Welcome to Oslo

Dear friends,

The last part of our trip has arrived... Last but certainly not least we have visited Oslo. The capital and most populous city in Norway was established on 1 January 1838. It was founded around 1048, but the city was largely destroyed by a fire in 1624. Then it was rebuilt and named "Christiania". In 1925 the city reclaimed its original Norwegian name, Oslo.

Oslo is the cultural, scientific, economic and governmental centre of Norway. The city is also a hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping. It is an important centre for maritime industries and maritime trade in Europe. The city is home to many companies within the maritime sector, some of which are amongst the world's largest shipping companies, shipbrokers and maritime insurance brokers.

Bygdøy

Oslo has a large number of parks and green areas within the city core, as well as outside it. We have visited one: Bygdøy. Bygdøy is a huge and green area, known also as "Museum Peninsula" of Oslo. The beautiful location, surrounded by the sea, makes it the most expensive Norwegian district. What a place to live, I was dreaming immediately.

Oslo Pas

Oslo has the world's most extensive metro, including the six-line Oslo Tramway and the eight-line Oslo Commuter Rail. The tramway operates within the areas close to the city center, while the metro, which runs underground through the city center, operates to suburbs further away. We found it was rather expensive to buy tickets for any kind of transport in Norway. Luckily we discovered tha "Oslo Pass". The Oslo Pass provides "free" travel on public transport ans "free" admission to museums and sights. With free I mean you have to pay a fixed price for it, afterwords you can use it as much as you like, for a limited time of course. (Source: http://www.visitoslo.com/en/?cat=49104&page=5)

We were looking forward to experience the Eurosongfestival here in Norway, but unfortunately  the Norwegian entry did not make it to the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. Stella Mwangi and her song "Haba haba" failed to reach the top ten in the First Semifinal in Düsseldorf on Tuesday. :( Too bad. But I must admit, I don't like the song either. (Want to listen to it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0yoSRD83ks)

Stella Mwangi, the Norwegian entry for Eurosong

Within a few days we will be back in Belgium. It think it will be with mixed feelings, because I missed you all very much, but on the other hand I have had such a great time. I will never forget this trip and I recommend to everyone to do something like our trip likewise.

See you soon
xxxxxxx
Marlies

Ps: to mom & dad: I hope you are preparing a welcoming party? ;)

The last week of our trip!

Dear friends

This is the last week of our trip, so we’re almost meeting again! As Leen and Lieze already wrote, this trip is amazing, but we will also be glad to arrive back home!

Monday 16 May

We still have our rented car, so today we drove off to Lillehammer. That’s the capital of the county Oppland, on the banks of the Mjøsa lake, in the East of Norway. Lillehammer has about 25.000 inhabitants.
It was about 5h driving, so we left early in the morning, around 7 o’clock. We arrived around 12 o’clock, so it was eating time!

After our lunch, we went to the tourism office, to get some information about the city and some maps to find our way. I have been here before, but it’s already 4 years ago, so I don’t remember everything. I visited Lillehammer in February, so everything was covered with a white carpet of snow. That’s a completely different view, I didn’t recognize it at all!

After that, we went to our hostel to install us for the last week. We also took a break, because we were tired of the long car trip. In the afternoon, we went to a shop, to buy some drinks and food, to make our own diner at the hostel. We have met three boys of the UK, who are discovering Norway for one month, so they had already seen a lot. They told us where to go and what to visit. After this long talk, we all went to bed.

Ciaaooo ! X

Tuesday 17 May

In 1994, the Olympic Winter Games found place in Lillehammer, so the boys said that we absolutely should see the ‘Norwegian Olympic Museum’. It’s the only museum in Northern-Europe that shows the complete history of the Olympic Games. It all begins from 776 before Christ in the old Greece, until today. It’s the greatest and the most important sports museum in Norway. In total, there are more than 7000 Olympic items to admire!

So this morning, we went to the museum! And indeed, it’s so amazing! I’m glad we visited the museum, for only €5 !

This is the Ski Jump

This is a bobsleigh track

This afternoon we go to Lysgårdsbakkene, the Olympic Ski Jump. I have been there before and really, that view all over Lillehammer, is breath-taking! It’s so high! You can go upstairs with the stairs of 954 steps, or you can choose the chairlift. Of course, we took the stairs J
It’s the most popular place to take pictures and there, they also sell some souvenirs.

Well, this day was passing very fast, so it’s time to go back to the hostel and relax!

See ya tomorrow ! X

Wednesday 18 May

This is the last blog I will post! Then you’ll see me back, guys!

