Norway

August

Even though the calendar says otherwise, I feel we´re coming towards the end of  summer. Although the air is still warm, most festivals are over (not that I ever attend) and the rain seems to settle in. I started work for real last week and each day is busier than the last one. I don´t mind it, though. A sort of holiday atmosphere is still lingering in the air and people are in a better mood than they were in June, before they left for Italy, Spain, France or Greece. Or stayed at home  and couldn´t believe their luck when summer came to Norway, too.

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Weekend trip to Tønsberg

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I´ve been really jealous of all the people with boats, summer houses or cabins this summer. Not because we haven´t had a holiday or been out drinking wine most evenings, but because the weather has been so perfect and no matter how close we live to the harbor, it´s not the same as being somewhere else entirely, a place you get to take a break from daily routine and chores.

So I remembered I had a lot of hotel points from that time I worked in Bergen for three months in a row and ordered a weekend in Tønsberg for the two of us. Tønsberg is a cute little summer town 1,5 hours away from Oslo, not much to do there, but very picture perfect for a short trip.  Thus we took the train, even upgraded to first class (called “Komfort” so it sounds less class-oriented- haha!) so we´d avoid sitting with chatty teen-agers and there we were by mid-day Saturday, ready for check-in and lunch. We ate at Kolonihagen, a nice spruced up place with emphasis on local and organic food.  They were terribly busy that day, so the service wasn´t great, but the meals were as lovely as always. We had Jerusalem artichoke soup and pie with salad and for desert we shared a pannacotta.

After a round in the “city center”, a couple of pictures of quaint wooden houses and wondering if we should or we shouldn´t have some ice-cream, we headed for the hotel for a nap (we´re known as the nappers in our circle of friends!). Besides, the 4th season of the Killing was just posted on Netflix, so we were dying to see what was happening. After a couple of episodes we freshened up for dinner at Champagneria, a classy place they have in Oslo, too. We ordered lots of tapas, skipped the bread and the “patatas bravas” for once and gorged ourselves on “jamon iberico”, baked chèvre, chorizo and so on. 😉 Unfortunately Peppes Pizza, their neighbor, were having an open-air private party of some sort and they were so loud, we couldn´t even hear our waiter speaking, let alone converse. After a heavy dinner with lots of bubbles, a walk was in order, so we strolled around white washed houses and said hello to many cute cats on our way up to Slottsfjellet, the Castle Rock, to put it in a Games of Thrones way. The view from there was sublime! The sunset, the wilderness of it all, who would have figured they´ve just had a festival a couple of weeks ago? Everything seems so untouched and for an asphalt girl, as I called myself many years ago, to experience that in the middle of the city is just surreal!

On Sunday everything was closed, even some eateries, so walking about with no purpose proved little fun. And it wasn´t warm enough to swim, so we mainly hanged in our hotel room and watched the Killing, except for eating mussel soup for lunch and burgers for dinner. The burger place is worth a trip, it´s called Kverneriet and it´s a hipp place with pretty good burgers and nice atmosphere. Vuong´s conclusion was that Munchies in Oslo is still the real deal! That was our weekend! How was yours?

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Summer at its best

This July is turning out to be the best I´ve had in years! I´m working 2-3 days a week and otherwise enjoying the sunny days. I´ve been going to the beach, with and without the dogs, taken evening strolls and stop for a glass of wine and a bite, made delicious low-carb meals or played urban discoverers in a city empty of its inhabitants. A couple of days ago I was a bit bitter that we don´t have a cabin or a boat, so I remembered I had some hotel points and ordered a complimentary weekend in Tønsberg. It´s a 1,5 h drive from Oslo (read train, since we don´t own a driving license any of us), a small sleepy town that wakes up in the summer, being the rich kids´ playground. Moules frittes, beach and latte in the sun, that´s what I envision. Until then, I´ll be off to the dock from the picture, 10 min away from home, to cool off, it´s insanely hot these days!

 

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Healthy inspiration

Oh, it´s so inspirational to eat good food and to see the results so fast!;-) Oysters, shrimps, mayo, salmon tartar, mussels, asparagus, salads, you name it! I´ve been eating so healthy and so diverse, made some delicious quinoa yesterday, getting my oatmeal cottage cheese and raspberry dose every morning and I´m starting to get in shape again, in 10 days´time I´ll be weighing as much as I did as a 18 years old! 😉 Can you believe it?! And all this time I´ve been letting myself get depressed over a little weight instead of actually doing something about it.

Anyway. These couple of days have been wonderful. Lots of walks with the doggies, reading Jonathan Franzen´s “The Corrections” in the garden, my orchids have blossomed and lots of white wine. Enjoy a couple of my pictures! xxx, Alina

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Living is easy

Although this is not always true and we stumble and fall more often than we can pick ourselves up, it should be summer´s general rule. Less clothes, less work, more spare time to do whatever we enjoy most, eat lighter, drink more, you name it!;-)

These days have been strange for my part, without needing to go into details. Today however I feel better than in a very long time. My thoughts feel clearer and I can breathe without restraints. I´m listening to the feel-good `Smart is the New Sexy´playlist on Spotify, drinking green tea, the cat purring beside me and life is simply good.

