Thursday, May 29, 2025
I was all on my own
almost glad to be alone
Loving Is Easy - Rex Orange County feat. Benny Sings
Day 5, it's time to leave for Norway. I got to the airport okay, but I underestimated the time needed in the airport - really need to drill this in my head that security check in European airports tend to be looong. I may have freaked out a bit being in the line for security check, but then when I managed to pass through security check, my stupid brain didn't rush me straight to the gate and I went to check out a store or two. When I reached my gate, everyone was already boarding that I saw no one - yep, I was in deep shit. The gate wasn't closed yet though, praise be to God. I saw the staff in charge of the gate was kinda walking out a bit calling for people who's going to Oslo. She didn't see me and was some distance away and instead of flagging her, I just scanned my own boarding pass which let me through the automatic gate but then I was confussed on where to go because the next door was closed. Total freak out at this moment and then suddenly the door opened up and I walked through and I was the last person getting on the plane. It was embarrassing. All was good though and I made it, again praise be to God. Me rushing to go to places is really ... please I wasn't badly educated, none of my family are like this, I could imagine my dad's annoyed face, but as an adult, I don't know how I become this.
So first flight was to Oslo then Bergen. I chose SAS / Scandinavian Airlines for this. SAS has a pricing system that got me stunned. The cheapest flight allows just one carry-on that needs to fit under the seat. The level above it allows for non-checked baggage that goes to the overhead compartment - this part was the one that got me stunned. Like geez, this kind of money making scheme, it feels too much though perhaps in the context of Indonesians, who like to cram as much as they can in the overhead compartment, this could really be generating some revenue. I don't know how this is enforced though. Who checks this? Do people get checked about their carry-on when they're trying to board the plane? I had my luggage that I needed to check, so I paid for one-checked luggage, no overhead carry-on, and I got the free under-the-seat carry on. I also chose a flight with a transit in Oslo because it's cheaper. It's not a long transit in Oslo, around 55 mins and though I had time, I wasn't going to muck around. I got off the plane and straight away went to find the gate. An interesting thing in Oslo airport, though it's pretty much open border in Europe, in Oslo there's like a custom gate you have to go through when landing from another European country and continuing on to a city in Norway. I suppose if you declare you have something on you, you'll get extra check, but I'm like really curious who really declare things they bring to any country in this world? Anyways, nothing eventful getting from Oslo to Bergen.
Arriving in Bergen, an interesting thing I saw was the luggage belt. They put a yellow line around 1-metre away from the luggage belt and you're supposed to stand behind the yellow line. On one side I was like, rules and we hate more rules :( but on the other side, this is actually a good idea. When people crowd around the belt, it could get really difficult trying to haul your heavy luggage off the belt without injuring people - not that I have seen that happen, but you know what I mean. Also you know little toddlers who like to run around, at least they wouldn't get too close to the belt. After I got my luggage and put on my jacket, I made my way to the tram station. Good God, if I'm not mistaken there's only one ticketing machine in that whole station. They really need to put more. The person before me was confused on why the tickets didn't come out. Then I recalled, there's no physical ticket. It's tied to the card we used to pay so if there's a check, we need to show the staff our card. We could get the ticket reference / receipt sent to us by sms but I told the guy I wasn't sure it would work with our international number. He tested it and it worked and I did the same. It's quite a long tram ride, but I made it to the city and found my hotel easy enough. I checked-in and so I went to find my room. The corridor of my floor looks like this.
I was like, what's with the weird funky prison vibe? The room though was great and I was so so happy when I entered it, especially after the underwhelming room in Copenhagen. The room is smaller but it's really nice and I love it when the design is clever in maximizing the usage of the space. Then about the corridor, as I walked it a few more times during my time there, I think it's the Squid Game vibe :D
Anyways, after I got my stuff settled, I went out to explore the city. The plan was to take the Fløibanen funicular and do some of the easy hikes in Mount Fløyen. As I made my way to the funicular station, I realized Bergen is much livelier than I thought it would be. I don't know why I thought it would be a quiet sleepy town. There's quite a number of tourists here. I found the funicular station easy enough and I actually had booked the funicular ticket online so I straight away went in to get on the funicular. I heard the queue could be long, but when I was there it's pretty much empty. When you arrive at the top, you have an expansive view of Bergen. After days of gloomy sky in Copenhagen, I got sunshine and blue sky everyday of my time in Bergen which was not what I expected. I read it's the rainiest city in Norway so I was expecting that, but I got glorious weather. I have downloaded the recommended easy walk guides and proceeded to find the first stop, Skomakerdiket lake. As I walked among the trees, I noticed that there's many chirping birds - it felt really good. I found the lake and there's not many people there, I remember seeing two people some distance away. By the way, it's called a lake, but it's not very big so I would say it's a big pond which makes me wonder how big a body of water should be to be called a lake. Anyways, I sat down on a bench by the lake to eat a pastry I bought. Not a danish but still good. It had pistachio and custard and it's big and the custard was quite a lot - for the Indonesians, it's like two kue sus :D A duck came and stopped before me but I didn't give it any and said sorry duck :D It's really nice and peaceful to be able to sit there eating something nice without a care in the world.
