The SUNDAY, May 4th:
Not only was it National Star Wars Day, but also my good friend Paula's birthday! We decided to celebrate by paddle boating on the Serpentine in Hyde Park. It was such a gorgeous day! Can't remember the last time I did it, must have been when I was a kid, but paddle boating was so much fun. After that we walked towards Piccadilly Circus in search for some celebratory ice cream (i managed to get a tasty sundae lol). While on our walk there, I finally saw the Fortnum & Mason tea shop! It makes my favorite teas and I managed to stock up since my last variety box is almost done.
Paula and I then watched Frozen in preparation for our trip to Norway. We of course had to watch a Star Wars film as well, and we chose The Empire Strikes Back :)
WEDNESDAY, May 6th
For our first full day in Oslo, my friends and I decided to explore the some famous buildings and the Aker Brygge Harbor. It was a gorgeous and sunny morning! Sarah, Paula, and I walked along the boardwalk near the fjord and I got to touch the water :) It was freezing! The streets of Oslo are covered in art; from massive sculptures to encased butterflies in the side walk. I am so in love with this city!
CITY HALL
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City Hall
The Nobel Peace Prize is presented here each year |
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| Wooden representation of Thor |
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| Vidar, the silent god, conquering the wolf Fenrir |
We then climbed to the top of the Oslo Opera House. It was recently built in 2008 and the exterior is made of white Italian marble. You can walk on the roof, which was interesting to do. The view was spectacular.
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| View of Oslo from the top |
Sarah and I, in hopes to meet with a free Oslo tour, walked to the Oslo Station. We waited there for 20 minutes, but no one showed... A waste of time. Luckily we did meet this nice Russian girl, Katy, who joined our group for the rest of the day. She was a sweetheart. Maybe I will see her again if I go to Moscow one day.
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| Butterflies on the floor at the Oslo Central Station |
While wandering around, we heard a marching band and decided to follow it. Luckily it took us straight to the Royal Palace!
We then looked around a few shops to souvenir shop. So many trolls! We also snooped around a secondhand Norweigan Sweater shop but I decided against buying one since I live at the beach haha.
My friends and I tried to eat at this traditional Norweigan food restaurant that night, but it didn't have any open tables. We did, however, find a few food carts. I treated myself to a delicious dark chocolate covered orange meringue treat that had a waffle at the bottom. Ahhh it was mouthwatering good!
There was also a Black Metal shop nearby called Neseblod Records which was great to see. They had merchandise of all of my old favorite bands like Mayhem, Dimmu Borgir, Gorgoroth, Satyricon etc. I'm super mad I forgot to take a picture of it :(
THURSDAY, May 7th
Abby, Paula, Sarah, and I enjoyed a leisurely tour around the Oslo fjord. Although it was raining, it was stunning. However, we were disappointed that the ferry did not drop us off at Bygdøy even though the website specified that it would... so we had to walk over an hour (in the rain) to go to this part of town. The walk there had a very scenic view at least.
FJORD CRUISE
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| Oslo Opera House from the fjord |
VIKING SHIP MUSEUM
When we finally arrived to Bygdøy, we went through the Viking Ship Museum. It was a nice archaeological treat :) The artistry of the Viking artifacts were breath-taking.
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| Oseberg Ship (834 AD) |
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| Gokstad Ship (890 AD) |
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Skeletons found on the Oseberg and Gokstad
Two Females; Founded in a Burial Mound with the ships |
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Viking Rune meaning "Man Knows Little"
Engraved on the Oseberg Ship |
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| Tapestry |
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| The Tune Ship (900 AD) |
KON-TIKI MUSEUM
After the Viking Ship Museum, we ventured towards the Kon-Tiki Museum. I was not expecting much, but I enjoyed it a lot.
The Kon-Tiki expedition was a 1947 journey by raft across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian Islands, led by Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl.
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| Model of the raft |
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| Wooden figure from Easter Island |
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During their expedition, a whale shark swam beneath the ship.
Heyerdahl and his crew thought it was a monster and shot a harpoon into it |
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Thor Heyerdahl performed another experimental journey
using an Egyptian reed boat |
FRIDAY, May 8th
It was finally a beautiful sunny day in Oslo! My friends and I took full advantage of this. We started our day at the Historik Museum, which was also filled with Viking artifacts and even included some Egyptian mummies!
