Tuesday 28 August 2012

Boat trip to heaven (also called skjaergard sometimes)

So now, finally, I have time to upload and present you the most beautiful and rich trip we made so far while being here in Kristiansand. It was last Sunday - and I still dont know what or who caused the weather to be so perfectly well-suited for this endeavour on this day. It was sunny all the day, the sky of a deep blue untroubled by clouds whatsoever... there was virtually just the clear sky, the sun, the sea and us on the boat, plunging through one of the most idyllic areas I have ever seen in my life.

What is even more remarkable about this fine weather we had is that it was raining cats and dogs 24/7 just the day before, on Saturday. Ok, looking over the pics again I see that there ARE some clouds here and there, but theyre pretty so they fit well into the scenery :p

Now please enjoy this fantastic impressions of the place I am so totally going to build a house somewhere sometime... imagine arriving with your own boat at your own beach, your own Norwegian blonde already waiting for you at the doorsteps... :)


Marvika Harbour - here the tour started with this rather perfect weather conditions!


Our ship! Can transport up to 99 people


A close-up on the big bridge crossing over from the airport to the main city


Getting all settled up for the ride!


Love this shot. You really dont need more than open sea and open sky to be happy :)


The guys from the upper deck. Here I spend the whole trip, because it was so nice and perfect to take pictures

Sor Arena, as viewed from the ship while departing. Its a sports and football stadium


Captain doing his job like a boss!

Nice snapshot plus a bunker similar to those of Odderoya

And there it is... Odderoya in the far distance!


The city of Kristiansand viewed from the open sea. You can even see the cathedral from here..


Advancing to the skerries..


Spectacular view back to Kristiansand from even further out on open sea

No nice trip without nice people - Basti and Lisa :)

Its starting to get rocky... arriving at the skerries

Look at that!!! Awesome

AND people live there...

More houses at this wonderful location

The guide told us that red paint was rather cheap back in the days... thats why some people painted the front of their houses white, to symbolize wealth, while the backyards are red all over

I want to buy that... guide said there are no houses here under 1 million... I think he meant kroner :D

Peaceful, quiet, pitoresque - even the swans like it

Seagulls are everywhere around here... no wonder, it looks like heaven


Textbook skerries

Another good example of the living style on some of the bigger skerries


Now look at that... would be so nice to live here!

You just turn your head and could make a picture every millisecond of the movement :)


Here was our turning point... I really dig the waterstreet in the background!

 I was seconds away from jumping into the water and swimming over there to have a picnic

We were told this ship there belongs to the most exclusive secondary school in Norway, which is located just beside it... the best thing: every student gets his/her own cabin on that ship and lives there for the course of their studies... ferry trips and all sorts of traveling stuff included! Gosh!


I hope I could at least capture a little bit of the atmosphere around there... it really impressed the hell out of me!!! Maybe Ill start to save money sometime soon, so it will be possible for me to afford a house around the skerries when Im 150 or something... ;)

Somer pa torvet

Some pictures of a really popular event called "Somer pa torvet", featuring cover music played in the city centre right next to the cathedral. Students can enter the concert area for free, so we went there with our buddy group to listen to some of the music.

Unfortunately, the day looked warmer than it was. It was sunny, but the wind was very very heavy on this day, so I spend most of the time freezing my ass off. The wind around here is really something different than back at home in Germany, it can get really discomforting at times and strike you to the bone.

Still, I was able to make some nice pictures of the event:


The location with cathedral in the background


Our buddygroup! Not all but some


Again... notice the fantastic transformation powers of Gunnhild... she is mimicking me perfectly! ;)


Finally, the band... after almost two hours of waiting in the gripping wind


Nice Warwick Corvette on the bassplayer!!


The audience got bigger and bigger in the evening, and most of the Norwegian people got very drunk... I was having my sober day, looking at the beer price (0.4 l for 74 NOK which is roughly 10,50 €)


Another picture featuring the guy with the nice hairstyle from the bass close-up pic


Monday 27 August 2012

One night in Kristiansand

Last thursday I went to the city just at nightfall together with Daniele, a really nice Italian guy from my buddy group. The idea was to capture something of the nightly atmosphere of Kristiansand, because it was a really nice and clear night, and to go to Kilden, the concert hall, to make some nice shots of the lighting at nighttime there. We did not really think about the weather, though, so we got cold quite fast because of the hefty sea wind around here. Still, I think we made some rather nice pictures that I am really proud to present to you after all:


First, a picture of the so-called "Lundbrua", the Lund bridge, leading to the city centre from Lund, the part of the city where my accomodation and the university are located


This is the view you get if you look to the left of the bridge, still on the Lund side


A view to some living houses on Lund, from the other side of the bridge


We found this very cool looking modern building there, too. The part illuminated in red changes colors after a while, I think there were blue and green at least, too


One of many small beaches near the city centre


I dont know what this fountain is called, but its right between Strandpromenaden and Markens gate, on the city promenade. We tried to capture the atmosphere around there with some slow shutter speed shots...






Then we moved on and tried to make some pictures of the beautiful light reflections on the water:




Now to my favorite shots... this is the little shipyard plaza with fish market, pizza restaurant and many other restaurants, too... already a favorite of mine in the daytime, I think this place really shines at night...




Whoa! Handshaking lightfest extravaganza!

Cool snapshot! The green thing on the left is a boat that just departed while we were taking shots...


Nice one. I think its a lobster fishing company. There was someone working inside, I believe... at half past 11 in the night...

Now for Kilden! Most of my shots were pretty blurry, just these two made it here... But they capture the lighting pretty nicely I think...

I think the greater part of the building is made entirely of wood!!!


Last, but not least, some of the sand sculptures at the promenade... these guys lost some of their facial features already...

A very nice Picasso-esque sculpture!