Tuesday 30 September 2014

Free Food, Cultural Evening & A Midnight Hike


I am very much 'in like' with Oslo. The big 'L' word is trembling on the edge of my lip... but I'll hold out on it for a few more days at least! I've been here for seven weeks now, and there has never been a boring day - the last few weeks are no exception!!


I only have classes on Tuesday and Wednesday here (I planned that), so my weekend starts at 7pm on Wednesday when my Norwegian class gets out. That evening, my favourite Finns (Käti and Pekka) invited me to a bonfire-BBQ-gathering-thing in Sognsvann, which is the big lake right near Kringsjå. I have to admit that I still haven't actually been up there during the day but I've at least seen it at night (there was an incredible full Moon)! I met American Andrew, we ate marshmallows roasted on the bonfire and I got to try German stickbread (you literally cook it on a stick over the bonfire) which was fab! I think that is the sort of thing I dreamed of doing as a child, and now it's becoming a reality for me - pretty great.

Super duper excited for free food
On Friday, I headed to the Matstreif food festival with the beautiful Finns, super-sporty German Julia, Australians Angus & Lipi, American Andrew, Mountain Goat Gavin and a couple of new faces too. It's no secret that Oslo is a fairly expensive place to live, so filling up on all the freebies at the food festival was excellent! There was a massive variety of meats (I have now tried elk and reindeer), tons of fish (they really like their raw salmon over here), a LOT of cheese (my favourite thing!) and potatoes, soup, yoghurt, carrots... everything, really.

Outside the Nobel Peace Centre
Friday evening was the annual Cultural Night in Oslo - basically, a ton of places open their doors to the public for a few hours, for free. We decided to go to the Freia chocolate factory to stock up on cheap(er) chocolate bars (I highly recommend 70% with mint... mmm!), stopped by the Town Hall to gaze at the pretty art (you could also wait to go up to the top of the buidling which is known to have a good view of Oslo, but that queue was about 1.5 hours so we decided against it) and finally took a whirlwind tour of the Nobel Peace Centre - I definitely want to go back there and explore it more fully as there were so many things to read.

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, we had heard that the Northern Lights were meant to be visible in Oslo so we decided to hike up Vettakollen at midnight! I use the word 'hike' loosely as I can now appreciate that that was an absolute walk in the park compared to Kjerag. It took us about an hour from the entrance of Sognsvann to the top of the hill and it was huge fun - the whole crew from earlier on was there, plus Imke (another beautiful German girl), Tajda (Slovenian super-fit chick who killed me in the gym that time) and Tajda's flatmate. Of course, when we got to the top it was cloudy and there were no Northern Lights to be seen (the whole day had been clear blue skies - typical) but the nighttime view of Oslo was amazing, the Moon looked super spooky, and the company was great, so I couldn't really have asked for more. We stayed until 3am and I was back in my flat at 4am. I would do it again in a heartbeat... and maybe take a sleeping bag next time!

Midnight snacks for the midnight hike 

Glorious weather at Aker Brygge (I was overdressed) 
Saturday was pretty relaxed by comparison - a bunch of us forayed into the chaotic food festival once more where I tried my favourite sample; a cracker, camembert cheese and sweet chilli sauce. Delicious! Then I purchased a really yummy (& expensive) combo of mango sorbet and raspberry ice cream, before we all collapsed on a grassy area in Aker Brygge, enjoyed the sunshine (perfectly clear skies again - typical) and dreamt up the lives of the rich people on their huge yachts.

All in all, a lovely weekend. There is always something to do and somewhere to go in Oslo, it amazes me - you'd never know it was such a tiny city!

Sunday 14 September 2014

Hiking to Kjerag

Last weekend, a group of friends and I headed to Lysefjorden to hike to the Kjeragbolten. This was the first time I've got out of Oslo into Norway!

