Norwegian Girls Weekend

I was lucky enough to escape with some friends to Norway for a girls weekend. My awesome friend Tordny invited us to spend the weekend at her cabin in Holmsbu. What a beautiful place! Her lovely home is, by the way, much more than what an American pictures a cabin to be, it’s a lovely well planned out cottage by the sea, sitting on a hill overlooking a beautiful fjord. The area reminded me a little of the finger lakes area but was yet different. What was most amazing to our group was that when we arrived at 3am it was twilight. In the summer it is light nearly all the time in Norway.  

3am!

10am!

Our first day we spent in Holmsbu exploring the sweet little town, visiting galleries and a lovely museum built in the forest. We stayed up late talking and relaxing and just enjoying our time together.

We may have needed a little rest along the way!

We spent one full day touring Oslo. We met Tordny's mom first and she is inspiring. She walked with us to the tram and we were working to keep up with her and she is 80! As we got near to the stop she thought the tram was coming and took off on a run just in case. Very impressive stuff! A really great example of why we need to keep moving as we creep along in years!

In Oslo we visited to the Munch (pronounced monk) Museum. Wondering why you know the name Munch? He painted The Scream. When he wrote about the painting he talked about watching the sunset and how it was like a scream of nature. This made the painting more beautiful to me, sometimes knowing what the artist was thinking is really helpful. There was a great exhibit comparing Van Gogh to Munch, they progressed through their careers at the same time trying and learning the same painting styles.

The walk through the center of Oslo was interesting, it's a pretty old city. At the end of these beautiful flowers is (I think) the Parliament building.

We also visited the Nobel Peace Prize Center. It's a beautiful building with large exhibits for the most recent winners and small displays for each winner. 

We had a lovely lunch and ice cream by the water. 

And then headed back to the cabin for a wonderful evening and a traditional Norwegian meal - open face shrimp sandwiches. These were delicious.  You start with a piece of bread, add a sour cream aioli, shrimp, avocado, tomato and then repeat as many layers as you would like. It was absolutely incredible!

Our last day we had a leisurely morning at Tordny's cabin and then headed into Oslo so we could see the famous Opera building that that is meant to look like an iceberg melting into the fjord. My picture does not convey that!!

Stairwell inside the opera house

On the roof!

It was a wonderful girls weekend with long lunches, lots and lots of talking and eating and sightseeing. Absolutely fantastic!