After that snack break, the next stop was to another lake, Revurtjern. The walks are considered easy and yes the paths are clear and nice, but quite a few times the path is also going up and up on a slope, so there's effort required. It could be because I do not exercise at all that I was thinking, this is not easy peasy. By the way, I love the moss growing under the trees.
Revurtjern is even smaller and no one was here. I took a walk around the lake to reach a wooden dog sculpture overlooking the lake. Behind the dog, there's also a smaller body of water, it's unnamed in Google Maps, so I don't know if it has a name.
After that I made my way to see Blåmansvannet lake. Unlike the rest of the lakes where you can really go up close to the lakes and touch the water, you could only see this lake at some distance away. This is a big lake though, like a proper lake.
I continued on with the path in front of me, following the route in the guide thinking I would see more of the lake, which I didn't. I then started to take pictures of the wall of cliff on my left which does have interesting thing on them.
As I walked along, I then saw to my right there's a wooden plank path and I was like that looked interesting, shall we? So I did and then began a walk that became quite difficult. I have strayed from the path in the guide on to unclear path that involved navigating rocks, fallen branches, getting oneself up and down slopes. It became a real hike and I wasn't even sure what I would find. Somewhere along the way I saw a single lady coming from the opposite direction. We said Hi. I asked if you could see the lake closer and she was like what lake. She did say it's a shortcut to somewhere nice, but I wasn't sure what she was saying. She was friendly so I was like thank you and we said bye and I continued on, but this path was really not easy and my mind being what it was, I thought this was how I was going to die alone without anyone knowing. Dramatic? Yes, but I think the first rule of going on a hike is to tell someone where you're going and how long you'll be and no one knew I was there. I couldn't recall if I had told my mom yet that I had arrived in Bergen, maybe I did. If I fall and hit my head or break something, I may just die there without anyone knowing. Mind you, I only saw that one lady and no one else throughout this unclear path. I also thought not 15 minutes ago you told yourself you're going back the same way you came, no diverging around - well I thought that way because it's been tiring going up slopes, so I wanted to enjoy the fruit of that labor by going down slopes - and yet here you are on this unclear path to you don't know where. I couldn't see the end. I decided to stop when I saw ahead I had to navigate more difficult rocks going up and I didn't even know if I was closer to the main path. Looking at the guide I downloaded, I then realized what shortcut I took, but I really didn't know how far along I'd been. Google Maps couldn't tell me where I was. So I decided to go back the way I came - defeated, but perhaps for the best. Then I thought, I do this a lot, straying from the path and I don't know if this is something I need to fix about me or hold on. It has never done me good I think - like I've been fruitlessly lost so many times - but at the same time I think it's good to go outside the line or the box, to explore, but yeah this time again I got nothing. I don't have many photos from this walk because I was concentrating on how to get through. When I walked back to get back to the main path, it turned out to be much much faster, so perhaps I hadn't gone far.
Back on the main path, I did try to continue on, but again going up slopes, it was tiring, so I decided to stop and turn back, back the same way I came. Back to Skomakerdiket lake where I enjoyed the view a bit, watching a dog who swam in the water chasing a stick its owner threw. It was so good. Then back all the way to the funicular station where nearby there's a Troll Forest, where you have a number of weird looking troll scupltures. I didn't explore deeply to find out how many there are.
Then this is the view of Bergen down below. I tried to find my bearing, trying to find where my hotel was down there, but at that time I wasn't fully familiar with the area yet. On the right there, you could see the winding funicular track.
Before I left, I checked the map of the nearby area one last time and I was reminded that there are goats there, so I set to find the goats. I found their shed but no goat inside and then I thought I heard the goats so I walked towards the sound and found these two goats. They were really really cute, pretty even. When one of them started walking, I followed it but then it went to the cliff. A little girl followed that goat and I was concerned that the girl was going to fall, but she turned back when the goat went deeper. It's really something how these goats can navigate the cliff and rocks and not fall. You really need four legs to do this?
