Pulpit Rock

For fear of Thursday's weather report, I woke up at 4 am to hike the two hours up to Pulpit Rock. Luckily, 4 am in Norway is also sunrise, so I wasn't hiking in the dark. The walk up was beautiful but very eerie due to the intense fog. The trail was marked with red spray painted T's, and quoting my new Canadian friend Jonathan, every time he passed one he thought to himself 'thank you' 'thank you' ' thank you.' I only wandered off the trail 2 times on accident, which is pretty good for me! But alas I made it to the top with only a few minor scrapes and scenic 'detours.'
The walk up:











And here she is! Over 600 meters of sheer cliff.


And here I am.


By this point I was getting a little bit cold, but I took the cliff trail down to sit on top of the rock itself. While I was sitting there I realized something about myself; I am hysterically terrified of heights! There I am trying to conjure 'deep thoughts' and all I can do is succumb to a fit of giggles.
On the walk back I ran into Jonathan from the hostel and we walked down together. It was also his 30th birthday! I don't really know how to twitter but he gave me this link to follow his trip!
http://mobile.twitter.com/canadiancat



Here is a photo of the hostel from our walk down.


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Goin' Norway

This isn't Norway, maybe Denmark?


Thiiis is Norway:


To say the least I was excited on the plane.
First impressions were a little dreary, but I think that was due to the weather. Right as I landed and got on the bus to Oslo it started to pour! But when it cleared up it changed completely. Here is a shot from my first walk through town.


Today I walked 11.5 miles around town says my calibrated and always accurate pedometer...(*)
I don't know about that, but my feet say I'm tired! Oslo is beautiful, and if you don't believe me here is the proof.





The opera house:





Still don't believe me?






The main problem- it's so expensive! I actually had a 'reverse China moment' when I first arrived. I'll explain. When Charles and I first arrived in China, there was a day or two where we honestly did not know the exchange rate. But when we found out we were very happily surprised! Here, that was not the case. Just to give some reference, a kebab is 55 nok, so roughly 10 bucks usd. To pee- approx 1 usd. Metro ticket, 5 usd. Hostel, I'm afraid to say about 40 usd a night! And the guy in the bunk above me snores terribly so.... Not a good bargain.
BUT there is an upside. While walking around the pier today, which is basically one huge boardwalk, I found the cheapest item in town to eat: a hot dog with onions, ketchup and mustard. Upon discovering this I realized what my favorite 'only in desperation' meal is: a hot dog with onions, ketchup and mustard!
Cannot wait for lunch tomorrow. Oh serendipity.



One final thought for today-- is crosswalk guy this stylish in other cities?



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