Seagulls in Paris - Galebi v Parizu

Despite the summer time, I don't really have holidays. Well, I had a month off in May, which is not too bad, right, but I have been working since June. And to be honest, I don't complain. I still have evenings and weekends to enjoy, and in August, I will have some longer weekends for shorter trips.

I miss the sea though. The Paris Beach has just opened last week along the Seine, but despite the sand and the palm trees it is not the same. I miss the smell of the salt and the infinite view of the sea. Strangely enough for some people, I am excited about the presence of seagulls in Paris. When I heard them for the same time, I thought I was dreaming. Seagulls in Paris?? An old lady later on told me that they sometimes follow the ships on the Seine and finally stay in Paris given that there is a lot of food they can find. Apparently they are very urban seagulls, I hear :D I probably wouldn't be able to distinguish between the sea and the urban seagull, but I simply adore the sound they are making when they fly above the rooftops of parisian houses. It almost makes me feel like I am somewhere at the seaside too.

Ne glede na poletni čas sama nimam počitnic. No, imela sem počitniški maj, kar tudi ni slabo, ampak od junija naprej delam. In iskreno rečeno se ne pritožujem. Še vedno mi ostane čas za poletno uživanje v večerih in med vikendi, v avgustu bom imela pa še par daljših vikendov za krajše izlete.

Pogrešam pa morje. Pariška plaža se je odprla prejšnji teden vzdolž Sene, ampak kljub pesku in palmam ni isto. Pogrešam vonj soli in pogled na neskončno morje. Nekaterim se zdi izredno čudno, ampak jaz sem navdušena nad galebi v Parizu. Ko sem jih prvič slišala, se mi je zdelo, da sanjam. Galebi v Parizu?? Starejša gospa mi je enkrat kasneje povedala, da galebi včasih sledijo ladjam, ki plujejo po Seni, vse do Pariza, potem pa kar ostanejo v Parizu, saj tu očitno najdejo dovolj hrane. Pravijo, da so ti galebi precej meščanski, hehe. Sam najbrž ne bi razločila morskih in meščanskih galebov, ampak jaz enostavno obožujem zvok, ki ga slišim, ko preletavajo pariške strehe. Skoraj se mi zazdi, da sem tudi sama nekje na obali.

Oslo, part 2

A nice part of visiting Oslo is that its city centre is relatively small and you can walk everywhere. Nevertheless, despite its smallness, the diversity of districts allows you to enjoy the part of the city you like most and experience various atmospheres to enrich your impressions about the city. What is great is that the city offers an excellent transportation within the city centre as well as the suburbs, so I could say that living outside the city centre is almost the norm there.

Kar je simpatično ob potovanju v Oslo, je to, da je center mesta relativno majhen in se je po mestu prijetno sprehajati. Ne glede na svojo majhnost pa se predeli mesta precej razlikujejo in tako vsak lahko najde del mesta, ki mu je najbolj všeč, hkrati pa začuti različna vzdušja in tako obogati svojo izkušnjo in vtis o mestu. Super pa je sicer, da ima Oslo res odlično urejen mestni promet tako znotraj mesta kot v predmestju, zaradi česar je življenje v predmestju res enostavno.

There is no particular architectural style in Oslo, I would say. If I was to draw a typical building of Oslo, I would be confused. I would probably go for little wooden coloured houses you can find on the outskirts of town. You can, however, find some common architectural points in the city centre too, just not in a very particular or logic order.

There are some very interesting buildings in a modern architectural style, such as Opera House and the “Barcode” multi-purpose high-rise buildings. Interesting indeed. The Opera house is an icon in itself, which stands out with its remarkable architecture, on the outside as well as on the inside. I had the opportunity to see the incredible director of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, performing at the time, in a two-hour interpretation of the opera. I really enjoyed the outstanding private performance and I could almost claim that the interpretation was even better than the opera itself. It definitely made my stay in Oslo even more special.

Rekla bi, da Oslo nima nekega posebnega reprezentativnega arhitekturnega stila. Če bi morala narisati tipično stavbo iz Osla, v resnici ne bi vedela, kaj narisati. Najbrž bi narisala male lesene barvite hiške, ki jih lahko najdemo v predmestju Osla in na podeželju. Kljub vsemu pa je vseeno tudi v centru par ponavljajočih se arkitekturnih vzorcev, samo v nobenem posebnem ali logičnem redu.

