Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

The Last Lunch

Sunday, August 10th, 2008

661Along with most of the rest of our belongings, the baby carrier will be picked up by the sipping company tomorrow so we decided that, despite the rain, we would take our last family walk in the Nordmarka. We drove up to a deserted Frognerseteren this morning and walked to Skjennungstua for lunch. Having seen only a couple of people on the way there we were a bit concerned that the hut might be closed but we needn’t have worried – it was doing a brisk business when we arrived. The Norwegians are obviously late risers at the weekend as we could probably have sold our parking space when we arrived back at Frognerseteren!

Oslo Tourism

Friday, August 8th, 2008

655With some of my vacation still to go we decided to be tourists in Oslo for 24 hours by purchasing an Oslo Pass. This entitles you to free entry to a whole raft of local attractions. Many we have already visited on previous visits to Oslo so the following is not a definitive list of Oslo’s greatest attractions.
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Back over the mountains

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

646Sogndal was our decision point: should we continue north to Geiranger or start the journey eastwards back toward home. Geirangerfjord is supposed to be perhaps one of the most impressive fjords in Norway but we decided that we were all fjorded out and opted to take the tourist road over the mountains to Lom instead. This route is definitely worth making part of your itinerary – particularly when the sun is out as it was for us. The views across the Jotunheimen mountain range were stunning.

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Trains and (more) fjords

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

637Next stop from Bergen was Gudvangen where we were staying at Gudvangen Camping in another hut. Sat on the balcony of our accommodation we had a great view of the waterfalls tumbling down the cliff face opposite – all the more so when the sunshine was replaced by an impressive thunderstorm in the evening. It was hard to believe that the road we looked out over was the main route from Oslo to Bergen, particularly as the traffic seemed mainly to consist of empty tour buses!

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In and around Bergen

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

622Our first choice for accommodation on the outskirts of Bergen had fallen through and we picked Riplegården Sommerpensjon in a bit of a rush. We were a bit dismayed when the guy showing us around proceeded to tell us not to leave our car up the road otherwise the windows would get smashed and about the drug addicts they had to throw out in the winter. It also transpired that most of the accommodation was taken by long term residents so, poised ready to leave, we waited to see who came home from work. As it turned out, everyone was very nice and, although in need of a good clean, the pensjon actually made a good base for our four night stay in Bergen and did, as promised, have a good view over the fjord from the balcony.
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Mountains and fjords

Saturday, July 26th, 2008

616Having waved goodbye to Christine’s Mum at Geilo station the next leg of our journey took us away from the railway and up on to the Hardangervidda plateau. Perhaps due to the bright blue skies overhead it didn’t look quite as bleak and barren as I had imagined it to be. It was a pleasant enough drive though with some nice white peaks in the distance and the odd glacier to add to the scenery.

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Sunny start to holiday

Thursday, July 24th, 2008

610We had always planned to take some time off to explore Norway towards the end of our stay here and, with practically no-one left in Oslo to work with, the end of July seemed like a good time to go. We had thought about getting the train across to Bergen but practicality prevailed and we decided to drive the hire car across. We still intended to make the most of scenery though by taking the R7 throught the Hardangervidda.

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Weekend in Oslo

Sunday, July 13th, 2008

595We’ve had a fairly quiet weekend at home in Oslo. Christine was sick on Thursday night (food poisoning we reckon although we’re not quite sure from what) and was still recovering. We just went in to town yesterday. We started out at the playground in Aker Brygge although Emma largely ignored this and just walked her buggy up and down instead. Next stop was the tourist information office in the hope that they would help us decide on the route for our summer trip to the west coast. Strangely enough, although very nice, they couldn’t really help in our general indecision between having a relaxing few weeks and cramming in the sights. We walked back home via Frognerparken as the sun was shining by this point.

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