Climb Ev'ry Mountain

How to Spitsbergen*, an Illustrated Tutorial:

Step one: Fly north. All the way north. 78 degrees latitude north.

Step two: Visit town of Svalbard

Step three: Climb aboard boat**

 Step four: See fjords and glaciers

 Step five: See lots of wildlife that did not show up on camera, including whales, seals, polar bears, and puffins***

Step six: Promise people it looked like this in the binoculars****

 Step seven: See abandoned coal-mining town of Pyramiden

 Step eight: Pull the blackout curtains to sleep.*****

 Step nine: Go dogsledding!

 Step ten: Get ridiculous (in warmth and look) gear to go dogsledding in******

 Step eleven: Have the COOLEST time ever and even drive the sled*******

 Step twelve: Take it back to camp. You have Spitsberged.

*Country Point 143!!!
**Bonus points if yours also includes the boat captain in most casual driving pose ever.
***According to our guides, we saw more animals in one trip than they usually see in weeks combined. I wouldn't have believed them except they were all taking pictures as well.
****It kinda did, though.
*****This picture is from 12:30am, 30 minutes after "sunset." "Sunrise" was at 1am. This is the land of the midnight sun and there won't be night again until August. From mid-October to mid-February, they never see the sun. #SAD
******In this outfit I thought, "I could live in Boston again!"
*******Real talk. When our guide was first telling us how to drive the sled, I thought, "why is she telling me this information I don't need?" When she then said we would all take turns driving, I thought, "why doesn't she value her life more?" When I was actually driving the sled, I thought, "THIS IS SO AWESOME AND FUN!"

Go Oslo!

Happy Teacher Summer, everyone!*

School got out and I hit the road! First up was a trip to NYC with #thechildren** and then a quick turnaround for Norway. I'm starting in Oslo and explored the city yesterday and today. The city is beautiful, it has been a sunny 60 degrees for the high, and everywhere you go in this town is a statue. It's lovely!

I started off yesterday in Slottsparken (Palace Park)*** and had my first taste of the city's love of statutes. Right at the entrance was a statue park newly added this year that had statues inspired by children's drawings. I think they're just celebrating Pride, myself.

Palace Park includes the palace where the royal family lives. The flag implies the family was home but no one came out to greet me, so . . .

I continued wandering past the parliament building**** and more statues and flowers. I ended the night***** in the area of Aker Brygge for dinner. The area is right on the water and has been recently developed with live-work-play buildings that felt new and fancy.

I started today with a walking tour of Oslo given by Norway's own Kate McKinnon.******

 

We hit all the Oslo hot spots, including:
The Opera House which hosts the opera, the ballet, and people walking all over the building

City Hall- you can't fight it and the murals are so fantastic you wouldn't dare

And a fort.*******

After the tour I backtracked to see more things in detail. The views from the top of the opera house were glorious and it was super cool to walk all over the building. I did the tour of the building inside, as well, and they walked us through the performance space, backstage, the costume shop, etc. It was fantastic.********

I followed that up with a visit to the Munch Museum which featured artwork and the history of Edvard Munch. It was a scream.

 

 

I was pretty committed to hitting all the Oslo highlights so I next went to the Nobel Peace Center. This is where they award the Nobel Peace Prize every year. It features a museum that looks at the work of the recent year's winners, past winners, and an exhibit on a special issue that is affecting the world today.

The featured exhibit was on climate change and how it is affecting the world and how people are protesting for change.

 

The feature on the 2018 winners and their fight against sexual violence as a weapon of war was especially moving.

 

 

And finally, the last room had an interactive screen for reading about all the past winners.

 

My last stop for the day was to Frognerparken which includes Vigelandsparken, a park with over 200 statues by Norwegian sculptor, Gustav Vigeland. It rounded out my full sculpture experience in Oslo!

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow I head north- about as far north as is possible without hitting a pole.*********
More from there!
-Kelly

*Unless you live in the northeast, of course, and have an untold number of weeks left. I'm sad for you.**********
**Shout out to the world's best frolleagues!

 

***Naturally, I have learned no Norwegian and it reads like German with additional circles and slashes. Everyone I have encountered speaks better English than I do.
****It's a constitutional monarchy, I know you were wondering.
*****I swear it's after 9pm but the sun doesn't set until forever!
******Truly, she acted just like her. I'm sure she does a great Hillary.
*******I know you heard my exasperated sigh from wherever you're reading this.
********We weren't allowed to take pictures inside on the tour and, for once, I obeyed.
*********You're making this into an inappropriate joke so that I don't have to? Thank you.
**********Until August, you monsters.