Today was a beautiful day! It was 20 degrees, so we went to the Mjøsa lake. There were plenty of people, just relaxing and sunbathing. We took our picnic with us, because we planned to stay over there for the whole day. We read some books, listened to the music, laughed a lot and enjoyed the sun! I had to be careful with the sun, otherwise I had to go back home like a tomato. J

Tonight, there is a huge BBQ planned at the hostel, together with all the people that are traveling around. So, we have to be on time! The other girls are preparing themselves, so I think I should better do that too.

I can’t wait to see you sweeties!
Still three days!

Lots of love, Charlotte x

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhenp4Szf3U : here you can see a glimpse of the Games!

Amazing Norway!

Friday 13 May 2011

Hi everybody!

We are still continuing our trip but the end is really nearby! We are in Norway, the final country of our trip and next week is already the final one. The feeling is a bit mixed… I am really enjoying this trip and I’m having the time of our life but I’m really, really, really missing home right now! Fortunately, we’re so busy visiting things and discovering different cultures so I don’t think about home all the time.

Today we arrived at Geirangerfjord, a breath-taking fjord on the west coast of Norway. Everywhere you look you see majestic snow covered mountain peaks, there are beautiful waterfalls and the deep blue waters of the fjord are magnificent! In the morning, we made a walk of six hours, all the way to the top of the Dalsnibba, which is 1500 metres high! The track wasn’t easy but all trails are marked and we had a very good map (so no, mum and dad, we didn’t get lost somewhere in the mountains). We passed several waterfalls and believe me, when you’re standing next to them, you feel soooooo small! (And the noice of the splashing water is deafening!)

Aferwards, we went to the Norwegian Fjord Centre, which is only one kilometer from the centre of the village. It’s a gallery about the history of mountains, the fjords and the local people. We also saw a short video about the evolution from mountains to fjords and I immediately felt like I was in secondary school again, in the geography lessons!

For dinner, we went to the Westerås restaurant. It’s a very little restaurant but it has the most spectacular view of the fjord!

Talk to you soon!

Lieze

Saturday 14 May 2011

Today we travelled further to Alesund, a fishing village which has the most important fishing harbour of Norway. 

We visited the Atlanterhavsparken (or just “The Atlantic Sea park”), a very large saltwater aquarium. The park has a surface of 10,000m² so it’s absolutely impossible to see everything. We decided to go first to the saltwater tank, where the fish are fed by divers. Afterwards, we went to a smaller aquarium where we could touch the fish!

In the afternoon, we made a short boat trip and this was the perfect way to discover the whole village. The guide on the boat told us that the village was destroyed by a huge fire in 1900, but it has been rebuilt in a beautiful way.

We spent the rest of the day at the pier, enjoying the beautiful weather and the magnificent vieuw.

Lieze

Sunday 15 May 2011

Hi!

Our first week in Norway has already passed but we have already seen the most beautiful curiosities. Just like today. We went to the archbishop’s palace in Trondheim, which is now a major museum complex. You can still see the archbishop’s workshop, exactly as archaeologists found it. There’s even a chapel at the palace which was open for visitors. We took advantage of this opportunity and we went inside. It was really stunning!

We finished this day by visiting the Nidarosdom. This cathedral is the most sanctuary of Norway so it’s logical that this is a very touristic building. When we arrived, the place was crowded! We didn’t manage to enter into the cathedral, but it’s such a huge building so we could admire the architecture from a distance.

So today was a bit more relaxing but we still had a great time, as alwaysJ

See you soon,

Lieze

Norway: Land of the midnight sun

Hello darlings! ‘Finally’ these are our two last weeks of the trip. Although I am happy to go home and see you all back, I certainly will miss travelling with the girls.

These last weeks we are spending in Norway. This country is different from most other European countries because of the light. During the summer months it does not get dark at night, because then there is a natural phenomenon called the midnight sun. This means that the sun does not set during these months. The duration of the midnight sun depends on how far north you are. At the Arctic Circle, you can see it from 12 June to 1 July, at the North Cape in Finnmark you can see the sun from 14 May to 29 July and at the North Pole the sun does not set for six months.

 

From Monday until Thursday we are going to visit: Stavanger, Skien, Halden and the capital Oslo.

As usual we will post each day a message on our blog.

Kiss!

Monday 9 may 2011: visiting Stavanger

Stavanger is a city and community located in Rogaland county, on a peninsula on the southwest coast of Norway. The climate is maritime mild temperate and rather windy. Winters are cold with temperature averages above freezing but summers are quite pleasant with average high temperatures of 18 °C.

In the second half of the 20^th century, after oil was discovered in the North Sea, Stavanger became one of the most influential and important Norwegian cities. Therefore the city is commonly referred to as the Petroleum Capital. Furthermore is Stavanger the metropolitan area and the administrative centre of Rogaland.

