Posts

Showing posts from February, 2015

Oslo February 2015

Image
To get to Oslo we took a 4 hour train from Geilo. It was 249NOK/£21/$32. There are lots of space for your luggage, free wifi and plug sockets to charge your devices. It's quite a pretty journey of bright white snowy trees, fjords and mountains. We got to Oslo S Station at 3pm and walked to our  hotel , it was about a 20 minute walk with the luggage. We checked in, dumped our luggage then headed out to see a bit of Oslo. It was still pretty cold in Oslo at -1 degrees although it felt colder.  Oslo is very small and the city sights can be seen in a day or a few hours in our case. We walked down the main road Karl Johans Gate which is the equivalent of Oxford Street but is pedestrianised. We went in the Oslo Cathedral and sat in a service for about 15 minutes. We then went to the famous Oslo Opera House which has a pretty cool but strange design and architecture. We got there just as the Sun was setting and the Opera House is by the water so was quite beautiful. You can go to the t

Gelio February 2015

Image
Fliss, Abbey and I headed to Cafe Mocca once again for a brunch of coffee, cake and sandwiches.  We then walked over to the area to for the husky sledging where Rach met us. There were about 5 huskies pulling the sledge and one person is in the sledge and the other person is controlling the sledge. The husky employee showed us how to use the sledge and to break. Abbey and Fliss were in one together and I was in the sledge with the professional controlling the sledge. I had hand warmers in my gloves but they didn't work :( so my hands felt frozen after about 5 minutes. You are zipped into the sledge with a blanket so my feet were toasty. The person in the sledge has to hold the snow anchor (metal anchor) and put in on the ground when we are stationery which stops the huskies running off. There was not much cushioning between my bottom and the floor which wasn't too great, especially when there were some dips in the road. The dogs were a little scary when they were barking and wo

Gelio February 2015

Image
After a well deserved lie in Abbey, Fliss and I headed to the local cafe - Cafe Mocca for coffee and cake at about 12pm. Rachel then met us after her ski lesson and we got some alcohol from the spirits shop called Vinmonopolet. Supermarkets only sell beer and wine. Spirits can only be purchased from the Vinmonopolet which close at around 3pm on weekends and 6pm on weekdays. Supermarkets also do not sell alcohol over 2.5% on Sundays and cannot sell any alcohol after 8pm on week days and 6pm on Saturdays. These restrictions do not apply to restaurants or bars.  We then went to the ski resort to get our skis and boots fitted so they were ready for the next day. Ski boots, lift pass and skis were all complimentary thanks to Rachel. Abbey and I purchased a private ski lesson for the following day for 300NOK/£25/$40 due to mate's rates otherwise would be 600NOK/£51/$78 for 1.5 hours.  For you information ski hire prices are below: Lift pass (1 day/2 days/3 days) 390NOK/£33/$51,760

Gelio February 2015

Image
After a good night's sleep we headed over to a nearby town to go snow mobiling/skidooing.  It is 700NOK/£60/$91 to ride a snow mobile with two on one seat and a bit more if you have a individual snow mobile. A waiver needs to be signed in case of any damage of up to 10,000NOK/£860/$1310 to the snow mobile. We changed into the suits the company provided us as they were supposed to be warmer and are wind resistant. In addition to balaclavas and helmets. The instructor showed us the accelerator and breaks and lead the way for the drive.  Rachel started driving first and it was sublime for me to be a passenger. The mobile was going at about 25 mph, we then stopped and Rach and I swapped places and I started to drive. Driving was by no means as much fun as being a passenger. It could be because I was constantly scared I was going to crash or that I never drive at home or that there were 10 drivers behind me and I was nervous. Either way driving a snow mobile wasn't my cup of tea,

Gelio February 2015

Image
My first blog post of 2015! So one of my friends Rachel found herself living in Norway at a ski resort and invited our friends Abbey and Fliss to to visit so of course we jumped at the chance. Gelio is 3 hours north of Oslo and is more of a family friendly resort, the slopes are pretty and a few black and red runs however Geilo is not as big a resort as others such as Verbier. You can get there many ways but we decided to fly to Oslo with Norwegian Air then get a train to Geilo from Oslo S Station.  Our flight was at 9:20am from London Gatwick however due to sheer bad luck our flight was delayed by 3 hours. We ended up leaving at 12:30pm for our 2 hour flight and subsequently missed our connecting train to Geilo. The train was at 3:25pm to Geilo and was the last train that day. So not only did we lose the train fare of 249 NOK/£21/$32 but now we need to figure out another way to get to Geilo. After several messages to our friend Rachel in Norway and help from the information desk at