Beer Palace, Oslo and local brewery

What a coincidence, nipped into the Beer Palace (local bar) last night for a quick gin after the traumas of running the gauntlet in the supermarket and up on the wall was this old tin poster for a local brewery. It looked familiar..

Christiania Bryggeri (brewery), what a fantastic old sign, I love the font and colours in fact, decided to have another gin just to celebrate.

According to Wiki:

Christiania/Oslo

Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King Christian IV. It was rebuilt closer to Akershus Castle, as Christiania (also spelt Kristiania in late 1800's). In 1925, the city reclaimed its original Norwegian name, Oslo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo

Aker Brygge lighthouse (and the dog was there chasing his tail...)

This is one of my favourite places to go for a walk every morning and the old fellow is often there with his collie dug (who likes to look over the side of the quay at the seagulls, sure he would like to have a go at them). Had another shot at the pic again to try to get it lighter than the last version. Lovely sky today with a wee bit of pink going on up there, must have been the traces of last night's storms.

National Theatret in the morning light, Spikersuppa, Oslo

It was a beautiful, quiet, sunny morning today and the sky is so big and blue again... just lovely. I like the way the statues outside the National Theatret appear like ghostly shadows from the stage of long ago, reciting a play or a poem, eery in a way. But they look as if they are having a good time, discussing their lines.

There was a flock of birds flying high over the roof which, to be honest, I hadn't spotted when taking the photograph and was delighted to see them later when looking at the pic on screen.

http://www.nationaltheatret.no/

Fresh fish and chatting lads at Aker Brygge quay, Oslo

The wee fishing boats had a good night with their haul and had a large cargo onboard this morning. They were doing a roaring trade with the local restuarant owners and these two lads were having a right chuckle and full of fun in the sunshine in between serving their customers. 

Stilt man at Aker Brygge

This statue is just over the way in the water beside the moorings at Beddingen in Aker Brygge. He looks out down to the fjord and is a big tall chap perched on his stilts. I've noticed when it's really quiet in the mornings, the same seagull likes to perch on his head and do a wee dance.

The sketch started in pencil and then I got a bit carried away with the black pen and a dab of paint. It had got to the point where it was finished, but then took it too far, grrrrrrr..

Old cottage and dancing farmer's wife

Following the scary cottage pic, I was thinking it might make a fun character for a child's story, (with a dancing farmer's wife, for some reason...).

Galway Cottage with whiskers ..

Very forgetful as spent the weekend in Galway, Ireland and forgot to take the sketch pad and pencils ..but luckily had the camera snuck away. There was some stunning scenery with greys and greens and such a beautiful location. This old derelict cottage was both spooky and cheeky, it looked as if had been abandoned years ago and the garden was very overgrown. The roof was covered in crockly ivy and looked like a whiskery old man with a mad hair-do. Would loved to have hopped inside for a peek but was a bit scared. Going to have a crack at a watercolour of it later..

Just texting in the rain ...

Very quiet this morning along the waterfront, everything was sprinkly-sprankly washed clean after the rain and storms last night. I like the way this laddo is sitting texting among the puddles, with his hood up, and not a care in the world. The lighthouse is a wee fat jaunty one too and reminds me of a liquorice allsort sweet.