to build a new and more modern one. Therefore Stormel and myself went up there one night to take pictures. It was a windy night, we got rain, hail and snow while we were there. But we did get the photos we wanted.

It's kind of sad that they're going to tear the ski jump down, it's been here "forever" and it's one of the most visited sightseeings in Oslo. Hopefully the new ski jump will be just as nice.

A nice place to live

This is another photo of Holmenkollen - the ski jump. You can only see the top of it. This is an area where people with quite a bit of money like to live. The closer you get to Holmenkollen the better. The prices are high and the houses are quite big. In this area you'll actually find houses with grass growing on the roof. (Not in this photo, though.) In the countryside in older times, this was quite normal - but not at all considered "fancy". Now, rich people sometimes choose this, perhaps to show that they appreciate the culture and history?

Ice cold beauty

These past days it's been really cold in Oslo. The temperatures have been as low as - 10 C/14F. No snow yet, but because of the cold; the frost is covering the trees and the ground. The morning I took this photo, it was foggy at first - but then the sun shone through and I could see the ski jump "Holmenkollen" at the top of the hillside nearby.

Holmenkollen

Holmenkollen in a nice, red evening light.

A new skijump arena will replace the one in the picture. The new arena will be called "Holmenkollen Fyr" (Holmenkollen lighthouse). Believe it or not, but a Danish company is responsible for the design.

Photo: by Stormel

Steilene

Outside Oslo there is a group of five small islands called Steilene. These five islands have a violent past if we should beleive the history behind the name. It's said that the name Steilene come from an instrument used in conjunction with torture and deathpenalties, that is called an Steile. The history says that the islands was used as a place where they killed criminals. Others belive Steilene was used to warn seafarers of the horrible punishment that was given to mutiny.

This is Fyrsteilene (in English that would be Lighthouse-steilene), the outermost of the islands. In the past somebody had to live on the island to watch the lighthouse, but today it's all automated. But you can rent the house if you want to stay for a night or two (or more). :o)

You can see Oslo behind the island. To the left for the sailingyacht you can spot Holmenkollen too (the skijumping-arena Lothiane showed you earlier).

Photo: by Stormel

Troll

This little fellow is standing outside of the ski museum at the Holmenkollen ski jump. He looks quite happy and content. I guess he enjoys all the tourists taking photos of him.

Trolls are mythic creatures from the Norwegian folk tales. They usually live in the deep forests, inside mountains or under a bridge. According to the fairy tales, trolls don't like sunlight. In fact, if the sunrays hit them, they'll turn into stone.

Some trolls are very mean, some are kind, some are huge and some are small. They're also known to be quite gullible, so if a troll captures you - keep your head clear and try to fool him. Like "Askeladden" (Ash lad) in this story:

One day Askeladden and his two older brothers were out in the forrest, they met the Troll. This troll was not a good one, and it caught the three brothers and brought them to his cage. Askeladden realized that they would all be eaten the next day. But he would try to fool the troll.

"Let's have a competition", said Askeladden to the troll.
"If I can eat more of that porridge than you, then you will set us free."

The troll thought this boy was very funny. How could this little boy eat more than him? But the troll agreed to the terms, and they started eating. After they had finished the first bowl, the troll was very surprised that Askeladden still seemed hungry. What the troll didn't know was that Askeladden had his bag inside his sweater and that he used this bag to put the food in.

"Why don't we bring another bowl of porridge on", said Askeladden, but now the troll was starting to get full. After a while the troll said to Askeladden that he could not eat any more. Nor could Askeladden, so he suggests to the troll that the can cut their belly open with a knife. The troll may be stupid, but not that stupid, and he laughs and says that he will do it if Askeladden does it first. Of course Askeladden just cuts his bag, while the troll, who really don't want to lose the competition, cuts his belly.

After the troll is dead, Askeladden releases his brothers, and takes all the gold in the trolls cave with him back home.

For a more modern version of another fairytale (Little Red Riding Hood), check out the link in the menu to the right - under Norwegian comedy.