Photos from our travels in north Norway this past July

As promised, and long overdue, here are some photos from our memorable trip to north Norway this past July. I wrote a post about our travels there and posted it on October 26th A New Yorker in Oslo: Travels in northern Norway this past July  The photos will follow (more or less) the chronology of our trip. 

Nidarosdomen in Trondheim

view of the west coast of Norway from our boat

Our boat--the Midnight Sun (Midnattsol)

Storøya--one of the ports along the route to Tromsø

greenish water in Trollfjorden

the red peaks of the Trollfjord mountains, at midnight

leaving Trollfjord and moving into a blanket of fog

Finnsnes--another stop on the Hurtigruta

Arctic-Alpine Botanic Garden in Tromsø

Arctic-Alpine Botanic Garden 

view of Tromsø harbor and the restaurant Skarven (at the end of the road)

The Arctic Cathedral in Tromsø

another view of the Arctic Cathedral

The Cathedral of the Northern Lights in Alta 

view of ocean from Alta waterfront

view of ocean from the Alta Museum 

rock carvings at the Alta Museum--a World Heritage center

the interior of the Cathedral of the Northern Lights in Alta

sunset from hotel window in Luleå

My little garden friend

I've been feeding the birds in the garden for the past two weeks. It's gotten harder for them to find food. There hasn't been any snow, but it's been cold and frost has formed on the grass, plants, and bench, and the ground has become quite hard. 

Last year around this time, I became aware of the presence of a sweet little robin, a European robin. They are much smaller than their American counterparts. He would fly to the bird feeder while I was filling the holders with seeds, and just sit there, watching me. Sometimes he was an arms-length away from me. He was curious about me and unafraid. If I moved to another part of the garden, he would fly to where I was and watch me intently. It seemed as though he and I were to be good friends. But then my life took another turn. 

My last visit to the cold winter garden was in mid-February, after which I battled influenza and then had surgery for a faulty cardiac mitral valve. I didn’t return to the garden until late May, by which time the birds were finding their own food, so feeding them was no longer necessary. Still, I kept feeding them. My little robin friend did not show during the summer or autumn months. But I kept hoping he would. 

One day last week, he suddenly reappeared, and it was as if he had never left. He perched at the feeder, patiently waiting for me to finish filling it. When I sat on the bench in front of the greenhouse, he flew over to be close to me, strolling across the frost-tipped grass near my feet. Then he hopped onto the bench and let me take a few photos of him. Here's a photo of him posing. He's a cutie. 

Halloween event at Frøyas Have in Oslo

Halloween has become a big deal here in Norway. According to recent sources, the Norwegians who celebrate Halloween use about 1.2 billion Norwegian kroner, which translates to about 118 million US dollars. That's a lot of money. This link describes how the popularity of Halloween has increased over the years (Halloween spending soars in Norway - Norway's News in English — www.newsinenglish.no), especially among young people and families with young children. 

When I first moved here, Halloween was not celebrated, and the idea of it was not popular. But that changed in the early 2000s, in part due to the availability of American films, including horror films, that depicted the fun and creepy Halloween goings-on. In 1997, I threw a Halloween party for my stepdaughter who was fourteen at the time. She wanted one and I thought it would be fun to do it. And it was. I remember that the costumes of the teenage girls and boys were pretty inventive--witches, vampires, zombies. One of the guys dressed up as a woman, and trust me, he did a great job. 

My husband and I attended a Halloween event at Frøyas Have in Oslo this past weekend. It was impressive. This was the first time such a Halloween-related event had taken place in Oslo, and it seemed to be well-attended. The Halloween park was set up as a collaboration between the companies Pilote Beauty and Gemino Art. It was billed as Europe's largest Halloween 'park'. I'd like to see more of these kinds of events--they're fun and creative and a little creepy (Halloween, Bydel Frogner | Halloween-park på Frogner utsatt for hærverk dagen før åpning: – Måtte være litt kreative)

Here are some photos of Halloween at Frøyas Have. Enjoy!

Travels in northern Norway this past July

My postoperative goal was to be well enough to do the trip that my husband and I had talked about and more or less planned before I became ill. As luck and the divine would have it, we embarked on our north Norway trip exactly three months to the day of my operation. Our plans were to drive to Trondheim, stay overnight, and then board the Hurtigruten (coastal boat) for a three-day (two-night) boat trip to Tromsø. I have visited Trondheim twice in previous years, but neither of those visits were particularly positive or memorable. This time was quite different, thankfully, and gave me the desire to return at some point to explore the city further. 

We boarded our boat--Midnight Sun--before noon. We were extremely lucky with the weather--sunny and warm, with temperatures in the upper 70s/low 80s. The absence of wind meant that there were no waves, which made me happy since that stretch of the coastal trip (from Bodø and through the Lofoten archipelago) is often subject to wind and waves. To be honest, I had some misgivings about doing the boat trip at all because of what I had heard about the rough waters, but my fears were laid to rest when we boarded the boat amid sunny skies and placid waters. The coastal route is among the most beautiful in the world from what I've read, and I'd simply have to agree after taking the trip. We enjoyed some excellent dinners on board, and otherwise relaxed on the deck, enjoying the sun and warmth. We were lucky to be able to visit Trollfjord (Trollfjord - Wikipedia), which apparently is a weather-dependent trip; the boat captain informed us that the nice weather allowed for this trip. It was incredible to see the mountain tops at midnight, which turn reddish in the midnight sun. As we drove out of Trollfjord, we were blanketed in a thick fog that seemed to roll in from nowhere. Rather mystical and fairytale-like; one almost expected to meet some mythical creatures like trolls in the dense fog. 

