a short walk

Good morning! It's 9:40 am in Bergen, I'm at the office having a nice cup of coffee. Like this post the other day, I want to show you a few photos from a little walk, introducing you to new parts of Bergen - again inspired by Smosch. These photos are from the short walk between Sølve's office and my office. Click on the photos to see them a little bigger.



Sølve's office is close to the theatre, Den Nasjonale Scene. There's a nice little park there, and the big trees are always full of singing birds.




Les Misérables plays until the end of December. My friend Eva made the poster.



The view from the theatre; mount Ulriken and Den blå steinen (the blue rock).







Looking down on the buildings in "my" street. Almost there!




My street.



My door. Next to the arts and crafts supply shop.

wine grapes are beautiful

my daily office walk

Inspired by the lovely Sandra of Smosch and her photos from her walks around Gothenburg, I want to show you some photos from my daily walk to my office. It's a 40 minutes (30 if I'm in a hurry) walk and it's the best way to start/end the work day. I love living so close to the city centre that I can walk. Btw, these photos were taken on different days. Click on the photo to see them larger.



This building is a school close to my home. In front is a kindergarten's playground.



Downhill. It's funny how the car matches the color of the house.



More downhill, now through a church yard. I love seeing the big trees here change during the seasons.




Two more buildings that I pass every day. The pink one is really interesting. An old factory, I think. I should take more photos of it one day.



During winter most of my morning walk is dark, but it makes the lake - Store Lungegårdsvann - look quite pretty.



Most of the walk is along Store Lungegårdsvann. I love this piece of nature in the city. Here are more photos taken along the lake.



When I walk home from the office, this is the view along the lake - mount Ulriken. Here are more shots of Ulriken.




After I've passed Store Lungegårdsvann I walk trough the shopping mall Bergen Storsenter and I get to another smaller lake; Lille Lungegårdsvann. "Store" means big, and "lille" means small ;-) The wooden thing is an installation that was put up because Bergen Arkitektforening (the architchture association) is 100 years this year. The big grey building is the local council.



In May the trees along Lille Lungegårdsvann bloom. So pretty!



Den blå steinen - the blue rock - is a very common meet up place in the city centre. The building in the centre is the theatre.



Torgallmenningen - nicknamed the city's parlour - the heart of the city centre. On sunny days this place is crowded. When you walk further down here you get to the fishmarket and Bryggen. My office is a few meters to the left of the pink building.




If I turn around this is how Torgallmenningen looks then. The blue rock is at the far end of Torgallmenningen, by the tree seen in the middle of the photo.

I hope you enjoyed the walk. I'll show you more of Bergen later.

a small Bergen guide

A few days ago I got an e-mail from a girl living close to Amsterdam. She's going to Bergen with her boyfriend for a long weekend, and she wonders what my recommendations are.

I've lived in Bergen for 9 years, and despite the very wet weather, I love it here! Here are my recommendations:



1) Bring raingear or at least an umbrella. Even in summer, but especially now in autumn. And remember sensible shoes. Bergen is a nice city to explore by foot.



2) Have breakfast or lunch at Godt Brød. They serve the best ecological sandwiches in town. The brownies are yummy too. Find Godt Brød in Korskirken and Vestre Torvgate.



3) A tourist must: Bryggen. Among the souvenir shops you find Ting, a great place for good design.



4) Get a map so you can find your way around the city. The city centre is not big and it's nice to walk around and explore all the idyllic cobblestone streets and wooden houses. Take a walk from Torgallmenningen to Nordnesparken via Klosteret. Have lunch or a drink at USF.



5) Catch the funicular to mount Fløyen and get a nice view of the city. Well, depending on the weather, of course...



6) Skostredet is a very nice place for cafés and shopping. For more shopping go to Olav Kyrres gate, Christiesgate and Starvhusgaten where some of my favorites are. There are several shopping malls in the city centre: Galleriet, Xhibition, Sundt, Kløverhuset and Bergen Storsenter.



7) Altona is my favorite wine bar.



