The Summer Party

Last Friday (24th June) was the work summer party.  It kicked off at 6pm at Sara's Telt in the city.  Funny enough that was where the last New in Norway meeting was held, and prior to that the last beer mingle was at VU which was where I went to that last time for an Internations mingle.  Is work just using the same places that I visit, or is it just a dang coincidence?  There was a bus that drove us to the city, so we went after work.

What can I say.  Norwegians love to party.  This is unlike any work party that I've ever been to.  After drinks, everyone from managers to directors were dancing on the floor.  Okay not everyone, but people that I know by name were, and we work on the same floor.  My suspicion is they won't even remember come Monday.  It's a big eye opener. :)  Even my fellow co-worker who is usually serious at work was dancing.  At least he thinks he was. :)  Man!  I can't dance to save my life, but I did some anyway.  Thanks to Thomas.  Of course everyone was drinking, and most were smoking, I don't drink and I don't smoke, yes I'm quite straight edge.  When I say everyone I don't mean everyone just the ones I recognise. :)  I would put some pictures up but I didn't take any photos.  You will just have to take my word for it.  I didn't get home till 2am and when I left it was still going strong.  But most people (most married people that is) had left by then.  Unfortunately dinner wasn't very good, it was a cheap buffet dinner with hamburgers and okayish salad.

Walking to the train station I saw drunks wandering about and a man peeing in the bushes outside Nationaltheatret.  That wasn't a sight to remember.  I missed the last train so caught the bus instead.  Of course I couldn't get back home directly, the bus dropped me close to work and had to walk 45 minutes before I arrived home.

Well it is now time for sleep.  God natt.

Denmark, Sweden and back to Oslo

I'm now back in Oslo after returning from Copenhagen yesterday.  Let's try to summarise yesterday's events...

10am After breakfast, the long drive back to Oslo began.  The weather was sublime.

A lone house surrounded by acres upon acres of greenery.  All along the highway as far as the eye can see.  And occasionally, cows, horses and sheep.  This is a wet dream scene in the eyes of Singaporeans.  Possibly 5 levels deep like Inception.

Windmills along the E6

Between 10am and 6:30pm We went food shopping in Lidl, hdmi cable shopping in Giganten (I bought an iPad keyboard dock as well.  I hate buying stuff I don't need but this time I couldn't resist.) and more food shopping at Rema 1000 along the Norwegian Swedish border.  Just about every car/vehicle parked at Rema 1000 has a Norwegian license plate.  It's like Singaporeans going to Malaysia for shopping on the weekend.  I should've taken a picture of the food we bought, which was quite a bit.  I alone bought 12 litres of juice and 12 litres of UHT milk.  That's not including the other items I purchased.

That's pretty much it.  It was shopping and more shopping.

Now I have this song stuck in my head.  It's Swedish and I am obsessed with it.

Speaking of which, this month I will not have any salary because this is the month where you get paid your holiday pay which is calculated based on last year.  And since I hardly worked last year I get next to nothing.  The good thing is, if Steve Jobs can survive on an annual salary of $1 so can I. :)

Copenhagen, Denmark, Day 1 - Handball at Ballerup Super Arena, Rådhuspladsen, Gefion Fountain, Little Mermaid

Greetings from Copenhagen!


8am This morning we set off to Copenhagen from Oslo.  The 7 hour journey across 3 countries is roughly like this.


View Larger Map

It goes through Sweden and from Sweden across the Øresund Bridge to Copenhagen.  The Øresund Bridge is the longest road and rail bridge in Europe.  Along the way we stopped at a Swedish McDonald's to have lunch and also topped up the fuel tank at a Statoil in Malmo.  Sweden is beautiful and reminds me of Germany, lush and green with plenty of open space.  You can see wind mills along the E6 and more along the Danish coast close to Malmo.  A long time ago I had a Swedish penpal.  Makes me wish I kept in touch with her now, it would be so cool to visit her.  The roads were quite empty, it was a quiet Sunday morning.

Swedish McDonald's.  I had a chicken bacon onion burger which was called C.B.O

Going across the Øresund Bridge.

2:53pm Checked in, dropped our things and headed off to the handball game between Denmark and Switzerland which started at 4:50pm.  The full time score was 34-29 to Denmark, half time was 20-12 to Denmark.  It's my first handball game that I've seen live and it was pretty good.  The Danish goalkeeper was especially impressive and saved many goalbound shots.

6:15pm After the game ended we contemplated going to watch the Euro Under 21s between Spain and England but then figured out by the time we get there it would've been after half time.  So instead we headed off to the city central to have some food and explore.

Along 2 Vester Voldgade there was a shop that was selling elephants.

It turns out these elephants on sale are souvenirs of the current Elephant Parade exhibition in Copenhagen which will be on display from June 1st to August 25th 2011.  There are a total of 102 of these baby fiberglass elephants all over Copenhagen.  When the exhibition is over, the elephants will be auctioned off by Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers, with the proceeds going to the preservation of the Asian elephant.  So the purpose of this exhibition is to raise awareness of the Asian elephant because it will be extinct within decades if nothing is done.

Rådhuspladsen, the public square in the centre of Copenhagen

Elephants along Rådhuspladsen

This is my favourite elephant ;)

Shortly after that we walked along Frederiksberggade and had dinner.  I had a kylling ret which was chicken with pita bread.  It was alright.

There was a Wonders of Europe exhibition that was open to the public along the same street so we spent some time exploring those.  It was photography of different landscapes and animals across Europe.

Another elephant

On first glance you might think this looks like ham... but read below

Yeah, it's semi-desert land!

Surviving and not eating food for 6 years.  Amazing.

The fountain at Frederiksberggade 2

Another elephant, they are everywhere

We proceeded to Gammel Strand where the canals are and took some photos here.  You can catch a canal tour too.

The building with the spire is called Børsen, it was built in 1619

Fountain near Højbro Plads

9:11pm Went in search of the Little Mermaid statue, which is built in 1913.  Prior to today I've only seen it in books from a long time ago.

St Alban's Anglican Church

Frederik IX

Another crazy looking elephant

Gefion Fountain

The Little Mermaid!

12:22am Time for shower and bed.  Today we'll be heading off back to Norway but stopping in Sweden to purchase food and other domestic things.  Walked 7500+ steps today.