This picture is from my trip to Warsaw, Poland, in mid-September 2018. Meaning that it was from pre-pandemic and there were no masks and little hand sanitizers around in the city. In addition, people got really close in when standing in lines or walking past.
I don’t miss everything from traveling before 2020, and more space would sometimes be really nice – I say as a Norwegian, who likes to keep a bit distance to people I don’t know.
This photo is from Bryggen in Bergen in February 2018. The building pictured is from 1912/1913, and is named after the Hanseatic/German office for trading that was located in the area in the 1400s.
The building was built in 1476, after a fire removed the previous buildings. A fire in 1702 made a second rebuilding in 1711 necessary, and final rebuilt was in 1912-1913. There has also been some remodeling since, according to the Local city archive (in Norwegian).
This is one of the first pictures I took when I moved to Kristiansand in August 2014. I was walking around, trying to get to know the area around the University, and I came across Gimle Gård (Gimle estate). An area with a cultural museum surrounded by a house park/botanical garden. In August, there was a lot of green bushes and colorful plants growing, and if you’re staying in Kristiansand for a while, it’s worth a visit.
As someone who was born after the Berlin Wall fell, and who took German in school, it’s always a bit weird walking around in Berlin. Mainly because I’ve learnt so much about the different time periods and historic events in the city, that actually seeing it in person feels a bit weird.
My best example is that before visiting Berlin for the first time, I had seen so many pictures of the Brandenburger Tor over the decades, that seeing it in person felt like a letdown. For me it feels like a monument that looks better on film then in person.
But also, having seen pictures of Potsdammer Platz in the 1920s, and trying to make the image fit with what you can see today, is strange.
This picture looking up to Brandenburger Tor and the Reichstag was taken in late November 2019.
The arc crossing multiple falling walls is the Ryszard Kukliński Monument. The walls representing the Berlin Wall with a metal arc crossing the wall. The monument is for a controversial person in Poland, which you can read more about the monument on this city guide site.
The monument is situated outside of the shopping mall Galeria Krakowska, and this picture was taken in mid-September 2018.
This picture is from January 2018, when I was walking past the Port Authority in Stavanger. The painting is pretty cool, and one of many street art paintings in Stavanger.
In addition, the port authority apparently has a gift shop.
In early February 2018, I walked past this statue of Ole Bull in Bergen. If you do not know who Ole Bull was, he was a Norwegian violinist and composer that was born in Bergen in the early 1800s. He visited USA a lot, and there are multiple buildings and areas memorializing him there, as well as in Bergen.
When the weather is nice in Norway, we all “flee” to the nearest nice place to enjoy the sun. And that includes beaches, parks, cabins, outdoor-bars and more – because everyone enjoys it differently.
The main reason we all go outside when the weather is nice, is that we normally don’t have that much nice weather, and grow up with the mindset that we need to enjoy it while the weather is nice.
This picture is from Kristiansand in September 2016, when I lived a short walk away from this beach, and got to enjoy the view whenever the weather was enjoyable.
One of my favorite things to do if I’m early to meet someone, or just have extra time when I’m in my hometown, is to wander places that are out of my “normal ways”. I’m a creature of habit, and will often pick the same way to walk places again and again. But, even in your hometown, there can be places or sculptures you haven’t really seen before.
That was my feeling when I stopped by this sculpture-head of Henrik Steffens in mid-May 2018. I was early to meet someone, and suddenly registered a head. He was born in Stavanger, but left the city at fourteen to go to Denmark (and later to Germany). He became a professor in philosophy, and worked at many different universities over the years.
He has a wikipedia-page in many languages, if you feel like looking up more about the man.
This picture was taken in Denmark in June 2017. Givskud Zoo, or the Lion park as it started off as, opened in 1969, and can be found in Givskud in Denmark. The animals have larger areas to move freely in, and you can read more about the place and how to visit on their website. I had been there as a kid, and did not remember much when I returned as an adult, but this was a fun place to visit for kids and adults.
Travels with Veslefrick 