Spring is in the air - Putnoe Woods

We decided to visit a new wood for a dog walk, so visited Putnoe Wood. A delightful walk and the best bit was seeing the snowdrops. Spring is definitely on it's way.

Getting stuck at the top of a ski jump

Today we aimed to visit the ski jump museum and gosh did we have some serious snow. It was really interesting. While we were there, a biathlon was going on. We went in the funicular up to the top of the ski jump. Ordinarily there would be fabulous views but instead, we had a complete white out. We then pushed the button to descend in the funicular and a big red 'out of order' sign popped up on the button. What do we do? We were stuck at the top of a ski jump and there wasn't a ladder or stairs, the only way down was down the jump! Ali was now freaking out so I asked her to sit in the classroom while I figured out how we were going to get down. I found a telephone number and called reception to say that the funicular had broke and we were stuck at the top! It was fixed after 10 mins and down we went, loving being on the ground again and warm.

Back in Oslo, we visited the Nobel Peace Centre and joined a fantastic tour. It was incredibly humbling to hear the stories of people awarded the peace prize. Our last stop was Akershus Fortness, just in time before it closed. I had an audio guide through the castle which was really informative. Then back to the airport and back home. What an amazing weekend in Norway.

Oslo - Viking ships, folk museum, Kon Tiki, maritime and Fram Musem...all in a day

Our first stop today was to get the Oslo pass for 48 hours, which allows entry into museums and public transport. I'm not usually a fan of buses because I never know where to leave the bus, but it was easy. We got the bus to the Viking Ship museum. Gees they are absolutely huge! We then visited the Oslo Folk Museum which was just up the road. It was like we had the museum to ourselves, it was just us wandering through the buildings and passing the people dressed up in traditional clothes. The site is pretty vast and the deep snow pleased Ali who is loving being cold and seeing snow.

Our next stop was the Maritime Museum, the Kon Tiki Museum and the Fram Museum. The Fram was Amundsen's ship that he used for Antarctica and I've wanted to see it since we went on the Fram to Antarctica. We previously visited Scotts Ship, the Discovery. So seeing the Fram was incredibly high on my list. I loved that you could walk all over the ship and explore. We saw Nansen's cabin, the clothes they used for the expedition and the sledges. I could have spent the day there.

Back on the last bus home, we travelled back to the centre of Oslo, just in time to catch the Oslo 10k race. gees it was absolutely freezing but we cheered them on as the fireworks went off to announce the start of the race. The firepits were a welcome sight to warm us up.

Only 15,000 steps walked today.

Ali's Christmas present to Norway

Ali and I never buy each other gifts, instead we buy experiences. I bought Ali a weekend in Norway for Christmas, staying at the Scandic Hotel. Ali has wanted to visit Norway for ages, so she was super shocked when she found out where we were going. I treated us to the Business Class lounge before we boarded our EasyJet flight. Ali hasn't had her snow fix so her eyes lit up when we landed in Oslo. We got the very expensive train (over £70 for both of us) into town and walked to the hotel to drop our bags, before heading out for a wander in the cold.

It was lovely to walk through the centre of town, passing the opera house, open ice rink and the Nobel Peace Centre. Dinner and then bed early for a big day tomorrow.