kjeragbolten + preikestolen (hanging rock and pulpit stone).

About two weeks ago I ventured out to Stavanger, Norway for hiking and camping with a group of nine others. A friend I know was planning this trip with some fellow students and they needed a few extra people to fill up their rental cars/ spread out the costs. So I joined in!  It was pretty great to go on a fun trip and not have to plan any of it.   Before leaving all I knew is that we would be hiking to two different famous rocks, camping one night and spending two nights on the train to get to and from Stavanger.  I also only knew three other people going on the trip.  Luckily, the trip went smoothly and I really enjoyed my fellow hikers!

Day 1: Hike to Kjeragbolten.  This hike was pretty difficult, but a challenge that I enjoyed.  The hike was around 5 hours round trip.  We hiked on rocks that were smooth and steep and we often needed the help of chains to pull us up the curvy sides of the rocks.  At other times we walked across a vast spread of open rock.  We felt like hobbits on the journey to Mordor. Despite the differing speeds of hiking amoungst our group members (some were super speedy, some were slower), everyone was positive and seemed to enjoy the hike.  The scenery was incredible!  These snapshots don't quite do it justice.  We were blessed with a beautiful sunny day.  For part of the hike I took off my layers and was just wearing a t-shirt! That is a rare and wonderful occurrence for me these days.  

Are those hobbits?

At the top, next to Kjerabolten, we stopped for lunch and a break.  Overlooking the beautiful fjord was really the best lunch spot I could imagine.  On the hike down the weather got a little bit foggy and the sun started to go down.  Luckily, we made it back without any major falls or injuries. The rest of day 1 was spent driving over to the area around Preikestolen, looking for a camping spot and setting up camp.  Despite the fact that in Norway you can camp for free on any public land, we spent 2 hours looking for a good spot to camp.  I guess that someone wants to make money on camping spots in areas around tourist destinations, like Preikestolen, because there didn't seem to be much open public space for camping.  We finally settled in a parking lot near the sea, which was designated as a swimming area.  By this point it was dark and we were all hungry and it had been raining.  Needless to say, it wasn't a cozy evening around the campfire.  It wasn't terrible, but wasn't the best.  We ate pasta for dinner made with sea water.  Maybe the worst (but also funniest) thing that happened was when someone looked up from the campfire and asked why our tent was in the sea.  Yes, no one staked down the tent and it flew into the fjord.  Benny waded in to get the tent, but, still, most of us ended up sleeping in the cars.  In this situation it was great to be small because I stretched out in the back seat and slept great!

Day 2: We woke up early-ish (8am) to get to Preikestolen and starting hiking by 9am.  (We had to return our car by 4pm, hence the rush to starting hiking early.) We were so glad that the hike to Preikestolen was easier than the first hike because we were all a bit tired.  Plus it was colder, foggier and a bit rainy.  Hiking up the slippery rocks to Kjeragbolten would have been tough in the rain, but it wasn't a huge problem for this hike.  It was actually quite a bummer that we didn't get a great view of the fjord and it was so cold that I just wanted to hike down. 

Even with the fog, I could tell that we were at a pretty special spot.  We didn't stay long at the top-just enough to take some photos and eat some chocolate.

The hike down was fun and at the bottom it wasn't even raining.  After drying off and eating lunch, we drove back to the city of Stavanger and spent a few hours exploring the city and playing card games while we waited for the train back to Oslo. It was really a great trip. I loved our group of ten and the chance to see a different part of Norway, especially a part with such stunning nature!

autumn in oslo.

 Autumn in Oslo is truly lovely.

I love the crisp air, the colorful leaves and this new reading spot I found in the woods.

Photos were taken on October 1 (on Bygdøy Penninsula) and on October 10 (near Kringsjå student village).  Book being read in the new reading spot is Nature Writings by John Muir.

project life: weeks 2+3

I'm finally catching up on sharing project life!

The first week after we got back from our honeymoon was crazy. The week was July 29-August 4 and it was the week before we left for Oslo.  Although that feels like forever ago, I do remember really enjoying the time we spent with friends and family and not thinking much about my camera. So that week got a just one pocket with a short description.  

August 5-11 was the week we left for Oslo.  (We left August 6.)  I wrote a short description of our last day or two in Greenville.  Saying goodbye was really hard and I still remember seeing my Mom smiling at me through her tears as we waved goodbye in the airport.  Shortly after that sweet goodbye I hit myself in the nose with my ukulele and burst into tears.  While a ukulele to the face does hurt a lot, I think those tears had something to do with all the goodbyes of that day and the previous two days.  

I included some pictures of our first week in Oslo- Josh reading on the couch, our first grocery purchases, the lake and a picture of Josh from the Fulbright brochure.  

It’s kind of hard to stay up-to-date with this project because it’s mighty expensive to print off photos in Oslo (nearly 1 USD per photo!).  I had most of these photos printed in the U.S. and my mom sent them to me. Oh boy, it was a great day when those photos arrived in the mail!  While it’s a bit annoying to be so behind on this project, it’s also nice to be reminded of what our life was like and how I was feeling 2 months ago.

For those of you interested in starting this project, look here to learn more about project life.  For those of you scrapbookers or other project lifers,  here are the supplies I used in these pages: Black Signature Binder, Project Life Cardstock- Cobalt Collection, Photo Pocket Pages Designs A and B (I have this variety pack),  buttons and paper tabs from Ormolu, colorful Sharpies, American Crafts Slick Writers. American Craft Thickers. Washi tape from this etsy shop.  Lots of kraft cardstock, because it's my favorite.  Since I'm pretty thrifty, I plan on mostly using supplies I already have.  However, I have discovered the wonderful world of free project life printable journaling cards.  I suggest searching for project life on pinterest to find lots of freebies. 

around here.

