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Author: Hanneke

I started my first blog when I left the Netherlands (my home country) for an internship in Alaska in 2004, to keep my friends and family updated on my adventures over there. Little did I know it would be more than 13 years before I'd move back to the Netherlands! I spent a year in Toulouse (France) before starting a PhD in meteorology at the University of East Anglia in Norwich (UK) in 2005. That's when I started this current blog, first in Dutch but I soon switched to English. I really enjoyed life in the UK, and was actually planning to stay there after my PhD, but "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" and I ended up moving to Tromsø in Northern Norway in 2009. Tromsø is a photographer's dream, surrounded by spectacular mountains, with the light ever changing from the midnight sun in summer to the dark days compensated by aurora-filled nights in winter. I learnt Norwegian and got a job as a weather forecaster - I got thrown in at the deep end, doing radio interviews and speaking with fishermen with way-too-strong dialects straight from the beginning, before I was anywhere near fluent in Norwegian :D I survived though, and slowly started to do some research on the side. I got more and more involved in research projects and in August 2015 I moved 2000 km south, to Oslo where I started working 100% as a researcher. A year after moving to Oslo, I met Michiel at a music festival in Brussels :) and we started to travel very frequently between Oslo and Rotterdam, where he lives. You can't do that forever though, and I soon realized I found the perfect "excuse" to finally move back home, something I had been considering many times before. So since July 2017, I'm living in Rotterdam! I'm actually taking some time off before finding a new job, and I'm looking forward to lots of adventures in the near future - so stay tuned!
Exploring Oslo

Exploring Oslo

Last weekend Chanita was here, and for 3 days we explored Oslo on foot. We walked a LOT and saw a LOT – many things were new for me too. The weather was a bit grey unfortunately, so I didn’t feel inspired to drag my heavy SLR with me. Instead I took a lot of photos with my iPhone, and I turned them into a gallery. You can see captions if you move the mouse over the photo, and you can also click to enlarge.

So where did we go? The Royal Palace, exciting Tjuvholmen (a new area full of art and modern architecture), Oslo City Hall, Oslo Opera House, Akershus fortress, the Barcode, Ekebergparken, Akerselva, Mathallen and Damstredet. I think the only thing missing in the photos is Vigelandspark, which Chanita visited on Monday morning while I was at work.

Enjoy!

Mustadkroken

Mustadkroken

Last weekend I unexpectedly went on a hiking weekend with DNT (the Norwegian Tourist Association). I had tried to sign up for this trip earlier, but it was full. Thursday at 22:30 I got an email saying a place had become available. I decided to take it 🙂 so I left work a bit early on Friday to buy some food and pack my backpack.

We took the bus to Sollihøgda, about 45 minutes outside of Oslo. It was only 2.5 km to the cabin which took about 45 minutes. We hiked at sunset, with very pink skies! At the cabin we met the part of the group who took an earlier bus. We were 28 in total, all between 25-40 years old 🙂

Mustadkroken can only be rented by groups. It has power (but not running water), and it’s the nicest DNT cabin I’ve ever seen on the inside, with proper sofa’s and a nice kitchen – this was designed by a student project some years ago.

We had a nice social dinner, and then went to bed relatively early as we would start a long day of hiking at 08:30 the next morning.

Sunrise on Saturday…

Mustadkroken at sunrise on Saturday Mustadkroken - someone is waiting for winter ;)

We hiked all Saturday in beautiful sunshine, through fantastic autumn scenery. Partly on small paths, partly on a dirt road until we got to Kleivstua where we stopped for lunch.

On the Kongeveien (King's road), which was the road between Oslo and Bergen a long time ago Arriving at Kleivstua, where we had lunch

From there we started the hike to our destination for the day.