I´ve been dieting on low-carb for 9 days now and I´ve lost 3 kg, my skin hasn´t been this radiant in ages and I feel fit. 3-4 more kg to go and I can start eating what I want again, as long as I work out and stay away from buns and tarts on a regular basis.

We´ve been having amazing weather, although a bit too hot if one works or is too lazy to go to the beach. 😉 We went to the beach twice, though and it was so much fun for the dogs! I realized I´ve become a bit of a chicken, couldn´t bring myself to swim although the water must have been 19-21 degrees. Brr! Otherwise I can’t wait for Santorini, 5 weeks to go! Three more weeks of general staff holiday, better hurry and enjoy it! Prosecco is still on my list of groceries, even though I´m on low-carb!;-) haha! Have a lovely week!

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Lazy days

Oh, how I missed these lazy days of July, thought they´d never come! I´m working a couple of hours every day, a little more in between, leaving me plenty of time to nap, read, walk my Sammy and make all those fresh summer dishes that´ll turn my body into a 20 year old´s all over again. 😉 Haha! Not to mention how nice it is to have my husband around, have a walk in the warm summer evening and rediscover the neighborhood we moved to almost 3 years ago.

I usually stay in Norway in July since I adore the summer pace, the possibility to go straight to the beach from work or whatever errands you need to run before Norway shuts down in the general staff holiday. There are sales everywhere and the city is warm with beer and joy, people strip down and wiggle their toes, oh it´s an entirely different town! The weather seems to be getting better and better, so tomorrow we´re going to watch the World Cup in the park, beer and burgers parked in front of us. Saturday we´re off to the beach, if the weather allows and the beach makes both me and Sam besides ourselves with joy.

Today we´re having shrimps mayo and later we´ll probably have a walk to Sørenga and sip some Prosecco on the new marina. Hope your July is just as awesome! xxx, Alina

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Busy summer days

Hi y’all! These days have gone too fast and I haven´t had time to catch my breath, let alone write anything on my blog. Summer has come to Norway and I´m enjoying every bit of it. And so is Sam. There are flowers to smell, rivers to dive into, fresh air to breathe in. If you haven´t been to Oslo yet, you should! It´s such a jolly town in summer! Take a look!

I hope you´re all well and promise to write you more when I feel more inspired. Hugs, Alina

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Easter blues

It´s strange how holidays always are a bit tricky when you´re far away from your family, even as a grown-up. It´s like the thread of  “the way it´s always been” gets cut. And I like things to be the way they´ve always been, even though I have an ambivalent relationship to traditions.  Like it or not, traditions are the glue that keeps together past and present. We can chose to keep some and forget others, but they do define us in a way or another. All these years, I´ve let customs go and embraced others, we´ve created our own traditions as a family of two and we´ve been with the big family sometimes, too. Since my husband was born a Buddhist, Easter never had loud resonances in his family. In Romania however, we celebrate by going to church, meeting family and friends and eating until we end up in a hospital. 😉

Norwegians are said to go skiing on Easter holiday. The paper said it´s more of a myth nowadays, but I still feel it´s the general rule. Since we don´t ski, we go to Romania every now and then, take a city break other times, but mostly stay at home and celebrate an urban Easter. We´ve had amazing weather, we´ve gone on lovely trips, met people for lunch and coffee and still I feel there´s something missing. I´ve been trying not to fall prey to melancholy all this time, but the church bells this morning were too much. Why don´t I go to church or dye some eggs then? Because it wouldn´t be like home anyway. So why even try?

Source: uneromaineaparis.com

Easter 2014

Thursday was all about baking and hiding inside from the rain. I made all this food and we cuddled up with blankets and Netflix.  A lovely way to start a mini holiday, but would have proved boring in the long run. Yesterday however, the sun was shining and it was time for new adventures. I waited for my husband to finish a wallet he´s had an order on and when it seemed it was never going to happen, I took Sam for a walk to hip Grunnerløkka. We took some pictures on our way crossing Grønland and Tøyen, strolled through the lovely Botanical Garden and smelled the flowers. Luckily, my friend Elif agreed to meet us there, so we had coffee and pizza at Villa Paradiso. My man joined us in the end and we walked happily into the sunset the three of us. Haha!

Today we´re going to the Østensjø lake into the woods. Pictures soon! Enjoy the ride with us!

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Sunny day

What a lovely day! And what better to do with it than go for a stroll with Anette and our dogs? We´re lucky to have many cosy areas around and Kampen is one of them. A former working class neighborhood, its vivid colors are refreshing and its wooden houses- quaint.  Almost free for traffic and boasting with a couple of real time charm coffee shops, it´s the place to go if the sun is shining and you have a couple of hours on your hands. Just have a look for yourselves!

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