Janne K. Flisrand

@jannefrommpls

Abundant housing. Justice. Dismantling oppression. Mpls politics. Observations from Zürich. She/her.

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Bluesky

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Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· 27d

I recognize the limits of flying pride flags, and visible statements of support for queer people matter. Late July Oslo has more than I've seen anywhere but during a pride parade.

Huge glassy office building windows with two translucent rainbos triangles pointing right, red up top purple at the bottom.

Buggy with a very huge forklift, the arm of the forklift has ben painted with slightly off-palate pride stripes. It has cartoon colors, yellow hubcaps with red centers, purple door, yellow body frame, orange trailer.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· 29d

Dry stacked stone, in-use, 300-year-old-ish boathouse at a cabin on Norway's west coast. Highlight: I got to go net fishing in the fjord using the boat that lives here in winter.

Simple red wood peaked facade in a very lush wood. It's tucked into a pair of massive stone walls that run along both sides.

Side of a simple building built of dry-stacked stone on a lush grassy slope. The stones are of wildly varied sizes, some very large. The roof is made of stone slabs. A red facade faces right. And two kayaks, red and yellow, lean against the stone wall.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jul 25

My favorite new Oslo spot was Klosterenga and the delightful uncovering of Hovinbekken, a long-buried stream that now flows through many and varied sculptures. Can you find the hidden surprise in this one?

A small, wide waterfall falling into a pool in a park. A narrow white apartment building is in the background, and a path crosses in front of the fountain. There are 8 separate water streams falling over the edge, and a large smooth rock poking out between two of them.

A close-up of a sculpted waterfall. Between one the end stream of falling water and the sculpture, behind the water, there is a stone frog looking out.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jul 24

A gorgeous site for a little free library, built into a tree trunk, in the style of The Giving Tree.

On the left, a tree trunk has a clear door and dark red peaked rooof, next to a gravel path lined with large rocks. Top the right is a majestic beige 120-year-old industrial building which is backed by a majestic forested mountain.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jul 24

Related to bike infrastructure, here is a retractable #bollard, tested in cold icy Norwegian winters. Your turn, Minnesota.

A robust black bollard with a stripe of white reflectors and red LED lights at the top. It retracts into a textured stainless steel plate. Pilomat.com is stamped in the metal pattern on the top.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jul 23

The view from Gaustatoppen, the tallest mountain in Southern Norway, from which you can see 1/6 of the country on a clear day (like today).

A dramatic landscape, a mostly green moorland plateau, with rows of fishes fast in the distance. There are several lakes visible and a few smallish rocky peaks.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jul 22

Scandinavia does superb brickwork. These were seen in Trondheim and Oslo.

Looking up at a brick facade from close to the wall. On the main building face, there are regular shiny brick ends creating a pattern. Around the windows and door, a striped pattern of blond/red bricks has two levels, one just above the opening and another a brick's width out creating two arches. Below the windows two blond bricks create a 'ledge' for the windows to sit on, each further out from the facade. At the very top, blond bricks are set in with the corners pointing out creating a texture.

A dark brown brick building with four stories of arched windows, each higher level a bit smaller than the floor below. It has stair-step edges on the roof. Above each window, there's a parallel arch of negative space where the bricks were set back to create a shadow. On the upper flors, there are diamond shapes above and between each window, created by brick shadows.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jul 22

Oslo has started installing some floating bus stops, with fully protected and separated bikeways and sidewalks behind them. I know Mpls is doing some of these, but I can't think of anywhere Zürich has done this (yet). (Please tell me I'm wrong!)

The ideal of a floating bus stop, where the bus stop (with glass shelter and good info) is right next to the driving lanes, and a well-marked red asphalt bike lane separated from both the bus stop and the sidewalk flows behind the bus stop, with a black sidewalk furthest from the street.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jul 22

Here's the after photo, taken with SOS in mind.

Exceptionally green and shady boulevard, with two rows of trees in the center median and narrow lanes on either side.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jul 21

The first bike priority street in Oslo, with hopes of many more to come.

A quiet street paved with red asphalt and big bike icons. Cars are parked on both sides, plus sidewalks with lollipop-pruned trees. 3-4 story residential buildings line the street.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jul 20

Ankerbrua is sometimes called the fairy tale bridge, because it has four fairy tale sculptures on the corners. I think the name should reference its transformation into community hangout spot with seating, calm traffic, and greenery.