This is the coastal route of the Hurtigruten from Trondheim to Tromsø, courtesy of the Hurtigruten website:

Once we reached Tromsø, we stayed two nights at a hotel near the harbor, which gave us enough time to explore the city. We managed trips to the Arctic-Alpine Botanical garden and to the Polaria Aquarium during our short stay, and also visited the spectacular Arctic Cathedral. We also enjoyed a really great dinner at a restaurant called Skarven Kro; it serves a tomato-based fish soup that is to die for--stockfish (boknafisk) soup. 

We then drove on to Alta from Tromsø, driving over the Finnmark plateau (Finnmarksvidda), which is the largest plateau in Norway. Once in Alta, we visited the Tirpitz Museum, a WWII museum that details the story of the German battleship Tirpitz, which was sunk in the Tromsø fjord. We also visited the Alta Museum--a World Heritage center for rock carvings--which was fascinating. Before we left, I visited the Cathedral of the Northern Lights, which was lovely and very unique. The sunny and warm weather continued, which of course added to the positive experience of visiting these places. I'm not sure it would have been as pleasant in the cold and rain. 

From Alta, we drove further on to the east coast of Sweden, passing briefly through parts of Finland that we didn't particularly care for, until we arrived in Luleå (Luleå: History meets modernity in Swedish Lapland | Visit Sweden), where we stayed one night, and the following day, in Sundsvall, where we stayed one night, before driving westward back toward Norway. Both Luleå and Sundsvall were lovely cities on the water, and it was nice to be there in the warm weather, walking along the harbor areas and watching people enjoy themselves. 

I would like to return to Trondheim during the wintertime to see the northern lights; we can drive there or take the train. I would not want to take the Hurtigruten during the winter months, although my friends who have done it say it is also a lovely trip. But I wouldn't want to do the trip in the darkness and cold. I'm glad we did our northern Norway trip during the summer months; it was fun to experience the midnight sun and to experience this area of Norway during a period of wonderful weather. I'll publish another post soon with photos from the trip. 

Here is a map of the entire trip, but bear in mind that the Trondheim to Tromsø route is depicted on land, because Google Maps does not allow for boat routes: 

Autumn in Oslo and in my garden--October 2025

I usually publish a post about autumn in Oslo and in my garden each year, and this year is no exception. It's been a mild but rainy autumn this year, and the foliage colors are lovely. I still take a fair amount of photos, but less than I used to. The advantage is that I don't have to wade through so many lesser quality photos. So the ones I'm sharing in this post are the ones that made the cut. Enjoy......

Gamle Aker church

'Karl Johan' main path in our allotment garden

my Japanese maple tree, growing happily

my allotment garden, facing Telthusbakken

some plants are still growing and blooming

Garden update

I've been working in my garden since mid-May. I tried doing garden work a couple of weeks after I came home from the hospital in mid-April, but I became dizzy and had to stop. Now, almost three months after my operation, I'm back to working in the garden for hours at a time. But I take precautions--sun umbrella up, wearing a hat to protect against too much sun, drinking a lot of water and resting when I get tired. We've had intervals of sun and rain, which has been very good for the garden, especially the berry bushes. There will be good harvests for black currants, gooseberries, raspberries, and strawberries. I've planted a cranberry bush that is thriving, and my Norwegian blueberry bushes are also happy. The American blueberry bushes, less so, so I ended up transplanting them to a sunnier location. 

Yellow loosestrife has overtaken a large area of one of my perennial spaces. I cut it back but it just keeps on coming. It's beautiful, but I need to keep it in check or else it will take over the entire space. That seems to be my job this year--keeping growth in check. Everything is doing well and I can't complain. But maintenance of the garden keeps me busy. I'm very glad that I decided to aim for a (mostly) perennial garden, because I don't have to worry about buying a lot of annuals each year. The bushes that have grown the most since I planted them three years ago are the forsythia bushes. I cannot believe how large they've become. Ditto for the lilac bush. And of course the ninebark bush, which resembles a tree at present. I could clip it right down to the base, and it would grow back happily. I don't do that though; I clip a number of branches to keep it in a certain shape. And the Japanese maple tree is thriving as well, which makes me happy; it is so lovely. 

The wild cherry tree that decided to take root from seed in my garden (I didn't plant it) has grown quite tall. It produces sour cherries, but not as many as the cherry tree I bought and planted. The birds (blackbirds, brown thrushes, sparrows) are eagerly waiting for the red currants to be ripe; each year it's a contest between humans and birds to see who gets the most red currants. Last year, we managed to pluck half of the berries, but the birds got the other half. They don't seem to go after the other berries as much. I don't know why. 

My garden is thriving, if a bit overgrown in places. I like it that way. It's as though I enter my own private secret garden when I arrive there. Except for the formal garden entrance (an arch covered with white clematis), the other three sides of the garden are 'walled-in' by growth along the street fence, tall raspberry bushes, and black currant bushes plus a 'krossved' (Viburnum opulus) bush.

Here are some garden photos from May and June.......enjoy!

Beautiful wisteria 

Japanese maple

Irises

Rhododendron

Ninebark bush

Blooming peony plant

Loosestrife