School bread, skiing and snow
So, while I was working in America I made a whole lot of friends from all over the world. One of my friends, and the first friend I made that I didn't work or live with, was Helene from Norway.
We met on a training day, and we were the only two that didn't have anyone else there that we knew, so we paired up, and the rest is history really!
We kept in touch while I was back in NZ and she was in Norway (or Wales, where she studies), and when I knew I was coming to the UK I messaged her to see if I could catch up with her while she was in Wales.
She came back with one better, and said I should visit her when she was back home in Norway over the Easter break.
So, me being me, booked the flights as soon as I could.
Helene and her family were nice enough to let me stay with them for the whole time I was in Norway (thank god because dam that country is expensive...)
So, the time I spent there, I tried to do as much as I could, try as much food as I could and basically do anything that was slightly "Norwegian"
The first day I basically had a buffet for breakfast - all the typical Norwegian breakfast food, and lets just say I preferred some of it over others...
Included was Danish marmalade, a dark chocolate spread, homemade jam with 'brown cheese' (goats cheese, kinda mild, very creamy, very tasty), liver pate with sliced cucumber on top, and finally boiled eggs with caviar paste.
Obviously this wasn't all together, but it was all eaten on bread... Here's photos for your enjoyment (?)
Day 1 was a trip into Oslo. It's a very cute, quiet city with stunning buildings and trams running through it.
We walked around the city, I tried school bread (it was something they sold in the Norwegian pavilion in EPCOT, and the Norwegians all said how it wasn't 'proper' school bread, so I obviously had to try the 'real' stuff, and its safe to say the Disney stuff has NOTHING on the Norwegian stuff)
We saw the castle, and personally I'd say it was more of a palace, but still stunning, and complete with guards in fancy uniforms with funny hats (a must it would seem for any European royal residence)
We went to a public garden that inexplicably had a very large number of statues that were, for some reason, all nude... That made for an interesting stroll through the park..
Possibly my favourite area was the Opera House - a really modern building that looked almost out of place in the city, but the architecture was mesmerising, and you could walk all over the building (literally, you could walk onto its roof), so the views of the water (I'm not really sure if it was a harbour or the ocean or what, so we're just going for the generic 'water' to play it safe..)
One day we visited a place called "The Worlds End" with Helene's sister and friend. We took hotdogs and grilled them for lunch, and the view was STUNNING, but very very very cold. You could tell I was the only non-Norwegian, because while the others were wearing a jumper, or a t-shirt, I was in a knee length padded coat (thanks to Helene's mum for lending it to me - literal life saver) and a scarf.
(In true me fashion I'm just going to dump photos because I don't know what else to write lol)
Later in the week we went to their family caravan in a place called Haglebu (pronounced like Hah-glee-boo) which is north-west of Oslo.
The drive there was beautiful - I'm talking frozen lakes, rivers with snow on the banks, rock cliff-faces, just stunning!
The camper site was no less stunning, there was a little cabin-like pub, a huge mountain (this bugger will re-appear shortly...) and ski-fields.
Day one saw me try my hand at cross country skiing. Helene's Dad had told me that there was a saying that "All Norwegians are born with skis on their feet". I wasn't optimistic about my ability to blend in with them.
I was right to doubt myself. I legit can't remember the last time I tried to ski, and the last time I strapped things to my feet and was let loose on some snow was 6 years ago when I attempted to snowboard.
So with that history in mind, please imagine me trying to move on skis on a flat surface. That stuff is HARD. I'm not one for going for walks, or skiing, so put them together and it's safe to say it's not a pretty sight. Mainly because I was on my butt more than I care to admit. I honestly did better than I thought I would, but it definitely confirmed that I'm not a fan of skiing (although it was a fab experience and I really did enjoy it - despite how it might have sounded...)
After all that, we went to the pub for the quiz (an annual thing at easter time apparently). Now we all know I love a quiz, but I can't say I was any help on this particular one, seeing as all the questions were in Norwegian, and mostly about Norway..)
The next day, I did something few of you would've believed if it wasn't for the fact that I have photographic evidence (mainly so I can prove to everyone that I actually did it.)
I CLIMBED A MOUNTAIN.
I'm not talking about a lil cute 'mountain'. I'm talking a full on, snow covered, tall, big mountain.
It was very cool, and at times kinda scary (shuffling down a mountain side covered in snow with a drop off the edge, and having to hold on to the snow because it was so steep was slightly stressful - soz mum)
Keeping this in mind, I actually enjoyed the walk up a bit more than the walk down. Turns out that snow what was hard and easy to walk on in the morning gets soft during the day and means you fall over every third step because suddenly the snow is up to you knee (or in some cases, hip) and you kinda just sit there for a second with one foot above the snow and the other deep under and try to figure out how to stand up without just falling over again...
Because of the constant falling over in soft snow, we took to sliding down the slopes on our butts, which was all fun until I realised how hard it was to stop as I was plummeting down the mountain.. still fun tho.
Here's a photo dump because I don't know what else there is to tell you about the mountain I climbed (yes I'm saying it again because can guarantee it's not happening again any time soon)
So all in all, Norway was amazing!
It's such a beautiful country (even if it is v v v expensive) and I definitely want to go back and see more of the country, but for an intro it was so incredible! And it was so lovely to see Helene again after almost a year!
So, until next time!
We met on a training day, and we were the only two that didn't have anyone else there that we knew, so we paired up, and the rest is history really!
