My First Trip To Norway

28.9.12-11.10.12
This was my first holiday alone, and my first trip to Norway. I was on my way to visit my cousin Carina and her partner Rune and was very excited, I had an amazing time and can't want to return.
It has taken me a while to get this started and so much going on in between so it is quite a late post.

28.9.12
I was finally getting to visit Norway! I was very excited, but very nervous as had been a while since I had been on a plane but mainly as I was travelling alone for the first time. The handle on my suitcase decided to snap as it was brought downstairs, my dad then tied a lot of elastic bands to the broken handle and covered my bag in stickers, he was trying to be helpful :-/
My dad and step mum brought me to the airport and helped me to book in..no window seats available.. and sent me on my way, I got to customs and was told to remove my boots to be scanned with my hand luggage, I went through wondering if I, knowing my luck, would set off some alarm, luckily nothing! I collected my bag and couldn't see my shoes anywhere! Typical! They decided it would be wonderful for me to get stuck in the machine.. eventually managed to get my boots..one pleased Laura. I was bored waiting for the plane but luckily had access to the internet and was able to natter away with friends until it was time for my flight.

During my flight I was disappointed as the guy sitting beside me in the window seat slept the whole way to Amsterdam airport! And to add to it, his head pretty much covered the window of my view! I was happy to have my ipod to keep me entertained.
When we arrived at Amsterdam airport I had a mini panic as had to run from one side of the airport to the other in 5 minutes and had no idea how to get there! I was very lucky that my luggage automatically was changed planes so I didn't have to worry about that. So there's me running around looking for where to go, following the signs and I come to another customs with massive que, are you kidding me! After customs I then had to continue running along to find the right area for my plane. Found it! Wasn't as disappointed to not get the window seat as it was dark outside, this time the person sat next to me was chatty and interesting, he lived in Norway and was on his way home from China, I was very pleased he could speak English, chatting made the trip go past quickly.
On arrival I collected my bag, most of the stickers my dad had put on had disappeared and my snapped handle was completely gone, that handle would have made it a lot easier to pick up..I then went through to seating area and hoped I was in the right place and that Carina and Rune would find me! I rang Carina and hung up straight away as it made the noise that when at home it makes when the user is busy on the phone already but no in Norway that's the noise it makes when ringing through which I worked out when I tried again and Carina answered. They found me, YAY! Big hugs! Great to see them again.
When we got to their home we chatted away and had nachos with mince and cheese.

                                   

29.9.12

Today we went to Tonsberg, was a lovely town, Carina went to meet a friend for coffee while me and Rune went wandering. We went to a tower and went up all the stairs to the top which was lovely views, and had a very very rare moment where I had to bend to get through a door, my family enjoy commenting on my shortness and so this was a perfect photo moment.

We went to see the viking ships that are being built the way they were 

originally made.

That night we had very yummy home made kebabs and spiced wedges and peach cider, was yummy!! Rune then made us girls some cocktails and we all got snug outside and had melted marshmellows :-)

         

30.9.12

BEAUTIFUL SUNNY DAY! Slept in hehe whoops! But to be fair, the time is an hour ahead in Norway so I don't feel lazy if I think of it that way haha! I had Carina's home made jam for breakfast, it was very yum, but she said its not as nice as the others she had made in the past..this was very yum so hard to believe there was ever a yummier! 

So, today because of the lovely weather, we decided we would go out on the boat and fish (try fish for me!), when in Norway must try fishing haha, I wasn't very prepared clothes wise for this outing, so borrowed a few layers off Carina and some boots which were about 3x my feet size, it was interesting walking about all padded up and wobbly big boots haha...BUT I still was all glam haha.

So for me this was strange, driving along in a car on our way to go fishing with the steering wheel on the other side (wrong side haha) and the car driving on the other side of the road, the amount of mini heart-a-fits I had when pulling out onto roads when for brief moments I would forget this!!

Getting into the boat was another entertaining moment, not only am I scared of drowning so worry about falling in, but I have these boats for boots on my feet and all padded up and cling on to Carina to help me into the wobbling boat, girly squeal moment! The life jackets were a little uncomfortable, with the strap coming from the chest down between your legs and up to clip on the back but was pleased to be wearing it!
So after a while of sitting in the boat trying to fish and keep thinking I have caught something when haven't we were having no luck and decided to go have a little snoop around one of the islands, when snooping around Rune wandered off and Carina sat down to chill with her cuppa tea, so I went off with my camera to look about, I was just taking a picture of this cute little calm area with water and a old wall and trees and lots of greenery when I hear something not so good, I look up and a stampede of wild sheep come charging passed me and give me a heart-a-fit! I look up the hill from where they came and see Rune all out of breath from chasing them towards me! Cheers mate, here's me thinking I am going to get trampled by sheep! haha!

