Category Archives: Travels

Yesterday we had a long day planned here in Oslo. On our schedule we was two museums/galleries, a boat ride and then dinner at a lovely restaurant at the end of the day.

We decided to leave the house around 1 pm, because we had a lot of things to get through before our dinner reservation at 5:30 pm, plus the cleaning lady was still in the house so we didn’t want to be in her way while she was working. All three of us mad our way down to the tram station.

The first stop on our agenda was an open gallery called “Fine art” which also work as a store where people could buy the paintings that were hanging on the wall. The paintings were made buy a guy called Nikolai Torgersen. He had mostly animal paintings and some landscape ones. According to my mum he did have a really rough childhood as well.

After the were done there we made our way over to the National Museum that was just around the corner. We didn’t have that much time so we only visited the top floor were they displayed arts from different rare artists. Some of the art were weird while other were quite impressive. We decided to take a small drink out on the roof since they had put up a small café there.

At 5pm it was off with the boat to Nesoddtangen where there restaurant was. It was called “Signalen” and was located right by the seaside. We got to sit outside which meant we had a perfect view over the fjord. Since it was my parent’s wedding anniversary we decide do spoil ourself with a 3 course dinner.

For starters we had tartar of kalf all three of us and for the main course I had a pizza with truffle salami, salad and mushrooms. Everything was really tasteful.

We enjoyed the view until it was time to go home. We took the same boat back and then it was just to take the tram all the way home. When we got home we watched the last two episodes of Sheerwood

Yesterday spent the entire day in Drammen. Visited a museum, had dinner by the waterside and visited family, It was really fun and great to see family again.

We headed off around 1 pm because the museum we were heading to were only open until 3 pm and it took us around 1h to get there. Since my parents hadn’t been there before we did struggle a bit to locate it, but after driving around for a bit we did managed to get there eventually. The place was called “Drammen Museum” and had multiple departments and this was one of them. Upon arrival it was already 2 pm so the lady said that since it was only 1h left and because they had part of the museum closed she would give is free access, which was really great. There were too buildings with two floors. The oldest things started from the top and got more modern as you walked down. The second floor was my favourite because is was filled with a lot of great things that had so much history behind it.

The second house had a small gallery which I didn’t find that interesting since paintings aren’t really my thing, but some of them were really nice. There were apparently paintings from a lot of famous Norwegian artists.

After we were done with the museum we still had a lot of time to kill before we were visiting my cousin, so we parked the car in the city and took a small walk down by the river side. The weather was beautiful with it being around 25 degrees. We decided to have a drink at Norwegians biggest square that was located in the city. It’s called “Bragernes Square” and it was pretty huge. There was a lovely pub and we decided to have something to drink. I went with a apple cider which tasted really nice. I basically asked the waiter which of the ciders that was the sweetest and he suggested the apple one.

When we had rested our legs for a moments we headed off to a restaurant where we had booked a table for the three of us. The restaurant was located right by the river side so we had a lovely view look out over the river. The place was called “Kawa” and was apparently an Asian inspired restaurant. My dad and I had Chicken Katsu while my mum had salmon sashimi and a chicken salad. For drinks I spotted a Lychee martini and really wanted to try it out. it was amazing. I was worried that I would taste the alcohol and not like it but the sweetness of the drink triumphed that. They also had a cocktail that contained dragon fruit which also sounded tempting, but that’s for next time.

After our delicious dinner we went to the care and headed towards my cousin’s place. She had recently moved into a small house together with her boyfriend. The place was located on a lovely quite hillside. She had talked about it being working project to get it finished and she wasn’t kidding. They had done tons of renovations and they were still not even half way there. She showed us around and explained her plans and it that it most likely will take the rest of the year if not more to have everything done. We all sat down and talked and I told them about my life in Belgium and about the new “ID” card I had gotten. We got to meet my cousin’s new dog called Bitten. She was really sweet and also really playful. Since it was getting late we decide not to stay for too long. We still had around 1h long drive.

As we got home it was time to relax for the evening. We watched a couple of episodes of the tv series together until we all headed to our rooms for the rest of the night.

Today we decided to have a calm day since my mum woke up with a migraine.

Yesterday our adventures took us to a sculpture park outside of the city called “Kistefos Museum”. The weather was lovely and the area where the park was located was really lovely. I had a lot of fun and saw some really cool pieces.

Since the park was outside of Oslo we had a small road trip for around 1h. We listened some music which is always great. I had almost forgotten how beautiful Norwegian landscape is with all the nature everywhere. When we arrived at the park which was located down in a sort of valley we started our day. The park went in a circle so we could just follow the path around it.

