Phones don't float, but birds do

This weekend, I lost my mobile phone into the water while sailing in a regatta. But, as opposed to the seabirds that have appeared all over the Oslo fjord these days, my mobile phone didn't float very well and as my Internet connection is down for the moment, I am currently not available except by personal attendance.

According to local newspapers, the strange birds are white-breasted guillemot ("lomvi" in Norwegian), but I have seen both these and another rare kind of bird in the Oslo fjord and surrounding areas this weekend, and I suspect the journalists haven't reached the whole story yet.

Anyway, the birds are all over the water (I am sorry for not having a picture of them -- the closest I get is this picture of a shrimp trawler docked at the city hall quay). And by "all over", I mean they aren't afraid of anything and are easily hit by boats. I guess that's part of the reason why they also appear in relatively large numbers floating upside down.

It's getting colder

It is getting colder in Oslo, and last night I pulled out my winter duvet from the closet. Temperatures have been reported dropping below zero (Celsius) in areas outside Oslo, but this morning I overheard someone at the metro saying it was minus one degree in Oslo last night. Or to use her own words (translated from Norwegian): "if it rained it would snow!"

Ouch!

I just started feeling a bit bad. I've kind of disbanded this blog, but checked in now to have a look at the stats (bottom of the right-hand column) and saw that people are in fact visiting. So I guess I'll have to put in a bit more effort here again...

I'll start with a brief summary of what has happened this summer (click the links for pictures):

I spent my vacation trying to get a tan by my mom's summerhouse/cottage in Norway (near the city Fredrikstad). Then I visited Stefanie and Mitsou, Kristina and Laurent in Strasbourg, before traveling by TGV to visit Jan Walter in Tours (recommended sight: Chateau Chenonceau). Then a brief stop in Oslo before flying north to visit Regina and Peder, as well as Hege and Dag Ragnar, in Bodø, including two trips to the Lofoten islands and one trip hiking the Lurfjellet mountains just south of Bodø. Eventful and lovely vacation!

Afterwards, I've spent most of my days around Oslo, with the exception of a visit to the U.S. for training, including one weekend in New York (recommended sights: Rockefeller Center and MoMA), and one weekend in Chicago (recommended sights: The Cloud Gate and the Art Institute). Cool!

And finally, I've been race-sailing the Norwegian championship for the 11:MOD class (pictures by Fredrik). Also a lot of fun, but please don't ask about results... ;-)