We kept in touch while I was back in NZ and she was in Norway (or Wales, where she studies), and when I knew I was coming to the UK I messaged her to see if I could catch up with her while she was in Wales.
She came back with one better, and said I should visit her when she was back home in Norway over the Easter break.
So, me being me, booked the flights as soon as I could.
Helene and her family were nice enough to let me stay with them for the whole time I was in Norway (thank god because dam that country is expensive...)
So, the time I spent there, I tried to do as much as I could, try as much food as I could and basically do anything that was slightly "Norwegian"
The first day I basically had a buffet for breakfast - all the typical Norwegian breakfast food, and lets just say I preferred some of it over others...
Included was Danish marmalade, a dark chocolate spread, homemade jam with 'brown cheese' (goats cheese, kinda mild, very creamy, very tasty), liver pate with sliced cucumber on top, and finally boiled eggs with caviar paste.
Obviously this wasn't all together, but it was all eaten on bread... Here's photos for your enjoyment (?)
Day 1 was a trip into Oslo. It's a very cute, quiet city with stunning buildings and trams running through it.
We walked around the city, I tried school bread (it was something they sold in the Norwegian pavilion in EPCOT, and the Norwegians all said how it wasn't 'proper' school bread, so I obviously had to try the 'real' stuff, and its safe to say the Disney stuff has NOTHING on the Norwegian stuff)
We saw the castle, and personally I'd say it was more of a palace, but still stunning, and complete with guards in fancy uniforms with funny hats (a must it would seem for any European royal residence)
We went to a public garden that inexplicably had a very large number of statues that were, for some reason, all nude... That made for an interesting stroll through the park..
Possibly my favourite area was the Opera House - a really modern building that looked almost out of place in the city, but the architecture was mesmerising, and you could walk all over the building (literally, you could walk onto its roof), so the views of the water (I'm not really sure if it was a harbour or the ocean or what, so we're just going for the generic 'water' to play it safe..)
One day we visited a place called "The Worlds End" with Helene's sister and friend. We took hotdogs and grilled them for lunch, and the view was STUNNING, but very very very cold. You could tell I was the only non-Norwegian, because while the others were wearing a jumper, or a t-shirt, I was in a knee length padded coat (thanks to Helene's mum for lending it to me - literal life saver) and a scarf.
(In true me fashion I'm just going to dump photos because I don't know what else to write lol)
Later in the week we went to their family caravan in a place called Haglebu (pronounced like Hah-glee-boo) which is north-west of Oslo.
The drive there was beautiful - I'm talking frozen lakes, rivers with snow on the banks, rock cliff-faces, just stunning!
The camper site was no less stunning, there was a little cabin-like pub, a huge mountain (this bugger will re-appear shortly...) and ski-fields.
Day one saw me try my hand at cross country skiing. Helene's Dad had told me that there was a saying that "All Norwegians are born with skis on their feet". I wasn't optimistic about my ability to blend in with them.
I was right to doubt myself. I legit can't remember the last time I tried to ski, and the last time I strapped things to my feet and was let loose on some snow was 6 years ago when I attempted to snowboard.
So with that history in mind, please imagine me trying to move on skis on a flat surface. That stuff is HARD. I'm not one for going for walks, or skiing, so put them together and it's safe to say it's not a pretty sight. Mainly because I was on my butt more than I care to admit. I honestly did better than I thought I would, but it definitely confirmed that I'm not a fan of skiing (although it was a fab experience and I really did enjoy it - despite how it might have sounded...)
After all that, we went to the pub for the quiz (an annual thing at easter time apparently). Now we all know I love a quiz, but I can't say I was any help on this particular one, seeing as all the questions were in Norwegian, and mostly about Norway..)
The next day, I did something few of you would've believed if it wasn't for the fact that I have photographic evidence (mainly so I can prove to everyone that I actually did it.)
I CLIMBED A MOUNTAIN.
I'm not talking about a lil cute 'mountain'. I'm talking a full on, snow covered, tall, big mountain.
It was very cool, and at times kinda scary (shuffling down a mountain side covered in snow with a drop off the edge, and having to hold on to the snow because it was so steep was slightly stressful - soz mum)
Keeping this in mind, I actually enjoyed the walk up a bit more than the walk down. Turns out that snow what was hard and easy to walk on in the morning gets soft during the day and means you fall over every third step because suddenly the snow is up to you knee (or in some cases, hip) and you kinda just sit there for a second with one foot above the snow and the other deep under and try to figure out how to stand up without just falling over again...
Because of the constant falling over in soft snow, we took to sliding down the slopes on our butts, which was all fun until I realised how hard it was to stop as I was plummeting down the mountain.. still fun tho.
Here's a photo dump because I don't know what else there is to tell you about the mountain I climbed (yes I'm saying it again because can guarantee it's not happening again any time soon)
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| lunch at the top - hot cocoa, bread with pate and cucumber, and a 'quick lunch' - basically a norwegian kit-kat |
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| that heart kinda looking rock in the middle, that lil guy was my rock |
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| frozen pond at the peak |
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| this is how steep it was. that's no fancy camera angle |
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| The three of us (Helene, Kristine and me) on the way back down |
It's such a beautiful country (even if it is v v v expensive) and I definitely want to go back and see more of the country, but for an intro it was so incredible! And it was so lovely to see Helene again after almost a year!
So, until next time!
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