Can it be? Has summer really arrived? Currently we are enjoying humid, chilly, and rainy / misting days but in early and mid-May we were gifted with almost two weeks of solid sunshine and warm weather. We had some fun adventures and I have been looking forward to posting about them! The rain at present is pretty lame but the flowers that are out in full force were looking a bit droopy so I am content with the gentle showers as long as we get some more sunny days soon!
In early May Christie and I went over to the Botanical Gardens (last year I posted about the gardens here) and enjoyed a picnic and the warm sun! She is a foodie like me and we first fell to in the kitchen and whipped up some deliciousness before we set forth to conquer our place in the sun. Among the goodies we made was a big and hearty omelet which we devoured right in the kitchen. Cooking is hard work and we must keep our strength up. After we ate the whole omelet we packed up our delicacies and went over to the park for second breakfast. Yes, it’s called embracing your inner hobbit.
We have Earl Grey tea with milk, gluten-free scones with strawberry jam, chicken salad with chips, and paleo key lime pie.
We had set up everything marvelously and were surveying the spread trying to decide what to dig into first or do we want everything at once?, when a security guard came up to us first addressing us in Norwegian, to which he got a blank look, and then in English, telling us we couldn’t sit here. Apparently there was a sign which stated where the picnic spot was which we had gleefully given no notice to as we skipped into the park.
Oops! We carefully packed everything up again, our mouths watering, and set up shop across the little dirt path in the garden. Ok now the feast can begin!
Tea and Bible!
Magical Scones!! They were the best. I haven’t had a proper scone since I went gluten-free over 8 years ago!
Kindred Spirit!
You can’t tell really but there are tiny buds on the trees!
After truly stuffing ourselves we laid down on our blanket and napped. Like babies. It was glorious. It was as if the heat of the sun was calling out the stale dormancy wrung into us from the long winter.
I have found that recovering from winter is a process and the only cure is time in the sun. Seven months without sunshine does things to you. You go crazy. Norwegians are odd and can be considered a cold people but it makes sense. They live in an icebox for the majority of the year. I’d act like an ice cube too. Duh.
Our next adventure happened a week or so later with the arrival of the first warm, sunny day. Austin and I put on shorts, t-shirts, and grabbed our nifty folded picnic blanket and snacks and walked to the bus stop.
We were going to Bygdøy, a nearby peninsula that was crawling with hiking trails and rocky beaches and ice-cream stands. We weren’t the only people who had the same idea. The first bus that arrived was crammed packed. The doors swung open and a couple standing passengers almost fell out with the doors. O-K. It’s a bit crowded today. We considered walking back to an earlier stop along the same route to get on a bus with more room. Eh let’s wait for the next bus. Maybe IT won’t be so crowded.
Sure enough we could squeeze on the next one and found standing room in the middle “bendy” part of the extended bus. We were elbow to elbow but the awkwardness was dissolved by a couple babies with interested expressions and tiny hands that wanted to touch everything as well as grab your fingers. I love how babies are so open in wonderment, even the little Norwegian tikes who haven’t learned they want to fit in are interacting with everyone they meet.
The bus crawled along as it merged into traffic all headed the same direction: Bygdøy. Uh oh will the whole place be crawling with people? Considering the whole population of Norway is the same population of Houston the answer in one word is “impossible”. When we finally made it to the end of the line about half an hour later and everyone dispersed in their own directions as we walked down to the beach. There were a good number of people out enjoying themselves but it didn’t feel cramped. We picked out a spot on the sand and broke out the snacks.
A couple cruise ships passed by accompanied with screams from all the kiddies wading in the frigid fjord water. The heavy boats left a mighty wake that caused the water level to temporarily and quickly rise! Everyone squealed as they hurried out of the rising water, grabbing their plastic toys that were floating off.
We hung out for a couple hours until we started to feel like we had reached that sweet spot with the sun. Just enough to have tanned but not too much that we will be lobsters. Sun kissed not sun smacked. What a beautiful day.
That following week we were out to Bygdøy a total of four times! A couple days later our friend Ina took us on a photoshoot on the beach. She is a photographer and offered us free anniversary pics in exchange for us being her models. It was such fun! We got to dress up and basically do a lot of hugging, laughing, smiling, and smooching while she snapped pictures and we felt like celebrities.
But modeling is hard work. We had to stand in ice-cold fjord water and walk over sharp rocks barefooted to get the perfect shot. But we did it. Because we are dedicated. We got ice-cream at the stand near the bus stop on our way home. Super fun memory! We are waiting for the photos to be processed but once we get them I will post the cutest ones!!
Two days later we wandered out to Bygdøy again in the evening. We brought a portable, disposable grill, and pølser (hot dogs) and cider. It was a little chilly but we set up near some big boulders and were quite cozy until well, we got cold and left. But in the meantime we had some fun with filters and taking pictures. We were the only ones on the beach for a long time. It was pretty special.
Our most recent foray to Bygdøy was that Saturday. We spent a little time on the rocky part of the beach but then went hiking along the ridge overlooking the fjord. We found some beautiful overlooks and enjoyed more leisurely hiking and exploring and snacking as we went along. We agreed that we have found our favorite place in Oslo! And it only took us a year. 😀
Entering the “Kongsgarden” or King’s Garden and snapping a pic of the map so we don’t get lost…
Awesome rock formations. We had to stop and geek out about those.
Beach, woods, cliffs, fjord – and towards the left (thankfully out of frame) is a nude beach. Bygdøy has it all.
Had to stop and enjoy these tulips we saw walking up our street on our way home. Such bursts of joy they are!
The next week was May 17th, National Day! We had some fun taking videos of ourselves everywhere as we mingled with the natives! It’s been a full year since we have been living here. Wow. Full circle.
fjordlife 