Our first stop was a bridge that they had made in to museum and was called “The Twist”. The story behind was that when the park was made they had to make a bridge over a river. There was a competition and the guy who one decided to make a bridge that looked as it had been twisted. Inside there were a bunch of paintings and some other things that made the building really cool. The weirdest part was the toilet, specifically the woman’s toilet. They had installed a projector in the stalls that showed a zoomed in mouth that kept talking to you. I didn’t really like the experience since I prefer just silence, but it was definitely unique

The next place we went to was museum that represented how the old lumber factory used to operate with the help of the water current and a giant water wheel before electricity was invented. The place was really huge and really detailed. You could also interact with the machines which would show you how the process was done.

Then next to the factory they had different houses to show how lived at that time. This house belong to the owner. It was quite big and I loved how big each room was. I honestly wouldn’t mind living in this sort of house today. I defiantly gave me the cottage vibe.

As you walked around in the park you could see bunch of different sculptures that were placed around the park. Some were in the water, some were on the hill side and some even went into the ground. They really did a great job of using the surroundings as a giant canvas. We were there until they closed which was around 5 pm.

When we got home my dad and I decided to get takeaway since we had had a late lunch at the park, but still wanted some form of dinner. We went to a “Bislett kebab” which was a place I used to go to a lot back when I was living here. The place always give such a big potion despite it still being a “small”.

After dinner the whole family started watching a new series together called “Sherwood”. It is based on a true story back when people still worked in the mines. It was really interesting so if anyone is interested in crime series with some history behind it I recommend this one.

Yesterday my family and I decided to take the boat to an island called “Hovedøya”. We used yo go there a lot during the summer when me and sister were growing up, and it was really nice to revisit the place

We had a pretty lazy morning and didn’t head out until around 4 pm, which I didn’t mind at all. When everyone was ready we walked down to the tram and took it all the way to the harbour. The boat that we were going to take was quite popular which meant a lot of people. The boat ride was really lovely with a great view over the Oslo fjord.

When we arrived to the island we headed off to the beach where we were planning on having out picnic. My mother did however forgot her seating mat on the toilet, so I had to go back and get it for her while they found a place to sit. It didn’t take more than 5 min and when I came back my parents were already preparing our food.

On the menu we had burgers which we had prepared in advanced with two side salads. The burger was a unfortunately quite rare, but I ate it anyway since we didn’t have any other food. After food we just sat there and enjoyed the sea breeze and the sun until it was time to head home.

After arond 6 hours we were home and just relaxed for the rest of the evening. I decided to make a bowl of noodles since I was still hungry. Then I just ended my day with talking to Nathan.

I hope you guys are having a great week so far.

Today was my first day of my second vacay to Norway. My family and I went to visit the old farm that was really big and was filled with a bunch of history.

We started our day by just waking up and making some breakfast. Then we left the house at around noon because we wanted to be at the farm before 1 pm. The place we went to is called Bogstad farm also known as a “Herregård”. Back in the olden day it was one of the biggest farms in Oslo area and owned by one of the most wealthiest families at that time. When we arrived to the farm we just got something to drink while waiting for the tour to begin.

The tour was really nice and insightful. We were shown around the main building and got told history behind everyone who owned it through out the 1700 up until the 1800, and let me tell you something. There were ALOT of people who owned it. All from regular people to even royalty. It was really fun to hear about how the family evolved and how the different generations made different changes to the house.

After the tour we decided to sit down and have a late lunch. Everyone went with the same thing, prawn sandwich with some lettuce and mayo. We talked about the tour and just chatted about life in general. When everyone had eaten we decide to check out the garden before we leave, and there they even had a couple of animals such as chickens and turkeys. The also had some beautiful flowers and a small vegetable area. We headed home at around 3:30 pm.

The rest of the evening was left for chill and picking out a tv series for us to watch. Since my mum had a church concert me and my dad had dinner by our self. We had lasagna with garlic bread which was really tasty.

I ended the day with just talking with Nathan and playing some TFT together. Tomorrow is a new day with more outings 😀

I hope you guys are still having a great summer and that you haven’t melted from the heat yet.

Today I was ready to head up to the Netherlands with my friend because tomorrow we are heading to TwitchCon Amsterdam, but the trip didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped. Everything that could go wrong happened.

After I packed everything I decided to check the public transport to check which trains I needed to take and when. The plan was to take a the train towards Hasselt from Antwerpen Centraal, then my friend would pick me up and drive us both up to her boyfriend’s place in the Netherlands. Well it didn’t turn out quite that way.