THE HISTORIK MUSUEM
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Stave Church Portal (1200 AD)
Depicts a hero slaying a dragon |
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The Dynna Stone (1044 AD)
Depicts scenes of the Nativity |
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| The oldest and most complete Viking Age helmet discovered |
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| Nofret "she who is beautiful" mummy (200 BC) |
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The ushabtis
Figurines that accompany the dead in the afterlife |
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| Inuit collection |
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| Asian Collection |
VIGELAND SCULPTURE PARK or FROGNER PARK
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| Cute Houses on our way to Vigeland Park |
We then walked all the way to the Vigeland Sculpture Park. It was amazing. The sculptures, all made by Gustav Vigeland, depict the stages of human life and they were all throughout the grounds. Sarah, Abby, Paula, and I decided to lay in the grass to sunbath by a lake whilst having discussions about life. Very relaxing :)
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| Our lounging spot in the park where we sunbathed a bit |
After our long walk from the park, I had a little snack and tried a rosinbolle. It was pretty good. Rosinbolle is a sweet bun with raisins and a sprinkle of cardamom.
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| Rosinbolle |
OSLO NATIONAL GALLERY
We walked back towards central Oslo and went to the National Gallery. I got to see several of Edvard Munch's work, including The Scream!
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| The Last Judgement by Dommedag (1700) |
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| The Thinker by Auguste Rodin (1880) |
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| Storm, Evening by Eugene Jansson (1898) |
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| The Red Room by Ludvig Karsten (1913) |
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| Poor Couple in a Cafe by Picasso (1903) |
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| Guitar and Glass by Picasso (1911) |
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| Night Scene from the Inquistion by Francisco de Goya (1810) |
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| Flowers by Jean Baptiste Monnoyer |
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The Scream :)
There was not any photography allowed in Munch's section,
but I had to sneak a picture |
After that we walked to Aker Brygee to enjoy a nice meal by the fjord on this gorgeous day. Unfortunately all we could really afford there was TGI FRIDAYs... But the view was worth it. Plus our waitress was absolutely adorable. Wish I could've brought her back with me so we could be best friends haha. Norwegians are the friendliest people I've ever met.
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| Akershus Fortress |
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View for our dinner
SOOO romantic haha |
SATURDAY, May 9th
We lucked out with another sunny day for our hiking trip to Oslomarka! The natural park was high in the mountains so all the views were amazing. My friends and I spent the entire day there just exploring the grounds. Some areas still had some snow! Haha. This was by far my favorite day spent in Scandinavia. Simplicity at its finest.
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| Me and Paula having fun at a playground in the park |
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| Paula, me, and Sarah having fun on the swings |
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View from our lunch spot
Some ski jumps |
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| Nature contemplations |
After our long and strenuous day hiking, my friends and I decided to treat ourselves to a full meal at a traditional Norwegian restaurant called Nilsen Spiseri. Norway is one of the few places where it is not illegal to hunt whales, so I was shocked to find a Whale steak on the menu. Sarah and I shared some salmon and the reindeer stew. YUMMY :)
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| Reindeer Stew |
SUNDAY, May 10th
NORSK FOLKEMUSEUM
Who would've guessed that Norway would be warm and sunny for yet another day?! My friend and I walked an hour to the Bygdøy area to see the Norsk Folkemuseum. It is an open-air museum with 160 buildings from all regions of Norway. My favorite was the Stave Church from Gol that was built in the 12th century. We spent most of the day there and enjoyed learning Norwegian culture from the 15th century to present.
Norwegian Folk Singing
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Traditional Bunads from different regions of Norway
Wish I could have worn a Bunad myself :/ |
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| The Gol Stave Church (1200 AD) |
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| Itchy pig |
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| Learning how to lasso a reindeer |
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Learned to walk on some baby stilts
A lot harder than it looks |
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| Grape hyascint |
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smørrebrød røkt laks
More tasty Norwegian salmon |
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| View on our hour long walk back to central Oslo |
MONDAY, May 11th
AKERSHUS FORTRESS and Grünerløkka
Unfortunaty it was rainy for our last day in Oslo. Despite the weather, my friends and I walked to the Grünerløkka area, which is the "hipster" part of town to snoop around some vintage shops and stores.
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| Akershus Fortress |
While we were over there, we found a great coffee called Kaffebrenneriet. Unlike Buddy the Elf, I truly found the World's Best Cup of Coffee!! This shop is run by the world champion barista Tim Wendelboe and I got a simple black cup of coffee of his Nacimiento roast. It is from Honduras and is flavored with red berries and brown sugar. I don't think I will ever enjoy coffee the same way again after tasting this cup.
