Like many others outside the UK, I was surprised that a bear appeared together with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for the celebration of her 70 years of reign in 2022. Now I know better, it was Paddington Bear himself, the fictional and popular character invented by the author Michael Bond in 1958 when […]
Photo: Kristin Bae Mysen It is not a secret that I love my country and Scandinavia in general. I consider myself a true Norwegian or a Scandinavian although I do love to travel around the world as well. Here we are on the ferry between Moss and Horten back home after been visiting the family […]
Photo: Kristin Bae Mysen This week I really enjoyed the opera La Traviata (Italian for the fallen women) by Verdi at The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo. Before the performance I dug out my old, Norwegian copy of the novel “The Lady of the Camellias” and read it, because La Traviata is adapted […]
I am in Salamanca this week with my students who are studying Spanish, all taken by this small and stunningly beautiful student-filled city in northwestern Spain close to Portuguese border. It has an incredible architecture, actually it is considered one of the most spectacular Renaissance cities in Europe, and thanks to its clear and pure […]
Guernica is a city situated in northern Spain. The painting Guernica was created by Pablo Picasso in response to German and Italian bombing of the city in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. The picture measures almost 8 x 4 meters and although I have seen it before, standing here in Madrid with my students […]
