Kikutstua

On Sunday, we were only two and one of our dreams was always to go for a bigger skiing tour, so we decided to start at Frognerseteren again (it is just so convenient) and ski to Kikutstua and back which is something like 25 km. The distance itself was not really the problem but the steep uphill slopes were quite strenuous and the steep downhill slopes quite hard to manage with cross-country skis and some of those were despite the new snow quite icy (here the slopes are sometimes more like hiking trails and not like these totally prepared slopes in Germany and Switzerland - has advantages and disadvantages). Still we managed the tour and it was fantastic - the weather was great and there were not too many people because most Norwegians went on holidays somewhere else over the Easter weekend. Kikutstua is quite funny itself because you can get drinks and waffles and some other food in the middle of nowhere - as it seems. Of course there are gravel roads going there but 'normal' people cannot go there by car ;) In summer it can be quite nice because somewhere I saw that they rent out canoes (maybe the is not up-to-date anymore) since it is on the shore of Bjørnsjøen - a quite big lake there.
Some pics:



On the lake:

Time flies

Already more than a week ago! Of course that one day of skiing wasn't enough for us, we went the next two days and had fantastic weather. Unfortunately I forgot to switch back some settings of the camera so the pictures are not really good but they will do to show how much snow we had and how nice it is with sun ;) Friday and Saturday we made something like 8 km loops - so quite easy going. On Friday we started at Frognerseteren and ended the round at Holmenkollen. On Saturday we started at Voksenkollen and ended the tour at Frognerseteren with a stop in the Cafeteria there.

White Easter

Ha I really thought that they were just making a bad joke since there were so many times when they said there will be snow and what did we get - two snowflakes melting instantaneously in the air before even reaching the ground.
But not yesterday/today - they had predicted snow and I was not believing that until I actually saw it snowing and snowing and snowing - the whole night and it didn't stop.
So in the morning one could see two extremely happy people jumping through the appartment and being really enthusiastic to have another chance to ski (probably every day of the weekend) while the others just asked themselves probably for the thousandth time why they are in Oslo and not in Spain ;)
Well , we didn't care and we were happy that we were two of the same kind, picked up another one who really appreciated the snow (actually a Spanish girl) and went on skiing. And what do I have to say - fantastic! And tomorrow we will also go a round and there is supposed to be some sun. I think we freaked out quite a little bit doing snow angels and jumps into the snow ;)
Anyway - some pics:

Chrystelle posing nicely for the picture:



Snow!!!!

Holmenkollen

Well, this is extreme backblogging - pictures from last August which never made it to the blog ;) And I wanted to introduce some museums in Oslo already for a long time. We went to the ski museum on Holmenkollen and of course went up to the ski jump. The ski museum is quite unusual because there are not many museums of that kind. Logically you can see many skis from the early times of skiing (skis even with some nice ornaments) until the modern times with signed skis of Norwegian athletes. There are also some videos and some informations about the equipment of the early explorers going to the Arctic or Antarctic. In addition you can find information about the development of the ski jump in Holmenkollen and of course you can go to the jump and look down. There is an elevator but it has much more style to use the stairs. Anyway this will be obsolete soon, since they are tearing down the old jump tower and will build a very fancy new one. I don't know what happens to the museum at that time. For those who really want to know how it is when jumping, there is a jump simulator - I was told that it is quite fun but didn't try it.

First, a nice view of the Oslofjord:



The lake, the ski jumpers land in ;) In winter this is ice of course:



The ski jump itself:



Genia with a Norwegian moose - not that the cap on the moose's head it Genia's:



Skijumper's perspective:



A few of us with an Alaskan(!!!) bear (had to be imported hehe):



Modern viking and disoriented Russian (thinks that it is raining inside):



And the ski jump one more time:

Strange

When it is getting brighter and brighter outside and especially when there is sun outside I have this urgent feeling of staying in bed all day and I sleep fantastic during daytime and then get productive when the sun is down - never happens to me that much in winter...

Middle name

She had it first and sent it to her and then I decided that it actually was a nice idea, since I have a middle name.
1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name or your mother's maiden name).
3. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged.)

J - joy because that keeps us alive
E - endeavor because nothing works without

shit my internet connection gave up again brb
re

N - nonsense because people talk so much of it every day
N - nature because without it we would not be here
I - inspiration because life would be boring without new ideas
F - fairness(in the sense of equal treatment) because that is lacking more and more
E - enlightenment because you always have to keep the spirit of learning something new
R - reason because it should stand above everything

So that's what I made of the name I don't really like because it was my father's choice (btw my father is incorporating almost the exact opposite of the above values except for the fact that he is not talking nonsense all the time but he is a liar and that he has some feeling for nature).