Anyways, then it was back to the funicular station to take the funicular down. For more pictures from Mount Fløyen, go here. Back down in Bergen, I explored the Bryggen area a bit, then off to dinner. Dinner was good, had non-alocholic beer which was really good. It was a good day, the sun and blue sky were really really missed. The fact that I made it to Bergen and didn't have an accident while walking around, I really have to thank God for that.
:) eKa @ 10:49:00 PM • 0 comments
Saturday, May 24, 2025
Day 4 - Frederiksborg Castle + SMK
in the rain, get caught with me
in the moment, get lost with me
Slow It Down - Ben Barnes
A random thing on how I got to know that song. Stardust was on tv and I know it's a weird thing to say, it felt like an old movie to me. Anyways, I liked it when I first watched it in the cinema, so I googled it when it was playing on TV and then I clicked on Ben Barnes, who's also Prince Caspian in the Narnia film and also one of creepy bad guy in Westworld and I stumbled into this song in YouTube - didn't know he sings. It's not bad. So yeah, just something random and now let's get to this long post with many pictures. I'm not sure if all will get posted, we'll see.
I had some sort of a plan on what I should be doing on day 4. It wasn't supposed to be a rush getting from one place to another because on day 2 I had explored the touristy parts of Copenhagen, but somehow the night before I had this feeling, why not go see the one troll that's easily accessible in Copenhagen. The one problem is that, that troll is located in Freetown Christiania which according to the many blogs I read could be quite intimidating. There's some advices from bloggers to not take pictures when you're there, things like that. I was alone and a girl, so yeah I was hesitant, but in the end I did. The troll is not deep inside Christiania, so I thought I would just get in and get out. I was there in the morning and it's pretty much empty and it made me wonder if it's better that I was there in the morning or in the afternoon where there would be more people? I don't know what the right answer to that is.
As I started getting into it, I felt safer because in front of me there's a young mother pushing her baby in a stroller, just taking a little walk and enjoying the many grafittis in Christiania. So God bless that mother and her baby. With them leading the way, I made it to this troll, Green George.
I took some photos and then I started to make my way out, also still taking photos of the many graffitis and artworks around. The mom and the baby went a bit further but not so much I guess because then I saw them behind me. I really don't know what Christiania is like. Maybe it's fine. The government did shut down the street where you could previously buy drugs, so perhaps it's totally safe there. Maybe the people there are just chill, they just want to do their own thing making weird beautiful art which sounds really good actually.
Anyways, next it was off to Frederiksborg Castle. I really struggled in finding things to do in Copenhagen that excite me. Castles are options, but which castle. It would have been easier if I just had chosen a castle in Copenhagen central but then I thought it might be better to go somewhere further and hence why I then went to Frederiksborg Castle which is in Hillerød which is like 40-minutes away and I had to buy the large transport pass which cost more and truth be told I don't know if I made the right decision. I guess it's also because I have seen quite a number of castles especially last year, so castles and palaces do not amaze me much anymore. Not to say they're completely dull though, it's still something to imagine yourself living in one. I guess what I'm trying to say is I wasn't blown away by Frederiksborg Castle. Not its fault. At this point it needs to be one hell of a castle to amaze me. It's the usual in this castle, there are many rooms with many intricate things. In the top floor there's some paintings and a photo exhibition. Actually there's an artist also presenting his installation arts in some of the rooms. Here's some pictures of the inside of the castle, the first one is of its chapel.
After I was done with the inside of the castle, I made my way out to explore its ground. There's some renovation on the castle, so quite unfortunate that the outside look of the castle is not perfectly complete :( The castle itself has a moat so you have these little bridges around.
As for the castle ground and garden, it's big. I kinda walked around aimlessly. I'm pretty sure I didn't cover everything and see all the interesting things out there. I was also getting kinda tired of walking. I walked a lot in this trip, most days I did more than 20,000 steps.
Then as I was getting ready to leave, to the right hand side of the garden I saw a path to a smaller building which I found out is the Bath House hunting lodge (first picture below). You cannot enter it though, at least I couldn't find an opened door. Then following the path, I saw a small island with a black cottage. It looked very interesting. I found out it's called Louise's island (second picture). I don't know how to get there though, you may need to row a small boat. The paths here seem to be more interesting, but I don't where they would lead and how deep they are that I decided to not explore this further and end my visit in Frederiksborg Castle. For more pictures from the castle, see this.
