Wednesday, March 26, 2008

i think i could live here

can i just say that oslo is beautiful? maybe it's because it's a "new" city for me. it's my third visit (or is it my fourth?)...but each visit has been short and spent mostly in meetings or in the office. however, this time, most everything is covered with snow. and snow makes things magical, doesn't it? they look clean and fresh under all that glorious whiteness. when the sun shines, like it did today, it's all sparkling and lovely. and if you eat a totally delicious dinner at a beautiful restaurant with fantastic service up near the holmenkollen, as the sun sets and the city lights below begin to twinkle, well, it seems just almost heavenly. and that dinner takes place after you've had a day of fantastic discussions about a really, truly exciting new project...well you start to think that maybe you could live here...and that maybe even you should.

i'm not sure i've fallen in love with a city like this since cape town. but there's something about snow-capped mountains and a fjord and being on a the 31st floor of the radisson that just totally kicks copenhagen's flat no-more-than-6-stories-tall butt. it makes me feel that copenhagen doesn't DARE to really be anything. i mean, it's sweet and quaint and nice enough in its own derivative dutch renaissance architecture kind of way, but let's face it, the key word about the little mermaid is "little." and that's actually kind of strange, because the danes are otherwise the most design savvy of the scandinavians. they have style when it comes to furniture (not clothes, i grant you--if you see anyone well-dressed in copenhagen, i guarantee you they're swedes). but maybe oslo just has nature on its side. and what nature! i think i could live here...do you suppose they'll want half my salary in taxes too?

2 comments:

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

My goodness. I read the first half of your post and I was There, I saw it all. I read it out loud to my Spouse and he said:
"She sounds just like us."
If it were a book I would buy it, so I'll settle for reading your words on the computer and transporting myself that way.
I come from Ireland but I sadly never made it past England before I came to live in the US.
Our other obsession is travelling, and we'd love to really see some European cities.
Your descriptions are mesmerising, with the snow and the lights and the buildings...

"well you start to think that maybe you could live here...and that maybe even you should."
-When we finally stop saying that for single every place we visit, we'll have found our home.

julochka said...

thank you for your kind words.

i wondered where you were from...i figured it had to be a native english speaking country. :-) tho' your use of "mater" had me briefly thinking it might be germany.

i will also continue to read your blog too for inspiration to try to get through my gadget block and begin to lead a simpler existence. not sure i can ever go off the grid, tho'. but if i think about it, you're online and blogging, so perhaps one can pare down without going offline. :-) that might be doable.

cheers!