Akershus Fortress
Last weekend my darling finally came home from work and we could celebrate his birthday, which was earlier this month. He is working in the North Sea and is away for two weeks at a time.
To celebrate him I took him out for dinner at Festningen Restaurant, a restaurant located within the Akershus Fortress area. As expected the food was nice. The smoked Arctic char I had as a starter was one of the best dishes I have ever had!
The fortress area is a nice place to go to if you want to go for a walk. I have been walking there many times and I realised that I have a lot of photos of the fortress. Below are some photos from the summer season.
Lofotkista
I was watching a Norwegian TV documentary some years ago, called something like "a place where no one thought someone would live". The episode I was watching was about a couple living on the island of Værøy in Lofoten, in northern Norway. Værøy is a beautiful island with a ferry connection to the mainland. Earlier the island had an airport, but in stormy weather there was an accident and the airport closed down.
The couple had bought the old airport terminal and was living there. The job opportunities are limited when you live on a remote island. The woman had a passion for chocolate and got the idea to start a small-scale chocolate factory called Lofoten Sjokolade. Since that day their business has expanded and now they are selling high quality handmade chocolate to a selection of stores and over the internet. I got curious when I heard about this and looked it up on my laptop. After reading about their little chocolate factory I decided to order some chocolate to support their business and of course taste the chocolate. I liked it a lot!
Last year I was having visitors over Christmas and decided to order some chocolate for myself and my guests. In the range of products I found a decorative wooden treasure chest filled with chocolate and a book about Lofoten. I liked the chest and thought it would fit nicely in my apartment, so I ordered one. I'm very happy with it and I look forward to read the book about Lofoten.
When you buy chocolate from Lofoten Sjokolade you also get a broschure with some photos from Værøy. The photos are so nice! I really want to travel to Lofoten soon. I was there more than ten years ago and the scenery was breathtaking. Next time I want to visit the remote Værøy.
Burger Joint
Today I went out to have lunch with one of my friends. We walked down to Aker Brygge to try the upscale hamburger restaurant Burger Joint. I had read a review of the place in the newspaper and it was highly recommended. I decided to go for their California Dreamin' burger. It was served with avocado cream and salsa. It was seriously the best burger I have ever had!
When we walked out of the restaurant we noticed that the sky had a rare pinkish colour, so we went out to Tjuvholmen and there we could enjoy a beautiful sunset.
Home Sweet Home
Here they are! Finally! I'm talking about the photos of my apartment that I promised to upload some months ago. Welcome to step inside! :-) This is what it looks like:
Summary of 2014
I was looking at some photos from last year when I got the idea that I should make a summary of the year and post it here on the blog. 2014 was a very good year with a lot of amazing experiences and also some life changing decisions. When the year started I was living in Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Borneo is such a beautiful place and the people I got to know during my time there will always be close to my heart. The year ended with New Year celebrations in Norway together with my Norwegian boyfriend and some of his friends. What a journey! Now I'm going to show some of the highlights from the year 2014.
The year started on top of the world! After spending the Christmas holiday at my parents' place in northern Sweden and New Year's Eve in Stockholm I travelled to Dubai the first day of the year. It was a stopover on the way back to Borneo. In Dubai we visited Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. Some other amazing things that I experienced in Dubai were a helicopter sightseeing, dinner at Burj Al Arab, indoor (!) skiing, a desert safari and giant shopping malls. What a great start of the year!
In February I spent a weekend at Gayana Eco Resort on Gaya Island outside Kota Kinabalu. Nearby the resort is a Marine Ecology Research Centre, which we also paid a visit. To support the work the centre does in coral conservation I 'adopted' a coral fragment that was planted back into the sea by divers. Through regularly updates with photos of the coral I could follow its' progress during the year.
In March I celebrated my birthday with a relaxing weekend at Village House, a luxury home stay in the Santubong area, not far from Kuching, the town I was living in during my time in Malaysia.
In April my friend Linda came to see me in Asia. We went on a little adventure and travelled to Timor-Leste. A country that took us by surprise. An unexplored beautiful country with little other tourists was definitely something for us! After visiting Timor-Leste we travelled around in Indonesia and the highlight in Indonesia was the days we spent in Komodo National Park and the close encounters with the Komodo dragons.
On the top of Mount Ramelau, the tallest mountain in Timor-Leste.
In May we had a public holiday and I travelled to the Perhentian Islands, on the north east coast of peninsular Malaysia. The water surrounding the islands was crystal clear and the islands were lined by white sand beaches. The definition of a vacation paradise!
In June there was another public holiday and this time I travelled to Tioman Island with my friend Didin. We went hiking in the rainforest, visited a turtle conservation centre, tried stand up paddle boarding and swam in the sea.
In July I was moving back to Norway again. I had a lot of mixed feelings at that time, it was hard to leave my closest friends in Malaysia, but on the other hand I was confident of my decision to move back to Norway. I felt that 1 year and 7 months in Malaysia was enough and I missed my friends and family back in Norway and Sweden a lot. On the way home I made a stopover in Qatar and explored this small country during a couple of days.
In August I went to see my family in northern Sweden and together with the rest of the family I went to Hindersön in Luleå archipelago to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday. Back in Norway again I went on a kayaking trip in Kragerø with some friends from work.
Hindersön in Luleå archipelago.
In September Linda and I took the train to Dovrefjell and spent the weekend at Kongsvold Fjellstue. We also went out on a musk ox safari.
In October I spent a weekend in the mountains again. This time I went to Rondane together with my boyfriend.
In the end of October and beginning of November one of my dreams came true when I travelled to Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands. I spent two weeks there and experienced a wildlife that is hard to beat. Galágapos is a true paradise on earth!
The year ended with a peaceful Christmas holiday in Oslo together with my family, followed by New Year celebration in Trysil.
The 2014 ginger bread fortress.
Happy New Year
Year 2015 started at the Norwegian ski resort Trysil. We were eleven people who had rented a cabin together for four nights. We had some really nice days in Trysil with both cross country and downhill skiing, and of course after ski. :-) On New Year's Eve we had a three course dinner at Skipuben (one of the bars). A perfect start of 2015!