To start us off the bus was tram was delayed with around 5 min which caused me to miss my train towards Hasselt. I would have taken the other one if they didn’t only go once every hour. So I had to find a solution, because my friend could not wait 1h. I figured that I’ll get myself to the Netherlands and then they could just pick me up there. It started with having to wait 1h for the right train so that I could take it one stop further.

When I arrived to Antwerpen Berchem I got really confused because online it said that the train would arrive on track 7, but it had operantly arrived on number 8 which wasn’t a big deal because they were right next to each other. Now came the second problem which was that I wasn’t 100% sure that the train on track 8 was mine and it was about to leave. When I tried to talk to the conductor he just shook his head and waved at me to go away. So I was left quite confused, but one thing was for sure and that was that I had missed my main train into the Netherlands. It was time for me to wait yet another hour for the next one!

When I finally got on the train I thought the worst was over. I ended up falling asleep out of exhaustion, and of course when I finally woke up we were just about to leave Breda train station and I didn’t manage to get off. I started panicking because I didn’t know where I was heading next, so I checked the map and it seemed like I was heading to Rotterdam. My next step now was to figure out the best way to get to my location given my new route.

I googled it and figured that the easiest way was to get off on Rotterdam Central and take a train back to Breda and then swap again to the correct one aka the one I was suppose to get one. So I had to wait another 30 min in Rotterdam, but when I got back to Breda I finally managed to get on the right train and from here it was just sit back, relax and don’t fall a sleep xD. My friends met me at the Zutphen and the nightmare was finally over.

I was suppose to only spend 2h30min with public transport and it ended up taking 6h30 min in total with all the waiting, swapping and just the train ride. At some point was almost at the blink of giving up and just head home. I even just wanted to lie down and cry at some point. I do really hope that the trip home goes without ANY hiccups, cause I do not wish to experience this again.

One good thing was that I got to see more of the Netherlands than planned and I got to experience a two deck train for the first time xD

I spent the rest of evening just getting something to eat, hang out with my friends and just relax. I am still very excited for TwitchCon tomorrow and be meeting some cool people. It’s my first time there so I’ll be taking pictures and there will be a post about it tomorrow when I get home.

Today was quite eventful. I had both a lunch date with my mum and her friend plus I was going to meet up with a friend of mine in afternoon.

The started with just sleeping in until around noon and then quickly head into the shower so that I was ready for our lunch date at 2 pm. A friend of my mum had invited us down to the city for something to eat and to just catch up. We took the tram down which only took around 15 min and then we met up with her and sat down at a lovely restaurant called “Grünerhagen” It’s a place where I used to go a lot when I was young and was living in the same area. We talked about a lot of things such as the fact that there is a huge strike when it comes to airplane mechanics and that a lot of planes are being cancelled for that reason. We also talk about how it is to live together etc.

As for food, I ordered a burger with bacon, cheddar, salad, onion with fries. My mum was suppose to have a quiche, but they didn’t have it and our friend wanted the veggie burger, but it was different from last years so we all just ended up with the same order. The food was alright, but nothing impressive.

When it was around half past 3 I had to head off since I was meeting a friend at 4 pm. Some of you may know her from my streams, but I was planning on visiting RexxEA aka Rebecca. She and I have been friends since we went to the same summer school which is almost 4 years now. We met up at “Majorstuen” and just sat down at a pub to catch up. It was really nice to see her again and hear everything that she has been up to. We also took a walk to “Vigelandsparken” which is a park with a bunch of statues from “Gustav Vigelands”. I’m not very much into that type of art, but it’s a lovely park regardless. After we had walked around and up to the monolith we took one of these electric scooters and drove to hospital since I was going to visit my dad next. It was all in all really fun and super nice.

The next stop was just visiting and hanging out with my dad. He was feeling much better and could walk around without any help today. We sat outside on the balcony like we did yesterday. My mother was also there and after an hour of chitchatting we headed home. Since we had a really heavy lunch we just had the leftover from the tuna fish salad for dinner.

All in all it was a really successful day. I enjoy meeting both old and new friends & tomorrow I’m meeting up with a brand new guy that I have gotten to know through streaming and such. I’m quite excited for that and I’ll let you guys know how it went ^^

Today me and my mother decided to talk a small walk before we went to see how my dad was doing.

Woke up around 11 am because we had a guy coming over to look at our blinds. After my mum had eaten her breakfast and read the newspaper we headed out. We decided to talk a short walk and later we would pick up my sister from work and head over to visit my dad and check on how he was doing.

