Another walk: this time I am headed over The Chain Bridge and into the Castle District on the Buda side

It's fun to see the Hungarian titles :-) 

Isn't this a gorgeous sculpture?  It's just sitting at a plain, old bus stop.  As I took the picture, several locals waiting for the bus followed the gaze of my camera trying to decide what the heck my subject was, lol.  

The Chain Bridge

Pest

- wish I knew that guy as I think he did a great job posing for me  

Buda side

See the funicular in the center back?

...and there she is up close!  I took the touristy funicular route up the hill, and it was quite gorgeous.

...from the bottom

...and from the top looking toward Pest.

A group of English tourists got into the same car as myself just before the funicular took off up the hill.  We all said hi, and before I knew it, the tiny little women were on either side of me with their arms around me while one of the men took our picture.  Um, okay, I guess we're taking a photo...?  I'm not sure what just happened, but they were perfectly friendly.  

A walk to the Dohany Synagogue

I really have no idea what this is, but I love the crazy colors! 

The cup of tea [?] actually steams!

Old school chanukkiah

Just a block before my apartment door, I ran into an outdoor market that demanded some photos.

My first night out in Pest

This is the entrance to the courtyard of my Budapest apartment.  Though I am in the heart of the incredible Belvaros neighborhood, also known as the inner city, once you enter the secure door and head down the hallway, you are in a secret, silent courtyard surrounded by an old three story apartment building.  I am on the first floor, next to the broom :-) 

St. Stephen's Basilica is around the corner from my apartment.  I get to hear the bells tolling on the hour and sometimes more frequently than that though I haven't figured out the exact pattern yet.  

St. Stephen's at night.  I am grateful for so many things: to have a phone camera that can take this picture; I am grateful to be in Budapest, and I am grateful to be well enough to explore my amazing new neighborhood! 

The Danube is just three blocks from my front door...I feel very lucky.  That's the Castle District across the way.

Goodbye, Oslo my ice queen. Budapest, here I come; I have no name for you yet.

Starting at 4:30am, Lina-lotta and I skated our way to the bus stop where I hopped an express bus, the only way to Gardermoen at that hour that wouldn't cost you over $100.  (I tried to talk her out of getting out of bed, but she wouldn't take no for an answer.  In fact, she carried the heaviest bag for me!)

I almost missed my flight out of Oslo, but in the end, the doors shut right behind me.  Phew.  (The bus was late, and I had to jump through a lot of surprising hoops to check in at the airport. ) 

From the Budapest airport, I jumped on a bus to connect with the metro, and headed into Budapest's city centre where I would hopefully find my new home.  

Old school Budapest metro.

At the time, I had no idea where I was, but I had to stop for the beautiful building.

It turned out that I was only a couple of blocks from my new home, and that gorgeous building is St. Stephen's Basilica, one of the most popular tourist attractions in this city.  

I love that that they still have pay-phones and that the mouthpiece is pink! 

Oslo's first snow

I didn't have any specific plans for my last day in Oslo, and so when Lina-lotta's flatmate, Trine, mentioned needing help for a surf camp contest, I volunteered to be her photographer.  The goal was to get her a free ride to surf camp in Morocco, and to do that we had to demonstrate the most enthusiastic surf selfie imaginable.  I figured the snow would get us at least halfway there.  

Trine jumped right in, like a true surfer.  She looks happy, but trust me, it was damn cold.  Note Lina-lotta's jacket below.  

There were lots of folks down by the water: a brass band if you can believe it, a group of young adults toweling off after presumably jumping into the frosty water sans wetsuits, and some teenage boys and their father who had built a fire and were roasting anything they could get their hands on (dough when we were there.)  Neither of my local friends had any more clue than I about why all these people were there, but that didn't stop us from all hanging out together.  I guess we were the weird ones doing an impromptu surf shoot in a cold river with no waves to be seen.    

Nice landscape, right?

Yeah, it's cold.  

I had just enough energy to ride the tram through town one more time.  

It was a very cold, windy night.  The phone camera captured the feeling somewhat.

     

We took the train all the way up to Oslo's ski jump, a remnant of their Olympic games.  Once the snow piles up, kids and adults like to train it up to the jump, rent or bring their own sled (with true metal runners for proper steering), don a helmet, and fly down the hill for 3+ uninterrupted kilometers of fun.  Then, you can hop right back on the train and do it again!  Even though it had only been snowing for one night, and the wind took as much snow up into the air as was coming down, there were already people on our train car with skis and two teenage kids with a sled.  As we got off the train at the top, crossed the tracks, and huddled together waiting for the next to bring us back down, we saw their teenage heads disappear over the hillside followed by yelps of, "wooooohoooooooo!"  It was pretty funny.  

...and finally, we stop at the grocery for dinner supplies.

A day out in Oslo

As it turns out, I got to be here for the first snow!  You couldn't really see it on the ground until that night when my new Norwegian world became a fairytale overnight, but the air definitely tasted and smelled of snow as we moved around town and explored the fantastic alpine Opera House (see below.)

This is just a popular local shopping district.  I got over being a tourist fast as I stood with my phone held high over everyone's heads snapping pictures from the middle of the street.  

At the very end of the road is the Royal Palace.

I love the pigeon sitting on the man's head.

The Opera House.  It's very hard to capture from up close as it resembles a giant glacier.  

Even inside, the Opera House has angles everywhere and slate windows adding to the feel of ice and sea.  Apparently, the local Norwegian firm who built the stunning building intended to make it as accessible as possible since opera was traditionally seen as elitist.  Now, because of this building, there are kids sliding up and down the walls in their socks indoors, and people climb up and down the roofs outside every day.  During the summer, people apparently use the waterside access as a beach! 

About 100 feet away is a structure threatening "iceberg ahead."  I think it looks like a scrambled version of the Louvre's glass pyramid.  

The view from the front doors of the Opera House.

...up we go

Norway is doing quite well as seen in the construction everywhere.  I guess they're not too worried about the snow.  

From the roof of the Opera House

I love the grassy lined tram lines! 

This is the other side of the Central Train Station, another comical piece of art from the same artist as "Cameltoe."

Norwegians say outdoor seating is good year-round.