So then it's off back to Copenhagen central. Bought a Danish pastry with rhubarb (also good) at the train station before boarding the train ride back. By the way, the seating design on the train is very interesting and nice, it has a sofa kinda seat that also curves at the end, but I don't know maybe being here in Asia when things have to be practical, I just don't see how that kinda seat will ever get adopted here. Cleaning them seem troublesome. Arriving in Copenhagen, first stop was to visit Frederik's Church. It was dark inside, I'm not sure if it's because Pope Francis just died the day before - I felt rather sad when I found out. It was actually raining when I arrived in Copenhagen, but I still decided to walk the straight path from the church to Amalienborg Palace.
Amalienborg Palace is the official residence of the Danish royal family. You can visit it, but I didn't plan to. There's a few guards walking around their posts when they're not standing still. Not many tourists, because it was raining. I walked further to the garden by the water where's there's a fountain, blooming cherry trees and other flowers. I realized then that directly accross it over the water is the Opera. I think it would be kinda nice to enjoy the garden on a good weathered day. I didn't explore it at all, I pretty much turned back after taking a few photos.
My next destination was SMK (Statens Museum for Kunst) / The National Gallery of Denmark. I contemplated if I should take the metro or walk there and somehow I chose to walk even though it's some distance away in the rain - at this point I took out the umbrella. I actually didn't plan to go to any museum, because I thought after D'Orsay it's enough and it might be hard to top that, but then before the trip I happened to stumble on a CNN article about the exhibition Michelangelo Imperfect in SMK and I thought, I would be there, so why not? It would be good to see David again, even though all of these would be reproductions. It was really nice to see all these works because the originals are scattered all over; places I've never been. The one below is La Pietà whose original is in Saint Peter's Basilica right by the main door in the Vatican. The one below it is of Saints Paul, Peter, Gregory the Great, and Augustine which the guide booklet says are in Siena Cathedral. I don't even remember if I entered the cathedral when I was there more than a decade ago.
Now I was rather disappointed that there's no reproduction of David in marble. There was one full reproduction in bronze and there's a reproduction of his head. Then I realized, this reproduction of David's head was kinda cool. It's at my height level and I never noticed this before so I was stunned when I saw this because David looked concerned, almost like there is some fear in him. I really have never noticed this before. The guide booklet also brought to my attention that his irises are heart-shaped. I think the whole exhibition is great, it's really nice to see all these and learn new things.
After the Michelangelo exhibition, I explored the rest of the galleries. SMK is not very big, but its collection is pretty great. There's French Art, European Art, Danish and Nordic Art (this is something that I haven't really encountered before, so I feel really thankful for the opportunity). There's also modern and installation art (which is still not 100% my thing).
This Rembrandt's painting got me quite stunned when I saw it because I thought I saw it last year in Warsaw's castle. Now that I have googled it, it seems they're completely different paintings. The one in SMK is titled A Young Woman Resting her Hands on the Picture Frame. I'm really glad I visited SMK. I even stayed up to its closing hour. Half an hour before it closed a staff approached me to let me know it's closing in half an hour and if there's any artwork I really wanted to see, I should go and find it. SMK is really great. For more pictures, go here.
As I made my way back, I passed by Rosenborg castle and its garden. Rosenborg castle is pretty cute and it doesn't look very big. Looking at it, I really wondered if I made the right decision to go all the way to Frederiksborg Castle - oh well. Its garden looks pretty nice too, again too bad I had a gloomy cloudy day, but at least it was no longer raining.
The last thing I visited was Rundetaarn / The Round Tower, but I actually didn't go in it. I just looked at it from the outside. They say it gives you a good view of Copenhagen, but you know it was a cloudy day and I have walked all over, I didn't think it was necessary. After that, I pretty much ended my day. With that, this long post also concludes my time in Denmark. For more pictures of Copenhagen, go here. I wouldn't say my time in Copenhagen or Denmark was exceptional, but I am thankful for the opportunity - thank you God. Oh one thing I haven't written about was the long wait for the visa. It really got me pretty anxious and also because it was so unexpected. The Denmark Embassy was also the one who processed the visa when I went to Iceland and that time I got my passport back in like 3 days, but this time around they really took the whole 2 weeks and I guess a bit more. The website did say that they were currently processing a higher volume of application due to the Easter break, but still I started to get worried if this was the time where I was going to get rejected. All's good though but I still have another complain. The Denmark Embassy only gave me single entry and I know they saw no reason to give me multiple entries, but I was hoping they could be generous :( All and all, I suppose I shouldn't take my frustration on them. It should be on the Indonesian government - why is our passport so lousy? When will it be better? Will it be in my lifetime? *sigh*
:) eKa @ 1:35:00 PM • 0 comments
bluesky.
photos.
archives.