Take it or leave it!

A whole year of summer - how depressing

For the last time ... honestly:
The last chance to complain before I will move into my summer depression.
Winter here in Oslo was for me one time ice-skating on the lake and two times cross country skiing. I have to admit that I could have done more skiing (I was also seriously lacking time) but there were about estimated 3 weeks this winter here in Oslo with snow. Of course, there are regions in Norway where there is more snow but there is this technical problem that I cannot move to any place for two hours after work (when I work until 8 pm or later anyway). I did some trips on weekends but then it would have been mich nicer not to have to drive long to go skiing.
Now, everybody is so happy that winter is over - what winter? These 3 weeks ? And they were so unbearable? Please.... now we have 11 months and a week of summer .. isn't that enough? Given the fact that it was not really warm last summer and that it rained a lot which was EXACTLY the same most of the time from November to February this 'winter'.
There is seriously something wrong with the weather - soon we will go to the Mediterranean to go skiing and southern Norway will became a second Adria.
Maybe I should plan my next Christmas vacation in Alaska - then I will at least get a little bit of cold and snow which will make me survive the rest of the year ;)
And then too much of light ... soon it will not be dark when I come home at 10 pm ... how depressing ! I can kind of survive the summer if there is at least a proper winter like in Alaska.
The PhD position here was the best choice and I would not want to change that decision - I work in a fantastic environment, I can learn a lot and people are just great. Oslo is also quite nice - at least not too big for my taste. I have a wonderful appartment, not too far from university and also quite close to the center - the subway station is in a short distance so I am also fast out of town. The people I live with are also great and we get along extremely well.
There is just one thing missing which I actually expected and that is why I deliberately chose Norway and not Spain or Greece or wherever - WINTER!
Isn't that fanstatic - all the people disliking winter end up in Alaska or wherever and I end up somewhere were there used to be winter but for some reason is not anymore. This cries for some change in location after the PhD ! And there is still that option to go to Antarctica - maybe I should hurry because otherwise there will not be ice there when I am there ;)

Where do you go in 2008?

The rough plan is done until September so this is where I was and will be this year:

1) starter was a small ski trip in February to Trysil about 200 km north of Oslo - it was a very nice but way too short weekend - the weather was nice but I didn't dare to take my camera to skiing and I don't have a cheap digicam anymore ;)

2) At the beginning of March, we had a more or less internal student conference at Oscarsborg - which is a fort ind the Oslofjord - close to Drøbak. There is a small ferry going to the island - I took some pictures and they will be uploaded when I can motivate myself.

3)The first big conference this year and for myself will be in Vienna in mid-April(it's called EGU). I will have a 15 minute talk but it has to be well prepared. Never made it to Vienna before so I will also try to get some impressions of the city.

4) The next but much smaller conference will be the Kongsberg seminar which is in May in Kongsberg - very nice place with a dinner in the Silver mines. The program does not seem that interesting for me and I only have to present a poster. I might sneek out from time to time and hike there because it is a really nice region.

5) Right after my mum comes over to celebrate a round birthday so we will do a trip here in Norway. Hopefully we make it further to the middle of Norway and can see Jotunheimen and Rondane and Sognefjord but we will see how that goes. Then we will drive to Germany.

6) In June there is a meeting in St. Petersburg. I don't know about the details yet but I might also have to present some of my work - St. Petersburg is another first and it will also be the first time in Russia for me.

7) July will be fantastic because in mid-July I have a conference in Vancouver and I am really looking forward to that.

8) In the end of July, I will do a field trip to the Karelian Kraton - so this will be half in Finnland and half in Russia. Finland will be another first ;)

9) Another conference ... a huge one in August but it will be here in Oslo - how boring ;)

10) Field trip mid-end August - transect through Norway - I always wanted to see those high pressure rocks there.

11) Which is a maybe - Barcelona in September - there will be a workshop and I might go there .


So that was about the plan for this year - there might be some conference in St.Fransisco in December but only if my supervisor forces me to go there ;)

Thanks,

Mikko, for the translation - very much appreciated !

Huh hah huh ha

... yeah still listening to that song. Funnily enough people end up here when searching for 'missä miehet rastastaa' what do you expect (especially after all the you tube videos which are found on top of the google page)?
At least my very profound internet research (of 50 seconds) has given me an idea about the title - 'when men are riding' ;).
Anyway that guy has an astonishing voice - I could not sing that high ;)