Oslo Fjord

Occasionally, I'm going to try to give an idea of what Oslo and the surrounding area is like. A few weeks ago we took a 2-hour cruise around Oslo Fjord. It isn't regarded as the most spectacular of the Norwegian fjords, as it has no towering cliffs and waterfalls etc, but I think it is pretty and charming. The fjord is 100km from top to bottom and filled with islets, some of which are privately owned.We obviously saw just some of it:

The islets have homes and holiday homes on them, although most of them have bans on new buildings. There is huge demand for these houses as they don't come up for sale very often and when they do prove very expensive. The houses have to be painted red, green or yellow according to local rules, and are all wooden. I didn't get the best pictures of them, but these hopefully give some idea:

We saw locals fishing and many, many boats.  The fjord is an active, working space not just a picturesque vista.

I found the whole trip beautifully tranquil.

Is this the best street name in the world?

A brief and totally frivolous blog today. This street is about 3 minutes away from me; I like to think the CIA has its Norwegian station here:

It really should be invisible to the human eye and require some Harry Potter-esque spell to reveal it to the privileged few...

National Day

So yesterday was our first 17 Mai, aka National Day in Norway. This marks the signing of Norway's constitution in 1814 (although for history fans everywhere they didn't get full independence until 1905) and it is taken extremely seriously by the locals. Everyone gets the day off and many wear traditional costumes - the costumes are determined by where your family comes from and there are 'police' who check if you are entitled to wear it (!).

The main event of the day was the children's parade through Oslo. About 60,000 children from 100 schools paraded through the city centre, around Aker Brygge (the harbour area), along Karl Johans Gate (the main street) and into the Slottsparken (literally Palace park) up to the Royal Palace (Det Kongelige Slott). The King and the rest of the royal family stood on the balcony waving to the kids, who screamed extremely loudly at this point although we think this was because they were right by the TV cameras rather than because of the King.

Oslo was absolutely heaving and there were Norwegian flags everywhere you looked. 

Everyone partied through into the night; we've never heard more ambulance sirens than we did last night! 

This is not a blog about Maths....

To disappoint anyone who is fascinated by money transfers and currency conversions, this is not a blog about money, maths or any finance product. 


This is a blog about my husband and I's new life in Oslo. I feel slightly embarrassed about writing this as in my mind the only people who have sufficiently interesting lives to justify blogging are


1. Barack Obama
2. Albert Einstein (obviously death prevents him)
3. Ryan Seacrest. Kidding.


No, the point is that I think my life won't be anywhere near exciting enough to make this a blog followed by millions, but perhaps friends and family will be interested enough to check it out....


We moved to Norway 3 weeks tomorrow from London (technically just outside London but as we lived there for 9 years I'll claim local status) due to my husband's job. I am currently a hopefully-not-so-desparate housewife while I write up a book based on my PhD, which is eventually going to be published by Manchester University Press. 


I plan to write about our experiences here over the next (hopefully) few years. So to all of the 3, maybe 5, people who will read this: stay tuned!