How do people find this blog?

This is the list of the recent keywords and I really had to laugh:

3 18.75% ju
2 12.50% bikers shop in oslo
2 12.50% andersnatten
2 12.50% asterisk und obeliks
1 6.25% i am stuiped what can i do
1 6.25% without alcohol deutsch
1 6.25% oslo wohnung
1 6.25% asterisk und obeliks
1 6.25% augunshaug norefjell
1 6.25% moose bag norge
1 6.25% wetter wochenende oslo

well at least people looked especially for me - I didn't know that I am so famous.
And sorry to those people who didn't find a bikers shop here ... maybe I should add a special link section for useful stuff in Oslo and Norway.
Nice, that some people actually found me by looking for Andersnatten and Augunshaug Norefjell because that is what I wanted to achieve with the blog - that people can look at pictures and read what these places are like ;).
The person looking for Asterisk and Obeliks definitely must have been Russian since another Russian wrote a comment about these two guys in my blog.
And I don't know if I could help the person who was looking for I am stuiped what can I do ... I assume that this should mean stupid and I don't have any advice what you could do. I tried to find a solution all my life didn't work - maybe going to Norway works?
Without alcohol deutsch ... are you crazy man? Germans without alcohol ?
Oslo wohnung, wetter wochenende oslo - I am definitely neither an estate agent nor a meteorologist but maybe I really should add some pages where you can find something you need ;)
And moose bag norge???? That is probably the same guy looking for the faces of the norwegian moose and didn't remember what he was looking for to find the blog ;)

My newest acquisition...

... is that one hanging on my fridge:

Evje

Evje is a small town in the mountains of Setesdalen, in the inner part of Southern Norway. Besides many outdoor activities (like skiing, rafting, hiking, climbing) it also offers a great opportunity for geologists since there are many pegmatites in the region. The most common minerals like huge mica grains (muscovite and biotite) and feldspars (damn them) can be found everywhere. With a bit of luck you can also find some bigger magnetite and garnet grains. There is almost no chance to find the other minerals which have been found before in the region inlcluding beryll, green apatite and the Y-rich Gadolinite. Since there are many non-geologists reading this, I will spare you the details and just refer to this nice page for those who want to know more about Evje and what it has to offer: http://www.smartminerals.com/norvegia/trip/Evje_Iveland.htm
In addition to minerals, the region is also predestined to collect blueberries since the region looks like this:



The pegmatites are accessible at various places and look like this - actually the territory is owned by private people and they want you pay somthing like 50 NOK for a permit to look for minerals and this at each different place.



Most of the smaller bushes are full with blueberries:



And like everywhere in Norway lakes are numerous:

4 km airline distance ...

... and I need more than an hour by bike because I have to go partly down the hill, up another hill, completely down that one and then going up again. In between the road, I wanted to take, is turning to be gravel and there is complete darkness by now so I don't see even much with my light. In addition there is suddenly a 2m tall guy full of muscles showing up in the darkness and a few seconds later I am losing the contact lens of my left eye. So I decide that it is not a good idea to continue the gravel road with the limited sight of just one contact lense and an insufficient light and turn around to find another road. I should have passed by the tall guy again but he mysteriously vanished somewhere so I am better riding in the middle of the road that he is not jumping out of the bushes ;). Anyway I am trying to find a road which leads at least to the major road leading to my dorm but soon I am lost in a labyrinth of pedestrian roads only - many of which are dead ends (even for pedestrians and bikers). After a few dead ends I finally find a path which is going straight down. Everything I climbed up before is lost but at least it leads to the road I wanted to find. So eventually I have to do the same hill again but just on another road. Eventually I reach the dorm and manage to get into the lift - which decided to get stuck in the middle - furiously pressing the button for my floor then helped to convince it to move on.
Usually I love to bike and I also love to bike at night and I really like Oslo at night and I don't mind biking for an hour at night IF the distance is accordingly but is it really so hard to build just one single road connecting the hills?
In addition my break is not going smoothly .. making some noise and I am really afraid that I am destroying more if I don't go to a biker's shop and have a control but I cannot afford that next week timewise. Maybe it is better to liveaccording to a minimalistic philosophy since for every single thing you own you have to put in so much more effort and additional problems to care about ;).
Well stay tuned when there is a new story about (half)crazy Ju trying to bike 4 km of airline distance since I obviously haven't found the perfect way this time ;)

Heddal Stave Church

This stave church is the biggest one of all stave churches which are still preserved in Norway and it is also quite beautiful. The oldest parts are assumed to date back to 1147 but the church was completed in 1242. It also has 4 carved portals which all have different figures and ornaments.