Totally grossed out haha

After some more wandering we returned to the boat and gave fishing another go. After a small amount of time I felt some pulling and start saying I think I have caught a fish, what do I do haha, Carina then pulls up my line and there's my first fish ever caught, mini happy moment, followed by grossed out moment and me screaming at Rune to get it get it get it haha as was flopping about in the boat getting blood everywhere, Carina then says you have another on the line, so we continue pulling up and so have two fish flopping about, there's me grossed out and telling Rune to get them to stop and he just so casually slices their heads off...I start gagging, how vile haha, he then cuts them open and shows me their insides...lovely.. before chucking their heads and insides into the water, I then didn't think we would catch anymore fish once the other fish see their relatives heads passing them along with their internal organs..but after a while and some unwanted coffee poured out, our hyper caffeine happy fish decide to attach to my line, catching me my 3rd fish, the pro that I am, it then started raining again, so after Rune beheaded my 3rd fish we returned to the car, I got to steer the boat.

So after a long fun day of becoming a professional fisher-woman and sailor we curled up all snug and watched a movie :-)

1.10.12

Girls Time!!! Rune has gone away for mini lads holiday for a few days. We spent the day chatting away about bits and pieces and had fun baking cookies and chocolate cupcakes. The ingredients were a little different for me in Norway so we had to improvise a little with the recipe I had brought for the chocolate cupcakes, although they sank a little as we did not improvise enough haha they still turned out quite yummy. 

(Picture to the right) The sunk cupcakes, cookies and cookie cups :-)

2.10.12

Today we went shopping!! Went to a beautiful shop filled with girly trinkets, candles and gifts, I loved it! I would happily have bought the whole shop! It reminded me a lot of a shop back home with the colour coordinated sections called Raspberry Bizarre that I am putting on the list of places to take my cousin Carina when she next visits me :-)

We went to some other shops and I bought gifts for family and encouraged Carina to buy the Vampire Diaries Season 1 as she hadn't yet saw it and I thought she would love it :-)

That night we had home made lasagna, followed by munchies and a vampire diaries marathon! Stayed up until nearly 5am watching V.D...Salvatore Brothers..need I say much more??? 

3.10.12

Ah no.. Rain..and a lot of it.. but cinnamon buns to make up for that sad face, they were super yummy. We went shopping to buy Carina some stuff for the house today, we had good fun. I love to shop :-)
We went to Oslo to visit Carina's Gran (mor mor) she was lovely! Carina had to translate between us and Rune helped too when he arrived back from his lads trip. AND..it was still raining :-/ that night we had amazing thunder and lightning, it is quite dark around Carina's home so it was amazing to see the lightning! It was very spaced out so we didn't know when to expect it. Then more Salvatore brothers until about 4am ;-)

4.10.12

Today we went to Sandefjord, again it was raining on our way there but pretty rainbows as we were arriving and the sun was coming out. 

We had a potter around some shops and then went to a greek pizza kebab place, I had a kebab but did not fancy salad, Carina told me I had to have a salad haha so I said would have it on the side, I then had no choice but to have the salad inside my kebab wrap as they only put the lettuce on the side, everything else went inside my wrap, lettuce is the salad. Was yummy but way too much, loads leftover!

5.10.12

Good Morningggggg!! Crawling out of bed at 6am after a few late nights was not an easy task but off to the ferry to go to Sweden!! 

All aboard and ready to go, quite nippy today and a little icy good job I am a professional slipper or it could be embarrassing.. 

Once on the boat I could not keep myself inside, too busy being snap happy with my camera while Carina and Rune kept roasty toasty inside. I gave in once couldn't feel my fingers any longer though and found them waiting for me with a lovely hot chocolate, feeling the love <3 ... and my fingers! 

We had a wander around the town and found some pretty great things, but what I will always remember and will always make me giggle is the lamp we found in a small shop. There was a little note with the lamp that says...oh ok try it then but just once please and so I turned it on, the switch pointed up when on and down when off. Bit pricey for such a little man! 

On our way to a shopping outlet we saw 3 pretty hawks <3



We went to a massive sweet shop, it was huge! I have never seen so many children so excited and parents so depressed in one shop before, they were just running around topping up their 3 kilo pick and mixes.

We went to Fredriksten Fortress in Halden where we took lots of photos and had a good laugh before we went to visit Carina's friends Liv Silje and her partner Ben, we passed too deers on the way to the shop, this does not happen back home so I was happy to see them, Liv Silje said they are all over and you see them daily there but they are pests and most locals have a big dislike to them. 

In the shop I came across a newspaper which instantly made me smile! In England the word 'slag' is more of a label or insult, so seeing this written in big red writing on the front of a newspaper had me giggling and curious, so I asked Carina what it meant in Norway, casually tells me it means someone has had a stroke, so not funny but because of the meaning at home compared to their unhappy meaning I still found myself laughing, so calling my friends strokes from now on!