A wide bridge has the left half of the space given over to seating and planter boxes. On the right three bicyclists ride in a group, with another riding away. Several people walk on the sidewalk. Trees line both sides of the bridge. Four bronze sculptures aged green are mounted on the corners.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jul 19

Tusen takk to @morten7an.bsky.social and @ajjabajja.bsky.social for a great bike tour of infrastructure (and stormwater) highlights in Oslo. This parkway in a wealthy neighborhood had local opposition complete with court cases, over-the-top tree loss claims, and stunts.

Three people ride bikes along a quiet, tree-lined one-way side of a parkway.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jul 11

The rain in Oslo isn't dampening fans' excitement for this World Cup quarterfinal. They've been flooding into the city for hours.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jul 7

I'm charmed by novel bollards in Hamburg.

A center island has five bollards that are installed at varied rather steep angles and that are shaped like nails. A blue station wagon waits at a light behind the bollards.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jul 6

There are some fancy recycling centers in Copenhagen.

8 small single family house-shaped containers made of rusted steel plates are installed in two rows in a courtyard. They are surrounded by brick buildings.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jul 5

A stunning courtyard inside a perimeter block in Copenhagen.

A huge green space in evening light, surrounded by 6-story apartment buildings, filled with mature trees.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jul 4

Cars double park in bike lanes slso in Denmark, and seeing it makes me just as mad when I'm not the rider being forced into traffic.

A bicycle rider with a kid in a box cargo bike is forced off the curb of a separated bikeway by a driver waiting in a car blocking the bikeway.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jul 3

Tonight's mural is from Copenhagen.

Mural painted on the side of a very large historic brick factory building. The mural shows a not-very-deep multi-story high arch showing blue sky through the arch, where the viewer knows is the inside of the brick building.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jul 2

Enjoy these facade faces from Hamburg.

A blond brick building has stacked pairs of windows with white trim, including terra cotta decoration below and above. Below are three vertical strips, above are smiling faces with strange fishy-wisps below the mouthes and sloopy wisps above the heads.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jul 1

A Hamburg roof.

Red brick warehouse building with a green copper roof. The roof has a woven diagonal pattern with what look like gaps between each cross. The pattern is very regular but varies to feel tighter and lose across the large roof.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jun 29

This looks like a photo of #Zürich 's enormous granary, but its really a photo of many, many boats floating down the river on a hot, hot day.

The top 3/5 of the photo is dominated by a massive concrete tower seemingly rising out of a bridge over a river. Looking more closely, there are at least 7 rafts floating down the river.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jun 26

Cooling vibes to all the Europeans sweltering in humidity and upper 90s and those 100 degree temps.

Close up photo of a very green leaf with parallel ribs and subtle growth marks shaped like stacks of thousands arced Vs.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jun 26

Thank you, Hennepin County Elections - I'm voting on the first day of early voting. Minneapolis, tell me, what's your voting plan?

Photo of an absentee ballot from Hennepin County, Minnesota.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jun 25

More water-cooled #Zürich spaces during this heat dome.

Stone Wall along a channelized river shaded by an enormous tree. People are sitting on the wall. There's a stairway down to the water with several puddles from folks getting out of the water

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jun 24

Staying cool in #Zürich during the European heat wave. The shade of pedestrian walkway through the old moat and sitting with your feet in the cool water goes a long way towards staying cool.

A placid, shallow, mostly shaded canal lined by a tall stone wall on the left and a stone walkway lined with seated people, many with their feet resting in the water, on the right.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jun 22

Trail on #Zürich 's Uetliberg

A path lined by two rows of very tall, perfectly symmetrical and perfectly conical pine trees.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jun 21

I got to watch the building next door getting stuccoed. The result is flawless.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jun 20

When a train is canceled in Switzerland, they create an alternative - and communicate it audibly, in transit apps and on station signage. Just as gridded streets handle surprises better than a few connector streets serving cul-de-sacs, the dense network accommodates disruptions.

Train station platform real-time signage. The second of 4 trains is canceled. Underneath that train are detailed directions for an alternative.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jun 17

Jeg er #sykkelaktivist og tar min første tur til #Oslo på 15 år. Vil noen vise meg hva som har blitt bedre siden sist jeg var i byen? Jeg er der i midten av juli.

En gjeng barn son sykkler med sikkerhetsvester på en skjønn sykkelsti.

Janne K. Flisrand@jannefrommpls· Jun 16

This totally new apt building in the Zurich suburbs shouts 1970s to me. Am I alone?