Easter in Vestlandet (Western Norway)

Easter in Norway tends to be about two things: going to the mountains for one last ski trip of the season and reading or watching crime mysteries. We decided to travel to Western Norway and not to a ski resort, but we did end up immersing ourselves in good "påskekrim." Last Wednesday, we took the plane to Bergen, the gateway to the fjords. We stayed the night downtown and had a gourmet sushi dinner at one of the hip dining venues in the old town. The next day we went on a guided walking tour of Bergen based on the life of the semi-fictional private detective, Varg Veum. It gave us a good intro into this charming old Hanseatic town surrounded by several mountains and wrapped around a fjord and its various inlets.

The rest of the trip was spent at Mundheim, a tiny village 2 hours south of Bergen, where our friends Sarifa and Peder live on a quaint farm right on the Hardangerfjord. They were fantastic hosts, treating us to delicious indian-inspired cooking, good South African wines, and most of all their company. We went hiking and basked in the priceless view from the mountain during the day, and sat in the steaming, fire-heated jacuzzi by the fjord, only to jump in the cold fjord when it got too hot.

This trip has only confirmed my impression of the mystical natural beauty of Norway. Enjoy the pictures as we did the real thing.

Ski-weekend at Hemsedal

We have had an enormous amount of snow this year. It's been snowing almost daily and the whole city is a winter wonderland. You can see the view of our balcony and our street. In addition, we have gained three hours of daylight since Christmas, which is very good for the soul.



This past weekend we ventured out in to the mountains, to Nesbyen, and spent the weekend skiing at Hemsedal with family and friends. It was fun, active, and celebratory, as I got a really exciting job offer last week. I (Anton) will be working as a Program Advisor (programrådgiver) at Fokus, a Norwegian NGO working to improve the situation of women in the developing world (www.fokuskvinner.no). Needless to say I am very excited and can't wait to get started this week. The job will involve some traveling, to Latin America and Africa! It is a relief to finally be going into a relevant job where I get to use my experience, education and language skills.

Skiing was a blast. The ski center has 40-ish slopes, all of them generously covered in fresh snow. Elray tried carving skiis for the first time and got to like them, and I stuck to snow blades. The cabin we stayed at was very "koselig" (a ubiquitous Norwegian word that translates as cozy).