When we got back we made home made pizzas ate a lot of sweets and I tried their 'christmas' pop. It needed a bottle opener, they pull a deer foot bottle opener out of the drawer.. I know she said they disliked them...open my bottle for me please.

Caught the ferry from Moss to Horten on way home, got back to the house not long after 12am, one sleepy Laura, it had been a long but fun day!

6.10.12

Lovely sunny day! Went to Oslo to Carina's grans, we spend the day and night there. On our way we went to a park called Bærum Verk, it was beautiful, there was lovely little shops with a river flowing next to them and a lovely waterfall, pretty autumn leaves everywhere..and some rather strange statues haha. I saw some ladies doing glass blowing and took lots of photos throughout the visit there.

 That night we went into Oslo for cocktails and giggles, we were joined by Carina's cousin Isobel and her boyfriend Patrick, they were canny, Patrick made a good effort to talk in English most of the evening and also pretended to be my brother in law to save me from a rather large drunk Norwegian man who wanted to marry me and was deeply 'in love' with me haha, was entertaining.

 

7.10.12

We made home made waffles for breakfast today :-) feeling quite the tired one today!!

Got to finally meet Carina's mum Trude, and her auntie.

I went with Carina, Rune and Trude to an island called Kalvøya, we came across a nudist beach, I was happy that it was a cold time of year, did not fancy seeing a bunch of naked people!!
We had a nice wander around through all the trees and along the water side looking for crystals. 

Today was also finally the day that I was going to have fårikål, everyone was talking about it all week and telling me they were going to steal it and that they were jealous and Carina was excited for me to try it. It's a traditional norwegian meal of lamb and cabbage with potatoes, it was a nice meal but was expecting it to be different as everyone was so hyped up but I enjoyed it :-)

             

8.10.12

Woke up super excited this morning, we went to Langedrag Wildlife Sanctuary up in the mountains. It was a 3 hours drive and high up with amazing views. 

We got to go into an arctic fox enclosure, they are doing a breeding programme and release them back into the wild once they are a certain age. There was a young fox there that had not been released as his feet had not developed properly so would not survive in the wild, he was very cute. We got to hand feed them with small meatballs, I sat quietly with my hand out and waited, it slowly crept up to me snatched the meat and ran away as fast as possible, it was a great experience. 

I also got to stroke a baby moose :-)

 After looking around, we met Frank who works there, he took me, Carina and another guy over to the wild wolf enclosure, before entering we were told a list of rules to follow to basically not get attacked, it was an amazing experience seeing the pack of wolves getting so close I would do it all over again.

We then went into the lynx enclosure, it was getting very cold by this time and started snowing, Frank told us similar rules to the wolf enclosure and also informed us that the big metal pole he was bringing in with him was to get the lynx off us incase it decided to sink its 3inch nails into us..nice..lets get inside here! 

This was an amazing experience and I will definitely return countless times and do it all over again.

When we got back home we watched a movie and ate dumplings in milk, I felt like I had been naughty and skipped my main meal and went straight for dessert but Carina reassured me that it was a meal. It was yummy though.

 

9.10.12

Today we went shopping in Tonsberg, I had a sausage with melted cheese in the middle wrapped in bacon, would be nice if they sold them back home!

We went to a cafe and had hot chocolate, they made it with melted chocolate was so nice.

We then went to The Worlds End and took loads of photos

That night we had the mackerel I had caught when we went fishing for tea 

.....followed by this cream and jam filled marzipan icing covered cake!....fatty!!

10.10.12

More shopping <3 in Sandefjord, then a trip to Mølen, Norway's largest beach of rolling stones, and is a part the terrain left behind after the end of the most recent ice age around 10,000 years ago. When the sea came in and out the sound was so relaxing, was such a lovely place. 

I then met some more of Carina and Rune's friends in Skien with some yummy marble cake!

That night I finally tried Carina's favorite sour cream porridge, they heated some milk with rice and oats, and in a separate pan heated some sour cream and put flour in until it separated and looked like melted cheese and melted butter. I was no so sure about this meal but I tried it, and don't think its something I can get away with haha but at least I have tried it now.

Pack tonight :-( home tomorrow :-(

    

11.10.12

Tried brown cheese for breakfast, my dad has always told me about brown cheese and how much he doesn't like it, he even learnt how to say I do not like brown cheese in norwegian so that he could tell anyone that offered him it. But I liked it, tasted similar to cheddar cheese, Rune said my dad must have tried the goats milk one which is minging. 

I then managed to spill hot chocolate all over my white top..fab..just what I need. 

It was so sad to leave Carina and Rune, and they both were wanting me to stay longer, I had such an amazing time with them and can't wait to come back!!

Had a long wait for the flight from Amsterdam to Newcastle, had the biggest slice of pizza I have ever seen while waiting haha! 

My dad collected me from the airport and took me home. Was nice to see everyone and give them their gifts and tell all about my amazing time. Cannot wait to go back!!!