Waffles

I love Oslo, we went for a run around the lake on Saturday and it started raining, so, on the way home we stopped at the waffle house next to Sognsvann (the lake) and ate waffles with brown cheese and strawberry jam. So good.

Sunday, we did a tour of the National Gallery which was really really good, the lady was super interesting and had a very interesting face. Then we went to the opera house as it was their open day. Below are pictures from the opera. I realised, this is the first time I have taken my camera out anywhere for ages.

Hopefully we'll all go on a camping trip this weekend.

Philippe

Philippe's Birthday

Was today. Bellow are picture from it. + I made a bløtkake (traditional Norwegian cake i.e. sponge + jam + cream + strawberries) from scratch without an electric mixer and the aid of Anton, Mélanie's boyfriend when my arm got too tired. All in all I think it went quite well.

Decorating the night before with Edgar

Mélanie, Anton & Philppe

Anton + me

The coolest flat (- Hanne who unfortunately had to work)

So, I got stung by a jellyfish

on the face. In Oslo fjord when swimming off Gresshomen (I think). Which is a very pretty island. This is a picture of my face when I got home, unfortunately the image does not do justice to the sensation resulting + you can't really tell, but my cheeks were red and swollen a bit.

Birthday scones

Batch 1

Did not rise, I assume this is because I had plain flour (it was labelled in Norwegian)

Batch 2

I added baking powder but, I added table spoons instead of teaspoons, so they taste like baking powder.

As it is, this is really my first cooking disaster, I did burn rice last night because I was talking to Matt on Skype, but I don't think that really counts.

On another note, Frightened Rabbit are very good. http://www.myspace.com/frightenedrabbit

Stockholm day 3

Mostly just shopping, which is very good in Stockholm as it turns out.

Stockholm day 2

Went to Sansken, this huge open air museum that takes up nearly half the island. It has houses, farms etc. from all over Sweden and from different eras. Also the tour guides are in rooms doing activities that they would have been had they really been there e.g. there was a man making a chair, this girl was playing cards, there was a lady making cheese. Anyway, it was really cool. And they told you about living in that time.

The bellow pictures are from an underground train station. The whole thing is done like this.

Stockholm day 1

So, I mostly took photos on the first day, as I got tired of carrying a camera. The first one is from a picnic mid-way through the bicycle tour of the city. It was pretty sweet, and the lady was nice. Just for something out of the ordinary, I was the only girl. Oh, and there were heaps of Germans and a lot of Scotsmen (in kilts) as there was a Sweden v. Scotland football game. Really very fun all in all.

This, and all the other cool walkway/streets are from Gamla Stan (an island that is the "old town")

Inside the palace

I find it funny that there is a notice at the entrance to my building advertising the teaching of Norwegian that is written in Norwegian.

New church today!

Oslo 5

So, today, despite being utterly freezing for the past two days, it was hot today!

So I did my shopping, there's a little thai shop that is sweet, i.e. it has lentils and rice paper rolls and curry paste etc. that I have not seen anywhere else, since I didn't have any food. Then I caught a train to the National Theatre where they had filled the fountain with bubbles...

... and girls were handing out little cans of Coke.

From here I walked to Aker Brygge where...

...as it turns out there was some sort of multicultural festival on

From here I caught a ferry to Bygdø and went to the beach. As it turns out the beach I was at was a nudist beach (I didn't learn the work "naked" in Norwegian class) and there are clothed beaches on either side, I was just unlucky. So, I went to both of those actually, swam at Paradisbuktd

and then went to Huk to check it out, as the Norwegian girl Hanne who lives here said it was good.

and there was this house out in the ocean, when I have my camera and not just my phone I'll get a better picture.

Then I came home and made fish cake soup, and it worked, which is always a plus.

Today was cold

So in scarf and jacket I went for a walk in the city and stumbled across the palace:

and this building

and then I went to the beach where there was a lot of naked people (hence no photo of the beach and just the rocks below where I was sitting)