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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 🙂

Oslomarka

Oslomarka

As of a week ago, I live in Oslo! I have tons of photos waiting to be blogged about – from various trips around Tromsø and the long road trip from Tromsø to Oslo – but first some photos from today’s bike ride through Oslomarka (the forest around Oslo).

I started with a long climb – about 14 km of climbing, 450 m up. It was very doable though, and the weather was perfect: sunny but not too warm and a nice breeze. I was proud to see how far down Oslo was when I turned around at some point 🙂

Looking back to Oslo after a long climb Small lake

My destination for the day was the lake Skjennungen – a very pretty place where I enjoyed a long lunch break 🙂

My destination: Skjennungen - beautiful place!

From there it was basically downhill all the way, lots of fun!

I loved the skies today Lots and lots of forest

I couldn’t go too fast though, as there were lots of people around – with strollers, with kids on bikes, there were almost traffic jams sometimes. But who cares, everyone was in a good mood and I stopped for another break in the sun at a small lake nears Sognsvann, before cycling back into Oslo.

Starting the long downhill back to Oslo Nice place for another break in the sun :)

What a perfect Sunday – I think I’m going to like it here! 🙂