my eyes, my words and the world
we followed our grandma back to the motherland for a couple days last summer. had truckloads of dimsum, met some of my loveliest friends that i haven’t seen since locking in for uni finals, and took way too many boat trips across victoria harbour.
made a little post-uni getaway to oslo, norway! as usual, itinerary is at the bottom of the post.
day 1: oslo
i arrived in the late afternoon and walked around the city centre, visiting the oslo cathedral, youngstorget and oslo opera house. had coffee at stockfleths (a coffee chain) and sat by the harbour and journalled for a bit while enjoying a yogurt pot. i window-shopped for a bit at normal, and then headed back to rest.
day 2: oslo & bygdøy
went for a morning coffee at fuglen, a well-known espresso bar. joined a city tour during which i visited the oslo city hall, the national theatre, and the norwegian parliament. we also drove past the akershus castle and fortress and kvadraturen neighbourhood. the holmenkollbakken, a ski jump, was a marvel and has the world’s oldest ski museum. my favourite attraction of the day was vigelandsparken, a sculpture park and museum displaying the quirky works of gustav vigeland. the fram museum was an immersive exhibition of norway’s history of expeditions, with a real 19th century polar exploration ship housing various exhibits. i had lunch there, having a classic open-faced shrimp sandwich, rekesmørbrød. i was also lucky enough to attend a guided tour of the outdoor norsk folkemuseum, which was reminiscent of skansen in stockholm. i saw a reconstruction of the gol stave church from the 12th century, and in it was a gorgeous medieval-style mural of the last supper by nicolay nicolaysen. we then went on a cruise to see the oslo fjords! i met dymas and matt for a fresh seafood dinner at fiskeriet youngstorget, as recommended by a local at my hostel. we then climbed atop the oslo opera house and chatted away while watching the sunset.
day 3: oslo & drøbak
went on a little day trip to drøbak, a small idyllic town with breathtaking seafront views. i explored the town centre, peeking into drøbak church and tregaardens julehus, a christmas shop that was oddly busy despite it being the summer. i had lunch at håndverksbakeriet drøbak where i had a traditional sandwich with leverpostei (liver pâté), rugbrød and remoulade. absolutely delicious!! i then walked along the ferry harbour and badehusgata where i sat and admired the views of storsand across the water. i then went to floating sauna at oslo badstuforening. i was guided through the langkaia sauna ritual, which was a quiet herb ritual that involved being whipped with eucalyptus branches to stimulate blood circulation and jumping into the cold ocean water between sequences. during the session i met someone who told me that she goes every day before work. i can’t express how calming the whole experience was – i 100% recommend it. i later went for dinner at bølgen & moi tjuvholmen, a restaurant on aker brygge, with matt and dymas, where we had mussels and fries!
day 4: oslo
had my morning coffee at kuro oslo, a sleek japanese café with a minimalist shop with local goods. i then visited ingens gate (literally ‘nobody’s street’), a hidden gem in oslo and a hotspot for urban street art. we then went to tim wendelboe, one of the most celebrated cafés and micro roastries in oslo. i had amazing single origin coffee from finca tamana, colombia, which was exceptionally clear, fruity and sweet. we also went to mathallen, a vibrant indoor food hall where we had a reindeer burger.
as a well-deserved breather after weeks of interning, varian and i took a short trip to bristol.
we started off the day by having lunch at st. nicholas market, where i got a mediterranean salad bowl from the olive works filled with halloumi, hummus, gremolata potatoes, couscous, olives, dolmades and more. this is probably my favourite cuisine, so having such a variety of mediterranean food to munch on was a real treat! varian got a filling bbq plate from low and slow, with pulled pork and mac & cheese. afterwards, we toured the eclectic range of stalls in the marketplace where i got some sea salt with mountain herbs from be natural kitchen.
having heard lots about the cafe scene in bristol, we headed to society cafe for our first caffeine break, and then full court press for our second. i must say that the 1029 lake kivu rwanda beans from full court press was some of the best coffee beans i’ve tried — with milk, the espresso shot supposedly has notes of golden raisin and creme caramel, on top of its original fruity notes such as orange, raisin, biscuit and red wine.
in order to avoid potentially overdosing on caffeine by having a third cup of coffee in a row, we went on a hunt for banksy’s art, scattered about the city. the one that was most recognisable to me was banksy’s well hung lover, in full view at the beginning of park street. we also checked out the christmas steps, a narrow walkway that was lined beautifully with vintage shop fronts and fairy lights.
heading down to the harbour, we attempted to visit the brunel’s ss great britain, but the journey there was oddly complicated (there were no bridges to help us cross the canal) so we just admired it from afar. we headed back to where we came from and walked around the bristol cathedral and bristol city council, where there was some sort of carnival taking place.
no trip to bristol would be complete without checking out the clifton suspension bridge. we climbed uphill to the clifton observatory to view the iconic bridge from afar, but it started raining so we took shelter at the royal oak and conveniently got some small plates as an early dinner. after it stopped raining, we found some gems of books in the last bookshop and got them for as cheap as £4 each.
before we caught our coach back to london, we visited the famous mrs. potts chocolate house and shared a very delicious and creamy cup of hot chocolate!!!
precious 