The group of us made 7 altogether:
  • Julia (German, blonde, beautiful, sporty)
  • Imke (German, blonde, beautiful, sporty)
  • Käti (Finnish, blonde, beautiful, sporty) (do you recognise a trend here yet?)
  • Pekka (Finnish, blonde, handsome, sporty)
  • Angus (Australian, blonde-ish, handsome, sporty)
  • Gavin (Canadian, brunette!, handsome, sporty)
  • And... me. (English, brunette, alright on a good day, the least sporty person to ever have lived in Norway, ever) (I'm not even joking, I regularly see 80 year old ladies sporting their trainers and hiking stick things as they run off somwhere)

A spiffing group of ladies and gents
It was a bit of a trek to get there from Oslo - we hired 2 cars, left at 5pm on Friday and got to our accommodation in Brokke after 10.30pm. On Saturday morning it was another 2 hours to get to the hike from Brokke (although admittedly we did have an accidental ~30 minute detour because the sat nav lied to us). The scenery was beautiful - mountains, forests, lakes and sheep everywhere! I wasn't a massive fan of some of the roads though which had crazy twists and turns (this is a pretty accurate depiction) - nice to look at, but not so pleasant to actually drive on without inducing the need to vomit.

We hired a 10 person cabin in Brokke (Furestøyl 19) as originally we thought there would be 9 of us, and it was pretty amazing, I could happily live there. We all agreed that we wished we had more time to enjoy it but the only thing it was missing was a jacuzzi!! (We're scratching that itch with another cabin trip for the end of October, though.) The kitchen in particular was excellent for the preparation of our pre- and post-hike pasta feasts - what else could you possibly want?
 
I certainly didn't appreciate this graph before setting out
Now: the hike. My preconceptions of hiking have been based on the fact that in South West England, you get a few undulating hills but otherwise it's basically flat (AKA, it's more of a walk than a hike). I had a small concern that the hike was described as 'demanding' and 'for experts' online, and my friend Bee (who is currently traveling around Europe in a van) warned me that Norwegians don't mess around when they say something is physically demanding - I didn't listen.

When we started the hike, it was raining. And windy. And misty. That made the first hill (mountain?) really fun to go up, because the first hill (no, really, it was more like a mountain) is extremely steep, and to make it better, the rocks you are walking on are huge and extremely smooth. It's kind of hard to grip rocks like that in the rain! Luckily at some parts there are chains drilled into the rocks for you to hold on to - I am about 400% sure that if they weren't there, I would've fallen down the hill and broken my face. (Also, thank you Pekka from stopping me from slipping once, too!). At the top of that incline I genuinely thought that I might be dying - my heart, and for that matter, my legs, have certainly never worked that hard before!

Midway up the first hill, breathing hard already
This is when I discovered that 'hiking' means that after barely managing a crazy vertical rock-climb, you have to go downhill again. And then uphill... and so on. So, I got down that hill, and I almost quit right there when I stared in horror at the next uphill section. Luckily, the girls that I was with are some of the best people alive and were incredibly understanding and basically acted as my own personal cheerleaders for the rest of the hike - they literally cheered for me at points. They are excellent humans.


'This is a pretty valley' I thought, whilst trying to avoid thinking about the next bloody hill

Admittedly, the next two inclines were a whole lot easier than that first one, anyway - the first uphill is the longest and steepest by far; the second has a fair bit of grassy/muddy areas where it's easier to dig your feet in so you don't slip; and the third, though mainly huge rocks and a bit slippy again, is relatively short compared to the first and also has handy chains to help you along.

A decent view
It felt like it took at least 6 hours and a week's worth of effort but in reality, it took us about 1 hour 45 to get to the Kjeragbolten (they recommend 2.5-3 hours, I must secretly be a pro)! Oh man, seeing that rock for the first time was a great moment - the realisation that I could actually hike up some crazy hills and not die was pretty great. I'm not sporty at all and my affair with the gym has only been going on for a few weeks, so I was really proud of myself for getting there and only slipping a handful of times (and not breaking my face).

Of course, after all that I HAD to get a picture of myself on the Kjeragbolten! I'm not scared of heights so that didn't worry me and by that point the rain had stopped, but it was extremely windy on that rock. My mother was not best pleased when she saw the photo - sorry Mum!


