We are overnighting tonight in Oslo, Norway and up until just a couple of weeks ago, I was quite excited about it. With the devastation with the bombing and the killing of all of those children, I was anxious to see what the city looked and felt like after everything had happened. Myself, Stephanie (Youth Staff) and Cassandra (Youth Program Coordinator) went in search of the site of the bombing (as bleak as it may sound) to see things first hand. We were a bit scared to ask anybody about is as not to offend or upset anybody. It came down to “this looks good” or “this looks interesting” when we had to choose between turning left or right. It didn’t take long before we saw a huge crowd of people surrounding barricades that had been set up around of the flowers, candles, letters and photographs that mourners placed in memory of the deceased and missing. This particular location was not the exact site of the bombing, but it’s where the largest portion of the memorial resides.
There is no way to describe the energy and sadness that filled the air along with the perfume from the flowers. The silence was deafening. I walked around the perimeter of the barricades, took a few photos and looked at the photos that had been placed next to candles which had been placed next to stuffed animals and flowers. No words can describe it – so here’s a few photos.
There were so many things written in foreign languages and I must admit that I’m glad I couldn’t them. I don’t know if that’s something I could have handled. I have so many more pictures – I’ll post them on facebook soon so you can see even more and see a bit more of what I saw – jaw dropping.
Around the corner is where the actual bombing took place. The memorial is not too evident here – it seems as if they are keeping the area clear while they clean up some of the damage to the buildings and surround areas. Lots of the businesses and store fronts all have shattered windows along with other damage. As I said before – it’s indescribable.
Once we saw all of this, we talked about how lucky we are and how terrible some of these families (especially the parents of those children killed) must feel and how much their hearts must hurt. WE began to wander deeper into the city and found that people have literally put flowers everywhere – in the fountains, on the statues – anywhere and everywhere they could find.
I was ridiculously thirsty, so we stopped at a café and ended up sitting to chat for awhile. Again, this was a picture perfect day of weather which makes me feel guilty. It’s hard to think of myself having a wonderful day enjoying my friends and the weather and feeling so carefree when so many people are struggling with the current events. After sitting for awhile and reflecting, we decided to walk to the other side of the city to see the new opera house that they’ve recently finished. Before crossing the bridge to the opera house, we found a few ::ahem:: interesting sculptures.
The opera house is right on the water and once we reached it, I didn’t want to leave at all! There was a live band setting up for the evening and since we were overnighting, I was so tempted to sit and enjoy it but unfortunately, Cass and Steph had to go back to work. We took a few pictures of the opera house and the multi-million dollar moving iceberg thing in the water before heading “home”. Apparently, this iceberg sculpture cost over $3 million dollars…for what?!?
Grateful for new friends these days! God bless Oslo, Norway – please keep them in your prayers!
Quote of the day: “The best way to get even is to forget.”
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