Immediately after coffee, we pasted an adorable chocolate shop called Cocao. It is Norway's first cocao bar and is well-known in the area so of course I had to get a hot chocolate :) I got the Mex flavored; it had chili peppers and chili powder kind of like the traditional Maya drink. SO yummy and spicy!
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| Some cool street art |
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| Saw this Bunad walking around…. I want it.. |
TUESDAY, May 12th
TRAVELING TO STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
My friends and I sadly left Norway and took an 8 hour bus ride to Stockholm. It went by surprisingly fast. I listened to all of my favorite Swedish metal bands on our little road trip. I must say that it was quite the nostalgic journey for me. Forgot how much I enjoyed Amon Amarth, In Flames, Scar Symmetry, and Arch Enemy. I discovered that some of these bands would be performing at the Swedish Rock Festival in Stockholm only 2 weeks after my trip…. *insert lonely tear drop*
We arrived at our hostel and I must say it is the coolest one I've been to yet. My friends and I did receive some bad news though.. We were really looking forward to the hostel's Swedish Meatball Making Class, but they changed the day it was offered to Tuesday instead of Wednesday and the class was already filled :( I guess we will have to find a tasty batch in a restaurant.
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| Ecstatic that they played old 1920s cartoons! HEAVEN |
Since we had nothing planned for the evening, we all ravenously roamed around the streets trying to find something to eat (we haven't eaten since 7 am). We came across a cheap Lebanese place, although it is not Swedish, we thought why the hell not. We got a bit of everything, honestly can't recall what most of it was haha BUT it was delicious! Didn't leave a thing on my plate.
To walk off our filling meal, we walked around the area and window shopped while also searching for any interesting cafés or restaurants. It is unreal how many bakeries there are in Stockholm. I think I said "Ooo" or "Ahhh" at every single one. We passed by one shop that had the traditional Swedish 'Princess Cake' on display; I know I will have to try one of those :)
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| Princess Cake |
WEDNESDAY, May 13th
NEW TOWN TOUR of STOCKHOLM
It was a cold and rainy day in Stockholm so my friends and I partook in two free tours. The first took us around the City Center, including the Nobel Prize center and the main shopping streets. It was a little bland but our tour guide was hilarious.
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| Viking Face… ARGGGGGALKJFAODI |
We then stopped by a coffee shop called Café Avenyn. We experienced a "fika" which is when the Swedish take time out of their day to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee with either a pastry or sandwiches. I had a slice of prinsesstårta (Princess Cake) and a cappuccino. Very tasty!
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| Sarah's hot chocolate... Looked so delicious |
OLD TOWN TOUR
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Our tour group posing as the Danish VS the Swedes
in front of the St. George and the Dragon Statue |
THURSDAY, May 14th
SKANSEN FOLK MUSEUM
It was finally a gorgeous day in Stockholm. Sunshine and no rain! We spent the day at the Skansen open-air museum which had buildings from 16th century Sweden to present as well as a zoo of Scandinavian animals :) I got to see reindeer, brown bears, seals, moose, wolves, lynxes, and wolverines. They also had little shops and we were able to see glassblowing and some Swedish treats being baked. I got a cinnamon roll called a "kanelbulle" which was tasty.
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| Salmon and dill bagel sandwich :) |
I was also able to try some elk. It was fried elk in a flat bread cone with mashed potatoes and cloudberry creme fraiche. Absolutely delicious!
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| My fried elk |
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COTTON CANDY was hard to resists as well.
I had a pig out day |
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| Glass blowing |
VASA MUSEUM
After we left Skansen, my friends and I went to the Vasa Museum to see the famous ship. The Vasa is a Swedish warship built between 1626 and 1628. The ship foundered and sank after sailing about 1,300 m into her maiden voyage in August 1628. She fell into obscurity after most of her valuable bronze canons were salvaged in the 17th century until she was located again in the late 1950s in a busy shipping lane just outside the Stockholm harbor. I was not expecting to find the museum very interesting, but between the archaeological artifacts and forensic osteological remains, I was grinning like an idiot.
After seeing the glorious Vasa, we decided to take a stroll to see what else was in the area. We passed Grön Lund, an amusement park.. wish I had the money to spend a day there, the rides looked like a lot of fun.
