Archive for August, 2010
Where to eat: Bakgården, Halden
Posted by admin in Food and drink on August 30, 2010
This restaurant, in a side street just off Halden’s main pedestrian street, is a reliable option for both lunch and dinner. You can sit in the secluded patio in summer, and make the most of the sunshine, or opt to eat inside in winter. The main dining room is cosy, with its wooden interior, original art on the walls, table cloths and candle light, and there are a couple of additional smaller rooms, as well as a room reserved for private functions, should you want more privacy. The reasonably priced menu features brasserie-style food at lunchtime, including salads, sandwiches, omelette, tapas and even English breakfast and fish and chips (yes!), while in the evening slightly more elaborate dishes make their appearance (often featuring locally caught fish or meat from the grill) and prices go up a notch – but not as much as one would expect. Pleasant atmosphere and service, together with good food, make this a good all-round choice.
Storgate 22B. Tel: 69 18 82 90, http://bakgarden-halden.no. Expect to pay around 100-150Kr for a main course at lunchtime, and around 200Kr for dinner.
Must-see exhibition at Soli Brug, Sarpsborg
Posted by admin in Art, culture and literature, News, Photos and videos on August 28, 2010
Hariton Pushwagner
Posted by admin in Art, culture and literature, News on August 28, 2010
Today was the opening of the Pushwagner exhibition at Soli Brug (on until 5 Sep). Pushwagner, real name Terje Brofos, was born in Oslo in 1940. One of the most acclaimed, and controversial, contemporary Norwegian artists, Pushwagner is known for his colourful yet dark pop art tableaux inspired by city life. The office, commuters, tall buildings and cars are recurring themes in his work, in which distorted perspectives, repetition, and primary colours are used to striking effect to depict a modern society in which the individual has all but disappeared.
Educated at the National Arts & Crafts School, and then the National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo, he has also studied/lived in London, Stockholm, NYC and Paris. Pushwagner won back the rights to his drawings from Morten Dreyer, his former agent and benefactor, after a high profile court case in Oslo in 2009. Pushwagner, who in 1998 was homeless and struggling with drug addiction, had ceded the rights well under their market value. Dreyer was asked to return all artwork, estimated at a value of 30 million kroner, and pay one million kroner in compensation.
More info on Pushwagner at www.pushwagner.no
Modern design in ancient landscape
Posted by admin in History and architecture, News on August 26, 2010
The Solberg Tower (Solbergtårnet)
Posted by admin in History and architecture, News on August 26, 2010
The brand new Solberg Tower (Solbergtårnet) by the E6 motorway in Skjeberg was officially opened today. The tower, which is almost 30m high, and cost 50 million kroner to build, was designed by Todd Saunders, the Canadian architect behind the popular Stegastein viewpoint in Aurland, western Norway. It’s a joint project between the Norwegian Public Road Administration (Statens vegvesen), the county of Østfold and the municipalities of Sarpsborg and Fredrikstad. The view from the top floor is enticing enough, but the main reason for building the tower here was to highlight the many sites dating back to the Bronze Age along the nearby Oldtidsveien. Facilities at the Solberg Tower include a lift, toilets, rest area and information panels (in Norwegian and English) on the various attractions in the area, as well as maps of the different sites.
More on Oldtidsveien at http://www.elusivemoose.eu/2009/10/26/
More on the Stegastein viewpoint at http://www.elusivemoose.eu/2010/04/stegastein-viewing-platform/
Photos of the Solberg Tower under construction at http://www.sa.no/lokale_nyheter/article5185109.ece
Win a weekend at the Quality Hotel Fredrikstad
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on August 25, 2010
An hour’s drive from Oslo, and stretching all the way to the Swedish border to the south, Østfold is home to beautiful nature and many great attractions, yet this county is still relatively unknown outside Norway. Heard of Gamlebyen, Scandinavia’s best-preserved fortress town? Or the stunning Hvaler archipelago? Fredriksten Festning? The Halden Canal? All are located in Østfold, where you’ll also find, among many other things, prehistoric rock carvings, top art galleries, Europe’s first marine national park, and Scandinavia’s last manned fire-watch tower. All this, plus acres of forests, myriad lakes, and miles of coastline. Direct flights from several European cities to Rygge Moss Airport mean it’s easier than ever to get here. And now you even have the opportunity to win a two-night stay in one of the best hotels in the region.