It's been a bit quite on the blog lately.  We've been busy around here at the Zahniser-Cranston household.  Since I lasted posted we hosted guests (my grandparents!), made a few delicious batches of applesauce with apples from a friend's garden and went to a Wintersleep concert (it was great!).  I went on a hiking/camping trip to Stavanger.  Josh stayed home, went to class and has been doing some more thinking about his fulbright project.  We've really been enjoying cooking meals together, running around the lake in the mornings, riding our bikes to class or the library and spending time with our garden friends.  I plan to share more in-depth posts on a lot of these things next week. 

This weekend is another exciting one.  We're both going into the woods for a cabin weekend, but with different groups.  Josh will be with his classmates from SUM and I'm going with people from Christian Union. It's really a beautiful time of year in Oslo; the leaves on the trees are turning to golden shades of yellow and crisp shades of red and orange.  And if it's not raining the sky is usually bright blue!  I've been feeling all sentimental about autumn.  I think when I'm away from home I notice the change in seasons more and think more about the traditions of my family and friends during certain times of year. I'm looking forward to baking pumpkin pies, drinking hot tea and coffee, hiking amoung the colorful trees and maybe even hosting a turkey trot! 

We send our love to all of you, our dear family and friends.

evening river walk.

I love how there's so much fun stuff to do in Oslo for free.  There are often festivals with music on the weekends and lately some extra special things have been happening.  Two weekends ago there was Culture Night and last Thursday there was a river walk with candles, food, music and cool lights.  Around 8pm we met up with our friend Benny and took the tbane and then a bus to Grunerløkka, an area in Oslo, to walk along the river.  It turns out that we started at the end, so we were walking uphill and against the flow of traffic. And it really felt like traffic out there sometimes.  When we went into this ballon tunnel going the opposite way of almost everyone else, I felt like I was at Disneyland during the summer!  While it was occasionally annoying to have to push our way through a crowd, it was also cool to see so many Oslo dwellers out enjoying the cool air and the twinkling lights along the river.  About every 300 feet there was a new music group of some sort, a food stand selling coffee and pastries or some other form of entertainment.  We would stop every so often to listen to a choir or a folk band.  One of the most unique musical sights was a man playing klokenspiel.  I'd never seen this instrument before and in case you haven't either, I'll describe it: the man was playing a keyboard type thing that was connected to bells. (See picture below.)  SO cool.  It was great to hear the music, watch the man's fingers move along the knobs/keys and see the bells moving.  We were also simultaneously mesmerized and creeped-out by a pair of fire performers.  They were wearing leather clothes with blood-like make up dripping from their eyes and they were eating fire and twirling it around.  Kind of impressive, but also a bit horrifying.  I just wonder if there tongues are scratchy or something.

Trying to get a good photo was hard with the strange lighting around, but you get the idea.  It was a good night.  Also, I had no idea there was river in Oslo before this night.  Whoops.

In other news, tomorrow I am off to Stavanger for hiking and camping with a group of 10 friends.  Well, some are friends and some are soon to be friends- I only know 3 other people in the group.  Josh will be here in Oslo going to class and studying.  Hopefully he we will be more productive without me around!  Then on Saturday my Grandma Ann and Grandpa Matt will be visiting!  There's lots to look forward to and even more to be thankful for.

diy end table.

DIY decor is kind of the m.o. for our apartment this year.  Since we're only here for a year and we won't be able to take a lot back to the USA, it doesn't make sense to spend a lot of money and buy a lot of stuff to decorate our apartment.  But we still want it to feel like home and look like a place we want to be!  This end table idea started when Josh looked out our window and saw a bunch of possibly useful stuff sitting next to the dumpster.  He went down for a rescue mission and came back up with this old chair frame with no seat.  As we were trying to figure out how to use the chair, we remembered we had an piece of wood (also collected from a trash pile) lying around.  After cleaning them off,  I set to work on painting the wood.

It only took about an hour to make and I really think it adds a lot to our little living room.

oslo culture night.

Well, I'm a bit behind on the blogging because Oslo Culture Night was actually last weekend, but I'll share anyways.  Last Saturday all the museums were open late and were free as a part of culture night!  We ended up staying a bit later at a friend's house than we expected (which was great!), so we only made it to the Munch Museum, a little bit of the Nobel Peace Center and the firework show.  We practically ran through the Munch Museum because we got there with 15 minutes until closing.  It was still cool to see the scream and other paintings and drawings.  Apparently the Munch Museum rotates exhibits a lot, so if we go back we can see something new.

jealousy 

the murderer 

our friend benny + the scream

the scream + others

the scream

Edvard Munch wrote this poem to accompany the scream:

I was walking along the road with two friends. The sun was setting, and I began to be afflicted with a sense of melancholy. Suddenly the sky became blood-red. I stopped and leaned against a fence, feeling dead-tired, and stared at the flaming clouds that hung, like blood and a sword, over the blue-black fjord and the city. My friends walked on. I stood riveted, trembling with fright. And I felt a loud, unending scream piercing nature.

It was a shame we had to rush through the exhibit.  I felt like we didn't do his work justice by just glancing at many paintings and stopping to stare for a minute or two at others.

After the Munch Museum closed we headed to Radhussplassen for the fireworks show.  We ended up dallying around in the Nobel Peace Center, which has a cool exhibit on Ghandi opening soon.  They had a preview of the exhibit up, so we read a lot about Ghandi, his peace making and his fasting. I would love to go back for the complete exhibit and the movie! We found the perfect spot to perch for the fireworks- a short concrete fence overlooking the fjord.  We really had a great view and the fireworks were awesome!  I just love seeing the different bursts of light and color.  It's fun to try to capture the fireworks on photo, too.

Hope your weekend was great!