Norway is definitely the place for people who enjoy an active outdoor life, with many places to go and a wide choice of sports. That is one of the reasons why we went climbing with the Norwegian Trekking Association, (in Norwegian: Den Norkse Turistforetning (DNT)). Another reason why we did this was because climbing is the best way to see the fantastic landscape around Stavanger. DNT’s motto is: Nature experiences for life (in Norwegian: “Naturopplevelser for livet”) and I must admit that this is true. In entire my life I have not seen such a breathtaking landscape!

After a whole day climbing, we are very tired and now we are going straight to bed!

Sleep tight and cya tomorrow! –xx-

Tuesday 10 may 2011: visiting Skien

Skien is a city and municipality in Telemark county and is considered to be the seventh largest city in Norway.

This city has three shopping malls, namely:

·         Handelsbyen Herkules (110 stores and services)

·         Arkaden Skien Storsenter (47 stores and services)

·         Lietorvet Senter (28 stores and services)

Logically we went shopping and we bought some presents for you all but I am not going to tell what it is. It has to be a surprise.

Besides shopping we also enlarged our cultural knowledge by visiting the Telemark Museum. It is located in Kleiva, the older part of Skien and was founded in 1909. The farm is part of a large park called “Brekkeparken”.

The main attraction, aside from seasonal exhibits in the main halls of the farm house, is the outdoor museum. Several older houses and farms from Telemark county have been moved from their original location and rebuilt in the park.

It was a quite interesting day but the best part of today was of course going to the shopping malls.

Now we are going to town to have a drink in a bar and probably dance the night away.

Nigthie Night! –xx-

Wednesday 11 may 2011: visiting Halden

Halden is a town and a municipality in Østfold county. The seat of Halden is a border town located at the Tista river delta on the Iddefjord, which is the most southern border crossing between Norway and Sweden.

The city is surrounded by forests and water, so hiking and fishing locations can easily be found. Fruit like raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, wild cranberries but also many varieties of mushroom can be found in the woods in the early autumn. Unfortunately we were here too early to find them, because I really like eating fruit.

Interesting sights in Halden are the canal system, Høiåsmasten and Svinesund bridges.

Høiåsmasten

Høiåsmasten is a TV tower used for FM- and TV-transmission built in 1980. It is one of the tallest, partially guyed, towers in the world and with a height of 320 metres it is the second highest of Norway.

Svinesund is a seaway separating the Swedish municipality of Strömstad from Halden. The Swedish side is extremely popular with Norwegians who buy relatively cheap goods over there, because a large shopping area can be found immediately after crossing one of the two toll bridges. Due to the fact that Norway is not in the EU there are much stricter restrictions on the amount of goods, like alcohol, cigarettes, food, … that can be taken across the border.

We rent a car and drove to the bridge and after taking some pictures, we crossed the seaway to go the shopping area in Sweden. There we had lunch and bought some souvenirs. Afterwards we drove back to Norway to enjoy the rest of the day in downtown Halden.

Svinesund bridge

Thursday 12 may 2011: visiting the capital Oslo

Between the Oslo Fjord and the green hills of Oslomarka lies the Norwegian capital Oslo. The combination of city life and easy access to outdoor activities makes the most populous city of the country a unique destination.

Oslo has a humid continental climate and because of the city's northern latitude, daylight varies enormously: from more than 18 hours in midsummer to approximately 6 hours in midwinter. Because of the Gulf Stream the climate is relatively mild throughout the year. Although the city has pleasantly mild to warm summers with average high temperatures of 20–22 °C, heat waves are common during the summer. The highest temperature ever in Oslo was 35° C. Average low temperatures are around 12 C.

Due to the fjords, the water temperatures can get quite high during long warm periods. During the summer of 2008, the water reached a temperature of 24 C.

Winters are cold and snowy with temperatures between −7 Cup to −1 C. The coldest temperature recorded is −27.1 C in January 1942. Snowfall can occur from November to April but mainly it snows from January through March.

Today we had quite good weather and went to TusenFryd Amusement Park. Here you find attractions for all ages, as well as fun games, great shops and many places to eat. This amusement park features dozens of spectacular rides, including SpinSpider, SpeedMonster, SuperSplash, Nightmare, and ThunderCoaster. The park also features Barnas Fryd, an area especially made for the youngest children. In summer, guests can enjoy BadeFryd, a waterpark with a swimming pool, a swimming river, a triple slide and beach volleyball.

Although I had to overcome my fear of over heels rides, it was a fantastic day. We laughed the lungs out of our body and had the time of our life. It seemed like we were kids again and that felt good.

These four days have been great and we are looking forward to the next 10 days.

C ya 2 morrow ! –xx-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiH4BFTELME this is a link to youtube where you can see the winner of the Eurovision Contest 2009.