Hello everyone! Long time no see! So I had been very bad at keeping up with my blog and I was very sad about it, even though no one else was really... BUT I just had so much to do and I was also just lazy to make an effort. Anyway, I am back and I have so many exciting things that I want to share here. First things first, recently, I had a trip to Norway, Denmark and to Sweden for about 2 weeks total. So I have decided to make a several Nordic blog posts since there are just so many lovely photos and it's impossible to make just one blog post. And this is the very first part.
THE main reason that I had this trip was for my best friend's wedding in Norway, which I am going to do a separate blog post of their wedding if I could get their permission to post some photos :) I had never beed to any European countries/ Nordic countries so I was very excited. Also, I had heard so many great things about Norway from my friends who studied abroad in Norway so I was very excited and couldn't wait to see how it's like.
First I went to Hamar, where my friends' apartment was, and hanged out a bit, had fun picking up falling leaves, and just relaxed in fall mood.
Then I went to Lillehammer. It was such a lovely area with beautiful views and beautiful people. I stayed at my friends' house but their house was the prettiest thing ever!! I absolutely fell in love with their house decor and I was also amazed by the nicest fireplace. Let me tell ya, Norwegians know what they're doing with their houses. Their family was so super nice and it was so nice to meet my friends' family. They were very nice people with the warmest and sweetest heart.
My friends, her family, and I also went to downtown area (I think...) of Lillehammer to do some general shopping which includes finding super cute candles and cheese hunting at Kiwi (supermarket).
AND THEN we went to this coolest café where they have the best hot chocolates and some great food. LOVE. The town was very pretty and cozy with candles and lovely decorations.
One last thing that I want say is that I LOVED THE FOOD SO MUCH. Cheese, chocolates, homemade bread, milk, coffee (kaffe), salmon, cheese, chocolates, cheese, chocolates…… Amazing. My friends' mom was so good at cooking and therefore I was always in food coma. I had Brunost (brown cheese) for the first time in my life and I fell in love. ***We were meant to be.*** I can literally eat brunost every single day. In fact, I did, and I learned how to say "Jeg liker brunost. (I love brunost)" in Norwegian just in case. I also loved that the family have "kaffe time" after dinner. It was something that I personally wouldn't do in Japan and I wouldn't spare time for but I thought it was very very cool. It was nice to use some time not to rush but to rest. Just hearing the sound of the clock, having some cakes and coffee with the family was such a quality time and it was just what I needed.
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| Lunch at University of Oslo |
Oslo is quite a modern city yet still keeps its classic atmosphere with beautiful buildings. It was like the mixture of edgy and cozy. I thought the city was much more busy since it's the main city but it was not that busy, compared to Japan, and people still had that chilled out atmosphere which was great. There were so many lovely café and shops on the main street. I wish I had more time to sit at a café and just chill out.
To be honest, I did not expect that Norway was this great because I had hardly heard anything about Norway except Norwegian salmon, until my best friend went to Norway. Now it is my new favorite country and I want to go back to Norway so so bad (like you have no idea). The only thing I didn't like was that everything was expensive in Norway, especially in Oslo.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed some of the photos and enjoyed reading my experience. My next Nordic blog will be up very soon :-) In fact, new blog post will be up every single day until Halloween!! Yay!
Much love,
Mayumi
Friends credit: Mami, Riko, Rika <3
Labels: 2014, Hamar, happy, Lillehammer, Norway, Oslo, travel, trip