We walked up to the church where I had my Confirmation. Then we went over the grave yard and sat down for a while before we headed down to where I went to school and then further down to the river “Akerselva”. The great thing about living here is that it’s so easy to find a lovely place to take a walk. We followed the river down to “Nydalen” and then took the subway back home. Since it was a nice sunny day there were a lot of people outside and some of them were even swimming. It looked really nice and cool, perfect for a warm summer day.

After we arrived home we waited until my sister was finished and then headed towards the hospital. My father was feeling so much better and they had even given him and entire room for himself which was really nice. We all went outside and talked on a nearby balcony. I told him about my other plans for the week including a lunch tomorrow and meeting up with friends both tomorrow and Wednesday. We also shared our summer plans and I told him how I would return in August since this visit got cut way shorter than planned due to the cancellation. My father informed me that he would most likely stay throughout the rest of the week which made be a bit sad, but it’s for the best. He gets very well taken care of at the hospital plus it’s also nice for my mum to get a break.

When our visit was over we just headed up and had tuna fish salad for dinner. It’s not my favourite dish, but we apparently had a lot of leftover salads that needs be eaten up and it’s not too bad. We also have some more cake for dessert which I’m looking forward to eating.

Tomorrow my mum’s friend has invited us both for lunch. She is really nice and later I’ll meet up with a long term friend who I haven’t seen in a while. I’ll keep you guys updated, but as for now try not to die of the heat xD

This year I decided to head home to Norway for a while since it’s been half a year since my last visit, but the trip ended up being a bit different then I had hoped for.

I was originally going to head back home on the 15th of June, but the plane got cancelled and then they put me on another one for the next day, but that one would leave at 7 am and I would have to wait in Milan (Italy) for 4h. So I decided to just cancel everything and buy new tickets which meant that I ended up going Friday the 17th. The plane ended up being 1h delayed which meant that I didn’t arrive home until 1am which was exhausting, but I made it here safely which is important.

The next day my parents were throwing my sister her 20th birthday party, but unfortunately my dad was feeling too ill and had to get sent to the hospital. My father has been diagnosed with “Pulmonary fibrosis” and has been in and out of the hospital a lot these past months. This was also one of the reason I decided to come home, but I get to visit him everyday while I am here.

My mother carried on with the party as planned and I got to see my aunt, uncle and both of my cousins. I also got to meet my sisters new boyfriend. He seemed very charming and a bit stranger. He is 6 years older than her, but my sister has always had an eye for older guys. The party went well. We ate some delicious foods including salads, shrimps and sausages. For dessert we had two cakes a marzipan one and a cheesecake.

It is really nice to be home and I’m looking forward to spend some time with family this week. Although I was hoping that my dad was in better shape so we could spend some time together but it’s better than nothing. I have some plans to visit friends as well so I’m also excited for that.

Hope everyone else is having a wonderful summer hanging out with amazing people and are enjoying the warm weather especially if you are living in central Europe.

This weekend some friends and I got invited to a BBQ Birthday party. It was really fun despite the fact that not everyone was able to attend at the last minute.

I started the day by just waking up and jump into the shower so that I was nice and clean for the party. My friend would arrive at around 2 pm so I had at least 3h to prepear myself. I shaved my legs for the first time and put on one of flower dresses, because the it was almost 30 degrees outside. After my friend arrived we headed over to the Netherlands. It was a 40 min ride so it didn’t take too long which was really nice. Upon arrival we got news from the other people that their car had broken down and they wouldn’t be able to come. So we went from 6 to 3 people, but it was really nice regardless.

We started the party with playing some UNO. We played it differently from the rulebook, but it was really enjoyable. I had a point system which was that when someone won they got points. The points were determained by how many cards the other players had left. I think I got second. After UNO we treid Settlers of Catan Card edition and then we did one more after that. All of the games were really fun and the fact that they were in Dutch wasn’t a problem.

When we were done with the games we started up the grill and got ourself ready to eat. Our friend had a lot of food prepared. We had burgers, sausages and bacon. I really enjoy a good BBQ in the lovely summer weather. The bacon got a bit burned 😂, but the rest was perfectly cooked. For the rest of evening we just hang out and talked until it was time to head home.

The was a really great day overall even though it was a bit sad that not everyone could come, but I’ll get to see them next time 😊 When I got back home I told Nathan about my day and just relaxed for the rest of the evening.

I hope you all have had a great weekend and if anyone have any tips about how to stay cool during warm weather do let me know ^^