My new bike *jump*

So in between the pictures one personal note - I managed to buy my first mountainbike in Germany and I am really happy. It is so light and easy going - biking uphill is so much more fun (except for the bad shape I am still in ;)). At the moment it is sharing my room with me because I am too afraid that it will be stolen outside the dorm area.
Thanks to Father T for coming with me when I bought the bike ;) and also for taking the picture you can see now:

Impressions of Oslo III

Ju proudly presents: the ugliest city hall in any capital of the world (well ok I haven't seen all but I still think it is):



It is just an unexcusable sin to put this ugly thing into the middle of Oslo. The extreme ugliness can be seen better on the next picture taken by my mum:



And it doesn't really help that there are bells in one of the towers which play different musical pieces every hour.

Lindesnes

The southernmost point of Norway is Lindesnes - the distance to the Nordkapp is 2518 km. There is also a quite famous lighthouse - unfortunately you have to pay for admission to the whole area around the lighthouse (a fact which was not even mentioned in our guide - it only said that you have to pay for the lighthouse). Anyway there should always be a way to sneak in - or coming after 9 pm, then you cannot climb the lighthouse but you can easily access the area.
My dream would be to hike from the Nordkapp to Lindesnes in about 5 months but I wonder if I can ever spare 5 months as a whole. Many people divide the hike into smaller parts which they can then do every year - but just imagine the feeling to hike the whole distance in one - must be fantastic.

Mølen

The cape of Mølen is the end of the Ra moraine - huge fields of rocks and sand can be found here. The people of the iron age used these rocks to build graves - around 230 of them. Some of them are very small but some are huge and have the form of ships.
The rocks, the vegetation, the ocean and the graves create a unique athmosphere - a fantastic place in my opinion:

Impressions of Oslo II

Finally I manage to continue the series ;)



This is Akershus seen from the harbor. Unfortunately I couldn't take a picture at the best spot since a huge cruise ship was destroying the whole view on Akershus on that day. However I have a picture from the spot which was taken in March:



The earliest parts were built in 1299 and the fortified castle is the only building which is left of old Oslo which burned down in 1624.
From the other side, it looks like this:

Back

Well, I am back in Oslo. The approximatley ten days of vacation in Norway were really great - my mum and I made two tours: the first to Southern Norway as far as Lindesnes (the southernmost point of Norway which is 2518 km away from the Nordkapp)and then back through the Telemark, passing Evje (a good place to find minerals), the Telemark canal and Heddal, the biggest Stave Church in Norway. The second tour was shorter but not less fascinating. We drove through the Hardangervidda to the Hardangerfjord and had the chance to hike in the Hardangervidda and look at several other Stave Churches.
In between we had two days in Oslo for my Mum to see the most important buildings and the Viking Ship museum and the Oslo beach ;). The weather was great except for two day (as ordered by my mum ;)).
Then we drove back to Germany stopping at Tanumshede( World heritage rock carvings in Sweden) and staying for the night in Sweden.
The time in Germany was quite short and on a tight schedule since I had to get the TÜV for my car and an appointment with the dentist. In addition I wanted to buy a bike (and several other things you cannot get in Norway) and I went to two weddings at the same day and to my granddad's 94th birthday.
The drive back was really tough - constant rain from shortly after Frankfurt up to the German-Danish border. There where times when you couldn't even see the car in front of you - really bad. Luckily the conditions improved in Denmark. This time I took a ferry from Hirtshals to Langesund over night together with my aunt went to visit her friend and harp teacher. Norway greeted me with the nicest weather and the drive from Langesund to Oslo took me only about 2 1/2 hours which was ok since we both could get some sleep on the ferry (which I booked as late as Monday).
I promised pictures and they will come gradually so here I will put in only one picture of the beach close to Hirtshals (actually only a few hundred meters away from the ferry terminal and it was almost dark and really windy):

short note

I have been roaming around Norway for the past 10 days that's why it is so quiet here and I will drive to Germany tomorrow and be there for a few days before coming back to Oslo and starting work again. When I am back I can promise many fantastic pictures and additional information so hold on for a little bit longer ;)