On Wednesday morning I said a quick goodbye to Jessie very early in the morning when she surfaced from bed briefly to see me off. I caught the bus into town, found my way to the train station, & picked up my electronic ticket with no dramas whatsoever. I was there with about 45 minutes to spare. Unfortunately my train was also running an hour late due to a breakdown somewhere along the track…so after waiting almost 2 hours (which could have been 2 more hours of precious sleep!) at the station I was on my way to Oslo to see Helle.

Helle, Jessie, & I all met in Vancover when we were on exchange at Simon Fraser University in 2008 & I also saw Helle earlier this year in Belgium when I caught up with her & Jessie whilst I was travelling with Esther. She is tiny, blonde, & has the most gorgeous giant blue eyes, & is pretty much exactly what you picture when you think of an archetypal Scandinavian person! Oh, & she is completely lovely too :)

It was about a 6 hour train ride…+ delays…+ the last part of the track is under construction so you have to switch to a bus at the last station which then takes you the last part of the way into Oslo. Actually I got off a station too soon (because I misheard the Norwegian stations being read out) & fortunately had the good sense to look around the platform right before the train took off again & just sort of had a feeling that something wasn't right! It was quite a relief when I finally made it into Oslo & met Helle outside the central station.

She took me back to her Mum's place, which had been her base in Oslo for the past few weeks while she'd been in Norway visiting family. She's actually currently living in Copenhagen with her boyfriend Balder, finishing up her Master's thesis after several months of research (& an internship) in Leuven, Belgium (which is where I saw her last). So she's just come home for a few weeks to visit & to celebrate her birthday this coming Sunday, which I am lucky enough to coincidently be here for!

I had a shower while Helle went & picked up some sushi for us for dinner then we went and sat in a local park to eat because it was such a lovely, sunny day, and like the Swedes the Norwegians make the most of any sunshine they can get! People were scattered across the park chatting with their friends & eating their dinner in their bathers :)

After dinner we picked up our luggage from Helle's Mum's place & headed out to her family's summerhouse, which is about 2½ hours drive out of Oslo. We stopped along the way to pick up some groceries (and, of course, some candy…the Norwegians also love their candy it seems! :P) & also went to a book store to stock up on reading material for the relaxing two days ahead :) Fortunately with English being so prevalent in all European countries it was no problem for me to find a book I could actually read :P (We are VERY lucky in that way!).

The drive out to the summerhouse was beautiful, as this part of Norway is very mountainous & green. When we got close to the house we drove through a tiny gate & into a dense part of woods where, if it weren't for the worn dirt road we were driving along, it could have seemed totally deserted! Eventually we emerged where there were a few tiny houses scattered around & then we actually had to walk through the woods with our bags for about 5 minutes before emerging on a tiny beach at the edge of a big lake, which is where the house is situated.

And it is just gorgeous!! Once again I fell instantly in love with the place & felt myself begin to relax & unwind the moment I stepped foot inside the door. It's very remote & so quiet that you can really only here the chirping of birds & the lapping of the water on the shore of the lake. I have my own little bedroom for the next couple of nights down the end of the house & we use water from the lake for the toilet, washing up etc. because there's no running water out here. Like I said, very remote! Helle asked if it was all OK & I couldn't wipe the smile off my face - is it all OK?? I'm out in the middle of the stunning Norwegian woods in the kind of remote, quaint, homely cottage I could never afford to pay to stay in otherwise, to relax, read books, & chat with my lovely Norwegian friend for 2 days! It couldn't be more OK :)