9 Months in Norway: er, Happy Halloween? - Akershus Slott og Festning

In case you were wondering, no, they really don't celebrate Halloween in Norway. Unless of course you count the 30 or so people in costumes that all appeared to be going to the same bar. A few of the parents we talked to said their kids would be doing something at school, but they would not be going door-to-door trick-or-treating.

After a few dreary days in a row the weather finally cleared and it was a gorgeous fall day in Oslo :-) Click on the picture to the right to get an idea of just how dreary it has been. The building in the foreground that is all lit up is the new opera house - we were told it just opened in the past year or so. There is a ramp on the outside that actually makes up part of the ceiling of the opera house; you can walk up the ramp onto the roof of the building to get a fabulous view of the fjords! We plan to go up there later this week to catch a sunset. If you're walking down by the water it reminds me of seeing the Kennedy Center at night with the tall glass windows lit from inside and right on the waterfront.

We intended to go to Hadeland Glassverk today to take advantage of their fall sale and try our hand at glassblowing, but after a confusing discussion with the driver of the bus we were told to get on (he insisted his bus did not go to the glassverk, despite the hotel and two guidebooks saying it did) we decided to skip going there today and try again later, not wanting to get stuck somewhere an hour outside of Oslo.

Instead we went to Akershus Slott og Festning, the castle and fortress. It is literally right around the corner from our apartment. They had a great self-guided tour with headsets and we enjoyed listening to all the details about the castle, as well as some ghost stories - seemed appropriate, it being Halloween and all. It was originally commissioned in 1299. There have been several renovations and its interesting to see the physical changes to the walls and the different building materials used each time. There is a crypt where Kings Håkon VII and Olav V and their queens are entombed, as well as a dungeon, a chapel, and a banquet hall (the latter two of which are still used!) The Castle Church has been in use since the early 16th century, its services are presided over by military chaplains, and military members can get married or have their children baptised in the chapel. The Romerike Hall was last used in 2002 on the eve of the crown prince's wedding. There's also the Hall of Olav V in the top of one of the towers, which I found to be the most impressive. Granted most of it is not in the original condition, a lot of effort went into restoring it to what they believe to be a similar reproduction. The ceiling is absolutely gorgeous with all of the wood detail. Throughout the castle there were several intricate tapestries the size of an entire wall. All in all it was very impressive.

Outside we watched one of the most beautiful sunsets from the wall of the fortress. We looked out over the fjords and could see the balcony of our apartment from the wall. Great ending to the fun day.


One of the towers	The other tower	Starting the tour

	In the secret passage


A cell in the dungeon	Part of the detail in the crypt

The Royal Crypt	View through the bars

The Castle Church	Cool candelabra


Detail of the altar	The altar (Hebrew for Jehovah on top; monarchs initials in Latin below)	Gorgeous chandeliers


One of the tapestries (ca. 1940s) depicting a scene from ca. 1740	The East Wing, where guests enter for special functions

One of the 3 largest tapestries	Christian IV Hall