Some shots captured from Oslo harbour basin. # 1

Oslo City Hall

Aker Brygge

The cruise season has successfully started

Visitor record
2008 will result in all time high considering the number of passengers. About 210 000 tourists will arrive at Oslo port this year and 150 cruise ships, many of the biggest, will call from April to October. Experiences tell that on board, there will be guests from more than 130 nations.

Attractive capitol
The feedback from the survey done after the 2006 season, showed that the guests were very satisfied with their stay in Oslo. Both the port and the capitol did have the facilities required, but of more importance of course, the many interesting experiences the town could offer, attracted the visitors, both shopping, sightseeing, strolling through the city centre and all the cultural activities. (Source - Oslo Port Authority)

Crown Princess

Queen Victoria

Oslo Opera House

Hilary Duff's Quick Change

You don't have to go to rehab to make a drastic change...just learn from Hilary Duff and change your haircolor!



CLICK EITHER IMAGE TO TRY HILARY'S LOOK

Getting ready to Swansong?

I am being a bad, bad, bad blogger. And for that I apologise. For the moment, I feel all blogged out - is there such a thing as blogger burn out? If so, I think I have it. Not of course that I've noticed a rash or anything, you understand, and there doesn't seem to be any sneezing. I just seem to to have run out of witter and warble. For someone who nearly always has something to say, this is a nasty feeling indeed. Akin to a bad and unrequested dose of laryngitis.

So here I am, sans witter and warble and just a month short of my bloggaversary. Tsk. I started this blog on the 4th of July, last year and did my very first blog post ever - as Atyllah the Hen on the 2nd of July 2006. That's two years at it. Not bad going, I suppose. Perhaps I'm entitled to a rest. It certainly feels like it.

The sad reality is, witter and warble loss notwithstanding, I also I find myself overwhelmed by Stuff. Aside from the general tension in the air , I am also up to my eyeballs in edits, critiques and admin related things - preparatory to our move to the other side of the planet. Needless to say it all makes me more than a little preoccupied.

I'm in two minds as to whether to close down this blog and gracefully retreat from blogosphere. But I also know that if I do it, I will miss it. So... I think what I may do instead is put this blog into an extended/indefinite/protracted/sporadic/now and again hiatus. I may post and visit occasionally (you can put me on your RSS feeds if you want to know when I raise my head above the parapet for a bit of a holler) but for now, I simply don't feel up to regular blogging and it doesn't seem fair to all you wonderful people who have been such loyal blogging buddies to not know where I'm at.

So, on that rather vague note of au revoir - not adieu - I leave you for now. You know where to find me if you'd like to do so - leave a comment, drop me an email, or say hello on Facebook or Flickr. I'll still be around, just otherwise occupied.

And you know, I know exactly what's going to happen... I'm going to bid you au revoir and then tomorrow, sod's law being what it is, I'll find I suddenly have plenty to say. Can you cope with erratic?

Ladies and gentleman, we apologise for any inconvenience caused by temporary disruptions to our normal flight schedules but we hope you've enjoyed your flight with us. Please ensure your seatbelts are securly fastened and thank you for flying with Absolute Vanilla...(& Atyllah).

Sheesh, I'm hopeless, I haven't even finished this post and I'm missing you already. It's sad, I tell you, and demented! ;-) So yes, tout a l'heure, see you soon, see you whenever...

And in the meantime, be good, have fun, play nicely with each other and share the joy and the love! And remember, life is what you make of it.

Heidi Klum's Hot Hair

No matter how you cut it (or style it) Heidi Klum's got some of the best hair in Hollywood, CLICK HER PICTURES TO TRY THEM!

Sky Watch Friday # 13

Rødtangen - Hurum

Nikon D200, Tamron 17-50, Triple exposure.



Oslo opera house

Nikon D200, Tamron 17-50

For more Sky Watch photos, visit Wigger’s World.

Dona Nobis Pacem - Nobel Peace Center Oslo

The Nobel Organizations are a number of institutions in Sweden and Norway.

The Nobel Foundation was created in 1900 as a private institution to administer Alfred Nobel’s estate and award the Prizes for physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. It represents all the Nobel institutions and administers information activities and events connected with the Prizes.

When Alfred Nobel died in 1896 he specified in his Will which institutions should award the prizes in his name. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the prizes for physics and chemistry, the Karolinska Institute for medicine, the Swedish Academy for literature, and the Norwegian Parliament appoints a five-person committee to award the prize for peace.

In 1968, the Swedish central bank established the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economics in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences was given the task of awarding the economics prize in 1969.

The Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which is appointed by the Norwegian Parliament. The committee’s membership reflects the number of seats held by the various political parties. The Norwegian Nobel Institute was created in 1904 to assist the committee in its efforts to decide who should receive the Peace Prize.

The Nobel Museum in Stockholm promotes interest in, knowledge of and debate about science and the arts through creative educational methods, technology and elegant design.

Nobel Media was created in 2004 when the Nobel Foundation decided to take control of the copyright issues surrounding the Nobel Prizes. Nobel Media has three objectives: to develop the Nobel programmes and find new formats, distribute the Nobel programmes internationally and protect the Nobel Foundation’s brands and copyrights.

Nobelweb runs nobelprize.org. This is the official website where you can find out about all the prize winners down through the years. You will find information about all the Nobel laureates in all the categories in the form of lectures, interviews, speeches, articles, games and much more.

The Nobel Peace Center is the latest addition to the Nobel network. We opened on 11 June 2005 in a stylishly converted late 19th century railway station in the centre of Oslo. Our objective is to promote familiarity with the lives and work of the Nobel Peace Prize laureates and Alfred Nobel, and encourage reflection and debate on issues relating to war, peace and conflict resolution.

Source - Nobel Peace Center

Join us. Please visit Mimi today, where you will find a list of those of us participating in the 2008 Peace Globes Movement.

Scarlett Johansson's Volume

CLICK HER IMAGE TO TRY THE HAIRSTYLE

Scarlett Johansson's singing may have caused some critics to turn down the volume, but her hair is definitely turned up!