Oslo yulemarket
I guess every capital and major city in Europe has a yulemarket in December (and in orthodox countries and cities neighbouring Russia, it will last for quite a while into January. Since the commercial season seems to start earlier and earlier every year, it's also not uncommon to such markets already in early November). Oslo actually has two - here are some photos from the biggest of them. It's surrounding "Spikersuppa", a fountain in the summer time and a skating ring in the winter time - so the skating ring is a central part of the market. It's a public skating ring, free to use, though possible to spend some money on renting skates.
Here is the view from the National Theater square - the big ferris wheel is a part of the market, assembled specially for the market (every year). I think I read somewhere that the official opening day was the 23rd or 24th of November, but those photos were taken at the 22nd of November, and I noticed they had started assembling things already a week earlier.
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While I was taking the photograph, this gull passed by, just cm away from my feet.
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No idea about the "yulestar", Holmenkollen is a part of Oslo, I wonder if the "gift workshop" refers to the "shopping street" with stalls with overpriced stuff for sale? No idea about the pony express. The skating ring is pretty obvious, north pole probably refers to the geographical north pole. A pretty useless information sign, but it looks pretty.
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The entrance to the market
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I think glühwein (mulled wine) is an important part of every European yule market. The Norwegian variant is called "gløgg" - but it's not quite the same. In the modern Norwegian variant, spices are more important than the wine, nowadays it's actually more often than not served as a non-alcoholic drink, even served in kinder gardens in December. it's typically made from some bottled concentrate (made from spices, probably blackcurrant and lots of sugar) and then mixed with water - and if one wants a more original variant, one can also add wine and cognac - or simply vodka. Alcoholic or not, it's served with chopped almonds, raisins and a spoon for scooping up the nuts and raisins. In "julenissens gløgghus" one can presumably buy both alcoholic and non-alcoholic variants. Lofoten refers to the geographical place, I still don't know anything about the Pony express nor julestjernen, Frognerseteren is a place in Oslo nearby Holmenkollen. I was expecting to find more ready-to-eat food here, but "elgburger" seems to be almost the only option. No, I don't feel like buying an overpriced hamburger, I'll pass that. Nice fireplace by the way.
position: geo:59.914608,10.736505 (geohack) - 2018-11-22 15:32:00 localtime - full quality
There are two moose heads here, and they are occationally talking with each other. The heads are moving as they are talking, the eyes open and close and the mouth opens and closes.
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Can you spot the other head? Here is "julenissens gløgghus". I actually did want gløgg, but I had forgotten about the Norwegian laws ... "alcoholic beverages can only be drunk inside the fenced area", so I'll skip. Notice the nice little fireplace on the left side ... nice to sit down and warm up a bit in the cold weather.
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I had some time to waste while waiting for an appointment, what's better than sitting by a fire ... this is the fireplace one outside "elgburger".
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"Drit forbanna" (forbanna is something like ... "pissed off", "drit" literally means "shit", but is used as an amplifying adjective) made me curious. I checked it up, they were selling bottled Gløgg. I assume it's non-alcoholic, Norwegian alcohol laws are very strict, so it's not allowed to sell bottled alcoholic beverages on the street, not even from a regular shop - we have a state monopoly on the sale of alcoholic beverages above 4.7% vol.
position: geo:59.914443,10.736487 (geohack) - 2018-11-22 15:43:07 localtime - full quality
I was back again two weeks later, after some snowfall. I don't think it was snowing that much, but still ... this roof cleaning looks like a rather expensive operation, do they do this every time it's snowing?
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I didn't manage to get a proper shot in time, but he is holding a brush in his hands.
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This isn't exactly prime time, at a Saturday around 12 it will be very crowded here.
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snow-like decorations ... in case we wouldn't get snow ...
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Maybe this is the pony express? Looks like a sliding hill, it said something on a sign that one should remember to bring a matress
position: geo:59.913764,10.735651 (geohack) - 2018-12-08 10:15:48 localtime - full quality
Selected photos available in original quality on IPFS QmQtKqDQpp3taHEUCptgRFpwgHtTBZLQf9yu6v8Vavr7Hi. All photos taken available in original quality on IPFS QmePcrdLusTcbcEHwzBvEzY7mmcMakdHNvjydXy1ZEPUnt. The CC BY-SA 4.0 license applies on both my photos and the article
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I really couldn't spot the second moose head and looked carefully through your post.
I am not...although it's a minor writing mistake but it's actually "occasionally" and not "occationally" in the phrase from above talking about the moose heads.
The market looks nice though and I am still thinking about that man's job of cleaning the roof of snow with a brush... I am thinking to pay my father a visit in Austria next week and he tells me that they have there also some type of this market and that's really nice. Will take some pics if it's really that way.
Something similar with the one in Oslo I saw in Stuttgart a few years ago and I liked it a lot. I don't like that nowadays municipalities decorate the cities to early in my opinion. From December 1st is everything already prepared. I would wait till close to Christmas to do that to not spoil the vibe. I also think that Europeans have copied this rush from Americans.
A little bit above and to the right of the center at the photo right below the text.
A bit hidden by the smoke from the fire.
Spotted :)
Too much is being copied from there, I think the commerce is the most important reason ... companies pushing US traditions to increase sales. Haloween didn't use to be a Norwegian thing, now it's pretty big ... I've come to accept it, but then it's Black Friday, that has become a huge thing over only some few years now. I suppose thanksgiving is the next thing to be imported ...
But starting the Christmas push in November, that can be pretty well explained just through commercial pressure. The average European spend quite a lot of money on gifts, and the first shop to successfully nudge someone into buying the "right" present wins, hence it's always a race to be the first to remind people that the yule time is coming.
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It all looks fabulous tobixen, I loved the Christmas Markets that I visited in Germany a couple of years ago.
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Interesting read. =) I have only been to Norway in summer, but I'd love to visit it in winter one day and try out the Norwegian gløgg!
Dainty wooden cabins, make cozy looking shops, pity about the glogg, I did not realize the laws were so strict up there!
Enjoyed a photographic walk through the area, visited many years ago in the summer/autumn months.
Festive Season! Sad but true, this time of year has become so commercialized worldwide, traditions have been lost in the need for greed. Nanny states dictating how to live life, very aggravating... glad I traveled when I was young!