Philosophy in the forest - notice the peculiar growing tree branch. The sign says: As long as there is life, there is hope. Do not give up. Because then you have lost. When one is very down, there is only one way it can go: namely upwards! On the way from Kleivstua to the viewpoint

Soon we reached our destination, the viewpoint Kongens Utsikt, or the King’s View. A great view indeed! Time for a group photo 🙂

Kongens utsikt - the king's view: a great view indeed! Group photo at the viewpoint :)

More photos of the view, before we hiked back the final 12 km to the cabin. I was in the “fast group” going back, just because I was assigned to cook dinner for everyone that evening, with one other girl. Norwegians walking fast = almost running speed for me 😉 so that was quite a challenge, but I sort of managed to keep up with them.

Looking down at the viewpoint Panorama from higher up the viewpoint

So after 9 hours of hiking (27 km!) I spent 2 hours in the kitchen preparing a taco meal for 28 people. We managed, I was quite proud, but also really exhausted 😀

The next morning was relaxed, we had left over taco’s for breakfast and enjoyed the autumn sunshine.

Half sunken rowing boat near the cabin In front of the cabin in the autumn sunshine

Around noon we hiked back to our starting point. This time it was light and I took some photos of the autumn landscape 🙂 in both photos below you can see the cabin in the distance.

Autumn landscape on the way back - in the distance you can just about see the cabin Zoomed in view of Mustadkroken in the distance

An old shed with a great view, and hiking through the forest.

Fixer upper? On our way through the forest

Arriving back at Sollihøgda…

Arriving back at Sollihøgda

What a weekend! I was quite stiff and tired when I made it home on Sunday afternoon, but I was really happy with the weekend. Such a beautiful trip, and a great way to meet a whole bunch of people with the same interests 🙂

Weekend Walks

Weekend Walks

This weekend we had beautiful autumn weather in Oslo, and I went for long walks in the forest on both Saturday and Sunday 🙂 On Saturday I met up with Marie who I know through my blog and her website Elusive Moose, but I had never met her in person. It was really nice to finally meet her and we spent a wonderful day walking (nearly 18 km!) and we took lots of photos.

We started at Sognsvann, and for a while it was quite cloudy.

Reflections at Sognsvann A small lake along the way

The clouds disappeared though, making the autumn colours look even more spectacular!

Autumn scenery Through the forest

We stopped for a lunch break at Skjennungstua. There are lots of these cosy cabins in the forest, serving food (cinnemon buns!) & drinks.

I loved all the combination of red, white and blue 🙂

Love the colours! A farm we passed along the way

Air Bee & Bee at Frønsvollen, and Batmans house above it. Spectacular clouds too!

Air Bee & Bee - and Batmans house! Dramatic cloud!

Around the farm buildings there were lots of birdhouses, some were quite fancy! The lake in the other photo below is the same one we passed earlier in the day, but now with sunshine and blue sky 🙂

The farm was surrounded by LOTS of birdhouses, like this fancy one The same small lake as earlier today, but now with sunshine and blue sky!

An open (boggy) area in the forest, and three girls enjoying the view towards Holmenkollen.

An open boggy area in the forest Three girls enjoying the view towards Holmenkollen

Fantastic view over Oslo from Vettakollen…

The view over Oslo from Vettakollen

We came back to Sognsvann where we had started this morning, but we decided to explore the “hagekoloni” (allotments-deluxe, all plots have a small cabin on them) nearby. It’s truly a paradise in the city – such cute cottages, flowers and apple trees everywhere.

A rainbow cottage Another photo of the rainbow cottage and its garden

Creative decoration & LOTS of plums – one might have found its way into my mouth 😉

Creative fence, underneath there is an offical warning that birds are nesting between April and October :D LOTS of plums - one might have fallen into my mouth ;)

On Sunday I went hiking with a group of friends / colleagues. We took the bus to Skar, and hiked to Sognsvann via Fagervann. This hike was a lot faster than the photo walk with Marie… I could only just about keep up with the 3 Norwegian girls in the group 😛 so I only took these photos of Fagervann…

Autumn colours at Fagervann More autumn colours at Fagervann - beautiful!

It was another beautiful day though, quite warm in the sunshine too. What a perfect weekend!