Category: Norway

25Aug2010

Oslo part 2

We spent our second day in Oslo in the open air museum or the Norwegian Folk Museum after a breakfast at 7-11. There, there are many buildings from various time periods and districts of Norway and also indoor exhibits. It was a bit kitsch and a tourist trap but also interesting too.

Photograph unavailable in the recovered collection.

Open Air Museum

Then we took the ferry to the castle and caught the last guided tour, since it closed at 16:00. It was interesting but rushed. Afterward, I dragged Hendrik to the Vigeland Sculpture Park since I had seen it on a postcard and it looked like a place where tourists were supposed to go. It houses many statues by Gustav Vigeland and both of us thought it was very cool. The statues were of nude bodies in various positions representing various stages of life and even though they were quite bulky they formed the park and it all flowed together well.

Photograph unavailable in the recovered collection.

Vigeland

After Hendrik took a nap in the grass, under the sun, which we were very pleased had accompanied us the whole day it was that time to find food again which wasn’t going to put us into the poor house. Hendrik had a meal at McDonald’s and I got a salad at a sandwich shop which I ate at the campsite. We still spent about 10 Euros each.

24Aug2010

Oslo

Clemmie Uncategorized

It rained the whole drive up to Oslo, and since we had planned on camping, we were weary of the circumstances. We even put another campsite which offered cabins into our GPS. Right as we entered the vicinity of Oslo, the sky opened and the sun peaked through so we decided we could pitch a tent. We went to the original campsite which was Ekeberg camping and were able to set up our tent right before it started to rain again. Regardless of the dry fluke in the weather, this was far from comfort, but when looking at the price tags of hotels in Oslo, the campsite which was far from cheap for a campsite seemed like the only affordable option. Soon enough we were headed to Oslo on a city bus. It was only about 15 minutes by bus and then we were free to sight-see. After unwillingly paying close to 10 Euros each for a sandwich at 7-11 we went to look at the palace and City Hall including the room in which the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony takes place.

Photograph unavailable in the recovered collection.

Oslo City Hall Nobel Prize room

I was surprised to see that the building along with the statues around it reminded me of Russia and its towering communist structures and massive statues depicting people hard at work.
Afterwords we went shopping again since Hendrik’s shoes were completely soaked from putting up a tent. They were also old and worn and we had planned on going hiking. So he bought himself shoes that could withstand the wet. Clothing was not more expensive than it is in Belgium, but finding food which wasn’t going to be more painful to eat than not to eat even though our stomachs were rumbling because of the price was a challenge. Now this challenge awaited us and we had to find somewhere to eat that wouldn’t bankrupt us. It was about 3 times as much we would pay in Belgium and 5 times as much as the US. We were able to connect to the internet on an unsecured network and looked up the “best deal” restaurants in Oslo on TripAdvisor. The first one was hardly a deal let alone even appropriate price and the second was a real Chinese restaurant, and we prefer the westernized ones. Near it there was a kebab/pizza shop which was relatively decent priced. We both ordered a pizza and it turned out that the pizzas were huge, we both had half left for lunch the next day.

Photograph unavailable in the recovered collection.

Opera House

Afterwords, we wandered around some more and visited the opera house. Oslo was definitely trying to revitalize its harbor, but if they want to succeed in having a Sydney-like harbor they need to get rid of the massive highway that pretty much encircles the opera house. The only way to access it is by pedestrian bypasses over the streets. The Opera House itself is amazing and more impressive than Sydney’s. It stuck out on the harbor like a beacon of light reflecting in the water. The whole thing was encompassed with a relatively flat roof so you could walk all the way to the roof for views of Oslo. People just hung out at the top playing cards and socializing. The inside was pretty neat too. It was very modern and the design did not disappoint.

23Aug2010

Through Sweden

Clemmie Uncategorized

In the morning, we headed straight to Sweden through Malmo over the Øresund bridge, the longest and quite possibly the most expensive highway and railroad bridge in Europe. Unfortunately there wasn’t a place to stop to take pictures of the engineering wonder. Out stop for today was Gothenburg, the second largest city in Sweden. The city seemed to be one big shopping mall and we had never seen so many H&Ms in such close proximity that they all seemed to stream into one gigantic H&M complex engulfing the whole city. No matter which direction we would turn the red H&M sign was sure to be somewhere in sight.
Photograph unavailable in the recovered collection.So we did what everyone else seemed to be doing in the city and went shopping. We had come across rain too often already in our brief stay in Scandinavia, so we decided it was best if we get proper raincoats. We were headed towards a country where it rains more than it doesn’t. We live in Belgium, anyway so I’m sure we’d use them again. After shopping, we ate Indian take away in our room at the B&B we were staying in since it cost quite a bit extra to eat in and oriental food is a little bit cheaper than other kinds of food in Scandinavia.

21Aug2010

Belgium to Denmark

Clemmie Uncategorized

We set off to Denmark in the late morning. The GPS reassured us that the destination was on an unpaved road which is always a good sign when you’re in a foreign country for the first time. We were planning on doing some wild camping, a first for Hendrik and I. A good few hours into the ride we realized we forgot our pillows. A GPS search lead us to an Ikea near Hannover where we bought pillows and had a late lunch/early dinner, people go crazy for their meatballs, Hendrik included. When we crossed the Danish boarder we had to drastically reduce our speed and watched the dark clouds filled with water roll above us. It was going to rain, the question was when.
I had found a park on the internet where people are allowed to camp for free and progressively the GPS lead us through narrower and smaller roads until we reached a muddy unpaved road surrounded by a farm field. Hendrik who has always jumped to the opportunity to drive off road didn’t hesitate for a second and the wheels were pushing through the mud when I said, “won’t we get stuck?” We didn’t, but the road was a bumpy mess but shortly we entered a wooded area with a small parking lot. The continuing road was forbidden for cars so I suggested we set the tent up in a small clearing surrounded by trees steps away from the parking lot. We were able to set the tent up in the quickly dimming light right before it got too dark to do so comfortably.
The night was not pleasant, and I was far too paranoid waiting for the rain and thinking about road pirates to dose off into a long deep sleep. I kept hearing “footsteps” and waves of wind as it passed through the treetops forcing water to fall on our tent tricking me into thinking it was raining.

Photograph unavailable in the recovered collection.

In the heart of the deep dark forest