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A sunny day off

A sunny day off

Today (ascension day) is a day off in Norway. After a period with cold and grey and rainy weather, it seemed spring arrived overnight yesterday – nice warm sunshine :). So we decided to go for a hike in the forest today.

We took the tbane to Frognerseteren with lots of other people with the same idea. We chose a small path away from the main dirt road, and we soon had the forest to ourselves. It was a beautiful hike, with lots of spring flowers. There were still some patches of snow left, and at times the path was muddy and wet, but it was never a problem.

After 8 km and just over 2 hours of walking we reached our destination: Kobberhaughytta. We were sure the cafe would be open, but it wasn’t. So we just had our sandwiches on the jetty near the cabin :).

The lake Kobberhaugtjernet

Lunch break at Kobberhaughytta

We were really craving waffles though, so we had a look at the map and decided to head to Finnerud. We checked their website to make sure they were open and that they served waffles – and with renewed energy we started the short walk to this cabin.

Signs at Kobberhaughytta

This path was covered with the last remaining snow, but never mind – we covered the 2 km to Finnerud in record time: waffles calling!

Still some snow left in the forest

Some strange dangers in the middle of the forest…

Surprising sign in the middle of the forest, but there was indeed a road nearby

We made it to the cabin, it was still open and full of expectation we entered. Only to find they had “sold out” of waffles, as so many people had visited that day. This is so typical Norwegian to me, they have a golden opportunity to make money (a bank holiday which is the first sunny and warm day in a while, is it so hard to guess you will have a lot of visitors?!) but they aren’t prepared. Oh well 😀 they had some other tasty snacks so we still had a nice break in the sunshine.

Finnerud - but where are the waffles?

Afterwards we hiked the gravel road down to Sørkedalen, where there was a shop selling ice cream (yay!) which we ate enjoying the view over the countryside, while waiting for the bus back to the city.

Sørkedalen, funny to find countryside while still in Oslo

We hiked nearly 14 km – a great day! And I hiked in a tshirt and needed sunscreen – it almost felt like summer 😀

A bike ride

A bike ride

Four photos from my bike ride in the forest today. Spring is here, but last week the weather was unusually cold and it even snowed a couple of times (meanwhile in Tromsø it was 17 degrees… crazy!). Yesterday it rained non stop so I was glad when the sun came out again today. I’m excited that the hiking and biking season has started again 🙂

Nedre Blanksjø, a pretty little lake

A female common goldeneye (Kvinand in Norwegian) was diving for food

Svartkulp, a lake near Sognsvann

Cloud reflections

Snow in Oslo

Snow in Oslo

Oslo got another fresh layer of snow last weekend, and when the sun came out on Saturday I just had to go for a walk through the snowy city 🙂 I ended up in Vigelandsparken, which I had never seen in the snow before – it was so pretty!

I am trying something new with my blog – instead of the small thumbnails they are now much bigger. You can still click on them for an even larger version with a caption though 🙂

The snowy streets of Oslo

Even the sculptures were freezing ;)

Low sun in Vigelandsparken

Sculpture in Vigelandsparken

The central group of scultures with the monolith

Vigelandsparken in the snow - so pretty!

I love those gates

Frozen toes both for me and this sculpture ;)

As the sun was setting...

I discovered a group of baby sculptures that I had never seen before!

The ducks were a bit restless and didn't have much open water

Leaving the park, time to go home

On Sunday I joined Teresa and her family at Korketrekkeren (the corkscrew) which is a 2 kilometer long tobogganing track. When you reach the bottom of the track, you can take the subway back to the top! They have sleds for rent at two different places (near Frognerseteren station). It was so much fun!! The only problem was that there were LOTS of people on a sunny Sunday afternoon, which caused queues and crashes 😉

I had brought my ski’s with me, and after watching the fantastic sunset, I skied the lit skitrack from Frognerseteren to Sognsvann via UllevÃ¥lseteren (10 km, mostly – but not only 😀 – downhill)

Sunset view of the Oslofjord

Sunset panorama from Frognerseteren

Beautiful pink sky!

Incredible twilight colours on the lit skitrail from Frognerseteren

So pretty...

Father and son skiing through a Christmas card

 

This was my first ski trip in Oslo, and I loved it! Looking forward to more 🙂