A boat ride on the fjords

Rick Steeves says “Frankly, if you go to Oslo and don't get out to the fjords, you should have your passport revoked.” I couldn’t risk that happening so even though it was January – I took this scenic boat ride. There are more than a thousand fjords in Norway and they are a protected UNESCO site though the nicer ones are further away.

The boat we took

Don’t let the sun in the photos fool you – it was freezing on the water! But still worth the trip. Luckily when you can no longer stand the cold, they sell warm drinks including glog (Norwegian version of gluweihn). 

The fjords resemble still blue lakes, but consist of saltwater - they are prolonged arms of the seas, often reaching deep inland with cliffs towering above on both sides. Of course, the ones closest to the city do not have huge cliffs but it does give you a glimpse of a more traditional, historic Norway as well as great views of the city.

Can you find the ski jump?

The ice that held us up

Amazing reflections!

Someone wanted to go fancy, slightly out of place

The new opera house

Off to Oslo

The week after the meetings, I decided on a Thursday night I needed to get out of town so booked a trip to Oslo for the weekend – left the very next day! You are probably thinking, why on earth is she going further north in the middle of January? I figured, a) I’m Canadian so I can handle it, b) the rest of Europe was not looking like beach weather anyways and c) inexpensive direct flight 😊

I had never been to Norway and I have to say, it’s lovely and I have never met nicer people in my life (sorry Canada)! Even though I booked last minute, I did manage to book a tour of the fjords before I left and sort out when the free walking tour was. All was on track until I got to the boat and due to ice, they cancelled the morning tour. 

Plan B, Viking museum. 

I have a Brazilian friend in Paris who loves Vikings, mostly I think because they were such a new concept for her. Of course I had to learn all about them in history class since they were some of the first visitors to Canada. It was still pretty cool seeing all the artifacts they have found in Norway over time. Everything in Europe is old in comparison to Canada but some of these objects were so rudimentary and unlike anything else I had seen - especially the ships themselves. It is insane to think they crossed an ocean in them!

This is the first one they excavated

The first big event

Compared to the posts you saw from Mexico, any I write about work will seem quite boring now 😊 

As mentioned, we had a big meeting shortly after I got back from Ottawa. It was the first of our process with a kick off conference alongside so it was a bit of an intense return to work. 

We started with the conference - “Key Issues for Digital Transformation in the G20” 

Gearing up!

It was a full house!

Day two was a little more on the official side.

break time!

Despite all the events I have done, I have never been part of a process like this and it has been an interesting adventure and luckily, the start was a success!

Winter in Berlin

Berlin actually gets fairly cold, I don’t know why this is was surprising to me since it is pretty far north. I guess it’s because compared to Canada, nothing seems cold! It also surprised me to wake up a few mornings and see snow on the ground. I even had to go out and buy boots - my Canadian winter boots were a bit much for the amount that falls 😉

One of the first snow falls waiting for the tram.

Invalidenpark

Entry to my apartment complex

Tiergarten 

My balcomy

I was also pleasantly surprised one day to show up and see these lads greeting me!

Christmas in Canada

Of course I headed home once again for the holidays but it was a stark contrast to last year (ok 2016, pretend like I wrote these in real time!).

This is what it looked like the day I arrived last year:

And this is what is looked this year:

Notice anything different?

It was minus 35 degrees celcius when I walked off the plane – it took all my strength to not turn around and re-board 😊

The first thing I saw . . .

It warmed up for the rest of time to minus 15 or so but snowed probably every second day. People that have never experienced a real winter are always fascinated by snow so I took a few pics for my peeps abroad.

And because I hadn't gotten enough of Christmas Markets, I checked the Canadian version - totally not the same!

I had an event and big meeting right after the holidays so I flew back to Berlin in time for New Years. In Germany it is tradition at midnight to set off your fireworks – I don’t know who thinks this is a good idea when alcohol is involved but we were successful enough to not injure anyone!

yep, that's all the photos you're getting!