WIN A WEEKEND AT THE QUALITY HOTEL FREDRIKSTAD
To celebrate a year of blogging, www.elusivemoose.eu, your (unofficial) guide to Østfold, has teamed up with the Quality Hotel Fredrikstad to run a competition, and offer one lucky winner a two-night stay for two here in Østfold. The Quality Hotel Fredrikstad, which opened in October 2009, enjoys an excellent location right on the main pedestrian street in central Fredrikstad, with the riverside bars and restaurants only a few minutes away. This is a great base to explore the town, and the rest of the county. So now there is really no excuse not to come and visit Østfold.
All you have to do is leave a comment, anywhere on the site, before 31 October. So get involved, and share your views (you can use the ‘search’ function or the tag cloud to the right to look for topics that interest you). We’ll draw a winner among all the entries in November. Good luck to all of you!
* Please note that the prize is subject to availability, and only applies to weekends. Travel to and from Fredrikstad, Østfold, is the responsibility of the prize-winner. For more information on the Quality Hotel Fredrikstad visit www.choicehotels.no/hotels/hotel?hotel=NO117
Top 10: Modern architecture in Norway
Posted by admin in History and architecture on August 23, 2010
Interested in modern architecture? Here are 10 buildings, all built in the past 10 years, that should be top of your itinerary on your next visit to Norway.
- Oslo Opera House: Designed by Norwegian architects Snøhetta, Oslo’s new landmark has been an instant success with both locals and tourists. An impressive 1.3 million visited in the first year of opening alone. The opera has also won an array of awards, including the prestigious Mies van der Rohe Prize (2007).
- Mortensrud Church, Oslo: An unusual, ultra-modern church on the outskirts of Oslo, where stone, timber, glass and the surrounding nature have all been integrated into the design to create a peaceful atmosphere (2002).
- New Gyldendal’s Headquarters, Oslo: The latest project by acclaimed architect Sverre Fehn before his death in February 2009. Norway’s largest publishers had grown too big for their old headquarters. The challenge was to retain the old structure while rebuilding the inside – which Sverre and his team managed with brio (2007).
- Hamsun Center, Nordland: Dedicated to Norway’s most famous novelist, the centre opened in August 2009 on Hamarøy, near the farm where he grew up, and dominates the surrounding countryside. The dark wood exterior is designed to evoke stave churches, and the long grass of the roof garden to reflect traditional Norwegian turf roofs.
- Sail Hotel, Molde: Named ‘the Sail’ because of its shape, this modern glass hotel on the Molde waterfront doubles up as a huge mirror in which the surrounding Romsdal Alps and the ever-changing sky are reflected to stunning effect (2002).
- Petter Dass Museum, Nordland: Another building by Snøhetta, this one at Alstahaug. The museum was completed in 2007 to mark 300 years since the death of the famous Helgeland poet. Cut into solid rock, with the front jutting out towards the sea, the building has been cleverly integrated in the landscape to symbolize a link between the past and the future.
- Stegastein viewpoint, Aurland: One of the most stunning structures along 18 tourist roads, a government-led project aiming to enhance the driving experience in Norway by incorporating interesting architecture along some of the country’s busiest roads (2006). More info at http://www.elusivemoose.eu/2010/04/27/
- Preikestolen Mountain Lodge, near Stavanger: At the starting point to the famous hike, this building is part of a project promoting environmentally-friendly timber technology in modern architecture (2008). By Helen & Hard AS, the team behind the Norway Pavilion at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
- Florvågøen, Askøy, outside Bergen: This unusual, cubist-looking block of flats, built by Link Signature on a small island previously used for industry, is newly completed (2009) and houses 170 units, complete with their own marina. Other houses of interest near Bergen are Villa Storingavika and Villa G, both by Saunders Architecture – although these are private homes, so visiting will require an invitation.
- Svinesund Bridge, Østfold, Norway/Sweden: Opened to traffic in June 2005, this modern concrete and steel structure spans the Iddefjord in a single arch of 247m reaching 30m at is highest point – and 60m below. The bridge marks the border between Sweden and Norway on the E6. More info at http://www.elusivemoose.eu/2009/10/338/
For info on modern architecture in Østfold, see http://www.elusivemoose.eu/2010/01/modern-architecture-in-østfold/