8) Bølgen & Moi is one of my favorite places for a rather reasonable priced dinner. Café Opera (Engen 18) is also nice. It's a place for students, artists and clubbers, but also for a nice meal.



9) For beer and rock visit Legal and Garage in Christiesgate 11 and 14.



10) For sleeping I think Jacobs is good if you're on a budget, Hotel Havnekontoret should be good if you want some style, and Skansen Pensjonat is nice if you want cosy charm.

Here are more of my photos from Bergen. My friend Hanne lives in Bergen too, here are her from Bergen. My friends Mathias and Jördis from Berlin visited Bergen last summer, take a look at their photos too.

Does anyone have other Bergen recommendations?

PS: All the addresses and names mentioned here can be found on Google Maps.

PS2: If you read Norwegian and are interested, I can e-mail you a Bergen guide I wrote for NO magazine a little while ago.

my Gant story

Have you seen this? Ten New Yorkers through the lens of the Sartorialist - the Sartorialist (who we all love!) was appointed by GANT to document how ten different New Yorkers would combine items from Gant with their own wardrobe.

Cynthia said something that made me smile:
Do you have a fashion or style icon?
My style icon is the teenaged girl who gets made fun of for wearing a silly hat.

In so many of the fashion magazines I read girls answer "Kate Moss and Sienna Miller" to this question. It's so good to hear something else.

Speaking of Gant, when I was younger (15 maybe) I loved Gant. It was before they had launched the women's clothing line, but I didn't mind wearing men's clothes. They suited me well because I'm tall, and at that time I wasn't very girly. I was the sporty hiking girl who biked over 10 km to school every day. I always got a copy of the Gant catalogue and I always joined the competition announced inside it. One day I won. It was a gift certificate of 1500 kr (ca €170/$227) to be used for Gant clothes. I was sooo happy! Back then Gant was way to expensive for me and 1500 kr was a lot of money. I remember two of the things I got - a navy blue rugby sweater (which still is quite big) and a red woollen cap. With the cap I passed the 1500 kr limit, but the man in the store where I got the clothes said "if Gant can be so kind, we can also be kind".

Still this is the biggest prize I have won. How about you? Have you ever won anything?

PS: I still fond of the classic Gant style, but I haven't bought anything Gant since I won that prize.

the Swan

You already know that I love the the Egg by Arne Jacobsen. But I have to say the Swan is pretty awsome too. It's been 50 years since it was created, and the manufacturer Fritz Hansen has launched a limited edition Swan (the two bottom photos). This is what the press release says:

IN HONOR OF A WORLD CLASS DESIGN

In 1958 one of the world's most recognized designs; the Swan™ chair was created by Danish architect Arne Jacobsen. To honor this remarkable design the original manufactures of the Swan chair Fritz Hansen has created 1.958 limited edition Swans.

The unique limited edition Swans are upholstered in swan-white leather combined with a base in pearl-white. Each of the Swans will carry a delicate sterling silver bracelet and pendant, individually engraved with a unique number.

"The Swan chair was introduced back in 1958. With its timeless and original design it is today recognized as a design icon. To honor this world class design, we have created 1.958 limited edition Swans". Says David Rosenkvist, Vice President of Branding and Communication at Fritz Hansen.

The swan chair was originally created by Arne Jacobsen to decorate the lobby area of the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, one of Jacobsen's major architecture projects. Jacobsen designed everything from the building itself down to the furniture and fittings. The Swan chair is today more popular than ever before and can be found in exclusive hotels and private homes around the world.

The limited edition Swan will be available in selected stores around the globe from November 1st 2008.

The top photos are by the very talented Ditte Isager. Read the interview with her over at Simply Photo.

more bags

I'm not all done with bags yet. The photos above are from the winter 08 collection of the Norwegian brand Vips.

Here's the story behind Vips (copied from the website):

It all started one warm autumn evening as we were sitting in a park at Grünerløkka in Oslo.

It was one of those fine evenings, we were drinking wine and chatting. Then a phone rang. Hands fumbled around in a handbag and then, just as Marie Helene got hold of it, the phone stopped ringing. As so many times before… Marie Helene bursted out: “Why don’t anyone make a practical handbag?”.