This was the actually the
easiest hill of all the hills
We stayed there for about an hour, getting photos and eating a bit of lunch and whatnot before heading back. The journey back felt much easier, although I think we actually slipped more on the way back. I must admit, it felt pretty good to see the guys slipping too, particularly as Gavin informed me he is basically a pro-hiker that lives in the Canadian mountains all year round (fact: he is actually half mountain goat - I witnessed him leaping up the vertical side of the hill like a crazy person). The rain also stopped on the way back and the clouds lifted, which was nice.

So - in total it was 5 hours (with a 1 hour break, so really 4 hours) and 8.8km (it doesn't sound like much, unfortunately distance does not account for the fact that I essentially climbed up Mount Olympus). I didn't die! My legs hurt for three days afterwards and a week later I still have bruises from slipping countless times, but my face is perfectly intact. That's a success if there ever was one! And, most importantly of all...


 I would TOTALLY do it all again! 

Thursday 4 September 2014

Sightseeing in Copenhagen

Last weekend, I visited Copenhagen. The main reason for this was to see my sister who was on holiday there, and to meet her fiancé and his family (all who are really lovely!), but we managed to fit in a whole load of tourist stuff too! I thought I would recap the best bits here.


Bus & Canal Tour.

We bought dual tickets for a Hop on Hop off bus and boat tour (with a 10% student discount!) that took us around Copenhagen with an audio guide, and gave us the freedom to jump off wherever we fancied it. We actually went around all the routes that were offered and there is probably no better way to see a city in a short space of time! I particularly liked the boat tour and seeing areas from the water (instead of the busy streets!) such as Nyhavn, the Carlsberg factory, Kastellet fortress, the Little Mermaid, the Opera House, Trekroner Fort and tons more.



Strøget Shopping Street.

We stayed at the Palace Hotel for a night which was perfectly situated to strolling up and down this street! We didn't do much shopping but it was just as interesting to people watch, window-shop at Georg Jenson and Louis Vuitton, watch (or avoid) some of the more interesting street entertainers, and also to see the huge Lego store (I didn't realise such a thing even existed). There's also a Hotel Chocolat there which we graced with our presence a couple of times!



Amalienborg Palace.

AKA, "that one with the horse statue in the middle". This is where some of the Danish royals live and it was (of course) very nice and, inside, quite grand. We went into the museum there which was very interesting and taught me a lot about the Danish royal family, as well as showcasing certain studies and sitting rooms as they were when the specific King/Queen was living in them - quite interesting to see how fashions have changed. I have heard that it is not half as impressive as Kronborg Castle, though, which I would like to visit in the future.



National Museum.

This was great! We spent just a couple of hours there (I would spend all day in a history museum if given the chance) and wondered through the main exhibits on life in the Viking ages. It was really fascinating and I couldn't believe the age of some of the artifacts, including an Aurochs skeleton from 8300BC, the body of a woman preserved perfectly by a peat bog (she was originally placed there as a sacrifice to the gods c.1400BC, I think), and a bunch of runestones. It was super interesting!



Christiania.

Described as the 'hippy freetown' that follows it's own rules, I originally thought that the ideal that Christiania was founded upon in the 1970s sounded quite nice. In reality, when we visited, I realised that it was just where people went to buy and smoke marijuana - there was nothing special about it at all, just a bunch of drug users lazing around and not contributing to society. I was really disappointed by Christiania and it strikes me as a complete waste of space! Especially as there is a rather lovely lake situated right there.


Copenhagen Zoo.

Not the best zoo I've ever been to, but fun for a few hours! The penguins and bears were particularly cute and entertaining. However, the zoo staff had also strung up and were skinning a dead impala in front of a bunch of children which I found very disturbing (not something I would want my future children to see!) and definitely put a bit of a dampener on the visit.



Other Thoughts...

Although I was a bit wary of Copenhagen on the first day (being sworn and shouted at by cyclists will do that - oops - I'm a tourist and I was just getting on the bus!) it definitely grew on me. It's very different to Oslo. There were people everywhere (and by that I mean they were all getting in my way) and it was surprisingly expensive to be a tourists there (moreso than living in Oslo!). I loved just walking around Nyhavn and Gammel Strand and taking in the atmosphere. Although I still prefer Oslo, I would definitely go back at some point!