Saturday, December 17, 2011

A tour of UMB campus in Ås, Norge

After a 16 hour journey from the Saintly City to Oslo and the University of Life Sciences (aka UMB from its Norwegian initials) and a night's rest to recover a bit from jet lag, the Daughter of Norway (DON) took Unky Herb (UH) and me for a walking tour of the UMB campus. It was after noon before we began and we needed to finish before nightfall, about 3:15, but the light was good and I took quite a few photos. It was a couple of degrees below freezing, and we were dressed for the weather, but there were some icy spots on the fairly uneven walking surfaces. The guest house where we are staying is on the campus and also houses a few grad students and other visitors to UMB. It's comfortable and contains the necessary conveniences of home.

The other members of the walking tour - an entertaining group even when jet lagged - in front of our residence.

A better view of the house for guests in which Unky Herb and I are residing. There is very little snow on the ground as you can see.


The DON by a clump of trees which are festooned with years of moss. This is about half way between her abode and our guest house.



A big old Norwegian oak tree that is icon for the UMB campus. It may be 1000 years old. I suspect it is prettier when it has leaves, but in December it's a stark outline against the horizon.



Unky Herb in the field by the iconic tree. He had just snapped off his own photo from an entirely different angle.


After a walk across campus to the buildings where many of DON's classes are held we went into a big class room building. We found the library where DON does some of her research. Here she is standing next to Unky Herb.



The DON took us towards the forest were there is an old growth of a variety of trees from around the world. On the way we saw this sight. The moss grows green on a Norsky stone.



We walked through the forest where DON runs and communes with nature. As we walked a pair of riders galloped by us on Norwegian horses.



On the way back we came across a pasture containing some of the native breed of horses. This shows a curious, very Norwegian looking horse protected from the weather by a horse blanket.



And at the end of the trek, the reward for the long walk around UMB - a Norwegian frozen pizza..



Tomorrow we're planning to do some Christmas shopping at the Christmas village nearby.

2 comments:

Santini said...

Good to hear you and UH crossed the big water safely. That's an excellent tour report -- I think that big old tree is beautiful, even without leaves.

I had no idea that there was a specific breed of Norwegian horse. Quite interesting looking.

The pizza looks pretty good.

Say HI to your fellow travelers, UH and DoN from us.

BDE said...

Excellent post with great pictures of all things Norwegian (if Americans with a few Norwegian genes count). Merry Christmas to you all! Give DON a hug from me.