A couple of glasses of wine later, we decided we’d just as well do it ourselves. We went to India. We worked our asses off to finish the samples before we had to return home. But to no avail. Months later, we got something that was supposed to be samples. They had fallen apart on the way. Meanwhile, we had fallen in love with the little village in Bihar. It was tough to leave India. But we realized, that as long as we are small, we have to make things easy. That is the only way. So we ended up in Turkey where we found a brilliant manufacturer.

And here's some more information:

We at VIPS want all our workers to have good working conditions and be fairly paid. It sounds easy, but as long as consumers shop by price, it isn’t so. It’s a big and complicated but interesting challenge trying to achieve this and we still haven’t got as far as we want. In the future, VIPS would like to work solely with producers and suppliers who have a decent standard. We feel we are moving in the right direction.

VIPS is a member of the Norwegian Intitive for Ethical Trade. They are helping us with ethical guidelines, which we are striving to follow with our suppliers. Our guidelines deal with working relations, social relations and child labour.

new bag!

Hei guys! It's been silent in this space for a little while because I've been on a business trip to Italy. It was really, really wonderful. Bella Italia! Of course I took a lot of photos, which I'll share here. Just give me a little time, because there are a lot of photos to sort through... ;-)

Remember I talked about getting a new bag? Well, one of the few things I shopped in Italy was a new bag. A beautiful leather bag in the shade of brown that I love. If you find yourself in the village Montalcino in Tuscany, make sure you stop by Si.Si.Pelle. They have a great variety of handmade leather bags. You'll love it!

new bag?

I'm thinking of getting a new bag. Here are some I like:

The two top photos are from Moop (via Unruly Things). The next two are from Morelle (via the Style Files). The bottom one is from Norwegian Moo (which I have mentioned before).

Isn't this impossibly cute?!

tagged!

Lila of Vents de Bohème tagged me.

Here's how we play:
1) Link to the person who tagged you
2) Mention the rules
3) Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about yourself
4) Tag six other bloggers by linking to them
5) Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they’ve been tagged

one
I started to wear lenses because I didn't want to wear glasses on my wedding day.

two
I like milk in my coffee. When I'm in business meeting and coffee is offered to me - but no milk - I'm too shy to ask for milk.

three
I have lived in five different places/towns; Ørland (I was born here), Randaberg, Moss, Sandnes and Bergen. I have never lived abroad.

four
I'm terrible with numbers. Sølve likes to tease me and asks questions like "how many zeros are there in one billion"...

five
I have sung in two different choirs. I'm an alto.

six
I don't like beer, but I love wine.

I'm tagging the following six bloggers: Hannah of Huffmania, Marion of Marion Hearts, Deb of [ddot], Jaime of the light archive, Molly of Orangette and Anne of Strandgut.

In case you missed it, here is the result from the last time I was tagged. PS: The photo is from 1995 when I was in Alta dog sledding with my girl scout friends. Good times!

Scusi

Here's something you might like; beautiful ceramics from the Norwegian designers of Scusi (via what's blogging my view). Janne Bråthen is the girl behind what's blogging my view. Among other things, she makes beautiful pillows - which I've mentioned earlier.

Peel P50

I never ever thought I would write about a car on this blog, but this one is worth it. Earlier this week I watched Top Gear (which is a surprisingly entertaining program) with Sølve. The feature they did on the world's smallest car, Peel_P50, made me laugh so hard I almost died. You have to see it!

white

Yes, I like white homes. It's so clean, simple and calming. I like it even more now after we painted the orange wall white. I like these glimpses from a white home in Sweden (images from the Swedish magazine Sköna Hem via Design Shimmer).

I love this collage Marion made. Just like her, I'm a big fan of the combination of a wooden table and white chairs. I have my eyes on the Eames chairs seen in the photo above. I just have to convince Sølve first...

Have you seen Anne's (of Strandgut) portfolio yet? It's really beautiful!

My copy of A Year of Mornings arrived yesterday. Love!