Cats in the cottage

Hercules, the cat

This weekend I returned to the mountains. But opposed to the Trysil trip two weeks ago with fifteen people mostly heading for the downhill slopes and after-ski, this weekend took place near the mountain Spåtind (english: bode mountain) and was reserved for cross-country skiing with my sister and her fiancé. And their three cats... The cats stayed inside while we were out skiing, but got to experience the snow from time to time. Hercules had his first encounter with snow, reluctant at first, but soon comfortable with this new element. To me it was the other way around; Saturday was great, but Sunday was so windy it became difficult to do proper cross-country skiiing. Anyway, getting out of the dusty city and into the fresh mountain air was excellent!

Introducing the new Oslo metro

The new Oslo metro train

Yesterday, Oslo Sporveier put two new metro trains into traffic. Not yet in production, the two trains are now in a two month "public pilot" test period before full-scale production commence. And this morning, while Dag Ragnar was in town for an overnight visit and we were heading for a swim at Domus Athletica, I had my first ride with one of the two bright, clean and yet-to-be-tagged trains. First impressions: The white exteriour doesn't only make the train stand out from the old red ones, but also enlightens the underground stations! Then, having to actively push a button to open the door was unusual, but worked ok. Inside, the train is amasingly quiet, and opposed to the old trains you don't have to scream to hear yourself talking. Quite the contrary--as everybody else were quiet, it felt like we were screaming when talking in a normal voice. The cars are spacious, but the seating arrangments come a bit surprising to me. I guess I'll make use of the opportunity to give feedback...

It doesn't snow all the time

Even though the pictures I put in this blog these days indicate that I do nothing but skiing in brilliant conditions with lots of snow here in Norway, it is definitely not like that all the time. Right now, for instance, it is wet and dark outside; the snow is melting away. A guy even walked by my window with an umbrella in his hand this very moment! The thing is, I don't take many pictures of boring stuff. Things that I find boring, that is. Instead, I focus on nice moments, such as those I had this weekend...

Snowboarding in Oslo

After a few days of heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures in Oslo, Ragnhild and I went to Tryvann Vinterpark on Saturday and enjoyed a couple of hours in the fresh and soft, nice snow. She used her own snowboard while I rented one at Skiservice, which you will find is online, but only on the internet--the board I got was a bad one, full of scratches, and way too small for me. They were all out of the proper-sized ones, even though I called in advance to reserve one, which they told me was not necessary because they had sooo many. Right. I am not going there for ski-rental again. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful day in the hills, me and my sister!

Swimming dessert

As Saturday was skiing-day, Sunday became swimming-day. Although it could turn out not to if Ragna hadn't been there to swim with me. The thing is, I forgot my swim trunks at home, but didn't discover this before undressed. Unable to tell Ragna (in the ladies locker room) I had to put my clothes back on, and run back home to get it (judging by my breath, I could probably benefit from more of that running thing...). I entered the pool some five hundred metres behind here, but as everybody knows, girls tend to spend way more time in the dressing room than guys. So we got out of Tøyenbadet at approximately the same time. Then, we went out for lunch which we simply had to finish with a nice dessert (see picture above).

A busy new year?

I don't know if I am busy or lazy, but with respect to blog posting I am a lazy person. In my perspective, too many things have been going on. Fact is that I have been busy trying to keep up with myself--so busy that I cannot even remember everything. It is definitely time to get back to the blog so I don't loose track of myself. "Track" is actually not a bad word in this context, as I have actually been skiing cross-country both at weekdays (even one Friday morning before work!) and in weekends (when I have not been busy swimming or enjoying the urban life in Oslo).

Skiing in Trysil

I'll skip all the details and jump straight to the end: Last weekend I escaped the darkened city of Oslo (all the snow melted away in a couple of days), and went to Trysilfjellet ski resort with a bunch of friends and their friends. To keep the story short (and prolong this night's sleep): I got one day in the slopes and managed to balance the snowboard well enough to twist and turn in a fairly controlled manner, and one day of cross-country skiing in the fog (sorry, but no picture from the fog--choose a gray desktop background on your portable and bring it with you in your freezer if you wonder how it really was). In between, I enjoyed after ski at Laaven, followed by soaking in the jacuzzi and steaming in the sauna (picture access restricted to my Flickr friends).

Back in the city, I have started learning more about swimming as I received the book Total Immersion from Amazon. I have also just finished my French course at Berlitz, and am going to sign up for another one at Aftenskolen. I have also started training for the bicycling season, with free access to a gym through the project I am working on. Finally, in order to keep myself from missing early morning meetings too often, I bought me a fancy alarm clock today.

Celebrating Christmas

Running from one family party to another, stuffing myself with traditional (rice pudding, pork ribs, turkey) and less traditional (reindeer) Christmas food, I had great fun playing diverse activites during the days between: ice hockey with Jan, his brother and some of their friends, a nice walk in my home town, swimming with Ragna, skiing with Jan and more of his friends, and sledging in Korketrekkern with Trine Lise, Bente and her Portugese friends on the last day of 2005. I also enjoyed the nice atmosphere of café Teketohpa ("Apoteket", or "the pharmacy" spelled backwards) with Lars and Jan after which I tried the new cake tin I got from Arnljot for Christmas, baking a chocolate cheese cake. Unfortunately, it was too heavy and not particularly good, which is a shame because it took a lot of French chocolate to create it. 2005 came to a close at Line Mai's place on the second last night of 2005, and ended in the hospital home of Anniken on new years eve.

Me and my sister

2006 started with a wonderful trip skiing cross-country in the woods of Østmarka, which I used to visit with my family as a kid. Later years, it has rarely been enough snow there for skiing, and re-visiting always brings back nice memories.

Happy new year!