V mestu je par res zanimivih stavb, zgrajenih v modernem arhitekturnem stilu. Najslavnejša je najbrž Opera, precej sveži pa je “Barcode”, kompleks večnamenskih visokih stavb. Opera je res prava arhitekturna ikona Osla, ki izstopa s svojo neverjetno podobo, tako zunanjo kot notranjo. Imela sem priložnost videti neverjetnega dirigenta in ustvarjalca priredbe Wagnerjevega Letečega Holandca, ki je z orkestrom gostoval v Oslu, v okviru dvourne interpretacije opere. Res sem uživala v izjemni predstavi v ozkem krogu ljudi in skoraj bi lahko trdila, da je dirigentova interpretacija boljša od same opere. Vsekakor je bil moj obisk Osla zaradi te predstave še bolj poseben.

You can feel a completely different atmosphere in the part of the city called Grünerløkka, a trendy hipster area with plenty of cafés, bars and boutiques on every corner. Blå is one of such parts in Grünerløkka, where art, flea markets and culture join in a particular blend of ambiances.

Popolnoma drugačno vzdušje kot v centru mesta se začuti v Grünerløkki, trendovskem hipsterskem predelu mesta s številnimi kavarnami, bari in butiki na vsakem ovinku. Blå je en tak del Grünerløkke, kjer se zanimivo mešajo umetnost, boljšji trgi in kultura.

Grønland offers yet another experience. You can feel the different atmosphere right away when you leave the T-Bane station. This part of the city is well known for its diverse multiethnic population and as far as I heard, its reputation is not the best. Yet, I went there with some friends who knew the area well enough to make me discover it in a nice way, which I guess is always the case with such parts of the city. All in all I can say I felt really safe in Oslo, whereas I started reconsidering this after I had talked to a lady in a café who pointed out that the city might be less safe than the tourists think at first. Well, we need to be careful about our belongings everywhere, right?

Aker Brygge is the part of the city I really liked, and this for several reasons. It is the part next to the sea with a beautiful view of the fjord, joining the modern and sustainable aspects of the city. It is rather posh and business like, but there is no cold touch to it. Astrup Fearnley Museum, museum of modern art, designed by the famous architect Renzo Piano, makes the very tip of the peninsula even more special, finishing with a little beach where you can enjoy on a sunny day. The whole neighborhood Tjuvholmen is something special, and this is even more so given the fact that the district was once home to criminals, which is still represented in the name – “tjuv” means “thief” and “holme” is a “small island”.

Grønland je spet drugačen predel. Takoj ko prideš ven iz podzemne T-Bane postaje, začutiš drugačno vzdušje. Ta del mesta je znan po svoji medkulturni raznolikosti prebivalcev in, vsaj tako je slišati, nima najboljšega slovesa. Ne glede na to sem šla tja s priajtelji, ki so ta del mesta poznali dovolj dobro, da sem ga tudi sama odkrila na simpatičen način. S takšnimi deli mesta je pogosto tako. Sicer pa lahko na splošno rečem, da sem se v Oslu počutila zelo varno, čeprav sem o tem začela malo dvomiti, ko sem se z gospo iz Osla v kavarni pogovarjala o tem, da turisti Oslo pogosto dojemajo bolj varno, kot je v resnici. No, vsekakor moramo skoraj povsod paziti na svoje stvari, ane?

Aker Brygge je del mesta, ki mi je bil res res všeč, in to iz več razlogov. Je del mesta v neposredni bližina morja in s čudovitim pogledom na fjord, kjer se moderni in trajnostni elementi prepletajo. Je sicer precej ugleden in posloven del mesta, vendar brez hladnega in strogega pridiha. Astrup Fearnley Museum, muzej moderne umetnosti, ki ga je dizajniral priznani arhitekt Renzo Piano, je na sami konici tega polotoka, kar celoten predel mesta naredi še bolj poseben, saj se konča z majhno plažo, kjer lahko uživaš v sončnem vremenu. Pravzaprav je celotna soseska Tjuvholmen nekaj posebnega, prav tako posebno pa je to, da je bila ta soseska včasih soseska tatov in razbojnikov, kar je še danes skrito v imenu – “tjuv” pomeni “tat,” “holme” pa “mali otok.”

There is much more to Oslo than the upper highlighted places. For instance, I simply loved the Vigeland Park, which is the world's largest sculpture park made by a single artist. Maybe I write "Oslo, Part 3" at some point:)

Oslo je še mnogo več kot zgoraj izpostavljeni kotički. Zelo všeč mi je bil na primer Vigelandov park, ki je največji park skulptur enega samega umetnika na svetu. Mogoče bom pa napisala "Oslo, Part 3" enkrat :)