Norway.

My long weekend in Norway seems like a zillion travel days ago.

And, truthfully, it was. 

I've left the post about it looming since the beginning of June, so let's get to it!

Norway is a destination that's been on the "to do" list for awhile now. 

I've had the opportunity to visit many other major Scandinavian cities, but Oslo just hadn't made the destination list in the past few years. 

Our long weekend in June seemed like a prime time to head north, with the potential for great spring weather and the hope of avoiding the cold spells associated with cities at this northern latitude. 

Flights in and out of Oslo from Milan fly about once a day in one direction, so it's not easy to do a quick trip. Thankfully, we had a four day weekend, so we left late on a Wednesday night and flew back early Sunday morning. On our way there we were treated to a great view of the sunset from above the clouds.

In addition to the beautiful views during our flight, we lucked out with what has to have been one of Oslo's best weekends of weather. The skies were blue, the temperatures were just right...perfection!

We tried out the free walking tour during our first day in town. It didn't leave us with the best first impression of Oslo. The guide was difficult to understand, we were skipping things that we were interested to see and, at first glance, Oslo isn't outwardly beautiful.

Oslo's Opera House-
You can walk all around it and on its roof. Really cool!

The tour wasn't too long and we were able to explore on our own. We went back to the City Hall. This building was my favorite, for sure, and had the most impressive tapestries and details. This is the building where the Nobel Prize ceremony is held every year.

room where Nobel ceremony is held

We also wandered around the marina and then walked all the way out to the sculpture garden. It was actually so hot we took cat naps on benches before exploring around the park. I loved all the green space, but, quite frankly many of sculptures are super weird and not really interesting to me.

With the the Oslo Use-it map in hand, we walked through another part of the city the following day and found some handmade and vintage shops, along with some cool street art.

We took the metro out of the city to the end of the line and spent a couple hours wandering the Sognsvann Lake. So peaceful and clean! It was a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of city life and easy to get to.

Lake water in Oslo. So clean!

That afternoon proved to be quite a fun day to explore Oslo. It was National Music Day so there were stages set up all over the city with varying types of live music being played. I thought it was really awesome and stopped to listen to several bands as I did a little shopping.

The first Saturday in June brings musicians out around the city!

We stayed here. This apartment was in a good location for us as tourists, so I'd definitely recommend it.

We ate here, here, here, and here. Two thumbs up for all four. The Indian place was probably the least exciting of all of them. And as you might expect, prices are high in Norway, so plan accordingly.

Street Art of Krakow

I recently spent a week in Poland. 

I'm still working on my posts about the time I spent there, but this post about the amazing street art is ready to go! 

There's a pretty big street art scene in Krakow. 

Free Walking Tours even does a street art tour. 

I used their map that lists the city's street art and wandered around looking for some street art gems.

And I found quite a few. 

Doesn't this make you smile?

I don't think I expected to find such great pieces of art. 

This is outside a shop in the Kazimierz neighborhood.

This mural was created in 2014 during Krakow's Jewish Culture Festival by street art crew Broken Fingaz.

I turned a corner and found this.

Judah.

Amazing.

Created by Pil Peled, Israeli street artist, in 2013.

A small set of street food vendors are set up in a parking lot in front of the wall.

This is just across the street from Judah.

This mural was created by a Polish graphic designer in 2013.

It's on the side of the Galicia Jewish Museum.

Called Ding Dong Dumb and painted in 2011, this piece was created to "take a jab at the relationship between Polish culture...and the Catholic Church."

created by Italian artist, Blu

Have you seen some great street art? Send in your recommendations!

Street Art of Reykjavik

A modern, edgy vibe exists in the heart of Reykjavik. Many of the stores and restaurants help to create this feeling and it's echoed through the street art that can be found as well.

Here are some of the examples of cool street art that I found while in Reykjavik.

This was hard to get a clear shot of because of where it's located, but the top of the roof edge
is designed to look like a snow capped mountain.

Hopefully, they find their mate!

I love the geometry of this. That should not shock anyone who knows me well.

outside the hrim store

Need to learn how to tie your tie?

So cute.

Found on the windows of a local bar...

A Walk Around Milan

Around Milan there's plenty of graffiti to be seen and a lot of it is a mess, which distracts from the beauty of the city. But, every now and again, you find some street art gems that add a bit of polish to the diamond in the rough that is Milan.

Here are some recent finds...

One of my favorites...

And this is just so random that I love it.

Many shops paint their metal 'tapparelle'.
I think this helps minimize the random graffitti that shows up.

A shout out to Rosie the Riveter...

Many of these are found in and around the Porta Ticinese area.

And, different from the spray painted scenes above, this Wall of Dolls appeared during Men's Fashion Week in June. The wall is designed to highlight awareness of violence against women and many designers submitted dolls to be placed on the wall.

I had seen the display while driving past in a taxi and had to walk back one day to see what it was.