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An 'AMERICANIZED' hotdog advertisement
not sure how I feel about it |
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| Grön Lund |
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| Cute house we walked by |
FRIDAY, May 15th
It was another cold and dreary day in Stockholm :/ My friends and I spent the morning in Old Town to see the Storkyrkan (the Great Church of Stockholm) and the Riddarholmen Church. The Storkyrkan was awing. It had the famous St. George slaying the Dragon statue and the Judgement Day painting. The Riddarholmen Church was not as beautiful but it is the resting place of Swedish kings and queens. Built in the 1200s, it is the only remaining medieval abbey in Stockholm.
STORKYRKAN or THE GREAT CHURCH
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| The Candle Globe |
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The authentic St. George and the dragon
Representing Sweden's victory over the Danish |
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| The Last Judgement by Ehrenstrahl (1696) |
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The Parhelion Painting
depicts a light phenomenon that occurred over Stockholm in 1535 |
RIDDARHOLMEN CHURCH
The Riddarholmen Church is the burial church of the Swedish monarchs. It is one of the oldest buildings in Stockholm with parts dating back as far as the late 13th century.
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| The Karolinian Burial Vault |
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| The Strijik Tomb |
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| "The Hole in the Wall" |
Sarah, Paula, Abby, and I then treated ourselves to some more treats! Sweden sure has some interesting candies though...
My friends and I then walked to finally get some Swedish Meatballs for lunch. It hailed for a few minutes in between the rain during our miniature journey, and it was well worth it. These Swedish meatballs were phenomenal!
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| While walking down Kungsgatan, we found a foam fountain! |
THE ICE BAR
Since drinking in Scandinavia is so expensive, my friends and I decided to make it more of an experience… the Ice bar seemed to be a perfect way. The room was 19 degrees F and everything, including our drinking glasses, was made of ice. Although we are only allowed to stay for a duration of 45 minutes, this was one of the coolest things I've done. Although I was really hoping to get a tasty dirty martini… they only served fruity drinks :/ They were extremely sugary for my taste but they were fun and colorful haha.
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| Sarah, Me, and Abby |
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| Sarah, Paula, Me, and Abby |
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My first drink was the Wolf Paw
I lingonberry and vodka drink |
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| I got the Northern Light drink for my second |
After an arctic time in the Icebar, Stockholm felt the warmest it has ever been. With a bit of a buzz, we roamed around the city while also in search for another bar haha.
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| finally saw some of the sunset around 10 pm |
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We popped into a random bar
I treated myself to a pint of a Swedish Brew called the Sleepy Bulldog |
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| It was a fun night |
SATURDAY, May 16th
DROTTNINGHOLM PALACE
Sarah, Abby, and I had an early wake up to take a boat cruise to the Drottningholm Palace. It is the private residence of the Swedish royal family that was built in the 16th century. Queen Hedwig Eleonora had the castle rebuilt after it burnt to the ground in 1661. The palace was absolutely stunning. I believe my mouth was gaped open while walking through its corridors.
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| View of Stockholm from the boat |
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| Drottningholm Palace |
THE CHINESE PAVILION at DROTTNINGHOLM
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The Chinese Pavilion
A Chinese-inspired royal pavilion built in 1753
It is a World Heritage Site |
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| The gardens by the Chinese Pavilion |
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| The bench Sarah, Abby, and I rested at while enjoying the beautiful day |
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| Our view from the bench |
To enjoy the gorgeous weather even more, Paula, Sarah, Abby, and I took a long walk through the Djurgården Park.
SUNDAY, May 17th
Our last day in Stockholm was absolutely disgusting. It was raining so heavily that we practically walked through puddles the entire day. My boots and feet were soaked. To stay out of the wet and cold streets, my friends and I enjoyed our third piece of Princess cake and some coffee at the Royal Cafe.
To warm ourselves some more, we rented out the sauna at our hostel. It was sooo refreshing. Although all I did was sweat… I felt surprisingly clean. At least I can say I had an Oaken's sauna experience haha. YOO-HOO!
In conclusion, I had a marvelous time in Scandinavia and if I am rich someday.. I would move there in a heartbeat. The people are so welcoming and find happiness while embracing nature and the beautiful landscapes that surround them. I think I liked Oslo a little more than Stockholm. It may be because it rained in Stockholm almost our entire visit…but Oslo, although being a city, still was close to vast forests while Stockholm was reminescent of Paris (according to my friends).
Only 3 weeks left of my study abroad experience… seriously though, where did the time go?!?!?!
Next trip will be Scotland and then my broski will be here!
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