Snippets from Oslo

We rented an apartment in Oslo for three weeks back in March. It’s a fantastic city! A mix of old and new with great connections to forests and lakes by public transport… the best of both worlds. These are a few snippets of the time we spent there.

St. Hanshaugen park was a fifteen minute walk from our apartment. People were out in their lycra, jogging up and down its steep slopes in the ice. There were snowboarders grinding rails during the day and we had a fantastic view over the city. Apparently there is a summer cafe behind this building.

Water froze in the harbour on the day we visited Oslo Opera House — the temperature was -12c. We walked up to the roof of the turquoise building above and then headed indoors to thaw our faces. Unfortunately, I received a call to say my Nan had died while we were in there. Cheering up was in order so we sought out cinnamon buns and hot chocolate. They fix everything, you know.

Rodeløkka is a district known for painted wooden buildings. There aren’t many in central Oslo so we were keen to stop by. Can I live in one of these please!? I’ll take any colour.

Tram stop cat <3 A nicknamed earned from sitting at the tram stop around the corner from our apartment. We found him sitting outside our door one morning and he jumped on my lap for strokes. I grew quite attached to this fur ball after three weeks.

Åpent sold fantastic buns. Skoleboller were the best — a vanilla custard centre with dried coconut sprinkled on top. I always cut it in half and said I would save the rest for later; Scott knew I wouldn’t every time.

Grünerløkka was another great district. Relaxed with lots of tasty restaurants, independent shops and a flea market. It had a nice buzz but wasn’t overcrowded.

We decided to mooch around and just see what we stumbled across on one of the days… which happened to be a kids playground next to a prison!! Norway’s largest prison in fact (approx. 350 detainees).

Scott’s Mum sent us away with these chocolates. We scoffed them on the train back from Nordmarka after a long hike through the snow. I was feeling short on calories so they saved the day.

What do two adults with a strip of LEDs around the bed do? Take zombie photos of course! This was taken on the very last night at an airport hotel. We were sad to be leaving Oslo but the hotel wasn’t great so that made starting the journey home a little easier. The LEDs were fun though!

Need to visit Norway in the Spring or Summer, we’ve only ever been in the Winter. I love it though!

P.S. We made two videos of our time there, part 1 and part 2. They will probably give you a better idea of what Oslo is like.